Why this card is awesome: Because, ahh, here is REALLY the last All-Star Rookie card from the 1988 Topps set, and it's a decent one in Matt Nokes. Sure, Nokes didn't ever reproduce his stellar 1987 again, but he was an OK catcher for a few years, certainly accomplishing more as a big-league player than Mike Dunne, Al Pedrique, or Casey Candaele.
Cool stat: Wow, Nokes simply owned Todd Stottlemyre, with 7 homers against him. He also had 4 off Roger Clemens. His overall numbers against Stottlemyre are excellent with 19 RBI in 53 AB.
All in all, Topps did a pretty good job picking this year's All-Star Rookie team. I'd like to get your opinion on the ranking of these 10 players, in terms of how good they were as selections for this team (by whatever criteria you choose.) My list goes: 1) McGwire 2) Burks 3) White 4) Greenwell 5) Seitzer 6) Nokes 7) Candaele 8) Musselman 9) Pedrique 10) Dunne.
I think McGwire has got to be the #1 choice. Overrated as he is, he clearly had the best and most valuable career out of all these guys. Burks was also somewhat overrated, helped by some good years at Coors Field when it was still a huge hitter's park. White very narrowly beats out Greenwell and Seitzer. All three were pretty good and White just managed to do it for a little longer. Of the bottom five, Nokes had the longest and most productive career. Candaele and Musselman stuck around longer than the last two, and Pedrique beats out Dunne because of his post-playing managing career.
Please leave your own list in the comments!
3 comments:
only thing i'd switch is #'s 9 & 10
1) McGwire - clearly the best of the bunch
2) Burks - long, productive career
3) Greenwell - a great hitter who was probably underrated outside of Boston; would be better remembered if not for his injuries
4) Seitzer - similar to Greenwell; but was never quite the same player after getting beaned in the face by Jack Morris
5) White - long career, great defense, but ultimately an average hitter
6) Nokes - just a few impressive seasons
7) Candaele - serviceable utility player
8) Dunne - sure, he was "done" by the time this card was issued, but 1 impressive season is more than Pedrique ever produced
9) Musselman - similar to Dunne; actually had 2 notable seasons as reliever but his career quickly fizzled
10) Pedrique - not much to be said.
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