Righting Wrongs - 1999 Dodgers, Brewers and Twins

 

Hundley had a wonderful chart in the 2000 set, but my God, his on-base was hard to swallow. Back in1996, however, he had his career year that makes for a much better card. I've said it before, and here it continues, reduce the homers on a chart (14-20 on the Showdown card vs the 16-20 on this card) in exchange for a better on-base (6 vs 8) will always lead to more homers for a player. Also helps that his defense gets a touch better here. Speed sucks here, but he is a Catcher after all...

Hansen had a great on-base in Showdown (a perfect 10) but absolutely no chart to go with it. He had nice infield coverage (1B/3B) but no defense to go with it (+0 for both positions). Speed was also poor at a C. Hansen wasn't a terrible card, but only for a pinch-hit situation where you need to get on base and don't care how, then immediately get him out of there for a defensive replacement.

*This* version of Hansen is still slow (but a C11 speed is a touch better than a standard C10) and will likely be best suited for the bench with a chart that is still far from stellar, but that 14 on-base and actual defensive skill with that 3B+2 will make Dave infinitely more useful than his original counterpart.

Sean Berry has one of the most useless Showdown cards in the 2000 set. 1B+0, on-base of 5, barely any extra-base hit potential, homers limited to just a 20 roll. There was no reason to have Berry on your team. Sean Berry here isn't standing out in any special way, but at least you can justify this card. 3B position with actual defensive ability, on-base is 8 with a way better chart, featuring more extra-base hits and homers. Speeds up to average B as well. Sean Berry will likely still not be on your roster, but at least now he won't embarrass himself.

Terry Steinbach ended his career with a ho-hum Twins card from the 2000 set. Back it up to his 1996 season and you'll get an out of nowhere power surge year that brings a scary good chart with mouth-watering homer potential. on-base goes from 8 to 7, but opponents will feel much more uncomfortable when he steps up to the plate this time around.

Mr. Valdez was one of those terrible Showdown cards in 2000 that allowed homers on his own chart. What made it worse was his control wasn't even a 5 or 6 to try and compensate. Here though there is no such risk for surrendering the long ball with the advantage. There was a season that would have featured Valdez with a control of 5 instead of this versions 4, but this version strikes out more and has a better overall chart that lets fewer men on base. A much more respectable showing for Ismael.