The Pro Set Fanatic

There is a lot of heated debate about Pro Set, some 30+ years on since the first hockey release, as to the merit of the set. On the one hand, we have an incredibly innovative set - color pictures on the backs, draft picks, referees, the puck, a serial-numbered card, silver ink, a hologram.... but we also have one of the most overproduced, error-riddled, poorly executed sets of all time. Love it or hate it, we have all had some Pro Set in our possession over the years. 

The aim of this website - currently in its early stages but developing quickly thanks to the extra time spent indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic - is to visually catalog proven 'in hand' errors, corrections, and varieties within the Pro Set release. Looking to experts in the printing field, true errors with their corrections will be compared to sloppy printing. Historical articles will be searched and linked to from a wealth of price guides, fan sites, and news articles. Most importantly, a checklist of varieties will be actively updated. I was starting to get frustrated with checklists that use flowery language or vague descriptions... sometimes with entries of cards that simply do not exist at all. In only one case (TradingCardDatabase.com) did I find the start of a visual checklist... 

Spend some time looking through a handful of cards from 1990-91 Pro Set. Really only the Stanley Cup hologram, various Stanley Cup wear marks, Shawn Burr missing stats, and Paul Gillis #37 bloody nose error are worth anything... but most collectors who are 35-55 will remember a time when Pro Set packs were something interesting to open and the hunt for the hologram and errors was on! How could you have gone wrong with a $0.50 pack of 12 cards (when OPC Premier started out at $1.50 and UD at $1.00).  Hearken back to a very different time, when packs of 1990-91 Upper Deck high series French ballooned up to $25.00 a pack, Mark Messier had won his first cup without Wayne Gretzky, and phenom Eric Lindros was going to be the greatest hockey player since Mario Lemieux. 

It is important to note that I do not have a license from the NHL, NHLPA, any of the players, teams, coaches, referees, or pucks (lol) depicted on these cards. This is a fan site used expressly for information and educational purposes. Many of the images are going to be ripped right off google image search results until I can provide a high resolution 'in hand' scan of an error and its correction. Image credit is given where possible.  

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Yes, Pro Set is mostly not worth the cardboard 

it is printed on... but we love the hunt for new

errors and varieties!