here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
bostock spent the 1977 season patrolling centerfield for the twins, hitting .336 along the way.  that was good enough to finish second on the american league batting average leader board to teammate rod carew (he hit .388), and he scored 104 runs, hit 12 triples and 14 home runs with 90 rbi as well.  bostock hit the only walk-off home run of his career in 1977 - a 12th inning blast to beat the a's in july.  in may, he tied the major league record (and set the american league record) of 12 putouts in a single game by a centerfielder (since tied by jacoby ellsbury).  1977 was his last year in minnesota as he signed a free agent deal with the angels in november of that year.  here's a link to a lyman bostock tribute page.

voici à vous, 1977 lyman bostock!

as far as i can tell, the photo is the same, but the facsimile autograph is relocated and the rookie cup is eliminated on the front of butch wynegar's 1977 o-pee-chee card:
here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
wynegar, who was all of 20 years old, definitely earned that rookie cup in 1976. as the twins primary catcher, he played in 149 games, hit 10 home runs and drove in 69 with a .260 average.  he finished 2nd in the league rookie of the year voting (he lost to the bird, mark fidrych) and was named to the all-star team.  i believe that he was the youngest position player ever to appear in the game (he walked) until bryce harper made the squad for the 2012 midsummer classic.

in 1977, wynegar put up just about the same numbers he had posted in 1976.  his slash line was 10/79/.261, and he had the exact same number of hits (139) as he had the previous year.  he was also named to the all-star team once again, and singled off of tom seaver after relieving carlton fisk behind the plate in the contest.

voici à vous, 1977 butch wynegar!

it's not quite an extreme closeup, but o-pee-chee did bring us closer to dan ford than topps back in 1977, and they also moved his facsimile autograph.  here is ford's 1977 o-pee-chee card:
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now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
disco dan was the twins' right fielder again in 1977, and hit .267 for the second season in a row.  he had 11 homers and 60 rbi, and, as usual, he destroyed leftys.  ford had a pretty even at-bat split as far as facing rightys and leftys in 1977 (259 plate appearances against rhp vs. 251 against lhp) and he hit .329 against southpaws in 1977 to go with an ops of .939, with 9 of his home runs coming against them.

ford played one more season in minnesota before he moved on to california and helped the angels make the postseason for the first time.

voici à vous, 1977 dan ford!

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
what a difference a year made for goltz.  in 1976, he was 14-14 with a 3.36 era.  in 1977, he again posted an era of 3.36, but had a win-loss record of 20-11 in a league-leading 39 starts.  his performance was good enough for 6th in the league cy young voting and it assured him a place on the 1978 topps league-leaders card for wins.  goltz had 19 complete games to his credit, including an 11-inning performance, but his best performance of the season came on august 23rd when he shut out the red sox on one hit while striking out 10.

voici à vous, 1977 dave goltz!

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
carew was an all-star every year of his career except for his final season (1985).  that's crazy.  1977 turned out to be his best season - he set career highs in runs, hits, double, triples, obp, and ops, and he tied his career high in homers to boot.  his average on the season was also a career best - .388 - netting him his 6th of 7 batting titles.  he was hitting over .400 on july 10th, but didn't flirt with that magic number after the all-star break.

voici à vous, 1977 rod carew!

junior ortiz left the world champion twins after the 1991 season and signed a deal with the cleveland indians. here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card:
here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
the twins had obtained ortiz from the pirates a couple of years earlier in exchange for a minor leaguer who now does the news here in the twin cities. anyway, ortiz took his ring to cleveland and hit .250 as a backup to sandy alomar jr. or maybe it was a platoon, as ortiz set career highs in runs, hits, and rbi while playing in 86 games. he also was part of a play at the plate with gary gaetti that topps captured quite nicely in their 1993 set.

voici à vous, 1992 junior ortiz!

greg "boomer" wells was sent from the blue jays to the twins in january of 1982 to complete the hosken powell deal from a couple of weeks earlier. here is his 1982 o-pee-chee card:
it's too bad o-pee-chee didn't include powell in the 1982 set, but at least we have this, quite possibly my favorite variation of the set. it's a text variation only, since it wouldn't make sense to change the team information when two-thirds of the players stayed put.

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
the original boomer wells had played in 32 games for the jays in 1981, hitting .247 with 5 extra base hits (all doubles) as a first baseman and sometimes dh. things had started out well for the 27 year old rookie - in his first major league at bat, he singled in the tying run in the 9th inning of a game against the tigers. unfortunately, the tigers won the game in the bottom of the 9th. despite his successful debut, the blue jays had willie upshaw ready to take over first base in 1982, so wells was expendable.

for the twinkies in 1982, he was brought up in september and inserted into the starting lineup first as the dh and then as the first baseman to give kent hrbek some rest. he wound up playing in just 15 games and hit only .204, although he did have 2 triples. the second of those triples came in the 9th inning of game 162 against future cy young award winner lamarr hoyt, and was the last hit of the twins' 1982 season. it was also the last hit and last at bat of wells' major league career, as the twins released him prior to the start 1983 season.

voici à vous, 1982 boomer wells!

bob kipper left the nl east champion pirates as a free agent to join the world champion twins in december of 1991.  here is his 1992 o-pee-chee card:
here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
kipper had converted from starter to reliever while in pittsburgh, and even had 11 saves for the bucs over the previous 3 seasons.  he pitched slightly better for the twins in 1992 than he had for the pirates in 1991, but despite a 3-3 record and 4.42 era in 25 appearances, kipper was released in july by minnesota, and never appeared in another big league game.  today, i think that would be unheard of for a 27-year old lefty reliever.  kipper did resurface in 1994, pitching for the mets aaa club, but did not get a big league call up.

voici à vous, 1992 bob kipper!

shane rawley was traded by the phillies to the twins in october of 1988, just after the world series ended. here is his 1989 o-pee-chee card:
here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
the last thing gladden did as a member of the minnesota twins was score the winning run in game 7 of the world series. not a bad way to go out. gladden had his typical season again in 1992. he hit .254 with 20 doubles, 7 homers, and 42 rbi. he finished his playing career with the tigers in 1993 and is now back in minnesota broadcasting twins games on the radio.


voici à vous, 1992 danny gladden!

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now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
a collegiate star at harvard, stenhouse established career highs in virtually every offensive category as a twin in 1985, except for doubles and obp. that year, he hit over .200 for the only time in his career and also stole the only base of his career.


voici à vous, 1985 mike stenhouse!

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now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
with the twins, hartzell matched his 6-10 record he posted with the angels in 1978, although his era went up to 5.36.  tomorrow (july 1) is the 32nd anniversary of hartzell's 10-inning complete game victory over the white sox.  in that game, he allowed 8 hits and just one run (on jorge orta's 8th inning home run) as the twins won on a pinch-hit single by glenn adams in the bottom of the 10th.  unfortunately, hartzell was released after the season ended, and landed in baltimore for the 1980 season.

voici à vous, 1979 paul hartzell!

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
although the same photo was used, o-pee-chee went for the tighter crop, and they slightly rotated it as well.  they also moved his facsimilie autograph down to the bottom left corner.  hisle had been acquired by the dodgers after the 1971 season, but then they went out and picked up frank robinson so hisle spent the entire 1972 season in the minors.  they wound up trading him to saint louis in october of 1972, and the cards flipped him to the twins shortly thereafter.  if hisle had been given a chance in la and had performed as he did for the twins, i wonder if the dodgers would have still acquired dusty baker? 

anyway, 1977 was hisle's last season with the twins, and he led the al in rbi as a parting gift to the great state of minnesota.  hisle didn't get the team variation treatment in the 1978 set since topps went ahead and airbrushed him into a brewers cap, but they at least left him as a twin on the league leader card.

voici à vous, 1977 larry hisle!