1977 steve garvey

we have finally come to the last of the award variations, as steve garvey had his all-star banner removed from his 1977 o-pee-chee card.  in true opc fashion, his facsimile autograph was also displaced, and the left to right photo crop was modified, too.  here is garvey's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

garvey's 1977 cards are not my favorite - but they're close.  one of the reasons i like his 1978 topps/opc cards so much is because of his 1977 season.  had he not hit 33 home runs or driven in 115 runs in 1977 (both career highs), maybe i wouldn't have been as big of a fan.  as it turned out, i was desperate to get his '78 card in a pack.  it took me a while to warm to the 1977 set, but now i like it. and, i like garvey's card with and without the all-star banner.

garvey was one of four dodgers to hit over 30 home runs in 1977, and he also won his fourth and final career gold glove.  he started the all-star game at first for the national league for the fourth year in a row, and finished 6th in the league mvp voting.  1977 was the only season in the seven year stretch from 1974 to 1980 that he didn't get at least 200 hits (he got 192), and the only year in the eight years from 1973 through 1980 that he didn't hit over .300 (he hit .297).

voici à vous, 1977 steve garvey!

1977 joe morgan

this may be the last of the award variations to be shown here at oh my o-pee-chee.  it's joe morgan's turn to have his all-star banner stripped, and his facsimile autograph moved.  the photo is also cropped differently - it looks like it was slid slightly upwards.  here is joe morgan's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

morgan was the two-time defending national league mvp in 1977, but he was unable to make it three in a row.  he still had a pretty good year, scoring 113 runs and hitting .288 with 22 home runs.  his obp was .417 and he stole 49 bases.  for the sixth year in a row, he started at second base for the national league in the all-star game.  and, in the 1977 midsummer classic, he led off the game with a home run off of jim palmer.

voici à vous, 1977 joe morgan!

1977 chet lemon

chet lemon lost his topps rookie cup, had his facsimile autograph rotated, and got a slightly different crop for his photo from o-pee-chee in 1977.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

as for the difference in the photos, compare the lettering on his jersey.

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

if lemon deserved the rookie cup for his 1976 season, he deserved some sort of sophomore slump avoidance award in 1977.  he improved almost all of his offensive numbers in 1977 - setting a career high with 99 runs scored along the way.  he also covered a lot of ground in center field for the chisox, leading the league in putouts and assists among centerfielders, although he also led them in errors.

lemon hit two home runs in a game twice in 1977, and the second time he did it, he hit his second blast (a two-run shot) in the bottom of the 10th inning to tie a game against the royals.  the white sox wound up winning the game later in the inning.

voici à vous, 1977 chet lemon!

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!

1977 butch wynegar

as far as i can tell, the photo is the same, but the facsimile autograph is relocated and the rookie cup is eliminated on the front of butch wynegar's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

wynegar, who was all of 20 years old, definitely earned that rookie cup in 1976. as the twins primary catcher, he played in 149 games, hit 10 home runs and drove in 69 with a .260 average.  he finished 2nd in the league rookie of the year voting (he lost to the bird, mark fidrych) and was named to the all-star team.  i believe that he was the youngest position player ever to appear in the game (he walked) until bryce harper made the squad for the 2012 midsummer classic.

in 1977, wynegar put up just about the same numbers he had posted in 1976.  his slash line was 10/79/.261, and he had the exact same number of hits (139) as he had the previous year.  he was also named to the all-star team once again, and singled off of tom seaver after relieving carlton fisk behind the plate in the contest.

voici à vous, 1977 butch wynegar!

1977 larry herndon

larry herndon's 1977 o-pee-chee card features a more tightly cropped photo, a relocated facsimile autograph, and no rookie cup when compared to his topps card.  here is herndon's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

herndon suffered a pretty bad sophomore slump in 1977.  he appeared in only 49 games for the giants, hitting 1 homer and driving in just 5 runs.  of course, his lone bomb of the season came against the dodgers, courtesy of elias sosa.

herndon's lack of playing time is largely attributed to an injury suffered in june.  he missed the rest of the season, although he felt he was ready to return to the team in late august.  the giants did not reinstate him from the dl, however, and herndon left the team in protest.  as a result, he was placed on the disqualified list, and missed the rest of the season.

voici à vous, 1977 larry herndon!

1977 fred lynn

fred lynn lost his all-star banner, and also had his photo cropped differently and his facsimile autograph slightly moved on this, his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

it looks to me like the photo was adjusted east-west (compare the pole in the upper left corner), and the autograph north-south (check the top loop of the 'l' and where it lands relative to the fence).

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

lynn proved that he was human in 1977.  after his monster rookie year in 1975 and another season of hitting over .300 in 1976, he hit just .260 with an ops of .774.  still, he was named to the all-star team as a reserve, and was 0 for 1 with a walk and a run scored in relief of teammate carl yastrzemski in center field.  lynn did increase his home run total by 8 in 1977, and had four different games in which he hit two home runs.  he also took part in the red sox' july 4th barrage against the blue jays where, over the course of two innings and 9 batters, the bosox hit 6 home runs.

voici à vous, 1977 fred lynn!

1977 toby harrah

toby harrah managed to get four variations from o-pee-chee in 1977.  first, they got rid of the all-star banner.  then, they moved his facsimile autograph.  they also slightly adjusted the photo left-to-right, but  most impressively, they also changed his position.  here is harrah's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the rangers had picked up bert campaneris to play short for them in 1977, so harrah was bumped over to third base.  both topps and o-pee-chee were able to get campy on to a rangers' card in 1977, but only o-pee-chee bothered to follow through with the impact to harrah.

although he did not make the all-star team in 1977, harrah did have a good year.  he reached the 20/20 plateau for the second time, hitting 27 homers and stealing the same number of bases.  he also led the league in walks with 109, scored 90 runs, and drove in 87.  he also hit the only two inside-the-park home runs of his career in 1977, the first of which was also a walk-off (run-off?) against the indians.

voici à vous, 1977 toby harrah!

1977 jerry royster

o-pee-chee removed the rookie cup from jerry royster's 1977 card, and they also cropped the photo differently than topps and moved his facsimile autograph around.  here is royster's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

looks like i could use an upgrade.  whoever owned this card before me might have been an o-pee-chee sympathizer because it looks like they tried to scratch out the rookie cup themselves.

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

jerry royster royster suffered a sophomore slump of sorts in 1977, even though it was his fifth big league season.  it was only his second year of essentially full-time play, however, and he split his time between third base, shortstop, and second base, with a pinch of outfield thrown in for good measure.  in 140 games, royster hit .216 with 6 homers and 28 rbi.  he also scored 64 times and stole 10 bases.

voici à vous, 1977 jerry royster!

1977 george foster

leave the sideburns and the glare, but take the all-star banner and move the facsimile autograph were the orders given regarding george foster's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i am guessing that lindblad's streak mentioned in the cartoon was not an active streak, but rather an all-time longest streak.  he made an error in 1966 but didn't have another miscue until 1974 - a streak of at least 368 games.  he also had 3 errors in 1974, and committed the final error of his career in 1976.

this post, however, is supposed to be about george foster, who earned that all-star banner as the 1976 all-star game mvp and had it stripped off of his o-pee-chee card for some unknown and most likely arbitrary reason.  foster followed up his 1976 campaign with another all-star appearance in 1977 as the national league's starting center fielder.  and, while he didn't homer in the game or win the game's mvp award (hello, don sutton), foster did hit 52 home runs during the regular season and took home the league mvp award for his efforts.

voici à vous, 1977 george foster!

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!

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 pete rose

though it had nothing to do with anything other than o-pee-chee's apparent disdain of awards in general, pete rose had his all-star banner removed from his card in 1977.  he also had his photo cropped in a different manner (compare the waistbands), and his facsimile autograph moved slightly.  here is his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

 here's the topps front:

i hated pete rose for moving to third base and denying ron cey the all-star notoriety on his cards.  the penguin would triumph in 1977, however, and be rewarded with the all-star shield on his 1978 topps card!

now the o-pee-chee back:

 and the topps back:

i believe that a fair ball never was hit out of yankee stadium - i remember josh hamilton and justin morneau talking about it prior to the home run derby held there a few years ago.  anyway, charlie hustle had a typical year in 1977.  he played in all 162 games, led the league in plate appearances and at bats, hit over .300 (.311), scored around 100 runs (95) and had around 200 hits (204).  while he failed to get his 3000th hit in 1977 (he finished with 2966), he did hit the 500th double of his career, score his 1500th run, and reach 1000 walks during the 1977 campaign.

voici à vous, 1977 pete rose!