Bill Ranford: Top 20 post-retirement

**30ranfordfan** · 04-20-2020, 02:14 PM

It's been 20 years since my favourite player of all time, Bill Ranford, retired! I've been having fun with with a couple of top 20 lists!

I realized when doing my first "top 20" thread, there was no way I was going to be able to pick JUST 20 cards, so I decided to split things into two threads. A top 20 for cards that came out while he still played (through the 99-00 season) and then a top 20 for cards after he retired.

Of course, while doing this, that was too tough too. Ha! So, I made a snap decision... this "top 20" is missing two things, that will both get their own threads later: The Cup, and "true 1 of 1s". So yeah, no Cup cards in here... and none of the true 1of1s either. By "true" I mean "not a parallel". 1 of 1s can (and do) exist in this thread.

Anyway, ask me to put this list together again next week, and maybe I'd come up with something different. I also took liberties with "rainbows". I set out to just show specific cards, or a card & all of the parallels. Far too often I just ended up including all the cards from a release. It's my thread though, so I'm allowed to break my own format / rules :)

If you missed my "top 20 while active" (showing only cards that came out before Ranford retired)thread, you can view it here:
https://www.sportscardforum.com/thre...0-while-active

Without further adieu....

00-01 In The Game Ultimate Memoribilia. The 1st Edition! I remember reading this checklist, and thinking I MIGHT be able to get a hold of the regular jersey (/50) but there was no chance of landing the patch /10. It was a few years later (2005, maybe?) when I finally got that patch.

These were Ranford's first Game Used cards.

00-01 Upper Deck Black Diamond Game Gear. Maybe this was his first GU card? I don't know. The card shouldn't exist. Maybe you read Curt's (GabbyGuy) thread about this set. He's who I acquired the card from, a number of years ago. It's apparently a prototype, that was never supposed to be packed out. Ranford was cut from the final checklist.

The first GU cards Upper Deck meant to put into packs! This set is still gorgeous today. 01-02 SP Game Used Tools of Game should go down as one of UD's best GU sets, any release, period. Not every player is a superstar, but the design is spectacular, IMO.

I've got all six cards Ranford was included on: Leg Pad, Leg Pad /Auto. Dual Leg Pad with Grant Guhr. Dual Leg Pad & Auto with Grant Fuhr. Dual Leg Pad & Auto with Johan Hedberg. Triple Leg Pad with Grant Fuhr & Tony Esposito.

2002-03 Upper Deck Foundations. A couple of more firsts: Ranford's first stick card, and his first UD Jersey cards. The Lasting Impressions stick card, I think the look still holds up well today. The Foundations jersey are probably not in my top 40 for jersey card design.... but the early release, the photo of him with the Conn Smythe, and the swatches all help to keep these at the top of my list. I actually spent 2 years trying to track down a plain white swatch for the Bronze card. after I had plain blue & orange for the Gold & Silver. Seemed like the right way to collect them at the time, and I'll admit that most aspects of "the hunt" don't stick in my memory for a lot of cards, but for that bronze (white) jersey card, it still does.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2iSj6ud]0607InternationalIce by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/156908415@N04/]Sean McCafferty , on Flickr

2006-07 In The Game International Ice. I didn't include any of Ranford's Team Canada cards in the "active" list, though I thought about it. I had to do it this time. International Ice was such an awesome set. The Gold Base parallels are /10, and virtually impossible to find. Gold Copies of the Jersey cards are also /10, an equally hard to track down. Pretty sure these are also my only jersey cards of Pat Lafontaine!

2007-08 Sweet Shots. That's Ice Signings, Puck Signings, Pad, and Stick! These cards all look great IMO. Not true parallels of each other, but show some great ways that signatures can be put onto cards besides cardboard.

2009-10 UD Black - Oilers Booklet

These cards are both a pain to store, and a pain to scan. Too large for my scanner, and more than 10 years later, they still don't make one touches for them.

It's a great looking card though, and one of two in this series that featured Ranford (there was an all-goalies one too).

This one has six vintage Oilers: Fuhr, Kurri, Anderson, Gretzky, Ranford, Messier... and six that were current at the time: Horcoff, Hemsky, Pouliet, O'Sullivan, Cogliano, Gagner.

2011-12 UD Artifacts

I have had a love-hate relationship with Artifacts over the years. I remember chasing after everything in 05-06 (never did get it) and the frustration over yet another round of parallels lead to hobby-hiatus for me in 2006-07 (lasted a couple of years, but haven't taken one since!). The 2019-20 edition, I just didn't care to chase them all down.

2011-12 is the one variety of Artifacts where I actually was able to complete it! This is a 16 card "rainbow":

Base, and parallels: Emerald /99, Spectrum /25.
Four regular dual GU cards: Jersey /125, Emerald Patch /65, Spectrum Patch /15, Black Tag & Patch /50
Four horizontal dual GU cards: Jersey /50, Emerald Patch /35, Spectrum Patch /9, Black Patch & Tag /2
One Autographed card: Black Autographs /5
Four Autograph & dual GU cards: Auto Dual Jersey /10, Emerald Patch / Jersey / Auto /8, Spectrum dual Patch & Auto /3, Black Tag / Patch / Auto 1/1

It's also one of those freaky mash-up cards. You all probably realize that the Oilers don't wear Yellow. The material taken for these cards was from a Bruins jersey.

1112BTP

2011-12 In The Game Between The Pipes. I might do another show & tell soon with my mini-master set of this release. Loved it.

I didn't scan all the Ranfords from this set, but did these two. The 10th Anniversary Stick & Jersey is limited to 10 copies, and this one has the closest thing to a "property of" / "stick rack" as I own.
The Shooting Gallery: These are just plain awesome cards. Four of Edmonton's best goalies of all time (Ranford, Fuhr, Cujo, Salo) and two guys who were current at the time (Khabibulin, Dubnyk).

201-112 Panini Limited Game Pucks

I really liked a lot of the stuff Panini put out during their bring tenure in the hockey hobby. This set I really liked not only the look, but them trying something different.

The card is limited to 20 copies. There was also a prime version /5 available (I assume none were plain black pieces). I've never seen a copy of the Prime Ranford, other than the one that was used in the preview pics for this set, it showed an NHL shield cut from the puck. Would love to track that card (or another one of the five down) eventually.

2011-12 SP Authentic Sign of The Times 5s

I don't own too many cards with more than 4 signatures, Ranford or otherwise. This one is a great looking piece, from a great looking set.

I'm not sure what the common link is for these five guys to be on the same card... they did all represent Canada. Maybe that's it?
I'll point out that just one of them is not in the Hall of Fame, and these would be my only signatures of HOFers Roy & Vachon.

Anyway, awesome card, and very rare. Only 8 copies made. I have not seen one of these show up for sale since the set came out.

2011-12 SP Game Used Supreme Pads

This card shows exactly why SPGU can be an awesome set. Personally, I really like the jersey #ed Rookies (and the deep checklist). The Game Used material they use on some of the cards is spectacular, like this one. The recent years I see they put way too much junk into the set..... but the bigger hits (Supreme) are still great.

I'm not sure you're going to find a nicer looking Pad card of Ranford anywhere.

2012-13 In The Game Motown Madness

I was floored when I saw this checklist come out! In the 1998-99 season, Bill was traded to Detroit (from Tampa) at the deadline. He played 4 regular season games, and 4 more in the playoffs. ITG got a hold of one of those jerseys, and included him in this release!

I've got both the Red & Gold versions of the jersey card, the red version of the Patch card, and the SSP Auto. I also have Gibraltar Show Stamps of the Red Patch & Auto. While I've lost my interest in most Show Stamps over the years, I would definitely add more Gibraltar-Motown ones if they came up.

2013-14 Black Diamond

Not just Ranford :)

The Bill Ranford card here is actually and SP. They're pretty tough to track down. Since the release, I've probably only seen a handful. The other cards weren't too tough to find, and msot don't cost much - so completely the puzzel seemed like a great idea. Park, Neely, Murray, Esposito, Bourque. Pretty nince collection of names there!

I also have an auto'd version of of the Ranford, #ed /5.

2013-14 In The Game Between The Pipes

With all the great cards ITG did in their BTP releases of Ranford over the years, I had to show my run in at least one set (base not included). Jersey Silver & Gold (/10). Patch /10. The Masked Men Memoribila & Auto cards are /10, and the Patch / Auto & Memoribila / Auto cards are /5.

The "base" Autograph is extremely rare. I have yet to see another copy. This looks like the base card, but has the autograph included. It was one of the "no stamp" cards that was included in ITG Final Vault. I had seen it on the checklist, so I knew to keep an eye out for it. Came up on eBay with a pretty low BIN, and I couldn't hit it fast enough. As I said... I've never seen another copy, so I can only specular how many are out there.

2013-14 National Treasures - Treasure Chest.

Brodeur / Roy / Belfour / Vanbiesbrouck / Joseph / Esposito / Fuhr / Barasso / Luongo / Vachon / Nabokov / Khabibulin / Richter / Vokoun / Hextall / Lundqvist / Miller / Fleury / Turco / Parent / Potvin / Giguere / Ranford / Cheevers.

My fingers got tiered typing that :)

It's a beatuy of card. 24 goalies. This particular copy has the best piece of Ranford's stick that I've yet to see. I'm pretty sure they were put on the card in order of career win totals, at the time (it was 7 years ago!). They wouldn't be in the same order today (of course).

2014-15 Upper Deck Series 1

Not a rainbow, lol.

These five cards all came out of the 2014-15 edition of Upper Deck Series 1. The Game Jersey is a nice 2-colour version. Not too many of those around (and they did not make a patch variation). The Day with the Cup is a great card, and one I was thrilled to see made. He's not on any other card as a member of the Kings (where he's the goalie coach).

There's a pair of buyback included here, and the Conn Smythe winner is signed. While I think UD has overdone it with the buybacks in recent years (this was the 2nd time these cards were used, if you include the French buybacks from 2010, and they've been done again this year as 1/1s) the fact they continue to do this stuff shows you what a demand is out there for nostalgia card like these.

The YG is actually a Priority Signing that was only available at the Expo. I wish they would have picked a different photo.... one from his first stint in Boston, not his second, but I love the classic design of these cards, and am happy I did land one. Not easy to find today.

1516Exquisite

2015-16 Exquisite Collection. Pretty sure these were released via packs of Black Diamond, but maybe my memory is wrong?

Anyway, another great pad card - taken from the Vaughn logo (a lot like my SPGU from a few years earlier). The Stick & Auto isn't nearly as rare, but a great looking card.

1516Supremes

2015-16 SP Game Used Supreme Stick & Patch.

What else do I need to say? These two are great looking cards, limited to just 15 copies each. While I would be fine never seeing another SPGU Banner Year card again... Supremes are still incredibly popular for a reason. UD puts in jumbo pieces of memoribilia, and typically uses premium peices.

2017-18 Leaf Masked Men. A few different Rainbows :)

I get some people don't like the unlicensed stuff, but Leaf, IMO, has done well at improving their products. Masked Men from 2017-18 - for me - has been the best Ranford content they'd done, and its not even close (there's been some 1-of-1 stuff in other sets too, that are awesome, but I'll share those another day.)

I left out the Goalie Graphs (I've got three of six variations) and the Decade of Dominance (6x Goalie GU) of which I have two of the six variations. Those are nice cards, but not the beauties these are.

What you're see here first are the Masked Men Metal inserts. Scans don't do them justice.
The first six are the "regular" Metal cards: Silver, Blue /35, Purple /15, Pink /10, Black /7, Green /5. I'm missing Orange /3, Red /2.
Then there is the "Wave" version. Those six are Silver, Blue /20, Purple /9, Pink /6, Green /4, Orange /3. I'm missing Black /5, Red /2.
Last three shown are the 1/1s. There is the Gold & Super versions of the regular, and the Gold Wave. All three are 1/1s.

Next up, the Signature Goalies. The combo of GU & Autos look great. The colours pop on these things too. They're seial numbered out of 20, 9, 5, 3, 2, and 1! I've also got one of the printing plates.

Last, but certainly not least, are the Goalie Gear GU Cards. These things also look awesome in person, and I've completed the rainbow. Numbered out of 15, 7, 5, 3, 2, and 1/1.

If you're sitting on a card (plates included from either of these sets not shown here, please LMK :)

And that's it for part 2, my 20 favourites from post-retirement..... even though I butchered the idea of "20", and I left out the Cup stuff and true 1-of-1s to give that stuff it's own thread!

**creasecollector** · 04-20-2020, 07:27 PM

Incredible showing! Such a great look at a lot of sets in here. I really love those Masked Men cards at the end. That (Almost) Rainbow is something to be super proud of! Best of luck filling the remaining gaps!