The player with the most hits in the 1990’s was Chicago Cub Mark Grace, with 1,754.

**factoid courtesy of ‘Armchair Reader – Grand Slam Baseball’

My take – This stat alone should have kept ‘Gracey’ on the Hall of Fame ballot for more than 1 year.  We still love you ‘Gracey’!!!

****side note.  Is this cad screaming for a signature or what??****

‘Same Card, Different Paths’ – Card #10

1988 Fleer - Card #641 – AKA – ‘The Mark Grace Rookie Card’

Mark Grace – Grace collected more hits through the 1990’s than any other player and finished his career with 2,445 hits and a .303 batting average.  Grace was a 3-time All-star and 4-time Gold Glove award winner.  In 2001, Grace won the World Series as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Darrin Jackson – Jackson played 12 seasons in the big leagues, but played in more than 100 games in a season just 4 times.  He has 676 career hits alongside a lifetime batting average of .257.  Jackson also has 60 homers, 43 steals, and 317 RBI to his credit.

Here is what I pulled from pack #4 of the 4 that I opened today:

Notable:  Rafael Palmeiro and Tom Browning

Pick of the pack:  There are 2: The team leader card of the Expos featuring Tim Raines and the Mets card starring Darryl Strawberry!

Here is what I pulled from pack #3 of the 4 that I opened today:

Notable:  Harold Baines, Chris Sabo’s second year card and Wally Joyner

Pick of the pack:  This one was rough.  I’m taking the ‘Turn back the clock’ – Tony Oliva card.  I know someone who wants it…

Here is what I pulled from pack #2 of the 4 that I opened today:

Notable:  Chili Davis, Dave Henderson, Billy Ripken, and a Dave Winfield All-Star card 

Pick of the pack:  Let’s go with the newest member of the Hall of Fame, Mr. Jim Rice!!

Here is what I pulled from pack #1 of the 4 that I opened today:

Notable:  Not too much here – Cory Snyder and an Andres Galarraga All-Star card

Pick of the pack:  Roberto Alomar’s second year card - I can always use this one for a TTM attempt

I cannot believe that I held out this long and didn’t rip these open immediately after buying them.

I have enjoyed giving packs of  these cards out as giveaways for some of the contests I have held during the baseball season.

And now I have 4 more to rip through and my box will be complete!!!

And away we go…

Sometimes it’s the little things that remind you of key moments — like when we finally got Ricky Vaughn some glasses.

Here’s what his 1989 Topps Record Breaker card would have looked like had they not decided to play nice and pull it from the set. After he started giving ‘em the heater and was much more successful, the powers that be apparently opted to not pick on my rookie.

– Lou Brown, loubrown2009@gmail.com

Fun “Fact”:

Although it drove his pitching coach crazy, Jeff always broke into a big shit-eating grin whenever he threw a slider.

Who knew back in 1989 when collectors were ripping through packs of Topps and pulling Gary Sheffield’s ‘Future Star’ rookie card that someday this young, humble man would someday reach the elite 500 Home Run Club?

That’s exactly what happened tonight when Sheffield, playing on his 8th team, finally hit number 500. Now into his 22nd season and first with the New York Mets after being released by the Detroit Tigers in Spring Training, Gary sees more time on the bench than on the field. Still, we all knew this day would come.

As you can imagine, Gary Sheffield’s best years came right in the middle of the Steroid epidemic, which he has been directly linked to multiple times. In some ways, I feel bad that he’s had to take much of the heat while other 500 and 600 home run players don’t even have to dodge the questions because they simply don’t get them.

Gary is a little bit wacko, a whole lot conceited, and now after tonight has a guaranteed ticket to the Hall of Fame. He’ll just have to wait until they let Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa inside the doors of Cooperstown.

Congratulations on 500 career home runs.

I hope you don’t mind the wait.

I received 2 packs of 1989 Topps in the contest I won on the Autographed Cards blog.

Here are the results from Pack #1

 Moose Stubing, Jim Gantner, Jack Clark, Gerald Perry, Bobby Valentine, Rene Gonzalez, Les Lancaster, Dennis Eckersley, Houston Astros Team Leader, Ken Phelps, John Morris, Richard Dotson, Curt Young, Jose Rijo, and Mike Dunne.

Nothing too impressive here…  a few manager cards, Gerald Perry, and ‘The Eck’!!!

As a child, what attracted you to a particular player? Was it his stats? A cool photo? Maybe it was just the fact that in every pack you busted you’d pull a Chris Sabo or Mike Scott. For me, it was simply how good the player looked. As a young collector, a photo could make or break a baseball card. Need proof? Try pulling a 1989 Upper Deck Mark McGwire  (image) and not wanting to call him your favorite ball player. The card is as iconic as he became around the 1998 baseball season.

While digging through some boxes in my garage I happened upon a single, unprotected 1989 Topps Alvin Davis. As you can tell from the scan, it has not been treated as well as my other cards. It’s just that something about it irks me. It almost looks as if right before the photographer snapped the picture, Alvin was stabbed in the back but still wanted to go through with the photo.

Something about this picture made me dump it into a dirty box in the garage without even looking at the man’s stats. Had I paid a little attention and even done some research I would have known that Alvin Davis was some kind of 80’s superstar, at least in Seattle. Not only was he the Rookie of the Year in 1984 but he went on to hit at least 20+ home runs three times and drive in 100 runners twice.

Towards the end of his short career he was a guaranteed 15 HR/60 RBI guy but something happened to his swing in 1992 that led him to be released by the California Angels at just 31 years of age. Sadly, he never made it back into the big leagues and today is a high school baseball coach in Riverside, California.

As of today, I am bringing this card back into my collection where it belongs. It’s going to be placed inside of a penny sleeve and thrown into a top loader. Once it’s been revived I will throw it into my box of “stars” where it will get a proper retirement away from the gas fumes and dust that was slowly destroying this vintage Topps “treasure”.

1989 Topps Andre Dawson

I am really enjoying the feeling of conquering an entire brand’s issue of cards at one time.  These are 3 great looking cards from the 1989 set.  Of all of the multi-card sets I have added to my Andre Dawson collection, I think that this is the best looking bunch!!!

Dave Winfield 1989 Topps

The 1989 Topps design has quickly become one of my favorites from the 1980’s.  I like the style, I like the incorporation of the team’s colors, and I like the photography.  Well, most of the time I like the photos that they used.  This base card does nothing for me…  Who wants to see ‘Big Dave Winfield’ sitting on the bench?   Come on, show him making a pay in the outfield or hitting a ball over the fence or running the base paths.  Don’t show me a Hall Of Fame player riding the pine…  give me a break!!!

I’ve always liked the look of this card, but as I search through Ebay for player lots or cards to add to my player collections, the 1989 Topps issue looks better and better to me each time I pass one by.

As a kid, I probably had 2 or 3 complete sets of these.  And I probably had countless other rookie and star cards from the set in my albums.

But the impact of the overall design has not hit me until very recently.  I believe that the 1989 Topps set could pass as a vintage set from 20-30 before it’s release date.

Check out how well Topps incorporated the team colors of the player’s team with the trim and team logos on the card.

Now, here is an example of a close-up shot we would have expected to see back in the 60’s or 70’s.  A nice close-up shot of a player getting ready to take a practice swing.  Although the photo does not appear to be staged, it reminds me of the many images from the 60’s and 70’s of players mimicking what they do in a game.

Here is a great shot of the player at bat anticipating the pitch.  Although it is not an action shot since he is not swinging the bat, it reminds me of so many attempts Topps made in the 1970’s as they tried to provide real action shots when there was nothing really happening.

Lastly, the All-Star card.  This would have looked great as an issue from the 1960’s.  Imagine this card with a close-up of Frank Robinson or Hank Aaron.  This card’s design can withstand the test of time.

Is it just me, or does anyone else reading this have similar feelings about the 1989 Topps product?  As a player collector with no real interest in set building, I think that if I were to attempt a set it would be this one.  I love the look of the cards and being that this set is over 19 years old it could be considered vintage.  Hell, the look kind of gives it that feel too…

Let me know your thoughts?  Am I alone on this or do you agree as well??

I don’t do much trading these days since my wax busting has become very limited in 2008 but when I saw Dayf of Cardboard Junkie pull a 2008 Topps Andrew Miller I knew I had to act. I looked through my collection for something worthy and found two base Braves cards from 2008 Topps Co-Signers (Chipper & the fat catcher of theirs). A few days later this showed up in the mail.

You know I had to bust that rack pack of 1989 Topps. It’s got freakin’ Bo Jackson and Jose Canseco on top. How can you go wrong with that? After I went through it all, I have come to the conclusion that it might be the greatest rack pack in the history of the world. Check out the pulls!

Much thanks to Dayf for this awesome trade on a very depressing night of baseball.

Wow, never thought I’d get a chance to crack a rack pack of 1989 Topps. The last time I did so, I was 9 years old and new to the hobby. These cards came in through a trade with Cardboard Junkie. Thanks David for bringing me back to my youth, at least for a couple of hours.

First product was 1989 Donruss Grand Slammers set. Not quite wax at all but pretty cool nonetheless. I got a Dave Winfield, Mike “still bitter over 1988″ Greenwell, Jose Canseco, Mark “I’m not here to talk about the past” McGwire, Ellis Burks who rejuvenated his career in Colorado’s thin air a few years back, and two Seinfeld alumns, Danny Tartarbull and Keith Hernandez. If you haven’t seen the “Man Crush” episode on Seinfeld, well, you just haven’t lived yet.

The second package was a rack pack of 1989 Topps, perhaps the second product of baseball cards I ever opened in my life. I think I actually got a “hot” rack pack. Check out all the stars! Ozzie the loudmouth, Jose Canseco, after his best season, Kirk Gibson, the man who killed Jose Canseco’s best season, Kevin Mitchell, the man who cuts the heads of cats all on the top row. The bottom row is Craig Biggio, who will probably get into the Hall of Fame before Jeff Bagwell, Chris Sabo and his geeky glasses, Mark Grace, and Ryne Sandberg!

Second scan features Mark McGwire as the “special card” and Orestes Destrada, the man for the Marlins in 1993. Bottom row is my second Dave Winfield of the day, Dan Quinsenberry’s porn mustache, Eric Plunk, who makes the same expression in every photo ever taken, and Julio Franco, who was 57 when the picture was taken, in 1989!

Wow in only my second pack, I pulled out actual wax! The 1989 Tops baseball pack, probably one of the last sets with no insert cards. Unremarkable package of blue background, with the typical baseball, topps logo and mentioning that it’s the REAL one! Which really could be debated. The best cards I can hope for are Randy Johnson RC, and John Smoltz RC. Here is what the pack looks like:

OK so without further ado, let’s open her up and see all 15 cards o’ crap! First off, there is stale gum in the pack and although preservatives are great, I don’t think this gum is edible, but I will keep it in case someone wants to buy this pack from me.

1. Bob Walk – P – Pirates – card 504 – Bob was the definition of mediocre player, I never remembered thinking any team would be instantly better with him on the team, what is sad is the only blurb Topps could put on the card was that he graduated high school, went to jounior college and that he is married with 2 sons. Let’s hope they are better pitchers than he was!

2. Mike Henneman – P Tigers – card 365 – I actually liked Henneman, he was always a closer on my fantasy team. He was’t a year to year all star but he was solid. What is odd though is that even though he was a reliever he was 11-3 one year with 7 saves and no starts. At this point in his career 2 years in the majors and already the Tiger closer.

3. Andy Allanson – C – Indians – Card 283 – Run out of baseball in 1995, this card represents the pinnacle of his career 0.323 BA 5 HR, 50 RBIs, 5 SB. You can bet I had him high on my radar for catchers in 1990, I was a sucker.

4. Dave Martinez – OF – Expo – Card 763 – Actually he played for 16 seasons with 10 teams. In fact one year he was traded 3 times and played for 4 teams. What I found amazing was he had 1500 hits, I guess if you play long enough you’ll get them.

5. Darryl Hamilton – OF – Brewers – Card 86 – Again not a horrible player he did play for 13 seasons. But funny story, he’s a Louisiana guy and after an argument with Bobby Valentine (then of the Mets) he placed a voodoo hex on the Mets franchise. Maybe we might have the Curse of the Hamilton here!

6. Atlee Hammaker – P – Giants – Card 572 – Besides having one of the most unusual first names of any baseball player (Jayhawk Ownes earns top spot there). In the 1983 All-Star game he let up 7 earned runs in 2/3 IP. If that wasn’t enough he should be remembered for one thing. In the 1987 NLCS he gave up a 3 run homerun to Jose Oquendo. which sent the Cardinals to the World Series. It wouldn’t have been so bad except in his entire career Oquendo hit 14 homeruns, and in 1987 he hit only one (off of Hammaker).

7. Jody Reed – SS – Red Sox – Card 734 – After garnering Rated Rookie Status he had a so so career mainly remembered as a doubles guy, he had one distinction of hitting into 2 triple plays in one game. He never really lived up to that Rated Rookie status, but then again not many did.

8. Orel Hershiser – P – Dodgers – Card 550 – Pretty Early on in Bulldog’s career, a much better pitcher and coach than TV personality. The one thing you knew for sure, he was never on steroids at 6′3″ 192lbs. Hopefully a future HOF member.

9. Rey Quinones – SS – Mariners – Card 246 – I actually got his autograph in 1987 when I went to a Mariners game. This is bcak when you could pick which seat you wanted since only 2000 people showed up for each game. The story I remember about him was that he left the Mariners for a few days to go to a funeral in Puerto Rico and it was a controversy. Judging his stats they didn’t miss much when he was away.

10. Cardinal leaders Card – Number 261 – Waste of cardboard, best offensive players were Ozzie Smith, Tom Brunansky, and Vince Coleman, best pitchers were Joe Magrane (U of Arizona alum yay!), and Jose DeLeon. DeLeon had 208 Ks that year which is amazing since he had such n unremarkable career.

11. Jay Buhner (RC) – OF – Mariners – Card 223 – Even has the Topps All-Star rookie cup which I loved seeing on a player’s card. Bones was the best, my worst day as a Yankee fan bar far is hearing the news Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps. Of course I don’t know if Buhner could have kept it up in NY as he did in Seattle, but even though he wasn’t a Yankee I always tried to have him on my team.

12. Cecil Espy – OF – Rangers – Card 221 – Another Topps All Star rookie cup card. All I remember is the guy had speed, not much else but he could steal some bases. Not a whole lot else and the speed didn’t translate to good defense either.

13. Steve Lombardozzi – 2B – Twins – Card 376 – The best thing about Steve is that his son Steve Jr might be a lot better than he was.

14. Jeff Hamilton – 3B – Dodgers – Card 736 – I got nothing, I don’t even remember him, all Topps had to say was that his dad was a pitcher in the Pirates farm. I believe that sums up his career.

15. Vince “Firecracker” Coleman – OF – Cardinals – Card 90 – This was back when Vince was on his way to the HOF. He had 4 solid seasons averaged over 100 SB for his first 4 seasons. Somewhere after this he broke down and never quite was the same player. The Firecracker incident was the end for him.

Overall not a bad pack, which is amazing because I never had luck with these cards. Now for the ratings (all are out of 5.0):

Initial cost when new – No price on pack but I believe it was $1.29 – 3.0 stars they didn’t know at the time that the set would be worthless. The price was fair for 15 cards.

Cards in Pack – 15 – 4.0 stars – Very good for the time but also it was the beginning of the end of +10 card packs.

Stars in Pack – 3 – Hershiser, Coleman, and Buhner – 4.0 stars – 20% of pack is stars, you can’t ask for more than that.

Becket Value of pack – $1 – So overall not too bad, plus you get the stale gum. 2.5 stars.

Design of card – too simple a design for Topps, this is where they started to give up on designs. 1.0 Stars see below:

Number of awful players – 7 of 15 (although the leaders card should be one too). Not too shabby!

Overall it gets a 2.9 stars out of 5.0 rating which isn’t too bad, this pack wouldn’t qualify as bad wax, more like OK wax. Please don’t forget to vote (see tab on top of site) as to whether I should try to get the best players autographs or the worst.  Nominate a best and worst please.  Once again I’m asking for a donation 1 dollar for the pack and one for shipping, paypal taken, please email me at chemgod1000@yahool.com or leave a comment.