The Underrated Baseball Rookie Card List

by Joeyd011 - 286 cards (Last updated on Feb 6, 2020)



221. 1990 Topps #701 Bernie Williams


Bernie Williams - 1996 ALCS MVP, 1998 AL Batting Title, 2,336 Hits, 449 Doubles, 287 HR's, 1,257 RBI's, .297 Career Hitter, 4 Gold Gloves as Center Fielder, 5 Time All-Star, 4 WS Rings, Career New York Yankees.

Great player, great card. I would definitely recommend the Topps Tiffany variation.


222. 1990 Topps Traded - Limited Edition (Tiffany) #33T Travis Fryman


Travis Fryman - 1,776 Hits, 345 Doubles, 223 HR's, 1,022 RBI's, .274 Career Hitter, 1 Gold Glove at Third, 5 Time All-Star.

Fryman was a very good utility player on defense, and reliably consistent on offense.


223. 1991 Bowman #203 Tim Salmon


Tim Salmon - 1993 AL ROY, 1,674 Hits, 339 Doubles, 299 HR's, 1,016 RBI's, .282 Career Hitter, 1 WS Ring, Career California Angels.

Salmon is one of the best California Angels players of all-time in my opinion. He played his entire career with the Angels.


224. 1991 Bowman #587 Javier Lopez


Javy Lopez - 1,527 Hits, 267 Doubles, 260 HR's, 864 RBI's, .287 Career Hitter, 3 Time All-Star, 1 WS Ring.


225. 1991 Leaf - Gold Rookies #BC14 Jeff Bagwell


Jeff Bagwell - HOF Career, 1991 NL ROY, 1994 NL MVP, 2,314 Hits, 488 Doubles, 449 HR's, 1,529 RBI's, .408 OBP, .297 Career Hitter, 1 Gold Glove at First Base, 4 Time All-Star, Career Houston Astros.


226. 1991 Leaf - Gold Rookies #BC12 Mike Mussina


Mike Mussina - HOF Career, 270 Wins, 2,813 SO's, 3.68 Career ERA, 7 Gold Gloves, 5 Time All-Star.

Mussina was one of the great pitchers to come out of the early 90's. He has a pretty good chance to be elected to the hall of fame in my opinion.

Update - Mussina was elected to the hall of fame in his 6th year on the ballot.


227. 1991 Score #339 Mike Bordick


Mike Bordick - 1,500 Hits, 257 Doubles, 91 HR's, 626 RBI's, .260 Career Hitter.

Although not a stand out offensive player (fairly common among short stops of the time), Bordick is 6th all time in fielding percentage (.9821).


228. 1991 Topps #333 Chipper Jones


Chipper Jones - HOF Career, 1999 NL MVP, 2008 NL Batting Title, 2,726 Hits, Switch Hitter, 549 Doubles, 468 HR's, 1,623 RBI's, 9 100+ RBI Seasons, .303 Career Hitter, .401 OBP, 8 Time All-Star, 1 WS Ring, Career Atlanta Braves.

Chipper was a first round first pick in the draft, and lived up to every expectation as a player. He was inducted into the hall of fame in 2018, his first year on the ballot.

I really like the design of the 40th anniversary 1991 Topps, but I know these were produced by the boatload. Still a great card to have, but if mass production is an issue there is always the more expensive Tiffany and Desert Shield variations of this card.


229. 1991 Topps Traded - Limited Edition (Tiffany) #61T Charles Johnson


Charles Johnson - 940 Hits, 211 Doubles, 167 HR's, 570 RBI's, .245 Career Hitter, 4 Gold Gloves as Catcher, 2 Time All-Star, 1 WS Ring.


230. 1991 Upper Deck #27 Jeff Conine


Jeff Conine - 1,982 Hits, 385 Doubles, 214 HR's, 1,071 RBI's, .285 Career Hitter, 2 Time All-Star, 2 WS Rings.

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Comments

Sep 1, 2018 - 7:55PM
Vvvergeer

I swear I've commented on this excellent list in the past. Perhaps I'm confusing it with another. Anyway...outstanding work. I love a lot of your choices -- not sure how "underrated" the cards or players are in some cases, but great list, nonetheless. 

v3

Sep 1, 2018 - 9:27PM
Joeyd011

Thanks Vvvergeer.  Yes, you have definitely commented and made suggestions to this list in the past.  I believe Rick Reuschel was one of them.  Over the years I have made additions, used suggestions, and revamped the list overall.  Part of the revamp work was cleaning up the statistical information, and doing some updating regarding the many little fun facts and/or thoughts on certain players.  It has been a while since I've updated the list with new additions, and the previous comments made were from a few years ago (time flies)....so, I decided to continue with a fresh comment section.  Thanks again for revisiting the list.

Joe

Dec 14, 2018 - 8:50PM
switzr1

Cool list Joey. I want to go after some of these cards, especially some from the 70s. I would point out that Bernie Williams was ALCS MVP, not AL MVP, in 1996.

Dec 15, 2018 - 1:59PM
Joeyd011

Thanks for revisiting this list Switzr1.  I corrected the Bernie Williams error, and will be adding more cards soon.

Dec 29, 2018 - 5:08AM
Alomar_Collector

How can you leave out the '88 Score Rookie/Traded & '88 Score Rookie/Traded Glossy of Roberto Alomar? They both sell for peanuts considering the print run. Best overall 2nd baseman of all time (offense and defense). Most Gold Gloves of any 2nd baseman in history. Would have reached 3,000 hits if he'd have had better seasons offensively during his 2 years in New York. But he faded fast after 2003. His mind was no longer in the game and he was ready to move on.

Feb 7, 2020 - 8:17AM
DarkSide830

That Young one is certainly interesting. Say, is Willians Astudillo eligible for this list yet, or too early in his career?

Feb 12, 2020 - 3:50PM
Joeyd011

DarkSide830, thanks for checking out this list.  This particular list consists primarily of retired players, or players near the tail end of their career.  An active player 'underrated rookie card' list is something that I have thought about doing, but haven't quite got around to it.  It's a great idea that would definitely generate a whole lot of opinions, and constantly evolve I'm sure.  But if you have any recommendations for this list that you can think of, I'd be glad to see what they are.

Joe  



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