1968-69 O-Pee-Chee #1 - Doug Harvey

This is where, for most collectors, the classic O-Pee-Chee Hockey Card era began.

Sure, the original run of O-Pee-Chee cards took place from 1933-34 to 1940-41 as Canadian youth got to collect the stars they heard about on the airwaves from Foster Hewitt conveniently packaged with a piece of sickeningly-sweet gum for a cool penny. There were five series of traditional cards produced up to the 1937-38 season before the company took a brief hiatus and moved to a 5" x 7" format for two seasons before wartime paper and sugar rationing made trading card production a moot point due to bigger problems in the world.

In 1954-55, Topps entered the hockey card market with a gorgeous set focused on the four American-based teams at the time. In a conversation I had with Sy Berger a few years ago, he noted that he was not at all interested in the game of hockey, but he took a chance on making the cards. O-Pee-Chee distributed them in Canada that year and starting again in 1957-58 with sales taking place essentially in the Great White North for the next decade. The cards were often designed stateside, but printed and packaged in Canada starting with the 1960-61 release.

EXPANSION

With the NHL expanding in time for the 1967-68 season, Topps realized that it could produce a set in 1968-69 for American kids while Canadians could have something unique from O-Pee-Chee that would include French text and additional players and even a second series.

Thus was the birth of the Classic O-Pee-Chee Era and the first set kicked off in perfect fashion with one of the NHL's established stars in Doug Harvey.

Then in the waning days of his Hall of Fame career, Harvey had revolutionized the defense position in the 1950s as a member of the Montreal Canadiens. and was a key part of five straight Stanley Cup championships. By the end of the 1960-61 season, the team mistakenly considered him to be expendable and shipped him off to the New York Rangers - where he won his seventh Norris Trophy in eight seasons and finished second in Hart Trophy balloting to former teammate Jacques Plante.

Did I also mention that he was the coach of the Rangers that year as well?

By 1963-64, Harvey was on his way out of a regular NHL job and was essentially exiled to the minors. It is likely that alcoholism and mental health issues may have played a factor here as his struggles are well-documented, but he was determined to still play the game. His AHL stops included Quebec, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh and he even got back for a two-game stint with the Detroit Red Wings in the last year of the Original Six era, 1966-67.

THE COMEBACK

Once that season ended, he was asked by the expansion St. Louis Blues to serve as a player-coach for their Central Hockey League affiliate, the Kansas City Blues. The team had a 31-29-10 record that year, but once they were out of the playoffs, the parent club asked the grizzled vet to join them for the playoffs. It was a smart move as he assisted on Larry Keenan's Game 7 overtime winner in his first outing back!

Moving forward, he was able to provide some strong leadership in a seven-game thriller with the Minnesota North Stars as well before the Blues were swept in four straight by the Habs in the Stanley Cup Final.

Instead of heading back to Kansas City, Harvey was able to join the Blues for one last season in 1968-69 and fittingly, he was chosen to be the first card in the O-Pee-Chee set. The Topps series had Boston Bruins goaltender Gerry Cheevers in that spot instead, but there is little rhyme nor reason at times for this O-Pee-Chee set.

Flipping the card over, there is a brilliant cartoon which states that Harvey is known as "Mr. Smoothy", but that is a nickname that seems to be lost to the mists of time. Maybe it's time to bring it back. Or not.

The photo of Harvey is airbrushed, likely due to the rush in putting the set together and probably dates back to his time with the Rangers. There is a bit of a glaring error that went uncorrected as well. The text states that he is 45-years-old, but by the time this card came out in roughly January, 1969, he was in fact only 44. It's a small mistake, so most would have never noticed it. You can check out the back of the card courtesy of the fine folks at Trading Card Database here.

Looking at Harvey's 1968-69 campaign, he managed to play 70 of 76 regular season games and finished second on the team's blueline corps in scoring behind Noel Picard. On January 3, 1969, he scored the final goal of his career against the Oakland Seals and made his last appearance while battling the Los Angeles Kings on March 29. He did not make an appearance in the playoffs as the Blues went to the Stanley Cup Final yet again.

AFTERMATH

In retirement, Harvey endured many struggles and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973. Around that time, he served as an assistant coach for the WHA's Houston Aeros and for a brief spell in the mid-1980s, was a scout for the Canadiens - who finally retired his number in 1985.

He passed away at the age of 65 on December 26, 1989. In 2017, he was named one of the NHL's Top 100.

BONUS CARD

The second series produced by O-Pee-Chee in 1968-69 featured 22 Puck Stickers which kids could punch out, lick, and stick to a flat surface. As one of the game's greats, it was only natural that Harvey was included in the checklist.