1989 Topps Major League Debut #150: Todd Zeile

Todd Zeile

PHOTO: This is the last player card in the set and it's a nice photo. The red teams (Reds, Cardinals, Phillies) had on-average the best cards in this set thanks to the red borders. This is also another of many, many photos in this set taken at Shea Stadium.

STAT: Among the 44 guys to amass 2000 hits since 1989, Zeile has one of the worst career OPS+ values. Of the guys worse than him, a few did it on longevity alone, while guys like B.J. Surhoff did it, like Zeile, with a mixture of longevity and some hitting talent.

ANAGRAM: Todd Zeile = I'd let doze

CAREER: 6/10

Zeile is a tough guy to grade. In his favor: above average hitter, played multiple positions, hit well in the post-season including stellar performances in the 1996 ALCS and 2000 NLCS, despite never making the leaderboard for hits in any season he's one of just 258 players to top 2000 hits, and he had a long career. Against his case: played in 150 games in only 8 seasons, above-average but few truly great seasons, never topped 300 total bases, topped 100 RBI or runs only once, stole 53 bases but thrown out 51 times, below-average defensively.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #148: Eric Yelding

Eric Yelding

PHOTO: OK, that's some serious bling around Yelding's neck. Does anybody know what that is? On the big image, it looks like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

STAT: Yelding has the second-worst season, ranked by OBP, among guys with at least 25 caught stealings in that season. Yeah, that's bad. Oh, Omar Moreno.

ANAGRAM: Eric Yelding = Idly generic

CAREER: 2/10

Yelding is another in a long line of fast players who couldn't get on base. Fortunately, teams saw that he was so bad offensively that he didn't stick around nearly as long as similarly talented guys.

Interesting that he played more games at SS and in the OF despite being listed as 2B on this card.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #147: Matt Winters

Matt Winters

PHOTO: Seems like the Royals have a guy like this every so often. Big, tall, heavy guy who hits a lot of homers but not much for average. See also Bob Hamelin, Steve Balboni, Calvin Pickering, Ken Harvey...

STAT: Winters topped 20 HR in a season 5 times in the minors.

ANAGRAM: Matt Winters = Man twitters! (or smarten twit)

CAREER: 1/10

Just 122 plate appearances with the big team.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #144: Dana Williams

Dana Williams

PHOTO: This right here might be the ugliest card in the set, and that's saying something because Williams himself is a damn handsome man with a great smile. The big solid blue batting practice jersey clashes with the turquoise background, and the dots on the jersey clash with the dots on the borders...ugh. Just horrible.

STAT: Judging by his minor league numbers, Williams looks to have been a pretty good hitter with some speed.

ANAGRAM: Dana Williams, Red Sox = Wild animals road sex

CAREER: 1/10

6 career plate appearances.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #138: Jeff Wetherby

Jeff Wetherby

PHOTO: We can probably narrow this photo down to one of three games. (1, 2, & 3.) Unless this is a spring training photo taken at Shea Stadium (sometimes teams play their last 1 or 2 spring games in the big parks up north) those 3 games are the only ones Wetherby ever played in at Shea.

Interestingly, we can rule out #2 above. If you click on the box score, our man never actually went to the plate. He pinch hit for Paul Assengrabber but then was himself pinch hit for when the Mets changed pitchers. If I had to guess, I'd go with game #3 which, played on a Sunday, was certainly a day game.

STAT: Wetherby hit only 1 ML homer, but it was a good one, coming off Greg Maddux. Sure, the game was already totally lost by then, but at least he hit one out against a first-ballot HOFer.

ANAGRAM: Jeff Wetherby, Braves = Why jab bereft fevers?

CAREER: 1/10

Just 55 career plate appearances.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #134: Jerome Walton

Jerome Walton

PHOTO: This is a pretty good photo but I could do with a little less blur on his hand.

STAT: Walton became the ultimately part-time player, when from 1992 to 1998, he netted the most seasons in baseball with fewer than 75 at-bats (pitchers excluded.)

ANAGRAM: Jerome Walton = Jot real women

CAREER: 3/10

Walton had one great shining year in 1989 when he was Rookie of the Year, playing well very in the both the regular and post seasons. After an OK 1990, he fell off rapidly and moved around a lot, becoming a useful (though rarely used) part-timer late in his career.

Incidentally, the other ROY winner in 1989--Gregg Olson of the Orioles--does not have a card in this set because he debuted in 1988. Ironically, the other Greg Olson (spelled differently) does have a card in this set.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #133: Larry Walker

Larry Walker

PHOTO: Wow, this is a beautiful card. The red borders on this set bug me, except on nice red cards like this. We've got basically just 4 colors on this card, which is nice one in a while. Gotta love the powder blue pants, too.

STAT: Sometimes it's easy to forget Larry Walker, but from 1990 to 2005, he's in the top 20 for highest OPS+ (minimum 5000 plate appearances.) He's ahead of Chipper Jones, Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, Mo Vaughn, Fred McGriff, and Sammy Sosa, just to name a handful. He did definitely benefit from Coors Field, though, as his neutralized career OPS is .924, as compared to the actual value of .965. (Still, though, over 1990 to 2005 he's 8th in OPS, and even his adjusted value would still be 21st.)

ANAGRAM: Describing Walker's smooth swing....Larry Walker, Expos = Laxly wreak ropers

CAREER: 9/10

Walker had a great career. It's easy to write off his accomplishments as created by Coors Field, but there's no doubting that he was a phenomenal player. Three batting titles, two slugging titles, one 400-total-base season, one MVP award...and he hit 7 HR in 28 post-season games, despite most of them coming at the tail end of his career with the Cardinals. Other than his 20-game cup of coffee in 1989, he finished every other season with at OPS+ of at least 110 and topped 150 in SEVEN different seasons...WOW!

I wonder what will happen when he comes up for the Hall of Fame soon. The numbers say he belongs, but somehow I doubt he'll get as much support as that.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #128: Greg Vaughn

Greg Vaughn

PHOTO: This photo was quite obviously from the same session as Vaughn's regular 1990 Topps card, as well as his 1990 Bowman card.






STAT: Wow...Vaughn victimized Dave Stewart with the long ball way more than any other pitcher.

ANAGRAM: Greg Vaughn, OF, Brewers = Few hungover braggers

CAREER: 6/10

Vaughn had, by many measures, a pretty impressive career. His big HR totals, though, were lost playing for mostly non-playoff teams. Had the Padres fared better in the 1998 World Series, his 50-HR season might have gotten attention. He followed that up with a very strong 45-HR year for the Reds team that missed the playoffs.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #120: Sammy Sosa

Slammy Sosa

PHOTO: Did Sammy actually have so much hair back then that there simply was no Rangers cap that could fit over it?

STAT: Steroids or not, 243 homers over 4 seasons is pretty amazing.

ANAGRAM: Sammy Sosa = Sassy ammo

CAREER: 8/10

It's tough to score Sosa's career. I wavered over giving him an 8 or a 9. It's tough not to wonder about the steroids stuff and hold that against him, but he really doesn't deserve to be singled out. It's easy to forget what he did in 1998, putting on that tremendous homer show with McGwire that brought the fans back to baseball. This is a guy who had over 100 RBI in 9 straight seasons and is currently 6th all-time with 609 homers. He's also 30th in total bases and 24th in RBI despite being only 78th in plate appearances.

I really wonder about his HOF candidacy, even aside from the steroids issue. It's hard to imagine anybody with 600 HR not getting into the Hall of Fame. Certainly Barry Bonds deserves it based on stats alone as does Ken Griffey. But here's the thing. His Hall of Fame Monitor (which measures only how likely a player is to get in) is 201, with 100 being a likely HOFer, while his Hall of Fame Standards (which measures true merit of getting in) is "only" 51, with an average HOFer being 50. Neither number suggests he shouldn't get in, but the combination of numbers suggests that his reputation is far better than his actual numbers, and that's before we take steroids into account. I'm really curious to see what happens with Slammin' Sammy.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #116: Dwight Smith

Dwight Smith

PHOTO: The Cubs colors look great on these cards, but this is another photo that is way, way overexposed.

STAT: Against the teams he played the most (Reds, Astros, Dodgers, Mets, Phillies, Pirates, Padres, Giants, Cardinals, and Expos) Smith did best against the Cardinals and Mets.

ANAGRAM: Dwight Smith, OF, Cubs = Smug swift bitch--doh!

CAREER: 4/10

Smith was part of a great duo of Cubs in 1989, coming in second to teammate Jerome Walton in the Rookie of the Year voting. He fell off quite a bit, though, producing only one other very good year in 1993. He was a useful spare part for the Braves later in his career but didn't hit well enough to stick past age 32.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #110: Jeff Schulz

Jeff Schulz

PHOTO: Ahh, the look of shock and awe on a rookie's face. Schulz appears to be watching several of the players having sex on the field during batting practice.

STAT: In just his 14th career plate appearance, Schulz hit a 2-run go-ahead triple off Roger Clemens. That game was Kevin Appier's 16th-career start and second career shutout.

ANAGRAM: Jeff Schulz, OF, Royals = Huffs jellos of crazy

CAREER: 1/10

Just 85 career major-league plate appearances.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #108: Deion Sanders

Deion Sanders

PHOTO: I like the photo well enough, especially how the bat is almost end-on facing the camera. If you ignore the fact that Sanders is playing baseball, it almost looks like he's dropping a water balloon.

STAT: Sanders had 2 games with 3 extra-base hits, including one job with two triples.

CAREER: 3/10

It's tough to evaluate Sanders career because we need to look past all the hoopla around him being a 2-sport player. In the end, Sanders was like a lot of other fast guys: not too much extra-base pop and trouble getting on base. His career .319 OBP tells pretty much the whole story. His stolen base success rate of 75% was good enough and his speed allowed him to rack up a fair number of triples (though oddly a low number of doubles.) In the end, his career OPS+ was just 89 and he played only the equivalent of about 4 full seasons thanks to his football commitments.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #101: Rob Richie

Rob Richie

After his baseball career, Rob Richie went on to a very successful music career. Oh wait, that was the other Rob Richie.

PHOTO: A ho-hum photo saved only by the fact that the man has a great smile.

STAT: Richie had a very short but very productive major-league career. Of his 13 career hits, he had 4 doubles, 2 triple, and 1 homer, as well as 3 hits that brought his team back from a deficit. He had a 132 OPS+ in his lone season (comprising only 55 PA.)

CAREER: 1/10

Richie barely played in the majors after jumping through the minors. He played well with the Tigers in 1989 and then never played professional ball again. I can't find any record of what happened to him but I assume he must have gotten injured. Does anybody know?

1989 Topps Major League Debut #72: Greg Litton

Greg Litton

PHOTO: Nice power batting shot of Litton, although I'd like to see more of his face. I'd like to see a little less of the weirdos in the dugout. Seriously...look at those two people.

STAT: Litton had just 13 career homers, but he made them count with 6 either tying the game or putting his team ahead, including a grand slam in the top of the 13th of a game against the Reds.

ANAGRAM: Maybe this is why he didn't steal so many bases....Greg Litton = Rotting leg

CAREER: 3/10

Litton stuck around with the Giants for 5 seasons and gets a 3 thanks to his homer and 3 RBI in the 1989 World Series.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #71: Scott Little

Scott Little

PHOTO: Pretty dull photo, but nice butt chin.

STAT: Little got into 3 games in his career and here's the one where he got a hit. It came in extra innings and might have been involved in winning the game had he not been doubled off first on Junior Ortiz's fly ball. (It's tough to know what actually what happened--for all we know, Ortiz may have hit a screaming liner to the outfield that was miraculously caught. Or maybe Little terribly misjudged the situation and that's why he never played in the majors again after this game.)

CAREER: 1/10

Four career plate appearances.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #69: Marcus Lawton

Marcus Lawton

PHOTO: Another close-up non-action shot of a Yankee player in this set...hmm...

STAT: David West faced him twice and struck him out both times. Also check out Lawton's minor league season in 1985. He stole 111 bases...and was caught only 8 times!

ANAGRAM: Marcus Lawton = Macro Walnuts (I can't tell you how tempted I was to go with "A lawn scrotum" but that would just be too unprofessional, even if a better approximation of his major-league career.)

CAREER: 1/10

Lawton had speed but couldn't get on base much and never made it in the majors.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #65: Dave Justice

David Justice

PHOTO: I love the photo with all the red, yellow, and blue, not to mention all the autograph seekers in the background. Back in 1989, Justice was called "Dave" before he started using his full first name all the time.

STAT: Just 4 times in history has a player hit 40 HR in a season during which he played for more than 1 team: Greg Vaughn in 1996, Mark McGwire in 1997, Justice in 2000, and Adam Dunn last year.

ANAGRAM: Possible proof that Justice used steroids later in his career: Dave Justice = Juiced as vet

CAREER: 7/10

Justice was a great player who benefited from being in the right places at the right times. He was with Atlanta as they rose from the ashes, then went to Cleveland just in time for their second World Series appearance on the 1990s, then caught on for the tail end of the Yankees' great run, and finally sniffed another post-season appearance with Oakland at the end of his career. In 21 post-season series Justice batted only .224 but did drive in 63 runs in 112 games, an excellent rate for the playoffs.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #63: Mike Huff

Mike Huff

PHOTO: What is with the weird airbrushing on the card? Look down by Huff's right foot (that's the one on the left of the photo.) Looks like Topps covered a bunch of stuff with black and left a weird sort of green area. Hmm.

STAT: Huff ended up with 9 career homers in 804 AB, and they were kind of interesting. Every last one was a solo shot and one led off a game.

ANAGRAM: Mike Huff = Hike muff. [Insert pornographic joke here.]

CAREER: 2/10

Huff didn't get too much playing time and didn't do a lot with the time he got. He was a decent part-time player in 1994 with the Blue Jays.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #62: Dann Howitt

Dann Howitt

PHOTO: Not a bad photo although his uniform looks airbrushed, even though I'm sure it's not.

STAT: Only Howitt and Rob Ducey appeared in every season from 1989 to 1994 and had fewer than 100 PAs each season (pitchers excluded.) If you're curious, 152 pitchers accomplished the feat.

ANAGRAM: Dann Howitt = Do want hit!

CAREER: 2/10

Do want hit, indeed. He finished with 264 career plate appearances and managed just 47 hits and 17 walks, for a .194 BA and .243 OBP. Ouch.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #59: Glenallen Hill

Glenallen Hill

PHOTO: This is one of the best photos in the set. It's a nice closeup with a lot going on in the photo, including the dangling bat.

STAT: My instinct is that Hill got a lot of extra-base hits. Checking out all the players with 4000 to 4100 career plate appearances, he was indeed #1. That's sort of unfair, though, because most of those players played in much earlier periods in the game when there was less offense.

CAREER: 4/10

By all accounts, Hill was pretty much an asshole who got dumped by his team quite often in his career. But the guy could hit pretty well, especially for power.