1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Alex Delvecchio #1 Hall of Fame Final Player Card Detroit Red Wings

Description

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Alex Delvecchio #1 Hall of Fame Final Player Card Detroit Red Wings Lead off your collection with card number one itself, the 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Alex Delvecchio #1, a Hall of Fame single featuring the longtime captain and heart of the Detroit Red Wings. Alex Delvecchio is one of the most decorated forwards in franchise history, a man who spent his entire twenty-four season career, from 1950-51 through 1973-74, in a Red Wings sweater, winning three Stanley Cups in 1952, 1954 and 1955, three Lady Byng Memorial Trophies for sportsmanship, and serving as team captain for twelve years, a reign that stood as the longest in club history until Steve Yzerman. He retired among the game's elite with over 1,500 games and better than 1,200 points, and the back bio notes the remarkable durability of a player who missed only four games in one season while earning his fourth Lady Byng, with the cartoon celebrating that he played more games than any current NHL player. Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1977 and honored with his number 10 raised to the Joe Louis Arena rafters, Delvecchio later coached and managed the Red Wings, making his final player card a cornerstone for Detroit collectors. This 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee issue is also the very first card in the set, always a popular slot in set building. The reverse is a Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, printed in Canada with English and French text, his 1972-73 season record of 18 goals and 53 assists for 71 points, and a cartoon panel, rather than a puzzle back, on the standard darker gray stock. Inspecting the scans, the card displays mild corner rounding with the top-right a touch lighter, fairly clean edges with just minor nicking on the red border, a bright and glossy front photo with a couple of faint handling lines near the lower right but no crease, and centering that is slightly off toward the right. The back is clean and unmarked. With only light corner and edge wear and no creases or serious marks, a conservative raw grade of EX 5 is the fair estimate, as the bright image and clean back suggest a five, with the centering and minor wear preventing an EX-MT designation. Grade Estimate: EX 5