#97T Cookie Rojas

I love the reflective sunglasses! As I've mentioned before, they are so common these days, but back in the late 1980s it was rare to get a card where you could see some stuff reflected like that.

IMPACT FACTOR 1/10: Rojas managed the Angels to a fairly even record in 1988 before being replaced by Moose Stubing near the tail end of the season. Rojas managed only one other game as an interim skipper for the Marlins in 1996. He has had a much more significant post-playing career as a coach than as a manager.

#85T Dan Petry

Here's a neat oddity. Petry was traded from Detroit to (what was then called) California for the guy featured on the very next card in the set, Gary Pettis.

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10: Petry was a below-average pitcher for 2 seasons for the Angels.

#45T Bryan Harvery

IMPACT FACTOR 5/10: Harvey was one of the better closers in the game in the late 80s and early 90s, and had two truly outstanding seasons in 1991 (with the Angels) and 1993 (with the Marlins.)

#32T Chili Davis

As compared to the preceding card, Davis looks pretty thrilled to be joining the Angels.

IMPACT FACTOR 4/10: Davis came and left as a free agent, playing three effective years for the Angels from 1988 to 1990. In his impact factor, I'm not counting his 4 future years for the Angels in 1993-1996, when he was actually even better.

Interestingly, despite playing 7 seasons with the Angels, Davis probably had more impact with every other team he played for (Giants, Twins, and Yankees) except for the Royals. He helped all those other teams either get to the post season or to win championships.

#1T Jim Abbott

Before we talk about Abbott, I need to point out that Topps included Olympic cards in this set, as evidenced by this very first card of the set. This is the second time they included Olympic cards, the last time being in the regular-issue 1985 set, which ended up giving us the true rookie cards of Mark McGwire, Cory Snyder, and others. There are quite a few players in the 1988 Olympic subset that had a significant impact in the major leagues.

IMPACT FACTOR 6/10 Abbott is an unusual case. He pitched 4 pretty good years for the Angels before being traded (essentially) for J.T. Snow, who didn't do too much for the Angels or bring much in trade. There were a few lesser players involved in the trade too. Abbott, however, was a very popular player due to the success he achieved despite an uncommon physical aspect, namely the lack of a hand on his right arm. this didn't prevent Abbott from being an effective pitcher, fielder, or hitter. He had a 3rd-place Cy Young finish in 1991 and deserved a 15-8 record in 1992 (neutralized) instead of the incredibly unlucky 7-15 he was actually saddled with. But as I mentioned, Abbott's popularity (and attendance at his games) went well beyond his stats.

#774 Gene Mauch

Why this card is awesome: Because this is the last manager card in the set, and it's a good one. Mauch had a very long managerial career and, although he had less success with his teams than a lot of other managers, he made a huge mark on the game.

Cool stat: Mauch finished his playing career with 104 BB and just 82 K's. That used to happen all the time in the early 20th century, but Mauch is the 6th most-recent player to do it.

Deceased players and managers: 20

Mauch died in 2005. He's the second of just two managers in this set who have already passed away.

Mauch is also the final deceased person from the regular 1988 Topps set. (I haven't checked to see if anybody from the 1988 Topps Traded set is deceased.)

#761 Tony Armas

Why this card is awesome: Because I'm pretty sure Armas either homered or struck out on that pitch. Snicker.

Armas is the father of current major leaguer player...you guessed it...Tony Armas.

Cool stat: Armas was a classic Rob Deer type. He had massive power but had some years with a very low batting average, and he couldn't take a walk to save his life. To think that a guy with a .287 career OBP had 3 years of more than 35 HR is crazy. He had the lowest OBP in a season with at least 35 HR (although Dave Kingman's representation on that list cannot be ignored.) He also had the lowest OBP in a season with at least 40 HR. And he has BY FAR the lowest OBP of any player with at least 250 career HR.

#737 Butch Wynegar

Why this card is awesome: Because of the cool wrist band with the diamond on it. Who knows what it says?

Cool stat: Wynegar had a great start to his career. He's one of just 5 guys to have at least 10 HR, 2 3B, 600 PAs, and 68 BB in each of his first two seasons. The others include Ted Williams, Albert Pujols, and Jeff Bagwell (wow!) But Wynegar wasn't a great hitter nor did he have great power, and his career went downhill from there.

Two notes: 1) As always, B-R.com counts cups of coffee as a first season, so this search may miss some guys who should really be on the list. 2) It's pretty remarkable how similar Wynegar's first two seasons are to each other, statistically. Pujols did the same thing.

#708 Gus Polidor

Why this card is awesome: Because is it my imagination, or are there stacks and stacks of Angels caps in this photo?

Cool stat: Polidor never had more than 4 total bases in any single game.

Deceased players and managers: 18

Two dead players in a span of just 3 cards.

#679 Darrell Miller

Why this card is awesome: Because of that weird effect going on in the dugout--looks like fancy yellow laser beams going across the card.

Cool stat: Miller was one of 9 players to have 140 or fewer ABs every year from 1984 to 1988, covering his entire career. He sure played a lot of positions, though--97 games at catcher, 54 in right field, 34 in left field, 16 at first base, 8 in center field, 2 at third base, and 8 more as DH. Wow.

#649 DeWayne Buice

Why this card is awesome: Because this card has Buice's name wrong. His first name is "De Wayne," with a space, not DeWayne without a space.

Buice had a short major league career, but played a lot in the minors. More importantly, he holds a much greater significance to baseball card collectors, as one of the major forces that helped Upper Deck get off the ground. See here for more.

Cool stat: In the last 30 years, Buice cracks the top 25 for fewest hits per 9 innings in a season with at least 110 IP exclusively in relief.

#631 Jack Howell

Why this card is awesome: Because of a serious anger face that Howell is sporting. Also, the back of the card has a telltale was stain from being on the top of a wax pack. The top card on every wax pack had a stain like that.

Cool stat: Howell's got the second fewest RBIs in a season with 20 HR and a qualifying number of PAs (502.) Interestingly, the guy on the last card, Darrell Evans, had the fewest extra-base hits in a season with the same criteria.

#601 Jack Lazorko

Why this card is awesome: Because he got his first major league save nearly 3 years before his first major league win! Even for guys who pitch exclusively in relief, that's got to be pretty rare.

Cool stat: Lazorko is one of just 28 pitchers since 1901 to pitch at least 60 innings in his first 3 seasons, getting at least 1 save and no wins.

#575 Don Sutton

Why this card is awesome: Because right after Graig Nettles, here's another super veteran, Don Sutton. Judging by the 1987 Angels defensive stats, I'm guessing that's either Mark McLemore or Johnny Ray in the background at second base.

Cool stat: How many HOFers do you think Sutton faced in his career? Take a guess--how many HOF players ever stepped up to the plate against Sutton? Now click here and realize how much you underguessed by. Overall, Sutton pitched pretty damn well against the group.

Hall of Fame count: 36

#524 Gary Lucas

Why this card is awesome: Because, wow, his cap looks to be about 6 sizes too large. I think maybe he has a ham sandwich under that thing.

And, this is the second Gary card in a row.

Cool stat: Lucas pitched in some bad luck in 1982. That was one of just 10 seasons since 1956 where a pitcher who pitched exclusively in relief had an ERA+ of at least 105, got 10 or more losses, and no more than 5 wins. And Lucas had the lowest W-L% of all. There are some good names on that list, including Lee Smith who did it twice.

Sort of the opposite of Mitch Williams.

#498 Bob Boone

Why this card is awesome: Because I love this very old-fashioned photo for such an old-school player. Seriously, other than that he's wearing an Angels' uniform, this photo could be 30 years older than it actually was.

Cool stat: For a period of time, Boone was the master of the 50-some-RBI seasons.

In case you've been living under a rock, Boone is the father of current major leaguer Aaron Boone and the recently-retired Bret Boone, and is the son of former major-leaguer Ray Boone.

Oh, plus Bret Boone = Enter Boob

#471 Donnie Moore

I'm skipping why this card is awesome, because it's the most heartbreaking card in the set. Everybody remembers how the Mets got past the Red Sox to win the World Series in 1986, but few remember how the Red Sox themselves got past the Angels in the 1986 ALCS in similar fashion. Moore needed one more strike to clinch the series for the Angels, instead giving up a homer to Dave Henderson. It's eerily similar to Bill Buckner's fate. Buckner's error in Game 6 of that year's World Series didn't even cost Boston that GAME and yet Buckner was blamed for losing the entire series. While it's true that Buckner's error was a significant contributing factor, numerous other Red Sox played badly after that error to lose both Games 6 and 7. Moore's gopher ball to Henderson lost the lead for the Angels in Game 5, but that game wasn't lost officially until extra innings. And then as a team, the Angels lost Games 6 and 7. And yet, Moore was nearly single-handedly blamed for the series loss.

The media often reported that Moore suffered from depression even before 1986, but that these events placed a terrible burden on Moore and eventually led to the attempted homicide of his wife, followed by his own suicide in 1989. The Wikipedia page for Moore describes much of his career and these later events in detail.

The photo of Moore on this card seems to tell the entire story of the 1986 playoffs and Moore's burden. I only wish that Moore had lived long enough to see the Angels win the World Series in 2002. In the same way that Buckner received much-overdue forgiveness and embrace from Boston, I'd like to think that Moore would have received the same.

Fortunately, the 1988 Topps set doesn't have too many cards that remind us of sad happenings. This card, though, is definitely the most heartbreaking one, serving as a reminder of the tragedy of Donnie Moore.

Cool stat: Moore's 1985 is one of just 7 seasons in history where a pitcher had 100 IP, ERA+ of 200, and 30 saves.

Deceased players and managers: 14

#446 Doug DeCinces

Why this card is awesome: Because it's unusual to see a guy carrying a batting glove in just one hand. Lots of guys carries one glove in each hand, but I've never seen one only. Let's call that "Michael Jackson base-running."

This was DeCinces' last card.

Cool stat: DeCinces is one of just 2 guys to have at least 11 HR and under 100 RBI every single season from 1976 to 1987. The other guy, Darrell Evans, got the better end of this deal in terms of his reputation. Had DeCinces managed 100 RBIs once or twice in that stretch, he might be remembered as a star.

#420 Wally Joyner

Why this card is awesome: Because Joyner's pointing straight at the ground. I bet you've looked at this card dozens of times and never noticed that! Also, another mention of current Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon. He was a pretty good scout, it seems.

Cool stat: I do not like Joyner and I don't feel like spending time researching a cool stat. But I will point out that he didn't strike out very much, and had only 10 games with 3 strikeouts in his career. Don Mattingly had similar career numbers to Joyner and he did it only 5 times.

#381 Angels Leaders

Why this card is awesome: Because have you ever seen two guys who look less happy about their picture being taken? Wally Joyner looks like he's holding back some chunks, and Jack Howell looks like he's holding in some turds.

Cool stat: The 1988 Angels were one of 4 teams that year to have 2 players with at least 14 intentional walks.