1977 dave lopes

maybe o-pee-chee left the facsimile autograph where topps left it on dave lopes' 1977 card and just lowered the photo in the cropping window, but that would have been so unlike them.  i'm giving this card both a photo and autograph placement variation.  here is lopes' 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

more belt!

now the o-pee-chee back:

i wonder who 'they' are - the ones who are still talking about lopes' stolen base streak. i would have liked to talk about it with them.

and the topps back:

lopes was unable to lead the national league in stolen bases for the third straight year, tallying only 47 swipes which put him 6th on the leader board.  he did have two steals in the world series against the yankees, however, while the five guys ahead of him were at home watching.

voici à vous, 1977 dave lopes!

1985 dave lopes

dave lopes didn't deserve an o-pee-chee variation in 1985, but he got one anyway (and i am thankful for it). here it is:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lopes, of course, was traded to the cubs late in the 1984 season but topps didn't manage (or bother) to put lopes in a cubs uniform for the 1985 set (i put together a 1985 topps card that should have been for lopes a while back). instead, they opted to add the 'now with' text that we fans of o-pee-chee know and love. o-pee-chee, as they did with the 1989 jody davis card, came along and changed the text that was on the topps card.

o-pee-chee was pretty inconsistent in this regard, as they sometimes did nothing when a player switched teams late in the previous season and other times went all out.  see the 1987 daryl motley, 1988 doug decinces, and 1980 ralph garr cards as examples.

anyway, lopes spent all of 1985 in chicago and even stole 47 bases while hitting .284 with 11 home runs. he spent most of the season in the outfield, and played just one singular inning at second base - his last appearance there of his career.
 
this is also the last appearance of 1985 cards on this site - another year of variations is complete!
 
voici à vous, 1985 dave lopes!

1982 dave lopes in action

this is the third and final dave lopes variation in the 1982 o-pee-chee set.  it's his 'in action' card.

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i would contend that standing in the batter's box is about as opposite of 'in action' one can get.  why not show lopes doing something he was known for, like stealing a base?  i ranted about this a while back on my other blog regarding maury wills' 1972 topps in action card.

voici à vous, 1982 dave lopes in action!

1982 dave lopes all star

here is the second of three dave lopes 1982 o-pee-chee variations.  the first was a team variation, but thism his all star card, is just a text variation as you can see.

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

what the card back fails to address is that lopes really didn't deserve to be voted in to start the 1981 all star game, as he missed half of may, all but one game in june, and all of july due to injury.  he was batting only .169 at the time. the all star game, which wasn't played until august 9th due to the players' strike, was the first game lopes had played in in two months (he walked in his only at bat).  good thing for the dodgers, he had a pretty good september and found his legs in time for the postseason.

voici à vous, 1982 dave lopes all star!

1982 dave lopes

dave lopes was the first member of the dodgers long-tenured infield to leave the team, and it wasn't by choice.  as o-pee-chee captured on his 1982 card, lopes was traded to the a's.

making this a team and text variation.  i like these types of variations, especially when different colors are used for different teams.  it mixes things up a bit.  with steve sax ready to take over at second for the dodgers, lopes was traded for lance hudson, a minor leaguer who never made it to the big leagues.

here's the topps front:

in addition to the different colored hockey sticks, o-pee-chee changed out the logo on the front as they had done beginning in 1979.  the 1982 o-pee-chee set was only 396 cards strong (exactly half of the 792 for topps), and it did not match the numbering of the topps set at all.

here's the o-pee-chee back of lopes' card

still brighter than topps.  the card is number 218 in the set, and, as usual, the 'acquired' line is not updated to include the trade from the dodgers.  also interesting that the 1982 set (both o-pee-chee and topps) did not include team affiliation on the back.

here's the back of the topps card

740 in the set.  i still prefer the o-pee-chee backs as they are easier to read.  why topps went with the darker green backs and bluish text so often is beyond me.

voici à vous, 1982 dave lopes!