1990-91 CCM Home Game Worn Jersey
#11 John Cullen with Alternate Captain's "A"
Manufacturer: CCM
Size: 52
Purchased From: Facebook Game Worn Hockey Jersey Collectors Group
Lettered by: Century Sports/NJK Lettering
The Story: If you've read other pages on this website, you've seen me refer to certain jerseys as "The One." Usually, that speaks to a special jersey for me and it's an inside joke in my house, as my wife always teases me about a particular jersey being "The One" when I add it to my collection. In the case of this jersey, however, I need to be more specific. This jersey is "The One That Started It All!"
The first hockey jersey I ever bought, way back during 1990-91 season, was a John Cullen 1990-91 Home Replica Jersey. I was in college at the time and knew I wanted a John Cullen jersey. Even then, the player whose jersey I'd wear was important, and Cullen was the first player I ever considered my favorite. I'm not going to repeat all of the reasons why - they're listed on the page that features my John Cullen 1989-90 Road Gamer - but suffice to say that Cullen, in my opinion, epitomized what I considered to be a complete hockey player. That's a big reason why this jersey is so special to me. Back at the time I bought my first jersey, I hadn't learned anything about the difference between authentic and replica jerseys, and actual game-worn jerseys weren't even on my radar screen. But as my collection grew and I learned more and more, my "pipe dream" goal was always to add this jersey to my collection. I've seen a few Cullen gamers in various auctions and on eBay, but they were always out of my price range at the particular time. This one became available from a collector on Facebook's Game Worn Hockey Jersey Collectors group in 2018, but it was a big purchase that didn't quite fit into the family's finances at the time. The jersey remained available, and I contacted the owner and expressed my interest. After saving for a while, I let the owner know my intentions of buying it and he was kind enough to hold it for me.
In the meantime, I did a ton of research on this particular jersey - more than I had ever done on any jersey in the past - the details of which are linked at the bottom of this page. I found out that this jersey was sold in 2015 by GameWornAuctions.net as a 1988-89 rookie jersey. Much like my 1989-90 Road Jersey, the assumption on the year was made because the small-block CCM logo on the rear hem and the gold toe on the crest (the result of an embroidery error) were one-year-only features of CCM jerseys, but other key facts were ignored. First, the Penguins rolled in old stock jerseys into subsequent years and, secondly, Cullen wasn't named an alternate captain until November of 1989 - his second year in the league - so it couldn't be a rookie jersey. With the help of Casey Samuelson, owner of PenguinsChronicles.com and the world's leading authenticator of Pittsburgh Penguins jerseys, I learned something new: one way of verifying the year a particular jersey was worn was to look at the alternate captain's "A." The style and placement of the "A" varied from year to year from 1988-89 to 1990-91. Even though his site, using pictures from the GWA auction, listed this jersey as a 1989-90 jersey, the "A" is identical to that of a 1990-91 Paul Coffey gamer in terms of both size and positioning on the jersey. Since the lettering on Pens jerseys were cut and sewn by hand back then, there are a lot of inconsistencies. However, within the same set, lettering becomes much more consistent, as each set was lettered by NJK Lettering at one time. Further, using the vast photo and video library he has, Casey also confirmed that "Cully" and several other players wore small-block CCM logo'ed jerseys in 1990-91. One other difference between the 1989-90 and 1990-91 jerseys is the narrower spacing between the numbers on the back of the jersey. This jersey's verso numbers are consistent with the 1990-91 jerseys. With this information in hand, I contacted the owner of the jersey and he confirmed that he was able to have the autograph pictured in the GWA auction stripped from the rear of the jersey. All of this information, combined with my own research from online photos and videos, has led me to the conclusion that this jersey is an “old stock” jersey with the small-block CCM logo that was issued for game use in 1990-91. In addition, this had to be a "Set 2" jersey because the Pens first set of jerseys included the 1990 All-Star Game patch. The period of time the Penguins wore their Set 1 jerseys varies depending on the source of information, but Casey's research concluded that they only wore their All-Star Game-patched jerseys for one home game before moving to their Set 2 jerseys due to a a complaint filed by the Chicago Blackhawks, who were hosting that season's All-Star Game. This Set 2 jersey was worn from mid-October, 1990 through Cullen's last home game before being traded to Hartford on March 4, 1991 (the trade that broke my heart at the time, but played a huge role in the Penguins 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup Championship victories). Cullen tallied a goal and two assists and was a +4 in his final game wearing this jersey, an 11-4 win over Toronto on February 21, 1991.
I've stated all over this site that "every jersey has a story." In terms of both team history and sentimental value, no jersey in my collection has quite the story that this one has. The idiosyncrasies and subtleties of this jersey combined with the fact that this very jersey is the one Cully was wearing when I purchased my first jersey back in 1990 serve to truly make this jersey "The One That Started It All" for me, and I'm honored to add it as the most prized piece in my collection. Ownership of this jersey has bounced around quite a bit over the years, but it's going to stay put for a long, long time to come.
Size: 52
Purchased From: Facebook Game Worn Hockey Jersey Collectors Group
Lettered by: Century Sports/NJK Lettering
The Story: If you've read other pages on this website, you've seen me refer to certain jerseys as "The One." Usually, that speaks to a special jersey for me and it's an inside joke in my house, as my wife always teases me about a particular jersey being "The One" when I add it to my collection. In the case of this jersey, however, I need to be more specific. This jersey is "The One That Started It All!"
The first hockey jersey I ever bought, way back during 1990-91 season, was a John Cullen 1990-91 Home Replica Jersey. I was in college at the time and knew I wanted a John Cullen jersey. Even then, the player whose jersey I'd wear was important, and Cullen was the first player I ever considered my favorite. I'm not going to repeat all of the reasons why - they're listed on the page that features my John Cullen 1989-90 Road Gamer - but suffice to say that Cullen, in my opinion, epitomized what I considered to be a complete hockey player. That's a big reason why this jersey is so special to me. Back at the time I bought my first jersey, I hadn't learned anything about the difference between authentic and replica jerseys, and actual game-worn jerseys weren't even on my radar screen. But as my collection grew and I learned more and more, my "pipe dream" goal was always to add this jersey to my collection. I've seen a few Cullen gamers in various auctions and on eBay, but they were always out of my price range at the particular time. This one became available from a collector on Facebook's Game Worn Hockey Jersey Collectors group in 2018, but it was a big purchase that didn't quite fit into the family's finances at the time. The jersey remained available, and I contacted the owner and expressed my interest. After saving for a while, I let the owner know my intentions of buying it and he was kind enough to hold it for me.
In the meantime, I did a ton of research on this particular jersey - more than I had ever done on any jersey in the past - the details of which are linked at the bottom of this page. I found out that this jersey was sold in 2015 by GameWornAuctions.net as a 1988-89 rookie jersey. Much like my 1989-90 Road Jersey, the assumption on the year was made because the small-block CCM logo on the rear hem and the gold toe on the crest (the result of an embroidery error) were one-year-only features of CCM jerseys, but other key facts were ignored. First, the Penguins rolled in old stock jerseys into subsequent years and, secondly, Cullen wasn't named an alternate captain until November of 1989 - his second year in the league - so it couldn't be a rookie jersey. With the help of Casey Samuelson, owner of PenguinsChronicles.com and the world's leading authenticator of Pittsburgh Penguins jerseys, I learned something new: one way of verifying the year a particular jersey was worn was to look at the alternate captain's "A." The style and placement of the "A" varied from year to year from 1988-89 to 1990-91. Even though his site, using pictures from the GWA auction, listed this jersey as a 1989-90 jersey, the "A" is identical to that of a 1990-91 Paul Coffey gamer in terms of both size and positioning on the jersey. Since the lettering on Pens jerseys were cut and sewn by hand back then, there are a lot of inconsistencies. However, within the same set, lettering becomes much more consistent, as each set was lettered by NJK Lettering at one time. Further, using the vast photo and video library he has, Casey also confirmed that "Cully" and several other players wore small-block CCM logo'ed jerseys in 1990-91. One other difference between the 1989-90 and 1990-91 jerseys is the narrower spacing between the numbers on the back of the jersey. This jersey's verso numbers are consistent with the 1990-91 jerseys. With this information in hand, I contacted the owner of the jersey and he confirmed that he was able to have the autograph pictured in the GWA auction stripped from the rear of the jersey. All of this information, combined with my own research from online photos and videos, has led me to the conclusion that this jersey is an “old stock” jersey with the small-block CCM logo that was issued for game use in 1990-91. In addition, this had to be a "Set 2" jersey because the Pens first set of jerseys included the 1990 All-Star Game patch. The period of time the Penguins wore their Set 1 jerseys varies depending on the source of information, but Casey's research concluded that they only wore their All-Star Game-patched jerseys for one home game before moving to their Set 2 jerseys due to a a complaint filed by the Chicago Blackhawks, who were hosting that season's All-Star Game. This Set 2 jersey was worn from mid-October, 1990 through Cullen's last home game before being traded to Hartford on March 4, 1991 (the trade that broke my heart at the time, but played a huge role in the Penguins 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup Championship victories). Cullen tallied a goal and two assists and was a +4 in his final game wearing this jersey, an 11-4 win over Toronto on February 21, 1991.
I've stated all over this site that "every jersey has a story." In terms of both team history and sentimental value, no jersey in my collection has quite the story that this one has. The idiosyncrasies and subtleties of this jersey combined with the fact that this very jersey is the one Cully was wearing when I purchased my first jersey back in 1990 serve to truly make this jersey "The One That Started It All" for me, and I'm honored to add it as the most prized piece in my collection. Ownership of this jersey has bounced around quite a bit over the years, but it's going to stay put for a long, long time to come.
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