1985 dave lopes

dave lopes didn't deserve an o-pee-chee variation in 1985, but he got one anyway (and i am thankful for it). here it is:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lopes, of course, was traded to the cubs late in the 1984 season but topps didn't manage (or bother) to put lopes in a cubs uniform for the 1985 set (i put together a 1985 topps card that should have been for lopes a while back). instead, they opted to add the 'now with' text that we fans of o-pee-chee know and love. o-pee-chee, as they did with the 1989 jody davis card, came along and changed the text that was on the topps card.

o-pee-chee was pretty inconsistent in this regard, as they sometimes did nothing when a player switched teams late in the previous season and other times went all out.  see the 1987 daryl motley, 1988 doug decinces, and 1980 ralph garr cards as examples.

anyway, lopes spent all of 1985 in chicago and even stole 47 bases while hitting .284 with 11 home runs. he spent most of the season in the outfield, and played just one singular inning at second base - his last appearance there of his career.
 
this is also the last appearance of 1985 cards on this site - another year of variations is complete!
 
voici à vous, 1985 dave lopes!

1985 don sutton

don sutton was traded by the brewers to the a's in december of 1984. here's his fantastically colorful 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

sutton had bounced back from a bad 1983 season in milwaukee to post a winning record in 1984 while getting his era back under 4. he began the 1985 season 20 wins shy of 300 for his career, and he had earned 13 of those missing victories for the a's when they traded him to the angels in august. in five starts for the halos over the last month of the season, sutton was 2-2, meaning that his 300th win would have to wait until 1986. still, despite all the moving around, sutton was able to continue his record streak of seasons with at least 100 strikeouts, becoming the first to do so in 20 straight campaigns.

sutton's 1985 topps traded card showed him as an athletic - it's too bad o-pee-chee didn't step in and create a variation for that set, too.

voici à vous, 1985 don sutton!

1985 al oliver

al oliver brought his number '0' to the dodgers when the phillies traded him to la for pat zachry in february of 1985. here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i was always a fan of oliver's. he looked so sad on his 1978 topps/o-pee-chee card despite having some good years for some good pirate teams, including having a world series championship under his belt. then he had some good years in texas and that monster 1982 season in montreal. if only he had played in a bigger market during those years. by the time he arrived in la, he was 38 years old and had split the previous season between san francisco and philadelphia.

oliver started the 1985 season as the dodgers' left fielder, but soon became a bat off the bench. in all, he hit .253 as a dodger - .258 in 17 games as a left fielder, and .235 in 18 plate appearances as a pinch hitter. in july, the dodgers sent scoop to the blue jays in exchange for the 'tuz - len matuszek. oliver helped the jays get to the alcs, but despite his .375 average in the series against the royals, the team was unable to advance to the fall classic.

oliver's career ended with the 1985 seasaon, and he seems destined to remain in the 'hall of very good' with his 2743 hits, .303 career average, 1326 rbi, and .986 fielding percentage. that's bad news for me, as oliver's closest career comparative is none other than steve garvey.

voici à vous, 1985 al oliver!

1985 jeff burroughs

jeff burroughs had his contract purchased by the blue jays in december of 1984. here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

a new type of text! purchased!

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

burroughs was brought in to help replace cliff johnson who had signed a deal with the rangers earlier in the month. burroughs played in 86 games for toronto and hit only .257 which is one reason why the jays re-acquired johnson late in the season. by the time the postseason rolled around, burroughs had lost his starting job and appeared just once in the alcs. it turned out to be the final appearance of burrough's career, as the 1985 season was his last in the big leagues. a few years later, burroughs was coaching his son sean's little league team.

voici à vous, 1985 jeff burroughs!

1985 howard johnson

 fresh off a world series victory, the tigers traded howard johnson to the mets in december of 1984. here's his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

hojo had just 1 at bat in the series against the padres and reached base on an error. turns out, the postseason wasn't johnson's strong suit. with the mets, it took a couple of seasons for him to blossom into a 30/30 threat (he achieved 30 home runs and 30 steals in a season three times), and he eventually led the league in home runs and rbi in 1991. in the meantime, he was 0 for 7 in the mets' championship postseason of 1986, and just 1 for 18 against the dodgers in the 1988 nlcs. not that i'm complaining.

voici à vous, 1985 howard johnson!

1985 jim fanning

jim fanning, the first general manager in the history of the expos, twice was brought in to finish the season as their field manager. the first time, in 1981, he replaced dick williams and led montreal to the postseason for the first (and only) time. he stayed on as manager and guided the team to a third place finish in 1982, after which he returned to the front office as the vice president in charge of player development and bill virdon was hired to manage the team. however, fanning was again called upon to take over the team on the field after virdon was fired with 30 games remaining in the 1984 season. after the end of that season, fanning again returned to the front office, as this 1985 o-pee-chee text variation card tells us:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

buck rodgers was brought in to lead the expos on the field, and fanning successfully remained in the front office. now, i know with the bobby cox 1986 text variation i stretched a bit and used the 'now with' label. for this one, that doesn't apply as fanning didn't leave the organization. so, like the 1984 warren cromartie, i need to do something different. therefore, we have the only 'now vice president, player development and scouting' variation. fanning eventually left montreal in the 1990's to scout for the rockies and then became an assistant gm for the blue jays.

voici à vous, 1985 jim fanning!

1985 rickey henderson

in december of 1984, the a's traded rickey henderson (!) to the yankees in a 2 for 6 swap. here's his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

free agency was looming for henderson after the 1985 season, and the a's decided to get something in return rather than keep him for one more year and get nothing when he left for greener pastures. as it turns out, although henderson performed beyond expectations in new york, it was the a's who returned to prominence a few seasons after trading rickey, while the yankees avoided the postseason for another decade. still, henderson was awesome as a yankee. he scored a career high 146 runs in 1985, to go along with his 80 stolen bases, 24 home runs, and .314 batting average.

rickey led the league in steals in 3 of his 4 full seasons in new york, and was a perennial all-star. ultimately, the yankees traded him back to oakland in 1989, just in time for rickey to dominate the postseason and get his first world series ring.

voici à vous, 1985 rickey henderson!

1985 fred lynn

fred lynn joined the orioles as a free agent in december of 1984. here's his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lynn was a model of consistency during his early 30's, which included his first few years in baltimore. he hit 21 homers for the angels in 1982 at the age of 30. the next year, he hit 22. then, from 1984 through 1987, he hit exactly 23 home runs each year. otherwise, he didn't accomplish a whole lot in baltimore, and the orioles dealt him to the tigers in 1988.

voici à vous, 1985 fred lynn!

1985 george hendrick

george hendrick was acquired by the pittsburgh pirates in a december, 1984 trade with the cardinals. here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

hendrick did not stay long in pittsburgh as the pirates sent him to the angels in an august veteran trade dump. he was hitting just .230 with 2 home runs and 25 rbi at the time of the trade, and was equally as bad at the big a. in 16 games for the halos, hendrick hit .122 with an ops of .488. he rebounded nicely in 1986 to the tune of 14/47/.272 in 102 games as the angels won the west. he was just 1 for 12 in the alcs against the bosox though.

voici à vous, 1985 george hendrick!

1985 joe morgan

joe morgan announced his retirement from the game prior to the 1985 season. here's his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

this is the third 'announced his retirement' text variation in the 1985 set (the others are bob watson and greg luzinski). morgan had returned home to oakland for the 1984 season in which he recorded his 2500th hit and 1100th rbi. he hit .244 on the year, playing in 116 games as a second baseman and sometimes dh. shortly after he announced his retirement, morgan revealed that he would become an announcer for some cincinnati reds games, which paved the way for the eventual establishment of one of my favorite websites.

voici à vous, 1985 joe morgan!

1985 vance law

vance law was traded from the white sox to the expos in december of 1984. here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i love the text on the back regarding the first initial 'v' because i vividly recall vin scully commenting/lamenting during a dodgers/expos game that despite all the names beginning with 'v' in the law family, there was no vincent.

the expos moved law back to second base, although they also used him at first, third and in right field occasionally. he also made a few mound appearances for them in 1986 and '87. he had 6 such appearances during that time, and allowed only 2 earned runs in 7.1 innings pitched. he also struck out 2 batters (dave henderson and robby thompson, both giants - ha!). law spent 3 years in montreal before moving on to the cubs prior to the 1988 season.

voici à vous, 1985 vance law!

1985 cliff johnson

cliff johnson signed a free agent deal with the texas rangers in december of 1984 after two productive seasons with the blue jays. here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

after playing in 82 games for the rangers, the blue jays re-acquired johnson in an august deal. he hit just .274 for toronto down the stretch, but was 7 for 19 with 2 doubles and 2 rbi in the blue jays' 7-game alcs loss to the royals. he remained with the blue jays through the 1986 season, his last in the big leagues.

voici à vous, 1985 cliff johnson!

1985 donnie moore

donnie moore was chosen by the california angels from the atlanta braves as a free agent compensation pick in january of 1985. here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

love the 'drafted' text!  the angels had lost fred lynn to free agency, and per the rules of the day, they were entitled to select an unprotected player from a list provided by each team. it was the same draft that resulted in angel salazar moving to the cardinals. anyway, moore took his 16 saves and sub-3.00 era to the west coast and turned in a season worthy of an all-star appearance, along with top ten finishes in both the cy young (7th) and mvp (6th) voting thanks to his 31 saves and 1.92 era.
in the midsummer classic, moore pitched two perfect innings in relief. he pitched well again in 1986, helping the angels to the postseason. unfortunately, that series was marred for moore by one pitch. even though he pitched for the angels again in 1987 and most of 1988, many believe the pitch he threw to dave henderson indirectly led to his death in 1989, less than a year after he was released by the angels.

voici à vous, 1985 donnie moore!