1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Barclay Plager #35 Bilingual Back St. Louis Blues

Description

1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Barclay Plager #35 Bilingual Back St. Louis Blues Long before the Blues had a Stanley Cup, they had a captain who played like the trophy depended on him, and this card is his 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee issue. Barclay Plager was the oldest of the three Plager brothers and the first captain in St. Louis Blues history, a hard nosed defenseman who led the NHL in penalty minutes in 1968 with 153 in only 49 games and who turned an expansion roster into a team that reached the Stanley Cup Final in each of its first three seasons. He played all 614 games of his NHL career in a Blues uniform, went to four All-Star Games, later coached the club, and had his number 8 retired on March 24, 1981, the sort of honour that usually waits for a scoring star rather than a shot blocker. He was diagnosed with brain cancer and died in 1988 at just 46, and the St. Louis organization has kept his name alive ever since. The front of this card puts him in the classic white Blues sweater with a stick in hand against the green backdrop that O-Pee-Chee used for so many of the team's portraits, and the vertical St. Louis Blues lettering and tan border place it immediately in the 1972-73 issue, which ran 340 cards across four series and was printed in Canada. Number 35 was a double printed first series card, which means it survives in better supply than many of its neighbours, and it remains the affordable way into a Hall of Fame adjacent name. The back carries the bilingual English and French write-up about being the eldest of the Plager brothers and a full career record, and it is a standard O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, not a puzzle back. The 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Barclay Plager #35 card is a natural anchor for a Blues team set and a strong companion piece to brothers Bob and Bill. color is strong on the green field and the blue sweater, the portrait is sharp with no creasing through the image, and the wear is concentrated in a small rub on the bottom right corner, a short line of tan edge chipping on the lower left border and centering around 60/40 left to right. The reverse shows even toning, no writing and no paper loss, with the full bilingual text legible, and it is not a puzzle back. Grading conservatively, EX 5 fits, since the corners are slightly soft in the lower right, the edge chipping is visible at close inspection and the cut is off center, while the surface, gloss and print quality remain clean and entirely original. Grade Estimate: EX 5