#124T Robin Ventura

Here's one of the other top rookie cards in this traded set. Overall, the Olympic players in this set did quite well for themselves.

IMPACT FACTOR 7/10: Ventura played 9 full seasons with the White Sox (plus a cup of coffee in 1989) and was one of the most important players in that franchise's return to excellence. Thanks to Wade Boggs, Ventura didn't make many all-star games, but Robin was one of the top power-hitting 3Bs in the game for a long stretch.

#99T Mark Salas

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10: Salas was a pretty decent backup for Carlton Fisk for one year before leaving as a free agent.

#83T Melido Perez

IMPACT FACTOR 3/10: Perez pitched 4 seasons for the White Sox and was (much like his brother) reasonably decent with fairly frequent flashes of brilliance. For example, in 1990 he made 35 starts and finished with an ERA+ of just 83 and yet he threw 3 complete-game shutouts. Eventually he was traded to the Yankees in what turned out to be a stinky deal for Chicago. They got Steve Sax who had very little left, but gave up Perez, Domingo Jean, and Bob Wickman. Jean had a very brief major league career, but Wickman turned out to be one of the best relievers of the last 15 years.

#82T Dan Pasqua

IMPACT FACTOR 4/10: Pasqua came to from the Yankees in a trade that cost the White Sox little, and was with them for 7 seasons. The first 4 of those seasons were pretty productive, although with limited playing time.

#68T Jack McDowell

Blackjack! Here's one of the best rookie cards in the set!

IMPACT FACTOR 6/10: McDowell was a fantastic pitcher for the White Sox in the late 80's and early 90's. He was the first of 4 outstanding #1 draft picks by the White Sox, followed by Robin Ventura in 1988, Frank Thomas in 1989, and Alex Fernandez in 1990. McDowell, along with those other players, helped return the White Sox to prominence after years of futility. After winning 20 games in 1992, he won 22 (and the Cy Young award) in 1993, helping get the White Sox to the post-season for the first time in a while. Had McDowell not been hit hard twice by the Blue Jays in the ALCS, he would have gotten a higher score. Eventually, the White Sox traded him just as he was losing his effectiveness to the Yankees, picking up a useful part-timer in Lyle Mouton.

#51T Ricky Horton

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10: Horton came to the White Sox in that same Lance Johnson trade, a pretty good deal for Chicago. He pitched one fairly bad season for them before being traded to the Dodgers for Shawn Hillegas. Hillegas was at best decent for the ChiSox over parts of three seasons, and was then packaged in a trade that brought Cory Snyder. Snyder was abysmal for the White Sox before being traded for 2 guys who did almost nothing for the White Sox.

#788 Ray Searage

Why this card is awesome: Because this is a guy most people never heard of, and yet he managed a 0.62 ERA in 1986, at least just with the White Sox. Seriously. Check it out.

Cool stat: I don't know a good way of looking up a stat like this, but check out what Searage did in 1986. He pitched 22 innings with Milwaukee to a 6.95 ERA, which is really bad. Then he pitched 29 innings with Chicago (AL) to a 0.62 ERA, which is really good. I wonder how many other pitchers ever had such a split. Here are the leaders for most IP in a full season allowing 2 or fewer ER.

#764 Greg Walker

Why this card is awesome: Because turnabout is fair play. Here's a photo of a White Sox player at Comiskey, showing the Red Sox's catcher. Most of the Red Sox cards are from this same game and show the White Sox catcher's mitt.

If I remember correctly, Walker has epilepsy, or at least had a few seizures during his playing days. I'm not sure to what extent that contributed to his fairly short career.

Cool stat: 100 RBI is one of those magical numbers that so many whuse to separate great players from average players. Walker managed 100 RBIs in a season but from 1984 to 1987, he managed at least 24 HR with no more than 95 RBI three different times. He wasn't a superstar but he deserved to be remembered better than he is.

#739 Darryl Boston

Why this card is awesome: Because the shadow over Boston's face combined with his cool pose makes him look super badass!

Cool stat: Boston was a good part-time player. Since the beginning of his career in 1984, he's one of just 3 guys with at least 3 seasons having double-digit HRs and SBs in no more than 370 AB.

It seems criminal that Boston never played for Boston.

#714 Jim Fregosi

Why this card is awesome: Because right behind Fregosi's name, this is the only instance in this set of the older White Sox logo showing the little abstract figure batting. I wonder if this is an older photo and that logo was out of use by 1987, or if we see it here only because this is the only White Sox card in the set showing a warm-up jersey. Oh, Steve? Little help?

Cool stat: Fregosi had long careers as both a player and a manager. He was a good hitter in the first half of his career, and makes this list of the only guys to have at least 220 total bases every year from 1963 to 1970. Check out his company: Yaz, Billy Williams, Santo, Clemente, and Bad Henry. Pretty damned impressive, actually.

Also, check out the pitchers listed below on the back of the card. With that staff, it's a wonder they won any games at all.

#688 Jim Winn

Why this card is awesome: Because if you're going to be a pitcher, Winn is such a rough name, since it's so easy to joke how rarely he actually did "Winn" ball games. It's so much better to be Early Wynn in this case, who managed to "Wynn" 300 games. At least Jimmy Wynn and Marvell Wynne didn't have to worry about this stuff.

Cool stat: Over the last 50 years, Winn has one of the highest total IP for a pitcher with a K/BB ratio very close to 1 (specifically between 0.98 and 1.02.) I can't believe Mike Torres won 185 games while topping this list. Back on Tim Laudner's card, we saw that Winn was the only guy he hit multiple homers off of. Well, Laudner is not the only guy Winn gave up multiple homers too.

#657 Gary Redus

Why this card is awesome: Because, ladies and gentlemen, I give you: THE BLURRIEST PERSON EVER IN THE BACKGROUND OF A BASEBALL CARD.

Cool stat: Redus had one of the lowest batting averages for a player with at least 300 SB. He was only slightly better than his contemporary namesake, Gary Pettis.

#634 Jose DeLeon

Why this card is awesome: Because of the bad trade, though not as bad as you might think, mentioned on the back. The Pirates picked up Bobby Bonilla, a very valuable player for them, straight up for DeLeon.

Cool stat: Over the last 30 years, DeLeon is the only guy to lose at least 19 games in a season more than once. But he had a lot of good years too and finished with an above-average ERA. His 2-19 record in 1985 neutralizes to 6-11, while his 7-19 record in 1990 neutralizes to 8-12. He also had 2 of the 3 best hit rates among 19-game losers in the last 30 years (but also the 2 worst walk rates.)

Anyway, DeLeon wasn't nearly as bad a pitcher as he is remembered.

#613 Bobby Thigpen

Why this card is awesome: Because Thigpen sure burned through the minors. Signed in 1985 and made it to the bigs by 1986!

Cool stat: Thigpen was the first pitcher ever to record 50+ saves in a season with an ERA+ of at least 200. He still holds the single-season record for saves, although it has been challenged a few times.

#585 Ozzie Guillen

Why this card is awesome: Because of the bonus shot of Bob Boone, catching for the Angels. Now, here's a question for Steve. We can also see the White Sox' first base coach in that shot. Who would that have been in 1987? Maybe we can uptick the Hall of Fame counter!

If you've been living under a rock, Guillen is now the manager of the White Sox.

Cool stat: Guillen was a horrendous offensive player. How bad? For players amassing at least 7000 PA since 1980, he has the worst OBP. He's the only guy under .300 and he's worst by a good margin. And look who's number 2! Number 1 Mr. Overrated, Joe Carter.

#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...)

#511 Joel Davis

Why this card is awesome: Because Joel Davis is looking in your direction, ready to seduce you with his sexy facial hair.

Cool stat: Davis had a pretty short and unremarkable career, but here are some guys he kicked ass against.

#486 Pat Keedy

Why this card is awesome: Because which reddish object is less welcome? His sensual red lips, or his Michael Jackson-like red gloves?

Cool stat: Keedy hit 3 big-league homers, and they came off good pitchers: Joaquin Andujar, Jeff Russell, and Mark Langston. And they all tied the game or put his team ahead.

#458 Ron Hassey

Why this card is awesome: Because this is an unusually relaxed pose for this set. Most guys are either in action shots or actually posed for the camera. Maybe Hassey's going to take some practice cuts in a few minutes, or maybe he's going to hang out on the edge of the cage all day. Who knows?

Cool stat: Hassey hit pretty well against some good pitchers. Minimum 25 plate appearances, he smacked around Chris Bosio, Bert Blyleven, Jack Morris, and others.

#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.