1977 doug howard

doug howard did not get a card in the 1977 topps set (unless he is on the bloody indians team card), or any other set as far as i can tell.  he was included in the o-pee-chee set, however, thanks to his status of being one of their earlier acquisitions.  here is howard's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

now the o-pee-chee back:

so, yesterday i said to pay close attention to the cartoon on the back of tommy smith's cards.  does this look familiar?  it should, because it is the same cartoon used on smith's card with one big exception.  this version of the mickey mantle cartoon says that the commerce comet hit 17 world series home runs, while the one on smith's cards says the total is 18.  smith's card is correct, but i can't imagine what happened in the o-pee-chee offices that resulted in the same cartoon being used twice, and with different/erroneous copy to boot.  i mean, the o-pee-chee set was much smaller than the topps set, so there were plenty of unused cartoons to go around for these checklist variations.  furthermore, any record books that o-pee-chee might have consulted to confirm the number of postseason home runs the mick hit would have been up to date in 1977 given that mantle retired in 1968 and hadn't appeared in the postseason since 1964.  besides, they had it right on smith's card.  crazy stuff.

anyway, doug howard was acquired by the blue jays in the same 1976 trade that netted them alan ashby.  howard had played in 39 games with the tribe in 1976, but did not play for the blue jays at all in 1977 as they released him towards the end of spring training.  i think that it's pretty cool that baseball reference uses this card for howard's bullpen page, but then again, i think that it's the only card he was given.

voici à vous, 1977 doug howard!