Supplemental Sunday - 1998 Opening Day Page 2

As I mentioned two weeks ago, I'm revisiting the inaugural Opening Day set on the occasional Sunday to help supplement the Stats posts. This week we have binder page 2 of the 1998 set.

The names aren't very legible on some so here they are individually.

Matt Williams was a multi-time All-Star, Gold Glover and Silver Slugger over his career and went to the World Series with all three teams he played for (1989 Giants, 1997 Indians and 2001 Diamondbacks).

Carlos Baerga is sporting the "all-white" alternates, including a white cap that was only used in 1997. Their main home uniforms have pinstripes. They've also worn the all white uniforms with combinations of black, blue and orange caps. Baerga was a 3x All-Star and 2x Silver Slugger with the Clevelenad Indians.

Mo Vaughn was a 3x All-Star and earned MVP votes in six consecutive years from 1993-98, including winning the award in 1995.

I remember there was a fuss over Chan Ho Park in the collecting world just as I was exiting the hobby the first time in the mid-90's. I didn't realize he pitched all the way into until 2010, which was about a year or so before I came back. Weird to think I missed just about his entire career.

The only Hall of Famer on the page is the Big Hurt, Frank Thomas. A 5x All-Star, Thomas was also a back-to-back MVP winner in 1993-94. He smashed 521 home runs over 19 seasons despite never leading the league. Although it did help him lead the league in walks four times, probably a lot of intentionals. Or even the unintentional intentional.

The Brewers had three cards in the 1998 set and one of them went to John Jaha, who played just 46 games for the 1997 squad and 73 in 1998. Interesting choice with plenty of players who played in more games and were returning the next season. 

Steve Trachsel was an All-Star in 1996, but continued to play for an awful Cubs team in 1997. His record reflected that, going 8-12 before bouncing back with 15 wins in 1998 as the Cubs went from worst in the National League to the Wild Card.

Never been a fan of Jeff Kent. No further commentary here.

How old is this set? Scott Rolen was a Topps All-Star Rookie here following his 1997 Rookie of the Year season and he's already been on the Hall of Fame ballot after being being a 7x All-Star and 8x Gold Glover. Unfortunately for him, he only received 10.8% of the votes which is a long way from the required 75% minimum. 

Supplemental Sunday - 1998 Opening Day Page 1

Some of the data I'm analyzing is collected straight from the cards while other stuff I have to go digging around for as I write each post. So to help fill the Sunday slot for posts while I compile, I've decided to make this blog an all-encompassing tribute to the Topps Opening Day brand. As this is the 20th edition of the set (debuted in 1998, but Topps skipped 2009), I will supplement the Sunday Stats with a binder page set from the original set. If I decide to continue the blog with next year's set, I will also move on to the 1999 set and so on.

The 1998 set was a bit smaller than this year's 200-card set. It contains 165 cards and no inserts. Similar to the current edition, the cards seem to generally be the same as the flagship set (I haven't compared every card).

According to the Trading Card Database page for this set, there are 24 Hall of Famers. However, due to the way they code their site, there are actually 23 MLB Hall of Famers and one NFL Hall of Famer.

This first page is a pretty impressive one in terms of a who's who in 1998.

Tony Gwynn is a Hall of Famer with a batting title award named after him. He was a 15x All-Star, 8x Batting champ, 7x Silver Slugger and 5x Gold Glover.

Larry Walker was the reigning MVP (1997), 5x All-Star, 7 Gold Gloves, 3 Silver Sluggers and 3 batting titles.

Billy Wagner was 7x All-Star and Rolaids Relief award winner. Not to mention a snazzy photo of him with a fire extinguisher.

Denny Neagle was a 2x All-Star and a 20-game winner in 1997.

Vladimir Guerrero is one of the newest Hall of Famers and was the 2004 NL MVP, 9x All-Star and 8x Silver Slugger.

Kevin Brown won 21 games for the Rangers in 1992, was a 6x All-Star and twice led the NL in ERA. He was on the World Champion Florida Marlins in 1997 despite him going 0-2 with an 8.18 ERA in the series.

Mariano Rivera will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2019. The career Saves leader, Rivera was a 13x All-Star, 5x World Champion, World Series MVP, All-Star Game MVP, ALCS MVP and 5x Rolaids Relief award winner.

Tony Clark played for 6 teams over 15 seasons and was an All-Star in 2001. In 2013, Clark was elected the Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, the first former player to hold the position.

Wrapping up the page is NFL Hall of Famer Leon Sandcastle Deion Sanders. He was an 8x Pro Bowler but never made an MLB All-Star team. He is the only player to have appeared in both the Super Bowl and World Series.

Definitely not too shabby of a page!