1977 buddy bell

buddy bell gets the different crop and relocated facsimile autograph treatment on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

kurt bevacqua got a lot of mileage out of his bubble blowing prowess.  in addition to the 1976 topps card that features his exploits, he is also mentioned on a 1977-79 sportscaster card.  and now he gets a cartoon on the back of a 1977 card.  whenever i think of bevacqua i think of tommy lasorda and his famous rant.  but, back to buddy bell.  here's the topps back:

where we get to see bevacqua's elbow.  as for bell, he hit .292 as the tribe's third baseman in 1977.  his 64 rbi that year was a career high at that point, and the most that he would collect in a season as an indian.

voici à vous, 1977 buddy bell!

1979 buddy bell

in december of 1978, the indians and rangers swapped third basemen, with buddy bell going to the rangers. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

toby harrah, the third baseman that went from the rangers to the indians, had some solid seasons over the next 6 years before he returned to texas, but it seems clear that the rangers got the better end of the deal with bell. bell won a gold glove in each of his six full seasons for the rangers, made the all star team 4 times in those 6 seasons, and finished in the top 30 in mvp voting 5 times, including a 10th place finish in 1979. that was the year he hit .299 with 200 hits, 101 rbi and 42 doubles. the rangers traded bell to the reds during the 1985 season, and he went on to play for the astros before returning to texas for a short time in 1989.

voici à vous, 1979 buddy bell!