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!