This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 12/11/2023.
Wayne Gretzky is arguably the greatest hockey player who ever lived. When he finished playing his last game in the NHL on April 18, 1999, the center extraordinaire held or shared 61 NHL records. Today, nearly 24 years post retirement, he still owns or shares 58 NHL records including most career goals (894), most assists (1,963) and most points overall (2,897). He also has the most hat tricks in league history: 50. Beyond the statistics, the man called “The Great One” won four Stanley Cup championships, all with the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s. In fact, he played in five Stanley Cup finals with the Oilers (1983-’85, ‘87 and ‘88) and one more with the L.A. Kings in 1993. And after 20 seasons and 1,487 games, Gretzky finally skated off into the sunset following his final NHL game with the New York Rangers. Offered here is a pair of game-used and signed Hespeler RTX 99 hockey gloves that were worn by Gretzky in the final game of his illustrious NHL career (April 18, 1999). Playing against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden, Gretzky logged 22 minutes and 30 seconds worth of ice time that evening. Gretzky recorded his final career point with an assist to teammate Brian Leetch in the second period to help account for New York’s only score of the evening. The red, white and blue gloves both feature excellent game use with scratches, scuffs, stick/puck marks and staining throughout. The tops of the gloves read “RTX” and “99” in white, and Gretzky has signed the right glove on the outer wrist protector area in silver and added “99” and the date of the game (“4-18-99”) underneath his signature. In our opinion, the signature and accompanying inscription rates an 8. These gloves come to us from Rumun Ndur, a former Rangers teammate of Gretzky’s who played alongside Wayne in that final game. According to Ndur, the gloves were given to him by New York Rangers equipment manager Mike Folga in the team’s locker room the day after Gretzky’s final game. They have been in Ndur’s possession ever since. The gloves are properly tagged, were presented to us as game-used and show appropriate wear. Accompanied by a Letter of Provenance from Ndur and a pair of LOAs from Beckett Authentication Services (AB79394) and PSA/DNA (AJ02885) for the autograph.