1977 ron leflore

ron leflore lost his rookie cup and had his facsimile autograph relocated 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:

we'll see a cartoon reference to leflore's hitting streak in a few days.  leflore followed up his 1976 all-star season with an even better one in 1977.  although he did not make the all-star team, he hit .325 on the year and was second in the league with 212 hits.  he also scored 100 runs for the first time in his career and set a career high with 16 homers.  he stole only 39 bases, however, and was caught 19 times.  i still remember reading leflore's autobiography and watching 'one in a million' on tv in 1978 while looking at this card.  or, a much more beat up version of it rather.

voici à vous, 1977 ron leflore!

1981 ron leflore

ron leflore returned to the american league as a free agent, signing with the white sox prior to the 1981 season.  here's his 1981 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

there's some good stuff in the cartoons on the back of leflore's 1981 card(s).  he and teammate rodney scott stole a total of 160 bases (97 were leflore's) in 1980 which was a new record, apparently.  better yet, the card references the made for tv movie 'one in a million' starring levar burton as leflore.  i remember watching it as a kid and reading the book as well.  there was some fairly graphic stuff in the book (for a 9-year old) but i enjoyed both versions of his story, and i soon had a vested interest in leflore's career.

that career was coming to a close when he joined the white sox.  he played in 82 games in 1981 for the sox and stole 'just' 36 bases.  his average hit a career low, and he failed to homer for the first time in his career.  he bounced back a bit in 1982, but he was released by chicago towards the end of spring training in 1983.  later, leflore tried to return to the big leagues as an umpire but fell short of qualifying for a position in the minor leagues after attending joe brinkman's school.

voici à vous, 1981 ron leflore!

1980 ron leflore

speedster ron leflore was traded from the tigers to the expos in december of 1979.  here is his 1980 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i am guessing that the cartoon refers to an american league mark because we all know that davey lopes stole 38 consecutive bases in 1975, right?  it also kind of sucks that the team color scheme for the expos is the same as the tigers' in this set.

leflore had some really good years in his hometown of detroit.  he led the league in runs and stolen bases in 1978, and was a top 25 votegetter in the mvp race 3 times for the tigers.  with the expos in 1980, he led the national league with 97 steals (a career high), although his other offensive numbers declined a bit.  still, he finished 22nd in the mvp vote that year.  my go-to trivia question used to be a variation of 'who other than tim raines or vince coleman led the national league in steals for a season in the '80's?'.  not too many people guessed ron leflore.  in fact, only two people not named rickey henderson, coleman, or raines led either league in steals during that decade.  you know one is leflore, can you name the other guy?

voici à vous, 1980 ron leflore!