1977 george medich

george medich was part of the march 1977 trade between the pirates and a's that saw phil garner leave oakland and head to the steel city.  as with garner, o-pee-chee had time to create a team variation for their set, and they outfitted medich in a nice yellow crew neck sweater in doing so.  they also moved his facsimile autograph a tad, and used a completely different photo than did topps.  here is medich's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

medich made 25 starts for the a's in 1977, and he also pitched once in relief.  he had a record of 10-6 with a 4.69 era when the expansion mariners purchased his contract in mid-september.  medich was 2-0 in his 3 starts as a mariner, and pitched so well that the mets selected him on waivers shortly before the season ended.  medich made one start with the mets and took the loss, giving up 3 runs in 7 innings of work.  he was granted free agency after the season ended, and signed with the rangers, for whom he pitched until part way through the 1982 season when his contract was purchased by the brewers.

voici à vous, 1977 george medich!

1977 manny sanguillen

after the 1976 season, pirates' catcher manny sanguillen was traded to the a's for manager chuck tanner and cash.  the trade happened in plenty of time for topps to make sanguillen an athletic in the 1977 set, but o-pee-chee apparently figured that they could out-airbrush topps when it came to getting manny sanguillen into oakland a's gear.  they used a different photo and stacked his facsimile autograph, but kept the unadorned crew neck.  go figure.  here is manny sanguillen's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

sanguillen appeared in a career high 152 games in 1977, thanks in large part to being able to dh when not behind the plate.  he also spent some time at first base for the first time in his career, as well as right field.  at the plate, sanguillen hit .275 with 6 homers and 58 rbi.

sanguillen was traded back to the pirates at the start of the 1978 season, and he later became one of the few pirates to be a part of both the 1971 and the 1979 world championship team.

voici à vous, 1977 manny sanguillen!

1977 mike torrez

while o-pee-chee didn't correct the vertigo-inducing background like they did with rawly eastwick, they did slightly adjust the placement of mike torrez's facsimile autograph.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

torrez made only 4 starts for the a's in 1977, but was 3-1 with 2 complete games in those starts.  after his fourth game, he was traded to the yankees for dock ellis, marty perez, and larry murray.  he won his first two starts for new york, including a complete game victory against his former oakland teammates in his second game in pinstripes.  after that, he went 3-9 heading into his last start in july.  that start, a complete game 4-hit victory against the orioles, kicked off a stretch of seven starts in which torrez was 7-0 with 7 complete games - one a shutout (a 2-hitter against oakland, of all teams).  he finished the season at 17-13 with 17 complete games.

to make things worse (for me, anyway) torrez took that level of dominance into the 1977 world series. he won two games against the dodgers in the fall classic, throwing complete games in game 2 and the game 6 clincher. i was even more ticked at torrez the following year when bucky dent hit that home run against him (torrez signed a free agent deal with the red sox prior to the 1978 season) to win the al east for the yankees.

voici à vous, 1977 mike torrez!

1977 bill north

bill north's facsimile autograph moved up and to the left on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

as noted on the back of his cards, north stole more bases than anyone else in the big leagues in 1976, but he managed to swipe only 17 bases in 1977.  granted, he played in only 56 games that year, but he managed to get caught stealing 13 times.  that's not a good success ratio.  north would wind up stealing 30 bases in 1978, but 27 of those came as a dodger after he was traded to los angeles early in the season.

voici à vous, 1977 bill north!

1977 vida blue

vida blue got an autograph placement variation in 1977.  here's his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

it's nice to see hank aaron appear in the 1977 set after he was denied a true 'final tribute' in the set.

as for blue, 1977 turned out to be his last year in oakland.  charlie o. finley had tried to sell blue's contract to the yankees during the 1976 season, but the deal was voided by the commissioner's office.  i am guessing blue knew it was a matter of time, and he was ultimately traded to the giants during spring training in 1978.

but, before that happened, blue was named to the all-star team in 1977 despite a less than .500 record at the break (he didn't pitch in the game) and he wound up losing a total of 19 games over the course of the season.

voici à vous, 1977 vida blue!

1990 dave parker

dave parker became a brewer (yes, a brewer) when he signed a free agent deal in december of 1989. here's his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

he went on to have his last great season as a result. in milwaukee, the cobra hit 21 homers, drove in 92 rbi and hit .289. he won a silver slugger, finished 16th in the mvp voting, and made the all-star team for the final time of his career. the brewers traded parker the following spring to the angels for dante bichette, and parker split his final season in the majors between the halos and the blue jays.

voici à vous, 1990 dave parker!

1991 willie wilson

willie wilson had spent his entire career with the royals until he signed as a free agent with the a's in december of 1990. here's his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

wilson hit just .238 his first year in oakland, the lowest batting average he had posted since his rookie year of 1978. he also stole 20 bases, which was the lowest full season total of his career. in 1992, the a's moved wilson back to centerfield full time, and he responded by hitting .270 and swiping 28 bases. he also returned to the postseason for the first time since winning the world series with the royals in 1985.

voici à vous, 1991 willie wilson!

1991 scott sanderson

scott sanderson had intended to return to the a's in 1991 as he re-signed with them in december of 1990.  however, the yankees purchased his contract a couple weeks later, and sanderson was headed to the bronx.  here is his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

sanderson pitched slightly better in 1991 than he had in 1990.  he was 16-10 (as opposed to 17-11 for the a's in 1990), with a slightly better era (3.81 to his 3.88 from the previous year), but was able to lower his whip from 1.31 to 1.10.  he even made the all-star team for the only time in his career, but he didn't make it into the game.

voici à vous, 1991 scott sanderson!

1990 scott sanderson

after 6 seasons with the cubs, in which he was 42-42, scott sanderson signed a free agent deal with the a's for the 1990 season.  here is his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

sanderson had just missed getting to the world series in 1989 as the cubs lost in the nlcs to the giants, but his luck improved in 1990 with the a's.  oakland returned to the fall classic for the third consecutive season, but lost to the reds in four games.  sanderson pitched in two of those games, giving up 2 runs in 1.2 innings of work.  still, his regular season was a success as he went 17-11 with an era under 4.

voici à vous, 1990 scott sanderson!

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 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 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!