Mini Mall pt 10 Vintage O-Pee-Chee

Only two more posts for this mini mall thing and we can move on. The fodder for both posts came out of the vintage card (if you consider '70s cards vintage) dime box. Every time I see this dealer I make sure to always get something out of that box then once I get home I become deeply regretful that I didn't get more cards out of the box. One day I'll just buy the whole bloody box and be done with it.

Part one of the vintage cavalcade has to do with our friends north of the border. While there were a lot of '70s Topps cards in that box, there were also a few '70's O-Pee-Chee cards in there too. I have quite a few O-Pee-Chee cards from the '80s, but ones from the '70s are few and far between in my collection so I snapped all of 'em up. Well, not all of them, there were a lot of doubles in there. No one really needs more than one 1980 O-Pee-Chee Tony Brizzolara, do they?

1977 O-Pee-Chee:

155 Andy Messersmith
209 Jeff Burroughs
251 Jerry Royster

That Burroughs card does not say Braves in the '77 Topps set. It has the same crummy photo, but the Rangers team name. So that is most likely Jeff's very first Braves card! That might mean something if anyone knew who Jeff Burroughs was anymore, let alone that he once played for the Braves in The Dismal Years. Since the big attraction to O-Pee-Chee Cards is the french on the back, I scanned Andy Messersmith's card back. Read up, Francophiles. I also felt compelled to scan the cartoon on the back of Jerry Royster's card.

I'm glad Joe Morgan is an expert in something, 'cause it sure ain't baseball analysis.

1979 O-Pee-Chee:

142 Bobby Bonds

This one isn't a Brave, but it had the cool O-Pee-Chee logo inside the baseball and the traded blurb so I couldn't resist.

1980 O-Pee-Chee:

59 Bob Horner
73 Biff Pocoroba
86 Tony Brizzolara
241 Jerry Royster
263 Gene Garber
283 Jeff Burroughs

It just occurred to me that the 1977 and 1980 O-Pee-Chee cards are identical to Topps on the front. Well, except in Jeff's case. Eagle eyed collectors can tell from the card stock that something is amiss. In addition to the French (and in Jerry Royster's case some additional stats) on the back, O-Pee-Chee cards are printed on white cardstock instead of the traditional Topps blah gray. The edges of the card are often a little more ragged too. This comes from O-Pee-chee's practice of not using a blade to cut the card sheets but instead having an angry moose rend the cards asunder with his mighty antlers. That moose did a pretty good job too, except on those occasions he got into the stash of LaBatt's in the back room.