1990 had seen the Mets fire Davey Johnson for failing to win a second World Series, and move on to manager Bud Harrelson. The team was vastly improved under Harrelson and had finished the 1990 season 91-71, in second place behind the Pirates. Frank Viola had been acquired and won 20 games with an ERA of 2.67, becoming co-ace with Dwight Gooden who won 19 games and had a 3.83 ERA.
Besides Viola and Gooden, the staff boasted David Cone, Sid Fernandez and Ron Darling in the starting rotation plus Bob Ojeda and John Franco in the pen ensured Mets fan the postseason was well within reach in 1991. One had to be a bit worried about the offense, as 1991 was the first season without Darryl Strawberry in almost a decade. But Mets fans had a lot to look forward to in 1991 with a new manager at the helm for a full season, and a new right fielder.
In 1991, baseball card buying Mets fans had more options to allocate their baseball card dollars than ever before as Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Leaf, Upper Deck, Pinnacle, Score and Bowman all offered sets to collectors. Of course, buying baseball cards as an investment were sort of like buying T-bills, as the value was certain to only increase in the coming years. Of course, if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you at Citi Field.
There were certainly no shortage of boxes to buy of the 1991 Fleer baseball cards offered to the gullible public. Printed on tissue-thin cardboard stock, and dubbed the “Yellow Monster”, the 720-card 91 Fleer set was, at the time, the largest Fleer baseball card set to date.
The iconic set contains no notable rookies, and the presses at Fleer must have been working overtime, as the company produced an estimated three million copies of each card. Yes, three million times 720 is a big number.
The card pictured here must certainly have been a favorite of Mets fans, showing their 25-year old flame throwing ace/co-ace in vintage form on the mound. Already a Rookie of the Year award winner, Gooden was also a four-time All Star, and a Cy Young Award winner who had high ranking votes in five different campaigns.
Just as surely as the card value could only go up, the pitcher shown on this card was also on his way to the Hall of Fame.
Let’s take a closer look at the card in question, and get our trusty Sherlock Holmes hat off the peg in the wall. Who is pictured in the background behind Gooden? Where was the shot taken, and did the Mets win the game?
The first baseman shown behind Gooden wears the glove on his left hand. Keith Hernandez was no longer on the Mets by 1990, but Dave Magadan, a lefty hitting first baseman who threw righty was. Magadan hit 328/417/457 in 1990, good for an OPS+ of 141. Playing in 144 games in 1990, the first baseman is almost certainly Dave Magadan.
As for the venue, note the two Mets players on the card are wearing their road uniforms, so the picture was not taken at Shea Stadium. Take a careful look at the brick stadium wall shown behind both Gooden and Magadan, and we can safely conclude that the shot is from Wrigley Field.
Night games were played at Wrigley by 1990, but the action displayed on the card is clearly from a day game. Not many cards show the steepness of a major league pitcher’s mound, and this Fleer card does a nice job of that.
Knowing we’re looking for a day game played at Wrigley in 1990 where Gooden was the starting pitcher, we can check out the 1990 Schedule and Results section of Baseball Reference and try to find our game.
Gooden did not pitch in the first road series, May 27-29 in Chicago, as Viola, Darling and Cone started in that series. Gooden did pitch in the four game series held at Wrigly from Aug. 9-12. Gooden was the starting pitcher on Monday Aug. 12. Gooden pitched well, allowing two runs in seven innings, striking out seven, but had a no-decision as the Mets lost the game in extra innings 3-2, completing a sweep that put the Mets 8.5 games back.
Dave Magadan did play first for the Mets that day, confirming Magadan is the Mets player in the background. Gooden did not pitch in the team’s final road trip to Chicago in September, leaving us with the August 12th loss as the game pictured on this card.
1991 was a disappointing season for Mets fans as the team finished in 5th place with a 77-84 record, 20.5 games behind the division-winning Pirates. Bud Harrelson was fired with a week to go in the season and replaced by Mike Cubbage.
As for return on investment, baseball card buying Mets fans may have been better served investing with Bernie Madoff. Priced at $18 per wax box and $31 per rack box, after almost 30 years, wax boxes can be readily found on Ebay for $10 or less.
As we put our Sherlock Holmes deerstalker hat back on the hook for our next Shoebox Memories sleuthing case, let’s remember that whether you are a young flame thrower or a baseball card investment, there’s no such thing as a sure thing.
LGM
