Fun Cards: 1988 American League All-Star Outfielders

The top three vote-getters among American League outfielders were Rickey Henderson, Dave Winfield, and Jose Canseco.

Canseco went on to win the AL MVP Award on the strength of the first-ever 40 home run/40 stolen base season.

Coming in second for the MVP Award was Mike Greenwell, who believes he should be retroactively honored due to Canseco’s admitted steroid use.

Kirby Puckett rounds out (no pun intended) the AL outfield in 1988.

Was anyone snubbed? The players would have added Cleveland outfielder Joe Carter to the roster ahead of Henderson, but since the fans get to select the starters, Carter stayed home.

• Dave Wlnfleld 141
• Jose Canseco 129
• Kirby Puckett 126
• Mike Greenwell 50
• Joe Carter 47
• Rickey Henderson 32
• Ellis Burks 8
• George Bell 6
• Bo Jackson 5
• Dwight Evans 3
• Robin Yount 3
• Chili Davis 3
• Danny Tartabull 2
• Jack Clark 2
• Willie Wilson 2
• Dan Gladden 2
• Devon White 1
• Gary Ward 1
• Pat Sheridan 1
• Mickey Brantley 1
• Lloyd Moseby 1
• Cory Snyder 1
• Gary Pettis 1

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Fun Cards: 1988 National League All-Star Shortstops

Say what you will about the ’90s shortstop revolution, I’ll take the ’80s defensive wizards any day. Ozzie Smith was the no-brainer fan pick, starting his sixth straight All-Star Game; he would start the next four straight before passing the mantle to Barry Larkin. Lark would end up starting five ASGs in his career, and being on the roster for seven more. The other backup in 1988, Shawon Dunston, was only named to two All-Star teams in his career, but man he had a rocket for an arm.

The players poll showed that those who shared the field with the Wizard agreed wholeheartedly with the fans’ choice.

• Ozzie Smith 143
• Shawon Dunston 17
• Barry Larkin 11
• Jose Uribe 8
• Garry Templeton 2
• Dave Anderson 1
• Alfredo Griffin 1
• Rafael Ramirez 1

Fun Cards: 1988 American League All-Star Shortstops

Alan Trammell was elected by fans to start the 1988 All-Star Game at shortstop, but did not play due to injury. Cal Ripken Jr. was a fine second choice.

Kurt Stillwell returned to Riverfront Stadium for the first time since the Reds traded him to the Royals for Danny Jackson over the off-season. By all appearances, he enjoyed seeing Barry Larkin again. Stillwell was added to the All-Star roster as an injury replacement for Chicago’s Ozzie Guillen.

Here are the results of the USA Today players poll:

• Alan Trammell 154
• Cal Ripken 17
• Tony Fernandez 6
• Kurt Stillwell 4
• Spike Owen 3
• Dale Sveum 1

Fun Cards: 1988 National League All-Star Third Basemen

Bobby Bonilla seemed to be the heir apparent to Mike Schmidt as the regular NL third baseman, and was given the starting job in 1988. He did log six All-Star Games between 1988 and 1995, but no one today would dare claim that his career measured up to Schmidt’s. To be fair, no one’s career measured up to Schmidt’s. Bonilla’s backups, Vance Law and rookie Chris Sabo, couldn’t claim it either.

Again, the voters and players agreed on the starter, and the managers and players were not far apart on the bench. Here are the players picks for third base in 1988:

• Bobby Bonllla 121
• Vance Law 14
• Mike Schmidt 11
• Chris Sabo 7
• Terry Pendleton
• Tim Wallach 5
• Pedro Guerrero 2
• Buddy Bell 1
• Kevin Mitchell 1
• Graig Nettles 1

Fun Cards: 1988 American League All-Star Third Basemen

Wade Boggs was the starting third baseman for the American League, with Carney Lansford and Gary Gaetti on the bench. I posted the Lansford and Gaetti cards a couple of years ago when they were initially made, but I had not yet decided to make new versions of the All-Stars who had cards in the actual Topps set. After I finished everything else earlier this year, I decided to go back and update the actual All-Stars as well.

How did the actual roster compare with the players’ opinions? See for yourself; here are the players’ picks:

• Wade Boggs 90
• Carney Lanstord 46
• Gary Gaetti 36
• Paul Molitor 5
• Jim Presley 2
• Jack Howell 2
• Luis Saiazar 2
• Mike Pagliarulo 1
• Kevin Seitzer 1
• Buddy Bell 1

I find the inclusion of Bell on the list amusing since he didn’t even play in the American League in 1988. He lost his starting job to Chris Sabo during spring training and was traded to Houston in June. In 1988, the Astros were still a National League team (as they should be still).

Fun Cards: 2018 Stadium Club Lou Piniella

I posted a picture of Lou Piniella tossing second base on Twitter earlier tonight. That led to this response from Giants fan and friend Nick of the njwv blog…

This should be a Stadium Club card.

— nick (@vossbrink) June 17, 2019

It was a great idea, and I couldn’t resist making a “fun card” (because I don’t expect Topps to ever do so, or MLB to even allow it if Topps wanted to).

Sweet Lou managed the Reds at such a fun time during my teenage years. Chris Sabo, Eric Davis, Jose Rijo, Tom Browning, future Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, and so many more thrived under Piniella’s leadership.

We need Sweet Lou back in Cincinnati.

Fun Cards: 1988 National League All-Star Second Basemen

Ryne Sandberg was elected to start at second base for the National League, which was really no surprise. Robby Thompson of the San Francisco Giants was chosen to back him up, but did not get into the game (although Ryno didn’t play the full game).

The fans and players agreed on the starter here, as the future Hall of Famer was the clear choice for both. Here are the results of USA Today’s players poll:

• Ryne Sandberg 67
• Robby Thompson 45
• Bill Doran 29
• Steve Sax 18
• Juan Samuel 15
• Jose Lind 2
• Wally Backman 1
• Rex Hudler 1
• Jeff Treadway 1
• Roberto Alomar 1

Fun Cards: 1988 American League All-Star Second Basemen

Paul Molitor played second base for the Milwaukee Brewers on July 9, the Saturday before the All-Star Game, because he hadn’t played the position all year. He was on the ballot at 2B, but Jim Gantner was the primary second sacker for the Brew Crew.

Johnny Ray and Harold Reynolds were chosen as backups for Molitor. Both were the lone representatives from their teams at the All-Star Game. The players’ choices would have changed all three second basemen on the roster:

• Julio Franco 41
• Frank White 37
• Marty Barrett 32
• Lou Whitaker 29
• Harold Reynolds 14
• Paul Molitor 8
• Willie Randolph 1
• Jim Gantner 1
• Luis Salazar 1
• Curt Wilkerson 1
• Glenn Hubbard 1
• Tony Fernandez 1
• Johnny Ray 1

Fun Cards: 1988 National League All-Star First Basemen

Will Clark was the starting first baseman for the National League in 1987, with Andres Galarraga and Gerald Perry backing him up.

The players would have started The Big Cat by a slight margin over Will The Thrill. Perry was fifth in the players’ poll; he was the lone Atlanta representative on the NL roster.

• Andres Galarraga 75
• Will Clark 71
• Glenn Davis 14
• Keith Hernandez 14
• Gerald Perry 2
• Mark Grace 1
• Sid Bream 1
• Keith Moreland 1
• Franklin Stubbs 1

Fun Cards: 1988 American League All-Star First Basemen

Following his record-setting rookie campaign in 1987, Mark McGwire was voted by fans to start at first base in the 1988 All-Star Game in Cincinnati.

On the bench were Don Mattingly, who the players thought should have been the starter, and future Hall of Famer George Brett, who had just made the switch to first from third in 1987.

USA Today surveyed the players in each league on who they thought should start the game. Players were only allowed to vote for their own league, and could not choose teammates. Results for American League first base were as follows:

• Don Mattingly 83
• George Brett 76
• Kent Hrbek 17
• Mark McGwire 13
• Fred McGriff 9
• Pete O’Brien 2
• Carney Lansford 1
• Steve Balboni 1

The 1988 All-Star Game is special to me because it was held in Cincinnati. I started making these cards two years ago and finally finished the complete rosters (front and back, including managers) earlier this year. I plan to post them here over the next few weeks. Hope you enjoy!

Please note that these are NOT real cards. There are no physical copies and they are not for sale. They exist only in digital form.