1977 mark belanger

there is some obvious left-to-right photo cropping differences and the spacing of the stacked facsimile autograph is not the same between the o-pee-chee and topps versions of mark belanger's 1977 cards.  however, it's the difference on the backs that i find most interesting.  here is belanger's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

see that?  o-pee-chee switched cartoons!  they wanted us to know about jim bibby's brother rather than belanger's former teammate, frank robinson.  this is not the only o-pee-chee card to have the cartoon switcharoo (gary carter gets the same treatment as we will see tomorrow), but it is the first one i've shown on the blog.  the checklist variation cards that have cartoons use cartoons from topps cards that were not included in the o-pee-chee set - see the post on garvey cey russell lopes for a better explanation.  but the difference isn't just limited to the cartoon - o-pee-chee also left off the major league total line, and basically redid the entire back.

as far as belanger goes, he lived up to his all-glove, no-hit reputation in 1977.  he hit just .206 with 2 homers, but did win his seventh career gold glove (fifth in a row).

voici à vous, 1977 mark belanger!

1977 tippy martinez

tippy martinez saw his facsimile autograph get stacked and his photo cropped slightly differently on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

tippy was solid out of the bullpen in 1977, his first full season with the orioles.  he struck out 29 batters in 41 innings over 50 games, and had an era of 2.70 to go along with his 5 wins and 9 saves.  he gave up only two home runs in '77, but they were both to yankees - cliff johnson and former teammate roy white.

voici à vous, 1977 tippy martinez!

1977 al bumbry

al bumbry was the first ballplayer that i knew of who had served in vietnam, thanks to (i believe) a 'this week in baseball' piece.  these days, i know about roy gleason, and that bill campbell, phil hennigan, jim holt, and bobby jones also served.  anyway, the facsimile autograph on bumbry's 1977 o-pee-chee card is in a different spot than it is on his 1977 topps card.  see for yourself.  here is bumbry's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

after debuting in the minor leagues in 1969, bumbry served in the military for two years and earned a bronze star during for his service.  bumbry returned to the orioles organization in 1971 and made his big leage debut in 1972.

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

bumbry hit .317 in 1977, good enough for 7th in the american league that year.  he made the switch from left field to center that year as far as his primary position was concerned, and he committed just one error in the 8 spot.

i tried (although not too hard) to find a friday night game in bumbry's career in which he lead the game off with a first-pitch triple.  i remember watching what i believe was a saturday morning game of the week broadcast in the late 1970's/early 1980's in which the broadcasting team was discussing the oddity of a leadoff hitter swinging at the first pitch as bumbry had done the night before.  they even talked to him about it, and he said that he probably wouldn't do it again.  after the first pitch of the telecast game, which bumbry took, he looked up at the broadcast booth as if to say 'see - i took that one'.  just a moment from my youth i was trying to capture, but i took a look through most of his game logs, and while i found a few leadoff triples, i didn't find what i was looking for.  maybe he had done it earlier in the week, and not on the night before the telecast.  oh well, at least i have (i think) my memories.

voici à vous, 1977 al bumbry!

1977 doug decinces

both the photo and the facsimile autograph were moved east-west on doug decinces' 1977 o-pee-chee card, with the autograph placement being the more obvious variation.  here is decinces' 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

decinces had a respectable season in 1977.  his line of 19/69/.259 in 150 games were all career highs for him at that point, although it was only his second full season at the big league level.  he hit two home runs and drove in a season-high four runs in a july 1st game against the red sox.

voici à vous, 1977 doug decinces!

1977 lee may

o-pee-chee took it upon themselves to move lee may's facsimile autograph out of the sky on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

may was coming off of a 1976 campaign in which he led the league in rbi (109) and finished 9th in the league mvp voting.  1977 was another good power year for the brother of the man who wore his birthday on his jersey (carlos may was born on may 17 and wore number 17) as he hit 27 home runs and drove in 99 while serving primarily as the orioles' first baseman.

may's final home run of the 1977 season was also the 300th of his career, and it came off of rick wise.  man, it seems like that guy gave up a lot of home runs.

voici à vous, 1977 lee may!

1977 jim palmer

o-pee-chee made jim palmer's facsimile autograph more difficult to see when they moved it on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

palmer was the two-time defending cy young award winner in 1977 (he had also won the award in 1973), and he made a strong case to hold on to the title for a third straight season.  he was 20-11 with a 2.91 era in 39 starts.  he led the league in wins, starts, complete games, and innings pitched, but finished second in the cy young voting to sparky lyle.  palmer did start the all-star game for the third time in his career (he would start again for the american league in 1978), although he gave up home runs to joe morgan, greg luzinski, and steve garvey in the game.

speaking of all-stars, palmer never faced ron hunt - the subject of the cartoon on the back.  hunt was a career national leaguer whose two all-star team stints occurred before palmer was ever named to the al squad, and hunt never appeared in the postseason although he joined the dodgers in 1967 - the year after palmer and the orioles swept them in the world series.

voici à vous, 1977 jim palmer!

1991 dwight evans

dwight evans was a lifelong red sox (sock?) until he was released by boston after the 1990 season. he then signed as a free agent with the orioles. here's his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

note to topps:  the umpire is not airbrushed out in this fantastic card from the 1991 set, a la that manny ramirez stadium club card from a few years ago. 

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the orioles put evans back in right field (he had been boston's dh in 1990), and he hit .270 with 6 outfield assists in return. he also hit the final 6 home runs of his career, including a pinch-hit grand slam against the a's in july. evans re-upped with the orioles for another season, but was released by the team in spring training of 1992.

voici à vous, 1991 dwight evans!

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!

1977 ken singleton

orioles' outfielder ken singleton's facsimilie autograph gets a slight adjustment on his 1977 o-pee-chee card, shown here:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i see o-pee-chee also had to trim the cartoon art to get all the french to fit. singleton was named to the all-star team for the first time and finished 3rd in the league mvp voting in 1977.  that was due to his line of 24/99/.328 and obp of .438.  in the all-star game, singleton got one at bat and was hit by a rick reuschel pitch.

voici à vous, 1977 ken singleton!

1992 tim hulett

even though he appeared in almost half of the orioles' games in 1991, tim hulett was left off of the topps checklist in 1992. here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the o-pee-chee back:

hulett wound up hitting .289 with 2 home runs for the o's in 1992 while playing in 57 games. he stayed with the orioles for a couple more seasons before finishing his big league career in 1995 with the cardinals.

here's the card that hulett replaced in the topps set - lee smith's all-star card.  front

and back:

hulett never faced lee smith during his career, and that may have been ok with him.

voici à vous, 1992 tim hulett!

1992 storm davis

storm davis was traded from the royals to the orioles in december of 1991. here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

davis continued his transition from starter to reliever in his lone year in baltimore. in 48 appearances and only 2 starts, davis went 7-3 with 4 saves on the season. he parlayed his performance into a free agent contract with the a's for the 1993 season.
 
voici à vous, 1992 storm davis!

1977 ross grimsley

ross grimsley's autograph jumped up to his chest on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

1977 was grimsley's last year in baltimore as he signed a free agent deal with the expos in december of that year. it's a shame that we didn't get a team and text variation in 1978 what with grimsley's awesome white man afro so well displayed on his 1978 topps card. before he left, grimsley went 14-10 with a 3.96 era, 11 complete games and 2 shutouts. for les 'spos in 1978, he was 20-11 with a 3.05 era, 19 complete games and 3 shutouts.

voici à vous, 1977 ross grimsley!