Tuesday, March 10, 2026

GIMMIE A DO-OVER: 1977 OTTO VELEZ

Good day all!
On the blog today, just for the fun of it, a re-do for Otto Velez and his 1977 card, which originally had him airbrushed into a Toronto Blue Jays uni by Topps way back when:


Here I have him suited up and shown as a New York Yankee, for whom he played in 1976.
After playing for the New York Yankees in parts of four seasons between 1973 and 1976, he was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in their inaugural expansion draft before the 1977 campaign.
He was the 53rd pick in the 1976 expansion draft, and would have a decent year for the Jays in 1977 when he batted .256 with 16 homers and 62 runs batted in.
He would stay with the team for the next five seasons, hitting as many as 20 homers (1980) as well as matching his 1977 RBI total that very same year.
In 1983 he would find himself with the Cleveland Indians, where he would play what turned out to be the final 10 games of his career, hitting only .080 with two hits over 25 at-bats, with a run scored and an RBI.
Velez would put 11 years in the Major Leagues, batting .251 with 78 homers and 272 runs batted in, while collecting 452 hits in 1802 at-bats over 637 games.


 

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