Sunday Special: Hockey's golden boys

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IT’S been half a century and more since Don Raleigh scored his last National Hockey League goal. But every month the mail brings the former New York Rangers star several hockey cards and pictures of himself with requests from fans to sign them.

The 82-year-old, who played 10 seasons for the Rangers in the 1940s and '50s, including two as team captain, even receives the odd jersey to sign. The man known as "Bones" -- his playing weight was 145 pounds -- signs every one and sends them back. Although he personally doesn't understand the attraction of autographs and never collected them as a player "unless it was at the bottom of a paycheque," he said he's honoured to sign and flattered by the attention. He realizes, however, as a member of the ever-diminishing club of players who played prior to the NHL's expansion in 1967, that the value of a player's signature is a function of supply and demand.

"There are some people who think the Original Six was the cat's meow," he said. "That's the reason they want (autographs). And No. 2, we're a vanishing breed," he said.

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"I think it's odd, but there's a certain mystique about the NHL. The guys that played in the American Hockey League, it was a tremendous league when I played. It is now, too, but it's absolutely lost as far as fan interest is concerned. There's one league, and that's the NHL," he said.

Raleigh keeps all his fan mail, and he records when he replied to it. Most letters begin with: "I'm a huge hockey fan" or "Rangers fan," followed by references to some of his career achievements, and then request his signature. Some come from hockey hotbeds from across Canada, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Others are postmarked from less obvious outposts in West Virginia, Missouri, Tennessee and New Hampshire.

A quick scan of eBay lists more than 50 items signed by Raleigh, who entered the league as a 17-year-old, played in two all-star games and finished fourth in league in scoring in the 1951-52 season. The items range from signed 8-by-10 pictures ($8.99), to autographed index cards ($19.99), to signed hockey cards ($10 up to $1,500).

Joe Daley, owner of Joe Daley's Sports Cards & Collectibles, says the popularity of autographs from Original Six players is directly correlated to whether they're still alive.

"So many of these guys aren't around anymore. They're dropping rapidly. The value of items will always increase once a player is gone because you can't get them anymore," he says.

"We're going to lose a lot more them. (Former Montreal Canadiens great) Elmer Lach just turned 91. Once The Rocket (Maurice Richard) died, (the value of) his signature took off. The same will happen to Gordie (Howe) and (Jean) Beliveau. (Former Toronto Maple Leaf) Bill Juzda just died. The star players will be lost forever."

Mark Napier, executive director of the NHL Alumni Association, said its membership of players who suited up during the Original Six era is "definitely under 300." It includes superstars such as Gordie Howe and Jean Beliveau down to others who had less illustrious careers.

"Don Cherry is a member. He played one shift," Napier said.

But it's not just Original Six memorabilia that's growing in popularity and value. Items from the World Hockey Association, which operated from 1972 to 1979, aren't far behind, said Daley, who played with Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Detroit in the NHL and all seven years with the WHA Jets before retiring after their last AVCO Cup win.

The most sought-after autographs belong to all three members of the "Hot Line" -- Bobby Hull, Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg -- followed by players such as Kent Nilsson, Veli-Pekka Ketola, Heikki Riihiranta, Willy Lindstrom and Peter Sullivan. One of the most "cherished" autographs of WHA Jets, Daley says, is Lars-Erik Sjoberg's. The man who was widely considered the best defenceman in his homeland by fellow Swedish players -- ahead of Toronto Maple Leaf Borje Salming -- anchored three AVCO Cup-winning teams and became the first Swedish-born captain of an NHL team in 1979-80. He died of cancer in 1987.

"Shoe was a wonderful player and person; that certainly adds to the desirability of (his autograph). It's not something people will readily want to give up. Anybody who has it should certainly cherish it. Because there were fewer years of the WHA (in Winnipeg), I think there's probably more collectibility to a lot of the Jets stuff," Daley says.

On the flip side, Daley says Hull's signature might not fetch as much as you might think because he's still signing countless pieces a year at autograph shows, nearly 30 years after he played his last game.

For the purist, an autograph represents a connection to a childhood hero or memories of going to hockey games with dad on frigid winter nights. One longtime Jets fan, who asked that his name not be used because of the value of his collection, has four game-worn Jets jerseys, including the one Hedberg wore during his last WHA game in 1978, dozens of game-used sticks, programs, pictures and boxes of hockey cards. He also has a pair of items that nobody else in the world has -- two locker stalls from the home dressing room at the old Winnipeg Arena. Because the rink was about to be torn down, he had to buy a hard hat and work boots before he could enter to take the stalls out, load them in a truck and rebuild them in his basement.

Unlike dealers, however, the Jets fan only collects items because they take him back to a simpler time.

2222"I've got 40,000 hockey cards and I've got no interest in selling them. I grew up collecting them. It's a part of who I am."

Chances are, more than one of them have Ab McDonald on the front. One of the few former players to have played in both the Original Six NHL and the WHA, the first captain of the Winnipeg Jets gets 10 to 15 letters a month with requests to sign hockey cards and pictures. The vast majority are from his 16-year career in the NHL, when he played with no less than four of the Original Six -- the Montreal Canadiens, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins. He also toiled for the Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues.

He said it's not uncommon to open his mail and see hockey cards from several or all of the teams he played for in a single envelope. He said he hopes most of what he signs ends up in the hands of a young hockey fan or an avid collector, but he knows a good number of them end up for sale almost before the ink is dry.

"If they need an extra dollar, then good luck to them," he said, noting dealers aren't above tugging on players' heartstrings by writing letters with tales of wanting to raise money for a boys' school or some other charity.

Napier, who played in both the WHA and the NHL, twice scoring 40 goals for the Montreal Canadiens and 60 one year for the Birmingham Bulls, said most of the old-timers will sign pretty much anything and he considers profit-taking to be "insensitive."

"They're such good guys. The whole gist of autograph-signing is for little kids who want to meet their idols and for avid collectors who loved these guys while they played. It's not to make a profit on them. My contention is if they're going to use our guys to make money, at least give them a little something for their signature," he said.

"Some of these memorabilia collectors are in it for the wrong reasons. It is amazing when one of our guys passes away how the memorabilia bumps up in price and how quickly it's for sale."

Napier says some collectors come across as authentic hockey fans because they ask players to personalize a photo or card. Having "To Alex" automatically reduces its value on the open market.

"The collectors are smart enough. A little bit of gasoline and they wipe out the Sharpie on the photo. Nine times out of 10, it will get to an avid hockey fan. Unfortunately, it's the one out of 10 who ruins it for everybody," he said.

McDonald said there's another reason why autographs from the old-timers are worth something -- they're legible.

"The older guys that sign autographs, you can read the writing and know who it is. Today, you have no idea. You ever see guys sign autographs these days? I see some autographed sticks and people say 'I've got so-and-so's stick.' They have a line and a number after it. You're supposed to know who's it is by that, I guess," he said.

McDonald tells the story of former Detroit Red Wings legend Sid Abel's grandson, who was himself a hockey player, being asked for an autograph. He signed it with an illegible swoosh in front of his grandfather.

"Sid said, 'Sign that again so people can read it,' " McDonald said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 1, 2009 A8