Where Are They Now? Shawn Abner

The Mets had had what some would call success with some of their first round picks in the early 80s. In 1980, a kid named Darryl Strawberry was the first pick of the draft and a few years later Doc Gooden was the fifth overall pick.

When 1984 came around and the Mets were once again in control of the first pick in the draft, they took an outfielder out of Mechanicsburg Area High School named Shawn Abner ahead of Cory Snyder, Jay Bell and this guy from USC named Mark McGwire. Oops.

Abner never made it to the Majors with the Mets and was traded to the Padres, along with three Kevins (Armstrong, Brown and Mitchell), and Stan Jefferson for, you guessed it, another Kevin (McReynolds), Gene Walter and Adam Ging. I wonder if there's been another trade in baseball history where so many Kevins were moving around.

His career ended in 1992 with an above average fielding percentage but batting numbers that looked like .227/.269/.323, 65 OPS+, with 11 home runs and 71RBIs in 840 at bats.

According to Wikipedia, these days Shawn is a beer distributor in Mechanicsburg, Pennslyvania. At least he's doing something for the good of mankind with his life (hooray beer).

Young Superstars II #36 - Shane Mack

Another Wrigley shot. Look to the right of the knob of Shane's bat. It looks like a fan wearing a pith helmet. Maybe he's going on safari after the game.

Mack had a pretty good nine year career and won a World Series ring in 1991. He didn't perform particularly well at the plate in the World Series, but did well in the ALCS against the Blue Jays.

The base card was taken at the same time, but the guy in the pith helmet isn't as visible.

Shane Mack's career statistics

Young Superstars #17 - John Kruk

John Kruk is best known for his time with the Phillies during the first half of the 1990s, where he was the essense of a blue collar baseball player (just read the quote on the back of this card). He was tough as nails and not afraid to get dirty. Kruk, Darren Daulton and Lenny Dykstra turned me into a Phillie fan after they beat the Braves in the NLCS in '93. They were fun to watch and brought their hard drinking, hard partying attitude onto the field with them.

These days Kruk can be seen as an analyst for ESPN where I think he's probably the best on Baseball Tonight these days. He's not afraid to say what he thinks.

What jumps out at you immediately from this picture is how skinny he was.



This is the John Kruk we all remember.

John Kruk's career statistics

Young Superstars #14 - Chris James

For the first time, there's not really a lot to say. As a player he was just average, but he was involved in two important trades in 1989.

In June he was sent to the Padres in a deal for John Kruk (who we'll see here in a few days). And in December he was traded to the Indians, along with Carlos Baerga and Sandy Alomar, for Joe Carter.

The front of this card is held together nicely by the blue border and the burgandy of the Phillies logo. James looks a bit confused on the back of the card though.

Chris James' career statistics

Young Superstars #11 - Stanley Jefferson

This is another good card with the combination of great photo on the front and back. The potential that Jack McKeon mentioned on the back never came to fruition as Jefferson bounced around through six different teams in six seasons.

He's probably best remembered as a potential replacement player during the '94 strike.

From 1997 until 2004 Jefferson was an officer in the New York Police Department and saw action on 9/11/01 and developed health problems as a result.

Stanley Jefferson's career statistics

Holy Crap I can't type...

Young Superstars #2 - Benny Santiago

After a cup of coffee with the Padres in late 1986, Benito Santiago won the 1987 National League Rookie of the Year award. He was an All Star five times and three time winner of the Gold Glove.

While his career may be marred by steriod allegations, he was for nearly twenty years a very durable (though at times error prone) catcher. While his productivity at the plate wasn't the best in the league at his position, he was an above average hitter who early in his career possessed adequate speed (21 stolen bases in 1988).

This is a great looking card, capturing the ball in flight just as it left the bat. The quote on the back from from Tigers GM Bill Lajoie makes me wonder though. How many Hall of Fame votes will he get? I doubt enough to stay on the ballot more than his first year.

Benito Santiago's career statistics