1977 rusty staub

rusty staub lost his all-star banner, had his photo shifted to the right slightly, and had his facsimile autograph tilted to boot on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

 here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

1976 had been staub's first season in the american league, and it was his last season as an everyday outfielder.  voted to start the 1976 all-star game for the american league in right field (he was 2 for 2 in the game), staub was nonetheless shifted to designated hitter in 1977.  staub hit 22 homers and drove in 101 runs as the tigers' dh, but also led the league in gidp for the second straight year.

voici à vous, 1977 rusty staub!

1977 john denny

a slight difference in cropping, a rotation of the facsimile autograph, and a mean mustache combine to give us john denny's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

 here's the topps front:

ok - so the mustache is the same on the topps card.  now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

denny led the league in era in 1976 with a 2.52 mark, but wound up with a 4.51 era in 1977.  he was 8-8 in 26 starts for the cardinals and started the season strong.  he won all 5 of his starts in april, and was even 7-0 at the end of may.  he wound up missing most of july and losing his next 8 decisions before pitching a complete game to get his 8th win of the season in his final start of the year.  denny, of course, would later go on to win the cy young award in 1983 as a member of the nl champion phillies.

voici à vous, 1977 john denny!

1977 bert blyleven

bert blyleven's facsimile autograph is slightly adjusted on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

 here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

regarding the cartoon, james (deacon) mcguire may have played in 26 seasons from the late 19th century into the early 1900's, but in a couple of those he was a manager who put himself in the lineup once or twice.  blyleven wound up pitching for 22 seasons over 23 years (he missed 1991 due to injury), and as we all know, jamie moyer is pitching in his 25th season this year - and it could have been his 27th if he hadn't spent all of 1992 in the minors and then missed 2011 due to injury.  here's the topps back:

1977 was bert's first full season with the rangers, and his string of consecutive 200-strikeout seasons came to an end.  he went 14-12 in 30 starts and posted an era of 2.72 while leading the league in whip at 1.06.  he had 182 k's, 15 complete games, and 5 shutouts, and presumably led the league in flatulence as well.  by my estimation, there were at least four, and probably more, games that blyleven either lost or received no decision in 1977 alone that should have resulted in a win for the dutchman.  shoulda woulda coulda, but i have no doubt that bert could easily have been a 300-game winner with a bit more luck/offense/bullpen support.

blyleven's final start of the 1977 season resulted in a no-hitter against the angels, in which he faced just one batter above the minimum of 27.  in that game, blyleven gave up a lone walk with 2 outs in the 9th inning, although a rangers' error had allowed a runner earlier in the game (who was wiped out thanks to a double play).

voici à vous, 1977 bert blyleven!

1977 buddy bell

buddy bell gets the different crop and relocated facsimile autograph treatment on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

kurt bevacqua got a lot of mileage out of his bubble blowing prowess.  in addition to the 1976 topps card that features his exploits, he is also mentioned on a 1977-79 sportscaster card.  and now he gets a cartoon on the back of a 1977 card.  whenever i think of bevacqua i think of tommy lasorda and his famous rant.  but, back to buddy bell.  here's the topps back:

where we get to see bevacqua's elbow.  as for bell, he hit .292 as the tribe's third baseman in 1977.  his 64 rbi that year was a career high at that point, and the most that he would collect in a season as an indian.

voici à vous, 1977 buddy bell!

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 bill north

bill north's facsimile autograph moved up and to the left on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

as noted on the back of his cards, north stole more bases than anyone else in the big leagues in 1976, but he managed to swipe only 17 bases in 1977.  granted, he played in only 56 games that year, but he managed to get caught stealing 13 times.  that's not a good success ratio.  north would wind up stealing 30 bases in 1978, but 27 of those came as a dodger after he was traded to los angeles early in the season.

voici à vous, 1977 bill north!

1977 ralph garr

ralph garr gets the slight photo variation (check the lettering on his jersey) and the almost as unnoticeable adjustment of his facsimile autograph on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

garr wasn't playing against tom seaver when he struck out 10 batters in a row (the mets' opponent that day was the padres), but he did fan 8 times against tom terrific over his career.

garr's 1977 season marked the first time since 1973 that he hit more home runs than triples, and it was the second year in a row that he hit an even .300.  garr was the white sox' opening day left fielder when he became the first man to face the toronto blue jays as a result of hitting leadoff when toronto played their inaugural game.  he opened the game with a walk and a stolen base, later scoring on a sacrifice fly.

voici à vous, 1977 ralph garr!