It’s time to go back into the vaults and have a look at one of the great airbrushing travesties of the 1970s. I’m talking about the classic Ted Irvine card from the 1975-76 O-Pee-Chee set. Someone at the O-Pee-Chee factory really had themselves a great time drawing this beauty. I’m guessing that they were using a stubby blue crayon that just got them though the colouring of Ted’s pants, and then they realized they still had to colour the jersey. Undaunted, our little burgeoning artist just went to his box of crayons and picked out another shade of blue. “Who cares if they are nothing alike” he exclaimed to his co-workers.

There is literally nothing right with the photo in this card. As if this card wasn’t shoddy enough, O-Pee-Chee couldn’t even get the dude’s face right. This card is listed as an uncorrected error card because this it is actually Chuck Lefley in the photo, not Ted Irvine. Ted wore #27 with St. Louis, while Chuck wore #25.

Upon closer inspection, however, I can’t actually say for sure that the face belongs to Chuck Lefley. This is Chuck Lefley’s card from that same season…

Now take a look at “Ted”…

And here’s a photo of Ted Irvine just one year later…

No way that’s the same guy. Is it just me or are these actually three different people?

What the hell did Ted Irvine look like? Here’s another photo of him from the 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee set.

So I’m stumped. I have no idea who played for St. Louis that year. Congratulations, O-Pee-Chee, you’ve finally got me to question my sanity and my entire belief system thanks to you inability to perform any sort of quality control.