Trading cards in sports aren’t as popular as they used to be, but there used to be a time where the card companies would have a little fun with the players and put together some pretty ridiculous cards over the years. From hockey to baseball, if the sport has trading cards then there are definitely some gems out there, some of which we don’t even know about.
With that being said, we’d like to take you down memory lane and revisit some of the goofiest and wildest hockey cards that ever made it to production.
We’re not sure how the photographers and the people in charge of this set came up with the idea of having Pavel Bure pose for his card in his summer attire while rocking rollerblades, but they went through with it and we’re glad they did. He’s not the only Bure they got that day, as they managed to get a photo of Pavel with his younger brother, Valeri, together for a different card.
As great as offseason photos are for trading cards, post-game mid-meal cards might be even better. Just ask Mike Grier, who had his photo taken while eating a slice of pizza that ended up making its way into Upper Deck’s 1997-98 set.
Upper Deck really went all in on the off-ice fashion cards in the early 1990’s as they produced a lot of cards that look more like headshots for actors rathe than trading cards for athletes. Steve Yzerman was part of every single one of those sets and ended up with some great headshots from them.
Doug Gilmour was another fashionable player during his playing days and the trading card companies took full advantage of it. Literally.
Imagine being asked to meet at the zoo to have your photo taken for the upcoming trading card set. Apparently that was the case for Dino Ciccarelli, who appears alongside a rhinoceros ahead of his final NHL season.
Goalies don’t have to worry about facial expressions when it comes to their trading cards because they have a cage blocking their face, but that wasn’t the case for Olaf Kolzig’s card in Pinnacle’s 1995-96 set.
Jarome Iginla and his Calgary Flames teammates used to use table tennis as a way to get loose and get the blood flowing, but Iginla probably never expected a photo of himself mid-return would make it onto one of his hockey cards.
These are only some of the MANY ridiculous and hilarious trading cards that were printed during the 1990’s and this is just the first of many posts to come on the subject. If you have any cards that come to mind that you think deserve to be published in a future post, send an email to christian.marin@bellmedia.ca or DM us a photo on Twitter or Instagram.
