1989 Topps Major League Debut #50: Chip Hale

Chip Hale

Here's our second Twin in a row, this time a far less successful one.

PHOTO: This is also kind of a worthless photo of Hale, but I'm curious about that banner in the background. Does anybody know what it says or which stadium it's from?

STAT: Of Hale's 7 career homers, 4 came off guys who played for the Yankees, although only Scott Kamieniecki was a Yankee at the time of the homer.

CAREER: 2/10

Hale has the distinction of being traded from one team to another team after his final major-league appearance. Obviously he was trying to make it back to the big leagues, but after being released by the Dodgers and signing with the Angels, the Angels traded him to the Cardinals in 1998.

Also, not too many guys in history have their two leading positions as DH and 2B.

Not to much else to say about Walter William Hale.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #39: La Vel Freeman

La Vel Freeman

PHOTO: Not about the photo, but the way Freeman's name is shown on the card. Topps seems to do this a lot. His first name is "La Vel", not "LaVel". I don't understand why they don't put the space in there.

STAT: All 3 of Freeman's career plate appearances came off Doyle Alexander.

CAREER: 1/10

Just 3 plate appearances in the big leagues for a first-round draft pick. Ugh.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #17: Geronimo Berroa

Geronimo Berroa

PHOTO: I dig this photo, a nice action shot at Shea Stadium. It almost looks like he's engaging in a hammer throw.

STAT: In 1996, 21 different players hit 30 HR with 100 RBI and 100 runs scored. If you guessed forever, you'd probably get the other 20 guys before naming Berroa. (Some other toughies on that list, though, are John Jaha and Bernard Gilkey.)

CAREER: 3/10

Berroa bounced around a lot and played as many as 140 games in a season only 3 times in his career. He did post the aforementioned 30-HR, 100-RBI season with Oakland in 1996 but couldn't keep up that power.

For some dumb reason, I often confuse Berroa with Francisco Cabrera. Their first names both have multiple syllables and sound a tad similar, while their last names are both heavy on the "r"s. They also both came up with Atlanta in the same era.