#9 - Shawn Green

Front photo: This is definitely a BP photo.

Back photo: N/A..

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 41. More if you want to count bullet lists.

Wiki-facts:  Following up Alex Gonzalez, who had a guest appearance on the CBC show The Newsroom, Shawn appeared on episodes of Numb3rs and the Nick Cannon show during his days with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Baseball miscellany: Got a World Series ring for 1993, despite only 3 games and 6 plate appearances. Would get the Topps Rookie trophy on his card, but would have to wait until 1996 for that. Is one of 16 players with 4 home runs in a game, and the second so far in this set, following Carlos Delgado.

How was his strike-shortened 1994?: Hit his first RBI over 14 games.

Birthday boy: Born November 10, 1972. Shares a birthdate with former big leaguer Greg LaRocca, and former NFLer Isaac Bruce. Bruce was the last Los Angeles Rams alumni to retire. No other people at the various *-reference sites share that birthday.

Ties to my Personal Collections: Would play with the Mets as well as Toronto.

Next up: #10 - Butch Huskey

#8 - Alex Gonzalez

Front photo: Might be an in-game shot, might be a spring training shot. Don't really know. Toronto is the first team to appear more than once in this set.

Back photo: N/A..

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 7

Wiki-facts: Appeared on an episode of The Newsroom. Not the HBO one - the one that was on CBC in the 90s.Is one of 3 Alex Gonzalezes at wiki, the others being the one that started with the Marlins, and the other being a Rangers prospect. The Rangers guy only has a paragraph under Texas Rangers minor leaguers.

How was his strike-shortened 1994?: Made his big league debut, batting .151 over 15 games. Would have to wait until 1995 for his first HR.

Birthday boy: Born April 8, 1973. Also born on that day was actress Emma Caulfield of Buffy The Vampire Slayer fame. Pablo Picasso died on that date. Nobody else at any of the other *-reference sites was born on that date.

Ties to my Personal Collections: Would play in Montreal as well as the Blue Jays.

Next up: #8 - Shawn Green

#7 - Cliff Floyd

Front photo: An actual game shot, even though the angle of the dugout top in the background makes it look like the camera is at an angle.

Back photo: N/A..

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 13

Wiki-facts:  Clifford is actually his middle name. His real first name is Cornelius (his father's name). His adoptive sister dies of cancer, and her 2 children are now living with him and his family.

How was his strike-shortened 1994?: Of those featured so far, Cliff saw the most action in 1994, batting .281 over 100 games. Was 5th in NL Rookie of the Year voting.

Birthday boy: Born December 5, 1972. Two more major leaguers were born that date, Mike Mahoney and Felix Rodriguez.

Ties to my Personal Collections: Played for the Expos, and would go on to play for the Mets.

Next up: #8 - Alex Gonzalez

#6 - Carl Everett

Front photo: An in game shot from the basepaths.

Back photo: N/A..

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 18

 Wiki-facts: Lettered in football, baseball and track in high school. Has never seen a dinosaur, and also questions the validity of the moon landing. Final sentences are: "In 2011, Everett was arrested at his home in Tampa on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and tampering with a witness. Everett reportedly held a handgun to the head of his wife of 18 years". Ho boy.

 How was his strike-shortened 1994?: Played in 16 games. Hit 2 home runs, but only .216 over 54 AB.

Birthday boy: Born June 3, 1971. Also born on that date was  John Hodgman, the PC counterpart to the Mac in the commercials. Other baseballers born that date was Aaron Ledesma and Izzy Molina.

Ties to my Personal Collections: Played for both the Mets and Expos.

Next up: #7 - Cliff Floyd

#5 - Steve Dreyer

Front photo: Posed shot.  I want to say that was the old Angels stadium lurking back there.

Back photo: N/A..

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 1

Wiki-facts: Middle name is William,

How was his strike-shortened 1994?: Was only with the team for the month of April. That was his last time in the majors. Had a 5.71 ERA in 1994, matching his 5.71 ERA in 1993.

Birthday boy: Born  November 19, 1969. Also born on that date was actress Erika Alexander (Living Single. Nobody else at the baseball/football/basketball/reference was born that date.

Ties to my Personal Collections: No direct ones.

 Next up: #6 - Carl Everett

#4 Carlos Delgado

Front photo: A very spring training photo.

Back photo: N/A.

Ties to my personal collections: I super collect him. Collect his Jays cards for my Delgado PC and my Jays collection. Collect his Mets cards for my Delgado PC and my Mets collection. Collect his Marlins cards for my Delgado PC.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 28. The first player so far to have a Table of Contents in his entry.

Wiki-facts: Won the Roberto Clemente Award in 2006, as a Met. The 10th member of the Toronto Blue Jays Level of Excellence. Only had 1 AB in 1993, but still got a World Series ring.

How was his strike-shortened 1994?: Batted .215 with a 9 home runs. Started with the team and started hot powerwise, but was soon returned to the minors.

Birthday boy: Born June 25, 1972. He's also the first player so far to have his birthdate appear in the June 25 portion of wikipedia. Also born on that date, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, one of the sons of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Carlos is the only person on baseball, football, basketball and hockey reference with a 6-25-1972 birthdate.

Next up: #5 Steve Dreyer.

#3 - Midre Cummings

Front photo: An actual game shot or posed in front of a backdrop? Only UD employees at the time know for sure.

Back photo: N/A.

Ties to my personal collections: Baseball wise, he played for 7 teams, but never was a Met or a Blue Jay. Although a Top Prospects card I pulled from a repack did feature one of the more pathetic attempts at facial hair ever featured on a card.  But to go several degrees of separation, he was born in the Virgin Islands, as was 2-14 baby Callix Crabbe. More V. Islands stuff in the Wiki-facts. And one more under birthday boy.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 3

Wiki-facts: Middle name is Almeric. Was born in the Virgin Islands. Cross referencing that with baseball-reference, he was one of 11 players to reach the majors that were born there. With 460 games, he is more than 800 games behind leader Horace Clarke.

How was his strike-shortened 1994?: Batted .244 over 92 AB. But, he also hit his first big league home run.

Birthday boy: Born October 14, 1971. Portuguese soccer player Jorge Costa was also born that date. As was former Ottawa Senator Dmitri Filimonov. That's another connection to my PCs. Also, NFLers Frank Wycheck and Derrick Rodgers.

Next up: #4 - Carlos Delgado

#2 - Greg Blosser

Front photo: An action shot!Looking at the background makes it a fairly obvious spring training photograph with the ads on the wall and the lack of seating behind the wall.

Back photo: N/A.

Ties to my personal collections: None.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 3

Wiki-facts: Following his major league career, Blosser played for Japan's Seibu Lions in 1999.

How was his strike-shortened 1994?: 1 hit in 15 AB. Those were his last appearances in the majors.

Birthday boy: Born June 26, 1971. That's the same day as motorcycle racer Max Biaggi, model Emma Noble and NFLer Carlton Gray. The former has the most extensive wiki entry of any of these folks.

#1 - Rich Becker

All good sets start with a single card. And in this case, this is said card:

One of 20 cards under the 'Rookie Class' subset to start the set.

Front photo: Fairly standard posing photo.  The visible streak on the card scan doesn't show up in hand, so I'm guessing that isn't a blue sky backdrop behind him but it might actually be a slightly cloudy sky.

Back photo: N/A. Although it is good to have a decent write-up for guys that the collector at the time would likely not have heard much about.

Ties to my personal collections: Played for the Mets for part of the season in 1998 - has a couple cards as a Met, although I don't have any of them.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 6

Wiki-facts: In high school Becker, excelled at football and baseball. In football, he played quarterback and running back on offense and corner back on defense. Middle name is Godhard.

How was his strike-shortened 1994?: Only 112 AB with a .265 average, although he did hit his first career home run.

Birthday boy: Born February 1, 1972. On that date,  Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

This is what a box of 670 cards looks like

Or, as I can call it, a delaying tactic while I decide what format I want to use when I start posting the cards, and also to get rid of the "start blogging now" message when I open the blogger dashboard. Probably more of the former than the latter, actually.

1 post down. 670 more to go.