1977 jerry reuss

in standard o-pee-chee fashion, the crop of jerry reuss' image is slightly adjusted and the placement of his facsimile autograph is modified as well on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

we get a peek into tommy davis' closet.  let's recap the travels of the two-time national league batting champion (and the last dodger to lead the league in that category), starting with his final year in los angeles.  that would be 1966, and davis, of course, appeared in the topps set that year as a dodger.  in 1967, he was featured as a met, 1968 as a white sock, 1969 as a pilot, 1970 as an astro, 1971 as a cub (and he also played for oakland in between his time in houston and chicago), and in 1972 as an athletic, although he split time between the cubs and orioles that season.  in 1973, davis was left out of the topps set, but he returned in 1974, 1975, and 1976 as an oriole (sweet stability!), and then was featured in the 1977 as a royal (after starting the 1976 season in california with the angels) in his final topps card.  it should be noted that he did not get a card in the o-pee-chee set.

and the topps back:

reuss managed to win at least 10 games for the fifth year in a row, finishing with a 10-13 record and a 4.11 era for the second place pirates in 1977.  he threw 8 complete games with 2 of those being shutouts.  both shutouts came in august, when reuss was 4-1 in 6 starts, including a third complete game in which he gave up only 4 hits.

voici à vous, 1977 jerry reuss!

1977 manny trillo

manny trillo is a wee bit lower, and his facsimile autograph is more noticeably shifted, in this, his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

ah, yes. the non-pc cartoon.  and now we know how to say 'midget' in french (nain).

and the topps back:

in his third year with the cubs, trillo hit .280 and was named to the all-star team for the first time.  in the midsummer classic, he subbed for joe morgan late in the game and struck out against sparky lyle in his only plate appearance.  a future gold glover, trillo led the league in assists by a second baseman in 1977 (the third year in a row that he had done so - and he would do so again in 1978) but also led the circuit in errors at his position.

voici à vous, 1977 manny trillo!

1977 glenn abbott

the variations (photo and autograph placement) are pretty slight on this, glenn abbott's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

compare the light standard and the cloud above his hat, as well as where the 'g' starts.  i know, it's weird what o-pee-chee did in '77.

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

abbott was selected by the mariners in the expansion draft, and became the second relief pitcher in franchise history when he relieved enrique romo in seattle's second game.  he threw 1.1 scoreless innings in that game, and was then put into the starting rotation.  he wound up making 34 starts and appeared in a total of 36 games for the m's in 1977, and was the winningest pitcher on the club, achieving a career high 12 victories.

voici à vous, 1977 glenn abbott!

1977 jesse jefferson

jesse jefferson's 1977 o-pee-chee card featured an actual photo of him in a blue jays uniform, along with a slightly readjusted facsimile autograph when compared to the topps issued card. here is jefferson's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

jefferson was selected from the white sox in the expansion draft that followed the 1976 season.  he started 33 games for toronto, including the fourth game of their existence, and wound up with a 9-17 record.  surprisingly (to me, anyway) is that his loss total was only the 7th worst in the league in 1977, and the second worst on his own team!  well, maybe that last part isn't so surprising given that the blue jays were an expansion team.

even so, jefferson had a stretch of three straight wins at the end of may to even his record at 3-3, but then he lost four straight decisions and his record never really recovered. later in the year, he threw complete games (two of the 8-inning variety) in 5 of 6 starts, and he pitched into the 9th inning in the other start). 

voici à vous, 1977 jesse jefferson!

1977 dave w roberts

not to be confused with dave (arthur) roberts, featured here just a short time ago, dave (wayne) roberts earned his spot on this blog with an even better variation - team, photo, and autograph placement.  here is dave (w) roberts' 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the joke was on topps in 1977 as they rushed to get roberts, acquired by the blue jays from the padres shortly after the end of the 1976 season, into some semblance of blue jay gear.  o-pee-chee, on the other hand, was able to wait until roberts was returned to san diego via trade in february of 1977 and then use a real photograph with no need for airbrushing.

at any rate, roberts saw action in the big leagues in 1977 after not getting a promotion in 1976.  in fact, he played in 82 games for the pads and played catcher with a little bit of second, third and short mixed in.  roberts' versatility was on display at the end of april when he caught a complete game and then spent the entire game the next day at shortstop.

voici à vous, 1977 dave (w) roberts!

1977 lee may

o-pee-chee took it upon themselves to move lee may's facsimile autograph out of the sky on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

may was coming off of a 1976 campaign in which he led the league in rbi (109) and finished 9th in the league mvp voting.  1977 was another good power year for the brother of the man who wore his birthday on his jersey (carlos may was born on may 17 and wore number 17) as he hit 27 home runs and drove in 99 while serving primarily as the orioles' first baseman.

may's final home run of the 1977 season was also the 300th of his career, and it came off of rick wise.  man, it seems like that guy gave up a lot of home runs.

voici à vous, 1977 lee may!

1977 don sutton

there is slightly more of don sutton to see, along with a slightly relocated facsimile autograph, on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

sutton was only 14-8 for the dodgers in 1977 (breaking his string of five straight top-5 finishes in the cy young voting) but he did get to start the all-star game for the national league.  in fact, sutton's three innings of one-hit ball and four strikeouts earned him the win and the game's mvp award.  later in the year, sutton would make three postseason starts, earning the wins in game 2 of the nlcs against the phillies and in game 5 of the world series against the yankees, while having no decision after his start of game 1 of the fall classic.

voici à vous, 1977 don sutton!

1977 garry maddox

it's just the slightest of cropping differences, and a small change in the angle of the facsimile autograph, but garry maddox got some variation action from o-pee-chee in 1977.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

maddox was known as the 'secretary of defense' as he claimed a gold glove in every season from 1975 through 1982.  at the plate, maddox set career highs in home runs (14) and rbi (74) in 1977 while helping the phillies return to the playoffs.  in the nlcs against the dodgers, maddox hit .429 with 2 rbi in games 3 and 4 after missing the first two games of the series due to a knee injury.

voici à vous, 1977 garry maddox!

1977 dick williams

o-pee-chee gave the managers of the canadian teams their due in 1977, so here is dick williams' 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps 'equivalent', upon which williams gets a teeny tiny photo:

now the o-pee-chee back:

that's a pretty impressive managerial record.

and the topps back:

after not being able to get things going in anaheim, williams took the reins in montreal.  and, after two losing seasons (including a 75-87 record in 1977), williams led the expos to a 95-win campaign in 1979.  they won 90 games under williams in 1980, and then made the postseason for the first time in 1981.  unfortunately, williams had been replaced by jim fanning late in the strike-shortened season.  williams did eventually return to the postseason (and the world series) with the steve garvey-led padres in 1984.

voici à vous, 1977 dick williams!

1977 rich hebner

rich hebner signed with the phillies as a free agent in december of 1976, so o-pee-chee modified the 'p' on his hat and did some coloring to give us a nice team variation in 1977.  they also moved his facsimile autograph.  here is hebner's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

referring to the text on the back of the cards, hebner didn't homer on opening day in 1977 - his first home run didn't come until may - but he did have a walk-off against the mets and a grand slam later in the season.  in two of the years hebner homered on opening day (1973 and 1974), the home runs came at the expense of bob gibson.  in fact, hebner hit two off of gibson on opening day 1974.

in his first season with the phillies, hebner made the switch from third base to first (mike schmidt was playing third, so this was a no-brainer) and so o-pee-chee missed the opportunity for a position variation.  hebner hit .285 in 118 regular season games, and then hit .357 in the nlcs against the national league champion dodgers.

voici à vous, 1977 rich hebner!

1977 dan ford

it's not quite an extreme closeup, but o-pee-chee did bring us closer to dan ford than topps back in 1977, and they also moved his facsimile autograph.  here is ford's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

disco dan was the twins' right fielder again in 1977, and hit .267 for the second season in a row.  he had 11 homers and 60 rbi, and, as usual, he destroyed leftys.  ford had a pretty even at-bat split as far as facing rightys and leftys in 1977 (259 plate appearances against rhp vs. 251 against lhp) and he hit .329 against southpaws in 1977 to go with an ops of .939, with 9 of his home runs coming against them.

ford played one more season in minnesota before he moved on to california and helped the angels make the postseason for the first time.

voici à vous, 1977 dan ford!

1977 jim palmer

o-pee-chee made jim palmer's facsimile autograph more difficult to see when they moved it on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

palmer was the two-time defending cy young award winner in 1977 (he had also won the award in 1973), and he made a strong case to hold on to the title for a third straight season.  he was 20-11 with a 2.91 era in 39 starts.  he led the league in wins, starts, complete games, and innings pitched, but finished second in the cy young voting to sparky lyle.  palmer did start the all-star game for the third time in his career (he would start again for the american league in 1978), although he gave up home runs to joe morgan, greg luzinski, and steve garvey in the game.

speaking of all-stars, palmer never faced ron hunt - the subject of the cartoon on the back.  hunt was a career national leaguer whose two all-star team stints occurred before palmer was ever named to the al squad, and hunt never appeared in the postseason although he joined the dodgers in 1967 - the year after palmer and the orioles swept them in the world series.

voici à vous, 1977 jim palmer!

1977 woodie fryman

let's break the monotony by showcasing a good ol' fashioned team variation shall we?  woodie fryman was acquired by the reds after the 1976 season in the tony perez trade.  o-pee-chee took the time to airbrush the lefty into a cincy cap, and wound up with this, his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

it should be noted that fryman's card is one of the very few that breaks the o-pee-chee 'expos rule of 9' in the 1977 set.  every ninth card in the set, with only a couple of exceptions, features an expo.

now the o-pee-chee back:

see?  fryman's card is number 126 in the set, and so it sits in the lower right hand corner of the 9-pocket page.  i am guessing that it pained some o-pee-chee worker greatly to have to airbrush woodie out of his expo duds and knowingly violate the checklist pattern.

and the topps back:

fryman had put up a 5-5 record in 12 starts and 17 appearances for the reds when he up and 'retired' in early july.  supposedly unhappy with the way sparky anderson was leading the defending world champs, fryman left the team.  he later asked for a trade, but he wasn't dealt until after the season ended when he was sent to chicago with bill caudill for bill bonham.  after all of that, fryman was re-acquired by the expos after he had spent just a couple of months with the cubs.

voici à vous, 1977 woodie fryman!