To celebrate our new banner I thought I would post an article I have writen on the Junior Blue Tints, this has never been published and it has some great new information. Enjoy all! Bobby
OHA Blue Tints & The Bottom of the River
Many of 1950s minor league hockey card sets are still steeped in mystery as to who actually produced them or how they were distributed and to our favor today, this article may well clear a few things regarding a couple of junior anonymous issues.
Perhaps, some may recall this, an only too familiar company name from a more recent hobby alteration, that being the 1951-52 Laval Dairy set, in which the name was changed to the correct manufacturer, Bedard & Donaldson.
This set was long time thought to be released by Laval Dairy until a wrapper and advertisement was produced to set the record straight. The Beliveau card has Laval Dairy on it which leads people to believe these were issued by them but my feeling is that because Beliveau was under contract with Laval Dairy, this is the only way they would have allowed his photo and or card to be issued.
A marvelous new discovery of the 1952-53 Anonymous Junior Blue Tints through a gum wrapper, makes this set, anonymous no more! And to no surprise the manufacture of these cards are yet again, issued by Bedard & Donaldson Ltd. The wrapper measures 5 ¾ wide by 5 ¼ high.
![[linked image]](http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq37/BobbyB_photo/1952Wrappere.jpg)
Firstly, the 1952-53 Junior blue tints cards are a very unique issue, in that, they were made up of 12 out of the 13 different teams, nine from the Junior A league of the OHA (Ontario Hockey Association), and four teams from the QJHA (Quebec Junior Hockey Association).
The teams that are represented in this set are: (OHA)- Barrie Flyers, Galt Black Hawks, Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters, Kitchener Greenshirts, Oshawa Generals, St. Catherines Tee Pees, St. Michaels Majors and Windsor Spitfires. (QJHA)- Montreal Royals, Montreal Jr. Canadiens, Quebec Citadels and the Three-Rivers Reds.
With all the new information, the name of this issue should be adjusted to 1952-53 Junior Blue Tints, Surely we can drop the anonymous and I have seen it also documented as OHL, which in fact it was the OHA and QJHA.
The anomaly of this set is that the Toronto Marlboros were not issued in this card set but were certainly part of the very same OHA league, even their team name is listed on the wrapper, so something must have happened in a legal sense or having two Toronto based teams Marlboros and Majors was just too much?.
These two leagues were combined in what was known as an interlocking schedule, something rather new in this era of hockey. Thus, when Ontario teams were scheduled to play the Quebec teams, they would usually play as many games as the schedule allowed while in that particular province for about week at a time.
At the end of the schedule the nine OHA teams would playoff for the Championship and would be followed by a best-of-seven series to win the George Richardson Trophy as eastern Canadian representatives for the Memorial Cup. The Memorial Cup would then be played by the winners of the WHL (Western Hockey League) and the Richardson Trophy Winners. The Barrie Flyers went on to win this years championship.
Now the cards themselves are quite reminiscent to the early Parkhurst style of production and this is no small set either, with a whopping 182 cards from 13 different teams will surely keep you on the hunt for some time.
If you were to chase this set down, you might also find that it more difficult to find the higher number players, than the lower numbered, who knows, there may well be a second series wrapper out there? No wonder its so hard to find a Don Cherry or Henri Richard!
Essentially each card measures 2 x 3 but due to the raw nature of how this set was cut (guillotine), measurements tend to average 1/16 less in both directions and can even run more than 1/8 over in size.
The blue tint moniker bestowed to these cards is description enough and each reverse contains the players name/ team, where he was born and what position they played plus the card number as well. No indication to any manufacturer, no hints, nothing.
This set boasts many great future NHL stars such as Don Cherry, Camile Henry, Harry Sinden, Charlie Hodge and Henri Richard to name but a few.
Enter the second set of blue tint cards that were issued by the so-called name Bas Du Fleuve. It wouldnt take a rocket scientist to put two and two together and come up with the equation that Bedard and Donaldson have struck again.
Having always wondered what the translation of this French named set to English text was and I am sure you have too, I took a few minutes out to surf it up and Bas Due Fleuve in essence means the bottom of the river.
The bottom of the river doesnt have a great ring to this set in English so actually Bas Du Fleuve it will stay. This set was named for the teams that circled around the bottom end of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec and now makes much more sense.
A much smaller set at almost 1/3 the size and unfortunately doesnt contain very many stars but still nice none the less. This set is often mistaken for the OHA Blue Tints as they measure the same.
Hopefully one day we will find a wrapper for this Bas Due Fleuve set, I am sure it will also have Bedard & Donaldson on it as well.
