Thursday, June 11, 2009

Hall of Fame Thursday - Lord Stanley

2008 UD Masterpieces #1 Lord Stanley

Lord Frederick Stanley donated the Stanley Cup in 1893 to honor Canada's top amateur team. Since 1926 the Cup has been awarded to the NHL Champion. The 2008-09 Champion will be crowned on Friday Night. The Cup will either be retained by the current cup holding Detroit Red Wings or passed on to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Stanley Cup is the oldest traveling trophy in the history of North America. Each year all the members of the championship teams names are engraved on the cups chalice. There are several traditions that follow the cup including drinking champagne from the cup following the victory and the players day with cup - which gives each member of the championship team an opportunity to spend a day with the Stanley Cup.

UD Masterpieces one and only hockey set featured several great hockey players from the past and part of the beauty of the set is that it honored Lord Stanley with the first card in the set. It is a shame that Masterpieces is going to go away but I am glad that they were able to put out both a Hockey and a Football set before eliminating the line.

It has also been noted by Sports Cards Uncensored that the original artwork for some of the Masterpieces cards has gone on sale at prices of $299 and up.

a thousand words

a thousand words
2008 World Champions