Sega's World Series Baseball and 1994 Topps

  The first year of Brewers baseball in 1970 was interesting to say the least. Leaving Spring Training and not knowing whether or not they would be playing a sophomore season in Seattle or head east to Milwaukee or they would all become free agents. On April 1, the moving trucks spent the night in Las Vegas and awaited word on which way they would be going. Later in the week the trucks spent two days in Provo Utah, still waiting word. Finally Milwaukee car salesman Bud Selig and a team of investors came through to bring the Pilots east. They spent the season in the AL west, and finished 65-97 and 1. The Brewers finished 33 games behind the first place Twins. But 5 years after the Braves left for Atlanta, MLB had come back to Milwaukee. Selig was a major factor in that move. Bud had been a minority owner in the Braves, and had, unsuccessfully, lobbied to keep the team in brew town. Selig was like many young men and had fallen in love with the game early on. Heartbroken and devastate...

 Twins avoid their first losing steak of the season but pounding the Seattle Mariners 11 to 5. Kirby Puckett adds two more home runs to increase his league leading total to 14.  George Kenneth Griffey Jr. The Kid, Junior. #24. The man who scored the run that saved baseball in Seattle. What more can you say about Griffey that hasn't already been said. He was the star of the Mariners from the moment he put on the uniform. Expectations were big, and he didn't disappoint.  His dad, Ken Griffey Sr, was a solid player for the Reds, and Yankees among others for more than 15 years. Junior was at the ballpark hanging with guys like Pete Rose, Dave Concepcion, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Johnny Bench. He learned to play the game, and play it well. He was never included in the shadow of the steroid scandals that troubled the sport for more than a decade. Griffey played his heart out for the Mariners. Without Griffey, Buhner, Martinez, Johnson and the rest of the comers and goers in the ...

 Twins fall victim to the hot bats of the White Sox. Robin Ventura leads the charge with 2 home runs in the 15 to 6 victory. 9 years before the strike shortened 1994 season Topps decided to take a chance by commemorating the first US Olympic team in history in the 1985 set. We all know who the star of that subset was, Mark McGwire. In just 3 short years it became the most sought after card of the decade. And in a related note, in the background of the Big Mac card you will see a partial stadium billboard advertising Marlboro cigarettes. Ironically the same type of advertisement sent the editors over at Fleer into a tizzy just 4 years later with several variations of the Randy Johnson rookie card. Although the Johnson was noticed after the infamous Billy Ripken F(*# Face card which is probably they reacted like that to Johnson promoting cigs. I guess it could also be that the 18 year tobacco law was into effect by then, so they would have had to edit that anyway. But I digress, Vent...

 The homerdome is living up to it's name as the Twins "really destroy the White Sox 16 to 5." The Twins are a game and a half ahead of the Brewers in the AL Central Division. Remember this was the 1994 season, the first with the Wild Card and the 3 division format and the Brewers were still three years removed from moving to the NL Central.  Pedro Munoz had a promising talent, the dreaded "potential" tag that he never quite lived up to. In 517 Major League Games he hit a respectable .273 with 67 HR and 252 RBI. One of those HR, and 4 of those RBI will be discussed a little bit later in this post. Munoz played in over half the games in 94, thanks to the strike, and his average hit a high point of .320 in late July. I said in my initial post that if I had any interactions with the players or attended games that they played it that I would mention them in the blog to make it more interesting. Well Pedro was one of those players. I have kept a running log of games t...

 Twins return to their winning way, knocking out 26 hits in a 14 to 6 rout of the White Sox.  Kent Hrbek raises average over .400 with a 4 for 5 performance.   Once again, love this card, like the Puckett as it features the home whites. A picture of concentration as the ball comes in. Kent Hrbek was one of the greatest players in Twins history.  A great hometown player who started and stayed with his hometown team. Growing up in the shadows of old Met, and the hitting the winning home run in his debut at Yankee Stadium. Runner up to Cal Ripken as ROY in 1982, All Star game and the Cover of Sports Illustrated also came in 82. Runner up to Willie Hernandez in 84 MVP race,and keeping the Twins in the race until the end of the season.  One game I will not forget was also in 84. Shortly after the team was sold to the Pohlad's the Twins were on the verge of first place in the AL west.  Close game and the pitcher decides to walk Hrbie intentionally to pitch t...

GAME 4 The Royals defeat the Twins and hand them the first loss of the season. George Brett and Wally Joyner power the Royals to the win, and Kirby Puckett goes 0 for the game and drops his average to a season low .640.  Wally Joyner, one of the many hot young rookies from 1986. Growing up as a collector, my friends and I were psyched up as the rookies of 1985 sets were hitting their stride. We are talking Clemens, Puckett, Gooden, Saberhagen, Eric Davis, Orel Hershiser and many other fringe prospects. Going into 1986 we knew there were plenty of young studs that could make collecting a lot of fun that year, Barry Bonds, Pete Incaviglia, Will Clark, Jose Canseco, and Wally Joyner. Joyner was given the unenviable task of replacing Rod Carew at first base in Anaheim. But he did it, and did it very well. He hit around 300 for most of the season, and made his only All-Star team as a rookie. Although most of those above mentioned rookies, several of them ended up wrapped up in the ster...

 Game 3 Twins 11 Royals 10  George Brett and Felix Jose go a combined 7 for 10 in a losing effort. Brett also records his 1 SB of the season.  What better way to honor the career of George Brett than to have his last Topps flagship card than this beautiful shot. One of the best pure hitters of my generation, or any for that matter. The only player to win batting titles in 3 different decades (70's, 80's, and 90's). 3000+ hits, two World Series apperances and led the Royals to their first title. Had the Yankees not been a late 70's powerhouse Brett potentially could of had at least one more ring. He was, and still is, the face of the Royals franchise. I remember in 1988 after I had received a Jose Canseco autograph from mailing in a card to a show, I got hooked on collecting signatures. The first one I got back from an actual request from a player was Jim Presley of the Mariners. It started a 2 year contest between myself and two close collecting friends. We got some pre...