Memorabilia
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Team Canada 1972 40th Anniversary Player Numbered Bottle of Wine – 2 Foot, 5 Litre bottle.
These bottles were done in a number of sizes and formats (5 litre, 3 litre, 1 litre) to raise money for their charity. The top of the line version for sale was the 5 litre and only 200 of these individually numbered 2 foot bottles were available. Each was etched with every players name and sold to the public for around $700 each. They also did a run numbered out of only 72 of the 5 Litre bottle that were only given to the players.
During that period, I attended the HHOF induction ceremony as I usually purchase a few “pop a balloon for a prize” and end up winning a number of items for my collection. That specific evening, at the silent auction was a Team Canada 1972 Package in which I already had most of the Team Canada 1972 items in my collection. I noticed one of these 2 foot 5 litre players bottles numbered out of 72 in the grouping but it specifically said not included in this package. It was numbered 5/72. (specifically, Brad Park’s bottle)
I had asked Isaac W. (HHOF) and then Ron E. (Director of Public Affairs with the HHOF and former Leaf and Team Canada 1972 player) what if I purchased it separately and that way you would be able to raise that much more money that evening. At first, the answer was we can’t sell that bottle as it is Brad’s but by the end of the evening, I assume they got a hold of Brad or made an executive decision and gave me a price that they would be willing to part with it.
Years later, I finally met up with Brad Park and brought the 2 foot 5 litre full bottle of wine to the 2019 Sport Card Expo signing in 2019 and got him to sign it and talked about the experience. (Funny, he did not have as good a recollection as I did of him receiving the call about the bottle from the Hall of Fame Induction night)