Wayne Gretzky
THE GREAT ONE: NHL legend Wayne Gretzky still a hobby star
It was 25 years ago, on April 18, 1999, that Wayne Gretzky played in his final NHL game. Nicknamed “The Great One” as hockey’s best player ever, Gretzky took to the ice for the final time at New York’s Madison Square Garden in a 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Even a Rangers defeat following Jaromir Jagr’s overtime goal did little to dampen the mood. By game’s end, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place and Gretzky’s New York Rangers teammates bid him farewell.
Gretzky skated a few laps before the cheering crowd, which featured many of the greatest players of his era such as former teammate Mark Messier and rival Mario Lemieux.
“It’s hard to take it off right now,” Gretzky told reporters after the game when asked about his jersey. “I have to be honest with you, I don’t want to take it off.”
Also See: Wayne Gretzky's top NHL rookie cards
That same jersey sold in 2023 for $715,120. It was the third-most valuable hockey jersey to sell at auction behind Gretzky's final Stanley Cup shirt from the 1987-88 season with the Edmonton Oilers, which sold for $1.45 million, and Paul Henderson's 1972 Summit Series sweater, which went for $1.3 million.
These dollar amounts should come as no surprise. Even decades after retiring, Gretzky remains very much a household name. He’s still considered the best hockey player of all time. His legend lives on despite new generations of fans having never seen him take the ice.
It is Gretzky's enduring fame and collectability that ensures that his trading cards, game-worn jerseys and autographs continue to demand a premium both at shows and on auction sites.
Hobbyists can’t get enough of Gretzky, and for good reason. Scan the NHL record books and you discover that Gretzky still holds 61 of them compiled over a span of 20 NHL seasons. Those records include single-season marks of 92 goals, 163 assists and 215 points during the 1985-86 season; a 52-game point streak; 894 career goals; and 2,857 career points. He also won four Stanley Cups with the Oilers and played for the Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues before ending his career in New York.
“Gretzky’s the best ever,” said Ken Reid, an anchor at Sportsnet in Canada who is also a card collector. “He’s the Mickey Mantle of hockey cards. He’s a name synonymous with hockey even if you don’t know anything about hockey.”
Gretzky transcended his sport in the 1980s and ’90s much like Michael Jordan did. In 1988, he was traded to the Kings, a move that is today credited with helping grow hockey in the United States. The trade remains the biggest seismic shift in NHL history, casting a ripple effect that has been felt for years. The move is credited with helping the league eventually expand to warmer markets such as San Jose, Anaheim, Tampa, South Florida and Raleigh, N.C.
Gretzky remains an ambassador for the sport. He currently works as a studio analyst for TNT’s NHL coverage and has built a fortune around his fame. He sells wine and spirits through his Wayne Gretzky Estates, runs a fantasy camp where attendees are “treated to the full pro-hockey experience,” and he can be hired to speak at company events for as much as $200,000.
HOCKEY HOLY GRAIL
No. 99 remains an ubiquitous presence in the hobby much in the same way Mantle has for baseball collectors. At the Sport Card Expo held last fall in Toronto, Gretzky cards and memorabilia continued to be a top seller alongside current stars Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin and Connor McDavid.
Gretzky’s rookie card—both the O-Pee-Chee and Topps versions—remain the holy grail for hockey card collectors, setting a record with a $3.75 million sale. The card is often a centerpiece of multimillion-dollar memorabilia auctions and at major card shows and trade nights.
The card showed up 45 years ago in a pack of 14 random cards wrapped in wax paper with a stick of hard gum in them. They were printed on sheets—with 132 cards on each—and then cut into individual cards. Many of the cards were mis-cut, which diminished their value, and high-grade versions are hard to come by. In fact, printing flaws, poor centering and jagged edges are typical when it comes to the O-Pee-Chee versions compared to the ones produced by Topps. In fact, PSA has graded only two GEM MINT 10 examples of the 1979 OPC rookie.
Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped their appeal among collectors. At the recent Expo, dealers had plenty of Gretzky rookie cards for sale.
“In a lot of ways, Gretzky is the hobby,” said Jason Martin, one of Canada’s biggest Gretzky rookie card dealers. “He’s the best ever and he’s got the stats to back it up. He’s the skinny kid who made it.”
Martin said the card remains one of the best sports card investments.
“Everyone wants his rookie card,” he said. “From those who buy vintage to younger people who like the shiny cards, Gretzky is collected by all.”
The now-iconic photo used on the front of the card was snapped by photographer Steve Babineau featuring Gretzky looking up at the scoreboard at the Springfield Civic Center in Massachusetts in a game against the New England Whalers. Babineau had attended the game to primarily photograph Gordie Howe. The back of the card doesn’t say much. He had only played one season in the World Hockey Association with the Indianapolis Racers before being traded to the then-upstart Oilers.
The Racers were in dire financial straits at the time and Gretzky was sold to the Oilers, a league rival, after only eight games. The WHA folded at the end of the season. The back of the Gretzky card doesn’t address any of the drama of the era, but it does show that he scored 46 goals and amassed 110 points in the NHL’s rival league. The card also reads that the then-18-year-old was 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, which seems like an overestimation of his actual size given how slight he was in those years. His stats are accompanied by a single-sentence that reads: “Wayne is considered the best prospect to turn professional since Guy Lafleur.”
It was a bold assertion given that Lafleur was the NHL’s best player at the time. Within just a few short years, his rookie card would rise in value as Gretzky eventually surpassed Lafleur and rewrote the NHL record books.
As a result, Martin said the card has risen in value by as much as 300 percent during the pandemic.
“His values have cooled since then, but they’re still high compared to pre-pandemic,” Martin said.
Other Gretzky cards worth good money in high grades include his second-year card and even his third-, fourth- and fifth-year ones.
“There are collectors who chase all his O-Pee-Chee releases for the first 10 years of his career,” Martin added. “That demand has also helped to keep prices high.”
As demand for Gretzky rookie cards increases, so does counterfeiting. Ryan Nolan, co-author of “Spotting Fakes: Examining the Top 50 Fake Sports Cards,” said “there are a ton of fakes on the market.”
In a YouTube tutorial aimed at educating collectors, Nolan said the card is “slightly under” Michael Jordan’s Fleer rookie card as “one of the most-faked cards out there.”
There are a few ways to spot a fake that’s been reproduced using a laser printer. Cards with clean edges could be fakes. While few of these cards may have been sheet cut, a majority have the ragged edges we’re accustomed to seeing, especially in the O-Pee-Chee versions.
“The rough edges are a sign the card is legit,” Nolan said.
Also, original Gretzky O-Pee-Chee rookie cards have a yellow dot on his left shoulder, while most fakes fail to capture that detail. Some newer reproductions, however, may also feature the dot. The Topps variation does not have that dot.
The O-Pee-Chee rookie, at least a number of them, have faded blue roller marks on the back of the card. That detail alone isn’t enough to denote an original, as Nolan pointed out, “because there are now counterfeits with roller marks going across the back.”
GRETZKY COLLECTIBLES
Gretzky collecting isn’t limited to just cards. His autographed photos and jerseys are also a hot item.
“Gretzky autographs remain in high demand,” said dealer Kevin Ivory, adding that signed jerseys range in price between $1,800 and $4,000.
Ivory, who operates Canada-based All-Star Sports Collectables, said Gretzky’s WGA autographs are the ones collectors want most due to scarcity. Second-most are the ones sold by Upper Deck, a company Gretzky has had a deal with since the early 1990s.
“He’s been with Upper Deck a long time, so there are more of those [autographs],” he added.
The price also varies, Ivory said, based on the “different quality” of the signature.
“It depends whether he was sitting down when he signed,” he said, “or if it was on the fly.”
Ivory said Gretzky, whom he’s met on a number of occasions, won’t be dislodged as a hobby favorite anytime soon.
“He’s a great guy considering how much people bother him for an autograph or a photo,” Ivory said. “All these years later, he remains a great ambassador for the game and for younger fans who have discovered him.”
Clemente Lisi
