Cards On The Table: The “Rated Rookies”

Have you ever gone through your old Donruss cards from the late ’80s-early ’90s and taken a look at some of the selections the company made for their “Rated Rookies” cards?

Some of them, they nailed. Jose Canseco, Ken Griffey Jr., Joe Carter, Mark McGwire, all were “Rated Rookies” by the Donruss company, and for good reason.

Those dudes turned out to be good, even if half of them were on the juice while doing it.

Some were absolute garbage. Guess which direction most of the Phillies’ selections went?

Some were good calls…

Some were not…

Let’s start with the good.

Rolen was obviously a wise choice. The 1997 NL Rookie of the Year has had a borderline Hall of Fame career for the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Reds, and there is speculation he may be a possible third base target for the Phils this offseason. And while that may be a nice bit of nostalgia, it’s probably not the right move for the franchise at the moment.

Still, Rolen was one of the few sure-fire slam dunks Donruss had for the Phils back in the late ’80s and early-to-mid ’90s, so it’s good they were able to hit on this one.

Probably the next best Phils prospect to be given “Rated Rookie” status was second baseman Mickey Morandini. That should give you some idea of the direction in which we’re headed here.

Morandini had a nice Major League career, playing 11 seasons with the Phillies, Cubs and Blue Jays, including as a member of the 1993 NL Champions. He was one half of an extremely solid platoon with Mariano Duncan, made an All-Star team in 1995, and finished 24th in the NL MVP voting for the Cubs in 1998.

Mickey was a nice player, a good, complimentary piece that helped a couple teams make the playoffs.

Wes Chamberlain, like Morandini, was a vital member of the 1993 Phils, offering more proof that platoons in Major League Baseball can work. Chamberlain shared right field with Jim Eisenreich in ’93, posting an OPS of .813 with 12 HR, 20 2B and 45 RBI in 306 plate appearances.

Wes even finished fifth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting in ’91 after posting a .700 OPS in 101 games. The folks who finished in front of him are hilarious, by the way…

Bagwell is obvious. But that Merced, Lankford, Hunter, Barberie foursome is flat out tremendous.

Interestingly, Chamberlain’s career was much shorter than I remembered.

Chamberlain was traded to the Red Sox midway through the ’94 season, and ended his career the following season after just six seasons in the Majors.

Chris James is the answer to an interesting trivia question.

Which Phillies player replaced Mike Schmidt the game after he retired in 1989?

You guessed it, one Chris James, the brother of former college football star Craig James, who recently unsuccessfully ran for Congress from Texas. I didn’t realize Chris actually played 10 years in the Majors, for the Phils, Padres, Indians, Giants, Astros, Rangers, Royals and Red Sox.

Homeboy got around.

James actually finished 6th in the NL Rookie of the Year voting in 1987, when he posted an .869 OPS and an OPS+ of 124 in 115 games. Standards were lower back then.

Darrin Fletcher was a guy who actually had a very productive Major League career, playing 14 years for the Phils, Expos and Blue Jays, and was the starting catcher for that ’94 Montreal team that had the best record in baseball before the strike hit.

Fletcher actually made the All-Star team in ’94, but never did anything with the Phils, playing in 55 games for the team before being traded to Montreal after the ’91 season.

Now, we’re really getting into the dregs. We’re not going to spend a lot of time here.

There was minor league bust Eric Valent, who will always be linked to the disastrous J.D. Drew fiasco as the compensatory pick awarded to the Phils for failing to sign Drew.

Wow, someone actually took the time to have an Eric Valent card, SIGNED? Reminds me of the time I stood in line at the Tri State Mall in Delaware to get Shane Rawley’s autograph.

A wasted youth.

There was Pat Combs, one of a series of young starters to come from the minor league system in the early ’90s that showed brief glimpses of promise, only to emerge as a complete waste of space once the league found them out.

Sweet fancy Moses those red 1990 Donruss cards were awful!

And Ron Jones (card at the top of the post) was a player who appeared to actually have a little game. But playing on the Veterans Stadium turf proved to be too much for Jones’ knees, which short-circuited the young outfielder’s career before it could ever really get going.

And finally, there is the immortal David Shipanoff.

Yes, THAT Dave Shipanoff.

And, here is David Shipanoff’s career in a nutshell.

Of course, when your career is that short, it kind of HAS to be in a nutshell.

It’s fair to ask who was more derelict in their duties here. The Donruss corporation for their misguided labeling of mediocre Phils prospects, or the Phillies for producing so much mediocrity from their minor league system for so many years.

And, not for nothin’, if Donruss cards weren’t the ugliest friggin’ cards on the planet… geez.