1977 chet lemon

chet lemon lost his topps rookie cup, had his facsimile autograph rotated, and got a slightly different crop for his photo from o-pee-chee in 1977.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

as for the difference in the photos, compare the lettering on his jersey.

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

if lemon deserved the rookie cup for his 1976 season, he deserved some sort of sophomore slump avoidance award in 1977.  he improved almost all of his offensive numbers in 1977 - setting a career high with 99 runs scored along the way.  he also covered a lot of ground in center field for the chisox, leading the league in putouts and assists among centerfielders, although he also led them in errors.

lemon hit two home runs in a game twice in 1977, and the second time he did it, he hit his second blast (a two-run shot) in the bottom of the 10th inning to tie a game against the royals.  the white sox wound up winning the game later in the inning.

voici à vous, 1977 chet lemon!

1982 chet lemon

chet lemon was traded from the white sox to the tigers in exchange for steve kemp in november of 1981. here is his 1982 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

in 1982, his first year with the tigers, lemon was hit by pitches 3 times by his former team, the white sox. that was more than any other team other than the yankees, who also hit him three times. it wasn't too surprising, though, as lemon led the al in being hit by pitches for the second straight year in 1982. in fact, he would wind up leading the al in that category 4 times in 5 years from 1979 through 1983. lemon was a big part of the tigers' 1984 world championship team and i also seem to remember him being one of the first guys who would slide into first base to try to beat out a hit.

voici à vous, 1982 chet lemon!