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!