13 July 2011

cut from the same cloth?

the dodgers have three cards in the 1977 topps cloth sticker set.  steve garvey (not shown), ron cey,
and don sutton.
all three cards use the same photo as their topps issues.  however, as strange as it seems, they most closely resemble their o-pee-chee cards.  the garvey card is missing the all-star banner, which was standard o-pee-chee practice in 1977, but more interestingly, the cey and sutton cards have their facsimilie autographs in the same spot as the o-pee-chee cards, which are different than the topps issues.  it's a minor variation, but it is quite prevalent in the o-pee-chee set.  i think it is fascinating, and wish that i could talk with someone who knows what all went down at topps and o-pee-chee during the development of the three sets.

my interest in variations led me to purchase another card from the topps sticker set - the tony perez card:
not only is it different from his 1977 topps card in team, photo, and autograph placement,
it is different in two of those three categories from his o-pee-chee card:
i was happy to see perez (sort of) smiling on the o-pee-chee card which features an actual photo of him in an expos uniform because my first experience with him as an expo was his 1978 topps card
on which he looks depressed. kind of like al oliver or charlie hayes.  cheer up tony, you've got variations!  that makes me happy at least.

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