A Special Bond
Ifirst “met” Bob Tillson when he responded to one of my classified ads where I was selling those Canadian-exclusive 1990-91 Kra cards to American collectors. I had lots of customers in Pittsburgh and Boston and Philadelphia, but he was the only one who was looking for Washington Capitals cards … and he would take all that I could get him. We exchanged the occasional letter back then, and we’d help each other track down various items for our collections.
Over time we lost touch, but he reached out to me through the magazine a few years back. It was great to hear that he’d remained active in the hobby and was still a passionate supporter of the Caps, as he had been since Day One of the franchise.
And that’s the funny thing about Bob. As much as he reveled in their unlikely run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1998, the Alex Ovechkin era, and the thrilling championship in 2018, he loved nothing more than those early years of the franchise when the sad-sack Caps were the NHL’s answer to the Washington Generals. He had endless stories about hanging around the team’s practice facility to gather autographs from the likes of Yvon Labre, Ron Low, and Greg Joly, and collecting broken sticks and pucks that he’d find around the rink. He said one of the greatest days of his life was when, on a family vacation to the Maritimes, he discovered that 1974-75 O-Pee-Chee packs held additional Capitals cards beyond those he’d found in Topps packs back home.
So I wasn’t entirely surprised when he turned down my request to pen a story about Ovechkin’s race to 800 goals and suggested instead a look at the worst team in NHL history, those 1974-75 Caps.
“ere’s been so much written already about Ovechkin,” he said. “I’d rather introduce people to the guys who mean so much to me … a reminder that there’s more than one reason to build a collection.”
Tillson, who owns more than 500 Ovechkin cards, was as excited as anyone when the Great 8 finally joined the exclusive 800-goal club on December 13. But he was even more thrilled to share his unique approach to the hobby.
“ere’s a special bond that fans develop with their favorite teams when they’re kids. at’s something everyone can relate to,” he said. “My favorite team just happened to be terrible.”
You can read about collecting those ‘74-75 Caps on pg. 20. And remember, if you have a unique hobby story to share like Bob does, I’d love to hear about it.