THE MURRAY’S MYSTERY
Loaded with future NHL stars, the Murray’s Potato Chips St. Catherines Teepees set has always been popular with vintage collectors. But questions abound, including when it was issued, what are the red ink cards … and where’s Bobby Hull?
Next to bubble gum, there’s nothing that matches quite as well with trading cards as potato chips.
Manufacturers of the salty snacks have long used cards as an incentive to lure consumers to their products, from the Dan-Dee baseball sets of the 1950s, through the Frito-Lay NFL sets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, to the Humpty Dumpty hockey sets of the ‘90s. ere was something about the chance to reach into a bag and pull out a cellophane-wrapped card of your favorite player that consistently drove sales across North America
at track record had to be front of mind in the competitive potato chip market of Ontario’s Niagara Region. During the 1950s, the area was home to at least two chip makers, Murray’s and Lever, that battled for attention with Canada’s national brands. While Lever tried to win customer loyalty with an odd, orangehued 100-card series highlighting Canadian coins and currency, Murray’s countered with cards featuring players from the local junior team, the St. Catherines Teepees.
e organization has undergone multiple changes over the years – it now exists as the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League – but back then it served as the top junior team of the Chicago Blackhawks. At the time, young players weren’t dra ed into the NHL. Instead, they were signed directly to a junior team controlled by the organization. And Chicago’s scouts had done a terrific job loading the Teepees with exciting talent.
During the 1956-57 season, the roster featured several players who would go on to skate in the NHL, including John McKenzie, Chico Maki, Wayne Hillman, Matt Ravlich and Roy Edwards. Coach Rudy Pilous would later steer the Blackhawks to the 1961 Stanley Cup.
ere also were two very highprofile prospects on the roster: Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita. While the team finished third in the OHA that season, they were a huge hit in the area, making the Teepees a natural for the Murray’s trading card promotion.
e main set includes just nine players: Mikita, Maki, McKenzie, Ravlich, Edwards, Bob Corupe,
Don Cosburn, Don Grosso, and Ed Hoekstra. e black-and-white cards feature a head shot on the front and are unnumbered, though the player’s jersey number is listed on the back before a brief bio.
For decades, it was believed that this set was released in 1957-58. However, the bio on the Mikita card suggests otherwise.“Just 16 years old and straight out of St. Catherines minor hockey as a midget, Mikita is the youngest player on the team.”
at use of the present tense makes it clear that these cards actually were issued during his rookie campaign in 1956-57, four years before Mikita’s 1960-61 Topps RC. It’s also unlikely, given the high percentage of player turnover from year-to-year in junior hockey, that any promotion would be built around the previous year’s roster, so this set must now be recognized as a ‘56-57 release.
Given the limited, regional distribution, it’s no surprise these cards are incredibly hard to find today. Fewer than 20 examples have been graded over the years, with none of them deemed better than a PSA 4 VG-EX.
at speaks both to their overall scarcity and condition sensitivity (rounded corners are a standard feature). As a result, the cards tend to sell fairly well, no matter the grade. A Mikita in PSA 2.5 Good+ condition sold for $810 in a December, 2019 Robert Edwards Auction. An unslabbed copy in poor condition traded for $600 in a confirmed private sale earlier that same year.
While these nine cards are fairly well known to vintage collectors, another grouping of five Teepees cards remains cloaked in mystery.
e singles of Bob Smith, Rino Robazza, Gary McDermott, Les Solomon and Pat Adair feature a unique design highlighted by red typeface on the front. Adair, a 16-year-old center, played just eight games for the Teepees in 1956-57. Smith, the team’s third goalie, appeared in four. McDermott and Solomon saw more action, but also were with the organization for only that one season. So it’s all but certain the five cards were issued in 1956-57 as part of a second series. But their existence begs the question: If there were nine cards in the first series, were there really just five cards issued in the second? And if there were more, was Bobby Hull among them?
Rumors of a Teepees Hull card have circulated for years, and while I can’t personally confirm it exists, it’s hard to imagine the fine folks at Murray’s would have overlooked him. Hull, who had scored 11 times as a 16-year-old the previfor ous season, exploded 33 goals in 1956-57, marking him for stardom in the NHL and a certainty for inclusion.
e card, assuming it exists, would pre-date his 1958-59 Topps RC by two years and would be worth thousands, even in the lower grades that cards from these sets are typically found.
Or maybe even more. ese putative second series cards seem to be significantly tougher to find than the first series, with less than a dozen having been graded. A two-card lot featuring an SGC 3 Robazzo and an SGC 2.5 Smith sold for the bargain price of $362.40 in a June, 2020 Leland’s auction. ey’ve subsequently re-surfaced with asking prices of more than $1,000 each.
Clearly, the 1956-57 Teepees set is one of the most significant junior issues of the post-war era. But even with some major questions cleared up, others linger. If you have further information, please send it along and we’ll share it with our readers.