Pack Break: 1995 Topps Series 1
Written by Steve on September 16th, 2010
“Wade is one of only five American League players ever to participate in ten consecutive All-Star Games.”
Topps is just making up baseball trivia here. The ten consecutive All-Star Game club isn’t all that exclusive. Let’s see… we have Cal Ripken Jr., Rod Carew, Carl Yastrzemski, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Al Kaline, Brooks Robinson, George Brett, Nellie Fox, Bill Freehan… that makes ten…
Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio would have done it if not for World War II.
Then since 1995 we have six new members of the club: Kirby Puckett, Ivan Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Roberto Alomar, Manny Ramirez, and the most recent member, Ichiro.
So Topps got this one wrong… unless they’re using a very narrow definition of the word “participate”.
1995 Topps Series 1:
- #170 Wade Boggs
- Cyberstats #185 Scott Servais
- #251 Kurt Miller (Star Track)
- #6 Jacob Shumate (Draft Pick)
- #133 Mike Hampton
- #233 Alan Benes (Future Star)
- #257 Shane Reynolds
- #151 Derek Parks
- #163 Alex Fernandez
- #159 Bill Wegman
- #311 Bryan Harvey
- #283 Dave Magadan
- #76 Charles Nagy
- #124 Todd Benzinger
- #187 Geronimo Berroa
16
PM
I think Topps probably means “play in” by “participate”. Only Boggs, Mantle, Berra and Brooks make the list based on that (as of 1995).
Either due to mgr decision or injury, these guys didn’t play in a certain year, even though they made the team:
Carew (70 & 79)
Brett (80, injured during his MVP year)
Yaz (73)
Kaline (64)
Fox (52)
Freehan (64 & 73(
16
PM
Yup, you’re correct Charlie. I was just too lazy to see if those players actually played in all of those All-Star games. To make up for it, I checked to see who joined the club since 1994:
Kirby Puckett joined the club in 1995, Roberto Alomar followed in 2000, Ivan Rodriguez in 2001, and this season Ichiro joined as only the 9th American League player to participate in 10 consecutive All-Star games.
17
AM
topps is being a little to technical there.