1985 argenis salazar

argenis (aka angel) salazar was chosen as a free agent compensation pick by the cardinals from the expos in january of 1985. here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

i believe this is the only o-pee-chee card to use the word "drafted" in the text variation.  here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

like all good venezuelan shortstops, salazar listed his baseball hero as dave concepcion.  here's the topps back:

salazar never played for the cardinals, however, as they traded him to the mets in april of 1985.  he never appeared in the big leagues for the mets, either.  instead, he spent the '85 season in aaa, and then they traded him to the royals in april of 1986. 

more interesting than all of that, however, is how salazar helped tom henke get to the blue jays.  the rangers signed former jay cliff johnson as a free agent prior to the 1985 season (variation to be featured at a later date) and so were allowed a compensation pick from the unprotected players on each team's roster.  they wanted donnie moore, but the angels picked him first (another variation yet to be featured here), and their backup plan was a guy named bill cutshall of the expos.  unfortunately, the cards (who got their pick by losing bruce sutter to the braves) took salazar from montreal, and because a team could only lose one player, the blue jays took henke from the rangers instead.

voici à vous, 1985 argenis salazar!