BUFFALO – They come from the era of black-and- white, but no two players in franchise history were ever more blue, red and white than the great Andy Bathgate and the great Harry Howell, gentlemen and Rangers of renown who will be justly honored at the Garden tonight with twin number retirement ceremonies.
This is the date, 45 years to the day, that Bathgate was traded away to the Maple Leafs so that he could pursue his dream of capturing the Stanley Cup. Forty-five years ago, Bathgate was told leave town. Now he gets a virtual key to the city. Now he and Howell receive their due recognition as Ranger immortals, even if they were born just a bit too soon to have taken that ride up the Canyon of Heroes with Messier, Leetch, Richter and Graves.
Forty-five years ago, Muzz Patrick was the GM, a fellow named Emile Francis was his young and progressive assistant, and when they traded Bathgate and Don McKenny to Toronto in exchange for a package of players including Bob Nevin, Arnie Brown, Rod Seiling and Dick Duff, the building blocks were in place for “The Cat” to make the Rangers the vibrant, entertaining and successful franchise they would soon become.
Every Rangers fan knows how Ed Giacomin came back to the Garden with the Red Wings two days after he’d been waived to Detroit in 1975 to demonstrations and spontaneous chants that still ring to this very day.
It’s both legend and lore.
But Bathgate himself came back to the Garden – the one that was on Eighth between 49th and 50th, the one with Nedick’s, the one with the distinctive marquee that, by the way, simply must be duplicated when Jim Dolan goes about renovating the current arena – with the Maple Leafs one day after being traded. Actually, his first game with Toronto, Feb. 22, 1964, was played against the Rangers at Maple Leaf Gardens. The next night, they played at the Garden.
Bathgate was cheered. He was cheered loudly. I was one of the people cheering him from my spot in the side balcony with the ticket that cost 50 cents on my GO card. There was no such thing as chanting back then. The Rangers lost that night. I was rooting for the Maple Leafs.
This is chanting now. There should be chanting for Bathgate and Howell, for Andy and Harry, tonight.
Mets GM Omar Minaya once said that past is prelude to history; well, maybe it wasn’t Minaya. The fact, however, is that while Bathgate and Howell come from a different generation, a generation in which there was romance attached to pro sports, this is the their time in New York to be honored. And this is the time for Rangers fans, who may not know what or who came before Gilbert, Ratelle, Hadfield and Giacomin, let alone 1994, to recognize the greatness of the men who once wore the sweater so proudly.
This is about recognizing heritage as much as it is about recognizing greatness. This is about paying homage to two special individuals whose character is as relevant now as it was then.
You know the “I Am A Ranger” promos the team runs?
Bathgate and Howell are Rangers.
Dean Prentice, the estimable left winger with whom Bathgate combined for so many years, will be there tonight and so will centers Larry Popein and Earl Ingarfield. Nevin will be on the ice (Nevin to the North Stars for Bobby Rousseau – now there was a deal!), so will Andy Hebenton and Leapin’ Looie Fontinato, and Arnie Brown and Eddie (The Entertainer) Shack.
Bill Gadsby will come home again, and so will Red Sullivan. Hadfield will be there to pay tribute and so, too will The Cat, deserving of a night of his own. They will be at the Garden tonight and so will Gilbert, Giacomin, Messier, Richter, Graves and Leetch, the first six Rangers to have had their numbers retired.
Bathgate and Howell come from a different time. They come from a time of black and white. Tonight, they appear in living color. Tonight is their time.
Ours, too, to say thank you.
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Red Kelly is sure an interesting choice to be representing the Red Wings at tonight’s ceremony, given that he threatened to retire – and did for four days – rather than accept a trade to the Rangers from Detroit in February of 1960. Kelly instead was dealt to Toronto, where he won four Cups, one with Bathgate in 1964.
Clubs calling the Lightning have been told that neither Vincent Lecavalier nor Marty St. Louis – two current players, by the way – is available for trade.
You want to be a sucker? Then step right this way and give Toronto GM Brian Burke a No. 1 for Nik Antropov.
Rangers, according to an NHL source, have $950,000 of cap space. That equates to the prorated portions approximately $4.53M in contracts at the March 4 deadline.
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Finally, news this week that a group of UCLA geologists believe they can use scientific measures to determine the location of Osama bin Laden.
Next up: finding Glen Sather.