1977 pete mackanin

o-pee-chee took expos second baseman pete mackanin out of the shadows in 1977, using a different photo than topps and moving his facsimilie autograph a bit.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

it kind of looks like mackanin has a shiner there under his left eye on the o-pee-chee card.  maybe that's why topps went for the right-side profile.  in other news, mackanin is one of the few expos card that falls outside of the 'divisible by 9' numbering.  in the 1977 o-pee-chee set, every 9th card is an expo, with just three exceptions - the george brett record breaker (card #261), mike torrez (#144), and woodie fryman (#126).  fryman almost doesn't count because he was an expo in 1976, and o-pee-chee could have left his topps card unchanged instead of giving him a team variation as a cincinnati red.

o-pee-chee did a similar thing for the blue jays - beginning with card #13, every 9th card is a blue jay with just 4 exceptions.  but i digress.  pete mackanin was acquired by the expos from the rangers earlier in the 1970's, along with then-future dodger don stanhouse for past dodger willie davis.  he was with montreal through the 1977 season and then spent the next two years in philadelphia and wrapped up his career with two seasons as a minnesota twin. 

mackanin has since had a couple of interim managerial gigs - first with the pirates in 2005 and then with the reds in 2007.  he was replaced by former dodger skipper jim tracy in pittsburgh and former dodger left fielder dusty baker in cincy.  interestingly enough, tracy had also replaced mackanin as the manager of the peoria chiefs in 1986, and mackanin returned the favor in taking over the ottawa lynx from tracy in 1995.  mackanin is currently the bench coach for the phillies, serving under charlie manuel - another former dodger.  you see,  it's all about the dodger connection for me.

voici à vous, 1977 pete mackanin!