1977 jose cruz

slight cropping difference - both side-to-side and up-down? check.  differently placed facsimile autograph? check.  well then, we have ourselves another typical double variation from the 1977 o-pee-chee set.  here is jose cruz's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

cruz hit .299 with a career high 17 home runs in 1977, and it seems to me all of those homers came against the dodgers.  in reality, only three of them were hit against the dodgers, but cruz always seemed to do well when the astros were facing my favorite team.  and it wasn't just my young imagination, either - cruz hit .472 with a 1.325 ops in 15 games against the dodgers in 1977.  he also had a walk-off sacrifice fly off of the dodgers' charlie hough in a late september game that year.

voici à vous, 1977 jose cruz!

1977 jr richard

jr richard gets a different crop and a relocated facsimile autograph on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

jr richard was the second player chosen in the 1969 draft, and he went to the astros.  barely two years later, he made his big league debut and struck out 15 batters in doing so.  by the time 1977 rolled around, richard had won 20 games and was one of the premier pitchers in the national league, if not all of baseball.  he went 18-12 in 1977, with a 2.97 era and 214 strikeouts.  he also pitched 13 complete games, including 3 shutouts (two of which were 3-hitters), and helped himself at the plate with a couple of triples and home runs and a .230 average.

as a dodger fan, i cringed when he started against the blue, and with good reason.  case in point, james rodney struck out a season high 14 dodgers in his last start of the 1977 season.  of course, we all know that richard suffered a stroke shortly after the 1980 all-star game (which he started for the nl) and never pitched in a big league game again. as a baseball fan, that is a tragedy.

voici à vous, jr richard!

1977 ken forsch

the placement of ken forsch's facsimile autograph is more congruent with the horizontal nature of his uniform on his 1977 o-pee-chee card shown here:

than it was on his topps card as seen below:

was that the reason o-pee-chee moved the signature?  who knows?  now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the 70 games forsch pitched in during the 1974 season as mentioned in the text on the back of the card were enough for fourth place in games pitched that year, well behind mike marshall of the dodgers and his record of 106 games.  forsch would not appear in more than 52 games in a season for the remainder of his career, but that is mainly due to the fact that the astros moved him back to the starting rotation essentially for good in 1979.  not a bad move, as it turns out, as forsch threw a no-hitter in his first start that year.

voici à vous, 1977 ken forsch!

1977 roger metzger

roger metzger's facsimile autograph makes a move to the left on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

it's too bad the cartoon doesn't use the proper term (palindrome).  i would have liked to have learned how to say 'palindrome' in french.

and the topps back:

metzger had a horrible year in 1977.  he missed all of may and most of june, and finished the season batting just .186.  he did manage to leg out 6 triples, however.  what i remember metzger for, however, was his 1980 comeback with the giants after an accident with a chainsaw or a hedge trimmer in which he lost some fingers.

voici à vous, 1977 roger metzger!

1977 cesar cedeno

the photo is cropped differently ever so slightly, but there is no missing the unstacked facsimile

autograph on cesar cedeno's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

 now the o-pee-chee back:

with shirtless ballplayers.  at least they didn't try to represent florida by using ballplayers with walkers or pants hiked up to their chests.

and the topps back:

cedeno's streak of three straight seasons of 20 hr and 50 sb came to an end after the 1974 season, and he came close to 20/50 again in 1976 (18/58) but never quite got there again.  he did, however, steal a career high 61 bases (good for second behind omar moreno) in 1977 to go along with his 14 homers.  he stole 3 bases (including two in one inning) in a game against the cubs in may of 1977, and hit his first and only career lead off home run about a month later against the phillies.

voici à vous, 1977 cesar cedeno!

1992 eddie taubensee

eddie taubensee was traded from the indians to the astros in the december, 1991 deal that netted the tribe kenny lofton. here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

taubensee platooned behind the plate with scott servais for the astros, and he hit .222 in 104 games. he had 5 homers on the year and threw out 34% of the would-be base stealers who ran against him.

voici à vous, 1992 eddie taubensee!

1992 chris jones

chris jones (not to be confused by the chris jones who played for the astros and giants in 1985-86) was released by the reds after his 1991 rookie season despite a .292 average in 52 games. he wound up signing with the astros for the 1992 season. here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

with the astros, jones appeared in 54 games, but hit just .190 with 1 home run. still, that home run was a bottom of the 12th walk-off job against the giants, so it wasn't all bad. jones signed with the rockies after the season ended and wound up playing for various teams through the 2000 season.

voici à vous, 1992 chris jones!

1991 pete harnisch

pete harnisch was traded (with curt schilling and steve finley) by the orioles to the astros for glenn davis in january of 1991. here's his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the astros decided to hold on to harnisch (and deal schilling) after the 1991 season as he won 12 games with a 2.70 era on the year. he also represented the astros in the all-star game in 1991, pitching a scoreless inning of relief in the game. harnisch followed up 1991 with a 9-10 campaign in 1992, but rebounded to win 16 games for houston in 1993.

voici à vous, 1991 pete harnisch!

1991 glenn davis

the orioles finally got their man when they traded for glenn davis in january of 1991.  here's his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

baltimore had drafted davis in 1979, but he did not sign and eventually joined the astros after the 1981 draft. at the time of the trade, davis' 166 home runs as an astro were only second to jim wynn's career total of 223. as an oriole, he hit just 10 long balls in 1991. of course, he played in only 49 games that year thanks to a nerve injury in his neck that derailed his season from april until august.

voici à vous, 1991 glenn davis!

1992 dwayne henry

after the 1991 season, dwayne henry was selected off of waivers by the reds from the astros.  here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

threes were wild for henry in 1992 - he was 3-3 with a 3.33 era on the season.  he pitched in 60 games and got his first (and only) big league hit that year as well, a single against his former team, the astros.

voici à vous, 1992 dwayne henry!

1991 steve finley

steve finley was traded in january of 1991 with pete harnisch and curt schilling to the astros for glenn davis. the orioles got robbed. here is finley's 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

finley patrolled center field for the astros for four seasons, and in each season, he fielded the position better than he did when he won his first two gold gloves in 1995 and 1996 for the padres. go figure. during his time in houston, he hit .281 with 110 steals. he hit just 32 homers for the 'stros, but his power game changed after he was traded to the pads in that 1994 11-player deal.

voici à vous, 1991 steve finley!

1990 ken oberkfell

ken oberkfell signed as a free agent with the astros following the 1989 season. here is his 1990 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

oberkfell had played well for the giants over the last half of the 1989 season, but he failed to earn his second world series ring as the giants lost to the a's in the fall classic best remembered because of the earthquake that delayed game 3.  with the astros in 1990, oberkfell didn't get close to the postseason, but he did hit his final career triple and home run, and he also stole the final base of his career, even though he would play through the 1992 season.

voici à vous, 1990 ken oberkfell!

1989 nolan ryan

in december of 1988, when he was one month from turning 42, nolan ryan signed a free agent contract with the texas rangers. here is his 1989 o-pee-chee card:

it's not as awesome as his 1980 o-pee-chee variation, that's for sure.

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

when ryan joined the rangers, he became the first player to play for all four of the original expansion franchises (the mets, angels, astros/colt 45s, and the rangers/senators). he also was 27 wins shy of 300, and 225 strikeouts shy of 5000 for his career. the strikeouts came easily, as they always had. ryan led the league with 301 k's in 1989, recording his 5000th strikeout on august 22 when he victimized rickey henderson. as for the wins, ryan had 16 in 1989 which was his highest season total since 1982.

although he didn't throw a no-hitter in 1989, he made the all-star team (he pitched 2 scoreless innings and picked up the win) and finished 5th in the cy young voting.

voici à vous, 1989 nolan ryan!