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 #132: Omar Vizquel

Omar Vizquel

PHOTO: If you're over the age of 30, I bet you smiled when you saw this card. To see an active player from a 20-year-old set is pretty cool, plus Vizquel looks exactly the same in that photo as he looks today.

STAT: As we near the end of this set, it's neat to think about how many players appeared in all 21 seasons from 1989 to 2009. I'll give you Vizquel and Ken Griffey, but the other 2 do not have cards in this set (having debuted earlier than 1989.) Can you get them? Answer here. (Hint: they both reached major career milestones this season.)

ANAGRAM: Omar Vizquel = Removal Quiz

CAREER: 6/10 7/10

Vizquel has had a very respectable career. When he started, he was a classic light-hitting but great-fielding shortstop. As the position took off offensively during the Steroids Era, Vizquel stayed behind, becoming below-average with the bat save for a few strong years in 1999-2002. He'll approach but not quite reach 3,000 hits before he's done, although he's making it more on longevity than good hitting, as his career .273 BA tells you.

Vizquel was a key member of the great Indians teams of the mid-to-late 1990s and is one of the greatest bunters the game has seen in the last 50 years.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #121: Billy Spiers

Bill Spiers

One of the dumbest questions I've ever heard asked, I think by a fan who wrote into a newspaper, was whether Bill Spiers was related to Chris Speier. Really? REALLY? I wonder if that person also thought that U2 lead singer Bono was related to Sunny Bono.

PHOTO: Spiers' fingers on his dangling hand look abnormally long. His wife must be very happy.

STAT: Spiers nearly tied for the lead in most seasons with exactly 4 HR but he's not the only guy to have exactly 4 homers each year in 1997, 1998, and 1999.

ANAGRAM: Billy Spiers = Prissy libel

CAREER: 4/10

Spiers was a decent player who appeared in 13 seasons although never more than 132 games in any single season. He was a little below-average offensively and defensively which made it tough for him to stick as either a SS or a 3B, playing over 400 games at both positions. He played in 3 straight division series for the Astros 1997-1999, hitting well especially in 1998 with 3 doubles, 2 runs scored, and 1 RBI in 4 games.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #117: Greg Smith

Greg Smith

Here's our second straight Cub named Smith.

PHOTO: This is not a bad photo although I have to say I wish they used a different kind of lens that allowed the stuff in the background to be more in focus. This is a great shot showing what a typical spring training stadium looks like, but you can't really see it all that well.

STAT: Smtih's most meaningful plate appearance probably came in this game where his 11th-inning bunt off John Franco advanced a runner that would eventually score the go-ahead run. (Of course, Mike Marshall hit a game-tying homer in the bottom of the inning although the Cubs did go on to win in 13 innings.)

ANAGRAM: Greg Smith = Right gems

CAREER: 1/10

Just 58 career big-league plate appearances.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #112: Dick Scott

Dick Scott

This guy was the 3rd Dick Scott to play in the big leagues, joining this guy and this guy.

PHOTO: This photo is pretty similar to the other A's photos in this set. But this one features a lady in the background stuffing her face with cotton candy! Jeez, at least wait until the game starts, fat-ass!

STAT: Scott appeared in 3 major league games but got only 2 plate appearances. He didn't get a hit but at least got an RBI.

ANAGRAM: Dick Scott, Athletics = Catch it - sold tickets

CAREER: 1/10

Just 3 games...

1989 Topps Major League Debut #109: Jeff Schaefer

Jeff Schaefer

PHOTO: On the last card, the bat was nearly invisible. On this one, it's totally absent. Schaefer looks like he's speed skating, perhaps.

STAT: Schaefer didn't hit much but did have one game with 7 total bases (although the Mariners still lost.)

ANAGRAM: Jeff Schaefer, SS, White Sox = Reject whiffs, fesses hoax

CAREER: 1/10

Schaefer appeared in the bigs for parts of 5 seasons but didn't reach even 400 PAs.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #100: Jeff Richardson

Jeff Richardson

PHOTO: Although Richardson doesn't look all that confident, this is a pretty awesome photo with all the red. It actually matches the card border.

STAT: This Jeff Richardson had a short career (see below) but there was another major leaguer named Jeff Richardson who had an even shorter career. The latter appeared in just one game for the Angels in 1990. (Interestingly, this second Ricahrdson was a pitcher and faced just two major league batters. The first one he allowed a bases-loaded triple to and the second he got on a groundout. Check out the box score. So he has a career ERA of 0.00 but did allow three inherited runners to score.)

ANAGRAM: Jeff Richardson = Franchise fjord

CAREER: 2/10

Richardson appeared in parts of 3 seasons, disappearing from the big leagues for a year in between each time. With only 171 major-league plate appearances, why does he get a score of 2? Because of this trade:

April 3, 1990: Traded by the Cincinnati Reds with Mike Roesler to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Billy Hatcher.

Hatcher had a decent year for the Reds in 1990 and then exploded in the post-season, including hitting 9-for-12 (.750) in their 4-game sweep of Oakland in the World Series.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #80: Jeff McKnight

Jeff McKnight

I strongly urge you to click on McKnight's name above and read the sponsorship banner on his page.

PHOTO: This picture should be called Jeff "As Black As" McKnight. I would so much prefer a daytime and/or action shot.

STAT: Get this. Since 1901, McKnight is one of just two players to appear in at least 30 games at 1B, 2B, and SS while playing in no more than 300 total games. If you increase the limit to 500 games, you add Lou Merloni, as well as a guy we just saw: Greg Litton.

Turns out, as you can see below on the back of the card, that McKnight's full first name is Jefferson. The only other guy to play MLB with that first name is Jeff McCleskey.

CAREER: 2/10

I begrudgingly give McKnight a 2 since he stuck around for parts of 6 seasons.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #31: Gary DiSarcina

Gary DiSarcina

PHOTO: What exactly is DiSarcina wearing? Is it my imagination or does he have a blue warmup jacket halfway on, not to mention the stupid grin he's sporting?

STAT: Of his 28 career homers, DiSarcina hit 3 off Boomer Wells and a game-winning 3-run shot off Graeme Lloyd with 2 outs in the 9th inning of a 1996 game.

CAREER: 4/10

There's not much to be said about DiSarcina's career. He was an awful offensive player (or should I say "awfully offensive".) He was slightly above average in the field. He never appeared in the post-season, which has as much to do with the Angels as it does with him. But he stuck around for about 8 full seasons and played with just one franchise for his whole career.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #16: Mike Benjamin

Mike Benjamin

PHOTO: The photo immediately reminded me of a couple of Giants from the 1988 Topps set that also had entirely green backgrounds: Matt Williams and Jose Uribe. Benjamin was obviously photographed in the same general area of (probably) their spring training facility.

STAT: Guess which pitcher Benjamin faced the most in his career? How about the guy whose card we just saw?

CAREER: 2/10

Benjamin was never a full time player but did stick around for 13 seasons so he must have had something going for him. A couple of oddities about his career: he pitched one inning for the Red Sox in 1997, closing out a game with a scoreless frame. He got his most PAs in a season in 1998 and hit a career-best .272, leading the Red Sox to start him in all 4 of their post-season games as they lost the ALDS to the Indians. Looking at Benjamin's career stats, you'd never think he would have been good enough to be a post-season starter.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #13: Juan Bell

Juan Bell

PHOTO: For some odd reason, I didn't know until after Bell retired that he is the younger brother of George Bell, which is pretty obvious from the above photo as they bear quite a resemblance to each other. Want to see? Check out the elder Bell's 1988 Topps All-star card.

STAT: The Baseball-Reference PI is down right now as 1954 and 1955 are being added to the database, so I can't search on this. However, I noticed that Bell began his career with two seasons where he didn't get on base at all and produced an OPS+ of -100. True, he appeared in only 13 games total, but it's still pretty impressive.

CAREER: 1/10

Bell had a very disappointing career, especially as one of the star prospects the Orioles acquired when they traded Eddie Murray to the Dodgers. Bell was fairly unusual in that he was really bad with both his bat and his glove.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #4: Kent Anderson

Kent Anderson

PHOTO: Wow, this is a great shot! I'm not so sure about Anderson's bunting technique, but I like that we can see the positioning of both of his hands so clearly, including the two-fingered approach he's going with. The away Angels uniform also has colors matching the red-and-gray color theme used for this set, so overall this is a beautiful card.

STAT: Anderson had 15 extra-base hits in his career but did manage to get 2 in one game, a 4-0 victory for the Angels. The winning pitcher in that game? Jim Abbott.

CAREER: 1/10

Anderson didn't hit much in the minors but did manage a .308 BA and 115 OPS+ over 49 games in 1990 with the Angels. Sadly he never made it back to the majors after 3 unimpressive years in the minors in 1991-1993.

Kent is the brother of former major-leaguer Mike Anderson.