CTB: 1993 Topps #703 Jeff Kent

Jeff Kent was recently voted into the Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Era Committee making him the 35th All-Star Rookie Cup winner to also be honored in the Hall (Carlos Betlran & Andruw Jones bring us to 37)

1993 Topps #703 Jeff Kent (image stolen from  Lifetime Topps Project)

Jeff Kent earned the 1993 TASR for second base by posting 11 Home Runs and 50 RBI in 102 Games. His Batting Average was only .239 but it should be noted Kent had enough Walks and Power to post a 105 OPS+.

Toronto Blue Jays

However the bulk of Jeff Kent's 1992 season was played with a team that is not on the card, the Blue Jays. After debuting with Toronto April 12th Jeff played 65 games before being dealt to the Mets for David Cone. 

The deal worked for the Blue Jays who won their first Word Championship and for Cone who earned the first of his FIVE Rings. 

Andy Stankiewicz

Across Town the Yankees had their own rookie Second Baseman, Andy Stankewicz who like Jeff Kent had a decent if unspectacular rookie year: .268 AVG, 2.7 WAR. TASR authority hiflew who covers cards for Cards from the Quarry make an argument for Andy Stankewicz to win the award over Jeff Kent - check the details here. 

Of course in the end Kent had a better career than Stankiewicz whose 7 marginal seasons were not Hall worthy. 

Flip

1993 Topps #703 Jeff Kent (image stolen from TCDB)

Dave Blume is still in scouting, he is currently with the Orioles organization. Thirty years after signing Jeff Kent still cites the HOF second baseman among his highlights. 

Jeff Kent HOF Index

1993 Topps #703 (Rookie Cup)

2010 Phungo #37: 2012 Survivor Phillippines

Sources and Link
1993 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index

LifeTime Topps Project

Cards from the Quarry

National Baseball Hall of Fame

Baseball-Ref

TCDB

Baltimore Orioles

Golden Mountain California Media

Jeff Kent - 2012 Survivor Phillippines just for the Money???

According to the Baseball-Ref salary estimate Jeff Kent made $86 Miillion playing baseball from 1992-2008.  He was named to 5 all-star teams and won the 2000 NL MVP.  In 2002 he was part of the San Francisco Giants team that went to the World Series but lost to the Angels - Kent had 3 homer in the series.  While he never was on the winning side of World Series he played 65 games for the eventual 1992 champion Toronto Blue Jays prior to being traded for David Cone.  His current ELO rank for Jeff Kent is 138 just above Mark McGwire.  He is a borderline Hall of Famer with similarity comps in his top 10 including 4 HoFs Jim Rice, Sandberg, Santo and Billiy Williams. 

 

 

 

With all that money and the MLB accolades I was curious as to Kent's motivation to be on Survivor. 

 

2010 Phungo #37 Juan Pierre & Jeff Kent

 

I have come up with 3 possibilities

 

 

1) The Money - Although if Kent blew through the $86MM I think the 1 Million that Survivor offers would make little difference

2) The Spotlight - This is just part of the bigger picture, keeping Kent's name out there as he works on a TV/Movie Career.    

3) The Competition - He was a professional athlete and enjoys the competition.

 

 

With #1 covered above #2 is intriguing.  As far I can tell Kent isn't involved broadcasting or any other role with a team (Dodgers Giants or other).  If Kent wanted to remain out there you'd think that would be an avenue, but he has to this point not chosen to go that route. Perhaps Survivor is a career move for Kent - keeping his face out there for additional TV roles.  He has already appeared in a reality competion series previously, "The Superstars" in 2009.  Kent is from Southern Califormia and perhaps those are just the circles you run in if you are already a celebrity.  

 

 

Finally we come to the competition.  Kent spent 17 years in the Majors - he was a member of several succeful teams, going to the playoffs 7 different times.  Perhaps Survivor appeals to Kent's desire for competition.  Survivor is "played" more in front of a virtual crowd, but on Monday nights it may be more watched then any game Kent played in outside of the 2002 World Series.       

 

 

I wonder if Survivor is paying Jeff Kent win or lose.  Survivor is carried by CBS, which is the network that might currently be the farthest removed from Baseball - teaming with a retire MLB star doesn't seem to be the smart way for the network to go, but who knows what those crazy execs are thinking.  .  

  

 

 

Once again that leads us back to the spotlight.  I have never really watched Survivor much, but I may peek in a bit this season.  Lisa Whelchel (Blair on Facts of Life) is another Celeb contestant - she wouldn't be enough to get me in the door, Maybe Nancy McKeon (Jo) would get me to think about it.

Phungo Card

The above Phungo Card photo was taken prior to game one of the 2008 NLCS.  Kent didn't start the game but did get an AB as a pinch-hitter (strikeout).  He appears here next to current Phillies outfielder Juan Pierre.    

Sources & Links

Phungo Jeff Kent HoF Index 

Jeff Kent Wikipedia (plus Survivor and other pages) 

Jeff Kent Baseball-Ref

Jeff Kent imdb

Card Show - Moorestown Mall, NJ

I visited a card show in Moorestown New Jersey this weekend and these are the results:

$20.00 - 12 packs of 2009 Topps Hobby. This is what I am calling my Card Show 09 Topps Blaster. I Will feature the results in a future post.

20.00 - 4 packs of 2009 UD Hobby. This would be my Card Show 09 UD Blaster. The dealer was good enough to toss in a grab box of cards with the cards. As with the Topps cards above this will be the subject of a future post.

1.00 - 1 pack of Beavis and Butthead cards. couldn't pass them up.

5.00 - dime box 1

5.00 - dime box 2

3.00 - 6 vintage Tipton's from 1954-70 in pretty rough condition

Total damage 54.00.

The vintage Tipton's consisted of a 1954 Topps Ray Murray, a couple of 58s and a 1970 Denny McClain card.

1958 #414 Sammy White
1970 #400 Denny McLain

The bulk of my picks from Dime Box 1 were 1994 Fleer Flair cards. I don't like the look as much as the 1993, but it is still a good looking card. The rest of that batch was basically HOF and star cards from all those overprinted late 80s series.

1992 Action Packed #69 Bill Mazeroski
2005 Bowman Chrome #131 Jeff Kent
1994 Fleer Flair #334 Rickey Henderson
1982 Donruss #483 Eddie Murray

From Dime Box 2 I went after more of the HOF and star cards including some Schmidt and Carlton Cards. I was also inspired by 30 Year old Cardboard and picked up about a half dozen 83 Super Veterans. Other cards in this lot included about a dozen chrome stars and a couple of 1973 and 1974 commons.

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After hearing horror stories on pack prices I was really happy to pick up the Topps cards at 12 for 20. Of course I could be the victim of dealer pack searching, but if not the price for the topps cards is cheaper then the per pack price works out to if I had bought a Box from D&A. I was thinking of doing a Retail v Hobby of 09 Topps, getting $20 of each product. But I am pretty sure the retail blaster cannot compete with 12 hobby packs.

The 4 for 20.00 for the UD Hobby was what I was shooting for, I asked for the grab box as part of a volume discount and the dealer was good enough to oblige. I figure if all the cards in the bag are worthless, I can still use the plastic case.

Like I said I was pretty happy. I figure the two dime boxes yielded over a hundred cards of HOFs, Superstars, Phillies, or interesting oddballs for half the price of a blaster.

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The most consistently Phungo posts to be accessed via Google Search are my Card Show posts. For this reason I have put together a post just for Card Show resources and information in the greater Philadelphia area. The informational Post can be accessed here and also via a link on the sidebar.