1979 craig reynolds

craig reynolds was traded by the mariners to the astros for floyd bannister on december 5, 1978.  here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

reynolds, a former first-rounder like bannister (though reynolds was the 22nd pick, not the first overall) had enjoyed the best season of his career in 1978.  still, he made the all-star team for the second year in a row in 1979 (he was 0 for 2) and was a fixture in houston for 11 years. he even made a couple of pitching appearances for the astros, and while he didn't do very well, he did strike out howard johnson for his lone career punch-out.

voici à vous, 1979 craig reynolds!

1977 jose morales

although he didn't change teams prior to the 1977 season and his topps photo was not a horrendous airbrush job, pinch-hitter extraordinaire jose morales was treated to a different photo on this, his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i guess it's all about the mustache.  you'll notice that his autograph was slightly rotated as well.  1977 was jose's last year with the expos, and he had just 10 pinch hits that season.

voici à vous, 1977 jose morales!

1992 dave eiland

dave eiland did not get a card in the 1992 set produced by topps.  he was featured by o-pee-chee, however, and here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the o-pee-chee back:

interestingly enough, eiland was released by the yankees in january of 1992, and was quickly picked up by the padres.  sadly, there is no 'now with padres' text.  in san diego, eiland appeared in 17 games over two seasons, winning none while being saddled with 5 losses.  the yankees brought him back in 1994 and then again in 1996.  eiland finished his career with 3 seasons in tampa bay and a short stint in the a's organization in 2000. 

it is worth noting that the first batter eiland ever faced in the big leagues was paul molitor, and molly hit a home run.  it turned out to be the only run, and one of only 3 hits, that eiland allowed in his 7 innings of work during his debut which was spoiled by dave righetti and cecilio guante in the 8th.

here's the topps card that eiland bumped from the set, the jim abbott all-star card - front:

and back:

voici à vous, 1992 dave eiland!

1991 steve bedrosian

the giants traded steve bedrosian to the twins in december of 1990. here is his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

bedrosian saved 6 games for the twins in 1991 in support of rick aguilera en route to a world series victory.  in the fall classic, bedrosian appeared in 3 games, each of which was a twins' loss, although that wasn't due to bedrosian's performance.  after sitting out the 1992 season, bedrosian signed a deal with the braves and pitched for them through the 1995 season.

voici à vous, 1991 steve bedrosian!

1990 mark davis

mark davis signed a free agent deal with the royals in december of 1989.  here is his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

davis parlayed his 1989 national league cy young award into big bucks as the royals signed him to a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract.  it was a bust.  in 1990, davis had 6 saves and an era of 5.11.  in 1991, he saved just 1 game and had an era of 4.45.  the royals wound up trading davis to the braves in 1992 for juan berenguer, straight up.

voici à vous, 1990 mark davis!

1989 lance parrish

lance parrish was traded from the phillies to the angels in october of 1988.  here is his 1989 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

parrish's return to the american league included his 250th career home run, a solo shot off of roger clemens in boston.  it is his 247th career home run that i will remember, however, as i was in attendance when parrish took clemens deep in anaheim in the first inning of what became a 5-0 angels' victory and jim abbott's first career shutout.

parrish stayed with the angels until they released him in june of 1992.  he caught on with a few teams after that, including seattle, cleveland, pittsburgh and toronto before calling it quits.

voici à vous, 1989 lance parrish!

1988 mike davis

mike davis signed a free agent deal with the dodgers in december 1987.  here is his 1988 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

davis sprained his ankle during spring training and never seemed to get on track during the season.  he had been oakland's primary right fielder for a few years and was understandably frustrated when tommy lasorda used him so sporadically.  in fact, he once even held up a sign during a national game of the week that said 'mike davis is alive and well in los angeles'.  it all worked out in the postseason, as davis worked the biggest walk in dodger history off of dennis eckersley in game 1 of the world series.  he then stole second and scored on kirk gibson's walk-off home run.  davis hit a home run of his own - his only hit in the series - in the decisive game 5.

voici à vous, 1988 mike davis!

1987 jerry royster

former dodger farmhand jerry royster signed a free agent deal with the white sox in january of 1987.  here is his 1987 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

royster appeared in 55 games for the pale hose before he was traded to the yankees to finish out the 1987 season.  in those 55 games, however, he was able to establish his career high with 7 home runs. as a yankee, royster hit .357 in 18 games while playing third, short, second, and left field.  just before the start of the 1988 season, he was released by new york and later signed with atlanta, where he had spent the bulk of his career.

voici à vous, 1987 jerry royster!

1986 gary lucas

gary lucas was acquired by the angels in december of 1985.  here's his 1986 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lucas was a lefty who wasn't a lefty-lefty specialist.  in his career, left-handed batters actually hit him better than right-handed batters, and he struck either one out with about the same regularity (16-17% of the time).  so, some people thought that there was really no benefit to the match up in game 5 of the 1986 alcs when lucas was called upon to relieve mike witt with 2 outs, nobody on base and a 5-4 lead in the 9th inning to face the left-handed hitting rich gedman.  in reality, witt had given up two runs in the inning already, gedman was 0 for 1 with a strikeout against lucas in the regular season, and lucas had again struck him out in game 4 of the series.  unfortunately, in game 5 lucas hit gedman with a pitch, gene mauch brought in donnie moore to face dave henderson, and the angels were on their way to a series defeat.  two days later, to the chagrin of angels' fans everywhere, lucas was called upon to face gedman once again in game 6, and he struck him out.  oh, what might have been...

voici à vous, 1986 gary lucas!

1985 danny darwin

danny darwin was part of a 4-team trade in january of 1985, and when the dust settled, he was a milwaukee brewer.  here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

it's one of the more colorful variations out there, and i love it.

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

in 1985, for the third year in a row, darwin posted a sub-4.00 era and won exactly 8 games while posting double digits in losses.  his 18 defeats in 1985 led the league, as did his 34 home runs allowed.  still, he had his moments.  his second start for the brew crew was a 2-hit shutout of the tigers, and he later spun a one-hit gem against the twins, with the only hit allowed being a roy smalley home run in the 5th.

in 1986, the brewers traded him to houston where darwin would enjoy some success, including an era title in 1990.

voici à vous, 1985 danny darwin!

1984 darrell evans

in december of 1983, darrell evans fortuitously signed a free agent deal with the tigers.  here is his 1984 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

evans turned 37 during the 1984 season, but that didn't stop him from hitting 16 home runs and helping the tigers win the world series.  then, as a 38-year old in 1985, he led the american league in home runs with 40, becoming at that time the oldest person to lead a league in that category as well as the first player to hit 40 in each league.  he later joined reggie jackson as the only player to hit over 100 home runs with 3 different teams. 

voici à vous, 1984 darrell evans!

1983 mike torrez

mike torrez was traded from the red sox to the mets in january of 1983.  here's his 1983 o-pee-chee card:

in a very non-opc move, they hid the text in a dark spot on the card.  not cool.

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

torrez's return to the national league did not go as planned, as he wound up leading the senior circuit in losses, earned runs allowed, and walks in 1983.  he did have 5 complete games, including a 10-inning affair against the braves which he won 2-1.  after a 1-5 start to the 1984 season, torrez was released by the mets.  he landed in oakland, but was released by the a's after just a couple of appearances.

voici à vous, 1983 mike torrez!

1982 cesar cedeno

cesar cedeno was traded from the astros to the reds in december of 1981.  here's his 1982 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

dubbed 'the next willie mays' by leo durocher, cedeno put up some good numbers during his time in houston.  his 487 steals at the time of the trade already had him in the top 35 all-time, although he had been caught stealing 149 times, which was enough to place him in the top (or bottom, as the case may be) 15 all-time.

with the reds in 1982, cedeno hit .289 as their primary center fielder, including a .357 clip against his former team.  his production eroded over the next couple of years, however, and he was traded to the cardinals late in the 1985 season.  he wound up hitting .434 in 28 games for the redbirds down the stretch, helping them get to the postseason and eventually to the world series.

after the season, cedeno signed with toronto but was released at the end of spring training.  he was picked up by the dodgers and made his final appearance as a major leaguer in dodger blue.  sadly, there were no o-pee-chee variations for cesar cedeno in 1986.

voici à vous, 1982 cesar cedeno!