Collector's Corner

When you ask any athlete what is favorite sport is other than his own, a majority of the them will probably say golf. There are celebrity tournaments every month that feature pro athletes in them. Bobby Orr has been known to compete in a few over the years, which leads me in to the topic of this weeks post.

Orr has hosted as well as played in some of these tourneys. I have a few programs and a t-shirt from some of these events.

This program is from the first Orr celebrity classic in 1999. A majority of the funds raised went to the construction of The Bobby Orr Hall of Fame and Entertainment Center in his hometown of Parry Sound, Ontario. Some funds were donated to the West Parry Sound Health Center.

Unfortunately, the program doesn’t list the celebrities that were on hand other than former Bruins coach and Hockey Night in Canada analyst Don Cherry.

The program from the second tournament has a nice play on Orr’s famous Stanley Cup goal. Not much else is different from the first tourney.

Here we have a t-shirt from the event. Other available apparel include hats and collard shirts.

The last item is also a program, but from a different tournament.

This program is from the Joe Lazaro celebrity golf tournament to benefit the blind. Lazaro was a seven time champion in the Unites States Blind Golf Association. Joe and Bobby are featured on the cover.

The program is blank on the inside, but Orr signed the cover along with former Bruin Brad Park, who I assume also played in the tournament.  

Oddball programs like the ones above are some of my favorite Orr items just because they have nothing to do with hockey and are not seen too often. The Orr Celebrity are not that expensive. They usually only sell for around $10. The Lazaro program is a bit more seeing as how it is autographed and not as common. If you see one, expect to pay $50 – $75 if signed, about $25 if not.

Thanks as always for checking in this week. I’ll have more vintage Booby Orr items for you to see next weekend. Be sure to come back and see what I have for you.

This week, as the title suggests, I’m combining two of my favorite hobbies. Teammates of Orr all say that he has a great sense of humor. It’s only natural that he be portrayed in a comic, right? Well sort of as you’ll see.

Here we have a Swedish comic book from 1975. The Bruins player on the front is supposed to be Orr playing against a Montreal Canadiens player. Now of course it looks nothing like Orr, but he is wearing #4. The stories inside all appear to be of a serious nature. In fact, they are quite intense, especially the soccer ones. The hockey story appears to be about two Swedish teams and there seems to be no mention of Orr at all.

Next up is this promotional comic.

“First Goal” was put out by Nabisco Brands, which Orr was a spokesperson for. In it, Orr teaches the kids good sportsmanship, to always give it your all and above all else, have fun, which is what the title is referring too.

Here’s a sample page.

The last book is not actually a comic, but more of a general humor book. Orr is not on the cover, but he has a page devoted to him on the inside.

Loony Sports was a one-shot magazine published in 1975 that basically skewered athletes and sports in general. Orr’s page talked about his accomplishments and hobbies, accompanied by apparently humorous drawings to match the commentary.

Other athletes who were singles out were Muhammad Ali, Hank Aaron, Billie Jean King and Joe Namath.

These would all be considered oddball Orr items that you generally don’t see everyday. That being said, none of these items are expensive. The Swedish comic cost me the most, around $20 from Ebay.

Thanks as always for reading this week. Check back in next Sunday for more vintage Bobby Orr items.

When I’m doing my daily search for items on Ebay, I always come across listings of 8 x 10 photos of Bobby Orr. Most of these are copies, and while there are some great action shots, I usually just skip right past them. Occasionally however, I’ll come across a photo that I just have to have.

One of these have-to-have photos crossed my path recently while I was in Sportsworld in Saugus. There were two major reasons why I bought it: It’s an original photo, not a copy, and besides Orr, it had another of my all time favorite hockey players in it.

Here it is.

This original photo of Orr measures 16 x 20. You can see the photographer’s signature going up the side of the photo. I really think that this photo captures Orr perfectly, rushing up the ice towards the Rangers goal. I mentioned that one of my other all time favorite players is also in the pic. That would be Rangers center Jean Ratelle, who later played for the Bruins from 1975 – 1981. Also in the background is who I believe to be Bruins defenseman Rick Smith and possibly goalie Gerry Cheevers. I would say that the photo was taken sometime during the 1971-72 season.

While I love the photo, there is one small problem with it. It was in a frame for years and part of the photo is stuck to the glass. The tricky part is going to be to try to get it unstuck it without ruining any of the picture. Stay tuned for that.

I also have one more to show you that I’ve had for some time now.

This one is a much earlier picture of Orr. It was taken in the Boston Garden sometime in either his second or third year in the league. I know this just by looking at his haircut, which was very short his first few years, and because he is using a Northland stick. As I mentioned in my last post, he used Northland for his first three years in the league. This is not from his rookie year in 1966-67 as the Bruins had different uniforms then. Also, in the far background is Bruin Phil Esposito, who joined the team for the 1967-68 season. I’m not sure who the Chicago player is right behind Orr, but on the far right it looks like that’s Bobby Hull. Bruins defenseman Dallas Smith is also seen.

This photo measures 11 x 14 and is once again all original. As in the first photo, this is a great shot of Orr in action, with the added bonus of two other hall-of-famers in the background (Esposito and Hull).

Original photos always go for more money than copies. That being said, an action shot usually is more desirable than a posed photo. These two weren’t cheap, but they also didn’t break the bank. The context of the picture will almost always determine how much it sells for.

Thanks for checking out this weeks Bobby Orr items. Hope you come back again next week. I’ll be going through my collection for hopefully some more great memorabilia.

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a safe, fun night and are ready to make 2012 a banner year in Orr collecting.

2011 was a great year for me as far as Orr collecting went.  I picked up a handful of hard to find items that had been on my wish list for some time.

For my first post of 2012, I’m going to show you one of those items that also happens to be the last Orr collectible that I bought in 2011. I consider it a Christmas gift to myself.

Here we have an Orr game used stick. I already have a couple as seen in this post. The difference is that the ones I already had were Victoriaville sticks, which he used from 1969-70 until the end of his career. This stick is a Northland, which he used from 1966 until the end of the 1968-69 season. His Northland sticks are less common and are in my opinion, more desirable. This stick looks like it’s either from his second or third year in the league.

Here are some closer looks at the stick.

As you can see in the photos, Orr autographed the stick between the Glass Fused and Northland stamps. It’s stamped with his name, and it has the single stand of tape on the blade which he was known for doing.

This stick came courtesy of Sportsworld on route 1 in Saugus. When I saw it I just couldn’t pass it up. As with any Orr stick, it didn’t come cheaply, but then again, considering it’s an early game used example, the price was more than fair in my opinion.

There you have the first post of 2012. 51 more to come this year. Once again Happy New Year and thanks as always for reading. See you again next weekend with more Bobby Orr items.

Happy Holidays to all my loyal readers. Hope you and your families are enjoying the time together.

Seeing as how this is a busy time of year, I’m going to keep this week’s post short and show you some items from various Bobby Orr Skate-A-Thons which benefited Easter Seals. I thought it only fitting as Christmas is a time for giving.

The items I’m going to show you are all courtesy of my friend Bob. I’ve featured some itemsfrom his amazing Orr collection in the past.

This first item is a pin from one of his skates. Not sure what year this is from, but if I had to guess I’d say it’s from sometime in the early 1990’s.

These next few are all programs from various skates.

They did a nice job with these programs, providing spots for autographs and hopefully a photo with Orr at the event.

Next I’ll show you the sweatshirts that were available at each skate.

I particularly like the design of this last sweatshirt the best. I think a big part of it has to do with how they incorporated a piece of his Bruins jersey as seen on his right arm.

As I said I’m keeping this one short so that I can go celebrate the holiday and perhaps find some Orr memorabilia waiting for me under the tree. Thanks again to Bob for letting me showcase some of his items this week.

There you have the last post of 2011. Have a great New Years and I hope you all come back for the first post of 2012.

Happy holidays!

No, I’m not talking about his living room. Instead I’m talking about something near and dear to my heart: Pizza.

Recently, I picked up an item which I’ve heard about but have never seen before. Here are a few other items first that are related.

Here we have a takeout menu from one of Bobby Orr’s Pizza Parlors in Canada. Orr owned a handful of them in the 1970’s

Pizza and Spaghetti. My two favorites. I would have lived at this place.

Here’s an ad for the chain, courtesy of another Orr collector I know, Bob.

Now let’s look at the item I picked up.

This is a 6 1/2 x 7 cutout from a pizza box from one of Orr’s places. If you look at the edges, you can see that a sticker with all the stores information is placed on the top of the box.

I would have preferred to have the box in it’s entirety, but I’ll take what I can get. A reader actually left a comment awhile ago on a previous post telling me that he had an entire box saved at his parents house. We emailed back and forth a few times about it as I expressed an interest in possibly buying it from him. He said that when he was home next he’d look for it and get back to me. Unfortunately I never heard from him again.

Since I’ve never seen one of Orr’s pizza boxes before it’s tough to put a price on. I will tell you however that even this small portion wasn’t cheap. A full box would likely cost you upwards of $100.

 Thanks as always for reading this week. See you again next weekend with more Bobby Orr memorabilia.

As Christmas approaches, the last thing on anybody’s mind is summer camp. Not true when it comes to this blog.

I previously talked about the Orr/Walton summer camp back in this post. This week I have a few new items to show you.

First up is this brochure and application.

This appears to be from 1969 as the literature states that Walton just finished up his first full season with the Maple Leafs. 

The brochure is pretty standard. The camp offered weekly session for $125 from the end of June through August. What’s of more interest to me is that the pro shop had in stock official Orr-Walton t-shirts, sweat shirts, jackets and equipment bags. Those are some items that I’d like to add to my collection.

This next item is very unique in my opinion.

Here we have an original photo from the camp. Measuring 11 x 14, it looks to be from around 1972. I only recognize three people. Orr is standing, second from the right. On his right is NHL Hall-of-Famer Marcel Dionne. Next to Marcel is Mike Walton.  I’m assuming the other guys are all camp workers.

The t-shirt that they’re all wearing is definitely something that I’d like to have.

I’ve actually gotten comments from a few readers who attended the camp when they were kids. All of them said that they had an amazing time and that Orr and Walton were great with all the campers.

That’s all for this week. Hope you enjoyed this look at the Orr-Walton summer camp. Be sure to check back in next weekend for more Bobby Orr memorabilia.

I’ve mentioned before in previous posts that some of the Orr memorabilia I have in my collection I’ve actually had since I was a kid. Some of the items might not be in the best of shape, but that fact that I’ve had them for close to forty years now makes the special.

This week I’ve chosen two of those items to show you. As the title of this post states, both were taped to my closet doors growing up.

This first item is a drawing of Bobby from 1971. The artist is T. Poisson, who I’ve never heard of before. This was distributed by Alexander Inc. of North Reading, Mass.

I’m thinking that this wasn’t officially licensed because the artist spelled out Boston across Orr’s jersey rather than using the spoked “B” symbol. Regardless, it’s a pretty good likeness of Orr.

Besides Orr, I had (and still have) a similar drawing of teammate Phil Esposito, and a few years back I picked up one of Bruins goalie Gerry Cheevers.

These aren’t that expensive. Usually if you find them they can be had for around $20 – $30.

This next item has seen better days, but it still hangs on my wall.

As you can see, the edges of this poster are torn from being taped to a closet door for years. The main part of the poster is still in decent shape however.

This poster was produced by Action Sports Photos out of Melrose, Mass. in 1972. There’s a facsimile autograph in the bottom right corner.

I really like the photo they used as it shows Orr in a classic pose probably waiting for a face-off to occur.

Vintage Orr posters in good shape (which this is not) can sell for upwards of $100 – $200.

I’ve never felt the need to upgrade this poster mainly because as I said the main portion of it still looks decent. The nostalgia factor also plays into it as I like the fact that I’ve had this for so long.

That’s all for this week. Hope you enjoyed these two vintage Orr items. Come back next weekend to see what else I pull out from my collection.

I was probably around ten years old (1979) when I went to my first sports card show. To this day, I still remember buying a 1962 Carl Yastrzemski card for $18. At the time, it was the oldest card that I owned. The other thing I remember from that show was one dealer having a shoebox full of schedules for various MLB, NHL, NFL and NBA teams. At the time, it struck me as strange that someone would collect a pocket schedule.

I don’t find it strange anymore, and as you can guess, this weeks post is about team schedules that feature Bobby Orr on them. All of these that you’ll see this week are pocket schedules, which are aptly named as they are small enough to slide into your pants or shirts pocket.

The first is one that I’ve shown before back in this post: www.bobbyorrcollector.com/?p=690.

This is a schedule for both the Los Angeles Kings and Lakers. Why an opposing player is so prominentaly featured on the front rather than one of the Kings is unknown, although I speculated as to why in the post mentioned above. “Orr was and had been the best player and probably most recognizable face in the NHL for a number of years by this time. Although the schedule was given out for free, I’m sure the Kings thought more people would take one if they saw Orr.”

Next is this schedule from the 1973 – 74 season.

This was put out by the Molson Brewing Company in Canada. They also happened to own the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Forum where they played at the time. The schedule itself lists the dates for every NHL game.

The drawing shows Orr, Bruins goalie Gerry Cheevers and I believe that’s Dallas Smith right behind the net. The Montreal players are Frank Mahovlich and Jean Beliveau. When I saw this I knew the image looked familiar.

This is a 16 x 20 photo that I have that the drawing was copied from. It’s a great image that features four hall of famers.

This next one comes courtesy of my friend and fellow Orr collector Bob.

This 1970 – 71 schedule promotes Louise Day Hicks for Congress. She ended up winning the election. Now I’m not sure if Orr actually supported her candidacy or just happened to have his picture taken with her and it was used for this schedule. Either way, she seemed to have had an interesting political career.

The inside looks like this.

Finally is this schedule.

This 1972 – 73 schedule was put out by WSBK TV38, which broadcast all of the Bruins games. This is actually a copy that I got from a friend who is a sports memorabilia dealer and has hooked me up with some amazing Orr items through the years. He has the original schedule in his collection. Neither one of us has even seen this offered anywhere before.

As far as rarity goes, all I can say is that I’ve seen the Kings/Lakers schedule offered on Ebay from time to time. The other three I never see at all.

That’s all for this week. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. See you again next weekend for more vintage Bobby Orr items.

Everyone likes a good mystery, right? Well this week we solve one.

Back in August I did a post about an Orr figure that two friends got for me that we had no idea what it was. You can check it out here: www.bobbyorrcollector.com/?p=1393.

Here’s a picture of it.

We all thought it was some sort of cake topper that was hand painted to look like Orr.

Fast forward three months and I’m at The Shriners Show looking around for any Orr items that I don’t already have. I stop at the table of dealer I know who sells lots of Orr and Bruins memorabilia. This is what I see.

Looks familiar doesn’t it.

Same figure, except for the paint job and stickers on the wooden base.

I ask the dealer if he knows exactly what it is and he pulls this out from behind the table.

The original box that this came in! Apparently this was a do-it-yourself paint your favorite hockey player figure produced by Polytal LTD. of Canada.

One side of the box gives you step-by-step instructions on how to paint your player. The other side lists various NHL, WHA and minor league hockey teams. 

There’s no date on the box, but based on some of the teams that are listed on the side, I’d say that this was released around 1975.

Here are the two figures that I now own.

In my opinion, the figure on the left is far superior if for nothing more than that the uniform looks infinitely better than the one on the right.

Well there you have it. Hope you enjoyed the unraveling of this mystery. Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. See you back here next weekend with another piece of vintage Bobby Orr memorabilia.