1989 Topps Major League Debut #108: Deion Sanders

Deion Sanders

PHOTO: I like the photo well enough, especially how the bat is almost end-on facing the camera. If you ignore the fact that Sanders is playing baseball, it almost looks like he's dropping a water balloon.

STAT: Sanders had 2 games with 3 extra-base hits, including one job with two triples.

CAREER: 3/10

It's tough to evaluate Sanders career because we need to look past all the hoopla around him being a 2-sport player. In the end, Sanders was like a lot of other fast guys: not too much extra-base pop and trouble getting on base. His career .319 OBP tells pretty much the whole story. His stolen base success rate of 75% was good enough and his speed allowed him to rack up a fair number of triples (though oddly a low number of doubles.) In the end, his career OPS+ was just 89 and he played only the equivalent of about 4 full seasons thanks to his football commitments.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #84: Kevin Mmahat

Kevin Mmahat

Mmahat's last name is pronounced "mama-hot" which sounds like it has something to do with MILFs. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I do not suggest that you Google the word MILFs.

PHOTO: I like the funny mouth position Mmahat's got going on. We can clearly see the Yankee 3rd baseman in the photo. Mike Pagliarulo was the Yankees 3B back then but he was out for about half of 1989 and that doesn't look like Pags.

If this is a regular-season photo, then it's likely either Randy Velarde in this game or Mike Blowers in this game. The photo could be either guy, but I'm leaning towards Blowers. In any event, this probably was not a regular-season photo. I assume that Topps must have sent photographers to spring training in the hopes of getting photos of all players who might debut that season. It's much less likely that they managed to send a photographer to the ballpark for one of Mmahat's 4 games in 1989.

STAT: I can't come up with a stat for Mmahat. He pitched poorly in his 4 major-league games and wasn't all that great in the minors either. OK how about this--he allowed more than 1 hit to two guys: Wade Boggs and Dewey Evans.

ANAGRAM: Kevin Paul Mmahat = Halve man--I'm kaput

CAREER: 1/10

What more can I say?

1989 Topps Major League Debut #83: Hensley Meulens

Hensley Meulens

For those not familiar with Meulens, his last name is pronounced "MYOO-lens"

Or you can just call him Bam Bam for short.

Meulens was the first major-leaguer from Curaçao (and if you don't know how to say that, it's CURE-a-sow, where "sow" rhymes with "how".) A few more natives of Curaçao have since made it to the bigs, including Andruw Jones.

PHOTO: A fine photo, ho hum.

STAT: The last 2 homers of Meulens' MLB career were both hit in Stade Olympique in Montreal. The penultimate was as a member of the Expos, while the very last was as a visiting member of the Diamondbacks.

ANAGRAM: Hensely Muelens = He's sullen enemy

CAREER: 4/10

Bam Bam put up good power numbers in the minors, hitting 28 HR in 116 games in 1987, 26 HR in 136 games in 1990, and another 26 HR in 141 games in 1991. Given several chances in the majors by the Yankees, though, Meulens never showed as much power there, finishing with 15 HR in just under 500 AB.

Why, then do I give Meulens a 4 instead of a 2? Because he went to Japan in 1994 (after the Yankees sold his contract) and worked hard to continue his career, putting up decent power numbers there and working his way back to North America, eventually appearing with the Expos and Diamondbacks in 1997 and 1998. He even came back in 1999 and 2001 with the independent Newark Bears to try to impress another team into signing him. He gets a 2 for his actual major-league statistics, but bumps up to a 4 for his effort.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #69: Marcus Lawton

Marcus Lawton

PHOTO: Another close-up non-action shot of a Yankee player in this set...hmm...

STAT: David West faced him twice and struck him out both times. Also check out Lawton's minor league season in 1985. He stole 111 bases...and was caught only 8 times!

ANAGRAM: Marcus Lawton = Macro Walnuts (I can't tell you how tempted I was to go with "A lawn scrotum" but that would just be too unprofessional, even if a better approximation of his major-league career.)

CAREER: 1/10

Lawton had speed but couldn't get on base much and never made it in the majors.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #29: Bobby Davidson

Bobby Davidson

PHOTO: Firstly, nice shot of an umpire zipping up his pants in the background.

Secondly, it's interesting to note that B-R.com knows this guy as "Bob Davidson."

Thirdly, I haven't mentioned this until now, but have you noticed how these cards do not identify the player's team on the front? This is one of the few cards that doesn't have a team logo visible either. Of course, we all know this is a Yankees player.

STAT: Davidson appeared in just 1 major-league game, this one. He mopped up in the 9th inning, allowing a walk to Kevin Seitzer and a homer to George Brett. That game was one of Chuck Cary's best career starts, blown in relief by Lee Guetterman.

CAREER: 1/10

ONE major league game.

1989 Topps Major League Debut #18: Mike Blowers

Mike Blowers

PHOTO: Interesting to see Mike wearing #13 in the photo. I wonder who wears #13 for the Yankees now? Hmmm....

STAT: Seven of Blowers' 78 career homers were grand slams, and five of them tied the game or put his team ahead.

CAREER: 3/10

Blowers had one very good season in 1993 as a part time player, a few other decent seasons, and didn't play much else otherwise.