1977 graig nettles

in 1977, o-pee-chee decided to get us closer to graig nettles with a drastic cropping change.  they also monkeyed with the placement of the facsimile autograph.  here is nettles' 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

nettles is a big reason behind the fact that i am a bit of a george brett fan.  aside from being a great hitter, brett was all that stood between nettles and an annual all-star start back in the late 1970's, and as a dodger fan i was grateful that a yankee was thus blocked from the starting lineup.  case in point, nettles led the american league in home runs with 32 in 1976, and then hit 5 more than that in 1977. still, it was brett who was starting in the all-star games and getting the banners and shields on his topps cards.  nettles still made the all-star team a few times, including in 1977 when he was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.

of course, i think of nettles more from a defensive standpoint, thanks to his plays in the 1977 and 1978 postsason at the expense of the dodgers.

voici à vous, 1977 graig nettles!