Young Superstars II #12 - Barry Bonds

As I mentioned a few days ago, right here is one of the reasons the Pirates put together a few good seasons in the early 90s. A skinnier version of Bonds won the first two of his seven MVP awards as a member of the Pirates. After Bonds' departure from the Pirates after the 1992 season, the team went south and hasn't had a winning record since.

Judging by the camera man in blue, the photo looks to have been taken at the same game as the base release card. I'm not sure what's going on with the closeup on the reverse though. I think it's the only non-head shot in the set. Maybe Barry wouldn't let them get any closer. It's not a bad looking photo though.

Since I don't really want to talk much about Bonds, I'll just copy and paste what I said when I came across his card in the base release, it still fits.

It's a good looking card of a promising young player. A player who had the potential to be one of the very best the game has ever seen, but a player who let success get the better of him, a player who lost touch with the fans and a player who in my opinion didn't show a whole hell of a lot of respect to the great thing he accomplished. And in my opinion a player who should never be in the Hall of Fame, but I'm not a baseball writer so what I think as a fan doesn't really matter.

Barry Bonds' career statistics

Young Superstars II #4 - Jose Lind

Here's a pretty boring photograph of a very good defensive second baseman. While this photo is boring, the photo from the base release is one of the best in the set. It would be pretty interesting if these were taken just seconds apart, but chances are they weren't.


The base card shows Lind off the ground throwing out a runner at first. That's future Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg sliding in trying to break up the play.

Despite being an excellent defensive player, Lind's batting ability was just average and he possessed very little power (9HR, 324RBI in 3677 at bats, good for a .254 average).

He won his only Gold Glove in 1992.

After his playing career, Lind spent some time in prison (for leaving the scene of an accident, while not wearing pants with cocaine in the car). After getting out of prison and going through drug rehab, Lind spent several seasons as the manager of the independant Bridgeport Bluefish.

In 2007 he was named on the Mitchell Report.

Jose Lind's career statistics

Young Superstars #26 - Mike Dunne

Mike Dunne finished second in Rookie of the Year balloting in 1987, but his career never really took off from there. In his rookie season he went 13-6 with a 3.03 ERA, but went 7-11 the next year with the Pirates. Injuries took their toll and Dunne never pitched more than 99 innings in the final three seasons of his career. His final career line is 25-30, 4.08 ERA, 205 strikeouts, 225 walks in 474+ innings.

His base card is nearly identical to the Young Superstars release. Probably the same pitch.



Mike Dunne's career statistics