1977 mike willis

mike willis was given a card of his own, complete with his facsimile autograph, in the 1977 o-pee-chee set.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

is this the first time a pickle has literally been shown on a card?  the no-hitter in his second game as a pro is good info, but surely there was something better than the fact that he was an acquaintance of a middling pitcher for the indians.  actually, i guess willis and garland were in the orioles organization together as well as being boyhood acquaintances.  and, garland won 20 games in 1976 so i suppose this is somewhat meaningful. maybe.

and the topps back:

willis earned a save in his major league debut against the tigers on april 13, 1977.  he pitched 2.2 innings and gave up just one hit in that appearance, striking out ron leflore for his first career punch out along the way.  he actually pitched pretty well to start the season - he had a perfect era (although he had allowed a couple of inherited runners to score) and a win to go along with his save through his first 4 appearances.  willis picked up another win and four saves, and he had a nice 2.44 era through june, which included a quality start (the first start of his career) against the yankees, but things went south in july.

willis made a couple more starts in early july, and both were disastrous.  he returned to the bullpen, but by the end of the month his era was 4.46.  he did get it down to 3.94 by the end of the season, finishing with a 2-6 record and 5 saves.

willis pitched for toronto through the 1981 season, and had his best year in 1980.  that season, he was 2-1 in 20 games with a 1.71 era and 3 saves.

voici à vous, 1977 mike willis!

1977 chuck hartenstein

o-pee-chee ditched the topps pose and facsimile autograph placement but not the specs when they created chuck hartenstein's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

as you can see from the back of his cards, hartenstein had not appeared in the majors since 1970 when the blue jays purchased his contract after the 1976 season.  he had been toiling in the minor leagues for the white sox, giants, and padres for the past 6 years before getting another shot in the big leagues.

hartenstein did, in fact, pitch for the blue jays in 1977.  he appeared in relief in 13 games, suffering two losses along the way.  in the game in which he suffered his second loss of the season, hartenstein had the misfortune of allowing 4 home runs in 1.1 innings of work.  two of those homers were hit back-to-back in the 7th inning, and the other two were hit back-to-back in the 8th.  in fact, hartenstein was relieved after the fourth home run, but mike willis entered the game and promptly gave up a third consecutive home run.  one out later, willis gave up another.  in an interesting twist, mike willis will follow hartenstein on the blog tomorrow.

voici à vous, 1977 chuck hartenstein!

1977 don baylor

we are treated to a tighter crop and a stacked facsimile autograph on don baylor's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

i'm not altogether sure if the second airbrushed button on the topps card is cropped out of the o-pee-chee image, or if they airbrushed it out.  now the o-pee-chee back:

hank aaron makes an appearance in the 1977 set!  sort of.

and the topps back:

baylor's november 1976 signing with the angels gave topps plenty of time to get him out of his a's uniform, which sadly denied us a card of baylor in green and gold (at least until 1989).  baylor went 25/75/.281 for the halos in 1977 while playing all three outfield positions, first base, and designated hitter. he even hit lead off a couple of times, and swatted his only career lead off home run in 1977.

two years later, baylor would lead the angels to the postseason for the first time, picking up the al mvp award along the way (he also became my first favorite non-dodger player).  unfortunately, for angel fans, he wouldn't win his first (and only) world series ring until 1987 in minnesota.

voici à vous, 1977 don baylor!

1977 dennis leonard

the difference in the photo cropping is very slight (compare the sleeves), but the facsimile autograph placement is a bit more noticeable on dennis leonard's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

nice to see a clem labine reference in the cartoon.  1977 was a big year for leonard.  he made 37 starts and won 20 games for the first time in his career.  he even picked up a save in his lone relief appearance.  leonard finished 4th in the cy young voting and helped the royals return to the postseason where, unfortunately, they once again lost to the yankees in the alcs.  leonard was 1-1 in a start and a relief appearance for kansas city, who would once again fall to the yankees in the 1978 alcs before finally beating them in 1980.

leonard suffered a knee injury in 1983 that kept him out of the big leagues in 1984 and most of 1985, although he did return to the royals for the 1986 season.

voici à vous, 1977 dennis leonard!

1977 ed kranepool

o-pee-chee decided to move and stack ed kranepool's facsimile auto on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

ed kranepool was the last of the original mets, and 1977 was the last time he played in over 100 games.  he appeared in 108 contests that year, hitting 10 homers and posting a batting average of .281.  his first two homers of the season came in the same game off of rick reuschel of the cubs.

voici à vous, 1977 ed kranepool!

1977 darrel chaney

braves shortstop darrel chaney seems pleased that o-pee-chee moved his facsimile autograph around, even though they chose an odd place to move it to.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

at least topps had the common sense to keep most of his first name out of the spot with the dark background.

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

if you had asked me, i would have said that darrel chaney was a catcher.  not sure why i thought that.  anyway, chaney saw his playing time reduced in 1977 and he hit only .201 in 74 games.  he did establish a career high with 3 home runs, however, including a pinch hit blast against the reds.  speaking of the reds, i find it interesting that chaney debuted for cincinnati in a game against the braves back in april of 1969, and then made his final appearance as a big leaguer for the braves against the reds in september of 1979.

voici à vous, 1977 darrel chaney!

1977 rusty staub

rusty staub lost his all-star banner, had his photo shifted to the right slightly, and had his facsimile autograph tilted to boot on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

 here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

1976 had been staub's first season in the american league, and it was his last season as an everyday outfielder.  voted to start the 1976 all-star game for the american league in right field (he was 2 for 2 in the game), staub was nonetheless shifted to designated hitter in 1977.  staub hit 22 homers and drove in 101 runs as the tigers' dh, but also led the league in gidp for the second straight year.

voici à vous, 1977 rusty staub!

1977 john denny

a slight difference in cropping, a rotation of the facsimile autograph, and a mean mustache combine to give us john denny's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

 here's the topps front:

ok - so the mustache is the same on the topps card.  now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

denny led the league in era in 1976 with a 2.52 mark, but wound up with a 4.51 era in 1977.  he was 8-8 in 26 starts for the cardinals and started the season strong.  he won all 5 of his starts in april, and was even 7-0 at the end of may.  he wound up missing most of july and losing his next 8 decisions before pitching a complete game to get his 8th win of the season in his final start of the year.  denny, of course, would later go on to win the cy young award in 1983 as a member of the nl champion phillies.

voici à vous, 1977 john denny!

1977 bert blyleven

bert blyleven's facsimile autograph is slightly adjusted on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

 here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

regarding the cartoon, james (deacon) mcguire may have played in 26 seasons from the late 19th century into the early 1900's, but in a couple of those he was a manager who put himself in the lineup once or twice.  blyleven wound up pitching for 22 seasons over 23 years (he missed 1991 due to injury), and as we all know, jamie moyer is pitching in his 25th season this year - and it could have been his 27th if he hadn't spent all of 1992 in the minors and then missed 2011 due to injury.  here's the topps back:

1977 was bert's first full season with the rangers, and his string of consecutive 200-strikeout seasons came to an end.  he went 14-12 in 30 starts and posted an era of 2.72 while leading the league in whip at 1.06.  he had 182 k's, 15 complete games, and 5 shutouts, and presumably led the league in flatulence as well.  by my estimation, there were at least four, and probably more, games that blyleven either lost or received no decision in 1977 alone that should have resulted in a win for the dutchman.  shoulda woulda coulda, but i have no doubt that bert could easily have been a 300-game winner with a bit more luck/offense/bullpen support.

blyleven's final start of the 1977 season resulted in a no-hitter against the angels, in which he faced just one batter above the minimum of 27.  in that game, blyleven gave up a lone walk with 2 outs in the 9th inning, although a rangers' error had allowed a runner earlier in the game (who was wiped out thanks to a double play).

voici à vous, 1977 bert blyleven!

1977 buddy bell

buddy bell gets the different crop and relocated facsimile autograph treatment on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

kurt bevacqua got a lot of mileage out of his bubble blowing prowess.  in addition to the 1976 topps card that features his exploits, he is also mentioned on a 1977-79 sportscaster card.  and now he gets a cartoon on the back of a 1977 card.  whenever i think of bevacqua i think of tommy lasorda and his famous rant.  but, back to buddy bell.  here's the topps back:

where we get to see bevacqua's elbow.  as for bell, he hit .292 as the tribe's third baseman in 1977.  his 64 rbi that year was a career high at that point, and the most that he would collect in a season as an indian.

voici à vous, 1977 buddy bell!

1977 cecil cooper

on the other side of the george scott trade made in late 1976, there was cecil cooper, who had his red sox attire transformed into brew crew gear on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

not quite as dramatic as the george scott card, but still nice.  it seems like it's been a long time since we've seen a team variation from the 1977 set.

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

cooper had his best season to date for the brewers in 1977.  for the first time, he played almost exclusively at first base, and appeared in 160 games.  he hit an even .300 with 20 homers and 78 rbi.  each playing for their new clubs, both scott and cooper homered in a game at fenway on may 20, 1977.  cooper also had a walk-off grand slam against the mariners in june of '77.

voici à vous, 1977 cecil cooper!

1977 bill north

bill north's facsimile autograph moved up and to the left on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

as noted on the back of his cards, north stole more bases than anyone else in the big leagues in 1976, but he managed to swipe only 17 bases in 1977.  granted, he played in only 56 games that year, but he managed to get caught stealing 13 times.  that's not a good success ratio.  north would wind up stealing 30 bases in 1978, but 27 of those came as a dodger after he was traded to los angeles early in the season.

voici à vous, 1977 bill north!

1977 ralph garr

ralph garr gets the slight photo variation (check the lettering on his jersey) and the almost as unnoticeable adjustment of his facsimile autograph on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

garr wasn't playing against tom seaver when he struck out 10 batters in a row (the mets' opponent that day was the padres), but he did fan 8 times against tom terrific over his career.

garr's 1977 season marked the first time since 1973 that he hit more home runs than triples, and it was the second year in a row that he hit an even .300.  garr was the white sox' opening day left fielder when he became the first man to face the toronto blue jays as a result of hitting leadoff when toronto played their inaugural game.  he opened the game with a walk and a stolen base, later scoring on a sacrifice fly.

voici à vous, 1977 ralph garr!