Occasionally, some sports cards are memorable because of
their oddball nature or when something just seems out of place. Ask any person who was an avid hockey card
collector in the early 1970s like me if there was anything strange about Phil
Esposito’s cards. They will say: “the
plaid pants”. It’s funny, but a lot of
my friends who collected remember the ridiculous plaid pants that were visible
for three years of Esposito’s cards in 1970-71, 1971-72 and 1972-73.
Caption: Above is Phil Esposito's 1970-71 Topps card. That must have been a sweet leisure suit he was wearing before the photo shoot.
It all started with the 1970 hockey set for which Topps, and their affiliated
O-Pee-Chee Canadian partner, decided to get new photos of virtually all players for
the 1970 card hockey issue. The photos were likely done in a studio or conference room because the players’ silhouettes
appear in front of the solid backgrounds that in the 1970-71 set also had what seem to be
added ‘spotlights’ around the player’s body. The studio nature of these shots can also be
testified to by the fact that most players, other than goalies, are not wearing
shoulder pads under their jerseys with a few exceptions. Most goalies did seem to bring all their equipment
with Ken Dryden notably wearing his mask unlike the other goalies in these
cards (maybe his shot wasn’t a studio shot).
Caption: Above is Phil Esposito's 1972-73 Topps card. This was the last year that his plaid pants were visible.
Apparently, when some of Boston Bruins showed up, it must
have been a totally half-baked affair (or maybe the players were
half-baked). Either somebody forgot
black hockey pants for part of the shoot or Esposito refused to wear them. It was more likely the former case, because Ken
Hodge was shot in his street pants also with that photo only appearing in the 1971-72
set with different, closer-up shots of Hodge used in the other years where his pants did not show. Maybe Hodge refused to wear them too. Who knows?
However, this biggest piece of evidence of systematic disarray at the photo shoot theory is that at least five different Bruins appear in the 1970-71 set in wearing Fred Stanfield’s hockey gloves. The Bruins team put their player’s numbers on their gloves, and Fred Stanfield’s #17 gloves are worn in the photos of Stanfield, Ken Hodge, Phil Esposito, Wayne Cashman, Garnet Bailey and Ed Westfall. All other Bruins players, like Bobby Orr, are photographed wearing their own gloves if the numbers are visible on the cards.
However, this biggest piece of evidence of systematic disarray at the photo shoot theory is that at least five different Bruins appear in the 1970-71 set in wearing Fred Stanfield’s hockey gloves. The Bruins team put their player’s numbers on their gloves, and Fred Stanfield’s #17 gloves are worn in the photos of Stanfield, Ken Hodge, Phil Esposito, Wayne Cashman, Garnet Bailey and Ed Westfall. All other Bruins players, like Bobby Orr, are photographed wearing their own gloves if the numbers are visible on the cards.
Caption: Above is Ken Hodge's 1971-72 Topps card. Ken also joined the no-hockey-pants brigade for one year. Note that he is also wearing Fred Stanfield's #17 gloves like Phil Esposito.
The fact that Esposito was a great player and future Hall of
Famer made the plaid pants all the more noticeable. When you were a kid in the 1970s, Espo’s card
was one of the ones you read, looked over and maybe taped on your wall. Those plaid pants were just weird.
By the way, if you do not remember, Dead Men Don’t Wear
Plaid was a swing-and-a-miss old detective movie spoof comedy that was a collaboration
between Carl Reiner and Steve Martin in 1982.
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