1979 steve stone

steve stone signed as a free agent with the orioles in november of 1978.  here's his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

that's one of the hairiest cards around, i believe.  you can see from the back that stone was a white sox 'double dipper', but what the card doesn't say is that the '5-player swap' back in 1973 was the deal that sent cub legend ron santo to the white sox.  anyway, stone pitched for the orioles for 3 seasons, losing 7 games each year.  in 1979, he won 11 games and in 1981 (his last year in the bigs) he won only 4 games.  in between those two seasons, however, stone won 25 games and was voted the cy young award as a result.

voici à vous, 1979 steve stone!

1977 garry templeton

garry templeton was a member of topps' all-star rookie team for the 1976 season, but you wouldn't know it by his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front with the rookie cup nestled in nicely against templeton's knee and the autograph pushed slightly to the right:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

notice that o-pee-chee didn't strike the text on the back referring to the honor bestowed upon templeton.  i also enjoy the ray kroc cartoon, especially with the hindsight that templeton would later be acquired by kroc's padres for ozzie smith.

templeton had a big year in 1977 - 200 hits and a league-leading 18 triples.  he also made the all-star team, but dave concepcion was the starter for the nl so templeton's 1978 o-pee-chee (and topps) card was also unadorned.

voici à vous, 1977 garry templeton!

1992 darrin fletcher

darrin fletcher was traded from the phillies to the expos in december of 1991.  here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

while with the phillies in 1991, fletcher caught tommy greene's no-hitter against the expos.  in montreal, he shared time with gary carter in 1992 before taking the reins as their primary backstop in 1993. in 1994, fletcher was named to the national league all-star team, and was inserted into the game in the 9th inning as a defensive replacement for mike piazza.  fletcher was on deck in the bottom of the 10th inning when teammate moises alou hit a walk-off double to end the game.  fletcher went on to serve as the expos' catcher through the 1997 season before finishing his career with 5 seasons in toronto. 

voici à vous, 1992 darrin fletcher!

1991 george bell

george bell, the 1987 al mvp, signed with the cubs as a free agent in late 1990.  here is his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

bell wound up spending just one season with the cubs, as he was traded during spring training in 1992 to the white sox for sammy sosa.  still, his lone year on the north side was fairly memorable.  he hit 25 home runs (the most since his mvp campaign) and made the all-star team.  in the midsummer classic (played at toronto's skydome), bell appeared as a pinch hitter in the 9th inning and struck out against dennis eckersley. 

voici à vous, 1991 george bell!

1990 walt terrell

in november of 1989, walt terrell signed a free agent deal with the pirates.  at that time, going from the yankees to the pirates was considered a good move.  here is his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

terrell lasted less than a full season in pittsburgh as he was released in july of 1990.  he was 2-7 in 16 starts for the bucs with an era over 5.  shortly after his release, he was signed by the tigers, the team for whom he had his most success in the mid-1980's.  back in motown, terrell went 6-4 in 13 games (12 starts) with an era around 4-and a half over the remainder of the 1990 season.  he pitched for the tigers in 1991 and 1992 before calling it quits.

voici à vous, 1990 walt terrell!

1989 jim clancy

jim clancy joined the astros as a free agent in december of 1988.  but you knew that because it says so right there on his 1989 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

although he had some good years for the blue jays, clancy was on the downside of his career when he joined the astros, and he won only 7 games for them in 1989.  in 1990, he won only two games and then none in 1991 when he was traded to the braves at the trade deadline.  his era remained high in atlanta, but 3 of his 5 decisions as a brave were wins.

he also was able to pitch in the world series that year, and appeared in 3 games and was the winning pitcher in the braves' game 3 triumph over the twins.  although he signed with the cubs prior to the 1992 season, clancy did not appear in a major league game after the 1991 fall classic.

voici à vous, 1989 jim clancy!

1988 glenn wilson

glenn wilson was traded from the phillies to the mariners in december 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:

wilson played in seattle for just 78 games before being traded again.  he went back to pennsylvania, although this time he was playing for the pirates.  in all, wilson hit .256 with just 5 home runs in 1988, the lowest total in his career up to that point.

voici à vous, 1988 glenn wilson!

1987 dave schmidt

dave schmidt signed as a free agent with the orioles in january of 1987.  here's his 1987 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

schmidt wound up a 10-game winner for the first time in his career as an oriole in 1987.  schmidt's first 6 wins of the season came in relief, including a 7-inning, 4-hit scoreless outing against his former mates for win number 3.  he then earned the last 4 wins of his season as a starter, and those victories included two shutouts - a 3-hitter against the yankees and a 2-hitter against the eventual world champion twins.

voici à vous, 1987 dave schmidt!

1986 bill gullickson

bill gullickson was traded from the expos to the reds in december of 1985.  here is his 1986 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

gullickson won 15 games for the reds in '86 and then 10 more in 1986 before he was sent to the yankees in late august.  after that, he went to japan for a couple of years thanks to collusion amongst the big league teams.  he returned as an astro in 1990 and then went to detroit where he won 20 games in 1991.

voici à vous, 1986 bill gullickson!

1985 roy smalley

roy smalley was traded from the white sox to the twins in february of 1985.  here's his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

this variation celebrates the second time smalley was traded to the twins.  the first time, smalley was installed at short, but this time he wound up as the twins primary dh since greg gagne was entrenched in the infield.  he stuck around long enough to win a ring with the '87 twins and then retired after rhe series.  currently he does some tv commentary for the twins and has his name on a restaurant near target field.  he also has great hair. these are facts, and they are indisputable.

voici à vous, 1985 roy smalley!

1984 tony perez

after a single season in philly, the reds purchased the contract of tony perez in december of 1983.  here's his 1984 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

perez spent 3 years in cincy as a part-time player, retiring after the 1986 season.  during his double dip with the reds, he smashed his 375th career home run (a 3-run shot off of larry gura of the cubs) and also collected his 2700th hit - numbers which eventually got him into cooperstown.

voici à vous, 1984 tony perez!

1983 leon roberts

leon roberts (not leon 'bip' roberts) was traded by the blue jays to the royals in february 1983 for cecil fielder.  straight-up.  here's his 1983 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

roberts, in my opinion, is a first ballot member of the reggie cleveland all-stars, but i digress.  roberts spent the last two seasons of his career in kansas city, playing outfield with an occasional dh appearance.  in 1983, he hit 8 homers, and in 1984, he made his only major league pitching appearance in a blowout loss against the indians.  in that game, roberts mopped up by allowing 3 runs in his lone inning of work, although he did strikeout mel hall, the first batter he faced.

voici à vous, 1983 leon roberts!

1982 bob boone in action

last time the 1982 variations came around, we learned that bob boone was 'traded' to the angels.  here's boone's second variation in the '82 set, his 1982 o-pee-chee 'in action' card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

just like with dave lopes' in action card, there seems to be a lot of inaction.  boone would add to some of those career highlights while with the angels.  he made the american league all-star team in 1983 and played in both the 1982 and 1986 alcs. in fact, his .455 performance in the '86 championship series would kick that 1977 nlcs highlight way off the back of the card.  unfortunately, playing for the angels in the mid '80's means he never made it back to the world series.

voici à vous, 1982 bob boone in action!