1982 mike krukow

mike krukow was traded by the cubs to the phillies in december 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:

as a phillie, krukow posted just the second winning record of his career to that point, going 13-11 in 33 starts. he also set then-career bests in wins, era (3.12) and innings pitched (208). his first two wins for the phils were shutouts, including a 3-hitter, 1-0 win over the expos in his first start of the season.

after the season ended, the phillies began their quest to rebuild the big red machine by trading krukow to the giants in the deal that brought joe morgan to the nl east.

voici à vous, 1982 mike krukow!

1981 bob knepper

bob knepper was traded in december of 1980 to the astros for enos cabell. here is his 1981 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

for the third year in a row, knepper won just 9 games. however, this was 1981 - the strike-shortened season - and knepper did it while posting a miniscule 2.18 era. he was named to the all-star team, and he pitched two scoreless innings in relief (striking out willie randolph, george brett and rod carew along the way) in the game. his astros also made the postseason, but lost to the dodgers in 5 games in the division series. knepper started game 3 in that series (the potential clincher for the astros), and took the loss with 5 innings pitched and three runs allowed, including steve garvey's first inning two-run bomb.

voici à vous, 1981 bob knepper!

1980 bill nahorodny

bill nahorodny was traded from the white sox to the braves 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:

this is not a repeat post, nahorodny's card just happens to look a lot like the last 1980 card i featured, except for the fancy baseball used to dot the 'i' in 'bill'. like milt may, nahorodny left the south side of chicago, leaving bruce kimm to be the white sox' catcher in 1980. this paved the way for chicago to sign carlton fisk for the 1981 campaign.

back to nahorodny. he appeared in 59 games for bobby cox in atlanta during the 1980 season as a backup to bruce benedict, and he also started one game at first base. he hit .242 with 5 home runs and 18 rbi.

voici à vous, 1980 bill nahorodny!

1979 mike hargrove

mike hargrove, the 1974 al rookie of the year, was traded by the rangers to the padres 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:

in san diego, hargrove struggled to hit .200. in 52 games he managed to bat just .192 with only 5 extra base hits (all doubles) and 8 rbi. as a result, the padres sent him back to the american league in a june 1979 deal with the cleveland indians. for the tribe after the trade, a happy hargrove hit .325 with 10 home runs and 56 rbi in 100 games. he spent the next 6 seasons in cleveland before retiring after the 1985 campaign.

voici à vous, 1979 mike hargrove!

1977 mike hargrove

mike hargrove was known as the human rain delay thanks to his antics in and around the batters' box. i know him also as a weak variant in the 1977 o-pee-chee set. here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

see?  the photo is ever so slightly cropped differently and his facsimilie autograph is rotated.  now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

who's on first?  mike hargrove.  as the rangers' first baseman, hargrove had one of his better years in 1977. he set a career high with 18 home runs and hit .305 while playing in 153 games. he also had an obp of .420, which was good for third in the league. it made sense, then, that hargrove hit lead-off despite being a first baseman. in fact, he had 5 lead-off home runs in 1977, including 4 in a one week span.

voici à vous, 1977 mike hargrove!

1992 kenny lofton

in what must be one of their worst all-time trades, the astros sent kenny lofton to the indians in december of 1991 for willie blair and eddie taubensee. here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lofton had hit .203 in a 20-game trial with the astros in 1991, stealing 2 bases and getting caught once. he also struck out 19 times and had just one extra base hit. with the tribe in 1992, however, lofton hit .285 and led the league with 66 stolen bases (in 78 attempts). it was the first of 5 consecutive stolen base crowns for lofton. he also scored 96 runs and finished 2nd in the al rookie of the year balloting.

blair, meanwhile, spent one mediocre year in houston before he was left unprotected and was drafted in the expansion draft by the rockies. taubensee stayed in houston for two-plus years, and averaged around .230 as a platoon catcher with scott servais. granted, the astros also had luis gonzalez and steve finley in their outfield, but choosing eric anthony over lofton was a mistake.

voici à vous, 1992 kenny lofton!

1991 eric king

eric king was traded in december of 1990 from the white sox to the indians. here is his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

king had gone 12-4 in 1990 with the southsiders, with 2 shutouts. for the tribe in 1991, he was 6-11 with an era well over 4. he did throw one shutout, a 2-hitter against the rangers in arlington in what was just his second start back after missing a couple of weeks. king became a free agent after the 1991 season and signed with the tigers.

voici à vous, 1991 eric king!

1990 mike smithson

mike smithson signed with the angels as a free agent in december of 1989. here is his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

smithson had made a couple of starts against the angels in 1989, and he had been hit around pretty good by the halos. still, they gave him just under $500,000 to head to the west coast. this was all made possible by a goof-up in the red sox' front office. smithson had actually re-signed with the red sox on december 13, but the sox gm (lou gorman) made a mistake and had not offered him salary arbitration previously and so the contract was voided because it was signed after the deadline for negotiating with your own free agents. as such, the red sox should not have been able to sign smithson until after may 1, 1990.

at any rate, smithson didn't pitch for the angels in 1990, nor did he pitch for anyone else. i'm not sure if it was due to injury or if he was released, but baseball reference doesn't show any stats - majors or minors - for him after 1989.

voici à vous, 1990 mike smithson!

1989 luis rivera

luis rivera 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:

rivera became the red sox' primary shortstop despite making a fair amount of errors. during his 5 years in boston, he made 75 errors and hit just .238. he did, however, hit 6 of his 21 home runs as a member of the red sox against the yankees, including a grand slam off of jeff robinson in 1990, so maybe it's all ok.

voici à vous, 1989 luis rivera!

1987 ron cey

in january of 1987, the cubs traded ron cey to the a's. here is his 1987 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i've been saving this 1987 variation for last, and it is indeed the last of the 1987 variations. the penguin, who was the la dodgers' leading career home run hitter until eric karros surpassed him, spent about half the season with the a's in 1987. he was released in july of that year, right around the same time fellow infielder steve garvey went down for the season with an injury and former teammate bill buckner was released by the red sox. only buckner returned for more big league action.

cey had hit just .221 in 45 games for the a's, primarily as a dh, although he also played some first base for the first time in his career. he hit 4 home runs to give him 316 for his career, and one of those bombs was hit at yankee stadium off of dave righetti - the first time he had visited the bronx since clinching the 1981 world series title there in 1981.

despite being released in july, cey was still featured in the 1987 topps traded set which i appreciated. although steve garvey was my favorite player, it was the penguin's poster that was on my wall.

voici à vous, 1987 ron cey!

1986 dave palmer

dave palmer signed as a free agent with the braves in february 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:

palmer made 35 starts for atlanta in 1986, and finished 10th in the league with 170 strikeouts. unfortunately, he was 3rd in the league in walks with 102. still, he managed to keep his era at 3.65 and finished with an 11-10 record.

voici à vous, 1986 dave palmer!

1985 sixto lezcano

sixto lezcano signed with the pirates as a free agent in january of 1985. here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

1985 would prove to be lezcano's final year in the big leagues. platooning in the outfield with steve kemp, lezcano appeared in 72 games for the pirates and hit just .207, mostly against lefties. with the acquisition of rj reynolds and the promotion of barry bonds in 1986, lezcano was expendable and eventually he was released just before the start of the 1986 season.

voici à vous, 1985 sixto lezcano!

1984 scott sanderson

scott sanderson was traded from the expos to the cubs 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:

in his first season with the cubbies, sanderson was 8-5 with a 3.14 era in 24 starts. his best outing of the season was a 2-hitter against the pirates in april, although he had another complete game victory later in the season in which he gave up just 2 unearned runs while scattering 13 hits. he missed all of june due to injury, but was around for the cubs' drive to the nl east title, going 2-1 in 5 september starts with a 1.79 era. he started game 4 of the nlcs against the padres (the 'garvey game') but obviously had no decision in the outcome.

voici à vous, 1984 scott sanderson!