TASR: 1995 Topps #180 Raul Mondesi

In our effort to cover all the Topps All-Star Rookie Cards we are going to run into some stories that are not fun. Raul Mondesi's post playing career is one of those not fun stories. 

For the past seven years Raul Mondesi has been under house arrest in his native Dominican Republic. 

In 2017 Mondesi was convicted of embezzlement of $6 Million public funds. Baseball-Reference estimates Raul Mondesi's career earnings to be $66 Million. 

Earlier this month it was reported that Mondesi has completed his sentence and is now a free man. Hopefully the $66 Million dollar man can avoid embezzlement charges in the future. 

 

1995 Topps #180 Raul Mondesi

1994 was a much better time for Raul Mondesi. He came a HR shy (Klesko 17) of leading NL Rookies in the Triple Crown categories (.306, 16, 56).  He also led all MLB rookies in Hits, Doubles, Triples, Total Bases and the NL in Runs Scored.  

Those numbers were good enough to make Mondesi a unanimous selection for ROY. Modern analytics backs up the selection as his 1.8 WAR also led NL hitters, although a couple of pitchers led by Steve Trachsel (3.4) did finish better. 

Flip

We direct your attention to the text below Mondesi's numbers that features a quote by his Manager Tommy Lasorda who name drops Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente plus a few 1950s era stars - no pressure kid. 

Well I had to check the stats to see how Lasorda's analysis stacks up. Here is what we found:

Turns out Tommy Lasorda was pretty astute. Mondesi's assist numbers are comparable to Carl Furillo and Rocky Colavito. As one can imagine, nobody is in Clemente's Neighborhood, of course. 

Parallels

If Mondesi's numbers appear modest for league leading numbers it is because they are for a partial season. 30 years ago MLB played a strike shortened season. Topps turned this bummer around and used it as an opportunity to produce a parallel set of cards with different back featuring "Cyberstats" 

In Topps completed 1994 season stats Raul Mondesi picked up 6 Home Runs to finish with 22. 

Another interesting Cyberstats development is that Topps awarded Raul 3 Triples which was good enough to tie League Leader Brett Butler at 11 (Butler in reality had 9) and pass 1994 Triples Co-Leader Darren Lewis who went from 9 to 10. This meant that Raul Mondesi received a mythical Cyberstats League leader flare while Lewis lost his. 

It was the only time Darren Lewis Led the league in Triples, in fact it was the only time he led the league in anything - in 13 years of Major League Baseball

Conversely Raul Mondesi who also played for 13 years never led the league in anything. Had he led the league in Triples it would have been his one and only black ink.

It's weird and interesting how a single opportunity to lead the league in an offensive category can turn on a shortened season. And somehow Topps found it.  

This concludes our look at 1994 Rookie of the Year and convicted embezzeler Raul Mondesi. 

Sources and Links

1995 TASR Index

LA Times (Steve Henson)

Baseball-ref