1989 Cedar Rapids Reds (Best)

Here is the 1989 Cedar Rapids Reds set from Best. This is the set where I got the Quinn Marsh card from. There is a bit more variety to the poses, and the pictures are at least taken on the field.

Best cards are often quite formal, using the player's full first name instead of a nickname.

 So this set has a guy with the first name Jeffery, and the last name Jeffery. (Neither is spelled the more common way - Jeffrey).

 This Michael Myers is not the Mike Myers who spent 13 years in the major leagues. This guy (who also usually went by Mike Myers) never pitched above A ball.

 Here's a guy with a great name. He was just profiled on the blog The Greatest 21 Days, which like this blog is also delving into minor league team sets.

 Some sets include coaches. Here is current Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild!

Occasionally a minor league set will include some key off-field personnel as well as the manager, coaches and trainer.

 Rarely, however, do you get a clubhouse attendant card.

 

Tony Vasquez is described as a "local Cedar Rapids boy".

The boy is now a man. He became the manager of a sports bar in Cedar Rapids that was destroyed by that region's massive flooding in 2008 (as a Long Islander I can relate, though thankfully not from personal experience). See this article for pictures, including the baseball memorabilia that was destroyed in the flood. He has since rebuilt the bar.

1989 Canton-Akron Indians (Best)

The 1989 Best set has a pretty bare-bones layout. Incidentally, they used almost the same design in 1990. Almost every picture in the Canton-Akron set is taken in front of the same gray wall.

Dan Boever is now a professional golf entertainer, specializing in long drives and trick shots.
 
A striking feature of the Canton-Akron set is the dirt all over the pictures. For example, look at all of the green smudges on trainer Dan Remond's photo.

They use the same pictures on the back, and you can see the same smudges.  Also, they say he got a degree in "Sorts Medicine".

Jeff Shaw's card has a word written in reverse. Holding the card up to a mirror it looks something like Caab. This isn't just writing on my card - you can see another card at this link.

Shaw is shown as a pitcher posing with a bat. This set may have set a record for that pose.

Quinn Marsh on baseball cards

Quinn Marsh pitched in the Reds organization from 1986 to 1990 (where he was teammates with many of the players in yesterday's Chattanooga Lookouts post). In 122 games, he was 11-12 with 7 saves and a 3.51 ERA. Now Vice President of International and Domestic Logistics at Access Technology Solutions and Logistics in Utah, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

 - Do you have any stories about cards of yourself or of other players? 
- The Gino Minutelli card on your blog showing him swinging a bat - he was actually a good hitter and was used at times as a pinch hitter. The Phil Dale card - Phil was my manager in the ABL for the Waverly Reds, based in Melbourne, AU - 1989-90 with a record of 43-3.

 - Do you have a favorite card of yourself or of another player? 
- My 1988 card as it shows a historic save, by gaining the save to beat the Salt Lake City Trappers 29 game winning streak (1987), longest in pro baseball history and I happened to be from Bountiful, Utah, so hometown kid breaks the streak while playing for the Billings Mustangs. Mack Jenkins who is currently coaching for the MLB Cincinnati Reds was the starter.
 - My 1990 Salinas Spurs card as it shows my best season.  The Salinas Spurs were managed by the first Japanese manager of American pro sports, Heidi Koga-san and the owner was the late Joe Buzas who owned many teams with his first being the Pawtucket Red Sox which he purchased for $1.00 as it was a loser team, then turned around and sold for $1 million. Also on that Salinas Spurs team were Steve Howe and Leon Durham, ex MLB players making a comeback and many Japanese players from the Daiei Hawks and Yakult Swallows.

 - Do you collect baseball cards?
I did as a kid and wish I still had them.

Thanks! I couldn't find a pitcure of the Billings card online. Here is one that I have, from 1989 Cedar Rapids.

1988 Chattanooga Lookouts (Best)

This is the only set I got from 1988 Best. It's layout is very similar to that of 1986 Topps, except for a red instead of white lower border. I don't know if they change the color based on the team color, but it looks great with this Cincinnati Reds AA affiliate. Most of the pics are pretty standard poses, almost all taken at waist level against the same background.

 Being a AA team, there were very few of the major league veterans on the tail end of their career that make AAA sets so much fun. One exception was Lary Sorensen, whose once promising big league career was derailing due to alcoholism.

 At age 32, Sorensen was five years older than his pitching coach, Rich Bombard. Bombard, the brother of former major leaguer Marc Bombard, never pitched above AA-ball. I wonder how it went when he tried to give instruction to a big league veteran several years his senior?

 Tony DeFrancesco, you may remember, was the Astros' interim manager for the last couple of months of 2012.

 He was not the only player with a four-syllable last name with a future in major league managing.

 Here is a theme that comes up frequently in minor league cards - a pitcher posing with a bat.

 Phil Dale had an undistinguished career in the US, but was a longtime star in his native Australia, where he is now a manager. His team, the Melbourne Aces, lost the Australian Baseball League championship series earlier this year.

Minor League Team Sets

Lately I've become more interested in minor league cards, especially those that are older than mid-90s. There are a couple of reasons - one is that I like minor league cards in general. Although they don't have action poses, there are often goofy shots that you rarely see in major league sets. I also like the much greater range of players that you'll get compared to major league sets. Another reason I am getting more interested is that I have basically all the major brands MLB issues from 1978-1993. 1993 was the last year I collected before re-starting my baseball card obsession about ten years ago, and cards from that era are still most interesting to me. I am finding I enjoy minor league cards from that era more than major league cards that are more recent. (Though I still enjoy modern big league cards very much!)

There were a few major sets dedicated to minor leaguers that came out in that time - 1990 CMC, 1989 and 1990 Star, and a few years of Fleer, Upper Deck, Classic Best and Skybox/Line Drive in the early 90s. I have a few complete sets:

91 Classic/Best

92 Classic/Best

94 Classic

92-93 Fleer Excel

92 Upper Deck Minors

Though I am of course still interested in cards from the other sets, I recently started taking an interest in minor league team sets. Each team had one or even two different sets each year produced by manufacturers like Best, CMC, ProCards or TCMA. The problem is that these cards tend to be expensive - often .50 or $1.00 a card. I hate to spend more than .10 maximum on a card, and usually try for far less.  

However, I recently saw a lot of 30 minor league team sets for $50 on ebay. Knowing that was a great price, I jumped on it, making it my first ever ebay purchase. The sets are really fun, and I am going to highlight a different one each day.

There were three sets that appeared twice in the lot, so each one is up for trade. The sets are: 1990 Tulsa Drillers (ProCards); 1987 St. Petersburg Cardinals (ProCards); 1989 Eugene Emeralds (Best). I'd ideally like to trade them for other minor league cards, but will take big league cards also. I'd also love to trade major league cards for minor league cards if any of you readers have any to trade.

 

Everett Cunningham on baseball cards

Everett Cunningham pitched four seasons in the Rangers organization, going 28-19 with a 4.16 ERA. Now Senior Vice President, Commercial at Quest Diagnostics, where he is head of all sales and marketing, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

- Do you have any stories about cards of yourself or of other players? 

I once signed a card that a young boy gave me. He then asked me for a unsigned card because he was afraid that my signature would depreciate the team set the card came from.

- Do you have a favorite card of yourself or of another player?  

My Tulsa Driller action card in 1991.

- Do you collect baseball cards? 

No.

Thanks!

Trade with The Baseball Card Snob

Got some cool cards in a trade with the Baseball Card Snob. I was happy that all the cards he wanted were in a condition that even a snob couldn't turn his nose up at. (Are there any anti-snobs out there who collect poor-condition cards? I've got tons!)

The cards he sent me were from a variety of years and brands, but I choose this Bruce Bochy card to focus on. Is it time to start thinking about him as a future Hall-of-Fame manager? You hear alot about the manager he beat, Jim Leyland, being a future Hall-of-Famer, but Bochy's record compares favorably to Leyland:
Bochy: 1454-1444 record (.502), three pennants, two world championships
Leyland: 1676-1659 record (.503), three pennants, one world championship

I'm not sure if either belongs, but if Leyland gets in, Bochy definitely should.

Player Profile: Lorenzo Barcelo

I have one card of Lorenzo Barcelo, from 2000 Fleer Tradition Update.

Playing career: Lorenzo Barcelo pitched for the White Sox from 2000 to 2002. In 43 games he was 5-3 with a 4.50 ERA.

Where he is now: After spending the 2003 season at the Giants AAA Fresno club, Barcelo pitched in independent and foreign ball. He returned to affiliated baseball for the first time in nine years at the end of the 2012 season, appearing in one game for the Dodgers AAA Albuquerque club.

My memories: Only know him from his card.

Google Autocomplete results: He is fifth when you type Lorenzo Bar, between Lorenzo Barcelata, an early twentieth century Mexican composer, and Lorenzo Barber, a Union chaplain in the Civil War known as “The Fighting Parson”. There do not appear to be any other prominent Lorenzo Barcelos.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Marc Barcelo.

Player Profile: Bret Barberie

I have 39 cards of Bret Barberie. This one is from 1993 Upper Deck. 

Playing career: Bret Barberie was a middle infielder for the Expos, Marlins, Orioles and Cubs from 1991 to 1996, hitting .271 with 16 HR and 133 RBI in 479 games.

Where he is now: A youth baseball instructor in California.

My memories: Only know him from his card.

Interesting facts: He is divorced from TV personality Jillian Barberie. She is probably more famous than she is.

Once missed a game due to getting chili juice in his eye.

Google Autocomplete results: He is third when you type Bret Ba, between Bret Baier Twitter, a political commentator, and Breitbart, a news syndicate. There do not appear to be any other prominent Bret Barberies.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Lorenzo Barcelo.

Trade with the Toddfather

Got a bunch of cool cards in a trade with the Toddfather. The best by far was the 2007 Topps Derek Jeter silly-gimmick-trying to hard card. I know it's ridiculous but it's fun to have it in person.

Incidentally, I am now down to needing just three cards to complete the 2007 set.
3 - Brad Lidge
227 - Oakland A's
554 - Elizardo Ramirez