Wayne Gretzky Was Babysitting Robin Thicke the Night He Got Traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988

Strange but true.

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Complex Original

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You already know that Wayne Gretzky used to be one hell of a hockey player. But did you know that he used to be one hell of a babysitter, too?

Puck Daddy just tracked down an interview that Alan Thickedid with Sportsnet last summer. In that interview, Thicke—who is a huge hockey fan—revealed his best Wayne Gretzky story. And strangely enough, Thicke talked about the time he left his youngest son at home with Gretzky and his wife Janet while him and his other son Brennan went to Norway. That's right—Wayne Gretzky babysat Robin Thicke!

"I was reminded of it a few days ago on the occasion of the anniversary of [Gretzky's] trade from Edmonton to Los Angeles [on August 9, 1988]," Thicke said. "He was house-sitting at my house in L.A. the night he got traded. I was in Norway with my other son, and Wayne and Janet were house-sitting for my son Robin [who was 11 at the time]. I called from Norway because I picked up the Oslo morning paper and saw pictures of Gretzky—but I couldn't understand the text, of course. And I thought maybe there had been a fire, a mudslide, a drive-by shooting, who knows? So I called home, and I learned Wayne left early in the morning; he got traded last night. He got the call at about 9 p.m. and he was gone by 6 the next morning. So we had to find a substitute nanny instantly, which is not as bad as what Edmonton had to find to replace him."

Ha! Is that a great story or what? We wonder what The Great One charged for child care. Something tells us five bucks an hour wasn't cutting it.

RELATED: Retro Year in Sports: 1988

[via Puck Daddy]

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