The curious tale of my Gretzky rookie

[Eric72]

Pictured here is my copy of Gretzky's iconic 79/80 Topps card. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

How I came to own this card and the love/hate relationship I've had with it are an interesting little story. Since this hockey forum section is new, and there is not yet a ton of content, I figured now would as good a time as any to regale the group with the curious tale of my Gretzky rookie.

It was about six years ago. I drank back then - quite a bit - something which I thankfully no longer do. One evening, after knocking back a few, I had enough "liquid courage" in me to take a chance on a card. It was expensive, for me, and something wan't quite right. This Topps Gretzky was in a PSA slab, one which read, "O-Pee-Chee" on the flip.

Still, I was enamored with the idea of once again owning a rookie card of the Great One. It would be my third, although the other two were long since gone. Plus, the card was being offered here on the Net54 BST. Of all the online places where I have bought and/or sold, this was the one with which I easily had the greatest comfort level. So, I swallowed my fear (and probably some more of a substance with a considerably higher proof) and committed to buy the card.

After making the purchase (by check...the seller didn't have PayPal) and receiving the card, I got to work. Poring over every inch of the card and PSA holder with a loupe, making high-res scans, analyzing, scrutinizing...doing everything possible to make sure the card was legit. I even compared it to a 79/80 Wayne Stephenson.

Show of hands - who else here has made a 2400 dpi scan of a Wayne Stephenson card? Well, I did...and compared it to the Gretzky.

My last step in the verification process was sending the card off to PSA and have them re-holder it. Times were different back then. You could send a card, call to check up on it, and get the card back in less than a year! Ah, the good ol' days. It passed muster, was slabbed with the correct label, and returned to me. I really was quite happy with everything. After a little while, I took the card off my desk and stored it away properly. For a few years, I thought about it occasionally but didn't handle it.

And then, there was Slabgate.

After hearing enough to feel some genuine concern, I systematically went through all my PSA graded cards. When I got to the Gretzky, my world came to a screeching halt. Instead of fitting snugly in its holder, the card rattled around inside its plastic tomb. There was (and is) a small gap between the edges of the card and the rails inside the PSA case.

Given the news that was breaking hobby-wide, my mind instantly went to a sad but logical thought. "Holy $h!t, do I have a trimmed card?" After coming to grips with that possibility, my next question was, "what am I going to do with it?"

Several scenarios raced through my head, some of them admittedly out of character for me. I figured it would be best to put the whole thing on pause, think things through, and revisit the topic at a later date. My rationale was this: I could always sell the card later; however, I'd never be able to un-ring that bell.

Fast forward a few years, and I still have the card. In an odd way, it has become one of the most interesting pieces of my collection.

Is it trimmed? PSA says no. They said it twice, actually. However, that carries very little weight these days.

Is it just short, a byproduct of variance with cards printed 40 years ago? Perhaps. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. I am a bit of a flake, and getting older by the day.

I'll never know for sure, one way or the other. Curiously, though, I care much less about that as time goes in. The longer I've had this card, the more attached I've become to it.

So yes, there are many Gretzky rookies, but this one is mine. For all its flaws, either real or imagined, I would rather have this one than any other Gretzky in the world.