jim mason received an actual photograph of himself in blue jays gear, along with a relocated facsimile autograph on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:
here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
i guess topps was pretty confident that mason wouldn't make it back to the world series with toronto when they wrote the copy for the back of his card.  and, they were right, although he didn't spend the entire 1977 season with the blue jays.  after appearing in 22 games (mostly as their regular shortstop) and hitting an anemic .165, mason was dealt to the rangers along with steve hargan and cash for roy howell.

mason was the first pinch hitter in blue jays' history, coming to bat for hector torres in the fourth inning of their inaugural game.  he drew the first walk in team history in that at bat, and later in the game, he laid down toronto's first sacrifice.

voici à vous, 1977 jim mason!

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
batting leadoff for the red sox, burleson led the american league in 1977 with 721 plate appearances and 663 at bats.  he also hit 2 of his 3 home runs that year leading off the game.  he also posted a batting average of .293 and was voted to start the all-star game at shortstop, going 0 for 2 in his first midsummer classic.

voici à vous, 1977 rick burleson!

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
cruz hit .299 with a career high 17 home runs in 1977, and it seems to me all of those homers came against the dodgers.  in reality, only three of them were hit against the dodgers, but cruz always seemed to do well when the astros were facing my favorite team.  and it wasn't just my young imagination, either - cruz hit .472 with a 1.325 ops in 15 games against the dodgers in 1977.  he also had a walk-off sacrifice fly off of the dodgers' charlie hough in a late september game that year.

voici à vous, 1977 jose cruz!

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
as it turned out, o-pee-chee was right.  perez didn't play second for the yankees, but he didn't play shortstop, either.  in fact, he appeared in only one game for the bronx bombers, getting the start at third base on april 26 in baltimore.  perez was 2 for 4 at the plate, but was traded the very next day to the a's in the deal that also sent dock ellis to oakland for mike torrez.

in oakland, perez played in 115 games at second, third, and short over the remainder of the season.  he hit .231 with 2 homers and 23 rbi.

voici à vous, 1977 marty perez!

here's another case of slight differences in cropping and a relocated facsimile autograph in the 1977 o-pee-chee set.  this time, it's cesar geronimo who gets the variations.  here is geronimo's 1977 o-pee-chee card:
here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
it is worth noting that the game in which three dodgers wound up at third base occurred on 8/15/26, when babe herman 'doubled into a double play'.  with the bases loaded, he tried to stretch his double into a triple, but the runner who had been on first had stopped at third, and the runner from second was headed back to the base, being chased by the catcher.  herman was ruled safe, but the other two guys were out.

as for geronimo, we know that he 'has strong arm'.  thanks solomon grundy.  geronimo won his fourth (and final) gold glove in 1977, thanks to his 9 outfield assists and above average range, attributed by topps to his 'long strides'.  at the dish, he set a career high with 10 home runs in 1977.

voici à vous, 1977 cesar geronimo!

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
a gold glove winner in 1976, manning played in only 63 games in 1977, thanks to a back injury he  suffered in seattle.  he missed most of june and all of july and august after having surgery on his back, and it was during that time that manning became involved with teammate dennis eckersley's wife, creating the awkward situation that resulted in eckersley being dealt to the red sox.

manning continued to play good defense for the indians into the 1980's, although he never won another gold glove or achieved the same level of offense that he had shown in 1976.  in 1981, manning caught the final out of len barker's perfect game.

voici à vous, 1977 rick manning!

here's the topps front:
notice that the topps card shows us just a wee bit more of his right shoe.

now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
interesting stuff about larry lintz.  not quite the herb washington model, but close.  for the record, lintz was allowed to bat 4 times, but walked twice and sacrificed the other time.  he also stole 30 bases in 1976.

dick tidrow, on the other hand, did not bat at all in 1976. or 1977, for that matter. such was the life of a pitcher in the american league.  nor did he pitch 10.2 innings as a reliever in a single game.  he did appear in 49 games, however, and posted a record of 11-4 with 5 saves.  towards the end of the season, the yankees moved him to the starting rotation, and he earned the win in 5 of the 7 starts he made.  he was back in the bullpen for the postseason, however, appearing in relief in two games in each of the alcs and the world series.

voici à vous, 1977 dick tidrow!

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
morgan was the two-time defending national league mvp in 1977, but he was unable to make it three in a row.  he still had a pretty good year, scoring 113 runs and hitting .288 with 22 home runs.  his obp was .417 and he stole 49 bases.  for the sixth year in a row, he started at second base for the national league in the all-star game.  and, in the 1977 midsummer classic, he led off the game with a home run off of jim palmer.

voici à vous, 1977 joe morgan!

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
sanguillen appeared in a career high 152 games in 1977, thanks in large part to being able to dh when not behind the plate.  he also spent some time at first base for the first time in his career, as well as right field.  at the plate, sanguillen hit .275 with 6 homers and 58 rbi.

sanguillen was traded back to the pirates at the start of the 1978 season, and he later became one of the few pirates to be a part of both the 1971 and the 1979 world championship team.

voici à vous, 1977 manny sanguillen!

the difference in the crop is tough to see (check the amount of overhang visible to the right of the bat) on al oliver's 1977 cards, but the relocated facsimile autograph is pretty obvious.  here is oliver's 1977 o-pee-chee card:
here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
this card's cartoon answers the question from the back of jim lonborg's 1972 o-pee-chee card (shown up there in the header).

and the topps back:
1977 was the last season oliver spent in pittsburgh, and it was also the last year that he didn't wear uniform number '0'.  the pirates moved him to left field to replace the departed richie zisk (we'll see his fantastic 1977 o-pee-chee variation soon), and he responded by hitting .308 with 19 homers and 82 rbi. oliver had a 16-game hitting streak, and he also homered in three straight games during the 1977 campaign.  in late august, he had a walk-off homer off of rollie fingers in late august.

after the season, oliver was included in the four-team trade that saw him land in texas, creating the need for his 1978 o-pee-chee variation.

voici à vous, 1977 al oliver!

o-pee-chee committed a cardinal sin with chip lang's 1977 card, using a posed spring training photo in place of the in-game photo topps had used for their version of his card.  o-pee-chee also moved his facsimile autograph.
here's the topps front:
it looks like a yacht is sailing by as lang delivers his pitch.

now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
voici à vous, 1977 chip lang!

now the o-pee-chee back:
ewing was used mostly as a pinch hitter by the blue jays in 1977, although he did start the second game in franchise history in left field.  overall, he hit .287 in 97 games, and also saw action in right, at first, and as the blue jays' designated hitter.  he also hit the first four home runs of his career in 1977.  the first two came against future hall of famers jim palmer and dennis eckersley, and the last two came against guys with double-a's in their names - moose haas and don aase. too bad for ewing that jim kaat was in the national league.

voici à vous, 1977 sam ewing!

here's the topps front:
now the o-pee-chee back:
and the topps back:
christenson wen 19-6 with 5 complete games (two of which were 2-hitters) and a 3-hit shutout for the phillies in 1977.  he won those 19 games (a career high) despite an era of 4.06 and a whip of 1.36.  still, he helped the phils get to the nlcs.  since the text on the back of his cards addresses his apparent hitting prowess, let's see how he did at the plate in '77.  he set career highs with 3 home runs (including a grand slam) and 13 rbi, although his batting average was just .136 and he had an ops of only .436.

in the postseason, he made one start against the dodgers, but had no decision in the phillies' game 3 loss.

voici à vous, 1977 larry christenson!