MLB Showdown Obsession

 And now for the single greatest pitching performance in baseball history. And fitting to baseball, of all men to pitch this game, it wasn't someone you'd ever expect. As the newspapers would say the next day, the imperfect man pitched a perfect game. Don Larsen in 1956 was pretty solid with an 11-5 record, but only 20 of his 38 games that year were starts and only featured a single shutout. He was far from the ace of the Yankees. But as we've covered before, you don't need to be the best to be perfect on a particular day. This day however was more important than all the other perfect games that occurred both in the past and in the future. The others were regular season perfect games, Don Larsen pitched his in the World Series, with the series tied 2-2 and facing the defending champions. Larsen got the ball in Game 2, but the Brooklyn Dodgers knocked him around and he looked far from perfect. After the Yankees came back from a 0-2 deficit to tie the series, Larsen was s...

  The 1999 Yankees were your champions, so it stands that not many of their cards need improving. Here, Martinez is an example of a better card. His 97 season featured MVP caliber numbers at the plate, and his chart reflects that. Hard to pass on any player with 16+ homer potential. 1997 Brosius was abysmal, making him an easy player to shed for the A's. Unfortunately, that gave the 98 Yankees their World Series MVP and Brosius his lone All Star year. His 98 card is covered earlier here , but it's worth noting how good his 96 season was with Oakland, with the better than perfect +4 defense at third base and some 1B eligibility. Davis called it a career after his 99 efforts, so his Showdown card is yet another example of a player who wasn't done justice because of the time he played in. Turn back the clock to the early 90s and you'll see the true force this DH really was. Knoblauch was a 9 On-Base in 99, which was fine for a leadoff hitter, but there was a time where he ...

  Hershiser had an ok Showdown card, but the knowledgeable will recall that he had a pretty decent season a decade earlier when he won the Cy Young award and was all around unhittable for the Dodgers. An absolute unit of a card that could anchor any pitching staff. Shane Andrews was a low On-base, high homer kind of all or nothing card. Here, he remains a low On-base and slow player, but the homers get even better and he sports a perfect +3 defense at the hot corner. Telford had a 0 Control and was an easy avoid in his 2000 set. Here, he brings in a great 5 Control and is much harder to ignore. The *other* Guerrero in Montreal was never a big On-base guy, but now he can hit homers and play way more positions so you can have a better chance to find him a role for your team. That chart can do damage if he can get the advantage. Shortstops back in the days before Rodriguez and Jeter were not big on power, or offense for that matter. Back then Dunston still played SS and had that speed...