1977 bill greif

bill greif looks a lot better in real expos gear than he does in airbrushed attire.  he was traded from saint louis to montreal after the 1976 season, and o-pee-chee took the time to photograph him during spring training of 1977.  while they were at it, o-pee-chee also unstacked his facsimile autograph, and the result is a pretty decent card for the times in which it was created.  here is greif's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

i'm not sure what kind of jersey topps thought that the expos wore back then.

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

guess what? o-pee-chee and topps went and did all that work for nothing, as greif never appeared in the major leagues as an expo.  he was released by the team at the end of spring training and eventually signed on with the mets organization.  he pitched in a few games for their aaa team in 1978, but unfortunately never made it back to the big leagues.

voici à vous, bill greif!