Free Stuff Friday #4 Back Again (bonus hockey page)

Inspired by the generosity of Jon at A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts, here is the fourth in what I hope will be a regular series of "Free Stuff Friday."

If you see a card you want, claim it in the comments below and I will send it to you in a PWE. 

Claim 1 or claim them all!

Hey look! 2017 Topps. These are a mix of Series 1, Series 2, and Update.

Inserts!

Top Left is a Team USA card from Donruss, numbered to 299. The top Right is an "Orange Sparkle" Parallel from 2015 Topps Complete Sets. I am looking for the Kennys Vargas card of this variety. It is numbered to 179.

I don't know if anyone collects cards that feature uniform numbers, but here's 9 cards in case you do!

As requested, here's a page of Hockey! I have a lot more like the top row, but I figured cards closer to this decade would be more desirable. The middle card is a "Yellow Taxi" Parallel from 2019-20 Upper Deck Allure. The set looks a lot like Panini Prizm to me...  I will keep posting a hockey page if any of these are claimed, and/or another request comes in for more.

Let me know in the comments if there is a particular mini-collection, or year, or brand, or sport  you want to see next! 

If we haven't traded before, please send me your mailing address. My blog has a contact form on the sidebar (you might have to view the web version rather than mobile...)

1993 Topps Traded Set

Found a nice deal on a sealed 1993 Topps Traded Set, so today I am sharing some of the highlights with you! Mike Piazza was already an established star when this set was issued, even though he was still a rookie.

The 1993 Topps Set featured a 2nd player photo on the back, a flourish they hadn't tried in a long long time. But the pressure was on to keep up with Johnny Fleer and Joey Donruss and uh, Janey Upper Deck, so that means photos on both sides! I don't know if this a common issue with the traded set, or a symptom of being in a sealed box for so many years, but the ink on the backs looks a little runny to me.

Also - what's the deal? For the first time, the traded set was no longer in alphabetical order. Also ALSO, " IT - 132T ?" I? Weird.

Piazza was one of 6 Hall of Fame players in the set (with 2 or 3 more possibly to add later?). Boggs defected from Boston to the Yankees, where he would finally win a World Series, and get to ride a NYC Police horse after the clinching game. Andre Dawson went from the Cubs to Beantown, now towards the end of his magnificent career. Greg Maddux and Paul Molitor were thinking championship as well, and both would be rewarded by the end of their tenures with their new teams.

Now that Bowman has returned and the Prospect Machine was in full motion, finding quality rookies in the traded set was becoming more rare. The Team USA issue provided opportunities to add more young players to the set, and like Nomar in 1992, another Freshman made a splash in the new traded set.

The Team USA backs are a little different, so I figured I'd share those, too. Todd was quite the athlete!

The Twins representatives had nearly 20 seasons combined in the big leagues by the time the set came out - granted, they were all from Hall of Fame OF/1B/DH Dave Winfield. Todd Walker technically wasn't with the Twins organization yet, but he'd be drafted in the first round in 1994 by the Twins. David McCarty and Pat Meares were expected to take the reigns in the infield for Greg Gagne and Kent Hrbek. Meares ultimately did become the team's everyday SS, and McCarty had flashes of brilliance, but never really became the player to match the potential.

This group of guys might have a Hall of Famer or 3 in it, you can argue about which 3 they might be. Bonds had card #1T honors, all of these guys became key pieces of their team's success for the rest of the 1990s.

Lastly, here are a couple of my favorite photos from the set, and two guys that were appearing in familiar uniforms. The traded sets can be light on action and personality, but Boomer Wells listening to the national anthem and Erik Pappas sporting some gnarly hat hair. The Big Cat had a miserable 1993 in Saint Louis, playing in fewer than 100 games, and hitting just 10 homers. But Colorado would prove that he still had a few of those 9 lives remaining, and in fact would have the best years of his career. Kirk Gibson was returning to Detroit where he found his early post season success.

1993 Topps All-Star Rookie Catcher - Mike Piazza

I started profiling the 1993 Topps All-Star Rookie team all the way back in March, and now we come to the end of the line - 1993 NL Rookie of the Year Mike Piazza. The burly catcher is the only member of this roster to make the Hall of Fame, but was famously the last one drafted.

The story goes that Piazza was drafted by the Dodgers as a favor - Mike's dad was a long-time close friend to Dodger legend Tommy Lasorda. The next chapter was all about Piazza struggling to succeed as a first baseman in the minors. Piazza even left his team briefly and if not for the encouragement of family and coaches, would have retired from baseball as a largely unknown player.

After returning, and after some very hard work to convert to a new position behind the plate, Piazza began to flourish in 1991 with Bakersfield. His 29 homers were a revelation. By the end of 1992, Piazza would climb three more minor league levels and make his MLB debut in a September call-up just a few days shy of his 24th birthday.

Once he made it to the big leagues, Piazza became a star. His Rookie campaign included an All-Star appearance, a Silver Slugger, a 9th place finish in the MVP race, and of course Rookie of the Year honors. He hit .318 with 35 homers and 112 RBI his rookie season. His 7.0 Wins above replacement was 2nd only to MVP Barry Bonds among position players.

This debut, coupled with the bright lights of Hollywood, made Piazza a frequent subject of insert sets in the crazy card world of the 1990s. The various card companies would work overtime to devise new ways to show Piazza's Prodigious Power.

Piazza spent his first 7 seasons with the Dodgers, hitting .331 with 177 homers. Good things don't last forever, and in 1998 the team and Piazza were at an impasse in negotiating a new contract. As often happens, newspapers spilled vast amounts of ink about player loyalty, and questioned Piazza's motives. For his own part, Piazza responded to criticism with scorn of his own- for the writers, for Vin Scully, for the Dodgers. In what could have been a life long, mutually beneficial relationship, the Dodgers and Piazza could not find common ground. Whether you want to blame the player or blame the owners, either way it was an unfortunately end to his time in Los Angeles.

It led Piazza to spend 5 bizarre games with the Florida Marlins. Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga was ready for a firesale, acquiring Piazza (and Todd Zeile) for Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson, Jim Eisenreich, Bobby Bonilla, and Manuel Barrios. Florida essentially traded all of those guys (and Piazza) to get Preston Wilson and Ed Yarnall from the Mets. Piazza went 5-18 with a triple and 5 RBI for the Marlins before going on the move again.

He didn't know it yet, but the Mets would end up being the most significant stop in his post Dodgers career.

The two things that come to mind most readily about Piazza with the Mets are the 2000 Subway Series, and the Mets' games immediately following the events of 9/11. Piazza had a pair of homers in the Subway series, and his deep fly ball in game 5 was the final out. It would turn out to be the closest the team would get to a championship with Piazza. The next season, the Mets were disappointing but they saved their best work for the end of the season. After 9/11, it was Piazza who punctuated the Mets' return to NYC with a walk off home run.

In 8 seasons with the Mets, Piazza had over 1,000 hits, 220 homers, and 655 RBI. He'd make 6 All-Star squads and win 4 more Silver Slugger awards as a catcher with the Mets. 

As the wear and tear of catching limited Piazza's playing time and production, he would return to West Coast to finish off his playing career. He'd reach 400 career homers with the Padres, and his final appearance as a catcher. He'd finish his career with 83 games as the A's DH, platooning with lefty Jack Cust.

He is the all-time leader for homers by a catcher, and his 10 Silver Sluggers are also tops for the position. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.

Second Guessing - Hall of Fame Edition

Congratulations to Mike Piazza on being selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame! Ken Griffey, Jr. is notable for being the first #1 overall pick to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but Piazza is the lowest drafted player to make the Hall. Famously drafted in the 62nd Round of the 1988 Draft as a favor from Tommy Lasorda to Piazza's dad, the story was that Mike was not cut out for the big leagues. He worked hard and made himself into a major leaguer, then a Superstar.

Here are just a small handful of the Catchers drafted ahead of Piazza in the 1988 Draft:

 Steve Decker -- As a kid I thought he was going to be really good. I wasn't much of a prospect hawk. The back of this card notes that his 1990 cup of coffee was enough to prevent Gary Carter from earning two bonuses in his contract for games played. Way to rip off The Kid, kid. Decker played in 263 MLB games over parts of 7 seasons as a part time back up.

 Jimmy Kremers - Jimmy was a two time MVP of the University of Arkansas baseball team. He was fast tracked to the majors, tearing through the Braves system and making his only MLB appearances in 1990. He impressed the team, but ultimately the Braves went with other options and traded Kremers and a player to be named later to Montreal for Otis Nixon and a minor leaguer. The Expos were already set behind the plate, so Kremers was stuck in AAA. He bounced around to Milwaukee, and then was signed in 1995 by the Marlins -- as a replacement player during the short lived Player's Strike.

 Tim Laker - One of the players blocking Kremer's path to the big leagues was Tim Laker. He was able to carve out a career playing second (or third) fiddle for several seasons in the bigs. His career high for games played was 64 back in 1995. He was injured in 1996, missing the whole year - he then spent several seasons shuttling from AAA to the MLB and re-surfaced in 2003 as a regular backup in Cleveland. He even managed to find the time to pitch a couple innings at the end of two games. Laker is also infamous for being named on the Mitchell Report - he admitted that he had purchased Testosterone at four different times during his playing career.

 Scott Servais -- Servais was a member of the 1988 Olympic Team. Not to be confused with pitcher Scott Service, Servais was another journeyman backup catcher. In 1996, 1997, and 1998 he was the primary backstop for the Chicago Cubs. He has the most at bats of any player to graduate from Creighton University, so he's got that going for him, which is nice. He hit 2 homers in the Majors. He's the new Manager of the Seattle Mariners for the 2016 season.

 John Flaherty - Flaherty was a regular for San Diego, Detroit, and Tampa Bay in the late 90s, and later appeared in the 2003 World Series as a member of the New York Yankees. Among the guys on this list, he had the most career hits, Homers, RBI, etc etc etc... His major league debut he caught a no-hitter... but his team still lost the game. Matt Young went the distance for the Red Sox, allowing 2 runs on no hits, 6 strikeouts . . . and 7 walks. Kenny Lofton walked to lead off the game, stole second, stole third - then scored on an error by Wade Boggs.

 None of those guys could hold a candle to the guy picked in the 62nd Round - the 1993 Rookie of the Year, the 12 time All-Star, and the all-time career leader for home runs by a Catcher, Mr. Mike Piazza.