Saturday, June 13, 2015

1957/58 Signed AHL Program = 12 New Graphs

Just one package in the mail this week but it was a good one. It contained two multi-signed programs. I got them at a great price. Seller was a baseball guy who wasn't able to list any of the autographs on the programs. A trained eye like mine saw some gems. 

They are both 1957/58 Springfield Indians programs. One is signed by the 1957/1958 Springfield Indians and by the visiting Cleveland Barons. The other, by a few Boston Bruins players who appear to have been at the game for one reason or another. 

With these 12, the grand total of unique NHL signatures is now 4,374.


These are the programs "before"



This is what ends up in the collection:

Don Simmons
Don Simmons appeared in 249 regular season NHL games between 1956 and 1969. As a backup goalie with the Maple Leafs, he won the Stanley Cup in 1962, 1963 and 1964. He was the second goalie in the history of the NHL to wear a mask. He passed away in 2010. 

Claude Evans
Claude Evans played four games with the 1954/55 Montreal Canadiens and one game with the 1957/58 Boston Bruins. I sacrificed a Floyd Smith signature for this one as the autographs intersected. It wasn't a big deal since Floyd's autographs are common and Evans' are not. Claude's actually got a pretty interested signature. If you enlarge the pic, you can see the "e" he ends the Claude with is quite unique. 

Cal Gardner
Cal Gardner was player/assistant coach of the Springfield Indians when he penned this signature. Between 1945 and 1957 Cal Gardner played 750+ regular season+playoff games in the NHL. He was a member of the Rangers, Leafs, Blackhawks and Bruins. He won the Stanley Cup with Toronto in 1949 and 1951. His sons, Dave and Paul, also played in the NHL. 

Buddy Boone
From 1956 to 1958, Buddy Boone played 34 regular season and 22 playoff games in the NHL with the Boston Bruins. He passed away in 1986. 

Harry Pidhirny
Harry Pidhirny played two NHL games with the 1957/58 Boston Bruins. He played over 1000 games in the AHL and was inducted into the league's Hall of Fame. He passed away in 2010.

Bob Armstrong
From 1950 to 1962, Bob Armstrong played well over 500 games in the NHL with the Boston Bruins. The defenceman was a three-time Stanley Cup finalist but never won the trophy. Armstrong became a well liked school teacher after retiring from hockey. He passed away in 1990.

Al Nicholson
From 1955 to 1957, Al Nicholson played 19 games with the Boston Bruins. He had a lengthy and successful minor league hockey career in the old WHL. Nicholson died of cancer in 1978. He was only 42 years old. 

Dale Anderson
Defenceman Dale Anderson played 13 NHL games with the 1956/57 Detroit Red Wings. I had written to him a couple times but never heard back so I finally get to add his signature to the collection. 

Gerry Ehman
Between 1957 and 1971, Gerry Ehman played nearly 500 regular season+playoff games in the NHL. He suited up for the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs and Oakland Seals. Ehman won the Stanley Cup with the 1964 Toronto Maple Leafs. He later became General Manager of the St. Louis Blues in the 1970s. In the 1980s, as a scout and later assistant GM, he won the Stanley Cup four times with the New York Islander. He passed away in 2006.

Jack Caffery
Between 1954 and 1958, Jack Caffery played 57 NHL games. He spent time with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins. Amazingly, Caffery was also a pro baseball player (see his stats) and was signed by the Milwaukee Braves. Sometimes referred to as John Caffery, Jack passed away in 1992. His brother, Terry, also played in the NHL.

Fred Glover
From 1949 to 1953, Fred Glover played 100 regular season+playoff games in the NHL. He suited up with the Red Wings and Blackhawks. He won the 1952 Stanley Cup with Detroit. He was a three time AHL player of the year and is in the league's Hall of Fame. Glover later spent six seasons as a head coach in the NHL. He was bench boss of the Oakland/California Seals and LA Kings. Glover passed away in 2001.

Steve Kraftcheck
Another AHL Hall of Famer, defenceman Steve Kraftcheck played 157 regular season games in the NHL. Between 1950 and 1959 he suited up with the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs. He died in 1997.

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I have a number of autographs leftover from the two programs. These are available. The NHLers are doubles and the AHLers I don't collect. 

NHL
Ken Schinkel
Bob Beckett
Don Cherry
Larry Leach
Dick Cherry
Johnny Peirson
Leo Labine
Gordon Strate
Bo Elik
Jack Gordon
John McLellan
Dan Poliziani
Bob Barlow

AHL
Bill Forhan
Doug McMurdy
Gordon Hudson
George Bouchard
Bill Shvetz
Don Hogan
Cal Stearns
Lucien Dechene
Jack Boag
Gordon Vejprava

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