MLB Showdown Obsession

  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...

 The 2023 HoF vote gave us one regular addition and one addition from the new "Contemporary Era" selection. Scott Rolen took 7 tries to get that phone call while the Crime Dog McGriff needed to wait beyond the standard time, feel rejected, then get a 2nd look over his fellow overlook peers and finally get the nod for himself. Enjoy their special HoF cards with a choice selection of their seasons...

 Baseball history contains some perfect games pitched by some pretty incredible individuals. And then there are some far less accomplished men who have retired 27 straight men in a game. Charlie Robertson ranks as one of those lesser known men. On April 30, 1922, Robertson was given the ball in his fourth ever start in the big leagues, and took to the hill against the Tigers in Detroit. The White Sox rookie had the highlight of his life that afternoon as he baffled the Tigers hitters, so much so that manager Ty Cobb, ever the gracious loser, was constantly crying that Charlie was cheating. It was the first true perfect game pitched by someone on the road. Robertson's season was pretty pedestrian after that, going 14-15. 1922 turned out to be his best year, as he would never get that close to a winning record again, going 49-80 for his career. In the Michael Coffey book "27 Men Out" he was referred to as "Hands down, Robertson is the least-accomplished pitcher to have...

  Dennis Springer's last year as a relevant player was 1999, and his 0 Control Showdown card showed why. He was bad that year with the Marlins and he was just as bad if not worse the year before with the expansion Devil Rays. But just one year before he was drafted by Tampa, he had a fairly average type card with the Angels, and that is as good as a guy like Dennis could hope for. Eusebio was your typical bench catcher for Showdown, no power, ok on-base, no speed but a pretty good bet for defense. Here though he sacrifices a bit of that on-base and gets a much more attractive chart while the defense and speed remain unchanged. Heck, you gotta love it when a C speed in Showdown has triple potential. Stan Javier still offers that desirable speed, but here he brings the ability to ramp up that speed and have a very nice on-base to go with it. And yes, the man can go deep on this chart. Jose Lima's 2000 Showdown card wasn't half bad and in a future set he had a decent card as w...

 Babe Ruth has a lot of feathers in his cap when it comes to accomplishments in baseball. He also has a lot of foolish moments. One of the most famous has to be the part he played in a combined no-hitter. But wait, that sounds like a proud accomplishment! Well, the part Babe played was on June 23, 1917 he started the game and walked the first batter...then got ejected for arguing the walk call with the umpire...and because this is Babe Ruth, he also punched the umpire and was escorted away by police. Enter Ernie Shore. His contribution was to finish the game out. The runner on first was thrown out trying to steal, then Shore sat down the next 26 batters in order. For decades after that game it was considered a perfect game, but in the 1990s it was reclassified as a combined no-hitter since a perfect game can not allow a baserunner even if the pitcher in question retired 27 men in a row. Though this game wasn't a perfect game, it was pretty cool all things considered. Shore set a re...

  "I let Mr. October get away, and I got Mr. May, Dave Winfield. He gets his numbers when it doesn't count." -George Steinbrenner III Dave Winfield had himself a Hall of Fame career, mostly from his work with the San Diego Padres and New York Yankees. When Mr. Steinbrenner brought him to the Bronx, it was with the intent to bolster a Yankees team that would win several more championships. But with the exception of 1981, the Yankees were good, but never good enough to reach the postseason. No team won more regular season games in the 1980s than the Yankees, but it brought them 0 rings, and for The Boss, that wasn't good enough. And the focal point of this frustration was centered on their high price acquisition, Dave Winfield. Winfield's lone NY World Series year brought a great 11 on-base, but nothing else that truly made him a must-have outfielder. He certainly didn't do himself any favors in the postseason, inciting the Boss. As the years progressed, Winfiel...

  Reggie Jackson was known for 3 things in his career. Hitting dingers, hating Billy Martin and striking out a crap ton. But not as many people will recall that at the end of his storied career he tried to shoot the queen of England. Happy April Fools

The Indians of the 90's were best known for their lights out offense and their...attempt at pitching. Tried as they could, they could never put together a pitching staff that could put them over the top, a flaw that was exposed in both their World Series runs. They were outmatched by a superior staff in 95 and they had no clutch in 97. That's not to say they didn't have any good pitchers. Nagy held his own, unfortunately his best years were in the early 90s where the offense was still trying to get established. 8 innings of strong control and no doubles would've been a Godsend on those World Series runs. Would Nagy alone be able to step up to the Braves trio in 95? Who knows. Alomar had an all over the place career before the late 90s. From can't-miss to irrelevant. His 2000 card left much to be desired, and yet again he gives us an example of a player who would've been much better just one year prior. Decent pop and he retains that great extra-base hot potentia...

 Who is the heaviest player in baseball history? CC? Pablo Sandoval? Big Sexy? Nope! Clocking in at a hefty 320lbs, Walter Young claims the crown in baseballs heavyweight division. Remember how everyone speculated that the key to C.C. Sabathia's success was his weight? Well even at his heaviest he was still 20lbs short of Walter. Remember when Sandoval was in Boston and his belt snapped from the strain? Pablo should have gone to Walter for advice. Walter played one season and in only 14 games. He managed one homer and for what it's worth, the card isn't horrible. Pretty solid bench option when you need a guy to pinch hit and get that single. The C speed shouldn't surprise anyone. All kidding aside, Young died of a heart attack 10 years later and an additional 100lbs. Bret Hart (I think) once said wrestling was more fun with the big body guys running around. Baseball isn't too dissimilar. There's something about a big boy stepping to the plate and you just know t...