#130T Ted Wood

IMPACT FACTOR 1/10: Wood had just a couple cups of coffee with the Giants in the majors.

#129T Glenn Wilson

IMPACT FACTOR 3/10: Wilson, picked up in the trade mention on the back of the card, was unproductive for half a season in Seattle, but they then traded him to Pittsburgh for Darnell Coles, who was a little better. Coles himself was eventually traded for Tracey Jones, who was decent for parts of 2 seasons.

#118T Pat Tabler

Tabler's got his lunch under his cap.

IMPACT FACTOR 4/10: Tabler was decent in parts of 3 years with Kansas City. They didn't get great value in trading away Bud Black, but when they traded Tabler, they got Archie Corbin. Corbin appeared in just 2 games for the Royals, and was traded with Sean Berry for Bill Sampen and Chris Haney. Berry ended up being a stud for the Expos, while Sampen didn't do much for Kansas City. But Chris Haney was a starter for the Royals for parts of 7 years, and although he missed a lot of time with injury, he pitched pretty well. Haney was eventually sold to the Cubs.

#114T Pete Stanicek

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10: Stanicek played parts of two seasons with the Orioles with mediocre results. His brother Steve was even less successful as a player in the big leagues.

#86T Gary Pettis

As mentioned on the previous card, Pettis came to the Tigers in exchange for the last guy we saw, Dan Petry.

IMPACT FACTOR 3/10: Pettis, one of the more overrated players of his time, had 1 junk year and 1 decent year with the Tigers before walking as a free agent. He returned in 1992 to finish out his career.

#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.

#81T Dave Parker

Somehow, Parker looks like even more of a beast on this card than he did on his regular-issue 1988 Topps card.

IMPACT FACTOR 4/10: Parker played for the Athletics for 2 seasons, 1988 and 1989. He had good regular seasons, although he had limited ABs. He hit poorly for average in both postseasons, although in 1989 he did have a few homers and a SLG of about .600.

#78T Joe Orsulak

IMPACT FACTOR 4/10: Orsulak played 5 mostly good seasons for the Orioles. He is well-remembered as an outfielder who made several memorable catches, including a big splashdown or two.

#72T Keith Moreland

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10: Moreland came and left San Diego in fairly low-impact trades (see also Goose Gossage) and had one relatively unproductive year for the team.

#67T Billy Masse

IMPACT FACTOR 0/10: Masse played a bunch of years in the minors with the Yankees but never made it to the big leagues. He's been a manager for the last bunch of years for different organizations.

#61T Jeffrey Leonard

Some women I know would kill for those lips.

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10: Leonard didn't have much left when he joined Milwaukee in a trade for Earnie Riles. After one pretty poor half-season, he left as a free agent. He had a decent season the following year for Seattle and then called it a career after 1990.

#58T Ron Kittle

IMPACT FACTOR 2/10: Kittle was a very effective power hitter on a part-time basis for the Indians for 1 year.

#57T Roberto Kelly

IMPACT FACTOR 7/10: Kelly gets a surprisingly high impact factor for two reasons: any Yankees fan will tell you that in 1989 he was the best young player to come along to the Yankees in a long time, and he helped start the revitalization that led to 13 straight post-season berths starting in 1995. Also, the Yankees made a simply amazing trade, swapping him when his stock was at its peak and acquiring Paul O'Neill, who played 9 seasons with the Yankees and was a major contributor to their 4 World Series wins in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000. Kelly went on to have a solid major league career after New York although he was not the star many thought he would be.

#56T Darrin Jackson

Those are some dark and fuzzy people in the background. Insert your own joke here.

Jackson had a really strange career including:

• Getting 11 ABs in 1985 and 5 ABs in 1987 before finally qualifying as a rookie with 188 ABs in 1988.
• Despite playing 12 years and hitting 80 HR, he had nearly half of those HR in just 2 seasons (1991 with 21 and 1992 with 17.)
• He had an enormously bad OBP of .293 and a horrific K/BB ratio of 480/131.
  

IMPACT FACTOR 1/10: Jackson did fairly little in parts of 4 seasons with the Cubs, and then left town in a trade involving players all either past their prime or with no prime.

#48T Dave Henderson

IMPACT FACTOR 6/10: Henderson signed with Oakland as a free agent and was their starting centerfielder for 4 years, including the 3 World Series years of 1988-1990. He had some big hits in the postseason.

#40T Kirk Gibson

IMPACT FACTOR 10/10: Gibson is our first perfect 10 performer for impact factor. This card is OH SO RIGHT featuring Gibby in Dodger blue on a 1988 card. Gibson gets his perfect score for, of course, the greatest home run that most of us will ever see in our lifetimes, winning Game 1 of the 1988 World Series against Oakland. I suspect that Gibson's regular-season MVP award in 1988 would be much more harshly criticized if he hadn't played that post-season.

I could go on and on about that homer, but let me leave you with this. Sit back, relax, and remember the sound of the late Jack Buck's voice, making what is easily the greatest home run call in broadcast baseball history:

"Gibson swings, and a fly ball to deep right field! This is gonna be a home run! Unbelievable! A home run for Gibson! And the Dodgers have won the game, 5 to 4; I don't believe what I just saw!"

#39T Ron Gant

This is one of the best rookie cards in this set.

IMPACT FACTOR 5/10: Gant was a big part of Braves' return to contention, although it was a rocky beginning for him. As a 2B in 1988, he made 26 errors in 122 games. Think about that...this is a second baseman, we're talking about. Wow. The Bravos moved him to 3B where he was pretty much just as bad, but to keep his bat in the lineup they moved him to OF, where he remained for the rest of his career. They were rewarded in 1990 with his first 30-HR season. I can't rate Gant higher than a 5, though, because although he was present for two trips to the World Series, he personally didn't hit well in the post-season (contribution to the Braves losing those series) and he was never really even the best player on the team. Even in 1990 he was slightly out-produced by newcomer David Justice.

Gant ended up leaving Atlanta when he broke his leg while riding a motorcycle, missing the entire 1994 season. He came back strong in 1995 and was a productive player the rest of his career.

#38T Mike Fiore

IMPACT FACTOR 0/10: Fiore never made it to the majors. I can barely find any info on him other than his BR Bullpen page. There was a major leaguer of the same name who perhaps is his father, but I have no information either way about that.

#36T Cecil Espy

IMPACT FACTOR 3/10: Espy was picked up by the Rangers through the Rule V draft and played parts of 4 seasons for the club. He was pretty bad with the bat and not too good with the glove either. I give him a 3 since he did stick with the club for a while.

I remember Tom Seaver, then broadcasting for the Yankees, continually mispronouncing his last name as "Epsy" instead of "Espy."

There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that the ESPN awards (The ESPYs) are named for this guy.

#33T Mike Davis

I guess Davis got contact lenses in between the time his regular issue 1988 photo and this photo were taken. He's wearing glasses in the former.

IMPACT FACTOR 5/10: Davis did very little with the Dodgers in the 1988 and 1989 regular seasons. He did, however, draw one of the most unlikely walks in the history of baseball, right ahead of the one of the most unlikely home runs ever hit. He gets big points for that, a moment in the sun more memorable than the achievements of many, many players with more talent.

In case you're some kind of baseball newbie and don't know what I'm talking about, click here and here.