In the past, I've portrayed Midlothian Annual Re-Sale Day (MARS Day, for short) as my own personal Christmas. Ever since I was a 90's kid, prowling for deals on lightly used Beanie Babies, Hot Wheels, and Pokemon collectibles, this "holiday" has been circled in red on my calendar. These days, what I target has changed, but the level of anticipation remains the same. That's because, over the last few years, I've stumbled across some nifty things - including a Keith Magnuson autograph, a complete Bowman reprint set, and a full-size Red Bull cooler, among other treasures. You really never know what you're going to find on MARS!
As part of my most recent exploration - Saturday morning - I salvaged a few intriguing items. Don't be alarmed, but the following item somehow made it into my purchase pile:
Bought this (on purpose) at the community wide garage sale event. I don't even know who I am anymore. pic.twitter.com/sKWFTbUucm— Tony Burbs (@RosterJenga) May 5, 2018
While the Cubs' five-game losing streak has been absolutely pitiful, I'm not about to switch allegiances. However, I do attend a fair amount of White Sox games on an annual basis, seeing as I love our nation's pastime, my wife cheers for the Palehose, Sox Park is a short train ride away, and tickets are much more affordable. Since I'm not a jerk and support my city, I always cheer on the home team (except when it's a Crosstown tilt), usually wearing a borrowed cap from my brother. For two bucks, now I can keep things in house with a "Winning Ugly" era hat of my own; you're not going to be able to beat that a Lids location, that's for sure!
Unfortunately, that was the only baseball-related purchase made during my hours of garage sale hunting and baseball cards were nearly completely absent from the bins and boxes. That's okay though - because, with the Cubs' play as of late, I'm not in much of a baseball mood right now anyway. On the other hand, while some cheap DVDs, video games, and a pinata (of all things) helped fill the void, there was still one cardboard-related discovery to be made that made the trek worth it:
Of course, the Blackhawks were extremely disappointing this season, as well; but, as we approach the Stanley Cup finals, I've since gotten over that let-down. Therefore, a new Blackhawks oddball for my burgeoning hockey collection was just the ticket.
This Chico Maki stamp hails from the 1974-75 NHL Action Stamps checklist, a 324-ct set which was issued in promotional strips at participating grocery stores throughout North America. While kids across the country originally obtained these 2.1" x 1.6" hockey "cards" from Loblaw’s, IGA, A&P, Acme, etc., I found mine in a driveway in the "Jolly Homes" neighborhood.
There was still one other way to acquire a sampling of these non-postage stamps and it came in the form of a book:
Issued by the league itself, these books contained a write-up on the previous year's Stanley Cup Champions (the Philadelphia Flyers), profiles for each team competing in the '74-75 season, and - perhaps, most importantly - a full sheet of Action Stamps:
These stamps were intended to be separated, wet, and pasted into corresponding pages for each club's roster. For example, my Chico was intended to be affixed to this page:
As you can see, the whole set-up is quite similar to the popular Topps and Panini sticker albums we see for the various professional sporting leagues today. Also, while I'd rather have had Stan Mikita than Maki, I'm not going to complain about such an interesting, vintage discovery at the bargain-basement price of two dollars. After all, I'd never even heard of these oddities before this weekend.
Chico may have been the only Blackhawk included as part of the one-page sampler; that said, he wasn't the only Chicago-connected player on the sheet:
The trade of Phil Esposito to Boston in 1967 ranks near Brock for Broglio in terms of the worst transactions in Chicago sports history. The center went on to cement a Hall of Fame legacy in Bean Town - but, never forget, the first two seasons of his star-studded career were spent in the Windy City.
Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the spectrum, Joey Johnston spent the last year of his professional hockey career in Chicago. After several years with the Golden Seals, the winger played in 32 games with the Hawks in '75-76, with only five points and zero goals on his ledger.
Unfortunately for me, all three of these men were previously represented (in Indian-head sweaters, no less) in my Blackhawks All-Time Roster Collection. Nevertheless, this was still an intriguing find and a welcome diversion from the baseball atrocities occurring concurrently.
All in all, not a terrible outing for MARS day - nothing out of this world, but I didn't get totally skunked. The Blazing Saddles DVD that I purchased will provide hours worth of entertainment and the stamp book was definitely worth the price of admission. Does anyone else have any 1974-75 NHL Action Stamps of their own, or perhaps further information on this oddball set? Maybe you see a stamp that you need in the sheet above? Does your community have their own version of MARS Day? Feel free to let me know in the comments section below!
You never know what you'll find on a MARS expedition.
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