1977 freddie patek

o-pee-chee chose to show slightly more of freddie patek than did topps in 1977, and they also lowered his facsimile autograph, making it more difficult to see.  here is patek's 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

check out that well dressed baseball card dealer.  or is he the collector?  where are the sweatpants and dirty t-shirt and the messy hair.  don't all baseball card collectors and dealers look like bill gaines?  all kidding aside, this is a pretty cool cartoon, even if the cards are more the size of those poker chips james bond uses in 'casino royale'.

and the topps back:

i would be breaking the rule of mentioning freddie patek if i didn't note that he was a smallish baseball player.  the back of the cards list him as 5'-4" and 140 pounds.  i think there is even a cartoon on the back of a 1977 card that addresses his diminutive nature.  regardless, patek led the american league in steals in 1977 with 53.  in the postseason, he didn't steal any bases, but he did hit .389 (7 for 18) in the alcs against the yankees for the second year in a row.  he also had 5 rbi and an ops of 1.067 in the 1977 playoffs with four of his seven hits being for extra bases.

voici à vous, 1977 freddie patek!

1980 freddie patek

freddie patek signed a free agent deal with the angels after the 1979 season.  here is his 1980 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

i suppose i should refer to patek as 'diminutive' or 'scrappy'.  he was listed as 5'4" and 140 pounds, yet led the american league in triples in 1971 and steals in 1977.  supplanted by ul washington and his toothpick, patek joined the angels and split time at short with bert campaneris.  he managed to hit 3 home runs in one game against the red sox in 1980, two against dick drago and one off of jack billingham on june 20th at fenway.  the following year, the angels brought in rick burleson, and patek became a utility guy although he appeared in only 27 games.

voici à vous, 1980 freddie patek!