1981 ron leflore

ron leflore returned to the american league as a free agent, signing with the white sox prior to the 1981 season.  here's his 1981 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

there's some good stuff in the cartoons on the back of leflore's 1981 card(s).  he and teammate rodney scott stole a total of 160 bases (97 were leflore's) in 1980 which was a new record, apparently.  better yet, the card references the made for tv movie 'one in a million' starring levar burton as leflore.  i remember watching it as a kid and reading the book as well.  there was some fairly graphic stuff in the book (for a 9-year old) but i enjoyed both versions of his story, and i soon had a vested interest in leflore's career.

that career was coming to a close when he joined the white sox.  he played in 82 games in 1981 for the sox and stole 'just' 36 bases.  his average hit a career low, and he failed to homer for the first time in his career.  he bounced back a bit in 1982, but he was released by chicago towards the end of spring training in 1983.  later, leflore tried to return to the big leagues as an umpire but fell short of qualifying for a position in the minor leagues after attending joe brinkman's school.

voici à vous, 1981 ron leflore!

1980 ron leflore

speedster ron leflore was traded from the tigers to the expos in december of 1979.  here is his 1980 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i am guessing that the cartoon refers to an american league mark because we all know that davey lopes stole 38 consecutive bases in 1975, right?  it also kind of sucks that the team color scheme for the expos is the same as the tigers' in this set.

leflore had some really good years in his hometown of detroit.  he led the league in runs and stolen bases in 1978, and was a top 25 votegetter in the mvp race 3 times for the tigers.  with the expos in 1980, he led the national league with 97 steals (a career high), although his other offensive numbers declined a bit.  still, he finished 22nd in the mvp vote that year.  my go-to trivia question used to be a variation of 'who other than tim raines or vince coleman led the national league in steals for a season in the '80's?'.  not too many people guessed ron leflore.  in fact, only two people not named rickey henderson, coleman, or raines led either league in steals during that decade.  you know one is leflore, can you name the other guy?

voici à vous, 1980 ron leflore!

1979 darold knowles

former expo darold knowles signed with the cardinals as a free agent in february of 1979.  here's his subsequent 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

knowles was quite the vagabond towards the end of his career, and saint louis would be the last stop.  in 1979, he went 2-5 with 6 saves in 48 games.  his era was 4.07 - a marked increase from his 2.38 era he posted with the expos in 1978.  the cardinals brought him back in 1980, but knowles had a really short leash.  in his first appearance he provided a perfect inning of relief, striking out willie stargell in the process.  his second appearance didn't go so well.  knowles came on with one out and a runner on base in the 6th inning of a game against the pirates who were down by a run.  knowles promptly gave up a home run to dave parker followed by a double, a run scoring fielder's choice, a single and a groundout.  he took the loss and shortly after that appearance, knowles was released.

voici à vous, 1979 darold knowles!

1978 carlos lopez

in december of 1977, carlos lopez was traded from the mariners to the orioles.  here's his 1978 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lopez spent a total of 3 seasons in the majors, each with a different team.  in 1976 he was with the angels, the mariners in 1977, and then the orioles in 1978.  he played in 129 games for the orioles, but was mostly used as a pinch hitter or runner, so he had fewer at bats than he had had in seattle.  he hit just .238 with 4 home runs on the season.  in 1979 he played for the orioles' aaa affiliate but never made it back to the majors.

voici à vous, 1978 carlos lopez!

1977 chris chambliss

in what may be the weakest variation o-pee-chee ever issued, the facsimilie autograph on chris chambliss' 1977 o-pee-chee card was rotated differently than on the topps counterpart.  see for yourself - here's his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

it's actually a tad more difficult to read on the o-pee-chee card.  i wonder if they were trying to line it up to be more perpendicular to the pinstripes?  who knows.  like i said, it's a weak variation.  i like how topps/o-pee-chee noted chambliss' mid-season walk off home run against the red sox instead of his pennant clinching bomb in the 1976 alcs against the royals.  those new york topps boys really wanted to rub it in to the red sox fans, i guess.

voici à vous, 1977 chris chambliss!

1974 hank aaron special (1968 - 1969)

here's the 1974 o-pee-chee hank aaron special (1968 - 1969) card:

here's the equivalent topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i wonder if topps, when they were putting these cards together, was embarrassed by the fact that they used the same photo for aaron two years in a row.  it's hank aaron, for crying out loud.  anyway, on this card we get to read about his 3000th hit and 700th home run in french. 

and, this is the last 1974 post.  we have now hit all of the hank aaron specials that were different than the topps counterparts, as well as the three cards displaced by the o-pee-chee expansion of the aaron subset.  by the way, number 8 in the topps set is george theodore.

voici à vous, 1974 hank aaron special (1968 - 1969)!

1971 alan foster

alan foster was traded from the dodgers to the indians in december of 1970 for duke sims.  here is his 1971 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

foster was a 10-game winner for the dodgers in 1970, but won only 8 games for the tribe in 1971 despite posting slightly better stats.  he did win his first start for the indians, a 8.1 inning effort against the red sox, despite giving up 9 walks.  after the season, the indians sent foster to the angels where he spent most of the 1972 season in aaa.  he was picked up by the cardinals for the 1973 and 1974 seasons before spending the last two years of his career with the padres.

voici à vous, 1971 alan foster!

1992 gary carter tribute (mets 1985-1989)

the 1992 o-pee-chee set included a 5 card tribute subset to gary carter, the guy who would become the first expo hall of famer. each card was a tribute to a different team/stage of his career, and this is the second one to be featured on this site (here's the first).  this is his 1992 o-pee-chee tribute card for the mets' years:

there's no similar card in the topps set, but here's the front of the topps card that was deleted from the o-pee-chee set:

now the o-pee-chee back:

 and the topps back:  

carter had his last great season in 1985, his first with the mets.  he is likely best remembered, however, for the 1986 season in which the mets won the world series.  as you recall, it was his two-out single in the bottom of the 10th inning that started the mets' improbable rally against calvin schiraldi and the red sox.  i remember his mets' years for another postseason at-bat, however.  in game 1 of the 1988 nlcs, carter again had a two-out hit in the mets' last at-bat.  this time, his two-out double in the 9th drove in two runs to put the mets ahead 3-2 where they would stay and beat the dodgers.  i have to admit, i was unsure that the dodgers would be able to overcome such a defeat, but they did, and gary carter never played in another postseason series for the remainder of his career.

voici à vous, 1992 gary carter tribute (mets 1985-1989)!

1991 mickey tettleton

the orioles traded mickey tettleton to the tigers in january of 1991.  here is his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

it's great that mickey's passion for froot loops is mentioned on the backs.  tettleton would set career highs in runs, hits and batting average in his first year with the tigers.  he also hit more home runs and played in more games than he had in any previous season, although he would surpass those stats in future years.  he also won his second silver slugger and hit the 100th home run of his career in 1991.

voici à vous, 1991 mickey tettleton!

1990 scott bailes

scott bailes was traded from the indians to the angels in january of 1990.  here's his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

bailes pitched for the angels for 3 years before he was released following the 1992 season.  he was 2-0 with the halos in 1990, but his era was 6.37 in 27 appearances.  he was sent down to aaa in july and wasn't back in the majors until the 1991 season.  he spent the full '91 and '92 seasons with the angels but was released in november of '92. 

he spent a short time with the royals organization before signing with the blue jays just after the 1993 season began.  he spent the next two seasons in their minor league system before being released.  after missing the 1995 and 1996 seasons as an unsigned free agent, the rangers signed him and he spent parts of the 1997 and 1998 seasons back in the majors.

voici à vous, 1990 scott bailes!

1989 bob boone

bob boone signed as a free agent with the kansas city royals prior to the 1989 season.  here's his 1989 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the 41-year old boone would play more games at catcher in 1989 than anyone else in the league (129) and picked up his 4th consecutive gold glove (the 7th of his career).  boone was replaced as the royals' everyday catcher in 1990 by mike mcfarlane, but he still extended his record of games caught to 2225.  that record was later eclipsed by carlton fisk and then ivan rodriguez.  boone's last at bat in his career came against his old club, the california angels.  he hit a run-scoring single off of jim abbott, and was pinch hit for in his next turn at bat by jeff schulz.

voici à vous, 1989 bob boone!

1988 gary pettis

the angels, who had devon white ready to take over in center, traded two-time gold glover gary pettis to the tigers for dan petry in december of 1987.  here's his 1988 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

funnily enough, both white and pettis won gold gloves in 1988 (and 1989) despite the fact that they both played center.  pettis had a miserable season at the plate, though, hitting only .210 with an on base percentage of just .285!  he improved in both categories for the tigers in 1989, but left as a free agent in november of that year.

voici à vous, 1988 gary pettis!

1987 mike easler

the yankees traded mike 'hit man' easler to the phillies in december of 1986.  here is his 1987 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the yankees had given up don baylor (who quickly became the key to getting to the world series in the late 80's) to acquire easler a year earlier, and they got pitcher charles hudson in return for him from the phillies.  easler was the phillies' every day left fielder for the 33 games in which he appeared.  he hit .282 in those games, but had an ops of just .662. 

meanwhile, back in the bronx, the gary ward/claudell washington/ron kittle trio wasn't doing too much, so the yankees decided to bring easler back.  he was reacquired by new york in june of 1987 for keith hughes and shane turner.  in 65 games for the yankees as their dh and sometime left fielder, easler hit .281 with an ops of .726.  he was released by the yankees at the end of the season, ending his big league playing career.

voici à vous, 1987 mike easler!