On the blog today, the next OPC to Topps image variation to check out, this one the 1977 cards for former second baseman Pedro Garcia:
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| OPC version |
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| Topps version |
After putting in half a
season with the Detroit Tigers, Garcia found himself heading to the
start-up Toronto Blue Jays franchise before the 1977 season, which gave
OPC the time to get him in the correct uniform for their set.
Topps,
on the other hand, because they hit the presses earlier than their
Canadian counterpart, released Garcia's card showing him as a Tiger.
Turns
out Garcia would play 41 games for the Blue Jays in their inaugural
season, and those would be the last of his five year Major League
career, which began in 1973 when he was runner-up for the American
League Rookie of the Year when he led the league with 32 doubles,
hitting .245 for the Milwaukee Brewers with 142 hits, 67 suns scored and
54 runs batted in.
Sadly for him he would never come close to
numbers like that again, playing for Milwaukee through the first half
of 1976 before being shipped to Detroit, hitting a combined .204 in 1976
before his 1977 swan song.
Overall, he'd finish his Big
League career with a .220 average, with 395 hits in 1797 at-bats over
558 games, with 196 runs scored and 184 RBIs, 37 homers and 35 stolen
bases.