there's a slight difference in the north-south alignment of dave parker's photo on his 1977 o-pee-chee card, and his stacked facsimile autograph is also in a different spot and rotated.  here is the cobra's 1977 o-pee-chee card:
here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
1977 was parker's coming out year - he led the league with 215 hits, 44 doubles, and a .338 batting average.  he also won his first gold glove award and finished third in the league mvp voting.  he had 21 home runs on the year, with three two-homer games and a walk-off.  parker was also named to the all-star team for the first time, starting for the national league in right field.  he was 1 for 3 in the game without any outfield assists, but would return in 1979 to take care of that.

voici à vous, 1977 dave parker!

dave parker became a brewer (yes, a brewer) when he signed a free agent deal in december of 1989. here's his 1990 o-pee-chee card:
here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
he went on to have his last great season as a result. in milwaukee, the cobra hit 21 homers, drove in 92 rbi and hit .289. he won a silver slugger, finished 16th in the mvp voting, and made the all-star team for the final time of his career. the brewers traded parker the following spring to the angels for dante bichette, and parker split his final season in the majors between the halos and the blue jays.

voici à vous, 1990 dave parker!

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
parker replaced the retiring reggie jackson on the roster, and helped the a's get to the world series in both 1988 and 1989.  he went to milwaukee for the 1990 season, and then split 1991 between the angels and the blue jays.  sadly, there are no o-pee-chee variations to mark those movements. 

voici à vous, 1988 dave parker!

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
notice that o-pee-chee changed the text under the stat lines slightly - they used 'hit' instead of 'slammed'.  maybe 'slammed' doesn't translate well?

parker succeeded roberto clemente in right for the pirates, and was at first a worthy standard bearer on the field. off of it, the 1978 nl mvp was involved in a big cocaine scandal, becoming an integral figure in the 'pittsburgh drug trials' of the early 80's. after a few down years with the pirates parker rebounded with the reds. in 1984 he drove in 94 runs, the most since his 1979 season. then, in 1985, he put up some big numbers across the board - 34 home runs (a career high), 125 rbi (another career high while also leading the national league), a .312 batting average, and a .916 ops.

what i remember most about parker is his arm. the guy had a gun. i can remember watching him in the 1979 all star game, when he threw a bullet to ron cey at third in the bottom of the 7th to get jim rice, and then an inning later he threw out brian downing at home on the fly to preserve a tie. this week in baseball used to use that footage at the end of the show and it would give me goosebumps every time.

voici à vous, 1984 dave parker!