1977 fergie jenkins

fergie jenkins makes another appearance on the blog thanks to a little north-south cropping difference and a relocated facsimile autograph on this, his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

has anyone seen tug mcgraw's comic strip?

jenkins was just 10-10 for the red sox in 1977.  he made 28 starts (completing 11 of them), and had a 3.68 era and a singular shutout - a tidy three-hitter against his 'hometown' blue jays (jenkins was born about 200 miles from toronto).  the red sox traded jenkins back to the rangers in december of 1977, and he promptly won 18 games for his new/old team.

voici à vous, 1977 fergie jenkins!

1977 rick burleson

o-pee-chee got us up close and personal with rick burleson in 1977, thanks to a tighter crop of his photo.  they also lowered his facsimile autograph.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

batting leadoff for the red sox, burleson led the american league in 1977 with 721 plate appearances and 663 at bats.  he also hit 2 of his 3 home runs that year leading off the game.  he also posted a batting average of .293 and was voted to start the all-star game at shortstop, going 0 for 2 in his first midsummer classic.

voici à vous, 1977 rick burleson!

1977 dwight evans

dewey evans gets the slight photo variation (thanks to a different crop - check his stirrups) and an autograph placement variation to boot from 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:

evans missed a good portion of the 1977 season, playing his last game of the year in mid-august.  in all, he hit .287 with 14 homers in 73 games.  still, i was surprised to see that he had only 2 assists in 63 games spent patrolling the outfield since he lead the league with 15 assists in both 1975 and 1976.

voici à vous, 1977 dwight evans!

1977 fred lynn

fred lynn lost his all-star banner, and also had his photo cropped differently and his facsimile autograph slightly moved on this, his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

it looks to me like the photo was adjusted east-west (compare the pole in the upper left corner), and the autograph north-south (check the top loop of the 'l' and where it lands relative to the fence).

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lynn proved that he was human in 1977.  after his monster rookie year in 1975 and another season of hitting over .300 in 1976, he hit just .260 with an ops of .774.  still, he was named to the all-star team as a reserve, and was 0 for 1 with a walk and a run scored in relief of teammate carl yastrzemski in center field.  lynn did increase his home run total by 8 in 1977, and had four different games in which he hit two home runs.  he also took part in the red sox' july 4th barrage against the blue jays where, over the course of two innings and 9 batters, the bosox hit 6 home runs.

voici à vous, 1977 fred lynn!

1977 cecil cooper

on the other side of the george scott trade made in late 1976, there was cecil cooper, who had his red sox attire transformed into brew crew gear on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

not quite as dramatic as the george scott card, but still nice.  it seems like it's been a long time since we've seen a team variation from the 1977 set.

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

cooper had his best season to date for the brewers in 1977.  for the first time, he played almost exclusively at first base, and appeared in 160 games.  he hit an even .300 with 20 homers and 78 rbi.  each playing for their new clubs, both scott and cooper homered in a game at fenway on may 20, 1977.  cooper also had a walk-off grand slam against the mariners in june of '77.

voici à vous, 1977 cecil cooper!

1977 carlton fisk

like trying to improve upon the mona lisa, o-pee-chee moved the facsimile autograph and cropped the photo in a slightly different way than topps on carlton fisk's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

pudge was a stud in 1977.  he appeared in 152 games (catching in 151 of them), tied his then-career high of 26 homers, set a then-career high of 102 rbi, and scored a career high 106 runs while batting .315 with an obp of .402.  he was the starting catcher for the american league in the all-star game and finished 8th in the league mvp voting.

as for the photo on the card, i am going to guess that willie randolph was safe, and i am thinking that the photo is too generic to know for sure, unless randolph was never thrown out at the plate in 1976 against the bosox.  still, it's probably fisk's best card after his 1991 topps masterpiece.

voici à vous, 1977 carlton fisk!

1977 reggie cleveland

ho hum - it's another slight photo cropping variation with the unnecessary facsimile autograph placement variation combo - this time on reggie cleveland's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the pride of swift current, saskatchewan (as far as baseball players go - i am sure the sign outside the city pays homage to joe sakic and/or brian trottier) enjoyed his last full season as a red sox player in 1977.  he went 11-8 despite a 4.26 era while throwing 9 complete games and a shutout.  he even had a couple of saves.  during the 1978 season, cleveland's contract was purchased by the rangers and he eventually finished up his career in milwaukee.

voici à vous, 1977 reggie cleveland!

1977 carl yastrzemski

o-pee-chee went for the horizontal look which was different from the topps approach when it came to carl yastrzemski's facsimile autograph.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

who doesn't love beignets?  (insert homer simpson's drooling noise here).  and the topps back:

as a young boy, just a year after this card was issued, i forced myself to learn how to spell yaz's last name.  i did this because i was bothered that he was known as 'yaz' instead of 'yas' and so i decided i would only refer to him as yastrzemski.  take that, nickname lovers of america!

1977 was the 10th anniversary of yastrzemski's triple crown season, but the only thing he led the league in was sacrifice flies (11).  he did start in the all-star game (thus the shield on his 1978 topps card) in center field for the american league, due to the fact that the red sox moved him back to left field after a few years at first base.  accordingly, yastrzemski was honored with his first gold glove since 1971, the last year he spent most of his time as an outfielder.

voici à vous, 1977 carl yastrzemski!

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 marty barrett

marty barrett joined the padres as a free agent 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:

nice double play card, by the way. unfortunately, barrett only appeared in 12 games for the pads, hitting .188 with a double, a homer, and 3 rbi before he was released by the club in june of 1991. at least his home run was dramatic - it was a game-tying, three-run, pinch-hit job against dave righetti and the giants in the bottom of the ninth of a game in april. the padres lost the game in 10 innings, however.
 
voici à vous, 1991 marty barrett!

1991 mike boddicker

mike boddicker joined the royals for the 1991 season via free agency. here's his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

after a 17-win season for the red sox in 1990, boddicker won 12 games for the royals in 1991. his era was up up bit, as was his whip, but he pitched well enough to win at least a couple more games. in what was likely to be his second to last start of the season, boddicker made 3 pitches and was removed after injuring himself trying to field a rickey henderson grounder. he didn't pitch again until the 1992 season when he was used primarily out of the royals' bullpen.

voici à vous, 1991 mike boddicker!

1977 bill campbell

bill campbell went from the twins to the red sox after the 1976 season, and, not satisfied with topps' bad airbrush job (which left campbell in baby blues), o-pee-chee created one of their own for their 1977 set.  here it is:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

at least topps and o-pee-chee both had the sense to leave campbell in his twins gear for the league leader card.  yes, campbell had been the 'fireman of the year' for the american league in 1976 while a member of the minnesota twins as a result of his league leading 78 relief appearances, 17 relief wins, and 20 saves.  after signing a free agent deal with the bosox in the offseason, cambpell repeated as the american league's leading reliever in 1977, leading the league with 31 saves.

voici à vous, 1977 bill campbell!

1991 wes gardner

wes gardner was traded from the red sox to the padres in december of 1990 for a couple of minor leaguers. here's his 1991 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

gardner wound up splitting the season between two teams as he was released by the padres in may, and then picked up by the royals in late june. in total, gardner was 0-1 with a save in 17 games in 1991, his last year in the big leagues.

voici à vous, 1991 wes gardner!