#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)#386 Rich Amaral Seattle Mariners
#399 Darrell Whitmore Florida Marlins
#465 Tim Laker Montreal Expos
#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)#519 Jody Reed Milwaukee Brewers (Reed topped 40 doubles in 3 straight years with the Red Sox, leading the AL with 45 in 1990)
#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?)Okay, another one down… I cannot wait to finish this break!!! I have enjoyed it, but I really had no idea how much time this would take. My apologies to everyone for that. Anyway, it WILL be done this week. To view all of the rips in this break, click here. Go Rays! Troll out!
#379 Mark McLemore Baltimore Orioles (MM was a super versatile and very fast player. He was great in all 3 outfield spots, was a superb second baseman and wasn’t too shabby at short or 3rd either. He started swiping more bases later in his career and set a personal best in 2000 when he stole 39. He nabbed 272 over his career which puts him at 184th All Time)
#305 Benito Santiago Florida Marlins (an awesome Play at the Plate with the Marlins 3-time Gold Glove catcher! Looks like Castillo is OUT!)
#392 Cliff Floyd Montreal Expos (Big Cliff in the early days…He only played in 100 games in ’94, but the former first round pick still managed to be 5th place in the ROY Vote. I don’t know if he is the only player to go to the World Series with both Florida teams, but if there are more than 1-he is one of ‘em. He won a ring with the Marlins in ’97 and went back in 2008 with the Rays. His 233 homers is 43rd among active players-he would be a lot higher up if you took all the roid-ragers off the list)
#326 Bill Swift San Francisco Giants (Billy had an AMAZING year on the hill for the Giants in ’93. He was 21-8 with a 2.82 ERA. He had led the NL in ERA with a microscopic 2.08 in ’92. He placed 2nd in Cy Young voting in ’93, behind Greg Maddux who won less games and had a lower winning %. ’94 was his final year with the Giants. In 1992, his 7th season, he won 10 games to hit double digits for the first time. He won 21 the next year and never reached 10 victories again. He pitched for 13 seasons and posted a 94-78 career record. Weird)
#312 John Jaha Milwaukee Brewers (Jaha is kicking back and relaxing, preparing for his first All Star game in ’99. I think someone just said something funny or maybe Jaha just said to the photographer “Your not gonna use this on a baseball card, are you?”)
