#124 Dmitri Young St Louis Cardinals (The Meat Hook was the 4th overall player selected in the 1991 draft for the Cards)#58 Moises Alou Florida Marlins (1997 was the only year that Alou spent in South Florida. He made the All Star team, drove in 115 runs and led the Fish to the Fall Classic where they beat Cleveland)
#6 Kenny Lofton Atlanta Braves (During spring training in ’97 Lofton and Alan Embree went to the Braves in exchange for David Justice and Marquis Grissom. Lofton hit .333 in his one season with the Braves… He choked at the plate in the postseason and signed back with Cleveland in ’98)
#137 Hideki Irabu New York Yankees (The botc says Irabu was considered the Japananese Nolan Ryan prior to signing with the Yankees. Didn’t quite work out that way in the big leagues)
#100 Jeff Fassero Seattle Mariners (After the 1996 season the Mariners sent 3 players to the Expos for Fassero giving them the best all left-handed 1-2-3 punch in the American League. Randy Johnson, Jeff Fassero and Jaimie Moyer, along with an amazing offense led the Mariners to a 90 win season, netting 1st place in the AL West. Unfortunately the Orioles rolled over the M’s in the first round of the playoffs. Fassero won the only game for Seattle when they lost the series 3-1)
#43 Paul O’Neill New York Yankees (O’Neill had a pretty nice career, but all I think of was his guest spot on Seinfeld when I see his cards. Paul O’Neill hit TWO homeruns for Bobby!)
#18 Chuck Knoblauch Minnesota Twins (Knoblauch batted .341 for the Twins in ’96, and in ’97 he won the Trifecta for AL 2nd baseman as an All Star, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner. He was traded to the Yankees for 5 players before the ’98 season)Okay, that is pack #24 of X Press. This was a jumbo box, so I am only 2/3 of the way there. If you missed the last pack I ripped, it was posted on A Pack to be Named Later, you can check it out HERE. Deep breath, I got a lot of ripping to do! Go Rays! Troll out.
They just make such a cute couple! Anyway, I am finally starting to pull some Indians cards (and didn't pull any Braves). I ripped a few packs ahead so I could scan them all at once, so I know what I am saying when I say a few… I mentioned I was a Marlins fan in ’97. I was, but even I didn’t think they could beat the mighty Indians. Top to bottom they had one of the best hitting line-ups of all time. The guy who got it all started was this man:
#6 Kenny Lofton Cleveland Indians (Lofton only stole 27 bases in ’97 and he broke his streak of 6 consecutive stolen base crowns. He is 15th All Time with 622 steals. When I look at the players from this era and think about the Hall of Fame-all of steroids and inflated power numbers-I think Lofton stands a better chance than anyone at making it. His stolen bases weren’t aided by a juiced ball or juiced player and he is 56th All Time with 1528 runs scored. Just something to think about…)
#96 Randy Johnson Seattle Mariners (In the juiced era, they still couldn’t hit Johnson…He only started 8 games in ’96, but came back to win 20 in ‘97)
#32 Derek Jeter NY Yankees
#124 Dmitri Young St Louis Cardinals (Where is the Meat Hook??? Is he still active?)
#150 Chase Checklist featuring Hideo Nomo LA Dodgers (This one is for you Owl!)
