#477 Pat Borders Toronto Blue Jays (Did I mention that Borders lives in Lake Wales, Florida AND that he is another catcher looking for Jesus?)
#433 Matt Brunson MUSEUM COLLECTION Detroit Tigers (Brunson was the Tigers first round pick in 1993, he was chosen 9th overall and never made it past A ball. He did steal 32 bases for the Yuma Scorpions in 2005)
#300 Mark McGwire Oakland A’s (Big Mac!)#338 Mike Stanley New York Yankees (Stanley had this bad habit of getting traded right before his old team got good)
#455 Mike Lansing Montreal Expos
#484 Tim Wallach Los Angeles Dodgers (In 17 seasons Wallach went to 5 All Star games but never a World Series)
#453 Kirk Gibson Detroit Tigers
#273 Bob Wickman New York Yankees (Wickman appeared in 835 games over 15 big league seasons… I can’t read lips, but I think they are talking about giving an intentional pass to Shannon Stewart. His catcher agrees and congratulates him on a fine idea)
#510 Brett Boone Cincinnati Reds (Boone hit .320 for the Reds in ’94 in his first full season in the majors… I can’t believe this little dude would go on to drive in 141 runs in 2001)#507 Bob Ojeda New York Yankees (1994 was Bobby O’s final season. He made two starts, lasted 3 innings and gave up 8 runs, AND THEN he called it a career with a 115-98 record)
#462 Tim Raines Chicago White Sox (The Rock!)
#272 Trevor Hoffman San Diego Padres (With 591 Hoffman is the ALL Time Career saves leader)
#291 Wally Joyner Kansas City Royals (Wally World!)There is just one pack of 1994 Pinnacle to go!
Stay tuned cuz Shannon Stewart STILL says so! Go Rays! Troll out.
Greetings Trollites! It’s been a while since I have posted. I’ve been a very busy troll. Playing mechanic has become a full-time job, but I am getting better at it. After knocking out a fan belt, water pump, oil change, fuel-injector rebuild, thermostat and starter change (on several different cars) yesterday I am amped and ready for major automotive surgery tomorrow. I have to change the fuel pump in my wife’s Jeep. Doesn’t sound difficult, but the fuel pump is INSIDE of the fuel tank. Wish me luck! Trying not to forget my promise to have all of the cards from the group break shipped out by Thursday morning I am gonna keep on going. 1993 Topps Stadium Club is done, 1994 Pinnacle is getting close. Here we go with pack # 22 on ’94 Pinnacle:
#529 Rich Becker Minnesota Twins (Wasn’t there a sitcom with Ted Danson in it called Becker?)
#408 Harold Baines Baltimore Orioles
#311 Mark Langston California Angels (I know that Matt from HCoSG collects Matt Williams cuz they share the same first name. I was a fan of Langston for that same reason… Plus, back in his Seattle days the dude was a serious power pitcher… Leading the league in Ks as a rookie? That’s freaking awesome! Not being a fluke and doing it 2 more times, even better…)
#314 Hal Morris Cincinnati Reds (Hal, whose real name is William Morris, had an awesome rookie season for the Reds in 1990-he hit .340 with a .498 slugging % to help them to the playoffs. He hit .417 against the Pirates to help them win the NL Pennant. Then came the World Series. He choked against Oakland, getting 1 hit in 14 at-bats, but the Reds STILL swept the A’s) #471 Xavier Hernandez New York Yankees
#340 Pat Meares Minnesota Twins (As a rookie with the Twins in ’93 Meares turned 70 doubles and had 304 assists, but he pissed off wrong Pinnacle photographer somehow and got this as his card)
#287 Roberto Alomar Toronto Blue Jays (This pack started with a great low-down close-up of Rickey and ends with a nice wide shot of Alomar. I think the dude is safe at second though…)
#308 Paul Sorrento Cleveland Indians (Sorrento went to the Twins from the Angels as part of the Bert Blyleven trade. He never cracked the starting line-up, but did collect a ring for the ’91 Series. The following spring Sorrento was traded to the Indians and took over as their full-time first baseman in 1992. He averaged 19 homers a year for the Tribe before signing with Seattle in 1996. In 1998 he signed with the expansion Devil Rays and was their original designated hitter. He hit 17 homers for the inaugural D-Rays. He retired after the 1999 season)
#353 Ramon Martinez Los Angeles Dodgers (Kodachrome! You give us those nice bright colors, the greens of summer; you make all the world a sunny day)
#437 Jon Ratliff Chicago Cubs MUSEUM COLLECTION (More Dufex technology wasted on a bust draft pick. The Cubs made Ratliff their first round pick in 1993 and he spent 5 years in their minor league system. His minor league career totaled 11 seasons, his big league career lasted 3 pitches for the Oakland A’s in 2000)
#313 Stan Javier Oakland A’s (1994 was Javier’s 3rd stop with Oakland. He won a World Series there in 1990 and spent a total of 7 years there, but the highlight had to be getting to wear the Oaks throwbacks)
#288 Charlie Hough Florida Marlins (The knuckler in action)
#322 Jose Rijo Cincinnati Reds (Shown without the super soaker)
#374 Dave Stewart Toronto Blue Jays (Beware the man in the hat)
#447 Mark Lemke Atlanta Braves (I can hardly believe that this is the first appearance of the Lemmer! The Braves grabbed Lemke in the 27th round of the 1983 draft. After 8 years in the minors he was the Braves second baseman and he led (?) them to 4 NL Pennants and 1 World Championship. After 10 years as a Brave he spent part of a season with the Boston Red Sox and then in 1999 joined the Northern League’s New Jersey Jackals as knuckle ball pitcher. He was 5-1 in 5 starts, totaling 33 innings. He abandoned the experiment after he gave up 8 runs in 2 innings in his first start in 2000)
#326 Bill Swift San Francisco Giants (The pride of South Portland, Maine. 1993 was Bill Swift’s best year by far. He was 21-8 with a 2.82 ERA in 34 starts and finished 2nd to Greg Maddux in the Cy Young vote)
#493 Rafael Palmeiro Baltimore Orioles (After a career year in ’93 where he topped 30 homers (37) and 100 RBI (105) for the first time, Palmeiro cashed those numbers in and signed a 5-year, 30 million + dollar deal with Baltimore. He delivered and started a nine consecutive season 100+ RBI streak in 1995-he would return to the Rangers for 5 more productive seasons before going back to Baltimore for his final 2 years. He hit his 500th homer for the Rangers and got his 3000th hit with the Orioles)
#477 Pat Borders Toronto Blue Jays (Pat Borders was the 1st resident of Lake Wales, Florida to make it to the big leagues-Wade Davis is the only other. Borders is (for now) the only Lake Wales local to make it to the World Series-he did it twice, winning both times. He was the 1992 WS MVP when he hit .450 with a homer and 3 RBI. Incidentally, Lake Wales, Florida is where Esther Gin N Juice and I went for our first date and it was also where we got married-neither Pat Borders, nor Wade Davis attended)
#396 Mark Grace Chicago Cubs (Grace hit .325 in ’93, won a Gold Glove as a first baseman and started the All Star Game as a DH)
#353 Ramon Martinez Los Angeles Dodgers (Insert your own caption HERE)
#473 Jesse Orosco Milwaukee Brewers (Jesse was a little bit past the halfway point in his 24 year career in ’93. JO is the All Time Leader in appearances for a pitcher with 1252)
#534 Mike Kelly Atlanta Braves (1991was the year that the Yankees used their #1 pick (1st overall) on a left handed pitcher named Brien Taylor. Kelly was the second overall player picked in that draft. He was less of a flop, but hardly a success. The Indians used the 13th pick to grab up Manny Ramirez that year)
#389 Ozzie Smith St. Louis Cardinals (The WIZARD!)
#512 Luis Polonia New York Yankees (Polonia played in the WS in 3 different decades for 3 different teams and won 2 of them. He was a member of the 1995 Braves and the 2000 Yankees)
#496 Ellis Burks Colorado Rockies (There were 2 writers this month who felt that Ellis Burks was an Immortal. Really?)
On break but I really just wanna eat and relax so I am gonna skip the words and just show the card... A preview from the next pack of 1994 Pinnacle, card #304 of Minnesota Twins shortstop Pat Meares. 
Poor Pat. Troll out!
#366 Eric Plunk Cleveland Indians (Plunk had a respectable career, he was 72-58 in 714 games over 14 seasons AND he was traded for Rickey Henderson TWICE)
#345 Joe Carter Toronto Blue Jays (This is one of my favorite cards ever and not just because I am a Joe Carter fan… Look at the pic, Carter is making a GREAT catch at the wall, but there is a Yankee fan in the front row (thrusting at the fence) wearing a tee shirt with Babe Ruth or Melky Cabrera on it with a ball on his hat. Just look at the picture. Awesome!)
#412 Mark Hutton New York Yankees
#432 Brian Anderson MUSEUM COLLECTION California Angels (Awesome! Brian is a do everything guy in the Rays organization… A little coaching, a little announcing, some play by play, shagging fly balls, bullpen catcher-whatever)
#513 Will Clark Texas Rangers (Will the Thrill just keeps on popping up, everywhere!)
#520 Julio Franco Chicago White Sox (Wow, Julio Franco was just a 35-year-old young pup in ’94. He won the Silver Slugger Award for DH in ’94 after batting .319 with 20 homers and 98 RBI. He already had 4 as a second baseman which ties him for 2nd most All Time behind Ryno. I really would have liked to see Franco play at 50)
#315 Robby Thompson San Francisco Giants (Robby T pulled off the Trifecta in ’93-he was an All Star and won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger at 2nd base for the Giants)
Here we go!
#336 Mark Grace Chicago Cubs (That same book recommended buying Mark Grace, too. He was more of a bargain and a better player, so that isn’t as funny… They did also say he had the potential to be "The Next Will Clark" which seemed funny because Clark only had been in the league a couple years at that point. On a different note, when I think of Grace I don’t think of his awesome defense or all of his .300 seasons, I think of him on the Jim Rome Show talking about “Slump busters and taking one for the team”.
#317 Tom Gordon Kansas City Royals (The Flash is mine, but I don’t really want it. Would someone PLEASE take the Royals?)
#305 Benito Santiago Florida Marlins (In his prime Benny had the best gun of anyone in his generation, including Pudge. Yep, I said it!)
#395 Jeromy Burnitz New York Mets (Burnitz was all hype and disappointment as a Met, but as Brewer…)
#358 Marquis Grissom Montreal Expos (this dude could flat out fly in Montreal! The next year (1995) he would become a Brave and actually win a World Series with them. In 2 years in Atlanta Grissom went to 2 World Series and batted .400 in those 12 games with 6 RBI and 12 steals)
#402 Joe Oliver Cincinnati Reds (Speaking of rings… Oliver batted .333 in the 1990 WS when the Reds rolled over the A’s. He is the 4th catcher out of 14 cards in this pack)
