More Cardboard Cameos – Including Both Esposito Brothers

Last week, we featured a cardboard cameo from the 1975-76 O-Pee-Chee / Topps series showing Ken Dryden on Guy Lapointe’s card. Since, we’ve tracked down nine other hockey cards from the 1970’s that are not In Action cards, but almost have that feel. Some cards feature cameo appearances by members of the Hockey Hall of Fame while others are just regular Joe’s playing with regular Joe’s.

The cards, from left to right, top to bottom:

1. 1974-75 Topps #165. Carol Vadnais of the Boston Bruins. Vadnais, a defenseman, is waiting at the faceoff circle in the Boston end with Gerry Cheevers in net behind him.
2. 1975-76 Topps #61. Yvon Labre of the Washington Capitals. In this air-brushed masterpiece, Labre is skating with the puck while three Detroit Red Wings are in pursuit. Wearing number 18 for the Red Wings is Bryan Watson. Watson played in the NHL from 1963-64 to 1978-79 with the Montreal Canadiens, Detroit, Oakland Seals, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals. Despite being 5’9″ and 170 lbs., Watson was a tough customer, accumulating over 2200 PIM during his career.
3. 1977-78 Topps #19. Wayne Thomas of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Judging by the towel wrapped around his neck and lack of mask, Thomas is doing a few laps before the game before taking up his usual spot at the end of the bench. Behind Wayne is Mike Palmateer. Thomas played the bulk of Toronto’s games in 1975-76 but his role diminished as Palmateer became the team’s star goaltender.
4. 1972-73 Topps #157. Rick Martin of the Buffalo Sabres. To the left and behind Rick is Marcel Dionne of the Detroit Red Wings. Number 22 for the Wings, to the right and in front of Martin, is Bill Collins. Collins played in the NHL from 1967-68 to 1977-78 with the Minnesota North Stars, Montreal Canadiens, Detroit, St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals.
5. 1977-78 Topps #124. Dale Tallon of the Chicago Black Hawks. Behind and to the right of Dale is Tony Esposito in the Chicago net. Esposito actually makes several cardboard cameos in the 1977-78 Topps and O-Pee-Chee series. If you compare the background of this card and the Wayne Thomas / Mike Palmateer hockey card, it would seem to be the same arena. Since a majority of the pictures were taken in Washington that year, I’m guessing this is the Capital Centre in Landover, MD.
6. 1973-74 Topps #146. Cesare Maniago of the Minnesota North Stars. Cesare, sporting an old-school mask, has Vic Hadfield of the New York Rangers lurking low-post behind him. Not quite sure who the Minnesota defensemen are.
7. 1975-76 Topps #231. Bob Dailey of the Vancouver Canucks. Behind Dailey is number 18 of the Boston Bruins, Hank Nowak. Nowak played just a few seasons in the NHL from 1973-74 to 1976-77 with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston and the Detroit Red Wings.
8. 1975-76 Topps #233. Bill Hajt of the Buffalo Sabres. To the right of Bill, wearing the ‘A’ for Boston, is Phil Esposito. It’s just a guess, but we think that’s Ken Hodge of the Bruins to the right of Hajt.
9. 1973-74 Topps #180. Bill White of the Chicago Black Hawks. Beside Bill is Garry Unger of the St. Louis Blues. Unger was the NHL’s Ironman for a time. What many probably don’t know about Garry is that after his NHL career was done, he went and played in the British Hockey League. In 1986-87, with the Peterborough Pirates of the BHL, Unger scored 95 goals and added 143 assists for 238 points – in just 30 games!