143 - Todd Hundley

 

Front: Throwing.

Back: Signaling.

Better side: The back is a little more unique, and therefore more Collectors-Choice-esque.

Ties to my personal collections: He's a Met! And was the man behind home plate until they traded for some guy named Piazza.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 15

Wiki-facts: "His father, Randy, was a catcher for the Chicago Cubs"

Google it: He had the Mets team home run record. Here he is concerning Pete Alonso breaking it:

https://sny.tv/articles/watch-todd-hundley-weighs-in-on-pete-alonso-breaking-his-mets-home-run-record

How was his strike-shortened 1994? 16 HR, 42 RBI, but only a .237 average.

Birthday boy: May 27, 1969. He's one year late for a couple Hall of Famers, Jeff Bagwell and Frank Thomas. The only other person in the *reference world born that specific date is one time Charlotte Hornet Travis Williams. Wikipedia lists former NASCAR racer Jeremy Mayfield was also born that day.

Next up: 144 - Pete Incaviglia

139 - Eric Hillman

139 - Eric Hillman

Front: Pitcher at the plate! Bunting! Hell yeah! 

Back: Pitching.

Silver Sig parallel

Better side: Not even close. The front. It looks like the picture was from this game at Dodger Stadium, and the sac. bunt was also successful.

Ties to my personal collections: He's a Met here. 

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 5

Wiki-facts: "Hillman was tied with fellow pitcher Randy Johnson for the tallest player in league history at 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), before later being passed by 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) Jon Rauch."

Google it: The second result is a linkedin profile of a student in British Columbia.

How was his strike-shortened 1994? 0-3 with an ERA of 7.79. His last MLB appearance was in May.

Birthday boy:  April 27, 1966. Shares it with card #45, Bob Ayrault. He also shares it with former NFLer Mike Stock, and frequent JJ Abrams co-worker Matt Reeves. But for some reason, I didn't list Eric when I posted Bob's card. Oops!

Next up: 140 - Chris Hoiles

69 - Jeromy Burnitz

69 - Jeromy Burnitz

Front photo: Casually fielding a ball.

Back photo: At the plate.

Better photo?: A rather bland competition. I guess the relaxed fielding photo is somewhat rarer.

Parallel: Silver Signature

Ties to my personal collections: Is a Met. Had an autograph in a recent Archives Fan Favorites set, but was a Brewer there.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 6

Wiki-facts: During a slump in May 2006, he held an interview in order to apologize for failing to run out a grounder, then joked about the challenges that his team would face during the rest of the season, saying, "I'm your Highest-Paid Free Agent. That, in and of itself, should tell you the big picture that the team's in.". I must say, if it were May and I heard a player on a team say that, it wouldn't inspire me to buy tickets the rest of the way through the season.

Google it: Hit a walk-off homer in the first interleague game at County Stadium in Milwaukee.

How was his stike shortened 1994? Batted .238 with 3 HR and 15 RBI over 45 games. He'd be off to Cleveland for 1995, but return to the Mets in 2002.

Birthday boy: April 15, 1969. No other MLB alum were born that date. In hockey, Jimmy "Let's trade Hasek" Waite was. In the NFL, Mike Jones was born that date. He's best known as the guy who made the game-saving tackle of Kevin Dyson to give the game to the Rams, and is forever immortalized in the famous photo(s) of the Dyson's failed stretch to the end zone.

Up Next: 70 - Brett Butler

58 - Bobby Bonilla

58 - Bobby Bonilla

Front photo: Diving back to the base.

Back photo: Looking like he'll be late applying the tag to 3rd.

Better photo?: The second is more of a Mets-ish photo for that time.

Ties to my personal collections: Is a Met. In my DVD collection, he got referenced, albeit not by name, in the opening scene of the Season 3 Law & Order episode, The Corproate Veil, first airing on Oct 14, 1992.

(a police office throws a baseball back to some children)

Officer 1: They should put you on the corner at Shea.
Officer 2: I'd go for a hell of a lot less than 29 mil...guy's a bum. What's he hitting, .220? (He had finished the season hitting .249 in 1992)
Officer 1: He's better than the last guy they had.
Officer 2: The least he could do is break a leg. Can't hurt the team from the DL.

Ouch.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 17

Wiki-facts: "Bonilla's stay in New York was also marred by a number of incidents, such as threatening sportswriter Bob Klapisch that he would "show him the Bronx" in response to his book on the 1992 Mets, The Worst Team Money Could Buy: The Collapse Of The New York Mets".

Google it: Until 2035, he will get paid by $1,193,248.20 by the Mets.  http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/happy-bobby-bonilla-payday-mets-fans/

How was his stike shortened 1994? Batted .290 with 20 HR and 67 RBI. Also struck out 101 times, just 2 behind his career high, but with over 200 fewer plate appearances.

Birthday boy: Feb 23, 1963. NHLer Doug Kostynski, who spent 15 NHL games in a Bruins uniform was born that date. No NBA of NFL call that their birth date. Outside the sporting world, Polish politician Radoslaw Sikorski was born that date.

Up Next: #59 - Bret Boone

55 - Tim Bogar

55 - Tim Bogar

Front photo: A tangled up mess at second on what appears to be turning two.

Back photo: Passing the ball along.

Better photo?: While the front photo is more Collectors Choice-y, that back of the card pic where neither of the player's feet are touching the ground is kinda interesting as well. In fact, neither foot might be touching in the front photo as well. While that might be common for basketball, that can't be true for baseball. The back photo seems more unique, so that will be the deciding factor.

Parallel: Silver signature. Looks like his middle initial is P. Wikipedia says it stands for Paul.

Ties to my personal collections: He's a Met.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 15.

Wiki-facts: He's now the bench coach for the Mariners.

Google it: The third result expresses regret that Tim was only named the bench coach as opposed to manager.

Birthday Boy: October 28, 1966. In another tie to my PCs, former Toronto Blue Jay Juan Guzman was also born that date. No NBAers were, but a pair of NHLers were. Ron Hoover, who played 22 games (and did get a card at the NHL level with #287 in 1991-92 UD), and Benoit Hogue (with more than 800 more games than Ron) was also born that date. In football, Kim Phillips, who had one game with the Bills was born that date. Not too impressive, but Steve Atwater, who has a pair of Super Bowl rings, and is on the Broncos Ring of Fame, was also born on that busy date. And he had an awesome nickname, "The Smiling Assassin". Outside the sports world, funnyman Andy Richter was born that day.

Up Next: #56 Tom Bolton

26 - Kirk Presley

Front photo: A classic photo with a beautiful view of a minor league park in the background.

Back photo: Generic posed pitching photo.

Better photo?: Not even close. Stadium for the win!

Ties to my personal collections: Is pictured as a Met. I have another card of his in my Mets binder that says was third cousin to Elvis.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: N/A. Doesn't have one. Did have an article in People though. That's probably the first for someone from this set.

Wiki-facts: Again, N/A.

Google it: There's a lawyer in Kansas City named Kirk Presley whose name pops up as well in google searches. Not the same guy, unfortunately.

How was his strike-shortened 1994? Spent time at Pittsfield and St. Lucie. Went 6-7 with an ERA of 3.83 in 16 appearances, all starts.

Birthday boy: April 17, 1975. Nobody at any of the *-reference.com sites has that exact birthday. But, he does match up with a Travis Roy, hockey player who was sadly left a quadriplegic 10 seconds into his first shift at Boston University.

Yegads this is a depressing card.

OK. British politician Heidi Alexander was also born that date. She's still in office, so maybe that counts for something.

Up next: 27 - Matt Brunson.

#10 - Butch Huskey

Front photo: An autograph signing photo. First one so far in this set with a different photo that really fits the Collector's Choice theme.

Back photo: N/A.

Paragraphs in wikipedia entry: 13.

Wiki-facts: Real name is Robert Leon Huskey.

Baseball miscellany: Was one of the players to be grandfathered in with regards to wearing #42. It also repeats the factoid from the back of the card about making his debut on the losing end of a no-hitter.

How was his strike-shortened 1994?: Spent the entire year in the minors.

Birthday boy: Born November 10, 1971. Shares a birthdate with former big leaguer Terry Pearson. Strangely, despite a far shorter big league career than Huskey's, Pearson makes the wiki list of people born that date.

Ties to my Personal Collections: Played for one of the teams I collect, and I have one of his autopgraphs out of Leaf Signatures.

Next up: #11 - Mark Hutton