All-Star Rookie Cups in the 2024 World Series

To kick off the 2024 edition of the World Series we are going to examine the series from a Rookie Cup perspective and see if that can predict a winner. 

Yankees

Juan Soto 2019

Gleyber Torres 2019

Aaron Judge 2018

Carlos Rodon 2016

Anthony Rizzo 2013

Giancarlo (Mike) Stanton 2011

Dodgers

James Outman 2024

Will Smith 2020

Shohei Ohtani 2019

Walker Buehler 2019

Sort of Dodgers

Ryan Yarbrough 2019

Jason Heyward 2011

Turns out Rookie Cups are well represented in this year's World Series with each team rostering 6 players this season. However the Yankees have all 6 of their cups on the Postseason Roster. 

Two of the Dodgers six are no longer with the team Ryan Yarbrough was traded and Jason Heyward released. 

The Yankees have gotten contributions from all of their cups players Especially Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton. Even Anthony Rizzo who had a miserable regular season has performed well in the Playoffs.

For the Dodgers Shohei Ohtani has been a star on the big stage but that is it for the hitters. Will Smith has a couple of Home Runs, but otherwise he has been a member of the Dodgers bottom third of the order which has failed to produce. James Outman has not appears in the Postseason but appears to be on the World Series Roster. Walker Buehler, Like Rizzo struggled during the regular season, however his Postseason has been mixed at best. 

If the cups have anything to do with picking a winner all signs point to the Yankees.

1) More Cups 6-4  

2) More contributions from the Cup Players

2019 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team 

Special Shoutout to the 2019 Rookie Cup Team - the cards above are all from the 2019 Cup Class and will all be playing in the World Series this week.  Pretty strong class to have 4 players in a single World Series Five if we count Ryan Yarbrough.

2024 World Series

We will be following the Series this week and giving special attention to the Rookie Cup winners. I will be rooting for the Dodgers so I will be looking for big games out of Ohtani and Buehler.  

 

Sources 

FA Sports Cards Trading Card DB Topps All-Star Rookie Card List

Blaster Break: 2024 Topps Update - inserts (Plus Justin Topa IG Link)

On Monday we covered base cards, today we are going to take a look at the inserts and noteworthy cards. 

Orioles

The blaster was a bit of an Oriole Hot Pack. out of 84 cards Eight were Orioles. We discussed the crummy Stars of MLB cards earlier this week and I am confusing the new Mystical cards with Stars - although they are slightly better. I prefer players wearing their teams uniforms for the ASG, but this year I did not mind the design that much. Regardless the Orioles have lots of young talent and are my favorite AL team, it was nice to get a bunch of them in one pack. 

Shohei Ohtani

I have no idea how many Ohtani cards are in Series 3 but picking up a trio in a blaster feels pretty strong. \

The bottom right card is from a new insert called "All Class". I don't get it, but if I am going to get one that is not a Phillies Player Ohtani is solid. The All Class insert falls at a rate of 1:32 for blasters.

The HR Record Card will go into my game dated binder. The Trout Shared card will go into the Versus collection (2 teams repped on one card)

Retro and Game Dated Cards

Couple of 1989 Retro-Selfies. Big Day in the Volpe Household when he gets to share a room with Willie Mays. Anthony Rizzo is destined for the Game Dated Binder. Ronel Blanco joins one of my favorite collections No-Hitter Cards! 

2024 Update Blaster Review

The Highs of the Blaster was getting a Paul Skenes Card (see Monday's Post), a couple of Ohtani's, a bunch of Orioles and I will also admit I kinda liked the Jack-O-Lanterns Insert. A number of singles will go towards special collections. 

Lows: No Justin Topa card which was #1 on my wish list, and only one Phillies Card. 

There are 2 cards I haven't covered yet one is the Phillies Card (which is a Low) and one is of a Hall of Famer - a high. 

So Mixed bag some fun inserts, but no Topa and a dud Phillie. 

Sources and Links

Topps

1961 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team (1962 Topps Set)

This is an index to postings related to the 1961 Topps All-Star Rookie Team which was honored with cards in the 1962 Topps set. The Set includes Hall of Famers Billy Williams and Joe Torre. No Phillies on the roster but there is Lee Thomas, architect of the 1993 Phillies NL Championship squad. 

1962 Topps #154 Lee Thomas

91	J.C. MARTIN	White Sox	1B
427	JAKE WOOD	Tigers	2B
283	CHARLEY (CHARLIE) SMITH	White Sox / Phillies / Dodgers	3B
13	Dick Howser no cup	A's	SS
154	LEE THOMAS	Angels	OF
288	BILLY WILLIAMS HOF	Cubs	OF
454	FLOYD ROBINSON	White Sox	OF
218	JOE TORRE RC	Braves	C
372	JACK CURTIS	Cubs	LHP
35	DON SCHWALL	Red Sox	RHP

Sources and Links

All-Star Rookie Index

Baseball-Ref

ANNIVERSARY: Don Sutton 300 Wins - June 18 1986

30 Years ago on June 18th 1986 Don Sutton and the California Angels defeated the Texas Rangers 5-1.

It was also the 300th career Victory for the Future Hall of Famer.

1986 Donruss Highlights Don Sutton 300th Career Win

At the time Sutton was in the middle of a mediocre 1986 season. Other than a Shutout of the White Sox a few weeks earlier the win over the Rangers was probably his best pitching performance of the season. In the stellar outing Sutton went the distance allowing only 3 hits and pitching to two over the minimum.

The only blemish on the gem was a 2 out Home Run to rookie DH and future Phillies Outfielder Pete Incaviglia. One of the Rangers pitchers that day was another Rookie and Inky's 1993 Phillies Teammate Mitch Williams.

There was a Phillies tie on the Angels side as well. Don Sutton's Battery Mate for the game was Bob Boone and the Teams manger was Gene Mauch. Other Notable players that supported Sutton were Jayson Werth's Uncle Dick Schofield, Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson.

1986 Donruss Highlights Don Sutton 300th Career Win (b-side)

The back of the card gives a nice career and game summary. It was only Sutton's 7th W with the Angels but he would stay there long enough to win 21 more and make California his second longest tenured team.

The doomed 1986 Angels won the AL West but sadly lost the ALCS to the Boston Red Sox in a series that included the Donnie Moore game. Sutton did not pitch in that game but he did make a relief appearance in the final game of the series which was his final playoff appearance.

Sutton reached the postseason five times with three different teams (Dodgers, Brewers) and pitched in four World Series but never won  a ring.

Sources and Links
Phungo Don Sutton HoF Index
Baseball-ref

2016 Topps Blaster Break

Since I struck out looking for 2016 Heritage tonight you are getting an unenthusiastic posting on a Blaster of 2016 Topps.  The first pack of the blaster can be found here.

Blaster All-Stars - Battery

2016 Topps
#50 Salvador Perez
#300 Buster Posey
#237 Carlos Ruiz
#4 Sonny Gray

I am protesting 2016 Topps tight shots epidemic by feature mainly catcher's in our Battery part of the lineup. The position and the gear give the photographer more opportunities to create interesting shots. Here we have the Catchers for the two most recent World Series champs and the Phillies own 2008 WSC catcher. We featured the Ruiz card a few weeks back in our First Phillie of 2016T posting.

Sonny Gray won the battle for the only Pitcher card to Make the Blaster All-Star because I don't think he gets enough press, and I like the high socks.


Blaster All-Star Infield 

#241 Freddie Freeman
#137 Joe Panik
#310 David Wright
#225 Scooter Gennett

The David Wright is just another tight shot on a batter. I do like how we can see his number not only oh his jersey but also on the sweatband. Freddie Freeman celebrating a Homer is a nice highlight in the box. Scooter Gennett gets a 5 number Freddie does not.

Blaster All-Star Outfield

#272 Denard Span
#312 Curtis Granderson
#227 David Murphy
#8 Michael Brantley

Granderson wins the interesting shot here.  I realize Span and Murphy look virtually the same, but still like them.

Inserts 
Just some Quick Comments here, Would like to return to these individually in the future.

2016 Topps #BB-60 Berger's Best Mike Trout
2001 Topps Update #US-175 Mike Trout

Once again Topps has a set featuring cards that are basically re-issues. This is one of the relatively recent 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout. I think the one on the Left is the 2016T version, with the original on the right - The foil is in Gold this year as opposed to Silver on the original. Not sure if this was an accident of by design.

I have seen a couple of the Berger cards now and I like them more than I thought I would.

 2016 Topps #MLBD-35 MLB Debut Mike Trout

My first blaster of 2016 Turned out to be a Mike Trout Hot box, with a pair of his insert cards (although we did not pull the #1 Base card)

MLB Debut is basically This years version of 2015 Topps Retail Only First Home Run cards - which I think may be the Topps common insert. Ok idea for an insert set.

2016 Topps #FP-15 First Pitch Bill Withers

Bill Withers is the 2015 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame musician responsible for "Lean On Me".

I don't care if this set doesn't showcase baseball players, I think the FP insert is fun. My only issue is that I don't believe that Topps has featured one from Philadelphia.

2016 Topps #WOW-15 Henry Urrutia

Walk of Wins is a nice idea for a Insert. I believe these are new for 2016 and replace last year's similar but defensive minded Robbed Insert Set. Both sets are retail only.

2016 Topps #MLBW-6 Wacky Packages

Advertising for another product. I don't know whether I should be happy or bothered that only six of the 30 teams are represented by this set.

2016 Topps #AM-03 Amazing Milestones Carl Yastrzemski

This is the Target only insert. I believe that WalMart got an Insert involving "Greatest Streaks" A set I would probably find more interesting even if it omit's Pete Rose and Joe DiMaggio.

2016 Topps #PIS1 Pressed Into Service Mitch Moreland

Lots to like about this set including that the Acronym is Three-Quarters of PISS.

2016 Topps #B2B-5 Back to Back Reds

I was sick of lineage, but I am not sure this is an improvement

Obligatory Blaster "Hit"

2016 Topps #MDM-NR Major LEague Debut Medallions Nolan Ryan

The Medallion was the last thing we opened out of the box and I told Mrs Phungo we want a Ryan Howard card here, after we saw the card she quickly quipped "Well you got a Ryan"

By The Numbers

81 Cards
72 Base (roughly)
1 Phillies card (Chooch)
10 Inserts
1 Fake Relic (Ryan)
2 Hero Numbers (Posey, Harper)
I think there were also a couple of foil cards.

There you have it, I think I may have snuck in an extra insert or two from looseys I picked up w/ the Blaster coupon, but basically it's a blaster. Sorry, I try and be accurate in my counting numbers, but it has been a busy couple of weeks. 

Sources and Links
Phungo 2016 Topps index
BillWithers.com
Cardboard Connection

Sunday Night Baseball: Red Sox @ Angels 1975 Topps #7 No-Hitter Highlights

Sunday Night Baseball is in LA for the Red Sox and Angels which gives an opportunity to dig a bit deeper into our Year of the No-Hitter series.

1975 Topps #7 1974 Highlights No-Hitters - Busby Bosman & Ryan

Two of the Ten pitchers who were involved in Year of the No-Hitter had thrown previous no-hitters. Mike Witt who finished Mark Langston's No-Hitter tossed a perfect game in 1984, the other of course was was Nolan Ryan.

The No-Hitter referred to by the 1975 Topps Card above is Ryan's Third. Ryan and the Angels defeated the Twins 4-0. The Twins lineup that Ryan faced that day included Future Hall of Famer Rod Carew (Who was the focus of our previous Angels SNB posting) and pinch hitter Harmon Killebrew. Ryan had the opportunity to finish the No-Hitter when he faced the Killer with 2 outs in the ninth, but ended up walking the slugger before getting Eric Soderholm for the final out.

1975 Topps #7 1974 Highlights No-Hitters - Busby Bosman & Ryan (b-side)

The newspaper style text on the back of the card gives short descriptions of the No-Hitters. Steve Busby beat the Brewers 2-0. Milwaukee's Shortstop that day was rookie Robin Yount who was playing in his 56th career game.

Dick Bosman shutdown Reggie Jackson and the Oakland A's 4-0 in the middle of their three-peat World Series Run. Today is the Anniversary of Bosman's No-Hitter which occurred 41 years ago. 

2007 09 23 Dick Bosman Throws out first pitch at RFK Stadium

Dick Bosman threw out the final first pitch at RFK Stadium. The Phillies lost to the Nationals 5-3 that day. Chuck Cordero struck out Jayson Werth for the final out.

Peanut Gallery 
Night Owl covered this No-Hitter card on his 1975 Topps Blog.

Sources and Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter
Nolan Ryan HoF Index
Washington Nationals
baseball almanac
Baseball-ref

Sunday Night Baseball: Angels Rod Carew 1981 Topps #100

With Sunday night baseball in Anaheim for the Tigers and Angels we take a look at Hall of Famer Rod Carew

1981 Topps #100 Rod Carew

Rod Carew spent seven of his 19 seasons with the California Angels. While his best years were behind him by the time Carew got to LA, he still was an important contributor to the team. Carew was a member of each of the Angels first two playoff clubs (1979, 1982), and represented the team in six All-Star games. A hitting machine Rod Carew ranks 2nd among all Angels in both Batting Average (Vladimir Guerrero .319/.314) and On Base Pct (Mike Trout - .395/.393).

The Angels retired Rod Carew's #29 on August 12th 1986. He was the first player to be so honored by the club who had previously retired the #26 for owner Gene Autry (26 was chosen to symbolize the 26th man)

Angels Retired Numbers (photo 2014 0523)

Of course it is the entire career of Rod Carew that makes the Panamanian born infielder a Hall of Famer. He earned an MVP and Rookie of the Year award with the Twins while racking up 2082 of his 3053 career hits (Ranks 23 in MLB history).

Carew's .328 batting average ranks 34th all time and would top all active major leaguers (Miguel Cabrera .321 as of 2015 0516)

His seven batting titles rank fourth all-time behind Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, and Tony Gwynn.

1981 Topps
This is Rod Carew second Topps base card as an Angel. 1981 was the fifth time that Topps awarded Carew a Hero Number, an honor they would bestow on the hitter 10 times during his playing career.

1981 Topps #100 Rod Carew (b-side)

There he is Rod Carew with close to 1900 games under his belt and a career .333 batting average. 2394 hits down, 659 or so to go 

Sources and Links
Phungo Rod Carew HoF Index
baseball card database
Baseball-ref
LA Times (Jim McCurdie)
LA Angels

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - April 11 Mark Langston & Mike Witt

The First No-Hitter of 1990 was pitched on April 11th, it was the first No-Hitter for one man and the second for another.

1991 Score #699 No-Hit Club Mark Langston/Mike Witt

The California Angels were playing their third game of the 1990 Season when they sent out Free Agent Acquisition Mark Lagnston for his first ever start for the club. 

Langston came through in his team debut in a big way. 

He no-hit his former club, the Seattle Mariners for 7 innings but, Like Nolan Ryan two days prior had to leave the early season game. In fact the game was still knotted at 0-0 when Langston finished his day. Fortunately for him and the Angels, they would score the in the bottom of the 7th.

The Angels also had a no-hitter secret weapon. The Langston signing had left them with an extra starting pitcher, relegating Mike Witt to bullpen duty. He was a nice piece to have in a no-hitter because he knew what it was like to pitch one. Witt authrored the Angels most recent previous No-No, A Perfect Game versus the Rangers on September 30th 1984  

Witt had no trouble finished off the game easily retiring all six batters he faced including a strike out of 2016 Hall of Fame Candidate Ken Griffey Jr for the final out.

1991 Score No-Hit Club

The Langston/Witt No-Hitter card is part of a 9 card subset in 1991 Score. This is the initial offering in the set, but it appears somewhat different then the remaining cards due to the use of two pitchers. 

We get both pitchers on the front of the card which is presented landscape style to accommodate the photos. The remaining eight cards in the set are all in the traditional portrait format.

1991 Score #699 No-Hit Club Mark Langston/Mike Witt (b-side)

The Flip side of each card contains a head shot of the pitcher (two pitchers here) along with a box score for the game.

Interesting Box notes here include that Opposing pitcher Erik Hanson had his own shutout going before being lifted. In addtion to the aforementioned Griffey Jr the Mariners lineup included career .312 Hitter Edgar Martinez - back when he was still a third baseman. The Ms catcher was Dave Valle who would just miss being on the good side of a no-hitter a few weeks later.

The Angels catcher was Lance Parrish who previously caught a Jack Morris No-Hitter as a member of the Tigers. Between his Tigers and Angels years Parrish spent a couple of unremarkable seasons with the Phillies in which he did not catch a no-hitter. 

Sources & Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index
baseball cardpedia
baseball-ref

2014 Playoffs: Angels Mike Trout 2013 Topps #536 AL Defensive POY

In 2012 the sportings good company (and baseball glovemaker) Wilson created a Defensive Player of the Year award. The inaugural winners were Michael Bourn in the NL and Mike Trout in the AL.

2013 Topps #536 Mike Trout AL Defensive POY

Wilson has done something a bit exciting for statgeeks like myself - the award is based on advanced defensive metrics. I think that Wilson is sourcing their defensive info through Baseball Info Solutions and Fangraphs.

2013 Topps #536 Mike Trout AL Defensive POY (b-side)


Notice that Trout's card notes both of these stats data warehouses, but doesn't mention the awards sponser Wilson.

Since 2012 was the first year of the DPOY, this makes the above 2013 Topps Mike Trout Defensive Player of the Year card the very first card to honor the award - Micheal Bourn's corresponding NL card shows up 4 position back on the checker.

Patriot Day
looking closely you man notice a flag on the left side of Trout's cap. I am thinking this is the special caps that are worn for 9/11 Patriot Day games. Assuming this phot is recent means that the photo was taken during a game in which the Angels hosted the A's. Bit of an oddity is that the game was played at night, but it looks like a night photo. Checking the baseball-ref box score, and assuming Trout made the catch here I am guessing this catch was made in the 5th inning on a line drive by Yoenis Cespedes  - of course I am sure Topps didn't research play outcome prior to placing it on the card. 



Sources & Links
2014 Playoff Contenders Index 
Baseball Almanac
Baseball Cardpedia
baseball-ref

Sunday Night Baseball: Nolan Ryan 1977 Topps #650

This week the Baseball Big Show heads to Anaheim to see the Angels host the Rangers in an AL West battle. One of the first names that comes to mind when those two teams are mentioned is Nolan Ryan

1977 Topps #650 Nolan Ryan

We have had a couple of posts here that have casually mentioned Ryan cards but we really haven't dedicated a post to a single one of his cards.

Nolan Ryan is very popular with collectors, fortunately he played for an eon so there are a great many of his cards available. To me Ryan is an Angel, this is despite the fact that he spent more years with Houston, and that he faced the Phillies in a memorable NLCS as a member of the Astros. However the memories of our youth persist and Nolan Ryan was an Angel during my early years. It is also with the then California Angels where the Ryan Express was the most dominant. Seven of his eleven strikeout titles were while he was pitching for the Angels.  Oddly he never took home a Cy Young award - his best finish was 2nd in 1973.

Ryan remained with the Angles through 1979 before leaving for Houston via Free Agency. In 1988 He moved across Texas to pitch for the Rangers. 

Topps issued 10 cards of Nolan Ryan as an Angel the first of which was 1972 Topps #595 (Hi Number). The card back mentions an incredibly dominant game that Ryan had as a member of the Mets at the expense of the Phillies. His final Angels Card is 1980T #580 which features a fine action shot and it's flip mentions Ryan's famous 100.9 mph velocity.

Nolan Ryan's first Topps Ranger card was produced in 1990, he was featured five years through his retirement in 1994. The first five cards of the 1990 Topps honor Nolan Ryan.  Card #1 is his base cards while cards #2-5 are dedicated to the pitcher reaching the 5000 strikeout milestone. Each of the four cards represents a different era and team: Mets, Angels, Astros, and Rangers.

Topps then gave Ryan the honor of the #1 spot each of the next two season. I will need to check, but I think that makes him the only player to get the set debut spot in three consecutive years. In 1993 He is on Hero #700. Finally in 1994 Topps gave Ryan his Uniform Number #34 for his final card. The Card also features a special 27 seasons logo.     

The Nolan Ryan Rookie Card, 1968 Topps #177,  is shared with Jerry Koosman who we profiled last month. The 1969T #533 is the first card which Ryan appears Solo. Both of these cards are with the Mets as well as his memorable 1971 Topps Card #513

1977 Topps
I am not positive of this but I think this card is from the Phungo 1.0 collection. At one time I probably had 80%-90% of the 1977T set. It is easily the set that I bought the most of when I was a kid. Most of those cards are long gone, and I have very few cards from that set today. If I see them at a show I rarely pick them up. 

Sources & Links
Phungo Nolan Ryan HoF Index
Baseball Card Database
Old Cardboard
Baseball-ref

Angel Stadium Anaheim CA

Supplementing the game pix from our previous post with a few photos showing off the Angels Ballpark. 

The entrance to Angels Stadium has a brick field that greets fans, you may notice that some of the bricks appear to be a bit different

That is because they are engraved. Each Angels All-Star gets a brick. Here we have the catcher section which shows us a nice string of Bob Boone bricks from the middle 80s. Red Lion PA Butch Wynegar is seen here bookending the Boone string in 1987. 

Topps 

Collin Cowgill

The Angels use the template from 2014 Topps to introduce the players. 

Collin Cowgill 2 

The template displays the player via video, as we see here - this is a different image then the previous Cowgill pix. Also the name of the player is not displayed initially, but rather added during the intro - notice in the first pix, there is no name, while in the latter photo we have Cowgill's first name Collin. 

More Cards

This wasn't at Angel Stadium, but I thought I would tuck it in here. I spotted these framed Donruss puzzles at a Retro/Vintage store near Berverly Hills. The shop called tini (This Is Not Ikea) was sort of a Kitsch flea market that had a lot of pop culture and movie related items.  

The Big A outside Angel Stadium can be seen from area highways.

Game Tix.

Sources

Baseball-ref

Stadium Visit: 2014 05 23 Royals 1 @ Angels 6

Got back from LA and wanted to quick a couple of snapshots from the team Phungo visit to Anaheim Stadium.  The Angels hosted the Royals and won the contest 6-1. CJ Wilson pitched 6 1/3 for the home team scattering four hits, but also walked 4. The Royals however stranded 10 runners and Wilson was able to hold them to the single run. Catcher Chris Iannetta and Mike Trout each homered for the Angels.  

Anaheim Stadium - Royals @ Angels: CJ Wilson vs Nori Aoki

This shot is from late in the game you can see the faux rocks just left of center

Danny Duffy vs Mike Trout

Yes this is the pitch that Mike Trout knocked out for a Home Run in the third inning. If you click on the photo it will enlarge and you can see a streak that is the pitched ball.

CJ Wilson

The Angels had a couple of stars on Friday Night, Trout, Chris Iannetta and CJ Wilson shown above.

 

Nori Aoki

The Royals got three of their five hits from leadoff man Nori Aoki. Here we see his distinct batting style. 

Louis Coleman vs Albert Pujols

Royals Reliever Louis Coleman faces Albert Pujols late in the game. Coleman eventually K'd Pujols in this AB. 

Albert Pujols HR Meter

The Angels Pujols HR Tracker located beyond centerfield.

 

Angels Retired Numbers

The Honorees include former Phillies Manager Jim Fregosi (11), Rod Carew (29), Nolan Ryan (30) and of course Jackie Robinson. 

Jill Marie Burke

Anaheim Anthem specialist Jill Burke had a busy night as she also led the fans in "Take me out to the Ball Game" during the stretch

I have a couple of other pix that I will be adding here over the next couple of days, but wanted to get the above shots up in a semi-timely manner

Sources

Baseball-ref

Jill Marie Burke

Sunday Night Baseball: Jim Abbott - 1990 Topps #675

The Angels are in the Big Apple facing the New Yankees. For tonight's SNB posting we take a look at an a player who spent the bulk of his career with the then California Angels and had some big moments with the Yankees.

 1990 Topps #675 Jim Abbott

Folks likely remember Jim Abbott as a pitcher with one hand. I hope that we don't forget that he was a fine pitcher regardless of his hand count and had several career highlights.

Abbott was the 8th overall pick of the Angels in the 1988 draft. That same summer he won a Gold Medal as a member of the US Olympic Squad - it appears 1988 was a demonstration year for Baseeball.

The Left-Handed Pitcher, Batter, and Fielder made his Angels debut in 1989, winning 12 games and finished 5th in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Orioles closer Gregg Olson. Olson also won that award over the Mariners Ken Griffey Jr.

At age 23 in 1991 Abbot had his best season, He won 18 games (4th AL) with a 2.89 ERA (4th) for the Angels. His work earned him a 3rd place finish in the '91 Cy Young Voting - If you are inclined to dismiss Roger Clemens for PED Reasons, Jim Abbot won the WAR title that season with a +7.6 (Clemens = +7.9)

In December of 1992 Abbott was traded to the New York Yankees. Ten months later On September 4th 1993, Abbott No-Hit the Cleveland Indians - The lineup he faced that day included Kenny Lofton, Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Carlos Baerga (.317 at the time), and a young Jim Thome batting 8th.      

Jim Abbott has remained in the game as a Spring Training instructor for the Angels. Abbot has worked with The Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and he has also developed a career as a motivational speaker.

Abbott's twitter handle is @jabbottue31  - it is a worthwhile follow.

1990 Topps
The Jim Abbot #675 Card is not his rookie card. Abbott shows up in both 1989T and he leads off 1988 Topps as card #1 and is part of the Team USA/Olympic subset. Regardless the 1990T card is significant for a couple of reasons. It has the rookie cup which  - an opportunity each player only gets once. Additionally The photo shows Abbott holding his glove up with his right forearm. It is a nice nod to Abbott overcoming tough odds to excel as a top tier athlete.   


Sources
Jim Abbott
Baseball-ref
Cardboard Connection
Topps baseball card database
twitter

Don't be afraid of the Future - 2013 edition

All-Star Future's Game that is.  Check out this photo of players involved in the 2006 edition of the game held in Pittsburgh.

Troy Tulowitzki, Cameron Maybin, Hunter Pence, Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Nick Adenhart, Howie Kendrick, Ryan Braun.  (2006 07 09) 

First there is the sadness of seeing Nick Adenhart (#21 removing his cap) in the photo with the rest of the superstars.  You see all that talent standing around him and....well you just wonder.  

Braun, Tulo, and Pence went 1-2-3 in the 2007 Rookie of the Year voting.

The World Team that day featured future 2010 NL MVP Joey Votto. 
Gio Gonzalez and Carlos Carrasco were the Phillies reps in 2006.  Other players that took the field that day included Stephen Drew, Nolan Reimold, Neil Walker, Phil Hughes, Homer Bailey, CarGo, Yovani Gallardo, and Pablo Sandoval.   

Last Years Futures Game included Manny Machado, Jurickson Profar, Billy Hamilton, Wil Myers, Mike Olt, Nick Castellanos, Zack Wheeler and many others.  

This year the Futures Game will  be held at 2pm (edt) Sunday July 14 at the Mets home Citi Field and Team Phungo will be there!!! Tickets to the showcase can be found on Stubhub for as little as $6 for SRO. 

  
The 2013 Futures Game will air on ESPN2.