1989 Topps Major League Debut #130: Randy Veres

Randy Veres

PHOTO: Another dull headshot like many Brewers in this set.

STAT: I guess Veres was basically a mop-up guy, judging by his leverage splits. He pitched more in low-leverage situations than he did in high- and medium-leverage combined.

ANAGRAM: Randy Veres = Nervy dares

CAREER: 3/10

Veres was a decent major-league reliever. Kudos to him for getting sent to the minors for the 1991 season and battling for 3 years until making it back to the show in 1994. He finished with a strong season for KC in 1997--not sure why he didn't pitch again after that.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #128: Greg Vaughn

Greg Vaughn

PHOTO: This photo was quite obviously from the same session as Vaughn's regular 1990 Topps card, as well as his 1990 Bowman card.






STAT: Wow...Vaughn victimized Dave Stewart with the long ball way more than any other pitcher.

ANAGRAM: Greg Vaughn, OF, Brewers = Few hungover braggers

CAREER: 6/10

Vaughn had, by many measures, a pretty impressive career. His big HR totals, though, were lost playing for mostly non-playoff teams. Had the Padres fared better in the 1998 World Series, his 50-HR season might have gotten attention. He followed that up with a very strong 45-HR year for the Reds team that missed the playoffs.

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 #97: Jeff Peterek

Jeff Peterek

PHOTO: Another overexposed, washed-out shot, but I like it anyway since that's probably Jim Gantner in the background. However, if it was this game, it might be Bill Bates. Or if it's this game, it might be Gul Polidor or even Paul Molitor.

STAT: A bit personal here. I happened to watch Peterek's major league debut on TV. I remember Bobby Mercer (broadcasting for the Yankees at that time) talking quite a bit about the correct pronunciation of Peterek's name, which if I recall correctly is "Pee-trek." In that game, Dave Righetti blew the save, costing Andy Hawkins a win.

ANAGRAM: Jeff Peterek, Brewers = Prefers jerk webfeet

CAREER: 1/10

Just 7 career games for Peterek, although he didn't pitch horribly. He finished with a 4.02 ERA, pretty close to average for 1989, but he walked 14 guys in 31 innings.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #87: Jaime Navarro

Jaime Navarro

PHOTO: There's something very strange in the background of this photo. There appears to be a guy in the stands talking on a cell phone. Kids today might not find that weird, but in 1989, cell phones were about the size of a shoe box. I'm guessing that in fact the guy is just holding his empty hand in a way that's casting a shadow that looks like a cell phone.

STAT: Despite missing most of 1994, Navarro still ranked #11 in innings pitched from 1991 to 1997. Check out #1, #2, and #3. No wonder the Braves were so good.

ANAGRAM: Jaime Navarro = A major ravine

CAREER: 4/10

Navarro had a very mixed career. On the one hand he pitched a lot of innings early on. On the other hand, he also led the league in earned runs a couple of times and often had an ERA below league average. Counting just his time with the Brewers and Cubs (first 8 seasons) he was a productive, slightly-above-average starter. Once he went to the White Sox, he became a lot less productive, in particular because his K/BB ratio went to just about 1.0.

The Brewers let him go when his stock was high but reacquired him late in his career in this awful trade:

January 12, 2000: Traded by the Chicago White Sox with John Snyder to the Milwaukee Brewers for Cal Eldred and Jose Valentin.

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 #21: George Canale

George Canale

I actually saw Canale play in a minor-league game in Denver, back when the Zephyrs were the AAA affiliate of the Brewers. He hit 1 or 2 homers in the game I saw, actually.

His last name is pronounced sort of like "finale" in the sense that the "e" at the end is not silent.

PHOTO: I hate wad-of-tobacco shots.

STAT: Canale is 1 of just 6 guys to have 10+ RBI in a season with no more than 34 AB.

CAREER: 1/10

After seeing his great game in the minors, I was a fan of Canale and I sure wish I could give him higher than a 1. But he had only 73 AB in the majors, and even though he had a couple of homers that helped out the Brewers, I can't justify anything higher than this.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #9: Billy Bates

PHOTO: That's a nice fielding action shot of Bates, although he doesn't look terribly confident. the background, though, just looks like an empty stadium. Blah.

STAT: Bates' only career extra base hit was a double in this game. It led off an inning against Rob Murphy, and Bates ended up scoring the go-ahead (and eventual winning) run of the game. Bates certainly did not have a notable major-league career, but at least he did that much, which is more than the rest of us can say.

CAREER: 1/10

48 career at-bats in the big leagues....ho hum.