OPC IMAGE VARIATION: 1977 RICK MONDAY

On the blog today, we look at the image variation for Rick Monday and his 1977 OPC & Topps cards, after his trade from the Northside of Chicago to the sunny West Coast and the Los Angeles Dodgers:

OPC version

Topps version

While Topps was stuck going with Monday still suited up and designated as a Cub, the fine folks at OPC did their airbrushing best to get him in as a Dodger, leading to the gem you see here.

A solid player who also gained some attention for his flag-saving maneuver in the outfield one day when some clowns were trying to burn an American flag, Monday was in his prime when these cards would have been pulled from packs in that glorious Summer of 1977.
After putting in some good seasons with the A’s between 1966 and 1971, Monday was traded for pitcher Ken Holtzman over the Winter of 1971/72, and he didn’t disappoint the Cubs’ faithful, averaging about 20 homers a season with about 60 runs batted in.
He had his best season in Chicago in 1976 when he slammed a career-high 32 homers with 77 RBIs, which got him traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers which netted the Cubs future batting champ Bill Buckner and infielder Ivan DeJesus.
He’d go on to play the last eight seasons of his career in L.A., retiring after the 1984 campaign with a career .264 average, with 1619 hits and 241 homers, along with 775 RBIs and 950 runs scored, while being a part of the World Champion 1981 Dodger team.
One of the better overall #1 picks from the draft for sure!

 

1984 CAREER-CAPPER: CARL YASTRZEMSKI

Time to "break out of the 1970's" once again and create a 1984 "career-capper" for Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski, who closed out a stellar Big League career in 1983:

As someone who grew up in New York City during the second half of his career, it's really easy to forget that Yastrzemski was a Long Island, New York boy before he went on to become a New England legend.

And how could he NOT become a legend, what with 23 years of Major League ball, all with the Red Sox, turning in three batting titles, a Triple Crown in 1967 along with an MVP Award, seven Gold Gloves, 18 all-star nods, and 25 league-leads in primary offensive categories.

By the time he did the retirement tour in 1983, he scored 1816 runs, collected 3419 hits, 646 doubles, 452 homers, 1844 runs batted in along with a .285 batting average.

He was just plain awesome…

 

SPECIAL REQUEST: 1986 "NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION" JOE SAMBITO

Well, here's a special request that came out of nowhere!

For my buddy Rich, I post up my "not so missing" 1986 card for former pitcher NJoe Sambito, who funny enough would actually have a card in the year-end 1986 Topps Traded set, but NOT the base set:

After appearing in only eight games for the Mets in 1985, Topps didn't feel the need to include him in the base set that year, especially when you consider his 12.66 earned run average over 10.2 innings over those eight games.

But after finding himself with the Boston Red Sox for the 1986 campaign, and rediscovering his form somewhat, to where he became an important part of the American League champions' bullpen to the tune of a 2-0 record with a 4.84 ERA over 44.2 innings, with 12 saves, Topps did go ahead and include him in the traded set.

Between 1976 and 1984 Sambito was an excellent relief pitcher with the Houston Astros, especially his 1979 season that saw him make his only All-Star team when he went 8-7 with a brilliant 1.77 ERA over 63 games, with 22 saves and 83 strikeouts in 91.1 innings of work.

Two years later he'd post a 1.84 ERA over 49 games, followed by a 1982 season that saw him post a 0.71 ERA, albeit over only nine games due to injury.

All told, Sambito would play 11 years, going 37-38 over 461 games, with a very nice 3.03 ERA and 84 saves in 629 innings pitched.

 

A SET THAT NEVER WAS: 1971 ALL-STAR TICKET SET: BUD HARRELSON

Next up in my "set that never was" WTHBALLS custom archive is my 1972 All-Star ticket card for the starting shortstop in the 1971 Midsummer Classic, New York Met Bud Harrelson:

Harrelson made his second straight All-Star team in 1971, arguably his two best seasons in the Big Leagues, in which he got MVP consideration at the end of the year, as well as winning his only Gold Glove.

The typical "light-hitting/good fielding" middle infielder of the time, he gave the Mets a solid glove man up the middle between 1965 and 1977 before taking his leather to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1978.

By the time he retired after the 1980 season after one year with the Texas Rangers, he finished with a career .236 average, with 1120 hits in 4744 at-bats, with 539 runs scored, 127 stolen bases and 267 RBIs over 1533 games.