1988 Topps:

Matt Williams played in the Major Leagues 1987-2003 for the San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, and Arizona Diamondbacks.  He was one of the best hitters in the game during the 1990s, batting .278 with 300 home runs during those ten years.  He was a 5-time All-Star and 4-time Gold Glove winner.

Matt is now the third base coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks.  He lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona with his wife and four children.

1. #757 John Marzano
2. #562 Jim Lindeman
3. #488 Andy McGaffigan
4. #166 Rick Rodriguez
5. #212 Greg Brock
6. #537 Steve Buechele
7. #372 Matt Williams
8. #394 Roger Clemens (All-Star)
9. #623 Mike Flanagan
10. #117 James Steels
11. #607 Mickey Hatcher
12. #246 Mike Campbell
13. #506 John Cangelosi
14. #42 Bill Landrum
15. #642 Bob Dernier

Mark Ciardi had a very brief big league career with the Brewers in 1987.  He pitched 16.1 innings, allowing 26 hits including 5 home runs.  Needless to say, when his next season in AAA also didn’t go well, he decided to quit pro baseball.

Not all baseball players are meant to be baseball players.  After his short-lived baseball career, Mark Ciardi found his true passion in producing sports movies.  The first movie he produced was The Rookie in 2002.  Other notable films produced by Ciardi were Miracle (2004), Invincible (2006), and Secretariat (2010).  He is still very active in the movie industry and he has several movies in the works.

1988 Topps:

1. #521 Jim Dwyer
2. #733 Spike Owen
3. #649 DeWayne Buice
4. #374 Doc Edwards (Manager)
5. #745 Bill Doran
6. #570 Jeffrey Leonard
7. #395 Jimmy Key (All-Star)
8. #9 Andy Hawkins
9. #417 Mark Ciardi
10. #513 Tim Flannery
11. #118 Bob Welch
12. #776 Checklist 661-792 (Checklist)
13. #75 Joe Carter
14. #518 Greg Gross
15. #426 Randy Ready

John Smiley was a two-time All-Star pitcher who played for the Pirates, Twins, Reds, and Indians 1986-1997.  At the peak of his career in 1991, he went 20-8 with a 3.08 ERA, while finishing third in Cy Young Award voting.  His career ended abruptly when he broke his throwing arm while warming up for a start in the Cleveland Indians’ bullpen on September 20, 1997.

Unfortunately for this post, John Smiley was one of those players who pretty much disappeared from the public spotlight after his career ended.  More than two years after his broke his arm, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed him to a minor league contract and invited him to Spring Training for a possible comeback, but things never panned out.  John Smiley never pitched another professional baseball game.

1988 Topps:

1. #768 Dickie Noles
2. #25 Andres Galarraga
3. #181 Dave Cone
4. #393 Matt Nokes (All-Star)
5. #195 Dan Quisenberry
6. #102 Barry Larkin
7. #215 Von Hayes
8. #552 Mark Thurmond
9. #114 Jeff Russell
10. #141 Kansas City Royals (Team Leaders)
11. #790 Dave Righetti
12. #423 John Smiley
13. #625 Frank Viola
14. #542 Paul Noce
15. #547 Felix Fermin

Devon White roamed the Major League outfields for 17 seasons 1985-2001.  He is best known for his defensive prowess, which earned him seven Gold Glove awards in the span of 8 seasons 1988-1995.  He was also a three-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion.

In 2003, Devon White had his name legally changed back to its original spelling of “Devon Whyte”.  His family name had been erroneously recorded as “White” when he immigrated to the United States from Jamaica.  He is currently the baserunning coordinator for the Chicago White Sox.

1987 Topps:

1. #730 Eric Show
2. #389 Jeff Robinson
3. #689 Darrell Porter
4. #187 Mark Huismann
5. #382 Rudy Law
6. #694 Phil Niekro
7. #690 Dane Iorg
8. #139 Devon White
9. #729 Tom Paciorek
10. #425 Tom Seaver
11. #290 Leon Durham
12. #26 Greg Brock
13. #627 Ken Oberkfell
14. #212 Mike Fitzgerald
15. #279 Dan Plesac
16. #498 Bob Kearney
17. #342 Bob James

Danny Tartabull was an All-Star outfielder and designated hitter best known for his productive five years with the Kansas City Royals 1987-1991.  During his time with the Royals, Tartabull batted .290 and averaged 29 home runs per season, hitting a career-high 34 in 1987.  After his days with the Royals, Tartabull played for the Yankees, Athletics, White Sox, and Phillies, but was never able to achieve the same level of success as he had playing for the Royals.  A foul ball to his foot on Opening Day 1997 effectively ended Danny Tartabull’s career.  Danny has made cameo appearances in Seinfeld and Married with Children… in the 1990′s.

I can’t find much information about Danny Tartabull after he broke his foot in 1997.  After the 1997 season, MRI scans revealed that his foot was still broken.  The Phillies attempted to resign him to a minor league contract, but Danny refused.  Other teams took interest in him afterwards, notably the Red Sox and the Padres as late as 1999, but no deal was made and he sort of faded out of public view.  In 2007, Danny’s son Zach was a highly touted high school football player.  However, he graduated from College of the Canyons last year and was apparently not drafted to the NFL.

1987 Topps:

1. #718 Steve Carlton
2. #642 Al Pulido
3. #782 Brian Downing
4. #325 Garry Templeton
5. #486 Otis Nixon
6. #679 Kent Hrbek
7. #476 Danny Tartabull (Topps All-Star Rookie)
8. #11 Cleveland Indians (Team Leaders)
9. #282 Jeff Calhoun
10. #151 Mike LaCoss
11. #104 Billy Sample
12. #650 Hubie Brooks
13. #430 Mike Schmidt
14. #244 Dickie Noles
15. #629 Larry Parrish
16. #621 Danny Cox
17. #483 Dwight Lowry

Pat Clements played 8 seasons as a relief pitcher for the Angels, Pirates, Yankees, Padres, and Orioles.  He went 17-11 with a respectable 3.77 ERA and 12 Saves through his Major League career.

In 2005, Pat Clements was honored by the Golden Baseball League as a “Legend of the Diamond” as a professional baseball standout from the Chico and Butte County California areas.  He had played Little League baseball in Chico in the 1970′s.

1987 Topps:

1. #773 Robin Yount
2. #473 Steve Farr
3. #612 George Bell (All-Star)
4. #177 Keith Moreland
5. #733 Bill Caudill
6. #303 Juan Berenguer
7. #758 Tony Bernazard
8. #742 Andy McGaffigan
9. #14 Dave Stewart
10. #517 Mario Soto
11. #45 Jim Presley
12. #564 Larry McWilliams
13. #337 Darrell Miller
14. #659 Aurelio Lopez
15. #330 Mike Scott
16. #16 Pat Clements
17. #397 Greg Walker

Jay Tibbs was a starting pitcher for the Reds, Expos, and Orioles during the 1980′s, and briefly did relief for the Pirates in 1990.  He had a couple really good seasons in which he posted a sub-3.00 ERA and had a winning record, but also a few really bad seasons like 1988 when he went 0-10 for the Orioles at one point, or 1990 when he started 10 games for the Orioles and for a 5.68 ERA before being traded away to the Pirates for Dorn Taylor.

Not much recent news on Tibbs.  From what I can gather online, it looks like he’s quietly living in Oneonta, Alabama with his family and plays golf on his spare time.

1987 Topps:

1. #595 Keith Hernandez (All-Star)
2. #534 Scott Sanderson
3. #673 Don Sutton
4. #767 Ron Cey
5. #181 St. Louis Cardinals (Team Leaders)
6. #7 Todd Worrell (Record Breaker)
7. #229 Mike Birkbeck
8. #286 Mike Woodard
9. #744 Roy Smalley
10. #560 Glenn Davis
11. #249 Jim Pankovits
12. #309 Mike Young
13. #547 Rob Deer
14. #22 Doug DeCinces
15. #232 Reggie Williams
16. #25 Bert Blyleven
17. #9 Jay Tibbs

Kurt Stillwell was the second pick in the 1983 MLB Draft.  After quickly climbing his way up through the minor leagues, he made his Major League debut on April 13, 1986.  At the end of the 1987 season, he was traded to the Kansas City Royals, where he made the All-Star team on his first season with them.  After becoming a free agent in 1991 though, his career began to decline and he struggled with hitting.  His last Major League appearance was in 1996 with the Texas Rangers.

After leaving baseball in 1996, Kurt moved on to his other passion in life:  fly-fishing.  He served as a fly-fishing guide for Big League Outfitters in Northern California before being hired by Scott Boras Corporation as an advisor in 2002.  It’s unclear whether or not he still works for Scott Boras, but it looks like you can still go fly-fishing with him.

1987 Topps:

1. #623 Kurt Stillwell
2. #761 Greg Pryor
3. #743 Dwayne Murphy
4. #65 Tom Browning
5. #386 Dickie Thon
6. #284 John Moses
7. #536 Terry Mulholland
8. #790 Julio Cruz
9. #293 Bob Rodgers (Manager)
10. #621 Danny Cox
11. #483 Dwight Lowry
12. #39 Marty Barrett
13. #357 Steve Fireovid
14. #173 Alex Trevino
15. #630 John Candelaria
16. #489 Bill Gullickson
17. #185 Roger McDowell