Willie O'Ree!

Thanks to a gift from Mark, aka avsbruins65 on the Trading Card Database, my most wanted missing person is missing no longer....since he sent me my very first Willie O'Ree card!

If you don't know who Willie O'Ree is....you should. He was the first Black player in NHL history, breaking in with the Boston Bruins in 1958- despite only having vision in one eye from a puck to the face. It didn't stop him from spending more than 20 years in the sport as a player, and he's still involved in the sport, now in his mid-80s.

He doesn't have a whole lot of cards...and only one was issued during his NHL career, a Bee Hive issue. (He does appear on the team card for the Bruins in 1961-62, and on two minor league cards issued during his playing career, one of which before joining the Bruins) So, it's fitting that my first card of his is from the first revival of Bee Hive, by Pinnacle, in the 1997-98 season.

Like the original Bee Hives, this card is much larger than a standard card- it's the size of 4 standard size cards in a square. Not only that, but it's also the first time I've ever even seen one of these cards in person, so it's most definitely one that was on my Sets missing from my Collection chart. On that note...earlier this week, Mark sent me a different mailer which knocked 14 sets off that list,, bringing me under 200 missing NHL sets for the first time ever! I say for the first time ever instead of just "under 200" because they do a lot of high-end, single pack boxes which I can't afford (or choose not to since I don't like that format) so the missing sets chart actually tends to go UP every season. There are 11 sets listed from 2019-20 alone and I may not have included all the newer sets, I tend to update it at the conclusion of each season. I'm still missing 17 sets from 2003-04, the current record holder for the NHL.

I'm lucky I was able to get into the sport when I did, because I was able to see his Hall of Fame induction back in 2018.

I don't do a whole lot of single card posts, or show many card backs, but this is a special occasion and I'm truly thrilled to add this card to my collection.

I mentioned that he was my most-wanted missing person from my collection...he was so important to that list that now that he's no longer on it...I have absolutely no idea who now holds the top spot! This is the first time in my collecting history that there's not a single person standing out as a glaring omission from my collection. I'm sure that I will determine who holds that top spot at some point...after all, SOMEBODY's got to be the most wanted, at least until I have everyone represented in my collection, which simply will never happen. So it's somebody. I just don't know who yet. It's probably going to be an early NHL star, since I have all the major NBA and NASCAR people.