Today on the blog we take a look at Darrell Porter and his image variations for his 1977 OPC and Topps cards:
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| OPC Version |
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| Topps version |
The
young catcher was part of a multi-player trade in December of 1976 that
had the people at OPC scrambling to airbrush him into a Kansas City
Royals uni, while the Topps cards were already going to press, leaving
us with what you see here.
Not that bad a paint-job by OPC. Lord knows we have seen worse (or some may say GLORIOUS) work over the decade!
As for Porter, I never realized that he was never a subject here on the blog all these years.
While
he did make an All-Star team and finish third in Rookie of the year
voting as a member of the Brewers, it was after he found himself in K.C.
that he really became a solid Major League backstop, with three
All-Star nods in a row between 1978 and 1980, including a starting gig
in the 1979 game, with two top-10 MVP finished as well in that time.
His 1979 season is really not spoken about enough in respect to the 1970s!
Quite possibly the best offensive year by an American League catcher in the 1970s, Porter was a beast at the plate.
He
hit .291 for the Royals, with 101 runs scored and 112 runs batted in,
with 20 homers and an American League leading 121 walks, for a nifty
.421 on-base-percentage, while also leading the league with 13
sacrifices.
He also hit an amazing 10 triples over his 155 hits, which as we all know for a catcher is not a common occurrence in the game.
In
1981 he would become a St. Louis Cardinal, signing with them as a Free
Agent and replacing Hall of Famer Ted Simmons, and Porter would be part
of the World Champion 1982 team, having himself an incredible Post
Season, taking home MVP honors in BOTH the N.L. Playoffs and the World
Series after hitting a ridiculous .556 against the Atlanta Braves, then
hitting .286 with eight hits and five RBIs in the Fall Classic.
He'd
finish his career with two seasons playing part-time with the Texas
Rangers in 1986 and 1987, finishing up with a .247 batting average over
17 seasons, with 188 homers, 765 runs scored and 826 RBIs, four All-Star
nods and the aforementioned two top-10 MVP finishes.
Sadly,
because of a substance abuse problem that began during his baseball
career, Porter passed away in 2002 related to cocaine at only 50 years
of age.
His life was full of turmoil during and after his
baseball career, and he even wrote a book about it called "Snap Me
Perfect!", detailing his life in the sport and struggles with drugs.
R.I.P. Darrell Porter: 1952-2002.
