This Day in Hockey History – August 28, 1932 – New York’s No. 9

Aug 28, 2019

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During the final decade of the Original Six era, wearing No. 9 meant more than just playing wing and really showed something about a players’ contributions to the team. The Boston Bruins had Johnny Bucyk, the Chicago Black Hawks had Bobby Hull, the Detroit Red Wings had Gordie Howe, the Montreal Canadiens had Maurice Richard, and the Toronto Maple Leafs had Dick Duff. For the New York Rangers, their No. 9 was Andy Bathgate, who was born at Winnipeg, Manitoba, August 28, 1932.

Perhaps it was simply meant to be as Bathgate began skating in organized hockey at age 9. He described his youth hockey experiences, “One winter, I played on eight different teams, and when I was 13, I coached the 12-year-olds.” Reaching the age of 17, Bathgate joined the Rangers’ junior affiliates, the Guelph Biltmores of the Ontario Hockey Association. He captained them to the 1952 Memorial Cup as he scored 216 points in 129 games.

That was enough for the Rangers to call Bathgate up early. He split time between the big leagues and minors until 1954. Despite an injury during juniors leading to a plate in his knee, Bathgate almost never missed a game. During his 12 seasons with the Rangers, he had perfect attendance during all but three of them. What’s more, he helped his team in every game he played, averaging over a point per game. Unsurprisingly, the Rangers made him their alternate captain in 1955 and captain in 1961, returning his team to the playoffs that year.

Unlike most of his rivals who wore No. 9, Bathgate has not been remembered to the same degree. Mostly, this had to do with the Rangers’ struggles throughout his time there. Bathgate usually gets remembered for three actions, which all occurred in 1959. In January, Bathgate became the first member of the Rangers to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which called him hockey’s “most exciting player.” Another quote from the article noted, “Bathgate was making the best start of his short but dazzling career. He shot magnificently, skated with the puck so well that he stirred old-timers to memories of the great stick-handlers of bygone days and passed the puck with uncanny timing and aim.”

On November 1, his famously strong shot sent the puck right into Jacques Plante’s face, which required stitches and sparked Plante’s insistence on wearing a mask. The trend of goaltenders wearing masks stemmed from this shot.

About a month later, Bathgate authored the article “Atrocities on Ice” for True Magazine in which he condemned spearing because “unchecked brutality is going to kill somebody.” As he later explained, “I wrote this article and got fined for it. I got fined $1,000—and I was only making $18,000 at the time—so you take that, plus the $1,000 we had to pay into our pension, that’s a lot of money out of your pocket. They changed the rule at the end of the year but they still didn’t give me my $1,000 back. It burns my (butt) at times, but you have to stand up for it. Sometimes, you’ve got to speak up for the betterment of hockey because someone was going to get seriously hurt.”

As it turned out 1959 was also a good year for Bathgate as a player. During the 1958-59 season he became the first Ranger to score 40 goals and 88 points, which led him to beat out Howe for the Hart Trophy as League MVP. He had been a finalist for the award the previous two seasons. From 1955 until 1964, Bathgate always finished in the NHL’s top five scorers. He was more proud of how he ranked in the top four for assists throughout that entire time. He said, “I never thought I was a goal-scorer, but I thought I could make plays.” During the 1961-62 season, his 84 points tied Hull for the top scoring spot but missed the Art Ross Trophy because he told the NHL to take away credit for an assist that was not his and scored fewer goals than Hull. Bathgate followed that by setting a record in 1962-63 for scoring goals in ten consecutive games.

Despite Bathgate’s contributions, the Rangers usually did not even make the playoffs. Rumors swirled that he might be one of the changes management looked to make. Still, everyone including Bathgate was shocked on February 22, 1964. Before a game against Toronto, Bathgate had to abandon a steak to hear the news that he would be dressing for the opposing team. Television coverage included the announcement, “This is Win Elliot from Maple Leaf Gardens with the biggest news of the National Hockey League season: Andy Bathgate is now a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.” Bathgate felt quite awkward about the trade. “I had been brought up as a Ranger, all the way from junior hockey . . . Even worse, I was an outsider who had taken the place of guys on the Leafs who were pretty close friends of those who were still on the club.”

Still, Bathgate ended up leading the Leafs back to the Stanley Cup Final, their third in a row. His goal in Game 6 led to an overtime win, forcing a Game 7, where he scored the Cup-winner (on a breakaway). Of his scoring success, Bathgate said, “I got on a line with Red Kelly and Frank Mahovlich, and Big Frank, I knew if I got him the puck, there was no one in the League who could stop him.” Again, Bathgate’s accomplishments did not save him. He suffered further knee injuries and had a rocky relationship with coach Punch Imlach, both of which led to a trade to Detroit on May 20, 1965.

For his two seasons in Detroit, Bathgate had to wear No. 21 (because of teammate Howe). Apparently, losing his number did not cause him to lose his scoring power. He set a record with five power play goals during the 1966 semifinals.

With the 1967 expansion, 34-year-old Bathgate (who had meant to retire) was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins. On October 11, he scored the franchise’s very first goal. He described, “It was a good, clean goal. It went far side low, but they didn’t have the equipment they use today!” A week later, he scored the franchise’s first hat trick. Unsurprisingly then, he finished the season as the top scorer playing for an expansion team. However, the Penguins did not want to keep Bathgate for another season. “They wanted me to retire during training camp the next year. I told them that I wouldn’t be retiring. I was going to play no matter what.”

Although they traded him to the Montreal Canadiens, the language barrier caused Bathgate to choose instead to play for the Vancouver Canucks of the Western Hockey League (WHL). During his two seasons there, the Canucks won the Lester Patrick Cup twice. His 108 points during the 1969-70 season led him to earn the George Leader Cup as the WHL’s top player.

At 38, Bathgate returned to the NHL for a final season with the Penguins. He ended his NHL career of 1,069 games with 973 points (349G, 624A). He spent a year in Switzerland playing for HC Ambri-Piotta. Then, during the 1974-75 season, Bathgate made a brief comeback. He played 11 games for the WHA Vancouver Blazers, who he had coached the season before.

The Rangers waited until February 22, 2009 (before a game against the Leafs) to retire Bathgate’s No. 9. They had retired the number almost a month earlier in honor of Adam Graves, who called Bathgate “the greatest Ranger to ever wear the No. 9.”

Bathgate had been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978, joining fellow-nines Richard and Howe. Bucyk, Hull, and Duff would follow so that every one of Bathgate’s contemporaries who wore the number became Hall-of-Famers.