1977 steve yeager

it's a slight difference in cropping and a leveling out of the facsimile autograph for steve yeager on this, his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

 now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

1977 was a big year for yeager.  he achieved career highs in runs scored (53), doubles (21), home runs (16), and rbi (55) while throwing out 39% of potential base stealers.  in the postseason, the catcher of the team of my youth put up numbers very similar to those that would net him a share of the world series mvp award in 1981.  in 6 games, yeager hit .316 with 2 home runs and 5 rbi, and his ops was 1.018.  unfortunately, reggie jackson was even better, and the dodgers lost the series to the yankees.

voici à vous, 1977 steve yeager!

1986 steve yeager

i used steve yeager to model the 1976 o-pee-chee set, and here he is 10 years later as a team and text variation!

the catcher of my youth was traded to seattle in late 1985 for ed vande berg.  which means we'll see vande berg's card in a later post.  not sure why they went with the boxed logo text rather than just the text like topps.

speaking of which, here's the topps front:

the colors didn't change simply because the dodger and mariner palettes were the same in 1986.

now the o-pee-chee back:

nice and bright, with the kiddie logo. note the home run total - exactly one hundred round trippers with the dodgers.

and the topps back:

number 32 in the set, just like o-pee-chee.  still, the o-pee-chee set was just 396 cards and the checklist varied, so this is just a coincidence.

voici à vous, 1986 steve yeager!