Oh no! Oh yes! O-P-C, a two-parter

 

I kind of miss going to Canada.

Like a lot of things, it's gotten a lot more complicated and I don't have the time to sort through complicated. I'm sure if I got on a mission, I could get everything in order for a visit, but, geez, I remember the days when I could pop over there for a weekend with barely a thought.

But I probably missed the very best time to visit Canada anyway. That would be in the '70s, when you could find O-Pee-Chee wax packs on store counters. My folks actually did take us kids on a trip to Canada -- I believe Quebec -- when I was youngster, but no one was using their heads and we returned home without a single OPC baseball card.

 

I've been making up for that ever since. I try to grab OPC cards from the '70s and '80s whenever I can (heck, earlier, if someone slips up), mostly on a whim, there's no concerted effort happening. But I've been doing a lot more of it in the last year or two.

 

There's a guy named Rob on X, who I've mentioned a few times on here, who runs giveaways on weekends every once in awhile (it may be every week -- I don't know -- I'm not on the site as much anymore). If you sneak past the massive prize moochers, you can grab a card once in awhile. 

This time I landed this 1978 OPC Tony Perez. Every time I get an Expo or Blue Jay OPC card, I feel like I've done an extra good job.

There's the back because I know some of you missed the ragged edges and need to see the French as proof.

Here is another 1978 OPC that does a much more direct job of telling you it's an OPC card, using its "Now With ..." calling card. These are my favorite OPC cards, the blending of one team in the photo with another team in the design.

This card arrived from Bo of Baseball Cards Come To Life! He landed a bunch of OPC cards recently. His rate of baseball card acquisitions is almost up there with Johnny's Trading Spot, I think. I don't know how those guys find the time, and I find it difficult just catching up to their acquisition blog posts. But every once in awhile I catch something long enough to get some cards.

There's the Fairly back. Eleven-year-old me reading the Play Ball instructions: "But Sir, Balls!"

Another OPC from Bo, this time from 1977. This is the greatest OPC year for me because all of the changes from the Topps set. I have more cards from this OPC set than any other. Nearly halfway complete.

My favorite of the bunch from Bo. Back before this blog, I owned less than 10 O-Pee-Chee cards. One of them was the 1974 Sparky Lyle, which I featured on the blog in the early, early going.

Outside of Dodgers OPC cards, that was the only '74 I had until now.

1974s are fun because of the yellow backs, like the 1971 OPCs. There are no floating heads with the '74s but there are the cartoons. (Type is often smaller on OPC backs because of featuring both English and French and I wonder whether this caused Canadian kids to visit the eye doctor more often).

That's all the OPC I have for you today, but as you surmised by the post title, there is more OPC to come. This is a two-parter!

Here is a tease for the second part.

You know it.