1977 al oliver

the difference in the crop is tough to see (check the amount of overhang visible to the right of the bat) on al oliver's 1977 cards, but the relocated facsimile autograph is pretty obvious.  here is oliver's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

this card's cartoon answers the question from the back of jim lonborg's 1972 o-pee-chee card (shown up there in the header).

and the topps back:

1977 was the last season oliver spent in pittsburgh, and it was also the last year that he didn't wear uniform number '0'.  the pirates moved him to left field to replace the departed richie zisk (we'll see his fantastic 1977 o-pee-chee variation soon), and he responded by hitting .308 with 19 homers and 82 rbi. oliver had a 16-game hitting streak, and he also homered in three straight games during the 1977 campaign.  in late august, he had a walk-off homer off of rollie fingers in late august.

after the season, oliver was included in the four-team trade that saw him land in texas, creating the need for his 1978 o-pee-chee variation.

voici à vous, 1977 al oliver!