1987 darryl motley - not a variation

darryl motley was traded from the royals to the braves in late september of 1986. just as was the case with doug decinces in 1988 and others, topps failed to show motley in his new team's uniform the following year, which resulted in the 'now with' text being applied, and o-pee-chee just played along. here is his 1987 o-pee-chee card, which is not a variation:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

this card is easier to identify as a non-variation because the royals' logo is still used on the card. had it been an actual variation, o-pee-chee would have switched that to the braves logo. still, the inclusion of this card in checklists on beckett and in publications with the 'now with braves' tag is misleading given that it usually indicates a modification from the topps version.

sadly, it is an opportunity missed.

1988 doug decinces - not a variation

all of the major card catalogues and publications list doug decinces' 1988 o-pee-chee card with the additional note "now with angels" which would most likely lead one to believe that it is one of the couple dozen text variations in the set.

unfortunately, it is not.  here's the topps front:

same wording, same font, same location.

just to be consistent with our regular posts, here's the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

the back tells us what we need to know - decinces spent the last part of the 1987 season with the cardinals, but topps didn't have time/the ambition to update the photo and team affiliation.  so, decinces gets the same treatment as dickie noles and is denied a true variation.

voici à vous, 1988 doug decinces!

a word from our sponsor...

i want this blog to become a definitive resource in all o-pee-chee variations from 1965 through 1992, but i figured i should mention the sources i have used to determine the number of variations in o-pee-chee sets from those years in order to allow for the possibility of incompleteness..

i own complete o-pee-chee sets for 1977, 1978, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1992.  i should say that i used to own the 1986 set, as i removed all the team and text variations, dodgers and a couple other cards and have been sending the rest out in team trades.  but i digress.

for those 9 years, i am completely confident that i have identified all of the team and text variations.  for the other types of variations, and for the other years, i have relied on multiple sources to identify the photo, autograph placement, checklist, and award variations.

they include:

the 22nd annual beckett baseball card price guide
the 2009 standard catalog of baseball cards, don fluckinger editor
o-pee-chee central
awesome80s

in going through my collection and scanning cards, i have found a few cards that were missed by some, or all, of those sources.  like the 1978 jim slaton and the 1992 eric davis and all of the 1989 cards except for roger mcdowell.  or cards that were listed as variations but in reality are not.  that stinks.  like this 1991 kenny rogers o-pee-chee card

(yes, that's the o-pee-chee version)  the books show it as a text variation, even though rogers didn't leave the rangers until after the 1995 season.

eventually i will post a list of all of the variations, by year, and would ask you to let me know if you are aware of others, particularly for the later years.  captain, tony - i'm looking at you guys.

thanks and hope you enjoy as we get ready for the fifth go around through the years of variations.

1975 - more of the same, again

after just a handful of variations in 1974, o-pee-chee went back to producing a carbon copy of the topps set, all 660 cards.  the only difference, once again, was the french on the back and the brighter card stock.  here's don sutton's 1975 o-pee-chee front:

and his topps front:

the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

to accommodate the french and english, the cartoons were shrunk.  too bad here, as there is something strange going on with reagan's tongue, and it would have been nice to see it on the brighter stock.  o-pee-chee is sticking to the abbreviated copyright ('opc') - they wouldn't spell it out until 1978.

i figured i would show a more text-heavy card since i had one handy - it's mike marshall's record breaker.

first, the o-pee-chee front:

followed by the topps front:

o-pee-chee back:

topps back:

i wonder how it is determined which text to translate.  the title (baseball extra) is untouched, as is the date. 

1967 - still hard to tell the difference

for the third straight year, o-pee-chee played it straight.  their 1967 set, like 1965 and 1966, was identical to topps save for the copyright text on the back and the slightly brighter cardstock. and, like 1966, it paralleled the first 196 cards of the topps checklist, so no mays, clemente, yaz and many other stars.  it did include ron fairly though:

and here's the topps fairly front:

the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

too bad there was no french yet - it would have been nice to know how to say 'mr. clutch' in french.  the color change to the backs that o-pee-chee introduced in 1968 would be a great help in telling the sets apart.  no such luck here. 

1969 - another year without variations, but with a logo! and expos!

yes, the 1969 sets included a canadian team for the first time, but i am still going to use a dodger to illustrate the (lack of) differences between o-pee-chee and topps.  so, here's jim lefebvre's 1969 o-pee-chee front.

if i had been thinking, i would have used 'frenchie' to showcase the 1970 o-pee-chee set.  oh well.  here's the topps front:

and here's the o-pee-chee back:

hey, look! it's an o-pee-chee logo! sort of.  really just a big 'o' but at least they are taking some ownership here for the first time.  the copyright is still 't.c.g' though.  here's the topps back:

i guess the reason they used o-pee-chee above the card number is because topps used a logo rather than just text.  in 1970, o-pee-chee would revert to leaving the 'topps' text above the card number.  very interesting.

the 1969 o-pee-chee set grew to 218 cards, and paralleled the topps checklist, so no reggie jackson rookie, mickey mantle, or nolan ryan.

1968 - staying the course

1968 was the third year in a row that the o-pee-chee set contained just 196 cards.  furthermore, the checklist paralleled topps, so no mantle or bench rookie, although nolan ryan's rookie card made it in.  here's the front of john roseboro's 1968 o-pee-chee card:

and here's his topps card:

virtually identical.  the 'burlap' pattern is a bit different, but that happened in the topps set, too.  now for the backs, starting with o-pee-chee:

and topps:

for once, the topps back is brighter than the o-pee-chee.  the only other difference is the 'printed in canada' tag.

1970 - the year of the french

thanks to the 'official languages act' of 1969, the o-pee-chee cards issued in 1970 had a major difference from their topps counterparts.  no, the fronts of the o-pee-chee versions

were still identical to the topps versions

but the backs came with french!

notice there is no translation for 'boom'.  apparently onomatopoeia is exempt from the act.  there are no variations in the 1970 o-pee-chee set, which mirrored the topps checklist from 1-546.  just smaller (and bilingual) text on the back, with a minor style adjustment.  here's the topps back for comparison 

notice that the copyright on both cards is stil 't.c.g.'.  there is no mention of o-pee-chee as a brand anywhere on these cards.

1973 - more of the same

in 1973, o-pee-chee matched topps card for card, issuing the complete 660 card set with an identical checklist.  however, unlike 1971 (the first time o-pee-chee issued the same number of cards as topps), there were no variations of any kind.

here's the 1973 o-pee-chee bill russell card, number 108 in the set:

and the topps card for comparative purposes:

the brighter card stock on the o-pee-chee cards seems to enhance the color in the photo, but i have so few 1973 o-pee-chee and topps cards that i don't know if this is consistently the case.

here's the back of the o-pee-chee card

bilingual cartoons rock! especially since there is a french translation of a spanish name in there.  i tried to get this cartoon in the blog header, but went with the roy campanella one instead.

here's the topps back:

i wonder if there is any significance between the one star next to the o-pee-chee copyright and the two stars next to the topps copyright.

1976 - the final year of complacency

in 1976, o-pee-chee took what topps gave them and didn't ask any questions.  the checklist is identical, and there are no variations.  steve yeager is kind enough to show us the printing problems that are so common with o-pee-chee cards - rough edges, off centering, even an occasional crookedness.

here's the topps version, looking all straight and even and smooth

the colors in the photos on the topps cards are a bit duller than the o-pee-chee ones, which is probably due to the difference in card stock.  the brightness of the o-pee-chee cards is really evident on the backs of the cards.

bilingual wes parker factoid!  notice that the trademark info is 'opc' rather than 'tcg'.  1972 was the first year to include that minor change.  here's the topps back:

i actually prefer the o-pee-chee backs. the stats are way easier to read.

1976 would be the last year without any sort of variations (even 1990, the topps-iest o-pee-chee set ever, has text variations).  maybe mr. o-pee-chee was disappointed in himself after this release because he went hog wild in 1977!

1966 - variation free, even though topps was not!

similar to the 1965 set, the 1966 o-pee-chee release features an exact copy of the topps checklist, although it is limited to only 196 cards.  one of those cards is jim brewer, number 158 in the set.

here's the topps front:

strange that my o-pee-chee version is in (much) better shape than my topps version.  estimates are that o-pee-chee's print run was just 5% or so of topps in any given year, so you would think i would have found a nicer topps card for the dodger reliever.

here's the o-pee-chee back:

still the 'tcg' copyright, but the 'ptd. in canada' is the mark of o-pee-chee - the only discerning mark in 1966, although the card stock is a bit different.

here's the back of the topps version:

it's worth noting that, while the 1966 topps set did have some minor variations, the o-pee-chee set did not.  it features only the more common versions of the variations found in the topps set, which have to do with the text on the back.  for instance, there were two versions of the 1966 topps bob uecker card.  the common version includes the 'traded' line on the back mentioning that he was traded from the cardinals to the phillies in the offseason, and the rarer variation does not include this text.  in the o-pee-chee set, only the common version is represented for uecker and three other players - merritt ranew (card 62), dick groat (card 103) and alex johnson (card 104).

1965 - a primer (with brief stops in 1937 and 1960)

o-pee-chee came on the baseball scene in 1937, believe it or not, with a 'baseball stars' set, of which i own exactly zero cards.  in 1960, they showed up again with a tattoo set, matching the topps issue of the same year with regards to checklist and everything else.  we'll ignore that issue, too, and jump right into their third baseball release.

in 1965, o-pee-chee released a truncated version of the 1965 topps set.  the o-pee-chee set has just 283 cards, and it mirrors the topps checklist from 1-283.  this means that there is no 1965 o-pee-chee sandy koufax or mickey mantle (aside from the league leader cards), but there are cards for willie mays and pete rose.

there were no variations in the 1965 o-pee-chee set.  in fact, the only real difference between its cards and those of topps are the card stock (o-pee-chee used a gray stock) and the fact that the backs say 'printed in canada' on the o-pee-chee versions instead of 'printed in u.s.a.' on the topps.  both have the topps chewing gum copyright.

here's the 1965 o-pee-chee frank howard card, number 40 in the set:

and here's the topps version:

let's see the backs.  first, o-pee-chee:

and now topps:

my copy of the topps card has bonus hand numbering!  i think one of the interesting things about this card (both topps and o-pee-chee) is that it is noted on the back that howard was traded to the senators.  come to think of it, this could have been a team variation!  unlike howard, ken mcmullen, claude osteen, pete richert, phil ortega, and john kennedy (the other players involved in the trade) were included in later topps series, so they are all featured on the correct team, although clearly not in the right uniforms.  anyway, hondo is just here to be an example of the lack of variation that existed in the 1965 o-pee-chee set.

we'll get back to the variations next time!