Baxter Publishing

Of the, depending how you count, twenty or so Canadian paperback publishers of the 1940s and 1950s only two are still in business. Harlequin Enterprises is one. But the other one is likely to come as a surprise. Around 1950 Baxter Publishing published eight paperbacks about the NHL, all written by sports journalist Ed Fitkin. Now called Baxter Publications, the Toronto company is an "all media" business for the travel and education industries.

The eight books are:

Maurice Richard: Hockey's Rocket
Come on Teeder!
Footloose in Hockey
Turk Broda of the Leafs
The "Gashouse Gang" of Hockey
Max Bentley: Hockey's Dipsy-Doodle Dandy
Detroit's Big Three
On the Hockey Beat

Maurice Richard: Hockey's Rocket - nd

Maurice Richard: Hockey's Rocket back

Ed and the NHL

Ed Fitkin was a mid century sports reporter who ended his career working for the NHL and WHL. Around 1950 he wrote eight books for a publisher called both Baxter Publishing Co. and W. H. Baxter, Publishing (Canada) Co. The imprint was Castle Publication.

The books largely look back to an earlier period in the NHL starting in the 30s. They have that feature common to many sports books written by insiders. All the players, owners, general managers and coaches were the greatest guys you could know. Sure, they may have not been perfect but still you hadda love 'em. Why do sports and nicknames link up so often? The 80s and 90s had the Great Gretzky and now its Sid the Kid. Maybe we like to think of them somehow still as kids. Certainly the management of the NHL clubs in the era of these books did just that.

Here are three of the books.