#129T Glenn Wilson

IMPACT FACTOR 3/10: Wilson, picked up in the trade mention on the back of the card, was unproductive for half a season in Seattle, but they then traded him to Pittsburgh for Darnell Coles, who was a little better. Coles himself was eventually traded for Tracey Jones, who was decent for parts of 2 seasons.

#117T Bill Swift

I can't understand why Topps produced this card. They gave Swift a regular-issue 1986 card, as well as a regular-issue 1987 card. On both cards, he was with the Mariners. Then, despite not appearing in the big leagues in 1987 or changing teams, they produced this 1988 traded card. Hmm. Odd.

IMPACT FACTOR 5/10 Swift was a below average pitcher for the Mariners over his first four seasons until blossoming as a reliever in 1990 and 1991. Then, they traded him with Dave Burba and Mike Jackson for Kevin Mitchell and Mike Remlinger. That was a lot to give up: Swift, Burba, and Jackson all had productive careers after the trade. Remlinger never appeared in the majors for Seattle, leaving as a free agent and being productive elsewhere. Mitchell had one pretty poor year in Seattle, but they traded him straight up to Cincinnati for Norm Charlton, who gave them one great year before leaving as a free agent. (Charlton came back to Seattle later and was effective for a number of years afterward.)

#112T Jim Snyder

IMPACT FACTOR 1/10: Snyder took over the 1988 Mariners in-season from Dick Williams and kept them right where they were--last place.

#105T Mike Schooler

IMPACT FACTOR 5/10: Schooler was a top closer for the Mariners until he was undone by injuries.

#66T Tino Martinez

IMPACT FACTOR 6/10: Martinez scores a 6, despite all of his best years and championships coming with the Yankees. Constantino was a major force on the 1995 Mariners, the first truly good team the franchise ever had, as well as their first playoff appearance. He was a key factor in the Mariners' ALDS victory over the Yankees that year. He was then traded (along with Jeff Nelson and Jim Mecir) to those same Yankees for Russ Davis and Sterling Hitchcock, two players who were somewhat helpful for the Mariners in the following period.

#31T Henry Cotto

Holy crap, Cotto looks pissed about joining the Mariners!

IMPACT FACTOR 4/10: Cotto was an adequate part-time outfielder for 6 years for the Mariners. He stole a good number of bases at a high rate of success. But what does the trade at the end of his career say about his value? The Mariners traded with him with Jeff Darwin to the Marlins for Dave Magadan. Then, 4 months later, they traded Magadan back to the Marlins for just Darwin (minus Cotto.) Hmm...

#23T Jim Campanis

IMPACT FACTOR 0/10: Campanis never made the big leagues after being drafted by the Mariners. Both his dad and his grandad played in the bigs, though.

#785 Alvin Davis

Why this card is awesome: Because, again, how about an action shot of a great hitter instead of a terrible posed photograph where Davis has a dumb look on his face? I really think Topps was trying to screw Seattle in this set. While Davis didn't live quiet up to the weight put on his shoulders (to singlehandedly turn the franchise around from 10 years of futility) he was in fact a much better hitter than most remember.

Cool stat: Among first basemen who played at least 800 games from 1984 to 1991, Davis was 4th in RBI, 7th in homers, and 2nd in OBP.

#762 Scott Bradley

Why this card is awesome: Because there's another almost-hidden bat, and it's quite grainy! Also, yet another bad trade for the Mariners mentioned on the back. Calderon was no superstar, but he was a good player for the White Sox.

Also this is yet another card featuring a Mariners player looking confused. You can't tell me that somebody at Topps who worked on putting this set together didn't have something against the Mariners, Brewers, and Phillies.

Cool stat: Bradley had just 18 career homers, but he hit 5 of them off two guys: Richard Dotson and Dave Stewart. Both of his homers against Stewart came in the same game, and they were both 2-run jobs, and they were all the runs the Mariners scored as they got obliterated by the A's.

#738 Scott Bankhead

Why this card is awesome: Because, yeah, if being Pitcher of the Week is the best minor-league stat Topps can find on you, you might not be in for a long major-league career.

Cool stat: Truth be told, Bankhead has pretty impressive career stats. A guy with a career WHIP under 1.30 should have had a longer and more successful career. Anyway, George Bell smacked him around pretty well, hitting 5 homers off him while nobody else had more than 3.

#712 John Moses

It seems kind of fitting that this post for a guy named Moses is getting published at a time when many people are in church.

Why this card is awesome: Because this is yet another Mariners card from this set where the player looks tentative and/or nervous. Topps screwed a few teams in this set, including the Phillies and the M's.

Cool stat: Moses is the 11th most-recent major leaguer to play at least 3 games in the outfield and 3 games at pitcher in his career.

#687 Mickey Brantley

Why this card is awesome: Because, geez, Brantley got around in the minor leagues. From Bakersfield CA to Chattanooga TN to Salt Lake City UT to Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Cool stat: Brantley couldn't stick in the majors mainly because of a terrible OBP. Among players who had at least 30 career HR, he had one of the lowest walk totals.

#656 Lee Guetterman

Why this card is awesome: Because, wow, Topps was digging deep for those stats on the back. If they are mentioning somebody ranking tenth in something, it would be nice if it were something like all-time wins by a lefty, not in ERA in one season in some minor league.

Cool stat: Since 1901, just two pitchers have had two seasons with an ERA above 7 over at least 60 innings. Guetterman is one, and surprisingly Hideo Nomo is the other.

#632 Steve Shields

Why this card is awesome: Because of the trade mentioned on the back, one of several bad trades the Mariners made in the 1980s. Scott Bankhead had one excellent full season with Seattle (and a bunch of injury-riddled ones) but Mike Kingery and Steve Shields were both pretty poor players. That's very little to get in return for Danny Tartabull, who hit more than 200 homers and drove in 100 runs 4 different times after he left Seattle. Granted Tartabull had an injury-riddled career as well, but he was still a far more productive player than the three guys Seattle got combined.

Cool stat: Shields is one of just 16 pitchers since 1901 with a career ERA+ under 78 and a W-L% of .500 or better (minimum 16 decisions.) Of course, that's nothing more than dumb luck.

#583 Dave Valle

Why this card is awesome: Because of the mention of his "1st" major league Pinch-HR, as if they expected him to hit a lot more. Checking his splits on B-R.com shows just how many pinch homers Valle had in his career: one.

Cool stat: Valle is the only catcher since 1901 (probably forever) to have 2 different seasons with no more than 350 AB, 50+ RBI, but an OPS+ of 90 or lower. He was a pretty bad hitter but knocked in a few in those 2 years.

#556 Stan Clarke

Why this card is awesome: Because of so many 80s things: unkempt hair, fuzzy mustache, bling necklace, puffy collar, etc, etc.

Cool stat: Clarke tied Dwayne Henry for most seasons between 1983 and 1990 with 23 or fewer IP, despite the fact that he didn't pitch in the majors in 1984 or 1988.

#532 Mike Kingery

Why this card is awesome: Because what's with that silly batting helmet? Isn't it a bit far back on his head? He could take a fastball right to the forehead in that thing.

Cool stat: Kingery was not much of a hitter. His career high in total bases in a game was 7, which he did twice.

#519 Mariners Leaders

Why this card is awesome: Because this card tells you all you need to know about the Mariners franchise from their inception in 1977 to 1988. The two players shown, Harold Reynolds and Phil Bradley, were among the best offensive players the team had ever had, outranked probably by Alvin Davis and Jim Presley (and also by Ken Phelps had he been given adequate playing time.) And yet, Reynolds and Bradley were not all that good. Both put up some good numbers in one or two areas but were not well-rounded players.

Cool stat: I've already sung the praises of Ken Phelps. But check this out: most homers in a season with at most 332 at-bats. Phelps holds 3 of the top 6 places.

#485 Harold Reynolds

Why this card is awesome: Because in early 1988, this card was big news, or at least the fact that Harold Reynolds led the AL in steals in 1987 was. Rickey Henderson had led every year since 1980 and in fact also led 1988 through 1991., until Kenny Lofton ripped off 5 years in a row. Oh, plus the blurry assembly of people on the left looks sort of like Jar Jar Binks.

Cool stat: Reynolds' 1986 is one of the 10 worst seasons since 1901 in OBP with at least 30 stolen bases. That sums up Reynolds' career right there. Fast guy, great baserunner, but couldn't get on base enough to be very valuable.

#453 Dennis Powell

Why this card is awesome: Because of the mullet and that mustache...oh yeah, baby.

Cool stat: Only one guy hit more than 1 homer off Powell: Jeffrey Leonard.