1980 bobby bonds

bobby bonds was traded in december of 1979 from the indians to the cardinals.  here is his 1980 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

this marks bonds' fourth consecutive year in which he had an o-pee-chee variation.  when i first started the blog, i predicted that bonds would prove to have more variations than anyone else, but i now see that to not be the case thanks to matt young and the hank aaron and gary carter tributes.  still, bonds was the poster child for o-pee-chee variations during those summers of my youth when i had the opportunities to buy packs north of the border.

anyway, bonds hit just .203 for the cards in 1980, who needed someone to help replace the retired lou brock.  bonds stole only 15 bases and hit just 5 home runs as a cardinal, but two of those 5 long balls were of the lead off variety (the final two of his career), giving bonds a total of 35 lifetime.

bonds could easily have had another variation in the 1981 set as he joined his fifth team in five years that season.  unfortunately, he signed with the rangers in april (and was acquired by the cubs in june) which was too late for the variation to be created.

voici à vous, 1980 bobby bonds!

1979 bobby bonds

bobby bonds continued his vagabond ways in 1978, spawning the need for this 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

yes, bonds played for two different teams in 1978.  the white sox, who had acquired bonds from the angels after the 1977 season, flipped him to the rangers in may of 1978 for claudell washington and rusty torres. 

for the rangers, bonds was one home run shy of 30/30 although he did reach that plateau for the fifth and final time in his career thanks to the two dingers he hit as a member of the white sox.  the rangers, eternally grateful for his in turn, sent bonds to the indians for larvell blanks and jim kern in october of 1978.

as an indian, bonds improved his average, but fell 5 home runs short of another 30/30 season.  still, he hit his 300th career blast that year, which gained him entry as the second member of the 300/300 club, joining former teammate willie mays.  and, for good measure, his 302nd career home run was a walk-off grand slam against the blue jays in september.  still, in what was becoming an annual tradition, bonds was on the move again as the indians wound up trading him to the cardinals in december of 1979 as we will see tomorrow.

voici à vous, 1979 bobby bonds!

1977 bobby bonds

although he had played for his third team in three years in 1976, bobby bonds wasn't on the move in 1977.  he still had an o-pee-chee variation though.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

o-pee-chee preferred to have bonds' facsimilie autograph at the hollow of the knee, just like the strike zone, while topps pushed it to the bottom of the card.  after the 1977 season, bonds was traded to the white sox, spawning the first of three (and what could have been 5!) straight years with a 'good-old fashioned' o-pee-chee team and text variation.  and, counting this autograph placement variation, it would have been 6 years in a row for barry's dad.

voici à vous, 1977 bobby bonds!

1978 bobby bonds

i am going to make a prediction.  i believe, that when all is said and done, bobby bonds will appear on this blog more than any other player.  he fits the profile - a vagabond player from the late 70's and into the 80's.  we'll see.

here is is 1978 o-pee-chee card.

obviously, it's a text variation, but it's also a team variation, as bonds was traded from the california angels to the white sox.  the only real evidence of his affiliation with the angels in the photo, though, is the brim of his cap and the red collar on his jersey so it's not as obvious as most of the other team variation cards. 

this is a good time to point out that the 1978 o-pee-chee set was only 242 cards strong (as opposed to 726 for topps), and it did not match the numbering of the topps set at all.  the o-pee-chee set started with the league leaders (they were numbers 201-208 in the topps set) and ended with the record breakers (they were the first cards in the topps set).  i don't know of any rhyme or reason as to which players were included, and only the blue jays and expos have their team cards and manager cards in the set.  o-pee-chee did print the rookie cups and all star shields for those players in the set, unlike their 1977 release.

here's the front of the topps version of bonds' card

and the o-pee-chee back

so bright!  as you can see, the card is number 206 in the set.  i find it interesting that the trade between the angels and the white sox is not noted in the 'acquired' line, even though the team affiliation is updated on the bottom of the back.  bonds was traded, along with thad bosley and rich dotson, for brian downing, dave frost and chris knapp.  sadly, none of the other traded players are featured in the 1978 o-pee-chee set.

here's the back of the topps card

and it's number 150 in the topps set.  like i said, no rhyme or reason regarding the sequencing of the cards.

voici à vous, 1978 bobby bonds!