1989 Topps Major League Debut #79: Chuck McElroy

Chuck McElroy

PHOTO: Anybody familiar with McElroy will immediately know what's notable about this photo...McElroy's not wearing his glasses! I can't recall ever seeing him without glasses on, although a quick web search shows at least one other baseball card where he's not wearing them.

STAT: Six guys hit a pair of homers off McElroy but one of them is not like the others. One of them just doesn't belong. That would be Marty Cardova, who is not quite in the class of McGriff, Griffey, Justice, Sosa, and Bonds.

ANAGRAM: Chuck McElroy = My couch clerk

CAREER: 5/10

McElroy was a fine reliever for numerous seasons and was traded so many times! He was traded 7 times in all and was also drafted by the Diamondbacks as an expansion selection. Here's McElroy career transactional ledger:

June 2, 1986: Drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 8th round of the 1986 amateur draft. Player signed June 4, 1986.

April 7, 1991: Traded by the Philadelphia Phillies with Bob Scanlan to the Chicago Cubs for Mitch Williams.

December 10, 1993: Traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Cincinnati Reds for Mike Anderson, Darron Cox and Larry Luebbers.

May 27, 1996: Traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the California Angels for Lee Smith.

May 18, 1997: Traded by the Anaheim Angels with Jorge Fabregas to the Chicago White Sox for Chad Kreuter and Tony Phillips.

November 18, 1997: Drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks from the Chicago White Sox as the 67th pick in the 1997 expansion draft.

November 18, 1997: Traded by the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Colorado Rockies for Harvey Pulliam.

July 31, 1999: Traded by the Colorado Rockies with Darryl Hamilton to the New York Mets for Thomas Johnson (minors), Rigo Beltran and Brian McRae.

December 10, 1999: Traded by the New York Mets to the Baltimore Orioles for Jesse Orosco.

July 19, 2001: Released by the Baltimore Orioles.

July 23, 2001: Signed as a Free Agent with the San Diego Padres.

November 5, 2001: Granted Free Agency.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #47: Jason Grimsley

Jason Grimsley

PHOTO: This is another nice-looking card, thanks in large part to the fact that the Phillies spring training jerseys nicely match the border used for this set.

STAT: How the hell did Grimsley give up 2 hits and 3 walks while recording only 3 outs in the 2000 ALCS without giving up a run? Well in this game he gave up 1 of each with 2 out sin the ninth and then recorded the final out. And then there was this game, from Bizarro world. Grimsley comes in with one out after Denny Neagle gives up a run-scoring single and back-to-back homers. He proceeds to go single, fly ball out, wild pitch, walk, walk to load the bases, and then gets pulled. Then, in a strange parallel universe, Dwight Gooden comes in to strike out Rickey Henderson, playing for the Mariners. Weird.

CAREER: 4/10

Oh Jason, Jason, Jason...

First, let's talk about his actual playing career. He was not a very good starter from 1989 to 1996, but then disappeared for a few years and resurfaced as a pretty darn good reliever from 1999 to 2004, mostly with the Yankees and the Royals.

But Grimsley has always been better known for his off-the-field explots.

First it was something totally innocent: getting traded from Houston for Curt Schilling, a total steal for the Phillies.

But then he was implicated in a scandal involving Albert Belle's bat, which he allegedly removed from the umpires' changing room (where it had been placed after confiscation over suspected corking) by climbing through ductwork in the clubhouse.

That seems almost funny by comparison to his later naming in the Mitchell report as a main user of illegal drugs.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #24: Pat Combs

Pat Combs

PHOTO: This is another photo that makes good use of the border colors. The Phillies away jersey coloring closely matches the main card colors. I don't kno why they used that pea green for the name banner, though.

STAT: Since 1989, Combs is one of just 12 guys to throw at least 3 shutouts in his first 37 career games.

CAREER: 2/10

1989 was a bad year for the Phillies. They were at perhaps their franchise's lowest point, fallen completely away from the team that had gone to the World Series in 1980 and 1983 and were perhaps the worst team in baseball with the smallest amount of talent. HOFer Mike Schmidt retired during the year too.

And then along came Combs. He had a great first start (mentioned on the back of the card) and followed that up with a 7 inning, 1-run performance against the Expos and then a shutout of the Cardinals. He finished that season at 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA and 5 out 6 starts were very good.

I was an ardent Phillies fan at the time, and this guy was the first ray of hope the team had seen in a long time. In 1990, Combs pitched a number of excellent games and also a bunch of stinkers. By 1991 he was out of the rotation and by 1992 he was done in the big leagues. But by 1993, the Phillies had gotten out of that terrible hole.