Blow Out the Candles June 15

Hall of Fame Cubs legend Billy Williams is celebrating his 74th birthday today.

Billy was the NL's ROY in 1961, was a six time All-Star and finished his career with 426 home runs and 2,711 hits.  His consecutive games played streak of 1,167 is sixth all time.

"This, That and the Other Old Cub"

Hall of Famer Wade Boggs is celebrating his 54th birthday today.

Wade was a 12 time All-Star who won 5 batting titles on his way to a career batting average of .328 and   3, 010 hits.

 Um, 1986.

Hall of Fame defenseman Marcel Pronovost is celebrating his 82nd birthday today.

Marcel, along with Dave Keon, celebrates one of his 5 Stanley Cup Championships.

Singer, songwriter Harry Nillson was born in Brooklyn, New York on this date in 1951.

Autographed Cards A-Z Hockey Edition N-P

When I got back into collecting five or so years ago one of the things that excited me was the availability of autographed cards.  Perhaps I went a little overboard but I think I picked up some nice cards.  This will be an A-Z series of posts with varying numbers of cards.

Eric was a long time Blackhawk on the teams I grew up with.  He was part of the 1960-61 Stanley Cup Championship team.

 2007 Parkhurst #81

Darren's a likeable guy who played briefly for the Hawks and went on to become a broadcaster.  According to Wikipedia he and Steve Yzerman are BFFs.

Pappin, pictured here as a Leaf is another Blackhawk I grew up watching.  He was a regular from 1968-74.

 2002 Topps Reprint #TMLA-JP

A Hall of Famer, Parent's jersey, #1, was the first to be retired by the Flyers.

 2007 Parkhurst #92

I think of Hall of Famer Park as a Ranger.  

 2007 Parkhurst #93

Another Hall of Famer and member of the 1960-61 Blackhawks Stanley Cup Championship team.  He won the Norris Trophy 3 consecutive years.  These Topps Archives cards are outstanding!

 2002 Topps/OPC Archives Reprint #7

Pronovost is a 5 time Stanley Cup Champion and Hall of Famer

 2007 Parkhurst #102

Confession- I bought this because I like the name Puppa. POOPA!

2005 ITG Franchises #A-DPU

Parkhurst Retro Favorites Detroit Red Wings

It's hard to believe but for the quarter century prior to 1967 the NHL consisted of only six teams, the Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Rangers, Bruins, Red Wings and Blackhawks.

In the mid-nineties, Parkhurst commemorated the 1964-65 NHL season by producing a set of "Tall Boy" cards featuring players and coaches from the "Original Six" teams. I'll be sharing my favorites in coming posts.

Here are my favorites from the Detroit Red Wings:

#65

#57

#56

#58

#47

#51

#63

#64

#62

#55

#46

#53