1977 al oliver

the difference in the crop is tough to see (check the amount of overhang visible to the right of the bat) on al oliver's 1977 cards, but the relocated facsimile autograph is pretty obvious.  here is oliver's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

this card's cartoon answers the question from the back of jim lonborg's 1972 o-pee-chee card (shown up there in the header).

and the topps back:

1977 was the last season oliver spent in pittsburgh, and it was also the last year that he didn't wear uniform number '0'.  the pirates moved him to left field to replace the departed richie zisk (we'll see his fantastic 1977 o-pee-chee variation soon), and he responded by hitting .308 with 19 homers and 82 rbi. oliver had a 16-game hitting streak, and he also homered in three straight games during the 1977 campaign.  in late august, he had a walk-off homer off of rollie fingers in late august.

after the season, oliver was included in the four-team trade that saw him land in texas, creating the need for his 1978 o-pee-chee variation.

voici à vous, 1977 al oliver!

1985 al oliver

al oliver brought his number '0' to the dodgers when the phillies traded him to la for pat zachry in february of 1985. here is his 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i was always a fan of oliver's. he looked so sad on his 1978 topps/o-pee-chee card despite having some good years for some good pirate teams, including having a world series championship under his belt. then he had some good years in texas and that monster 1982 season in montreal. if only he had played in a bigger market during those years. by the time he arrived in la, he was 38 years old and had split the previous season between san francisco and philadelphia.

oliver started the 1985 season as the dodgers' left fielder, but soon became a bat off the bench. in all, he hit .253 as a dodger - .258 in 17 games as a left fielder, and .235 in 18 plate appearances as a pinch hitter. in july, the dodgers sent scoop to the blue jays in exchange for the 'tuz - len matuszek. oliver helped the jays get to the alcs, but despite his .375 average in the series against the royals, the team was unable to advance to the fall classic.

oliver's career ended with the 1985 seasaon, and he seems destined to remain in the 'hall of very good' with his 2743 hits, .303 career average, 1326 rbi, and .986 fielding percentage. that's bad news for me, as oliver's closest career comparative is none other than steve garvey.

voici à vous, 1985 al oliver!

1978 al oliver

al oliver was part of the big 4 team trade between the pirates, rangers, mets, and braves after the 1977 season. he went from pittsburgh to texas as indicated on his 1978 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

when he arrived in texas, oliver chose uniform number 0 for the first time in his career. he wore it everywhere he played after texas as well. with the rangers, oliver had a strong 4-year run. he hit .319 during his tenure, won two silver sluggers, and was a top-16 finisher in the mvp voting 3 of the four years. the rangers traded oliver to the expos just before the start of the 1982 season, and he went on to have perhaps his finest season, leading the league with 204 hits, 43 doubles, 109 rbi and a .331 batting average.

oliver is on the short list of players that will be evaluated by the veteran's committee for hall of fame induction this winter. he has 2743 hits and a .303 lifetime average and had a pretty solid run for 11 or so years of his career. his is an interesting case, similar to harold baines and other smaller market 'pure hitters' with big accumulated career numbers. we'll see what happens.

oliver is also the last of the 1978 o-pee-chee variations. that means we have now completed the 1971, 1972, 1974 and 1978 variations. there are still plenty more though!

voici à vous, 1978 al oliver!