Becoming a Bruins fan

Not many people can credit a hockey card for bringing them to love their favorite team. But then again, when you're four years old you do a lot of unexplained things.

Such was the story of my young life. Living in NJ, I had some exposure to hockey. My father was a Rangers fan so I got to watch the hockey games on TV at night and laugh at the poop on the ice (yes, I thought the puck was a turd...we're talking low def 1970's TVs here with the best reception an antenna on the roof could provide). But my best recollection of hockey was the cards my father occasionally brought home for me. I must have thumbed through those cards thousands of times. Examing each card carefully. Doing my best to understand the cartoons on the back and occasionally doodling on them (which the late eighties card collector version of myself never forgave me for).

But I remember the card that made me a Bruins fan. It was a 1973-74 Topps Gregg Sheppard card. I had no clue who he was, but that white jersey with the black and gold trim really intrigued me. Throw in the vintage 70's long hair and obligatory moustache and we had a winner. Although this card long ago became buried in a card box in my basement, I believe that's the card in the second row of the picture up top.

Although my dad told me about Bobby Orr, Johnny Bucyk and Phil Esposito (who he would curse years later in a Rangers uni), it was Bobby Schmautz who quickly became my favorite card in the upcoming years. I honestly can't remember why, but to me he seemed the unheralded hero...the guy who had over a hundred career goals on the back of his card, but who never seemed to be as popular as Orr and Esposito.

Man, those were the days. I've got almost all my old cards stashed in the basement hoping my kids will take the same interest I did.

But if any of them get allured by the red & white Canadien uniforms, they're out of my will.