Where Are They Now? Pete Stanicek

Pete is the younger brother of Steve Stanicek. Pete made it to the bigs first, making his debut on September 1, 1987, Steve made it fifteen days later. Steve, however, managed to stay in the game for a day short of a year longer.

Of the two brothers, Pete had the better career, playing in 113 games and batting .243 for the Orioles in 1987 and 1988. Steve had little more than two cups of coffee with the Brewers (4 games, 7 at bats) in 1987 and the Pirates (9 games, 9 at bats) in 1989. Steve never even got to play in the field.

I guess the point in all of these is Pete Stanicek didn't have a very memorable career. He was an up and coming second baseman, but the Orioles were pretty well stocked there with Billy Ripken, and most of his playing time in 1988 came in left field.

Two of his four home runs came off of Frank Tanana.

Where is he now? I have no clue.

Young Superstars II #38 - Eric Bell

That's future Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr in the background.

According to the scouting report, Eric had yet to find himself, and he never really did. Of his 152 strikeouts, Bill Schroeder was the victim five times (most of any hitter Bell struck out).

Eric Bell's career statistics

Young Superstars #20 - Bill Ripken

Here's ol' Fuck Face himself. If not for his infamous 1989 Fleer card, and brother was was a marginally better baseball player, Billy Ripken would probably be forgotten in baseball history.

The Fuck Face incident is a shame really, because in all honesty, Billy wasn't a bad ball player. He certainly wasn't the same level of player as his brother Cal, but Billy was a solid defensive second baseman. He even had the opportunity to play on a team with his older brother and be managed by his father, at the same time. That must have been a very special couple of years for the Ripken family.

There's a very good possibility that this photo was taken during the same at bat as his base release photo (it's obvious that they were taken during the same game).



Slightly different angle, but the base card is the beginning of a very awkward and the Young Superstars card is the conclusion of a very awkward swing.

Billy Ripken's career statistics

Young Superstars #8 - B.J. Surhoff

Aside from Mark McGwire, of the players we've seen thus far, B.J. Surhoff probably had the best career. He came up as a catcher with the Brewers, but spent time later in his career playing mostly in the outfield, but saw some time at first and third.

He was an All Star in 1999.

What I remember most about B.J. Surhoff is a knee injury he suffered while playing for Atlanta. As a sufferer of knee problems myself, I cringe every time I see a player go down clutching his knee.

Surhoff retired in 2005 and in 2007 became a member of the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame.

B.J. Surhoff's career statistics