1979 derrel thomas

derrel thomas signed as a free agent with the dodgers after the 1978 season ended. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

during his 5 years in la, thomas played everywhere but pitcher. in 1979, however, he was the dodgers' primary centerfielder while still making appearances at every infield position. he wasn't known for his power (he hit only 5 home runs all year), but he did connect for a roundtripper against jr richard, had a grand slam against bob knepper and the giants, and hit two home runs in a game off of bill caudill and the cubs.

thomas has proven to be the penultimate dodger player to wear the numbers 1 (he wore it when he first joined the dodgers in 1979, and it was retired in 1984 for pee wee reese after gary weiss wore it in 1980) and 34 (he wore it in 1979 after ken brett left). in 1980, thomas became the first dodger to wear number 30 after maury wills retired as he wanted to honor his long-time hero. that meant that number 34 was available for fernando valenzuela when he was called up late in the season, and no one else has worn it since.

thomas is still involved with the dodgers today, even though he played for the expos, angels and phillies after his days in dodger blue came to an end. speaking of ends, this is the last of the 1979 variations!

voici à vous, 1979 derrel thomas!

1979 tommy john

tommy john became a free agent after the dodgers lost to the yankees in the 1978 world series, and must have figured 'if you can't beat em, join em' because he signed a deal with the bronx bombers just before thanksgiving. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

for me as a young dodger fan, seeing dodgers and yankees on the same card, especially on john's card, was a bitter pill to swallow.  john turned 36 a month into the 1979 season, but he continued his amazing comeback from his eponymous surgery by winning 21 games and finishing 2nd in the al cy young voting. unfortunately for him, the orioles won the al east.

john would return to the fall classic in 1981, however, and face off against his former mates. john had thrown 9 scoreless innings against the dodgers before his game 6 start. according to tommy lasorda, the dodgers couldn't hit john and he was worried about a game 7. so, in the 4th inning with the game tied 1-1, he had burt hooton intentionally walk larry milbourne with two outs and a runner on second to bring up john's spot in the batting order. bob lemon's hand was forced, and he pinch-hit for john with bobby murcer. john was done, murcer flew out, george frazier came in, and the dodgers went on to win the game 9-2.

voici à vous, 1979 tommy john!

1979 gary thomasson

gary thomasson went from the world champion yankees to the nl champion dodgers in a february 1979 trade for brad gulden. here's his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

thomasson had split his 1978 season between oakland and new york. he was 1 for 4 against the dodgers in the 1978 world series, but there were apparently no hard feelings. thomasson spent most of his playing time in 1979 in center field although he also played the other outfield positions as well as a bit of first base for the dodgers. in 115 games, he hit 14 home runs and had a .248 average. he played for the dodgers again in 1980 and then went to japan where he was made the highest paid player in the league by the yomiuri giants.

voici à vous, 1979 gary thomasson!

1979 pete rose

in december of 1978, pete rose signed a free agent deal with the philadelphia phillies. immediate dividends were paid. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

actually, the phillies, who had won the nl east two years in a row only to fall to the dodgers in the nlcs, took a step backwards in 1979, losing the nl east to the pirates. they rebounded in 1980, however, to win it all for the first time in franchise history. i remember being perplexed when rose signed his deal with philly. they didn't need a third baseman, as they had mike schmidt over there. i was slightly horrified when rose moved to first base because i knew it wasn't good for steve garvey's all-star chances. still, the dodger fans kept garvey as the starting first baseman in the all-star game through 1980 before rose finally took over.

charlie hustle still made the all-star squad those first two seasons with the phillies, and deservedly so. in 1979, rose played in all 163 games for the phillies, and hit .331 with 208 hits and a career high 20 stolen bases. rose got 826 of his 4256 hits with the phillies, but was just 10 hits shy of 4000 when the phillies released him following their loss in the 1983 world series. rose, of course, wound up in montreal to claim that milestone hit before returning to the reds to finish out his career and time as a person in good standing with major league baseball.

voici à vous, 1979 pete rose!

1979 toby harrah

toby harrah was traded by the rangers to the indians in december of 1978 for buddy bell, straight up. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

harrah had been a shortstop for most of his career when the rangers converted him to a third baseman in 1977. he took over for bell at the hot corner and hit .279 with 20 home runs and 77 rbi for the tribe in 1979. one of his home runs was a grand slam against his former team on august 4th. he eventually made his way back to texas for the final two seasons of his career (1985 and 1986) where the rangers converted him again, this time to second base.

voici à vous, 1979 toby harrah!

1979 bob robertson

although he never played for the royals, that's not why i think there might be an error on bob robertson's 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i am more curious about the text that was added.  although it technically states that robertson was a free agent on march 1, the implication is that he signed with kansas city on that date.  however, according to the ludington daily news on march 3, 1979, robertson had only earned an invitation to spring training with the royals.  he was cut from camp on march 30, so at least we know that o-pee-chee went to press in 1979 sometime in march.  don't worry about robertson, though, since on april 23, 1979 he signed a contract with the blue jays.

robertson, who had hit .230 in his lone year with the mariners after 9 seasons (and 11 years) in pittsburgh, managed just 3 hits in 32 plate appearances for the blue jays in 1979. he walked three times, and one of his hits was a home run. that home run was the back end of a back-to-back sequence against the brewers' bill travers in the bottom of the 8th of an april contest, and broke a 3-3 tie. the jays scored again later in the 8th and won 5-3. robertson failed to receive consistent playing time, and in late june he was released by the blue jays, ending his big league career.

voici à vous, 1979 bob robertson!

1979 dave rader

dave rader was traded to the phillies in february of 1979. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the trade meant that rader was spending his fourth straight season with a new club. he was used sparingly by the phillies as a backup to bob boone and played in only 31 games. he garnered just 54 at bats, hitting .204 with a homer and 5 rbi in 62 plate appearances. the phils eventually traded rader themselves in a march, 1980 deal with the red sox, meaning it was 5 new teams in 5 seasons for the catcher.
 
voici à vous, 1979 dave rader!

1979 sam mejias

sam mejias was traded from the expos to the cubs in december of 1978. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

mejias struggled with the cubs, hitting just .182 in 31 games with no extra base hits. in july, the reds purchased his contract and used him in 7 games over the rest of the season. in those games, mejias had two official at bats, getting a single in one of them. still with the reds in 1980, he played more regularly (he appeared in 71 games), and hit .278 as a result.

voici à vous, 1979 sam mejias!

1979 mike lum

free agent mike lum returned to the braves after a 3-season stop in cincinnati, signing with atlanta in february of 1979. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lum played mostly first base for the braves, and also was used quite a bit as a pinch-hitter by bobby cox. in fact, 3 of his 6 home runs in 1979 came as a pinch-hitter, including on consecutive days in september. first, lum hit a 5th inning roundtripper against the reds as a pinch-hitter for bo mclaughlin on september 4th. the next day, against rick sutcliffe and the dodgers, lum launched a tater in the 8th inning pinch-hitting for phil niekro. the braves wound up winning the game against the reds, but although lum's homerun against the dodgers started a game-tying rally in the 8th, the dodgers wound up winning in extras thanks to a steve garvey rbi single.


voici à vous, 1979 mike lum!

1979 jerry morales

in 1978, and for the second year in a row, jerry morales was part of a december trade. this time, he got an o-pee-chee variation. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the first time he was traded, back in 1973, morales got a unusual (for 1970s topps) 1974 card that showed him in his padres uniform but listed him as a cub. no fancy airbrushing for him or his trade counterpart glenn beckert. then, in december of 1977, the cubs traded him to the cardinals, but he didn't make the 1978 o-pee-chee checklist. thankfully, he was included in the 1979 set.

in his lone year in saint louis, morales had hit .239 with just 4 home runs. he brought his power numbers up somewhat in detroit, twice hitting two home runs in a game and swatting 14 homers on the season as a whole, but his average dipped further, all the way to .211. after the season ended, morales was traded for the third year in a row, but unfortunately did not get another variation in 1980.

voici à vous, 1979 jerry morales!

1979 stan papi

stan papi was traded by the expos to the red sox in december of 1978 for bill lee. here's his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

no word on whether the red sox faithful called him 'little papi'. papi played in 50 games for boston in 1979, spending time at both second and short. he hit just .188, but did knock his first big league home run, a 2-run shot off of the royals' paul splittorff. papi appeared in one game for the bosox in 1980 before he was traded to the phillies. a couple of weeks later, his contract was purchased by the tigers, and papi spent the last two seasons of his career in detroit.

voici à vous, 1979 stan papi!

1979 mike hargrove

mike hargrove, the 1974 al rookie of the year, was traded by the rangers to the padres in october of 1978. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

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in san diego, hargrove struggled to hit .200. in 52 games he managed to bat just .192 with only 5 extra base hits (all doubles) and 8 rbi. as a result, the padres sent him back to the american league in a june 1979 deal with the cleveland indians. for the tribe after the trade, a happy hargrove hit .325 with 10 home runs and 56 rbi in 100 games. he spent the next 6 seasons in cleveland before retiring after the 1985 campaign.

voici à vous, 1979 mike hargrove!

1979 enrique romo

enrique romo, vicente's brother, was traded by the mariners to the pirates in december of 1978. here is his 1979 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

that trade meant that romo was now family, or part of 'the family' in pittsburgh that went on to win the world series in 1979. for his part, romo went 10-5 with 5 saves and a 2.99 era in support of kent tekulve in the bucs' bullpen. he appeared in 2 games in the world series against the orioles, giving up 2 runs in 4.2 innings of work.

romo was also a decent hitting pitcher, retiring with a .270 average after the 1982 season. that included a season (1980) in which he hit .455 with a home run (a grand slam) and 5 hits in 15 plate appearances. small sample size, but still impressive for a pitcher.

voici à vous, 1979 enrique romo!