Cardboard Craze: 500 Goal Scorers

Don't try to deny it, we've all done it. Whether you were an old school OPC collector, a 90s Pro Set collector or a youngin who collects Yu-Gi-Oh cards, we have all collected some sort of cardboard at some point in our life. While some of us have given up on it, there are also many who still continue to collect.

Personally, I stopped during the mid 90s when Pacific was just coming out. Seven years later, during Rick Nash's rookie season, my buddy asked me if I wanted to buy some just for kicks. Bad idea. Much like a recovering junkie, I got a little taste and got hooked back into it.

I wasn't much of a set collector. I enjoyed themes. I collected the Leafs in general but I also focused on a couple of budding Leaf prospects...well, at least they were prospects at the time (Kyle Wellwood and Jeremy Williams). I also enjoyed collecting autographed cards and would make projects out of those. One of those projects were to obtain an autograph of every 500 goal scorer. Here are the fruits of my labour in the order they reached the milestone.

1. Maurice Richard
2. Gordie Howe
3. Bobby Hull
4. Jean Beliveau
5. Frank Mahovlich
6. Phil Esposito
7. Johnny Bucyk
8. Stan Mikita
9. Marcel Dionne
10. Guy Lafleur
11. Mike Bossy
12. Gilbert Perrault
13. Wayne Gretzky
14. Lanny McDonald
15. Bryan Trottier
16. Mike Gartner
17. Michel Goulet
18. Jari Kurri
19. Dino Ciccarelli
20. Mario Lemieux
21. Mark Messier
22. Steve Yzerman
23. Dale Hawerchuk
24. Brett Hull
25. Joe Mullen
26. Dave Andreychuk
27. Luc Robitaille
28. Pat Verbeek
29. Ron Francis
30. Brendan Shanahan
31. Joe Sakic
32. Joe Nieuwendyk
33. Jaromir Jagr
34. Pierre Turgeon
35. Mats Sundin
36. Teemu Selanne
37. Peter Bondra
38. Mark Recchi
39. Mike Modano
40. Jeremy Roenick
41. Keith Tkachuk

This actually took me a while to complete. A few of the cards were rather expensive (The Rocket, Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Howe) and a few were hard to come by (Sundin, Shanahan, Nieuwendyk, Sakic, Gartner). It was a fun little thing to put together and the good part is that it's never-ending because there will eventually be more players reaching this milestone.

While I have stopped collecting a couple years ago, I do pick up a couple of packs here and there or I might pick up a card on ebay every now and then. I guess I will always be a nerd at heart. If you still collect or if you don't but want to relive the nostalgia then come on down to the Toronto Card Show this Sunday. I haven't been since I stopped collecting but I will make an attempt to get down there this weekend.