Hockey Update: Vaclav Nedomansky, My Nemesis

One project I've been working on over the past year is to pull together every card in the 66-card 1974-75 O-Pee-Chee WHA hockey set. I didn't ever buy any batches of these either, aside from maybe 6-8 cards when I first started....it's all been assembled one-by-one, and 100% via mail-order, since I haven't seen any of these cards at shows or in stores. 

The cards that were easier (and cheaper) to come by than I'd expected were #1 - the Gordie/Mark/ Marty Howe card, with father, son and son all playing for the Houston Aeros. Then there's card #50, Hall of Famer and all-time legend Bobby Hull, playing for the Winnipeg Jets. I thought that one was going to really set me back, and I think I got it for $4 (it helps when you don't care too much about condition; anything that's not brutally bent and frayed is usually good enough for my collection).

No, the card that I still can't find for a decent price is card #49, Vaclav Nedomansky. This was not a player I was familiar with, and shame on me for that. He's in the Hockey Hall of Fame as well; in my defence, he was inducted in 2019, and wasn't in when I visited the hall in Toronto in 2010 or so (great museum!). Nadomansky's '74-'75 card usually runs $40 all the way up into the hundreds on eBay. Granted, it is his rookie card. But he's keeping me one card shy of completing the 66-card set. 

My hockey projects so far have been small potatoes but really fun. I collected every Topps Oakland Seals/California Golden Seals card, and I'm several cards shy of completing 2001-02 Topps Heritage Hockey. Getting that Nedomansky will be my crowning hockey achievement, such as it is, and then maybe I'll think about tackling another WHA set down the line.