Where Are They Now? Jody Reed

The first sentence on your baseball card souldn't says "Jody is not a spectacular player at short..." It's true, but there had to be something better to open with than bashing the guy's ability right off.

Jody Reed was drafted three times before he signed with the Red Sox in 1984 and was then drafted again by the Rockies in the 1992 expansion draft.

While Jody didn't have a great career, he certainly didn't have a bad career. He was a solid defensive player (though apparently not spectacular) with an above average fielding percentage at second base where he played most of his games.

He was fairly dangerous with the bat as well and led the American League with 45 doubles in 1990. According to the card, he was a good bunter and the stats back that up. Between 1988 and 1990 he was in the top ten in the AL in sacrifice hits (which includes bunts) and was number two in the NL in 1993.

In 1990 he even picked up a few points in the MVP voting, more points than Hall of Famers Cal Ripken Jr and Nolan Ryan in fact (not that that means much at all).

These days Jody's running a baseball training website, at Jody Reed Baseball.com. Isn't it amazing what they can do with the internet. I guess the time had to come where coaches would be replaced by computers.

Young Superstars II #23 - Roger Clemens

What do you think? Is this our first potential Hall of Famer? His reactions and attitudes after the steroid allegations are suspicious, at best. But he had a remarkable career.

Is that a Mariners away jersey standing on first base? The number looks like 38, but Jerry Narron wore 38 for four games with the Mariners in 1987, and that's not him on base. It could be the first base coach. Any ideas?

By the time this picture was taken, Clemens was already a highly decorated veteran. By 1988, he'd already won two Cy Young awards (on his way to winning six), an MVP award and made the first of his eleven trips to the All Star game in 1986 where he won the All Star MVP.

His two World Series rings came as a member of the Yankees and in 2004 while pitching for Houston, he picked up a National League Cy Young award.

The numbers are really astounding. 354 wins against 184 losses, 4672 strikeouts in 4916+ innings and a 3.12 career ERA. His numbers are comparable to Maddux, though Clemens walked over 500 more men than Maddux (but also picked up 1300 more Ks). Clemens' ERA was just a hair lower than Maddux's, though his WHIP was just a bit higher.

I think he's a Hall of Famer. I don't particularly like him, but I think he'll be in.

Roger Clemens' career statistics

Young Superstars #33 - John Farrell

Another card with some extremely blurry fans in the background. And the second OSU alum in a row.

John Farrell's career was nothing to write home about. He posted a winning record in only two of his eight seasons and lost ten games or more three times.

Despite his less than great career, Farrell must know something about pitching. He was hired to be the pitching coach for the Red Sox after the 2006 season.

John Farrell's career statistics

Young Superstars #31 - Todd Benzinger

Not a very good photo on the front of this card. It's a late afternoon shot with the shadow of the stadium creeping into play. The picture on the back looks a lot like a twenty five year old Ron Howard.

The Red Sox being pretty high on this guy when he came up, but he never really stuck in one place for very long. The only thing I can remember about him is that he played on the Reds 1990 World Series winning team.

Digging into his stats there's really not a lot to say. In 1988 and 1989 he showed a little potential for power at the plate, but never hit more than 9 home runs any other year of his career. He led the National League in both at bats and outs in 1989, nothing to be too proud of.

He's managing the Dayton Dragons, an A level farm team of the Cincinnati Reds system.

Todd Benzinger's career statistics

Young Superstars #24 - Mike Greenwell

Mike Greenwell put up good numbers in all but a few injury shortened seasons with the Red Sox. His life time batting average is over .300, he was an All Star twice. So why is it that you just don't hear too much about Mike Greenwell?

He played on some bad Sox teams and some good Sox teams, though he didn't perform well in the post season (he batted just .146 in 17 post season games). In 1988 he finished second in MVP voting to baseball's first 40-40 man. But since Canseco's admission of cheating, Greenwell has publically stated that he feels the MVP should have been his. But that's a debate for another time.

So why don't we hear much about Mike Greenwell? Because during his most productive days in Boston, there was another guy in the Sox line up who was regularly hittnig .330 and above.

Wade Boggs aside, Mike Greenwell had an outstanding career, the entirety spent with the Boston Red Sox. You don't see that too often anymore.

I'm not sure about the head shot on the reverse, but the photo on the front of this card was not taken at the same game as the base release (both were taken at Fenway though).

Mike Greenwell's career statistics

Young Superstars #3 - Sam Horn

Syd Thrift was right, Sam Horn did hit the ball with a lot of power. But that's about all he did. In six seasons he played in over 100 games once (121 games in 1991 for Baltimore. He averaged just over 60 games a year, and all that power netted him 62 career home runs. Fielding wasn't his cup 'o tea, as he played in only 12 games at first base.

But what Sam Horn is most remembered for is the creation of the term horn. A horn is the bigger cousin of the hat trick. You see, in 1992 while playing with the Baltimore Orioles, Sam Horn managed to strike out six times in an extra inning game.

Of the three cards we've seen so far, this one has the best looking picture on the back of the card. McGwire looked confused and Santiago looked high. Mr. Horn sure did have a nice looking swing in this picture though.

Sam Horn's career statistics