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!