A full tank of gas and some hockey legends.It’s one of the more interesting and overlooked collectible categories: The Oddball. What exactly is an oddball collectible, you ask? An oddball piece is really an item one would consider to be “off the beaten path” of collecting. Put differently, if it’s not a hockey card, jersey, puck or autograph it’s an oddball! [NOTE: To be fair, one exception to this rule of thumb, albeit in a “purgatory” of sorts between mainstream and oddball, is the rising boon of the McFarlane figurines/ Upper Deck Vinyl Figures, which have been rising steadily in popularity this decade. They’re not quite mainstream yet, but neither are they exceptionally oddball’ish. Let’s just call them….well….ok, they’re the Mc Chicken between the mainstream Big Mac and Oddball Fillet ‘O’ Fish.]
Now lest the oddball label be seen as derogatory, let me assure you that it is nothing but endearing! It is a label that, much in the way that the alternative label held for music through the 80s, refers to the fact that there is a broad range of products outside of the mainstream that have real value but are not targeted by the broader community. That being said, while we’ll see some items over the course of our “Oddball” journey that are quite familiar to us all, there will be some that are indeed “odd”. But hey, that just adds to the appeal as far as I’m concerned!
Our starting point for the oddball journey is a 20 year old product that I’m sure some of you have crossed paths with at some point: The Esso NHL All Stars Sticker Album and Stickers. This product was available from Esso stations across Canada in 1988. One could buy an album which contained the following six player stickers already pasted in: Ed Giacomin, Al MacInnis, Rick Middleton, Bernie Parent and Pierre Pilote. Over the period of the promotion people could purchase packs of the stickers with qualifying gas purchases (6 stickers per pack). The complete set (not including the 6 pre-pasted into the album) consists of 48 stickers, comprised of a mix of players who, at that time, were either retired or active all star players. These included: Jean Beliveau, Mike Bossy, Ray Bourque, Johnny Bower, Bobby Clarke, Paul Coffey, Yvan Cournoyer, Marcel Dionne, Ken Dryden, Phil Esposito, Tony Esposito, Grant Fuhr, Clark Gillies, Michel Goulet, Wayne Gretzky, Dale Hawerchuk, Ron Hextall, Gordie Howe, Mark Howe, Bobby Hull, Tim Kerr, Jari Kurri, Guy LaFleur, Rod Langway, Jacques Laperrier, Guy Lapointe, Mario Lemieux, Frank Mahovlich, Lanny McDonald, Mark Messier, Stan Mikita, Mats Naslund, Bobby Orr, Brad Park, Gilbert Perreault, Denis Potvin, Larry Robinson, Luc Robitaille, Borje Salming, Denis Savard, Serge Savard, Steve Shutt, Darryl Sittler, Billy Smith, John Tonelli, Bryan Trottier, Norm Ullman, and Gump Worsley.
Now, there is a rarity aspect to this set, and surprisingly it does not exist within the stickers. Rather, while the stickers themselves are quite available to purchase by various means (hobby stores, online purchase, etc), the albums are somewhat scarcer. I believe the reason for this is that the stickers themselves are often not even recognized as stickers, even during their release, and subsequently many people did not bother to purchase the albums.
One has to recognize that during the 80s, people associated a hockey sticker with those released by OPC or Pannini, which were small, very bendable, and had peel-off backings over the adhesive backs. The Esso “stickers”, however, while smaller than a regular hockey card were larger than the typical OPC/Pannini sticker, were made of a thicker stock that was not bendable, and rather than having peel-off backs had adhesive-coated backs (which also had a series checklist printed on them) that needed to be moistened/licked before being applied to the album. This has created some confusion about what these items are, and led to them not being recognized as stickers by many but rather being labelled and treated as cards, albeit off-sized ones (approximately 2 1/8” by 2 ¼”). Even when searching for, or talking to others about these, one is hard pressed to find people who will refer to them as stickers anymore as they really have come to be accepted as cards rather than their originally intended and designed sticker status.
As far as design goes, the cards/stickers are simplistic in their layout, with a white box at the bottom containing the players name and the team logo beside it. The picture portion has a facsimilie signature that adds a nice flair, while the pics for the retired players give us a peek at their prime via some nice colour shots of their playing days. The stickers were not numbered, so the checklists on the backs of the cards are presented in alphabetical order. The album is really quite nice when you consider the fact that this was produced for a gas station and the fact that it was created in 1988. There’s a historical presentation of game action, stats and blurbs throughout that was not characteristic of sticker albums of the time. Even the cover itself was pretty sharp, with a very classy and subtle play on the old and new theme of the set via their presentation of classic and modern day (circa 1988 of course) all star garb, everyday equipment and programs.
Like I said before, these are relatively easy to get hold of, and worthy of a place in one’s collection. I have picked up complete 48 sticker sets for anywhere from $5 to $10 on E-Bay, so if you’re looking to add these to your collection please resist the temptation to purchase singles like Gretzky, Lemieux and Howe for a couple bucks a shot as you can definitely do better. The album is rarer on the whole than the stickers are, but can be grabbed without much effort. Just watch out for prices as some have an overinflated sense of what they should be getting for them! A very nice and complimentary set of stickers and album that stood out from the norm of that time!
Shawn Gates This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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