#408 Dion James

Why this card is awesome: Because of the old-school shot of James wearing the batting helmet over his cap. You don't see that at all anymore these days, nor do I recall seeing it on any card in this set so far.

Cool stat: James was a bad base-stealer. Since 1970, he's up on the leaderboard for most seasons with at least 7 CS with no more than 10 SB. He finished with more BB than K in his career, though.

#407 Steve Bedrosian

Why this card is awesome: Because I think Bedrosian has a puppy under that cap. It's the only reasonable explanation for why it's so far off his head and so uneven and lumpy.

#406 Shane Rawley

Why this card is awesome: Because what a terrible choice!! Sure Rawley had 17 wins in 1987, but he also had a 1.463 WHIP and a below-average ERA. Any other guy named on the back of the card (even Zane Smith) would have been a better choice. And the idea of throwing the Phillies a bone is out the window, too, since Juan Samuel already had a card and Bedrock is coming right up.

#405 Dwight Gooden All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because Gooden cracked the top 10 in K's in 1987 despite starting only 25 games.

#404 Benny Santiago All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because that thin mustache sure could use some steroids.

#403 Tim Raines All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because Raines hit .330 in 1987 but was buried 40 points behind Tony Gwynn. If not for Gwynn, Raines might have gotten the recognition he deserved.

Raines didn't do so well on the HOF ballot last year (his first year of eligibility) but he will make it in around 2013. Mark it down. He's one of my all-time favorite players.

#402 Tony Gwynn All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because this is a great card for a great player, and those notes on the back are amazing. I can't be reminded too often that he hit a whopping .370 in 1987.

Hall of Fame count: 29

#401 Andre Dawson All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because, although I criticzed the GW-RBI card for having Dawson at the top, I don't criticize him for being first on this one. 137 RBI for a last-place team and winning the RBI title by such a large margin are two impressive feats for Dawson.

#400 Ozzie Smith All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because, stupidly, this is card #400. Because Topps chose to place the All-Star cards right in the middle of the set, they lost the chance to assign card #400 as a regular card to a star player. Now, granted, Ozzie Smith is a great choice for an even-hundred card, but I would much rather have seen his regular card there instead of his All-Star card. It makes that Glenn Hubbard selection even worse, too.

Hall of Fame count: 28

#399 Tim Wallach

Why this card is awesome: Because this card is another nice demonstration of how stupid the game-winning RBI stat was. Andre Dawson, who famously won the 1987 NL MVP despite the Cubs being a last-place team, managed to tie for first place in GW RBI. This could happen only if Dawson had a simply incredible, probability-defying season, or if the stat was not really a very good measure of much anything. Dawson had a great year, no doubt, but I'm still going with the second explanation.

I also like the shot of Wallach wearing the batting helmet. It's a nice card for a somewhat underrated player.

#398 Juan Samuel All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because of that neat stat on the back. You can tell from this list that Samuel is still the only player to achieve it. (The Play Index, of course, counts even cups of coffee as first seasons, which is why it's hard to look up "the first four seasons" per se.)

Comments

What happened, all you commenters? I can see from the SiteMeter readings that everybody's still reading the posts, but we haven't been getting many comments...what gives?

#397 Jack Clark All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because of another unflattering photo. Check out that gap in Clark's front teeth. Naughty photographer.

Hey guess what?

We're halfway done with the set.

How do you feel, knowing that we're on the downward slope? :)

#396 Tom Henke All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because this is one of the ugliest all-time cards. Henke's got those terrible aviator specs going, plus the photographer caught a ridge of fat running from ear to ear. If we didn't know that Henke was a trim guy, you might think from this photo that he was chubby.

#395 Jimmy Key

Why this card is awesome: Because Jimmy's showing some serious neck bling! Also 1987 was a pretty good year for AL starting pitchers. There were only two years in the 1980s when more AL pitchers won at least 19 games.

#394 Roger Clemens All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because of two words: helmet hair!

#393 Matt Nokes All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because Nokes doesn't appear on the back of this card. As commenter Jim mentioned, it would have made more sense to put this HR list on the back of the George Bell card, and put the GW RBI list on Nokes' card, although Nokes doesn't appear on that one either.

#392 Dave Winfield All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because it took 392 cards, but Topps finally did it! They got an entire player's head completely engulfed in shadows! Good thing Winfield's million-dollar smile still lights up the card.

I think this is the first All-Star card we've seen so far where the player on the front doesn't make the leaderboard on the back. Winfield was such a big guy that we often forget that he was a great baserunner and actually stole 15 or more bases in a season 8 different times.

Hall of Fame count: 27

#391 Kirby Puckett All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because do you notice in the very bottom right of the back of the card the letter "C"? I just noticed that some of these All-Star cards have a "C" and others have an "E." Who knows what they mean?

Deceased players and managers: 12

Hall of Fame count: 26

#390 George Bell All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because as stupid a stat as game-winning RBI was, the list is still kind of interesting, especially to see Tartabull so far out in the lead. Kansas City was mediocre in 1987 but I guess with Seitzer hitting ahead of him, Tartabull got a lot of chances.

#389 Alan Trammell All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because this card is a reminder of just how underrated Trammell's double-play partner Lou Whitaker was. Sweet Lou is actually higher on the list on the back than Trammell.

#388 Wade Boggs All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because of that stuck-on mustache. Did you know that Boggs' mustache is fake?

Hall of Fame count: 26

#387 Willie Randolph All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because it's so weird to see a card from 1988 that notes on-base percentage! I don't think any card manufacturers regularly listed OBP on the backs of cards back in 1988, so to me this list seems very strange.

#386 Don Mattingly All-Star

Why this card is awesome: Because although the yellow color is a bit of an odd choice, I really like how Topps made the All-Star cards special this year. In most of the other seasons in the 1980s, the All-Star cards were so similar-looking to the regular cards that they were tough to distinguish. This is one of the first times I can remember a card manufacturer making special subset cards that, while part of the normal run, were so vastly differently to the design of the main set. The fonts are all different, the layout of the names, etc.

Cool stat: I'm skipping the cool stats for the all-star cards. Look at the card backs for your stats fun :)