The Basketball Shorts!

Well, they were in style before 1947. My dad had a similar satin pair from 1940, and I wore them in 1978 while on a track team. (He was very skinny...He made a young Frank Sinatra look obese.)

Until about the mid-1990s, men wore close-fitting shorts that were actually short, especially for athletic activities. The baggy clown/gangsta pants style is a fairly recent phenomenon.