1993 Topps Series 2:

1. #701 Mike Piazza/Brook Fordyce/Carlos Delgado/Donnie Leshnock (Prospects)
2. #419 Mark Thompson (Draft Pick) (Rookie)
3. #575 Monty Fariss
4. #629 Cris Carpenter
5. #664 Calvin Jones
6. Gold #425 Joe Girardi
7. #639 Mike Bordick
8. #674 Mark Gubicza
9. #496 Reggie Jefferson
10. #414 Juan Guerrero
11. #646 Rich Scheid (Rookie)
12. #707 Donn Pall
13. #689 Eddie Zosky
14. #554 Arthur Rhodes
15. #675 Tim Raines

Another crop of early 90′s prospects here.  What became of them?

Mike Piazza went on to play 16 seasons in the Major Leagues and is regarded as one of the best hitting catchers of all time.  He officially announced his retirement in 2008 and ended his career with a .308 career batting average with 427 home runs.  He will likely be inducted into the Hall of Fame someday.

Brook Fordyce played in the Major Leagues 10 seasons and was regarded as a good hitting catcher, especially in the 2000 season when he hit .301 with 14 home runs.  He retired in 2004.

Carlos Delgado is surprisingly still playing baseball in the Boston Red Sox organization.  He is 38 years old and has 473 career home runs.  He probably wants to hit those remaining 27 home runs to reach the 500 club before he retires.

Donnie Leshnock was drafted by the New York Yankees and never made it past the single-A level.

2006 Topps Series 2:

1. #365 Aramis Ramirez
2. #574 Darin Erstad
3. #584 Jorge Sosa
4. #495 Adrian Beltre
5. Hit Parade #HR9 Mike Piazza
6. #346 Hideki Matsui
7. #560 Jim Thome
8. #620 Hanley Ramirez (Rookie)
9. #539 Juan Rincon
10. #612 Los Angeles Dodgers (Team Card)

After the 2005 season, Mike Piazza ranked 8th in active career home runs with 397.  He ended his career with 427 home runs, securing a comfortable niche between Cal Ripken Jr. and Billy Williams at #39 on the all-time career home run list (with Chipper Jones passing through).

Speaking of great catchers, it looks like Ivan Rodriguez will end his Hall of Fame career with the Nationals!  Can’t wait to see him play this upcoming season!  The Nats should just go ahead and sign all the old future Hall of Famers before they retire.  It would certainly boost ticket sales and interest in our humble (and poorly performing) team.

Today I have another special pack break.  Back in 1993, I bought a single pack of 93 Leaf and saved it up and eventually forgot about it.  I don’t even know what ’93 Leaf looks like because I never opened a single pack.  It’s now or never:

1. #177 Brady Anderson
2. #166 B.J. Surhoff
3. #155 Leo Gomez
4. #144 Bill Wegman
5. Gold Rookies #7 Ryan Thompson
6. #26 Jose Oquendo
7. #35 Mike Piazza
8. #58 Brian McRae
9. #44 Bob Tewksbury
10. #146 George Brett
11. #27 Julio Franco
12. #38 Milt Cuyler
13. #49 Rafael Palmeiro
14. #60 Dan Gladden

The really cool thing about 1993 Leaf is that the card backs look just as good as the fronts.  Take a look:

1993 Donruss, to be integrated into my collection:

1. #44 Eric Wedge (Rated Rookie)
2. #72 Todd Worrell
3. #124 Chuck Carr
4. #159 Jose Canseco
5. #187 Ivan Rodriguez
6. #188 Bret Boone (Rated Rookie)
7. #189 Juan Guzman
8. #190 Tom Browning
9. #206 Craig Shipley
10. #207 John Jaha
11. #208 Royce Clayton
12. #209 Mike Piazza (Rated Rookie)
13. #210 Ron Gant
14. #211 Scott Erickson
15. #212 Doug Dascenzo *x2
16. #213 Andy Stankiewicz *x2
17. #214 Geronimo Berroa *x2
18. #215 Dennis Eckersley *x2
19. #216 Al Osuna *x2
20. #217 Tino Martinez
21. #218 Henry Rodriguez
22. #219 Ed Sprague
23. #220 Ken Hill
24. #283 Kent Hrbek
25. #295 Jimmy Poole
26. #307 Gregg Jefferies
27. #319 Geno Petralli
28. #320 Melvin Nieves (Rated Rookie)

1995 Topps Traded and Rookies:

1. #74T Ben Davis (Draft Pick) (Rookie)
2. #30T Ryan Jaroncyk (Draft Pick) (Rookie)
3. #155T Andre Dawson
4. #30T Ryan Jaroncyk (Draft Pick) (Rookie)
5. #150T Carlos Perez (Rookie Year Candidates)
6. #57T Andujar Cedeno
7. #6 Mike Piazza (At the Break)
8. #125T Joey Cora
9. #87T Darren Bragg
10. #100T Jason Bates
11. #80T Jaime Navarro

“Piazza missed a month to injury (thumb) in the first half of 1995, but still was named clean-up hitter for the NL All-Star squad.  In his 42 games before the break, the bashing backstop swatted .377.  His HR-RBI totals of 13-37 would have projected to league-leading figures of 21-61 had he been able to play in every Dodger game.“

2004 Topps Series 1:

1. #177 Eddie Guardado
2. #226 Kelvim Escobar
3. #265 Cristian Guzman
4. #132 Michael Barrett
5. #275 Eric Wedge (Manager)
6. #364 Roy Halladay (Sporting News All-Stars)
7. #30 Tim Hudson
8. #44 Steve Finley
9. #100 Alex Rodriguez
10. #31 Mike Piazza

…and a Series 1 checklist.

“Mike has six of the 17 35-HR seasons ever by catchers.“

1992 Classic Best, to be integrated into my collection.  The Mike Piazza minor league card is a nice gem:

1. #11 Joe Randa
2. #21 Lance Jennings
3. #31 Mike Mongiello
4. #213 Darren Bragg
5. #214 Glenn Murray
6. #223 Kevin Jordan
7. #224 Tim Rumer *x2
8. #233 Tom Nuneviller
9. #234 Sean Ryan *x2
10. #244 Matt Howard *x2
11. #253 Jason Bere
12. #254 Eric Christopherson
13. #263 Tommy Eason
14. #264 Joel Gilmore
15. #274 Frank Jacobs
16. #293 Rich Becker
17. #294 Mike Durant
18. #305 Rondell White
19. #324 Brian Griffiths
20. #325 Chad Schoenvogel
21. #335 Rob Wishnevski
22. #345 Mike Piazza
23. #355 Roberto Mejia
24. #356 Willis Otanez
25. #366 Eddie Williams
26. #376 P.J. Forbes
27. #399 Checklist 277-345 (Checklist)

2008 Topps #72 Mike Piazza

2008 Topps archives, to be integrated into my collection:

1. #3 Jeff Suppan
2. #8 Stephen Drew
3. #20 Daisuke Matsuzaka
4. #25 Kaz Matsui (Postseason Highlights)
5. #26 Manny Ramirez (Postseason Highlights)
6. #29 Anibal Sanchez
7. #32 Howie Kendrick
8. #41 Rich Aurilia
9. #45 Dontrelle Willis
10. #53 Hank Blalock
11. #56 Seth Smith (Rookie)
12. #59 Grady Sizemore (Postseason Highlights)
13. #63 Jason Michaels
14. #64 Mike Lowell
15. #72 Mike Piazza
16. #82 So Taguchi
17. #86 Scott Podsednik
18. #92 Ross Detwiler (Rookie)
19. #93 Kenny Lofton
20. #98 Ryan Howard/Chase Utley (Classic Combos)


2008 Topps #258 Manny Ramirez/Kevin Youkilis (Classic Combos)

21. #104 Kevin Youkilis
22. #109 Joe Nathan
23. #115 Johan Santana
24. #119 Jeremy Hermida
25. #121 Mike Cameron
26. #123 Terry Francona (Manager)
27. #128 Kenny Lofton (Postseason Highlights)
28. #164 Nate Schierholtz
29. #169 Adam Lind
30. #183 Paul Byrd
31. #184 Tadahito Iguchi
32. #201 Matt Capps
33. #210 Mark Teahen
34. #216 Ryan Garko
35. #220 Roy Oswalt
36. #233 Jimmy Rollins (MVP)
37. #238 Shane Victorino
38. #250 Jonathan Papelbon
39. #258 Manny Ramirez/Kevin Youkilis (Classic Combos)
40. #269 James Loney (Topps All-Star Rookie)