1977 roger metzger

roger metzger's facsimile autograph makes a move to the left on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

it's too bad the cartoon doesn't use the proper term (palindrome).  i would have liked to have learned how to say 'palindrome' in french.

and the topps back:

metzger had a horrible year in 1977.  he missed all of may and most of june, and finished the season batting just .186.  he did manage to leg out 6 triples, however.  what i remember metzger for, however, was his 1980 comeback with the giants after an accident with a chainsaw or a hedge trimmer in which he lost some fingers.

voici à vous, 1977 roger metzger!

1977 jose cardenal

jose cardenal's facsimile autograph got adjusted slightly by o-pee-chee in 1977, but thank goodness they left his afro alone.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

the difference is kind of hard to see, but if you look closely at the end of his last name, you'll see that the last 'a' in his name is in a different spot.

now the o-pee-chee back:

thanks to all the french and the length of cal mclish's full name, part of the cartoon is cut off.  that in itself is not unusual, but in this case, it almost loses the intent.  you can "call me cai?"

and the topps back:

cardenal's playing time was reduced in 1977, as he appeared in only 100 games for the cubs while batting just .239.  he lost most of his playing time that year to greg gross, but it was dave kingman who replaced cardenal in the cubs' outfield in 1978, as jose was traded to the phillies after the 1977 season.

cardenal spent 1978 and most of 1979 with the phillies, but finished the '79 season with the mets before playing in kansas city in 1980, his final big league season.  cardenal's last at bat as a major leaguer came in the 9th inning of game 6 of the 1980 world series.  he singled off of tug mcgraw to load the bases with one out and the royals down by 3, but was stranded when frank white's foul pop up was famously caught by pete rose (with an assist to bob boone) and willie wilson struck out.

voici à vous, 1977 jose cardenal!

1977 steve carlton

o-pee-chee moved and stacked steve carlton's facsimile auto onto his left arm on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

steve carlton is one of two hall of famers to have been born on december 22.  unfortunately, the other one is not steve garvey, but rather connie mack.  in 1977, the 30-year old carlton won 23 games and was voted the national league's cy young award winner for the second time in his career.  he even hit 3 home runs.  speaking of home runs - i was inspired by the cartoon to look it up, and carlton allowed two home runs to ernie banks - both in the same game.  neither were grand slams, however, but both were two-run blasts.

voici à vous, 1977 steve carlton!

1977 alvis woods

alvis woods looks pleased as punch to have a card of his very own, complete with his facsimile autograph, thanks to o-pee-chee.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

it's tough to soar like a blue jay when you are sharing space with three other guys.

now the o-pee-chee back:

walter johnson apparently hid home plate from the opposing base runners but must have flung it like a frisbee towards the catcher just before delivering each pitch.

and the topps back:

alvis woods was selected by the blue jays in the expansion draft from the minnesota twins.  he became the second pinch hitter in blue jays' history when he came to bat for steve bowling in the fifth inning of their inaugural game against the white sox.  moments later, woods became the first blue jay to hit a pinch-hit home run, as well as the first blue jay to hit a home run in his first major league at bat.  woods' second home run of the season (and his career) was also as a pinch hitter.  in fact, woods hit exactly four pinch hit home runs in his career - the first two and the last two.  quite a set of bookends.

voici à vous, 1977 alvis woods!

1977 wayne garland

o-pee-chee colored wayne garland's collar and moved his 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:

garland parlayed his 1976 season into a free agent deal with the indians, and his mid-november signing with the tribe gave topps plenty of time to change the team name at the top of the card.  luckily, there was no cap to airbrush atop that splendid mane.

garland went from a 20-game winner to a 19-game loser in his first year in cleveland.  he was used exclusively as a starter for the first time in his career, and finished 21 of his 38 starts.  at one point, he had a string of 7 straight complete games, and would have had a second such streak had the indians scored one more run for him in a september game in which garland pitched into the 10th inning but failed to finish the game.

voici à vous, 1977 wayne garland!

1977 dave hilton

o-pee-chee stacked dave hilton's facsimile autograph and also fixed the coloring of his collar to make him look more like a blue jay on his 1977 o-pee-chee card.  [edit - they even took a stab at changing the blue jays logo on his hat in what i assume was an effort to make it appear more realistic (thanks eric)]  here is hilton's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

as you can see by the back of the cards, hilton had last appeared in the majors in 1975.  what the card doesn't tell you, obviously, is that hilton would not appear in another major  league game.  he spent all of 1977 in aaa, playing for the toledo mud hens thanks to an agreement the blue jays had with the indians.  after the season, hilton went to play in japan where he enjoyed a good amount of success in 1978.  after a disappointing year in 1979 and a tumultuous start to the 1980 japanese season, he returned to the states and spent the 1980 and 1981 seasons in the pirates' organization.

voici à vous, dave hilton!

1977 greg luzinski

greg luzinski was stripped of his all-star banner 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:

luzinski earned that all-star banner (actually resulting in a shield) in 1977 when he hit .309 with 39 homers and 130 rbi.  he also led the league with 140 strikeouts, but also walked 80 times and finished 2nd in the mvp voting.  he helped the phillies get back to the nlcs as they had in 1976, and, as he had in 1976, the bull hit a home run in a losing cause.  in the bottom of the 9th of game 3 of the nlcs, luzinski couldn't quite get to a ball hit by manny mota that went for a double and eventually resulted in mota scoring the tying run of the game that came to be known as black friday in philadelphia.  and yes, i saved this card for a friday on purpose.

voici à vous, 1977 greg luzinski!