1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Bill White #78 All-Star Chicago Black Hawks

Description

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Bill White #78 All-Star Chicago Black Hawks Defence-first collectors and Chicago fans know exactly what they are looking at here. The 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Bill White #78 All-Star Chicago Black Hawks card honours one of the most underrated blueliners of the early seventies with the same striking yellow and red All-Star West layout used throughout the subset, this time framing a game photo of White in the red Black Hawks home sweater with the captain's A on his shoulder, breaking out of his own zone while a St. Louis Blues forward gives chase. The bilingual English and French back tells the story in plain language, describing White as a regular West Division All-Star who is excellent at moving the puck out of the defensive zone and a top-notch passer, and noting that he broke into the NHL with Los Angeles before moving on to the Black Hawks. The cartoon panel adds a detail that vintage collectors love, that Bill spent seven seasons in the minors before hitting the NHL, a reminder of how narrow the six-team league bottleneck had been for a whole generation of Canadian pros. His 1972-73 numbers are printed in the hockey-stick graphic: 72 games, 9 goals, 38 assists, 47 points and 80 penalty minutes. White was named an NHL Second Team All-Star three consecutive seasons in the early seventies, formed a shutdown pairing with Pat Stapleton that made Chicago a perennial contender, and earned selection to Team Canada for the 1972 Summit Series, where he was among the steadiest defencemen Canada dressed. Toronto-born and a late bloomer who did not play his first NHL game until age twenty-seven, he represents the kind of hard-earned career that makes seventies hockey cards so appealing to collectors who value the craft of the game over pure highlight reels. This copy is on the light tan paper stock and features a genuine Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, complete with the French biography running alongside the English text, the cartoon caption "Bill passa 7 saisons dans les mineures avant de passer dans la L. N. H." and "PRINTED IN CANADA" at the lower right; no puzzle backs exist in this set. The front shows honest handling. All four corners display light to moderate rounding, with the lower right corner the softest and showing a small area of white fibre exposure, and the upper left corner lightly blunted. Edge wear is most visible along the right border where a thin line of white shows through the red frame, and there is minor speckled chipping across the bottom edge. Centering measures roughly 55/45 to the right and about 55/45 top to bottom. Colour saturation remains excellent, the yellow field is bright with no fading, and the photo window is clear. A careful tilt under direct light reveals no creases, no wrinkles and no bends, only very light surface handling gloss variation. The tan reverse is clean and legible with even age toning, no writing, no stains and no tape residue. Grade Estimate: EX 5