1989 Topps Major League Debut #141: Wally Whitehurst

Wally Whitehurst

PHOTO: Ugghhh....overexposed, blurry. Yuck.

STAT: Whitehurst pitched a lot against the Cubs. The two batters he faced the most in his career were Mark Grace and Ryne Sandberg. Grace got a few singles and not much else while Sandberg hit the ball all over the place (doubles and triples and homers, oh my!)

ANAGRAM: Wally Whitehurst = Hurl witty whales

CAREER: 3/10

Whitehurst was an average-ish pitcher who had a couple of nice seasons and a couple of dull seasons. He was part of two memorable trades, one I've mentioned at least 5 times on my various blogs.

December 11, 1987: Traded as part of a 3-team trade by the Oakland Athletics with Kevin Tapani to the New York Mets. The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Bob Welch and Matt Young to the Oakland Athletics. The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Jack Savage to the New York Mets. The Oakland Athletics sent Alfredo Griffin and Jay Howell to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The New York Mets sent Jesse Orosco to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

October 26, 1992: Traded by the New York Mets with a player to be named later and D.J. Dozier to the San Diego Padres for a player to be named later and Tony Fernandez. The New York Mets sent Raul Casanova (December 7, 1992) to the San Diego Padres to complete the trade.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #126: Kevin Tapani

Kevin Tapani

PHOTO: The mesh pattern against his bare chest gives Tapani the appearances of having sizable man-boobs (which I do not believe he had.) Nice blue-unity, though, between the blue warm-up and blue seats.

STAT: Since 1975, Tapani's 1998 season ranks as 3rd-worst ERA+ for a guy with 19 or more wins.

ANAGRAM: Kevin Tapani = I eat pink van

CAREER: 5/10

Tapani was a very average pitcher who lucked himself into some high win seasons, such as the one mentioned above. He appeared in the post-season with 3 teams, including the Twins in 1991, but didn't pitch particularly well. He was a key component of three significant trades: the bob Welch/Afredo Griffin/Jesse Orosco deal in 1987, the Rick Aguilera/Frank Viola deal in 1989, and the Ron Coomer trade in 1995.

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 #74: Julio Machado

Julio Machado

PHOTO: Other than the first line about his ML debut on the back, the first thing the card says is about something he did 4 seasons earlier in 1986. What does that tell you?

STAT: More than 600 guys finished their careers with 75 to 150 IP and Machado had one of the best ERAs of all.

ANAGRAM: Julio Machado = Could I jam a ho?

CAREER: 3/10

He pitched only 147 career innings but finished with a very nice 125 ERA+.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #11: Blaine Beatty

Blaine Beatty

PHOTO: Holy overexposure. The colors on Beatty's face and jersey are almost washed out due to the flash photography. This should have been a pretty sunny day. What's the deal?

This card also exposes a flaw in the set from this year. Have you noticed the two colored frames immediately outside the photo? On this card, one is orange and one is blue. That's perfectly nice. Topps picked those colors on each card to match the team colors. But there are just too many damn colors on the borders of these cards when you consider the 2 frames, then two different shades of gray on the corners, all the red, and all the dots.

STAT: In his career, Beatty struck out 10 different guys, each once. The list incldues Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Delino Deshields, and Marquis Grissom.

CAREER: 1/10

Beatty appeared in just 7 major-league games, and he cost the Mets Doug Sisk to acquire. Sisk had almost outlived his usefulness by that point, but not entirely. The price was too steep in any event.

But then, get this. Later, the Mets traded Beatty away for Jeff Barry, another guy of whom you've probably never heard. Then they traded Barry away for Pedro Martinez. Not this Pedro Martinez, the other one. Martinez never actually appeared for the Mets, though.