Pack Two

Pack 2 +15


342 Mel Hall - Child molester extraordinaire!


209 Craig Reynolds - Gordon.


75 Mike Moore - There's a typical late 80s, shoulder pad wearing, empowered woman sitting right behind Mike that makes him look like he has two puffs of blue hair coming out the back of his cap.


66 Kevin Mitchell - Alleged cat decapitator.


28 Mackey Sasser – Rated Rookie - I don't know if I've ever written about Mackey Sasser before or not.

Yes, I did. Here, about a year ago in pack 27 of my 1988 Score box.

Mackey stuck around until 1995, but did he really live up to that Rated Rookie name?

We see him here as a Pirate, but he played in only 12 games for Pittsburgh in 1987 before being traded to the Mets for Scott Henion and Randy Milligan in March of 1988.

Mackey never really got a chance to play much, only appearing in 100 games once in 1990. Offensively he was pretty average for a catcher and defensively he was at or just a bit below league average.

His numbers in the minors were pretty good, including a .338 average at High-A Fresno in 1985 and .313 combined between Phoenix and Vancouver of the PCL in '87.

In the minors he got regular playing time and did well. But in the Majors his role was one of backup behind Gary Carter and a young Todd Hundley with the Mets, and Dave Valle in Seattle.

Rated Rookie? Judging by his numbers in the minors alone, I'd say so. But as a Major Leaguer, no.


39 Kirt Manwaring – Rated Rookie - Giants catcher of the future? I don't know about that. He never really got a lot of playing time until 1993. But he did hang around with the Giants until the 1996 season when he was traded to Houston for Rick Wilkins and cash.

Rated Rookie? Not really. His offensive numbers in the minor leagues were poor, but he was an above average defensive catcher, winning the NL Gold Glove in 1993. In the end, any offensive production you get out of the catcher's position is an added bonus but Kirt really didn't produce much aside from his 1993 season (5 home runs, 49RBI).


398 Willie Hernandez - I think that's OJ Simpson on the left side of the card behind Willie.


389 Rick Mahler - There's old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium behind Rick. In all the years I've been a Braves fan, I never saw a Braves game a Fulton County. I did a young Kosuke Fukudome playing in a game against Nicaragua at the '96 Olympics. But all my Braves experience has been a Turner Field.


133 Gene Nelson - Wayland.


15 Jack Clark – Diamond King - The horror!


606 Jim Gott - Mr. Gott was traded from the Giants to the Pirates along with Mackey Sasser. I love it when two cards in a pack are related like this. As poorly made as these cards are, the little bits of information are a nice addition. They're not as in depth as Score, but Fleer didn't give us anything to work with. So it's a nice compromise.


475 Dave Anderson - Here's the Texas Rangers' third base coach. I have absolutely no recollection of this guy playing for the Dodgers in '88. Granted I was only seven years old, but I'm surprised how many of these names ring a bell. This one doesn't.

Anderson got one at bat in the '88 World Series and struck out.


343 Jim Eisenreich - I had planned on poking fun at Jim for having Tourette's, but that would be cruel. Instead I'll just point out Donruss' horrible photograph.

The photographer must have said something to the effect of "Jim, I want you to look as displeased as possible to be having your picture taken... no, a little more... little more... perfect!"

And here we have the end result.


210 Gary Pettis - There's a lot to like about this card... nice reflection in his helmet, you can see the entire front of his jersey, and he's clearly using Bill Buckner's bat.


76 Ron Darling - Darling majored in French and Southeast Asian history at Yale and was one of the top players in the history of the school. These days he's broadcasting for the Mets.

Now it's time to choose the best card from the bunch...

Clearly it comes down to a battle between Mel Hall and Gary Pettis. Despite being a convicted child molestor, I think Hall gets the slight nod here because the photo is a bit sharper and there's a little bit more action than the Gary Pettis. But I'm open to arguments either way, both are great looking cards.

And the puzzle. So far I'm lucky to have gotten border pieces from both packs, so let's see how the progress is going...


At this point I'm just guessing as to location... soooooo.

And there's pack two. I hope you enjoy scans of the full pack.