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!