Up on the blog today, we have a look at the image variations for Cecil Cooper's 1977 Topps and OPC cards:
 |
| OPC version |
 |
| Topps version |
One
of my favorite non-Yankee players as a kid at that time, Cooper found
himself traded to the Milwaukee Brewers before the 1977 season, with OPC
airbrushing him into a Brewer uniform for their set, while Topps still
had him with the Boston Red Sox, the only team he'd suited up for during
his career to that point in time.
Not bad an airbrushing job by the OPC folks to be honest, working with a photo that made it a little easier to transform.
Cooper was traded to the Brewers in December of 1976 for Bernie
Carbo and George Scott, and immediately became a star, putting together
seven straight seasons of a .300 batting average or higher, with a high
of .352 in what is pretty much a forgotten incredible
season in 1980 (thanks to George Brett), when he also led the American
League in runs batted in with 122 while collecting 219 hits, 33 doubles
and 25 homers.
The five-time all-star had three 200+ hit seasons, four 100+ RBI
seasons, five 20+ homer seasons and even took home two Gold Gloves for
his defensive work.
Between 1980-1983 he finished in the top-10 for Most Valuable Player, and also won three straight Silver Slugger Awards.
By the time he retired after the 1987 season, he finished with over
2000 hits, 1000 runs scored, 400 doubles, 240 homers and 1100 RBI's
with just under a .300 batting average (.298).
What's astonishing to me is that when he became eligible for the
Hall of Fame, he didn't get a single freaking vote! None! Yet guys like
Bill Campbell, Andre Thornton and Davey Lopes got some support.
Just incredible to me…
