1954–55 Topps Hockey

The 1954–55 Topps hockey set was Topps' first attempt at producing trading cards for the National Hockey League. At the time, the league consisted of six teams known as the Original Six. Topps included all four American teams in this popular 60-card set - Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Rangers.

History

Each card in this set measures approximately 2⁵⁄₈" x 3³⁄₄", and features a player photo (in a blue and red line background), team logo, team name, position, and a facsimile autograph. As is typical of most trading cards, the back of the card features biographical information, statistics from the 1953–54 season, and a few notes featuring hockey facts. After this season Topps did not produce a hockey set again for another 2 years until the 1957 set because the NHL went after Topps for not getting their permission to use the team logos in the card photos.

Card trading

While the set is printed in the United States, a large portion of the actual print run found its way to Canada, as baseball was America's national pastime.

As far as the hobby of trading cards is concerned, this set features only three Rookie Cards, including #18 Doug Mohns, #32 Camille Henry, and #35 Don McKenney. The inclusion of a very early Gordie Howe card is one of the main draws of this set, and the card can be seen trading in the $2000 range when in Near Mint condition. A PSA 9 1954 Topps Gordie Howe card sold for $10,000.00 in the early 2000s.

Cards #1 and #60 are considered to be condition sensitive for two reasons. The first is their placement on the sheet during printing, and the second reason is due to the "rubber band" factor. The "rubber band" factor occurs when a tight rubber band is used to hold a stack of trading cards together, thus damaging the first and last cards in the stack. And in the case of complete sets, this would be cards #1 and #60. A PSA 8 Milt Schmidt #60 sold on eBay in 2005 for $6,000.00.

Another condition sensitive challenge in this set are gum stains. Topps included a stick of bubble gum in every pack a collector would purchase. Two kinds of packs were distributed: Penny packs and nickel packs. Penny packs included only one card increasing the chance greatly of an unsightly gum stain tainting that card.

Card checklist

1. Dick Gamble
2. Bob Chrystal
3. Harry Howell
4. Johnny Wilson
5. Red Kelly
6. Real Chevrefils
7. Bob Armstrong
8. Gordie Howe
9. Benny Woit
10. Gump Worsley
11. Andy Bathgate
12. Bucky Hollingworth
13. Ray Timgren
14. Jack Evans
15. Paul Ronty
16. Glen Skov
17. Gus Mortson
18. Doug Mohns
19. Leo Labine
20. Bill Gadsby
21. Jerry Toppazzini
22. Wally Hergesheimer
23. Danny Lewicki
24. Metro Prystai
25. Fern Flaman
26. Al Rollins
27. Marcel Pronovost
28. Lou Jankowski
29. Nick Mickoski
30. Frank Martin
31. Lorne Ferguson
32. Camille Henry
33. Pete Conacher
34. Marty Pavelich
35. Don McKenney
36. Fleming Mackell
37. Jim Henry
38. Hal Laycoe
39. Alex Delvecchio
40. Larry Wilson
41. Allan Stanley
42. George Sullivan
43. Jack McIntyre
44. Ivan Irwin
45. Tony Leswick
46. Bob Goldham
47. Cal Gardner
48. Ed Sandford
49. Bill Quackenbush
50. Warren Godfrey
51. Ted Lindsay
52. Earl Reibel
53. Don Raleigh
54. Bill Mosienko
55. Larry Popein
56. Edgar Laprade
57. Bill Dineen
58. Terry Sawchuk
59. Marcel Bonin
60. Milt Schmidt