Saturday, October 22, 2022

OPC VARIATIONS: 1977 DAVE McKAY

Today's blog post has us taking a closer look at another 1977 OPC image variation from their Topps counterpart, this one the card of former Toronto Blue Jay Dave McKay:

OPC version

Topps version
 
Definitely a much better image used here for the third baseman, using a photo from Spring Training rather than the airbrushed job Topps used since their production goes into effect much earlier.
McKay hit .197 over 95 games for the Blue Jays in their inaugural 1977 season, picking up 54 hits in 274 at-bats, scoring 18 while driving in 22 after spending parts of his first two Big League campaigns with the Minnesota Twins in 1975 and 1976.
He would put in eight seasons as a Major League infielder, playing for the Twins, Blue Jays and Oakland A's between 1975 and 1982, with the 1978 season being his only full-time year, appearing in 145 games with 537 plate appearances.
Overall he would bat .229 for his career, collecting 441 hits over his 645 games and 1928 at-bats before becoming a long-time coach, putting in almost 40 years in that capacity between 1984 and the present day.