1977 record breaker (nolan ryan)

well, they didn't change the photo like they did on jose morales' record breaker card, but o-pee-chee did modify the crop a bit on this - nolan ryan's 1977 o-pee-chee record breaker card:

here's the topps front:

compare the 's' in 'angels' on his jersey.

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

it's nice to see the 'bloomington, minnesota' byline.  you all know, of course, that the old twins metropolitan stadium was located where the mall of america sits today, right?  that home plate was located right next to the spongebob squarepants roller coaster?  anyway, ryan struck out some twinkies late in the 1976 season to take his season strikeout total over 300 for the fourth time in his career.  he actually did it again in 1977, and then once more in 1989.  ryan's record of six seasons with more than 300 k's was matched in 2002 by randy johnson.

voici à vous, 1977 record breaker (nolan ryan)!

1977 frank tanana

o-pee-chee cropped out the grass and tilted the facsimile autograph when they created frank tanana's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

it's weird that the back mentions the 10-strikeout game tanana had against the rangers when he had a few 12-strikeout games in 1976 and actually finished his season with a 14-k, 11-inning complete game shutout of the a's.  any of those games would seem more worthy of a mention than the 10-k game.

anyway, tanana went 15-9 in 1977 and led the league with a 2.54 era.  he was named to the all-star team, but didn't pitch in the game.  he also finished with five double digit strikeout performances, the best of which may have been a 3-hit, 11-k shutout against the tigers in may.

voici à vous, 1977 frank tanana!

1977 don baylor

we are treated to a tighter crop and a stacked facsimile autograph on don baylor's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

i'm not altogether sure if the second airbrushed button on the topps card is cropped out of the o-pee-chee image, or if they airbrushed it out.  now the o-pee-chee back:

hank aaron makes an appearance in the 1977 set!  sort of.

and the topps back:

baylor's november 1976 signing with the angels gave topps plenty of time to get him out of his a's uniform, which sadly denied us a card of baylor in green and gold (at least until 1989).  baylor went 25/75/.281 for the halos in 1977 while playing all three outfield positions, first base, and designated hitter. he even hit lead off a couple of times, and swatted his only career lead off home run in 1977.

two years later, baylor would lead the angels to the postseason for the first time, picking up the al mvp award along the way (he also became my first favorite non-dodger player).  unfortunately, for angel fans, he wouldn't win his first (and only) world series ring until 1987 in minnesota.

voici à vous, 1977 don baylor!

1977 nolan ryan

o-pee-chee figured that nolan ryan was ready for his close up in 1977.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

they also un-stacked his autograph.  now here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

not sure why they made a big deal about grant jackson's behind the back grab in the cartoon.  that play seems to be fairly common these days.  in fact, i saw nick blackburn do it in a game earlier this season.

as for ryan, the express was rolling in 1977.  he won 19 games and struck out over 300 batters (341) for the fifth time in his career.  he also threw 22 complete games and had a nice 2.77 era.  ryan also finished third in the cy young award voting, and was named to the all-star team (he didn't pitch) in 1977.  he did not, however, throw a no-hitter in 1977 - he would have to wait until 1981 to get the fifth no-no of his career.

voici à vous, 1977 nolan ryan!

1992 ron tingley

ron tingley is the second of the angels' backstops to get no love from topps in 1992. here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

and here's the back:

tingley and john orton both lacked cards in the topps set, and mike fitzgerald, their other primary catcher in 1992 was still with the expos (and failed to get a text variation indicating that he was on his way to california). that means that the three primary angels' catchers in 1992 were not recognized as such by topps. to answer the obvious question, lance parrish was the only catcher featured by topps as an angel in their 1992 flagship release, and he and greg myers were the only other catchers on the halos' roster that year.

as for tingley, he had played in 45 games for the angels in 1991, but like orton, he surpassed that total in 1992 as he saw action in 71 games. he hit 3 homers and threw out 45% of the runners who dared try to steal against him.

here's the topps card that tingly threw out of the o-pee-chee set - front:

and back:

too bad there was no inter league play in 1992 - tingley might have thrown hojo out for real!

voici à vous, 1992 ron tingley!

1992 kirk mccaskill

after leading the league with 19 losses in 1991, the pride of kapuskasing, ontario, kirk mccaskill, signed a free agent deal with the white sox. here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

mccaskill went 12-13 for the chisox in '92, making 34 starts and pitching 209 innings. the team was 18-16 in his starts, and mccaskill probably pitched well enough to merit 18 victories for the season. mccaskill pitched for the white sox for 4 more seasons, although he did so primarily from the bullpen.

voici à vous, 1992 kirk mccaskill!

1992 don robinson

don robinson signed as a free agent with the angels in january of 1992. here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

robinson was squeezed out of the giants' pitching staff with their acquisition of bill swift, dave burba and michael jackson in the kevin mitchell deal. as an angel, robinson made 3 starts and was 1-0 with a 2.20 era when they released him in may after he returned from the disabled list. according to the la times, the angels chose to keep bert blyleven instead of robinson, whom they feared was repeating a pattern of injury. robinson picked up with the phillies, but was 1-4 in 8 starts for them with a 6.18 era and was released in july. there was a bright spot, however, as robinson, a three-time silver slugger winner, hit .389 (7 for 18) during his brief return to the national league.

voici à vous, 1992 don robinson!

1992 john orton

john orton came out of cal poly slo to play for the angels over the course of 5 seasons in the late 80's and early 90's. he didn't get a topps card in 1992, but o-pee-chee came through with one. here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

and the o-pee-chee back:

the california angels had mike fitzgerald and ron tingley ahead of orton on the depth chart, but he still played in 43 games for the halos in 1992. as a result, he set career highs in pretty much every offensive category that year, including home runs (2) and hits (25). he also threw out 45% of the runners who tried to steal against him, good for 5th in the league.

here's the card orton dislodged from the set, the 1992 topps julio franco all-star card.  front:

and back:

voici à vous, 1992 john orton!

1992 dave gallagher

dave gallagher was traded from the angels to the mets in december of 1991 for hubie brooks, straight up.  here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

gallagher's average dropped by over 50 points with the move from anaheim to new york as he hit just .240 in his first season in queens.  he rebounded to .274 in his second season there, but was traded to the braves prior to the 1994 campaign.  he was the braves' left fielder that season, but as luck would have it, there was no postseason for gallagher to enjoy.

voici à vous, 1992 dave gallagher!

1991 luis sojo

luis sojo was traded from the blue jays to the angels 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:

sojo played in a career high 113 games for the angels in 1991, batting .258 with 3 homers and a league-leading 19 sacrifice hits.  who says small ball doesn't play in the american league?  after another season in southern california, sojo was dealt back to the blue jays.  he eventually found his way to new york where he enjoyed the yankees' championship runs in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000, as well as their 2001 loss to the diamondbacks.

voici à vous, 1991 luis sojo!

1990 mark langston

in may of 1989, the mariners traded the best pitcher their franchise had ever had, mark langston, to the expos.  here's his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

langston rewarded the expos with 12 wins and a 2.39 era in 24 starts, but les expos finished 4th in the nl east and langston signed a free agent deal with the angels in the offseason.  the mariners, meanwhile, made out ok as one of the three pitchers they received in exchange for langston was randy johnson.

langston returned to the national league in 1998, helping the padres advance to the world series.  there, he famously struck out tino martinez with the bases loaded in game 1, except the umpire forgot to call tino out and he hit a grand slam later in the at bat.

voici à vous, 1990 mark langston!

1982 reggie jackson all-star

thanks to his departure from the bronx, reggie jackson had three variations in the 1982 o-pee-chee set. here's the third one to be featured on oh my o-pee-chee!, his 1982 o-pee-chee all-star card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

reggie had a ton of career highlights, and he accomplished a couple more items in 1982 that could be added to the back of this card. first, he again tied for the american league lead in home runs with 39. then, he hit his 18th career postseason home run to tie mickey mantle for the major league record in 1982 (since broken by manny ramirez, bernie williams, and even derek jeter thanks to additional playoff rounds). not a bad return for mr. autry, although a pennant would have been nice.

voici à vous, 1982 reggie jackson all-star!

1982 reggie jackson in action

mr. october, reggie jackson, moved to the west coast in january of 1982. here's his 1982 o-pee-chee in action card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

let's see what we could add to the highlights on the back of reggie's card.

jackson made the all-star team three times during his time in orange county, including 1982. he was the starting right fielder for the american league that year, and went 0 for 1 with a sacrifice fly, driving in the al's only run of the game. he was named to the 1983 team, but did not appear in the game, and in 1984, his final all-star game, he was back in the starting lineup, but went 0 for 2.

as for the championship series, what he did in 1982 (.111 average, 1 home run) and 1986 (.192 with no home runs) wouldn't supplant any of his other accomplishments on the back of this card. and, as we all know, the angels failed to advance to the world series during reggie's tenure in southern california.

voici à vous, 1982 reggie jackson in action!