1981 ray burris

ray burris signed as a free agent with the montreal expos in february of 1981.  here is his 1981 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

with the expos in 1981, burris started 21 games and pitched in relief in one other game.  he went 9-7 with a 3.05 era and 4 complete games but no shutouts.  he was on the expos' postseason roster and pitched in the nlds against the phillies, taking the loss in game 3 of that series.  still, the expos prevailed and faced the dodgers in the nlcs.  burris threw a shutout in game 2 against la, outpitching rookie sensation fernando valenzuela.  burris and fernando faced off again in the decisive game 5, with burris matching fernando with an 8-inning, 1-run performance.  steve rogers relieved burris in the 9th, rick monday came up to bat, and the rest is history.

voici à vous, 1981 ray burris!

1980 dan schatzeder

dan schatzeder was traded from the expos to the tigers in december of 1979 for ron leflore.  straight up.  here's his 1980 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

schatzeder was 10-5 with a 2.83 era for the expos in 1979.  he did fairly well for the tigers in 1980, going 11-13 with a 4.02 era with 9 complete games and 2 shutouts in 26 starts and over 192 innings pitched.  those turned out to be career highs, though, and schatzeder was on the move again midway through the 1981 season as he was transformed into a reliever.  we'll see him again here at oh my o-pee-chee!

voici à vous, 1980 dan schatzeder!

1979 manny trillo

manny trillo was traded from the cubs to the phillies in february of 1979. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

 here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

trillo first broke into the big leagues with the a's, although he wouldn't have a proper rookie season until 1975 when he was obtained by the cubs in the billy williams trade.  he finished 3rd in the nl rookie of the year voting that season, and after 4 seasons with the cubs and an all star selection (1977), he was sent to philadelphia. the phillies had lost in the nlcs the previous two years, and, while trillo won his first gold glove in 1979, the phillies failed (or is it phailed) to make the playoffs.  that changed the following season, however, as they won the world series in 6 games over the royals.  trillo hit .381 in the nlcs against the astros, but just .217 in the world series.

 

voici à vous, 1979 manny trillo!

1978 tom veryzer

tom veryzer was traded from the tigers to the indians in december of 1977. here is his 1978 o-pee-chee card

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the tigers had a rookie shortstop named alan trammell, so veryzer was expendable. during his 4 years in cleveland as the indians' primary shortstop, veryzer hit .251 with 3 home runs. he set career highs in runs and hits in 1978, although he may be best known for breaking up ken holtzman's no hitter with 2 outs in the 9th inning in june of 1975.

voici à vous, 1978 tom veryzer!

1977 jackie brown

jackie brown was traded from the indians to the expos in december of 1976.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

brown's lone season in montreal was also his last in the major leagues. he won 9 games, lost 12 and had an era of 4.51. he struck out the last batter he ever faced in the big leagues - the cardinals' hector cruz. brown did sign a contract with the rangers prior to the 1978 season, but he spent the entire year at their aaa club in tucson. after the season was over, brown became the rangers' pitching coach, a position he held for 4 seasons. he also served in that capacity for the white sox and the devil rays.

voici à vous, 1977 jackie brown!

1971 john bateman

o-pee-chee really wanted to make sure john bateman was included in their 1971 set, as they moved him up from number 628 in the topps set to number 31 in theirs, creating a checklist variation.  here's (one of) his 1971 o-pee-chee cards:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i said this is just one of bateman's 1971 o-pee-chee cards because they also issued a card, identical to the topps issue (with just the yellow coloring of the back), at number 628 in the set.  that's why this is just a checklist variation and not a photo variation.  bateman bumped eddie kasko to a later series, where he took ron hunt's spot which was vacated when hunt was moved to replace the coins checklist in the topps set.  make sense?

bateman debuted in 1963 with the colt .45's as a pinch hitter against the dodgers.  a tough way to break in, he faced sandy koufax and struck out.  5 years later, bateman became an original expo, and was their primary catcher in 1970 and 1971, playing in 139 games each season.  his tenure with the expos came to an end when they traded him during the 1972 season to the phillies for verbal diahrreaist tim mccarver.  in his final game in the big leagues, bateman caught steve carlton's 27th victory of the season.

voici à vous, 1971 john bateman!

1992 jeff schaefer

jeff schaefer had played in 84 games for the mariners in 1991, his third season in the major leagues.  topps didn't include him in their 1992 set, but o-pee-chee did as they replaced the all star cards with commons, creating a slew of checklst variations.  here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the o-pee-chee back:

here's the topps card schaefer replaced in the o-pee-chee set:

and the topps back:

schaefer hit just .114 for the mariners in limited action in 1992.  he spent 1993 in the indians' organization  and had a short stint in the orioles' fold before resurfacing with the a's in 1994.  he played in 6 games for the a's, getting 1 hit in 8 at bats.  that hit came in his last major league at bat which occurred in chicago against the white sox - the same setting for both of schaefer's career home runs.
voici à vous, 1992 jeff schaefer!

1991 rosario rodriguez

the pirates picked up rosario rodriguez on waivers from the reds during the 1990 offseason.  here is his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

rodriguez has the unusual distinction (at least i think it's fairly unusual) of making his final major league appearance in a post season game.  he pitched one inning of relief for the pirates in the 1991 nlcs against the braves, giving up a three-run home run to sid bream in game 3.  he had saved 6 games for the pirates during the regular season, but had an era of 4.11.
voici à vous, 1991 rosario rodriguez!

1990 kevin bass

kevin bass signed with the giants as a free agent after the 1989 season.  here's his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

bass was originally acquired by the astros in the don sutton trade, which may be a factoid that only i find interesting.  anyway, bass missed out on the brew crew's world series appearance that year and joined the giants the year after they played in the fall classic (he did get to the nlcs with the astros in 1986). 

bass struggled for the giants in 1990 and appeared in only 61 games.  he rebounded in 1991 to play in 124 games but continued to underperform at the plate, hitting just .233.  the giants sent bass to the mets during the 1992 season, and he later rejoined the astros as a free agent.
voici à vous, 1990 kevin bass!

1989 floyd youmans

the phillies acquired floyd youmans from the phillies in december of 1988.  here is his 1989 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back: 

and the topps back:

youmans made 10 starts for the phillies and went 1-5 with a 5.70 era.  he was released by the phillies in june of 1989 after a start against the mets in which he gave up 4 runs in 4 innings, including a home run to ron darling.  it was the first of only two home runs hit by darling in his career.  strangely enough, darling hit his second and last career homer 6 days later.
voici à vous, 1989 floyd youmans!

1988 vance law

vance law signed with the cubs as a free agent after the 1987 season.  here is his 1988 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

law became the cubbies' everyday third baseman in 1988, and had a career year.  he hit .293 in 151 games with 163 hits and 78 rbi - all career highs.  he also made the all star team, and got in the game as a late inning defensive replacement at second base, taking over for teammate ryne sandberg.  law played for the cubs again in 1989 but was released prior to the 1990 season.  after missing a year, he signed with the a's and finished his career with them in 1991.

voici à vous, 1988 vance law!

1987 gary roenicke

ron roenicke's brother, gary roenicke, signed with the braves as a free agent in 1987 after one year in new york.  here's his 1987 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

at this point in his career roenicke was a platoon player, getting starts mostly against left handed pitchers.  he hit .219 for the 1987 season with 9 home runs and 28 rbi.  he hit 2 of those home runs in the same game off of a young pitcher named jamie moyer.  roenicke returned to the braves for the 1988 season and was released in july of that year, ending his big league career.

voici à vous, 1987 gary roenicke!

1986 jackie gutierrez

in december of 1985, the red sox traded their shortsop, jackie gutierrez, to the orioles for sammy stewart.  here's his 1986 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

gutierrez didn't play short for the orioles in 1986.  instead, he played second and some third.  he appeared in only 61 games, and hit below .200.  he had only 3 at bats for the orioles in 1987, and they released him before the 1988 season began.  that's not a bad thing, as he missed out on the orioles' dismal 0-21 start that year.

voici à vous, 1986 jackie gutierrez!