Monday, January 23, 2012

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1990 Topps #33 Greg Walker

Due to the delays described on Sunday, the Random Topps Card of the Day posts for Thursday, January 19, through Sunday, January 22, will be posted during the week.

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, January 23, 2012:



  • Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1990 Topps #33.
  • Player Name, position, team: Greg Walker, first baseman, Chicago White Sox.
  • Major League Debut: September 18, 1982.
  • Last Line of Statistics: 1989 stats (White Sox): 77 G, 233 AB, 25 R, 49 H, 14 2B, 0 3B. 5 HR, 26 RBI, 0 SB, .335 SLG, 23 BB, 50 SO, .210 AVG.
  • Any special information about player: Drafted by the Phillies, #20th, June 1977. Drafted by the White Sox in the Rule V Draft, 12/03/1979. Bats: left. Throws: right.
  • Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 8. This is his eighth and final Topps card.
  • Blurb on the back: None. There is a 1989 Monthly Scoreboard which splits Walker's runs and hits by month.
  • Commentary: I don't see why people get so down on the 1990 Topps set. The design shows a lot of color with the borders, and if you have a factory set, you could pretend you have a jigsaw puzzle and try to reassemble what the printing sheets look like before they were cut. In fact, I have three of the six sheets of 1990 Topps somewhere in my basement. Granted, unless you have the orange sheet (with a nameless Frank Thomas), they aren't worth much either. But I'm sure they would look nice framed anyway. Greg Walker was the White Sox' first baseman throughout most of the 1980's. He was a member of the "Winning Ugly" White Sox from 1983, and 22 home runs and 78 rbi's from 1984 through 1987. He saw limited time in 1988, and in 1989, was replaced by eventual 1989 Topps All-Star Rookie Team member Carlos Martinez. Walker was released by the White Sox at the end of April, 1990, and signed with the Orioles a few days later. He played with the O's for two months before being released by the team in July, 1990. It would be the end of his major league career as a player. He returned to the Sox as their hitting coach in 2003. In 2012, he joins the Atlanta Braves as their new hitting coach.
  • Beckett value: $0.01-$0.05.
  • How many cards of this player do I own?: 11 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1999 Topps #261. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't like the 1990 Topps design when it came out, but I love it now. I think it's aged very well. I'd go so far as to put it in my top 10 favorite Topps designs.

Anonymous said...

I have a love-hate relationship with the 1990 design. I fondly remember being 10 years old and buying tones of wax, rack and blister packs of '90 Topps and trying to complete the set. I thought they were the best looking cards I'd ever seen back then. Now I look at them I go, "Good grief, what were they thinking?!" It's like the borders were designed by Arsenio Hall or Sinbad. But, at the end of the day, it's a design that I hold near and dear. I love the Griffey Jr. and the Keith Hernandez cards in this set, especially. Cheers!