Oshawa Green Gaels lacrosse trading card from 1966 listing on eBay for $2,500 USD
Published September 23, 2022 at 10:19 am
A lacrosse card from the 1966 Oshawa Green Gaels national champion lacrosse team has shown up on eBay – listing at $2,500 US – the only example of a period lacrosse card which has surfaced from the post WWI era through the 1960s.
The card depicts Neil Armstrong (no, not the man who landed on the moon or the Hockey Hall of Fame linesman), who won four Minto Cup junior titles with the Green Gaels and added a Mann Cup senior championship with the Brooklin Redmen in 1969.
Don Gibson uncovered this little tidbit and posted it on the Vintage Oshawa Facebook page, noting that lacrosse trading cards were practically unheard of and the only reason the 1966 series was issued was thanks to the influence of the team’s coach, the legendary Jim Bishop.
Bishop, who led the Green Gaels to a record-smashing seven straight Minto Cup championships between 1963 (the team’s inaugural season) and 1969, was the sports director of Oshawa radio station CKLB at the time and on the heels of a successful trading card co-promotion of the 1965-66 Oshawa Generals featuring the great Bobby Orr, Bishop decided to have CKLB and Crown Life Insurance sponsor his Oshawa Green Gaels lacrosse card set for the 1966 season.
This card is the only one from that season that has appeared on the market, though there about two dozen players honoured, including lacrosse icons like Gaylord Powless, Jim Higgs, Don Stinson and Peter Vipond.
If they had made a set featuring the 1964 team it would possibly have included the very first card of any kind featuring Bobby Orr, who played four games with the Green Gaels that year as a 16 year-old.
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As to the card itself, it is in Very Good (VG 3) condition with minor wrinkles and measures 4.25 inches by six inches in size. If you have $3,348.63 (the Canadian dollar equivalent) or like to strike a hard bargain, check it out on eBay.
