1979 len barker

the rangers traded len barker to the indians, along with bobby bonds, for larvell blanks and jim kern in october of 1978.  here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the indians decided to convert barker to a starter at the midpoint of the 1979 season.  he responded to the change, winning 6 decisions in a row (out of 8 straight starts) from late july to early september.  in 1980, he won 19 games and led the league in strikeouts (as well as wild pitches) and then in 1981, he threw a perfect game against the blue jays.

voici à vous, 1979 len barker!

1977 doug ault

doug ault was selected as the 32nd pick of the 1976 expansion draft by the toronto blue jays. here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

he had been with the texas rangers in 1976, but, as you see above, the o-pee-chee card is not a team or text variation. instead, it's a photo variation as the canadian company freed ault from the topps 4-in-1 rookie card and gave ault a card all of his own.


as a blue jay, ault was the everyday first baseman in 1977, and he hit two home runs in their first ever game. he also tied with ron fairly for the team lead in rbi. ault was selected to the topps all-star rookie team and as a result had the topps rookie cup adorn his fantastic 1978 card.

voici à vous, 1977 doug ault!

1992 nick esasky

nick esasky was in the final year of his 3-year deal with the braves in 1992, and was spending it on the disabled list due to vertigo.  here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

and here's the back:

since esasky hadn't played since early in the 1990 season, topps did not include him in their set.  o-pee-chee, however, gave esasky a spot on their checklist, replacing the 1992 topps roger clemens all-star card:

front:

and back:

esasky was a teammate of clemens' with the red sox in 1989, and never faced him in a game, but got the best of him in the 1992 o-pee-chee set.  he was released in july of 1992 after a short stint in the minors and failed to latch on with another team.

voici à vous, 1992 nick esasky!

1991 danny darwin

danny darwin signed a free agent deal with the red sox in december of 1990.  here is his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

darwin was coming off of identical 11-4 seasons and a nl era title when he signed with the red sox.  with the bosox, he made just 12 starts in 1991 before going on the dl with shoulder tendonitis in july.  he came back in 1992 and split his time between the bullpen and the rotation before coming all the way back in 1993 to win 15 games in 34 starts.

voici à vous, 1991 danny darwin!

1990 nick esasky

nick esasky parlayed his career year with the red sox in 1989 into a multi-year deal with the braves. here is his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

esasky played in just 9 games for the braves in 1990, the first year of a three-year deal.  he had six hits, all singles, in 35 at-bats before being taken out of the lineup due to battles with vertigo.

voici à vous, 1990 nick esasky!

1989 nick esasky

nick esasky was traded to the red sox 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:

esasky's career likely suffered from pete rose's pursuit of ty cobb's all time hit record, as he was often benched to make room for rose in the lineup. as such, he averaged only 108 games a season in his 6 years with the reds. with the bosox in 1989, however, esasky played in 154 games, hit 30 home runs and drove in 108, all career highs. he finished 18th in the mvp voting that season and signed a big free agent deal with the braves.


voici à vous, 1989 nick esasky!

1988 bob dernier

bob dernier returned to philadelphia as a free agent in 1988 after spending a few seasons with the cubs.  here is his 1988 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

dernier hit .289 in his return to philadelphia, but just .171 in 1989, his final year in the majors.  he managed to hit one home run in each of his final two seasons, and they were literally bookends to his career.  his only round-tripper in 1988 was a lead-off shot on the road, the sixth lead-off homer of his career.  his last home run, hit on 5/15/89, was an inside the park walk-off job against the padres.

voici à vous, 1988 bob dernier!

1987 dennis lamp

dennis lamp signed a free agent deal with the indians in february of 1987.  here is his 1987 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

interestingly, however, lamp never pitched for the indians.  he was released towards the end of spring training, but quickly signed on with the oakland a's.  here's an interesting article written at the time.  funny that a team with phil niekro and a week later steve carlton would drop lamp in favor of a youth movement.  anyway, with the a's, lamp went 1-3 as a middle reliever/spot starter.  he pitched against the indians twice in 1987, throwing a total of three innings and allowing just a single unearned run.  i bet that was nice.

voici à vous, 1987 dennis lamp!

1986 darrell porter

darrell porter signed with the rangers as a free agent in january of 1986.  here is his 1986 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

porter is probably best remembered for his 1982 postseason, in which he was named mvp of the nlcs and the world series for the cardinals.  and, while he was just a part-time player in texas, he still managed to hit 12 home runs in just 68 games in 1986, including two in a single game against the twins.
voici à vous, 1986 darrell porter!

1985 john tudor

john tudor was traded from the pirates to the cardinals in december of 1984.  here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

tudor had his career year for the cards in 1985.  21 wins.  a 1.93 era. a league best 10 shutouts. a league leading whip of 0.938.  second place in the nl cy young voting (dwight gooden was better) and 8th place in the mvp race.  tudor capped it off with a win against the dodgers in the nlcs (although he was the loser in game 1) and two victories against the royals in the world series, including a game 4 shutout.  unfortunately, tudor lost game 7.

tudor returned to the fall classic with the cardinals in 1987, but he wouldn't win a ring until the following year when he was a member of the dodgers.  tudor actually started game 3 (the only game of the series that the dodgers lost) but was removed due to injury in the second inning after striking out mark mcgwire.

voici à vous, 1985 john tudor!

1984 john tudor

john tudor was traded in december of 1983 from the red sox to the pirates.  here's his 1984 o-pee-chee card: 

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the move to the national league agreed with tudor, who lowered his era from 4.09 in 1983 to 3.27 in his lone year with the pirates.  he won 12 games and got his first big league hit - a single of off the dodgers' bob welch - in his second major league at bat.  still, tudor would be traded during the offseason - this time to saint louis.

voici à vous, 1984 john tudor!

1983 omar moreno

pirates' speedster omar moreno signed with the astros as a free agent in december of 1982.  here is his 1983 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the two-time stolen base champ (and two-time caught stealing leader) didn't make it a full season in houston, as the astros sent him to the bronx in august of 1983.  in total, moreno hit .244 with 37 steals in 53 attempts in '83, and his days as an everyday centerfielder were finished.

voici à vous, 1983 omar moreno!

1982 frank taveras

frank taveras was traded from the mets to the expos in december of 1981.  here's his 1982 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i find it amazing that after just 3 seasons and 90 steals, taveras was third on the mets' all-time stolen base list.  anyway, taveras had led the league in steals with 70 in 1977 (and in times caught with 25 in 1978).  with the expos in 1982, however, he stole only 4 bases.  on the bright side, he was perfect in 4 attempts, and those successes gave him an even 300 steals for his career.  playing as a backup to chris speier, taveras hit only .161 in 48 games and was released by montreal in august, bringing an end to his big league career.

voici à vous, 1982 frank taveras!