Today on the blog, one of the most fun image variations between OPC and Topps from the 1977 set, Rico Carty and his ironing twist to the photo-swap:
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| OPC version |
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| Topps version |
First
off, while Topps went for the former batting champ airbrushed into a
Toronto Blue Jays uni, the team that drafted him from the Cleveland
Indians in the expansion draft in November of 1976, OPC had the bit of
extra time to erase that transaction and have him BACK as an Indian
since the Blue Jays then traded Carty back to Cleveland for Rick Cerone
and John Lowenstein a month later!
Now, as if that wasn't funny enough, Carty was THEN traded by the Indians to the Blue Jays about a year later!
What a time the expansion period for the Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners was!
Carty was traded back to the Blue Jays right before the beginning of the 1978 season for Dennis
DeBarr, and though hassled by injuries through his career, was still an
excellent hitter even while in his mid-30’s.
1978 would remind many of that as he would go on to hit a career high 31 home runs with 99 runs batted in while hitting .282 for the Blue Jays and Oakland A’s, where he would be traded later in the season for Willie Horton and Phil Huffman.
He’d play one more season in the Big Leagues, back with Toronto in 1979, where he hit .256 over 132 games and 512 plate appearances before calling it a career.
He’d finish his Major League tenure with a .299 batting average, with 1677 hits in 5606 at-bats, with 204 homers and 890 RBIs, getting named to an All-Star team in 1970 when he was voted in by write-in vote, a season that saw him hit .366 for the Atlanta Braves with 25 homers and a career-high 101 RBIs.
But a crushed knee had him miss all of 1971, while tuberculosis had him miss all of 1969, two full seasons lost for the all-star hitter that really altered his MLB resume.
1978 would remind many of that as he would go on to hit a career high 31 home runs with 99 runs batted in while hitting .282 for the Blue Jays and Oakland A’s, where he would be traded later in the season for Willie Horton and Phil Huffman.
He’d play one more season in the Big Leagues, back with Toronto in 1979, where he hit .256 over 132 games and 512 plate appearances before calling it a career.
He’d finish his Major League tenure with a .299 batting average, with 1677 hits in 5606 at-bats, with 204 homers and 890 RBIs, getting named to an All-Star team in 1970 when he was voted in by write-in vote, a season that saw him hit .366 for the Atlanta Braves with 25 homers and a career-high 101 RBIs.
But a crushed knee had him miss all of 1971, while tuberculosis had him miss all of 1969, two full seasons lost for the all-star hitter that really altered his MLB resume.
