#559 Ken Williams

Why this card is awesome: Because I simply love the minor league shot. That looks like a high school field in the background.

Cool stat: Checking out Williams' career homers, I see that he hit one off Mike Flanagan. Who knows why that is interesting? (A little trivia for you...)

#103 Curt Young

Why this card is awesome: Because of second chances. Look at that terrible, terrible 1985 Young had. In 46 IP, he compiled a 7.24 ERA, more BBs than Ks, and an 0-4 record. But Oakland stuck with him, and Young became a valuable member of the pitching staff, helping them to the World Series in 1988 to 1990 (although he didn't pitch much in any of the post-seasons, actually.)

Cool stat: Young had two complete-game 1 hitters in his career. But they were quite different. This one was your standard 1-hit shutout, with just Kevin Seitzer single in the 7th inning. However, this one, while also a complete-game win, featured 3 runs scoring, with the only hit being a 2-run homer by Ken Williams (current White Sox GM.) The other run scored on a walk, error, and fielder's choice.

#437 Fred Manrique

Why this card is awesome: Because I can't figure out what's in the background. I guess it's very blurry fans sitting in the stands, but it looks sort of like they are sitting on a grassy hillside.

The White Sox color scheme for this 1988 Topps set is really starting to irritate me. Why oh why did they think that hot pink made sense? Or pea green? The White Sox, at this time, wore white, red, and blue. You'd think that they could have picked at least one of those colors.

Cool stat: For players with at most 65 walks in their careers, Manrique has the 14th most strikeouts since 1901, pitchers excluded of course. That's a pretty damn interesting list, led by Bill Schroeder, whose card we saw way back when at the beginning of this blog. Current White Sox GM Ken Williams is on there, as is Rangers manager Ron Washington. And current #1 catcher for the Yankees, Jose Molina, is high up as well.

#566 Charlie O'Brien

Why this card is awesome: Because of the super-classic catcher pose. Look how small his chest protector is! Today, catchers wear something almost twice as large. Also, he's playing on the same minor-league field as Ken Williams.

Cool stat: Charlie O'Brien was THE worst hitting catcher of the late 80s and early 90s. In fact, of the 59 catchers to get at least 600 at bats total from 1987 to 1992, he had the lowest BA. But he must have been a good catcher because he stuck around for 15 years and won a World Series with Atlanta in 1995, doing what Greg Olson, Damon Berryhill, Javier Lopez, Eddie Perez, Johnny Estrada, and Brian McCann weren't able to do.

#646 Checklist 529-660

Why this card is awesome: Because it's interesting that the first and last player in each column on both sides of the card had notable careers. Tim Burke - very good reliever. Tim Wallach - All Star. Ken Williams - successful GM. George Bell - MVP. Doug Drabek - Cy Young. Jim Leyland - successful manager. Frank Viola - Cy Young. Rick Reuschel - All Star.

#734 Craig Lefferts

Why this card is awesome: Because, hey check it out, here is a Giant who was traded to the Giants during 1987 and yet is pictured in an actual Giants jersey, instead of an airbrushed one (like Kevin Mitchell, Dave Dravecky, Dave Henderson, etc.)

Also, a couple of years ago, I assembled a pretty cool trade tree for the Padres. I can't figure out how to upload a high-enough resolution image, so you'll just have to imagine it. But Craig Lefferts appears twice in the same tree.

Anyway, it goes something like this: The Padres drafted Gary Lucas in 1976, and between the '79 and '80 seasons traded him for Al Newman, Fritzie Connally, Carmelo Martinez, and Lefferts. Lefferts was traded before the '87 season to the Giants with Kevin Mitchell and Dave Dravecky (hence the airbrushing in this set) for Chris Brown, Keith Comstock, Mark Davis, and Mark Grant. Chris Brown and Keith Moreland were traded the next year for Walt Terrell. Moreland had been acquired in 1985 with Mike Brumley for Rich Gossage and Ray Hayward. Brumley was traded in 1988 for Luis Salazar. Shortly thereafter, Salazar was packaged with Marvelle Wynne to acquire Calvin Schiraldi, Darrin Jackson, and Phil Stephenson. In 1991, Jackson was flipped for Derek Bell.

Now here's where it gets interesting. In 1993, Bell was packaged as part of a huge trade. Most of you probably remember it. The Padres sent Bell, Ricky Gutierrez, Phil Plantier, Pedro Martinez (not that one), Craig Shipley, and Doug Brocail to the Astros in exchange for Andujar Cedeno, Ken Caminiti, Roberto Petagine, Steve Finley, and Brian Williams. What's fascinating is that the Padres originally obtained Gutierrez from the Orioles in a 1991 trade along with Erik Schullstrom in exchange for...wait for it....wait for it....Craig Lefferts! Lefferts had been re-signed by the Padres as a free agent in 1989.

So the same guy appears in a single trade tree twice, which is pretty unusual.

Whew!

Cool stat: It's easy to see why Lefferts was so highly desired in the first half of his career. From 1983 to 1990, he had one of the best ERA+ among relief pitchers with at least 500 IP. Most of the guys ahead of him were dominant closers, too.