Picked this up for 50 cents last week at a local card shop when I stopped in to buy some magnetic cases. Sixteen cards in this one. Ah, the good 'ole days. Of course, I guess it's easy to put more cards in a pack when you're printing billions of them. This is one of the sets I collected as a kid, so lots of nostalgia here. Hoping for Toronto Blue Jays and some Rookie Cup cards (especially Ken Griffey Jr. or Jim Abbott).
Nice start. Dave Stewart was one of my favorite pitchers as a kid. He was known for his menacing stare from the mound and went four consecutive years with 20 or more wins. And Topps really nailed it with the colorful design in this set.
And we have a Rookie Cup! I would have preferred Griffey, Abbott or even Tom Gordon, but Sheffield is easily the second-best player on Topps' 1989 All Star Rookie team. He won't make the Hall of Fame, but he came awfully close: 509 career home runs, a batting title, nine All-Star teams and three top-three finishes in MVP voting. He was linked to steroids, but I assume just about everyone during that period was juicing.
These cards look especially good when the colors mesh with the player's uniform, as is the case here, with the various shades of blue in the borders matching the main colors in Swift's uniform and the yellow interior border bringing out the yellow outline in the Mariners name.
A's hot pack!
Wait, no, Mariners hot pack!
And we have a Hall of Famer. Molitor ranks ninth in Major League Baseball history with 3,319 hits. He also won a World Series in 1993 with Toronto. Dave Stewart was also on that team, back in the day when the Jays had the highest payroll in baseball and could sign damn near anybody they wanted. Looks like Paul is chewing some tobacco or gum in this picture.
Also: Brewers hot pack!
Okay, so it's an A's hot pack after all. I think I saw another blog name this the worst baseball card photo ever. It features both a terrible air-brushing job and a bushy, red mustache. If it's not the worst, it's the best.
Another Hall of Famer. The Wizard of Oz is probably the best defensive shortstop ever, with 13 Gold Gloves to his name. He was also one of the most exciting players to watch in the 80's and early 90's. Who didn't love his backflips?
A Hall of Fame hat trick! This is either a second- or third-year card of Smoltz (depending on whether you think his true rookie card is the 1988 Fleer Update card). He was elected to the Hall earlier this month, joining his longtime Atlanta Braves rotation mates, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, who were enshrined a year ago. Smoltz is the only pitcher to ever win 200 games and save 150. Fun fact: He's the first player elected to the Hall after undergoing Tommy John surgery during his career.
And we end with a bit of a whimper. Still, that was a great pack, definitely more than 50 cents worth of fun. No Blue Jays, but three Hall of Famers and another guy (Sheffield) who is likely to just miss.
Card of the pack is between Sheffield and Smoltz, both of which are second-year cards. Sheffield's got the Rookie Cup going for him. But I'm going to go with Smoltz, because he actually made it and I like the way the red border brings out the red in the brim of his cap and uniform trim. And even though dime boxes are littered nowadays with late 80's and early 90's baseball cards, any card of a guy who made the Hall of Fame is still pretty sweet.
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