1977 rawly eastwick

not only did o-pee-chee more tightly crop rawly eastwick's photo in 1977, they rotated it so that the background is actually level!  they also moved and stacked his facsimile autograph.  here is rawly eastwick's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

a member of the 'big red machine' and their back-to-back world championships, eastwick split the 1977 season between cincinnati and saint louis.  he was 2-2 with 7 saves and a 2.91 era for the reds when they dealt him to the cardinals in mid-june.  for the redbirds, eastwick was 3-7 with 4 saves and a 4.70 era.  he made his only career start in a game for saint louis that season, and gathered his lone career rbi as well.

voici à vous, 1977 rawly eastwick!

1977 vern ruhle

in 1977, o-pee-chee gave us a closer look at vern ruhle while also adjusting the location of his facsimile autograph.  here is ruhle's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

1977 was ruhle's final season in detroit.  he appeared in only 14 games, four in relief, and had a record of 3-5 with a 5.70 era.  the tigers released ruhle in march of 1978 and he signed on with the astros shortly thereafter.  ruhle went on to play a big role in houston's postseason run in 1980, going 12-4 with a 2.37 era that year.

voici à vous, 1977 vern ruhle!

1977 mike ivie

mike ivie gets the slight photo adjustment (north-south) and facsimile autograph rotation treatment on this, his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i can't say that i was a fan of mike ivie growing up, and it's all because of his baseball cards.  the first card of his that i saw was his 1978 topps card, upon which he appears to be complaining or yelling about something.  then, the back of his 1977 card above told me that he once had 5 rbi against the dodgers.  that was enough for a young, impressionable baseball fan to sour on mike ivie.  it turns out that ivie's grand slam was the last home run jim brewer allowed as a dodger.  after one more appearance in dodger blue, brewer was traded to the angels.

ivie hit 9 home runs (only one of which came against the dodgers), and had a batting average of .272 in 1977, his final year with the padres.  he hit his second career grand slam that year against future dodger gerry hannahs.  prior to the 1978 season, ivie was traded to the giants for derrel thomas which made me even less than a fan.  the last straw might have been ivie's first career pinch-hit grand slam (one of two he would hit in 1978) which came at the expense of don sutton.  furthermore, ivie took hannahs deep again in 1979 when hannahs was with the dodgers.  it was the last home run hannahs would allow as a major league pitcher as it came in his last big league appearance.

voici à vous, 1977 mike ivie!

1977 jim rooker

both the facsimile autograph and the photo moved up in the window of jim rooker's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

rooker finished up a run of 5 straight years with double digit victories in 1977.  he was 14-9 for the pirates with a 3.09 era.  rooker also threw 2 shutouts that year, the last of his career.  he later pitched in the 1979 world series with the bucs both as a reliever and a starter, earning a part of a world championship with a 1.08 era in 8.2 innings pitched.

voici à vous, 1977 jim rooker!

1977 larry herndon

larry herndon's 1977 o-pee-chee card features a more tightly cropped photo, a relocated facsimile autograph, and no rookie cup when compared to his topps card.  here is herndon's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

herndon suffered a pretty bad sophomore slump in 1977.  he appeared in only 49 games for the giants, hitting 1 homer and driving in just 5 runs.  of course, his lone bomb of the season came against the dodgers, courtesy of elias sosa.

herndon's lack of playing time is largely attributed to an injury suffered in june.  he missed the rest of the season, although he felt he was ready to return to the team in late august.  the giants did not reinstate him from the dl, however, and herndon left the team in protest.  as a result, he was placed on the disqualified list, and missed the rest of the season.

voici à vous, 1977 larry herndon!

1977 brian downing

thanks to brian downing's 1977 o-pee-chee card, we get a closer look at the sweet turtleneck he's rocking, although his facsimile autograph is not quite as legible.  here is downing's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

downing played in only 69 games for the chisox in 1977, hitting .284 with 4 homers and 25 rbi. after the season, he was traded to the angels, and boys all over southern california began practicing their open batting stance as a result.  i know i did.

i wonder if downing ever sported the turtleneck/shorts combo with the white sox.  that would have been a sight to see.

voici à vous, 1977 brian downing!

1977 gaylord perry

gaylord perry got the slight photo cropping and tilted facsimile autograph treatment from o-pee-chee in 1977.  here is perry's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

first things first - the cartoon.  darrell johnson won a pennant with the red sox and two years later found himself managing an expansion team.  he never faced gaylord perry as player, and while he later managed the rangers, perry was long gone by then, even after a second stint with texas.

1977 was perry's last season with the rangers for a couple of years, anyway.  he went to san diego for the 1978 season (and won his second cy young award, becoming the first pitcher to win the award in both leagues) before returning to the rangers for a short time in 1980.  in 1977, however, perry won 15 games, 4 by shutout.  he twice struck out 13 batters in a game; the second time came against darrell johnson's mariners in perry's final start of the season.

it's worth noting that perry was around 37 years old when the photo for his card was taken.  he looks at least 10 years older than that.  the ol' spitball must age a pitcher something fierce.

voici à vous, 1977 gaylord perry!

1977 george hendrick

it's not a difference in cropping, o-pee-chee used a whole different photo of george hendrick (while also relocating his facsimile autograph) in 1977, thanks to the december 1976 trade that sent hendrick from the indians to the padres.  here is hendrick's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

it's true - i checked.  hank aaron and babe ruth both scored 2174 times in their careers.  i was worried that the elias sports bureau took away a run or two from one of them like they took two hits away from ty cobb, who now has 4189 career base knocks.  no such corrections - hank and the babe remain tiedfor fourth place all-time.

this post is about george hendrick, however, and those amazing hats he's wearing on his 1977 cards.  the padres cap is obviously airbrushed, but i don't know about the indians hat.  it almost looks like a visor because i think i can see some hair exposed on top of hendrick's head.  what do you think?  besides, i don't think the indians wore white caps. ever.

hendrick's first season in san diego was a good one.  he played in a career high 152 games and hit over .300 (.311) for the first time.  he hit 23 homers and drove in 81 runs on the season, and in june he hit the 100th home run of his career.

voici à vous, 1977 george hendrick!

1977 alan ashby

since he was one of the very first players in blue jays history, o-pee-chee in 1977 took the time to get a real photo of alan ashby in a toronto uniform.  they also not only unstacked and moved his facsimile autograph, it looks like they also obtained a different version of his signature.  here is ashby's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

did the blue jays even have dirty blue jerseys?  wouldn't topps have known?

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

nice cartoon.  ashby would later play in the astrodome as a member of the houston astros from 1979 through 1989.  first, though, he would spend two years with toronto as their primary catcher.  actually, after catching in 124 games for the jays in 1977, he and rick cerone platooned in 1978 with each starting almost exactly half of the team's games.

ashby was not the blue jays' first catcher (that honor went to cerone), he did get the start in their second game in franchise history and became the first blue jay backstop to throw out a runner trying to steal a base.

voici à vous, 1977 alan ashby!

1977 john hiller

the photo on john hiller's 1977 o-pee-chee card was moved up in the card window ever so slightly, and his facsimile autograph also headed north by a greater degree.  this is another one of those 'why bother?' variations.  you would think that o-pee-chee might have done something more extravagant for a native son (hiller was born in toronto). anyway, here is hiller's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

between 8 starts and 37 relief appearances in 1977, hiller was 8-14 with 7 saves, a 3.56 era, and 124 innings pitched.  those 8 starts were the last starts of his career, and he actually threw complete games in three of them.  one of those complete games was a 4-hitter against the blue jays in which he struck out 12 batters.  that performance, which took place in detroit, was a far cry from his first two appearances against the expansion jays.  over the course of two games in an april series against the blue jays in toronto, hiller surrendered 5 runs in 2 innings of work and suffered the losses in each game.  so much for home cooking (although by then he was living up in duluth, minnesota).

voici à vous, 1977 john hiller!

1977 doug decinces

both the photo and the facsimile autograph were moved east-west on doug decinces' 1977 o-pee-chee card, with the autograph placement being the more obvious variation.  here is decinces' 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

decinces had a respectable season in 1977.  his line of 19/69/.259 in 150 games were all career highs for him at that point, although it was only his second full season at the big league level.  he hit two home runs and drove in a season-high four runs in a july 1st game against the red sox.

voici à vous, 1977 doug decinces!

1977 fred lynn

fred lynn lost his all-star banner, and also had his photo cropped differently and his facsimile autograph slightly moved on this, his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

it looks to me like the photo was adjusted east-west (compare the pole in the upper left corner), and the autograph north-south (check the top loop of the 'l' and where it lands relative to the fence).

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lynn proved that he was human in 1977.  after his monster rookie year in 1975 and another season of hitting over .300 in 1976, he hit just .260 with an ops of .774.  still, he was named to the all-star team as a reserve, and was 0 for 1 with a walk and a run scored in relief of teammate carl yastrzemski in center field.  lynn did increase his home run total by 8 in 1977, and had four different games in which he hit two home runs.  he also took part in the red sox' july 4th barrage against the blue jays where, over the course of two innings and 9 batters, the bosox hit 6 home runs.

voici à vous, 1977 fred lynn!

1977 keith hernandez

just like they had for graig nettles (as shown a few days ago), in 1977 o-pee-chee went for a close up of keith hernandez, while also adjusting the location of his facsimile autograph.  here is hernandez's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

hernandez played in 161 games in 1977 for the cards, and he hit 41 doubles and 15 home runs in what was his first full season as a regular first baseman.  one reason for his full-time status in 1977 was that he proved that he could hit leftys pretty well.  in 1976, his batting average splits showed a .306 average against right handed pitchers, but only .250 versus leftys.  in 1977, he turned that around by hitting .313 against leftys, and 8 of his 15 home runs were hit off of southpaws.

it should be noted that he did not win the gold glove award (1977 was the last of four consecutive years that steve garvey received the award), but would begin a streak of 11 straight seasons as the recipient of the award in 1978.  i still think garvey should have won it again in 1978 (he had one less error in 87 more chances and actually had a better range factor/game than hernandez in 1978 and was the incumbent although he had fewer assists) but nobody asked me what i thought.

voici à vous, 1977 keith hernandez!