Conversations
Before either of us could say a word, the smile crept across his weathered face, stretching from one ear to the next, wide, satisfying and filled with joy.
The lines in his face stretched and his eyes narrowed in a way only true happiness could reveal.
He celebrated his 84th birthday last summer.
He renewed his Red Wings season tickets, for the 40th season, not long after last year’s campaign came to an end.
“I want to celebrate one more Stanley Cup before I turn 100,” he smiled. “And after seeing this team, and the trajectory I think they’re on, I’m believing this might just happen — maybe more than once!”
No doubt, the Wings are one of the teams who appear to be taking strides towards contention..
Lucas is a collector, as well, and he’ll pull binder after binder, shoebox-sized plastic container after plastic container out, each one loaded with hockey cards, dating back more than 70 years, right up to today’s top young talents.
When I spoke to him earlier this week, as usual, we talked about hockey, cookies and cards.
So, we’ve already covered the hockey portion of the conversation — Go Wings!
We discussed an absolutely delicious Oatmeal Toffee Chip cookie, which I highly recommend to anyone along with a cup of really good coffee.
And now the cards portion of the conversation.
He said two words to me — Wayne Gretzky.
So, I was quick to point out that purchasing a 1979 Topps (or O-Pee-Cheee) Gretzky rookie was not really in the budget right now.
“No. No. No,” he said. “I’ve been buying Gretzky’s from the early 1980s, PSA 6’s 7’s 8’s and even the occasional 9.”
“He’s the greatest of all time,” he said. “The game is gaining some momentum, and the 1979 stuff is just too expensive for most people. So I’m getting on board with early Gretzky stuff, graded.”
And there’s something to his logic, too.
A PSA 7 1980 O-Pee-Chee Gretzky #250 can be had for around $225, has a pop of 770 and has increased 15% or so in the last month.
A PSA 8 of the same card, in the O-Pee-Chee version, can be had for $330, according to cardladder.com.
We’ve seen this trend before in basketball, when people were gobbling up LeBron and Jordan second-and-third-year cards like crazy.
Why can’t it be hockey’s turn for such a trend?
And don’t just look at Gretzky either.
Players such as Patrick Roy, Sydney Crosby, and Mario Lemieux, just to name a few, are also worth some investigation.
“It’s just nice to see the hockey collector finally get a seat at the table,” he said.
It sure is.