#17T Pat Borders

IMPACT FACTOR 7/10: Borders wasn't the greatest hitter but he came up money with the Blue Jays in the 1992 and 1993 postseasons, when he hit very well and played a major role in two championships.

Borders had a great career, sticking around until 2005, age 42. Yeah, he had a career OBP of just .288, but he must have done something right with pitchers.

This is an underrated rookie card.

#16T Bud Black

IMPACT FACTOR 3/10: Black put up a couple of nice seasons for Cleveland. They traded away Pat Tabler to get him, and when they flipped him got three guys who did very little for the Indians (including Alex Sanchez.)

#15T Damon Berryhill

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10 Berryhill was the starting catcher for the 1989 Cubs team that went to the playoffs, but he got injured halfway through the year. Eventually the Cubs traded him with Mike Bielecki for Yorkis Perez and Turk Wendell. The latter did some good things with the Cubs, but overall Berryhill didn't have a huge impact for the Cubs organization. He did some better stuff with the Braves, of course.

We love Gary Thurman

If you haven't been watching, you might want to check out the comments on Gary Thurman's card.

#14T Andy Benes

IMPACT FACTOR 7/10: Benes ate up a lot of innings for the Padres from 1989 to 1995, although pitched to a fairly average record despite an above average ERA. (That's OK, he pitched terribly for the Mariners at the end of 1995 but still ended up 7-2 somehow.) The trade of Benes to the Mariners brought 2 out of 3 pieces they needed to acquire Greg Vaughn, who went on to club 50 homers for the Padres in 1998. Vaughn was later traded himself for some useful players.

#13T Buddy Bell

Wow, what an ugly airbrushed card!

IMPACT FACTOR 1/10: Bell put together half a season as an average 3B with Houston before being released.

#12T Tim Belcher

IMPACT FACTOR 6/10: Belcher came over for Rick Honeycutt, a trade that helped both the Dodgers and the A's when they met in the 1988 World Series. Belcher was very good in 1988 and although he got hit some in the post-season, he did win 3 games (2 against the Mets and one against the A's. Later he was packaged with John Wetteland in the trade that brought Eric Davis to the Dodgers.

#11T Don Baylor

IMPACT FACTOR 3/10: Baylor wrapped his playing career in 1988 with Oakland. Although they went to the World Series, Baylor didn't get a hit in the post season, nor did he produce all that much during the regular season. I'd like to think, though, that he had an impact on the team due to all of his recent post-season experience with Boston and Minnesota.

#10T Jose Bautista

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10: Not to be confused with the current major leaguer with the same name, this Jose Bautista was part of the dreadful 1988 Orioles team, although he didn't pitch that badly for them. Eventually he walked as a free agent after the 1990 season.

#9T Bret Barberie

IMPACT FACTOR 1/10: Barberie signed with the Expos, the forth team to draft him, and had two lackluster seasons with them in 1991 and 1992. So unimpressive was his performance that they left him unprotected in the expansion draft and he became the first starting 2B for the Florida Marlins. (I would have given him a larger impact factor, except that I am basing my scores on the impact the guy had for the team he first played for when these cards were issued.)

#8T Floyd Bannister

IMPACT FACTOR 3/10: Bannister had two pretty average years with KC, including one shortened by injury. It ended up being a bad trade for KC who, aside from a few other low-impact players involved, gave up two decent starting pitchers in the deal: Melido Perez and Greg Hibbard.

#7T Don August

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10: The Brewers gave up Danny Darwin to fetch August as well as Mark Knudson. Darwin produced a lot more for the Astros than both guys combined for Milwaukee. August gets a couple of point for a 4th-place Rookie of the Year finish in 1988.

#6T Jack Armstrong

IMPACT FACTOR 4/10: Armstrong didn't do a whole lot for the Reds but he did have one good year in 1990, when he in fact started the All-Star game for the National League. He had trouble staying healthy, but they did trade him along with Scott Scudder for one good year of Greg Swindell.

#5T Brady Anderson

IMPACT FACTOR 3/10: While Anderson went on to have a lot of success with Baltimore, he had a dreadful first season with Boston and was packaged with Curt Schilling, sent to the Orioles for Mike Boddicker. Boddicker was great for the Red Sox in the regular season, helping get them to the playoffs in 1988, but got bombed in his one ALCS start as Boston was swept by Oakland. Boddicker helped the BoSox for two more years and was better in the 1990 ALCS, although Boston against lost to Oakland.

#4T Roberto Alomar

IMPACT FACTOR 8/10 Alomar had 3 strong years with the Padres from 1988 to 1990, although he didn't develop much of his extra-base power until he left San Diego. He got on base more and hit for more extra bases after heading to Toronto. The method by which he left San Diego, the biggest trade of the early 1990s, helps increase his impact factor. Packaged with Joe Carter, he brought Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez to San Diego. Fernandez had 2 solid years with the Padres before being flipped to the Mets, while McGriff had his first two really big seasons with the Padres before going to Atlanta for 3 young players.

He might have to wait a year or two because of his attitude, but Alomar will be in the Hall of Fame one day.

#3T Luis Alicea

IMPACT FACTOR 3/10: Alicea had a poor rookie season in 1988 but resurfaced again with the Cardinals in 1991, eventually working out as a part-time 2B. He was traded for two guys who never appeared in the majors for St. Lous.

#2T Juan Agosto

IMPACT FACTOR 4/10: Agosto came and left Houston as a free agent, spending 4 seasons there (not including a return in 1993) as a very effective reliever. He was used in mop-up a lot but nevertheless was one of the top non-closing relievers in baseball from 1987 to 1990.

#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.

#792 John Tudor

Why this card is awesome: Because looking at the back, one stat really sticks out: 10 shutouts in 1985, with only 4 others in the rest of his career up to that point. And, and this card is awesome because it's the last one in the regular 1988 Topps set! WE'RE DONE!

Cool stat: Tudor is a forgotten man of the 1980, but he was one of the top pitchers. From 1982 to 1990, minimum 1000 IP, he had the 4th-best ERA+, ahead of Saberhagen, Gooden, and just about anybody else you can think of.

It's interesting that in the trade of Tudor for Pedro Guerrero that happened in the 1988 season, neither player ended up working out well for their new team. Guerrero did have one excellent year for the Cardinals in 1989, but Tudor's injuries prevented him from doing much for the Dodgers at all.

#791 Ted Simmons

Why this card is awesome: Because what an awesome warrior Simmons was. Yeah he looks old and pudgy on the front, but look at those years and years on the back. He had a great career and is one of the top catchers in history. I just hope he doesn't swallow any bugs by accident.

Cool stat: Simmons had 8 seasons with 90+ RBI, good for third all-time among catchers and more than Johnny Bench or Gary Carter.