Ken Reid - Hockey Card Stories 2 - 59 More True Tales from Your Favourite Players

Chris Carlin

Never meet your heroes. Its something you have probably heard before, and often you will find it to be true.

I remember a public autograph signing I was involved in for Upper Deck. The young basketball player showed up over an hour late with no explanation or apology. Fans were genuinely excited to see him and get his autograph, but he had nothing to say to them. He didnt smile for photographs. He would not shake the outstretched hands of fans coming through. It was awkward.

I experienced more and more of that behaviour over my early years of doing events and it caused my love for most professional athletes to wane. I wasnt dealing much with hockey, though. To be honest, I was not much of a hockey fan when I came to work for Upper Deck in late 1997. Growing up in Southern California, my passion was baseball, football, and basketball, so those are the athletes I wanted to meet.

An employee I worked with kept telling me, Chris, youve got to do the NHL All-Star event. I had never gone because its around the same time as other big sports events I liked going to. Finally, I acquiesced and booked my trip to the 2008 NHL All-Star weekend in Atlanta.

At the All-Star fan fair, I was surprised to see big-name players walking around with their families and friends. When we went to the parties, they were there and happy to talk with fans. When I was introduced to them, they werent just cordial, they were downright friendly. Im just an ordinary guy, but now Im cracking jokes with millionaire superstar athletes. During the weekend, we ended up at an after-party in a sponsored suite. We were playing Guitar Hero with players like Brandon Dubinsky and Corey Perry. It was totally surreal.

Then I saw what they were doing on the ice, and I was blown away. They were exceptionally talented. They were incredibly tough. I was hooked and I had a new favourite sport with plenty of great players (both on and off the ice) to cheer for.

It wasnt too long after that when I met Ken Reid at the Sport Card & Memorabilia Expo in Mississauga, Ontario. After my first interaction with Ken, I remember thinking that he was a super nice guy who desperately needed some time in the sun. Now, understand, Im pigmentally challenged as well, so I feel Kens pain.

I was impressed with his remarkable hockey knowledge and genuine appreciation for the glory days of hockey cards. When Upper Deck came on the hockey-card scene, it was a game-changer. Over time, though, the collecting base grew more interested in exciting insert cards that contained pieces of game-used jerseys or authentic autographs from players instead of traditional base cards, even if they featured great photography.

Many purists like Ken still carry a flame for great photography on hockey cards, and card photography remains a huge priority for the Upper Deck company. Youd be surprised to know how hotly contested some topics are; raised voices can be heard outside conference rooms and offices as the decisions are made on which photographs will make their way into different card sets.

Upper Deck is almost fanatical about using the best photography available for trading card sets, especially the flagship Upper Deck Series 1 and Series 2 NHL sets. I love watching the image-selection process before the cards go to press and looking at the uncut sheets of those products coming through.

It is a thrill seeing collectors reactions to the cards when they hit the market in shops or at events. Whats even more interesting is when players get to see their cards and hearing their reactions to them. Its not something fans get to see or hear about, until Ken got involved.

In Hockey Card Stories 2, Ken will take you behind the curtain to ask hockey players what they think about some of their most iconic cards. Their responses are comical, enlightening, and, in some cases, surprising.