1971 ron hunt

in 1971, o-pee-chee issued its set in series, similar to topps.  i am guessing that they came across a quandary at card number 161 in the set (more on that in a minute) and decided to move ron hunt up from his place in the topps set (card number 578).  you know, since he was an expo and all.  so, here's ron hunt's 1971 o-pee-chee card:

here's the front of his topps card from the later series:

so.  not only is the o-pee-chee card a checklist variation, it's a photo variation too.  o-pee-chee went into the way back machine to pull a photo of hunt from his met or dodger days.  topps, while airbrushed, looks like they used a photo from his stint on the giants that directly preceded his turn as an expo, which began in 1971.

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

topps plopped an expos hat on ron (still in the giants jersey).  i guess it looks worse than the airbrushed cap in color, otherwise why not do that on the front.  or, better yet, why not give hunt one of those 1971 'magic hats'?

here's the topps card that prompted o-pee-chee to bring ron hunt into the early series.  it's the baseball coins checklist.

no point in o-pee-chee recreating that card as they didn't issue a coin to go along with their 1971 release.

it should be noted that the game of musical chairs that is 1971 o-pee-chee resulted in three topps cards being eliminated from the set, and three expos getting two cards in the set.  hunt's original spot (card number 578) was replaced by a red sox card, which was prompted by another expo moving up in the set.  i'll discuss that one next time 1971 rolls around.

voici à vous, 1971 ron hunt!