OPC IMAGE VARIATIONS: 1977 DAVE COLLINS (AT LEAST ON THE OPC CARD!)

Today on the blog we take a look at another OPC & Topps image variation, this time the 1977 cards for former speedster Dave Collins, or at least what was SUPPOSED to be him in the context of the Topps card:

OPC version

Topps version

Now the reason I say what I said regarding the Topps card is because it doesn't show Collins at all, but actually Bobby Jones, something Topps never bothered to fix later on.

Over on the OPC card, it was indeed the young Collins shown on the card, albeit with a comically airbrushed cap with the Seattle Mariners' logo.

Collins played his first two seasons of Big League ball with the California Angels, stealing 52 bases combined in a part-time roll, giving us a preview of what was to lie ahead.
He would go on to play 16 years in the Major Leagues, stealing as many as 79 bases in 1980 while with the Cincinnati Reds, while also stealing 60 in 1984 when he was playing for the Toronto Blue Jays, a season where he also led the league in triples with 15.
I’ll always remember him for his disappointing year with the New York Yankees in 1982, a year that was a failure for the organization in so many ways actually.
Nevertheless, Collins would finish his career with 395 steals, while also batting a very nice .272 with 1335 hits over 4907 at-bats in 1701 games, finishing up with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1990.
I never even realized he made it that far to be honest!

 

1977 MARINERS REDONE- DAVE COLLINS

Back on July 9th of 2016  I posted about the strange case of the 1977 Topps Dave Collins card and how it took me decades to prove to my friends that I was correct in my guess that it surely wasn’t the former speedster. Take a look at the original:

Well, turns out it was former pitcher Bobby Jones, as I’m sure many of you are now aware all these years later, so it was time to go ahead a re-do the card with the proper image, take a look:

Collins played his first two seasons of Big League ball with the California Angels, stealing 52 bases combined in a part-time roll, giving us a preview of what was to lie ahead.
He would go on to play 16 years in the Major Leagues, stealing as many as 79 bases in 1980 while with the Cincinnati Reds, while also stealing 60 in 1984 when he was playing for the Toronto Blue Jays, a season where he also led the league in triples with 15.
I’ll always remember him for his disappointing year with the New York Yankees in 1982, a year that was a failure for the organization in so many way actually.
Nevertheless, Collins would finish his career with 395 steals, while also batting a very nice .272 with 1335 hits over 4907 at-bats in 1701 games, finishing up with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1990.
I never even realized he made it that far to be honest!