Description
Very rare Wayne Gretzky red Custom Pro game used stick. These type sticks were used by Gretzky during 1980 and 1981 pre seasons as evidenced by pictures from the book, An Oiler Forever. On page 48, Gretz is shown using this exact type stick and tape job. The 75th Oilers patch on his sleeve as well as having no name plate on the jersey which was from pre season action. This stick comes from the original owner who was a rep for Titan in Ontario Canada. This was purchased from his son who was given the stick as a 7-year-old. The letter is included and shown in the photos.
This stick is just a perfect example of a Gretzky gamer. Nice early tape job on the blade with puck marks and taped the way Gretzky always had his done early in his NHL career. Really nice use on this pearl with almost totally faded signature from 1980. Very small in size as Gretz used a very short stick early on. The corners are all rounded as Gretzky liked till mid season when the white Titan TPM that he used for all his amazing records, came to be. We have only seen one other example of this stick making it a very nice stick to add to any Gretzky collection.
Wayne Gretzky is one of the top 3 players of all time in NHL history. He changed the game with his scoring and knack for knowing where the puck would be several seconds before others did. Not many will challenge his records but they said that about Gordie Howe as well. It would seem a very tough task as Gretzky scored and assisted with numbing regularity, difficult to do in this type of NHL.
Gretzky played 20 seasons in the NHL for four teams from 1979 to 1999, retiring at the age of 38. Nicknamed "the Great One", he has been called the greatest ice hockey player ever by many sportswriters, players, The Hockey News, and the NHL itself, based on extensive surveys of hockey writers, ex-players, general managers and coaches. Gretzky is the leading career goal scorer, assist producer and point scorer in NHL history, and has more career assists than any other player has total points. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season, a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, Gretzky tallied over 100 points in 15 professional seasons, 13 of them consecutive. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and 6 All-Star records.
