1994 Topps Traded Set

Rickey Henderson was back with the Oakland A's again in 1994, fresh off a World Series championship with the Toronto Blue Jays. When the Topps Traded set was printed, the season was in full swing, but Topps did not know that it would end just a month later.  No World Series winner, no Wild Card playoff (it was the first year with the 6 division alignment), and several players had promising seasons cut short.

The 1994 Traded Set was not a big rookie class, but it did yield a few interesting draft picks, and an overseas sensation, Chan Ho Park from Korea.

Long before the major card manufacturers started using an "official" Rookie Card logo, there was this much more understated text underneath the Topps logo on the back of the card.

Included in the set was a Topps Finest preview set- with 3 MVP candidates from each league and a rookie of the year candidate. The backs had the 1994 stats for each player through July 10th (awkward!). Frank Thomas ran away with the award in the AL, he was hitting nearly .400 for the season at the All-Star Break (he finished at .353), and rattled off 101 RBI, scored 106 runs, drew 109 walks, and hit 38 homers in just 113 games. The NL MVP was missing, but Matt Williams would have been a solid bet. He was the NL leader in homers (43), won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger.  Maddux wasn't really in the running for MVP, but he was the NL Cy Young Winner.

There were more Hall of Famers in the set, including a 2 card retrospective for the definitely permanently retired Ryne Sandberg.

2019 Inductee Lee Smith joined the Baltimore Orioles, and Pedro Martinez headed north to join the Expos. The team would finish with the best record in baseball, but were unable to prove their mettle in the post season due to the strike.

Twins! Walbeck and Stevens came over from the Cubs in the Willie Banks deal, and Stevens would ultimately become the team's closer. Alex Cole joined the team as a free agent as Kirby Puckett moved to Right Field. The one homegrown product? Utility infielder Jeff Reboulet!

Hall of famers were not the only ones making moves, some familiar faces also found new digs (or, in the case of Bip Roberts, returned to old ones). Ron Gant is modeling the awesome 1869 Red Stockings patch the Reds wore all season long. The rest of the MLB teams had "125th Anniversary" patches, and the Pirates wore patches for hosting the All-Star game.

A handful more transactions, including Will Clark leaving San Francisco, Bo Jackson heading out West, and Omar Vizquel serving as the final piece of the puzzle to jump start a mini Cleveland Dynasty in the mid to late 90s.