1st Round Draft Pick: Robin Ventura
Written by Steve on December 27th, 2008
1989 Topps #764 Robin Ventura (Draft Pick) (Rookie)
1989 Topps:
- #274 Mark Eichhorn
- #31 Terry Francona
- #764 Robin Ventura (Draft Pick) (Rookie)
- #559 Juan Agosto
- #555 Bert Blyleven
- #109 Hipolito Pena
- #657 Joe Magrane
- #444 Moose Stubing (Manager)
- #17 Brian Downing
- #666 Randy St. Claire
- #101 Les Straker
- #621 Rick Mahler
- #645 Jack Morris
- #637 Carmen Castillo
- #108 Fred Manrique
The Robin Ventura rookie is probably the best card I got this week. At least I didn’t get any doubles.
“Robin was selected as College Baseball’s Player of the Year for 1987 at Oklahoma State after setting an NCAA record with 58-game hitting streak. A member of the 1987 USA Intercontinental Cup Team, he fell below the .400 mark for the first time in his career by batting .391 in 1988. Robin was selected to 1988 USA Olympic Team. He went 3-for-5 with 2 Doubles and 3-run Triple in 12-2 win vs. Australia, September 21 at Seoul, Korea.”
Robin Ventura, the guy who got a famous beating from a 46-year-old Nolan Ryan in 1993. This was when Robin Ventura was 26 years old and in his prime, while Nolan Ryan was making his final appearances before retiring. After the incident, Ryan stated that he used the same maneuver on Ventura that he used for branding cattle on his Texas ranch. Watch the video on Youtube.
Another interesting note, Nolan Ryan was playing in the major leagues before Robin Ventura was even born!