The Richter Scale

The Richter Scale is used to measure earthquakes. Mike Richter was the Championship goaltender the last time my favorite team won the Stanley Cup. Using a bit of play-on-words, here's a scale (countdown) of my top 10 favorite Mike Richter cards that I have scans for in my collection.

#10 1991-92 Upper Deck #175

I'm not a big fan of extreme closeups on cards. It doesn't really give you "the whole picture" of what's going on. Check out that plain blue helmet.

#9 1995-96 Topps Super Skills #47

Digitally altered background...text overlaying the feature that adds nothing...cheesy yet also likeable cartoon pucks taking up as much space as the photo...yeah, not going to be high on the list. Yet...when I think of Mike Richter cards in my collection, this one pops into my head for some reason. 

#8 1994 Sports Illustrated for Kids 2 #284

SI For Kids Series 2 is actually probably the greatest sports card set ever. It used multiple designs and this is not my favorite although also not my least favorite. The design- and the fact that these are slightly oversize- keeps this one lower on the list. Good photo though. I have to do a post about the set at some point.

#7 1993-94 Power Play #165

The tall-boy cards are such a pain- you can't store or sort them with your other cards. Decent photo, and Nobody Beats the Wiz is an iconic ad campaign from my youth. 

#6 1989-90 Marine Midland New York Rangers #35

A regional promo that is slightly oversized-but not so much so that it can't be stored in my boxes with my other hockey cards. My copy of the set is a little dingy, note the staining in the bottom right border, but I'm still pretty thrilled to have it. I lucked into finding most of this set locally, except the checklist/cover card, which is now my most wanted NHL card. 1989-90 was his first season in the NHL, so you have a rookie regional promo, with a great ad on the boards, this one has a lot going for it. Do they still make Chuckles? I used to be a big fan, but would not be able to eat them anymore even if I could still find them. We had an account with Marine Midland back when these cards were issued, and they also did Knicks sets, but both were issued before I discovered each sport. 

#5 2002-03 Topps #128

We go from his rookie season to his final season, which saw his career get ended prematurely due to a skull fracture suffered on the ice (!) I dislike the Topps design of this season but the card features a great action photo. 

#4 1997-98 Score New York Rangers #16

This card features the Statue of Liberty alternate that many people are hoping makes a return now that the NHL allows more than one home/road design again. 

#3 1996-97 Leaf #178

A cool angle for a photograph, even if the action doesn't really convey. Where's the puck? I think it is in his glove but the shadow is too deep to be able to be 100% certain. I got this the very first day that I began buying hockey cards, before the Rangers even became my favorite team. 

#2 1993-94 Starting Lineup #99

Good design and great photo, taken down a bit by the realization that this was probably a goal for the opponent...note that he is looking into the net, past his glove. I don't have the figure this card came with, nor do I have the Score card it's based on, yet. 

#1 1993-94 Ultra #228

It's hard for me to go against Ultra, my favorite brand in cardboard history. The great action photo- look at that puck in the air!- cements this as my favorite card of his, in my collection, so far! 

I've only scanned 12 cards of his, although a quick trip to his listing on the Trading Card Database tells me that I have 28 of him in my collection. Perhaps I will revisit this Scale at some point. Even if I did have all 28 scanned, the #1 card would not change.