1977 will mcenaney

will mcenaney was part of the trade that sent tony perez from the world champion reds to the expos in december of 1976.  as with tony perez, we get a nice team variation out of the deal.  here's his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

what a difference a year makes, in terms of facial hair and general appearance.  mcenaney had pitched 4.2 scoreless innings in the fall classic against the yankees in 1976, and wound up 3-5 for the expos in 1977.  he had an era of 3.95, made 69 appearances, and also saved 3 games.  the expos wound up sending mcenaney to the pirates just before the start of the 1978 season, but no variation came out of that deal as he was remained an expo in the 1978 o-pee-chee set.

voici à vous, 1977 will mcenaney!

1992 kyle abbott

kyle abbott was sent to the phillies in the december, 1991 von hayes deal. here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

abbott was a former number 1 pick of the angels and expectations were high for him coming out of cal state long beach. he was 1-2 in 5 starts for the angels prior to the trade, but went 1-14 for the phillies in 1992. all of his decisions came in his 19 starts, although he appeared in 12 other games. he pitched 133.1 innings with an era of 5.13 and gave up 20 home runs. it should be noted that the phillies scored no more than 3 runs in any of the starts abbott lost, and his lone victory came at the expense of the dodgers.

voici à vous, !

1991 oscar azocar

in december of 1990, oscar azocar was traded from the yankees to the padres. here is his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

aside from the card, azocar isn't known for much. that's because, over the next two seasons with the padres, azocar hit .204 in 137 games and was never seen in the majors again. he did end his career a perfect 10 for 10 in stolen base attempts, however. so he's got that going for him.

voici à vous, 1991 oscar azocar!

1990 lloyd moseby

lloyd moseby signed with the tigers 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:

the text topps chose for the back of moseby's card was unfortunate, as his 9-year streak as the blue jays' opening day first baseman obviously came to an end in 1990. 

the first home run moseby hit as a tiger was also the 150th of his career. it came off of the twins' kevin tapani on may 1 in detroit. moseby hit 13 other home runs for the tigers in 1990 in 122 games.

voici à vous, 1990 lloyd moseby!

1989 steve sax

steve sax took his world series ring and left la for the bronx by signing a free agent contract in november 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:

saxy played well in 1989, hitting .315 with 205 hits and 43 steals for the yankees. he made the all-star team (he flew out in his only at bat) and only made 10 errors in 782 chances, the lowest full season total of his career.

he stayed with the yankees for two more years before moving to the white sox in 1992. that season, he committed 20 errors at second, and the chisox moved him to the outfield for '93. sax's career ended, like a few other dodger standouts, with a short stint in oakland in 1994.

voici à vous, 1989 steve sax!

1985 rickey henderson

in december of 1984, the a's traded rickey henderson (!) to the yankees in a 2 for 6 swap. here's his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

free agency was looming for henderson after the 1985 season, and the a's decided to get something in return rather than keep him for one more year and get nothing when he left for greener pastures. as it turns out, although henderson performed beyond expectations in new york, it was the a's who returned to prominence a few seasons after trading rickey, while the yankees avoided the postseason for another decade. still, henderson was awesome as a yankee. he scored a career high 146 runs in 1985, to go along with his 80 stolen bases, 24 home runs, and .314 batting average.

rickey led the league in steals in 3 of his 4 full seasons in new york, and was a perennial all-star. ultimately, the yankees traded him back to oakland in 1989, just in time for rickey to dominate the postseason and get his first world series ring.

voici à vous, 1985 rickey henderson!

1982 ivan dejesus

ivan dejesus was traded by the cubs to the phillies in january of 1982 in the deal that sent larry bowa and ryne sandberg to the windy city. here is his 1982 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

even forgetting about sandberg, the deal doesn't seem to make much sense for the phillies. sure, dejesus was younger than bowa, but he didn't offer any real upgrade offensively or defensively. bowa hit .247 with an ops of .604 and made 44 errors in just over 1900 chances for the cubs over the 1982-1984 seasons. dejesus, meanwhile, hit .249 with an ops of .637 but committed 73 errors in 2030 chances over the same timeframe. still, the phillies managed to get back to the world series in 1983 with dejesus at short, so it wasn't all a lost cause.

voici à vous, 1982 ivan dejesus!

1979 derrel thomas

derrel thomas signed as a free agent with the dodgers after the 1978 season ended. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

during his 5 years in la, thomas played everywhere but pitcher. in 1979, however, he was the dodgers' primary centerfielder while still making appearances at every infield position. he wasn't known for his power (he hit only 5 home runs all year), but he did connect for a roundtripper against jr richard, had a grand slam against bob knepper and the giants, and hit two home runs in a game off of bill caudill and the cubs.

thomas has proven to be the penultimate dodger player to wear the numbers 1 (he wore it when he first joined the dodgers in 1979, and it was retired in 1984 for pee wee reese after gary weiss wore it in 1980) and 34 (he wore it in 1979 after ken brett left). in 1980, thomas became the first dodger to wear number 30 after maury wills retired as he wanted to honor his long-time hero. that meant that number 34 was available for fernando valenzuela when he was called up late in the season, and no one else has worn it since.

thomas is still involved with the dodgers today, even though he played for the expos, angels and phillies after his days in dodger blue came to an end. speaking of ends, this is the last of the 1979 variations!

voici à vous, 1979 derrel thomas!

1977 bert campaneris

after 13 years with the a's, bert campaneris signed as a free agent with the rangers prior to the 1977 season.  topps was quick to the draw (literally) and so we were deprived of an o-pee-chee team variation here.  instead we got just an autograph placement variation. here's his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

campaneris made the all-star team for the final time in his career in 1977, which also happened to be his final campaign as a full-time shortstop.  he hit .254 and scored 77 runs while stealing 27 bases.  unfortunately, he led the league in times caught stealing with 20.

voici à vous, 1977 bert campaneris!

1992 ruben amaro

ruben amaro was part of the december, 1991 trade that sent von hayes to the angels. amaro, of course, wound up with the phillies. here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

amaro was installed as the phillies right fielder for the 1992 season and wound up playing in 126 games. he hit only .219 with 7 home runs and 11 stolen bases, however. he played in only 25 games for the phils in 1993, and didn't make the postseason roster. he was dealt to the indians immediately after the 1993 season ended and finally made a postseason appearance with the tribe in 1995. he then returned to the phillies for a few more seasons before retiring and working his way up their front office ladder.  amaro can currently be found sticking it to scott boras.

voici à vous, 1992 ruben amaro!

1991 larry andersen

larry andersen, the guy who was traded by the astros to the red sox for jeff bagwell in august of 1990, became a free agent after the season and signed a deal with the padres. here is his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

andersen saved 13 games for the pads in 1991, posting an era of 2.30 in 38 appearances. over the next 4 seasons, andersen faced off against bagwell 7 times. twice bagwell walked, he singled once, and twice andersen struck him out. no consolation for the red sox, though. they didn't have either guy.

voici à vous, 1991 larry andersen!

1990 randy myers

randy myers was traded from the mets to the reds 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:

what a difference a team makes as myers posted numbers fairly similar to those he had for the mets in 1989, but the reds won it all in 1990 so myers was rewarded with an all-star appearance, a 5th place finish in the cy young voting, and a 17th place showing in the mvp balloting.

in the 1990 postseason, he saved 3 nlcs games and 1 world series game without allowing a single run. towards the end of the 1991 season, the reds put myers in the rotation and he went 2-6 in 12 starts. he was back in the bullpen after that, although it was with the padres in 1992.

voici à vous, 1990 randy myers!

1989 jody davis

jody davis was traded by the cubs to the braves in september 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:

this is one of my favorite variations just from the standpoint that topps had the text on the card, but o-pee-chee decided to modify it. unlike the 1987 darryl motley card or the 1988 doug decinces card, o-pee-chee made a text variation when one really wasn't needed.

as you can see, davis appeared in only 2 games for the braves in 1988, but did connect for a home run. he had a decent year in 1989 for atlanta as a backup backstop even though he hit well below .200, but was released by the club only a month into the 1990 season.

voici à vous, 1989 jody davis!