Player Profile: Shawn Abner

I have 25 Shawn Abner cards. This one is from 1990 Score.

Playing Career: The Mets drafted Shawn Abner number one overall in the 1984 draft. The high school star was chosen over more polished college players like Mark McGwire as the Mets were worried about signability and price. Though he never played in a game for the Mets, they got decent value from the pick as he was part of the trade that got them Kevin McReynolds from San Diego. Abner played in parts of five seasons for the Padres, and also had brief stops with the Angels and White Sox. He never lived up to the hype of being the number one draft choice, telling the New York Times's Jack Curry in 1991 that "The draft is a joke. Being drafted No. 1 is overrated."

My memories: Had a few baseball cards of him as his playing career was during my card collecting years as a kid, but as he spent almost all of his career in the NL I have no specific memories of watching him play.

Where he is now: Working for a beer distributor in Mechanicsburg, PA.

Interesting facts: Brother Ben Abner was also drafted in 1984 and spent several years in the Expos and Pirates organizations.

Google Autocomplete Results: He is second when you type in Shawn Ab, between Dartmouth cornerback Shawn Abuhoff and Shawn Abbott, head of undergraduate admissions at NYU. There don't seem to be any other prominent Shawn Abners.

Coming up next: Tomorrow's profile is Johnny Abrego.