Wayne GretzkyB次元官网网址檚 name appears at No. 1 an astounding 60 times in the NHLB次元官网网址檚 record book.

More than two decades after retiring, The Great One set another high-water mark early Friday morning.

A mint condition 1979 O-Pee-Chee Gretzky rookie card became hockeyB次元官网网址檚 first to cost more than US$1 million when it fetched $1.29 million at auction.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions says the trading card is just one of two featuring No. 99 from O-Pee-CheeB次元官网网址檚 1979 run to get a perfect B次元官网网址済em mintB次元官网网址� score from the Professional Sports Authenticator grading service.

ThatB次元官网网址檚 out of the 5,711 Gretzky cards the PSA evaluated. By comparison, there are more than 300 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie cards with the same B次元官网网址済em mintB次元官网网址� rating.

In the description of the Gretzky collectible on its website, Heritage Auctions says itB次元官网网址檚 extremely rare to find one in perfect condition because of how cards were cut from the original sheets back in the 1970s.

According to the auction house, O-Pee-Chee, which was essentially the Canadian arm of U.S.-based Topps, B次元官网网址渦sed wire rather than blades to segregate individual cards from their printed sheets, creating a problem that was progressively compounded as the wire dulled from use. Eventually, the cards would suffer cuts as jagged as those on Terry SawchukB次元官网网址檚 face.B次元官网网址�

The $1.29 million price tag includes a 20 per cent buyerB次元官网网址檚 premium.

Gretzky retired from the NHL in 1999 with a record 894 goals, 1,963 assists and 2,857 points.

The Canadian Press

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