1978 al oliver

al oliver was part of the big 4 team trade between the pirates, rangers, mets, and braves after the 1977 season. he went from pittsburgh to texas as indicated on his 1978 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

when he arrived in texas, oliver chose uniform number 0 for the first time in his career. he wore it everywhere he played after texas as well. with the rangers, oliver had a strong 4-year run. he hit .319 during his tenure, won two silver sluggers, and was a top-16 finisher in the mvp voting 3 of the four years. the rangers traded oliver to the expos just before the start of the 1982 season, and he went on to have perhaps his finest season, leading the league with 204 hits, 43 doubles, 109 rbi and a .331 batting average.

oliver is on the short list of players that will be evaluated by the veteran's committee for hall of fame induction this winter. he has 2743 hits and a .303 lifetime average and had a pretty solid run for 11 or so years of his career. his is an interesting case, similar to harold baines and other smaller market 'pure hitters' with big accumulated career numbers. we'll see what happens.

oliver is also the last of the 1978 o-pee-chee variations. that means we have now completed the 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1978 variations. there are still plenty more though!

voici à vous, 1978 al oliver!

1977 sal bando

sal bando joined the brewers as a free agent after the 1976 season. here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card.

it's not too different from the topps version:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

for whatever reason, o-pee-chee reversed the negative. or, at least, reversed the image used on topps' card. maybe they corrected it, who knows. thanks to the reversible 'm' on the hat, we may never know. if only the 'mb/glove' logo had been used! they also moved the autograph around to correspond to the movement of his shoulder.

bando was coming off a solid season in oakland (13th in the al mvp voting in 1976) when he joined the brew crew. he put up a couple of decent years there before things started to decline. he even pitched in a game for the brewers in 1979, going 3 innings and allowing 2 earned runs on 3 hits. still, by 1980 he was a part time player and appeared in only 78 games. in 1981, he played in just 34 games but did make the postseason roster as the brewers lost in the alds to the yankees in their first postseason appearance. that was his final appearance in the majors, as he retired after the season.

voici à vous, 1977 sal bando!

1992 gene harris

gene harris appeared in only 8 games for the 1991 seattle mariners and didn't get a card in the 1992 topps set. here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

and the o-pee-chee back:

harris knocked this card out of the set, the 1992 topps barry bonds all-star card - front:

and back:

in 1992, harris again appeared in only 8 games for the mariners, but this time he was traded to the padres. he appeared in 15 games for the pads that season, including once as a pinch runner. he got his first major league hit in his lone start for the padres when he beat ot an infield single against jimmy jones and the astros. in all, he was 0-2 with a 2.95 era in san diego in 1992.

harris faced barry bonds 3 times in his career, and retired him each time, including a strikeout.

voici à vous, 1992 gene harris!

1991 juan agosto

juan agosto signed as a free agent with the cardinals after the 1990 season.  here is his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

agosto changed teams 8 times during his career, but was never traded.  he was, however, released 5 times, including once by the red sox organization prior to his major league debut with the white sox.  still, agosto pitched in 13 seasons and made an appearance in the postseason with the 1983 white sox.  he pitched one-third of an inning, retiring the only batter he faced.

having led the league in appearances in 1990 for the astros, agosto fell to fourth in that category with the cards in 1991.  still, 72 games is not too bad.  after short stints with the cardinals and mariners in 1992, agosto returned to houston to finish his career in 1993.

voici à vous, 1991 juan agosto!

1990 tony pena

tony pena was a free agent after the 1989 season, and he signed with the boston red sox. here is his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

pena was coming off a decent season (he had made the all star team) when he signed with the bosox. he had a pretty solid season in boston, finishing 21st in the mvp balloting while posting a .995 fielding percentage behind the plate as the league's leading catcher in games and putouts. he was just 3 for 14 for the sox in the alcs against the a's, however.

voici à vous, 1990 tony pena!

1989 dave lapoint

after a one day break, we're back to finish up 'dave lapoint' days.

as mentioned a couple of days ago, dave lapoint ended the 1988 season in pittsburgh. after the season, he signed as a free agent with the yankees. here is his 1989 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lapoint spent 2 full seasons with the yankees, compiling a 13-19 record with a 4.74 era. all but one of his 48 appearances were as a starter. prior to the 1991 season, the yankees released lapoint, but he signed on with the phillies. after just 2 starts in philadelphia, he was released again. he signed deals with the brewers and cubs later in the 1991 season, but failed to get back to the big leagues with either club.

so, after 9 teams (with 2 stints in philadelphia), 6 trades, and 4 o-pee-chee variations in 5 years, dave lapoint's career was at an end.

voici à vous, 1989 dave lapoint!

1988 dan pasqua

this is day 4 of dave lapoint days, but since lapoint didn't have an o-pee-chee variation in 1988, we'll showcase someone else.  since it's 1988, we'll feature a teammate of lapoint's on the 1988 white sox.  a guy who also enjoyed facing lapoint, as he had a .556 average against him with 5 hits in 9 at bats with 2 walks.  that man is dan pasqua.  pasqua was traded from the yankees to the white sox in november of 1987. here is his 1988 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

pasqua had that big sophomore season in 1986 (16 hr, 45 rbi, .293 average, .924 ops) but stalled badly in 1987 (17 hr, 42 rbi, .233 average, .741 ops). after the trade, pasqua hit a career high 20 home runs in 1988, but didn't make any improvements in the other offensive categories. he did rebound a bit in 1990 and 1991, but spent the rest of his career as a part time player.

voici à vous, 1988 dan pasqua!

1987 dave lapoint

here we are on day 3 of 'dave lapoint days'!

dave lapoint signed a contract with the cardinals prior to the 1987 season. here's his 1987 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lapoint made just 6 appearances (including 2 starts) with the cardinals before he was traded to the white sox. he pitched a lot better in chicago as he lowered his era from 6.75 at the time of the trade to 3.56 overall by way of a 2.94 era with the white sox. he was 6-3 in chicago and 7-4 overall, and the white sox decided to keep him around for 1988, meaning that there would be no 1988 o-pee-chee variation for dave lapoint. still, the sox did wind up trading him to pittsburgh part way through the 1988 season.

voici à vous, 1987 dave lapoint!

1986 dave lapoint

it's day 2 of dave lapoint days!

in october of 1985, the giants sent dave lapoint to the tigers. here is his 1986 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lapoint appeared in 16 games (half as a starter) for the tigers before they traded him to the padres. in san diego, he appeared in 24 games, mostly as a reliever. in total, lapoint was 4-10 with a 5.02 era. it marked the third year in a row that he was in double digits as far as losses were concerned. the padres released him after the season ended, and he signed a contract with the cardinals for 1987.

voici à vous, 1986 dave lapoint!

1985 dave lapoint

hey there! we're starting 'dave lapoint days' here at oh my o-pee-chee! come along for the ride!

in february of 1985, dave lapoint was traded from the cardinals to the giants. here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front: 

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back: 

lapoint lost his first 4 starts of the season before he shutout his former team, the cardinals, with a 6-hitter on cinco de mayo. he also lost his last 6 starts of the season, and lost a total of 17 games for the giants in 1985, although his era was 3.57. he threw 206.2 innings over 31 starts in which the giants were 8-23. after the season, lapoint was traded to detroit.

voici à vous, 1985 dave lapoint!

1984 jim slaton

jim slaton was traded from the brewers to the angels in december of 1983. here is his 1984 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

as previously mentioned, slaton had spent his entire career in milwaukee except for that one season in 1978 which spawned another o-pee-chee variation. in his last couple of seasons with the brewers, he had found some success in pitching out of the bullpen, but the angels decided to return him to the role of a starter after the first month of the 1984 season. he made 22 starts, going 6-10 with a shutout and 5 complete games. he started an additional 36 games for the angels over the 1985 and 1986 seasons before he was released partway through the '86 campaign.

voici à vous, 1984 jim slaton!

1983 manny trillo all star

manny trillo spent the first part of the 1983 season in cleveland as we covered last time around. it was long enough for him to be voted in as the american league's starting second baseman in the all star game. here's his 1983 o-pee-chee all star card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

it was his third straight all star game, and fourth of his career. in the game, trillo was 1 for 3 with a run scored (he was on base when fred lynn hit the grand slam off of atlee hammaker). he was replaced in the 7th inning by lou whitaker. 

voici à vous, 1983 manny trillo all star!

1982 chet lemon

chet lemon was traded from the white sox to the tigers in exchange for steve kemp in november of 1981. here is his 1982 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

in 1982, his first year with the tigers, lemon was hit by pitches 3 times by his former team, the white sox. that was more than any other team other than the yankees, who also hit him three times. it wasn't too surprising, though, as lemon led the al in being hit by pitches for the second straight year in 1982. in fact, he would wind up leading the al in that category 4 times in 5 years from 1979 through 1983. lemon was a big part of the tigers' 1984 world championship team and i also seem to remember him being one of the first guys who would slide into first base to try to beat out a hit.

voici à vous, 1982 chet lemon!