#571 Mark Williamson

Why this card is awesome: Because now I know why I always confused Mark Williamson and Eric Bell. Previously, I thought Bell's card resembled Chuck Crim's card, but take a look at this:



I mean, seriously, folks. Look at the wall behind these guys. They are in the exact same location, looking in the same direction, wearing the same uniform, and everything.

I've taken the liberty of simply fusing these cards together. I give you late-80s player "Mark Bell":


Cool stat: Williamson's got one of the most recent seasons with an ERA+ of at least 400 (!!), minimum 15 IP.

#162 Mark McLemore

Why this card is awesome: Because this is THE GENUINE ARTICLE Mark McLemore, not the fake version.

Cool stat: McLemore is one of just 7 guys in history (since they kept track of outfield defensive positions) to have multiple seasons where he played at least 1 game at each position of DH, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, and RF.

#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.

1988 Topps Gallery of Champions (part 2)

As promised, here are the cards from the 1988 Topps Gallery of Champions. I scanned only the fronts (except for the Tony Gwynn back in the previous post) since they are the interesting part. Also note that the scans didn't always turn out great since the cards are 3D.

The players were selected based on 1987 awards and performances. Click on any image for a larger version.

Steve Bedrosian (NL Cy Young and NL Fireman)



George Bell (AL MVP)



Wade Boggs (AL Batting)



Jack Clark (NL Slugging)



Roger Clemens (AL Cy Young)



Andre Dawson (NL Home Runs and NL MVP)



Tony Gwynn (NL Batting)



Mark Langston (AL Strikeouts)



Mark McGwire (AL Home Runs, AL Slugging, and AL Rookie of the Year)



Dave Righetti (AL Fireman)



Nolan Ryan (NL Strikeouts)



Benny Santiago (NL Rookie of the Year)

I am working on the contest to give away this entire set. I should have it up tonight or tomorrow, so keep your eyes out.

#417 Mark Ciardi

Why this card is awesome: Because despite making the big leagues, that fact on the back about him being a part of a ski team in high school may be the best thing we can say about him.

Cool stat: In the 1980s, Mark Ciardi's 1987 was one of the worst seasonal ERAs. Actually, Joel McKeon's 1987 was even worse and we just saw his card recently.

88 Topps Giveaway #10

This one is a huge giveaway. The first person to figure out the question below wins the following:

• Cards 551-650 of the 1988 Topps set, which include Don Sutton, Mark McGwire, George Bell, Mike Schmidt, Kirk Gibson, Cecil Fielder, Cory Snyder, Matt Nokes, and Cal Ripken.
• A paperback copy of John Schuerholz's autobiography, which I found pretty droll.
  

• The George Bell All-Time Fan Favorites card.
• And a whole bunch of packs that I opened on A Pack a Day, all containing star/HOF cards: a 1990 Fleer rack pack, a 1984 Topps wax pack, a LOADED 1987 Donruss rack pack (section 1, 2, and 3), and a 1988 Sportsflics wax pack. Check the links and you can see all the cards you're getting.
  

All you have to do to win is be the first commenter to post the name of the five current major league ballplayers identified below:

1) Complete dromedaries
2) Sabermetric female horses
3) After this, guy who kicks the ball on 4th down
4) Cartography for felines
5) Homicide of upper body garment

A bit of wordplay is involved...

#742 Mark Clear

Why this card is awesome: Because this card is a bit of an optical illusion, making clear look like one of his legs is about 2 feet shorter than the other.

Cool stat: Clear was lucky. He finished with a career ERA+ of 109 but didn't really deserve it due to all the hits and walks he gave up. In fact, he has the highest career WHIP of anybody with an ERA+ that high, minimum 700 IP. (If I lowered the innings limit a bit, Mitch Williams would slide into the #1 spot.)

#275 Kevin Seitzer

Why this card is awesome: Because of a funny misread on my part. 1988 Topps was the first set I ever collected, and I wasn't that familiar with the players when I started buying packs in the offseason before the '88 season. For some reason, I misread this card as "Kevin Seltzer." I thoroughly embarrassed myself in a group of friends by referring to him several times as "Seltzer." This is a nice card and another great selection for the All-Star Rookie team. Topps did a great job this year picking All-Star Rookies. So far we've had Devon White and Ellis Burks as great selections, and Jeff Musselman as a bad pick. Coming up, if memory serves, we've got Al Pedrique and Mike Dunne as bad choices, but also Matt Nokes and Mark McGwire. Not sure if I've got that right, but stick with the blog and time will tell!

Cool stat: Seitzer had 4 games with 2 homers, and this one was for the ages. Six-for-six, two homers, a double, 4 runs scored, and 7 batted in. Nice.

#638 Steve Balboni

Why this card is awesome: Because if you know Steve Balboni, you know he was one of the strongest guys ever to play baseball, and yet he has such little muscle definition in this photo. That, my friends, is a pre-Steroids Era photo.

Cool stat: Next to Mark McGwire's 2001, Balboni had the highest OPS+ in a season with at least 200 AB but a batting average under .195. He may not have gotten a lot of hits, but many of them went over the fence. In fact, for players with fewer than 800 career hits, Balboni's got the most home runs of all time.

#42T Mark Grace

Here's another great rookie card from the set.

IMPACT FACTOR 9/10: Grace was a fantastic player for the Cubs, playing the first 13 years of his career with them before heading out to Arizona. He had the most hits of the 1990s. The only thing that keeps Grace from getting a 10 is that the Cubs didn't have any post-season success with him. In 1989, that wasn't Grace's fault. In the 5 games against the Giants in the NLCS, Grace had an 1.800 OPS (not a typo) with 11 hits and 8 RBI.

I'm sure that Cubs fans will push for Grace to get into the HOF, but he falls quite short, actually.

#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.

For trade

I have a bunch of stuff I've accumulated that I'd like to trade. There's nothing of massive value here, but it's too difficult to bother selling this stuff on eBay. If you'd like any of it, just let me know.

I'm looking for Don Mattingly cards, preferably more recent special insert cards, as opposed to regular cards from his playing days. I would prefer to be surprised, so send me an email telling me what you want and your address, and I'll ship the stuff out. Then you can send me whatever you've got for trade. Don't worry if you don't have lots to trade--I'll be happy with anything. If you don't have any Mattingly cards, I'll take a pack of 2008 UD Goudey instead.

Here's what I've got to trade:

• #1: Factory sealed 1988 Donruss Baseball's Best set with a small tear on the outer cellophane but everything else intact and unopened.
• #2: About 1500 cards from 1985 to 1989, mostly Topps, including lots of rookies, stars, and HOFers. If you've never collected from this era, you can get lots of the best cards from these years in this lot. I will throw in 20 autographed 1988 Topps cards that I never got to on this blog, including Charlie Hough, Mark Gubicza, Tim Wallach, Jamie Moyer, and a bunch of other interesting players.
  
• #3: About 400 cards from 1999 to present, mostly 2007-2008, all manufacturers, including a number of short prints, rare sets, a few patch cards, etc. This box probably has some value in it and is a great intro for folks who have collected more recently. I also think some of you bloggers might enjoy breaking this one on your blog.
• #4: Six unopened packs of UD Series 2 2008 baseball from a blaster. I pulled a relic card out of one pack and then stopped opening, so I'm pretty sure that none of these packs contain one.
• #5: Any of these PSA graded cards (you can take them individually, not necessarily this whole this): 1961 Topps Bob Schmidt PSA 5, 1967 Topps Phil Regan PSA 7, 1967 Topps Jack Aker PSA 6, 1969 Topps Gary Bell PSA 4, 1975 Topps '74 Highlights [S Busby, D Bosman, N Ryan] PSA 6, 1986 Topps Kirby Puckett PSA 8, 1988 Topps Wade Boggs PSA 9
• #6: About 50 singles selected for being in excellent condition, mainly star players and HOFers, dating 1975 to early 1990s, though most of the cards are from the early 1980s. Includes Nolan Ryan, Robin Yount, Eddie Murray, Ozzie Smith, Kirby Puckett, Don Mattingly, Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose, and lots of others. This one goes as a lot.
  

Just email me at 88topps at gmail dot com if you're interested in any of this stuff.

Tournament poll #8

Here's our final matchup of the first round, and it ain't an easy one either.



Leading off is #4 Eddie Murray Record Breaker. In 1988, this was a bad-ass card featuring a bad-ass player. The double shot of Murray taking both a lefty and a righty swing was inspired, and nobody could see this card without looking at it carefully. The solid red background that Topps chose for the record breakers this year was a very nice way of setting these cards apart from the rest of the set. (Usually, they made their record breakers in very similar style to the rest of the set.) Also throw in the fact that this card had an error version, creating even more interest. Finally, there aren't too many examples of cards featuring two HOFers who are the same guy!



Murray's competition this time comes from #759, Athletics Leaders. While the careers of both McGwire and Canseco ended in controversy, these two guys were just about the hottest players in baseball in 1988. Mark McGwire had just won Rookie of the Year honors by hitting 49 HRs in 1987, and Canseco (himself two years removed from the ROY award) became the first player ever to hit 40 HR with 40 SB in the same season in 1988. These guys were at the top of everybody's hot list in 1988 and their cards were extremely sought after. If I remember correctly, this card booked for as much as $2.00 back in 1988, totally unheard of for a team leaders card.

Tough choice, my readers. (Don't be mislead by the fact that my scan for the Murray card is pretty low quality!)

Online Surveys & Market Research

#106 Jim Walewander

Why this card is awesome: Because Walewander couldn't look more like a rookie here. Fresh face, oversized hat, unbuttoned jersey. Geez. Also, it''s kind of sad that the card mentions him belting his first ML homer, before Topps knew that would be his only ML homer.

Cool stat: His most career RBIs came against none other than Mark Langston.

#59T Ray Knight

IMPACT FACTOR 1/10: Knight had one lackluster season with Detroit to close out his career. At least they gave up only Mark Thurmond to acquire him.

#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.)

#655 Len Dykstra

Why this card is awesome: Because, hey look, it's another Expo in the background! And if you thought there was a big difference in Mark McGwire's appearance over the years, compare Nails above to this photo:



A bit thicker all around, eh?

The Phillies' trade for Dykstra was a great one. In addition to getting Lenny, the Phils also got Roger McDowell in exchange for Juan Samuel. Samuel stuck around for many more years but was never the same player, whereas Dykstra and McDowell (less so) did some great things for the Phillies.

Cool stat: Only two guys have ever had a season with 30 stolen bases, 120 walks, and 140 runs scored. Dykstra did it in the Phillies' magical year of 1993, but you probably can't guess who the other one was.

#19 Mark Davidson

Why this card is awesome: Like the Al Leiter card, this one looks like it was taken very late in the day, which I like. But what makes this card awesome is found on the back. The scout who signed Davidson was named...Red Robbins!

Cool stat: Davidson had just 57 career RBIs but managed 5 off of Zane Smith. He also had 2 out of 27 career doubles and 1 out of 6 career homers against Smith.

#439 Dave Martinez

Why this card is awesome: Because I always liked this card, and I've always liked Martinez. Although not an action shot or a posed shot, this is a good photo of Martinez. He was heralded around this time as one of their top two offensive rookies (Mark Grace being the other) and although he didn't pan out quite the way the Cubs had hoped, he had a long career, and always seemed highly valued by his teams.

Martinez holds a rare distinction of being traded three times during one active season, 2000. The Rays traded him to the Cubs in May. The Cubs traded him to the Rangers in June. The Rangers traded him to the Blue Jays in August.

Cool stat: Over Martinez' career from 1986 to 2001, he makes the top 10 in MLB for triples. He also did it in many fewer plate appearances than most of the other players, although Lance Johnson has everyone beat by a country mile, hitting way more triples than anybody else at a very high rate.

#580 Mark McGwire

Why this card is awesome: Because of the laughable notion on the back that McGwire could play 3B. After he bulked up, I doubt he could even crouch enough to play there.

Cool stat: Sure McGwire's in the 500-HR club, but he's got the fewest RBI of all.

McGwire's not in the Hall of Fame yet, and my guess is he never makes it. He was a tremendously one-dimensional player and the andro and steroids stuff ain't gonna help.

Still, this is a great card.