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Ralph Slate
June 16th, 2008, 09:47 PM
Longtime collectors have probably come across ProCards sets that have a few extra cards in them -- a trainer, a mascot, an equipment manager. The extra cards are usually not numbered whereas the other cards in the pack are numbered according to the ProCards series (except for the entire 1988-89 series which is not numbered).

About 14 years ago I purchased a 1991-92 Flint Bulldogs ProCards set from a card shop in Flint that had 12 extra cards in it, including a number of extra *players* in the set. That was the first time I had ever found extra players. The woman I bought the set from apparently got it from the team owner, and I always thought it might have been a prototype set, possibly one-of-a-kind. I've never seen or heard of one since.

Well, today, I received a 1991-92 Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks set in the mail, and was shocked to find that it was a ProCards set. The entire set is unnumbered, with the exact same design as the 1991-92 AHL/IHL series (plus the Flint Bulldogs Colonial series, included in that year's numbering scheme).

The checklist is here:

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/cards/setdetail.php3?set_id=4321

Has anyone else seen cards from this particular set out there?

The funny thing about the cards is that they show just how bush-league the first season of the Colonial League was. Instead of player names on the backs of their jerseys, the Thunder Hawks had sponsor names, such as "Goodyear Tire May Street", or "Huron Air Outfitters". I've never seen anything like that on jerseys before.

Ralph

royal86
June 17th, 2008, 03:42 PM
That is something, I have never heard of a Pro Card set like this.

jomara@nl.rogers.com
June 20th, 2008, 06:55 PM
Hi Ralph,
I have handled over 10,000 ProCards team sets and have never heard of this set.You are right in the addition of trainers and coaches cards in some sets.The manager of the St.John's Maple Leafs store when these sets first came out told me that the first 500 sets they received had the additional cards,the other 9500 did not.Nice find.