1977 rennie stennett

a little north-south cropping difference and a totally relocated and differently stacked facsimile autograph are the reasons that rennie stennett shows up in my catalog of o-pee-chee variations.  here is stennett's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

stennett hit .336 for the pirates in 1977 - an average that would have placed him second to teammate dave parker on the national league leader board - but he did not have enough at bats to qualify for the title.  stennett played in only 116 games in '77 due to a broken leg that ended his season in mid august. although stennett debuted for the pirates in 1971, he did not appear in the world series that year.  fortunately, he was still with pittsburgh when they won it all in 1979, even though he was no longer their regular second baseman at the time.

voici à vous, 1977 rennie stennett!

1977 richie zisk

this is one of the better known o-pee-chee variations from the 1977 set.  without it, we wouldn't have much to remember zisk's days in chicago by.  that's because topps left him in his pirates uniform in 1977 and then hurried to show him as a ranger in 1978.  at any rate, we get a team variation, photo variation (both cropping and airbrushing), and the good ol' autograph placement variation (plus they shrunk his auto!) from o-pee-chee.  here is richie zisk's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the white sox acquired zisk after the 1976 season in the deal that sent goose gossage and terry forster to pittsburgh.  oh, how i wish forster and gossage were part of the 1977 o-pee-chee set.  like zisk, topps didn't acknowledge their one year on the move and airbrushed forster into a dodgers hat and gossage into yankee pinstripes for the 1978 set.  i don't know if there are any cards of forster or gossage in pirates uniforms.

back to zisk - the chisox moved him from left to right field and he responded with a career high 30 homers and 101 rbi.  ok, the two probably don't have anything to do with each other, but zisk did play well enough to earn a starting spot for the american league in the 1977 all-star game.  he made the start in left, and went 2 for 3 with 2 rbi and a double off of tom seaver.  of course, topps gypped him out of the all-star shield in 1978. zisk also homered in his first at bat with the white sox, and in doing so, became the first player to hit a home run against the blue jays.

voici à vous, 1977 richie zisk!

1977 george medich

george medich was part of the march 1977 trade between the pirates and a's that saw phil garner leave oakland and head to the steel city.  as with garner, o-pee-chee had time to create a team variation for their set, and they outfitted medich in a nice yellow crew neck sweater in doing so.  they also moved his facsimile autograph a tad, and used a completely different photo than did topps.  here is medich's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

medich made 25 starts for the a's in 1977, and he also pitched once in relief.  he had a record of 10-6 with a 4.69 era when the expansion mariners purchased his contract in mid-september.  medich was 2-0 in his 3 starts as a mariner, and pitched so well that the mets selected him on waivers shortly before the season ended.  medich made one start with the mets and took the loss, giving up 3 runs in 7 innings of work.  he was granted free agency after the season ended, and signed with the rangers, for whom he pitched until part way through the 1982 season when his contract was purchased by the brewers.

voici à vous, 1977 george medich!

1977 dave parker

there's a slight difference in the north-south alignment of dave parker's photo on his 1977 o-pee-chee card, and his stacked facsimile autograph is also in a different spot and rotated.  here is the cobra's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

1977 was parker's coming out year - he led the league with 215 hits, 44 doubles, and a .338 batting average.  he also won his first gold glove award and finished third in the league mvp voting.  he had 21 home runs on the year, with three two-homer games and a walk-off.  parker was also named to the all-star team for the first time, starting for the national league in right field.  he was 1 for 3 in the game without any outfield assists, but would return in 1979 to take care of that.

voici à vous, 1977 dave parker!

1977 al oliver

the difference in the crop is tough to see (check the amount of overhang visible to the right of the bat) on al oliver's 1977 cards, but the relocated facsimile autograph is pretty obvious.  here is oliver's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

this card's cartoon answers the question from the back of jim lonborg's 1972 o-pee-chee card (shown up there in the header).

and the topps back:

1977 was the last season oliver spent in pittsburgh, and it was also the last year that he didn't wear uniform number '0'.  the pirates moved him to left field to replace the departed richie zisk (we'll see his fantastic 1977 o-pee-chee variation soon), and he responded by hitting .308 with 19 homers and 82 rbi. oliver had a 16-game hitting streak, and he also homered in three straight games during the 1977 campaign.  in late august, he had a walk-off homer off of rollie fingers in late august.

after the season, oliver was included in the four-team trade that saw him land in texas, creating the need for his 1978 o-pee-chee variation.

voici à vous, 1977 al oliver!

1977 jim rooker

both the facsimile autograph and the photo moved up in the window of jim rooker's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

rooker finished up a run of 5 straight years with double digit victories in 1977.  he was 14-9 for the pirates with a 3.09 era.  rooker also threw 2 shutouts that year, the last of his career.  he later pitched in the 1979 world series with the bucs both as a reliever and a starter, earning a part of a world championship with a 1.08 era in 8.2 innings pitched.

voici à vous, 1977 jim rooker!

1977 jerry reuss

in standard o-pee-chee fashion, the crop of jerry reuss' image is slightly adjusted and the placement of his facsimile autograph is modified as well on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

we get a peek into tommy davis' closet.  let's recap the travels of the two-time national league batting champion (and the last dodger to lead the league in that category), starting with his final year in los angeles.  that would be 1966, and davis, of course, appeared in the topps set that year as a dodger.  in 1967, he was featured as a met, 1968 as a white sock, 1969 as a pilot, 1970 as an astro, 1971 as a cub (and he also played for oakland in between his time in houston and chicago), and in 1972 as an athletic, although he split time between the cubs and orioles that season.  in 1973, davis was left out of the topps set, but he returned in 1974, 1975, and 1976 as an oriole (sweet stability!), and then was featured in the 1977 as a royal (after starting the 1976 season in california with the angels) in his final topps card.  it should be noted that he did not get a card in the o-pee-chee set.

and the topps back:

reuss managed to win at least 10 games for the fifth year in a row, finishing with a 10-13 record and a 4.11 era for the second place pirates in 1977.  he threw 8 complete games with 2 of those being shutouts.  both shutouts came in august, when reuss was 4-1 in 6 starts, including a third complete game in which he gave up only 4 hits.

voici à vous, 1977 jerry reuss!

1977 rich hebner

rich hebner signed with the phillies as a free agent in december of 1976, so o-pee-chee modified the 'p' on his hat and did some coloring to give us a nice team variation in 1977.  they also moved his facsimile autograph.  here is hebner's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

referring to the text on the back of the cards, hebner didn't homer on opening day in 1977 - his first home run didn't come until may - but he did have a walk-off against the mets and a grand slam later in the season.  in two of the years hebner homered on opening day (1973 and 1974), the home runs came at the expense of bob gibson.  in fact, hebner hit two off of gibson on opening day 1974.

in his first season with the phillies, hebner made the switch from third base to first (mike schmidt was playing third, so this was a no-brainer) and so o-pee-chee missed the opportunity for a position variation.  hebner hit .285 in 118 regular season games, and then hit .357 in the nlcs against the national league champion dodgers.

voici à vous, 1977 rich hebner!

1977 john candelaria

o-pee-chee took a different approach than topps when it came down to the facsimile autograph on his 1977 o-pee-chee card, as seen here:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

nice of o-pee-chee and topps to remind me of the no-no that the candy man spun against the dodgers in 1976.  1977 turned out to be candelaria's best season of his career.  he won 20 games for the only time, led the league in era, and was named to the all-star team for the first and only time, although he didn't appear in the game.  he also finished 5th in the cy young voting.

voici à vous, 1977 john candelaria!

1992 bobby bonilla

bobby bonilla signed with the mets as a free agent after the 1991 season.  here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

bonilla had finished in the top 3 of the nl mvp vote the previous two seasons, so his 19/70/.249 line in 1992 was a disappointment to mets fans, especially since he was the highest paid player in the league.  he hit two home runs in a game once (the second game of the season) and also had a walk-off homer against rob dibble and the reds late in the season.  bobby bo bounced back in 1993 to hit 34 homers, but didn't reach the postseason with the mets until 1999, in his second tour of duty with them in which he was a part-time player.

voici à vous, 1992 bobby bonilla!

1977 willie stargell

willie stargell had his facsimilie autograph rotated by o-pee-chee in 1977.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

stargell only appeared in 63 games in 1977, but still managed to hit 13 homers, including the 400th dinger of his career.  two years later, pops hit 32 homers and won his second world series, picking up mvp awards for the regular season, the nlcs and the world series along the way. 

voici à vous, 1977 willie stargell!

1991 rafael belliard

in december of 1990, rafael belliard signed with the braves as a free agent.  here's his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

belliard replaced jeff blauser as the everyday shortstop in 1991 and had a pretty decent season.  he set career highs in games played (149) and hits (88) and helped the braves get to the postseason for the first time since 1982.  in the nlcs against his former team, belliard hit .211 but the braves beat the pirates anyway.  he hit .375 in the world series against the twins, but they lost in 7 games.  interestingly, when the braves finally did win a world series in 1995, belliard was 0 for 16.

voici à vous, 1991 rafael belliard!

1991 wally backman

after a season with the pirates, free agent wally backman moved across the state of pennsylvania to play for the phillies in 1991. here's his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

backman played in 94 games and hit .243 for the phils in '91. he spent the 1992 season with the phillies before finishing his career in 1993 with the mariners. backman had some troubles after his playing days were over, so it's good to see him back on a major league managerial track as he spent last year guiding the mets' aa team.

voici à vous, 1991 wally backman!