O Pee Chee and a Surprise Mail Day

Going to cover more of the sandyrusty cards today. 

Today I will cover 1985 and 1986 O Pee Chee.

So some of the same faces here as with the Topps but quite a few "Now with.." notifications.

Gary Lavelle was traded to the Blue Jays in January 1985 for Jim Gott and two minor leaguers. He did well in 1985, did not pitch in 1986 and got lit up in 1987. 

Vance Law was traded to the Montreal Expos on December 7, 1984 for Bob James. 

Jeff Burroughs was purchased by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Mike Fitzgerald was part of the trade that brought Hubie Brooks, Herm Winningham and Floyd Youmans to the Expos for the low, low price of future Hall of Famer Gary Carter.. 

More of the usual suspects here. Brooks shows up mentioning the trade as well. 

One interesting thing is on Jim Fanning's card. 

"Now Vice President Player Development and Scouting"

He had been with the Expos from the start, between front office positions and managing. He also did colour commentary on radio and TV broadcasts for the Expos before going to the Rockies then worked with Baseball Canada and the Blue Jays. 

He ended up getting his Canadian citizenship in 2012, 

Bill Caudill was traded to the Jays for Dave Collins, Alfredo Griffin and cash.

It's interesting that for the most part I remember him, Dennis Lamp, and Gary Lavelle as being not the best in Toronto, but looking at Caudill's numbers it was only 1986 he was horrid in Blue. 

I have the OPC version of Terry Puhl as well here. 

Bob "Buck" Rodgers took over as Manager for the Expos when Jim Fanning went back into the front office. 

Razor Shines has to be one of the best names out there, baseball or otherwise. 

For the most part it seems Topps and OPC used the same photos for both years when it came to the Jays and Expos. Sometimes it's nice to run into a different photo. 

So now the surprise:

In 2014 I pulled a redemption for an autographed Anibal Sanchez Playoff insert card. I got tired of waiting, so when Topps updated their site to include the ability to request a different card, I decided to go for it.. 

This is what they sent. They sent a second card due to the length of time I was waiting. Still a Blake Swihart auto 7/9 isn't too bad. If I collected the Red Sox, it'd be great lol..

That said, if there's anyone reading this that DOES collect Red Sox or Rangers, let me know.. We may be able to work something out.