Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Who's Next?

Indeed, who is next? But what would I be referring to?


Goldberg's next opponent



The next American Idol?



The next crappy Reality television series?

No, here's my quandary. Who is the next mediocre/good '90s player to be featured on a Topps baseball card? Let's start in 2011, shall we?


Albert (Joey) Belle was a force to be reckoned with in the 1990s. Five-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger recipient, MVP runner-up, 351 home runs, 1099 RBI. No chance for the HoF. I didn't have a big problem with this card or even the Larry Walker that showed up in the '11 Lineage set. They were both very instrument on their teams during the '90s, but this is what started the whole situation.


2012 is where Topps started crossing the line with it's Five Star set. Granted, Kruk is great on Baseball Tonight. One of the funniest men in sports broadcasting...But did his career deserve a card in the "high end" set Topps produced.


The same goes for Paul O'Neill. He was good for the Bronx Bombers in the '90s, even clutch at times, but really?


Finally, we come to 2013 Gypsy Queen. Jim Abbott was an inspiration to children in the late 80s and early 90s winning 18 games for the Halos in 1991. Abbott, though, never topped more than 11 wins in a season for the rest of his career and only had a winning record in three of those seasons.

Don't get me wrong. They were good enough in their day and by no means do I mean to disrespect any of these players. Heck, I have some of those I collect (see Freddy Sanchez). But give them a card in this decade?

Really? Really?

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