Before I get going on this post, I need to give a HUGE thanks to Jim who runs a couple of blogs linked on the side of my blog, Oh My O-Pee-Chee!, which is devoted entirely to O-Pee-Chee cards and Garvey Cey Russell Lopes, a blog devoted to Los Angeles Dodgers cards. Lots of very good information on both blogs. Anyway, he gave me a list of O-Pee-Chee cards from 1981-1992 that showed a change in teams. This may actually help complete some of our sets. I am going back to revisit 1981 today and from this point forward try to add the O-Pee-Chee variations into the overall checklists.
O-Pee-Chee were odd cards. They seemed really cool in that they were largely the same as the regular Topps cards, except they had the French language written on them. I had a few of these in my collection, and I really have no idea where they came from, but they were always interesting. A few of them had something else their Topps cousins didn't, a line on the front of the card stating if the player had changed teams over the winter. In 1981, they actually changed the hat associated with the 1981 Topps cards as well.
Doing a little research, there are four cards that could fit into the 1981 Ultimate Baseball Card Set checklist. John D'Acquisto and Bob Davis both played for the Angels in 1981, and had no cards in the Topps Traded set showing that they were members of the Angels. When I put together the Angels checklist for 1981, I moved their Topps cards showing them on other teams onto the Angels checklist. I am updating the 1981 Angels checklists to show both the Topps cards with other teams and the O-Pee-Chee variations. Why do this? Because I may never find these O-Pee-Chee variations, but if I do, I will move the Topps cards onto the players on new teams checklist.
The other two are interesting in that they have no cards in the Topps Traded set because both players retired after switching to new teams. Dave Rader signed as a free agent with the Angels, but was released prior to the end of spring training and never played in another major league game again. Elliott Maddox last played with the Mets in 1980 and was released in February of 1981 (must've been the bad January he had that year). He signed as a free agent with the Phillies in June and played a handful of game with their AAA team in Oklahoma City, but never played another major league game after 1980. I can't find a record of him playing with the Yankees in 1981 anywhere, even though it is shown on this O-Pee-Chee card that he was associated with the Yankees. I will add both cards to the 1981 retired players checklist.
