1991 tony fernandez

tony fernandez was arguably the face of the franchise when he was traded by the blue jays (with fred mcgriff) to the padres for joe carter and roberto alomar in late 1990.  here's his 1991 o-pee-chee card.

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

fernandez spent two seasons in san diego before he was traded to the mets.  the blue jays reacquired him during the 1993 season, and fernandez helped lead them to a second world series championship.  in fact, he had 9 rbi in the world series against the phillies to lead all players.  after stints in cincinnati, new york, and cleveland (including a return to the fall classic in 1997), fernandez rejoined the blue jays for a third time.  after two seasons, he spent 2000 as an unsigned free agent but then returned to the majors in 2001 with milwaukee.  when he was released by the brewers in may of that year, the blue jays brought him back for the fourth and final time.  as a result, fernandez is the franchise all-time leader in games, hits, at bats, singles and triples.

voici à vous, 1991 tony fernandez!

1990 jeff reardon

jeff reardon left the minnesota twins after the 1989 season, signing with the red sox as a free agent.  here's his 1990 o-pee-chee card

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

with the twins, reardon appeared in 4 of the 7 games in the 1987 world series, saving 1, which just happened to be game 7.  he spent not quite 3 years in boston before being traded to the braves for nathan minchey.  he pitched really well for the braves in the nlcs against the pirates, winning 1 game and saving 2 others with a spotless era.  unfortunately, he didn't do so well in the series against toronto, losing game 2 and giving up the walk off hit in game 3.  still, the terminator ranks 7th all-time in saves with 367.

voici à vous, 1990 jeff reardon!

1989 world series (tim belcher)

tim belcher was the first overall pick in the draft - twice.  first by the twins in the 1983 draft, and then by the yankees in the 1984 secondary draft.  he signed with the yankees, but was chosen by the a's as a free agent compensation pick (for rickey henderson, i believe).  the a's later traded belcher to the dodgers for rick honeycutt.  all of this set up belcher's rookie season in 1988 when he helped the dodgers to the world series, even starting games 1 and 4.

this 1989 o-pee-chee checklist variation is all about game 4

there is no topps counterpart, so here's the o-pee-chee back:

tim had 12 wins and 4 saves in the regular season for the 1988 world champion dodgers, and although he struggled in game 1 (giving up jose canseco's rocket grand slam), he bounced back in game 4 to earn the penultimate victory in the series.

voici à vous, 1989 world series (tim belcher)!

1988 nathan minchey

nathab minchey was the 2nd round pick of the montreal expos in the 1987 draft, as is explained on this 1988 o-pee-chee checklist variation

there is no topps equivalent, so we'll go straight to the o-pee-chee back:

minchey never pitched for the expos, though.  he was traded to the braves (for zane smith) and then to the red sox (for jeff reardon).  he finally made his big league debut with boston in september of 1993 when he threw 129 pitches in a complete game victory against the indians.  after the 1996 season, minchey signed with the rockies but appeared in only two games for them in 1997.

voici à vous, 1988 nathan minchey!

1987 ron romanick

after three seasons with the california angels, ron romanick was traded to the yankees for butch wynegar.  hence, his 1987 o-pee-chee card, complete with an interesting placement of the text...

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

romanick placed 7th in the 1984 al roy voting, but regressed slightly in his sophomore year.  in his final year with the angels, he was sent down to aaa in july and did not return to the big leagues.  in fact, he spent all of 1987 in aaa for the yankees and all of 1988 (his final professional season) in the brewers' minor league system.  he's currently the bullpen coach for the a's.

oh, by the way.  the soap opera he appeared on?  it was 'days of our lives', and he filmed his cameo (with kirk mccaskill) during the 2-day 1985 players' strike.  i had forgotten all about that strike.

voici à vous, 1987 ron romanick!

1986 tim teufel

tim teufel was traded from the twins to the mets for, among others, billy beane.  beane is, of course, the current general manager of the a's (and the guy who joe morgan thinks wrote the book 'moneyball').  here's teufel's 1986 o-pee-chee card

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

teufel finished 4th in the 1984 al roy voting, behind alvin davis, mark langston and kirby puckett, but ahead of roger clemens.  he hit a home run in the 1986 world series, but his biggest career roundtripper was probably the pinch hit, walk off grand slam he hit against the phillies in june of that year.  teufel is currently managing in the mets system.

voici à vous, 1986 tim teufel!

1985 tim stoddard

tim stoddard had a career year for the nl east champion cubs in 1984, winning 10 games and saving 7.  after the season, however, he traded up and signed as a free agent with the nl champion padres.  here's his 1985 o-pee-chee card

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

stoddard was the pitcher in game 4 of the nlcs (the garvey game, as i like to call it) who gave up garvey's tie-breaking single in the bottom of the 7th.  although the cubs would tie the game in the 8th, garvey would win it in the 9th with a walk off home run.  back to stoddard - although the padres didn't get back to the postseason in 1985 or 1986 (his final year with the team), he did hit a home run (his only career jack) in his final major league at bat.

voici à vous, 1985 tim stoddard!

1984 willie aikens

willie mays aikens was traded from the royals to the blue jays in the 1983 offseason for jorge orta, straight up.  orta would go on to be the guy who todd worrell beat to the bag in the 1985 world series, although don denkinger saw it differently.  anyway, here's aikens' 1984 o-pee-chee card

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

aikens may be best known (on the field) for his performance in the 1980 world series when he hit 2 home runs in a game twice (his 4 home runs were 1 more than the entire phillies team) in a losing cause.  off the field, he is best known for his involvement in the pittsburgh drug trials and his later incarceration for selling drugs.

voici à vous, 1984 willie aikens!

1983 floyd bannister

1982 was a contract year for floyd bannister, and he made the most of it, leading the american league in strikeouts and being named to the all star team.  he signed with the white sox as a free agent that offseason, making his 1983 o-pee-chee card a team and text variation

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

bannister, the first overall pick in the 1976 draft, had his best season in 1983.  he won 16 games and finished second in the league in strikeouts, helping the white sox get to the postseason. in september he hurled another 'brilliant 2-hit shutout', but this time it was against his old team, the mariners.

voici à vous, 1983 floyd bannister!

1982 dave lopes in action

this is the third and final dave lopes variation in the 1982 o-pee-chee set.  it's his 'in action' card.

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i would contend that standing in the batter's box is about as opposite of 'in action' one can get.  why not show lopes doing something he was known for, like stealing a base?  i ranted about this a while back on my other blog regarding maury wills' 1972 topps in action card.

voici à vous, 1982 dave lopes in action!

1981 butch hobson

butch hobson was part of the 5 player deal between the angels and red sox that took place in december of 1980.  we'll see four of them featured as team and text variations, like hobson's 1981 o-pee-chee card

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

hobson hit 3 home runs in a two-day span against the angels in 1980.  i wonder if that had anything to do with their later acquisition of him.  regardless, hobson would spend just one year in california before being traded to the yankees prior to the 1982 season, his last in the majors.  hobson returned to the red sox, although not as a player.  he managed the club in the early 90's and is still managing today in the atlantic league, i believe.

voici à vous, 1981 butch hobson!

1980 barry bonnell

did you know that chris chambliss was once a blue jay?  i didn't until i looked up barry bonnell for this post.  the yankees traded the hero of the 1976 alcs to toronto in a november 1979 deal that gave them rick cerone.  a month later, the blue jays flipped chambliss to the braves for barry bonnell.  here's bonnell's 1980 o-pee-chee card

here's the topps front:

notice the black arm band.  wrigley wax just posted the other day about it - he discovered that the braves were honoring their general manager, bill lucas, who had died early in the 1979 season.

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

in addition to keeping chris chambliss out of a blue jay uniform, bonnell was part of another trade that involved a big name and a team they never played for.  he was acquired in may of 1975 by the braves in the deal that sent dick allen back to philadelphia after allen declared he would not play for atlanta.  that was the deal that saw jim essian being traded for dick allen twice.  the braves got allen from the white sox in december of 1974 for aptbnl, then acquired essian with bonnell for allen from the phillies and flipped essian to chicago as the ptbnl.

apologies to barry bonnell for finding all of this trade history more interesting than his stats.

voici à vous, 1980 barry bonnell!

1979 jim kern

jim kern is one happy dude.  in a few weeks, i'll feature his 1982 o-pee-chee card which is even better than this one.  for now, though, here is kern's 1979 o-pee-chee card documenting his transition from cleveland to texas.

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

kern was traded to the rangers (with larvell blanks) for len barker and bobby bonds.  he went on to have his best season in 1979 for the rangers, going 13-5 with a 1.57 era and 29 saves.  that means he won or saved over half of the team's 83 wins.  as a result, he finished 4th in the cy young voting and 11th in the al mvp race.  not too shabby.

notice how o-pee-chee mixes up the text - 'trade with indians...' as opposed to 'traded to indians...'.  i guess they thumb their noses at consistency.  i'll categorize it as 'traded' anyway.

voici à vous, 1979 jim kern!

1978 tim foli

tim foli was the number 1 overall pick in the 1968 amatuer draft.  the team that chose him? the new york metropolitans.  they later traded him to the expos for le grand orange, but decided to bring him back to the club in late 1977.  by that time, tim was with the giants, thus his 1978 o-pee-chee card

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

tim's second tour with the mets would last just over a year as he was traded to the pirates a couple of weeks into the 1979 season.  that worked out pretty well for foli, as he would help the bucs to their world championship as part of 'the family'.  he would later help the 1982 angels get to the postseason, but with more disappointing results.

voici à vous, 1978 tim foli!