Vancouver’s Mona Lisa: The 1989-90 Trevor Linden Rookie Card
Filed Under (Cards, NHL) by admin on 11-01-2009
Tagged Under : Hockey Cards, Trevor Linden
If Wayne Gretzky’s 1979-80 rookie card is the holy grail of hockey collectors, then Trevor Linden’s debut card ten years later is the Hope Diamond for the Vancouver Canucks faithful.
With a printing of cards to commemorate the 1988-89 NHL season, card manufacturers O-Pee-Chee and Topps produced what would be known as the last pure run of hockey cards before the collectibles market exploded the following year, enticing a half dozen companies to begin production. Players’ cards by each company would then be competing for value in a newly flooded market, giving consumers many options but also creating temporary confusion about pricing and integrity.
Linden’s rookie card was the first publication in a career that would span 20 years, resulting on over 1300 games and 800 points, concluding with a place in the NHL’s top 100 career scoring leaders. In the rookie season that inspired the card, Linden scored 30 goals and 59 points after being drafted 2nd overall by the Canucks, immediately after Mike Modano (who would go on to become the highest scoring American-born NHL player of all time).
The 1989-90 production run included a number of notable rookie cards, including future stars such as Joe Sakic (Quebec Nordiques), Theoren Fleury and Gary Roberts (Calgary Flames), teammates Kirk McLean and Cliff Ronning, and Linden’s fellow finalist for Rookie of the Year, Brian Leetch (New York Rangers). The 1988-89 season represented by these cards was also one of the final appearances on cardboard for soon-to-be Hall of Famers Guy Lafleur and Bernie Federko.
Linden’s rookie card would be denoted #89 in the set. The card is not nearly as exorbitantly priced as a Gretzky or Lemieux rookie card, which are both harder to come by, and have had more time to be abused. Those cards were produced in the days that kids actually treated them like toys and who knows how many were chewed by dogs, tossed in the garbage or used as coffee table coasters.
That said, the relatively low price represents a good value in the context of Linden’s achievements in the game and this piece of merchandise will certainly command a bit of respect and admiration in the fine province of British Columbia, Canada.