hugely disappointing prospects - pre Cory Snyder

thehallmark · August 16, 2008 3:05PM

We all know about the complete busts from my era (Ben McDonald, Kavin Maas, Pete Incavilia, Todd Van Poppel, Mike Harkey, etc).
I'm curious, though. Who were the complete busts from the era that preceded mine (1975-1984)??
For you older collectors, did you horde rookie cards of anyone in those years that turned out to be not so good? Not really guys like Fidrych but rather guys who were monster prospects that just faded away relatively quietly.

wrongleg · August 16, 2008 3:23PM

Joe Charboneau

dontippet · August 16, 2008 3:29PM

Ron Kittle

bobbybakeriv · August 16, 2008 3:34PM

Ron Kittle is a GREAT answer. I will add Greg Brock to the list.

neenish · August 16, 2008 3:37PM

Greg Brock, Mike Marshall come to mind. They were the heir apparent replacements for Steve Garvey. They tore up triple A. I think one of them won the triple crown in the triple A one year.

wrongleg · August 16, 2008 3:40PM

Steve Howe

wrongleg · August 16, 2008 3:41PM

David Clyde

GDM67 · August 16, 2008 3:50PM

Jason Thompson, Steve Kemp, Steve Henderson.

dizzle · August 16, 2008 4:09PM

Bobby bonilla , Kevin mitchell those were 2 that come to mind I stocked up on back in the day...

BobaFett72 · August 16, 2008 4:10PM

bobby bonilla had a decent career and kevin Mitchell was MVP. how can that be considered disappointing?

dizzle · August 16, 2008 4:12PM

<< bobby bonilla had a decent career and kevin Mitchell was MVP. how can that be considered disappointing? >>

Disapointing in what I was shelling out for there rookies back in the day...

Maybe I misunderstood the op, I thought he was asking what are some rookies we stocked up on thinking they would be worth something and now are not worth anything... For example there's a lot of 41 kevin mitchell 1986 topps traded on ebay for buy it now or best offer of 9.95..

digicat · August 16, 2008 4:31PM

These predate me, but it's fun to look up...

Al Chambers. #1 draft pick in 1979. Hit for power in the minors, couldn't hit anything in the Majors. Quietly batted .208 over 3 short seasons in the majors.

Danny Goodwin. #1 draft pick in 1975. Major league power in the minors, no power in the majors.

Joey Meyer. Slugged 120 hrs in his first 4 minor league seasons, had a major league career that consisted of 2 quiet years.

Cokin75 · August 16, 2008 5:18PM

Clint Hurdle and David Green are two that immediately came to my mind

metalmike · August 16, 2008 5:33PM

Kal Daniels Tracy Jones Wayne Simpson

grote15 · August 16, 2008 5:53PM

Hamelin, Greg Jefferies, Kevin Seitzer, Cameron Drew...

jamesryanbell · August 16, 2008 9:03PM

<< bobby bonilla had a decent career and kevin Mitchell was MVP. how can that be considered disappointing? >>

Because I was expecting Ken Griffey, Jr-ish lifetime stats from both.

fandango · August 16, 2008 11:05PM

<< Bobby bonilla , Kevin mitchell those were 2 that come to mind I stocked up on back in the day... >>

Dizzle, wrong answer in all ways, first they were not from the era the OP was asking....

second, they were both good players, not busts....

now that beckett is out of order, i guess we can plan on seeing you and your offensive avatar all the time here ...

dizzle the bgs troll.....

Morgoth · August 16, 2008 11:10PM

David Clyde is the definition of how not to treat a young player. His story is really sad

David Clyde Article

OAKESY25 · August 16, 2008 11:38PM

seitzer???

he had an awesome career....

and jefferies much like todd zeile

never lived up to the hype.. but had pretty nice major league careers.

how about ricky jordan ( I am from your era too )

estang · August 17, 2008 12:09AM

1979 Draft, #4 overall, Brad Komminsk

larryallen73 · August 17, 2008 12:17AM

Greg Brock, Mike Marshall come to mind. They were the heir apparent replacements for Steve Garvey. They tore up triple A. I think one of them won the triple crown in the triple A one year.

I agree 100%. Both looked to be STUDS coming out of AAA and never did much in the bigs.

Kal Daniels? Dude hit over 300 a few times I think. Not hugely disappointing at all. He was a great player I thought. Not everybody goes to the HOF but he had a fine career. Short but fine.

firedawg45 · August 17, 2008 12:43AM

brien taylor yankess #1 pick in 92, i have a 100 lot of his topps gold rookie cards at one time, bust!!!!!!!

Morgoth · August 17, 2008 1:22AM

Phil Plantier
Kevin Maas
Brooks Keshniek(sp)
Chad Hermanson

RipublicaninMass · August 17, 2008 2:50AM

Funny that about 1/4 of the responses are post-cory snyder. Since my era of hoarding was post-1986 I csnt be of help. But Billy-Jo Robideaux was a bust!

digicat · August 17, 2008 3:12AM

<< Billy-Jo Robideaux >>

Billy-Jo was actually featured on the back cover of a 1986 Beckett, with Jose Canseco on the front.

chaz43 · August 17, 2008 3:12AM

Will Clark, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Gregg Jeffries and the list goes on and none of them really cares cause they have our money. chaz

thehallmark · August 17, 2008 4:14AM

<< Funny that about 1/4 of the responses are post-cory snyder. Since my era of hoarding was post-1986 I csnt be of help. But Billy-Jo Robideaux was a bust! >>

"Funny" is one way to describe it.

Boopotts · August 17, 2008 4:30AM

As far as the pre-Cory Snyder era is concerned, a few names that spring to mind are:

Ernie Riles
Phil Bradley
Jeff Stone
Alvin Davis
Mark Gubicza
Kevin McReynolds
Jim Presley
Dan Gladden

Leiascards · August 17, 2008 4:34AM

JR Richard comes to mind but I really don't count him. His career did not live up to what it could have been had he not suffered the stroke.

Jeff Burroughs, Dwight Gooden could be in that list. Ron Kittle, Joe Charboneau. Steve Sax did not really live up to his hype but had a decent career.

Most of those players had decent careers but did not live up to the hype.

Doesn't Joey Meyer actually have the record for the longest HR ever hit? Seems like in the minors he hit a 582 footer or something like that.

neenish · August 17, 2008 6:10AM

<< These predate me, but it's fun to look up...

Al Chambers. #1 draft pick in 1979. Hit for power in the minors, couldn't hit anything in the Majors. Quietly batted .208 over 3 short seasons in the majors.

Danny Goodwin. #1 draft pick in 1975. Major league power in the minors, no power in the majors.

Joey Meyer. Slugged 120 hrs in his first 4 minor league seasons, had a major league career that consisted of 2 quiet years. >>

Didn't Danny Goodwin get drafted #1 TWICE?

lsutigers1973 · August 17, 2008 6:36AM

Two that came to mind have alrady been mentioned, Alvin Davis and Brad Komminsk. As a Braves fan, I remembering trading for any 1984 Donruss Komminsk I could get. I also remember busting 85 Donruss wax packs looking for Davis, Harold Reynolds and Danny Tartabull.

Bigstep · August 17, 2008 10:50AM

Jake Gibbs , the next Mickey Mantle.

GDM67 · August 17, 2008 3:35PM

<< Didn't Danny Goodwin get drafted #1 TWICE? >>

Yes, he did.

Tvac897 · August 18, 2008 1:29AM

Ron Kittie

scooter729 · August 18, 2008 1:46AM

The original card that was THE card to have from the '85 Olympic set was not McGwire, it was not Cory Snyder, it was....

Oddibe McDowell

billwaltonsbeard · August 18, 2008 1:51AM

<< The original card that was THE card to have from the '85 Olympic set was not McGwire, it was not Cory Snyder, it was....

Oddibe McDowell >>

Very interesting. Alot of those Olympic cards had hype at one point or another. Billy Swift, Mike Dunne, John Marzano to mention a few. Would you all consider that subset to be the first "pre-rookie" cards ever produced in a major set?

detroitfan2 · August 18, 2008 2:34AM

Sid Finch.

markj111 · August 18, 2008 3:16AM

Clint Hartung and Dave Nicholson.

FWIW, Incaviglia had a decent career. Van Poppel was in the bigs for a long time.

Sportsamerica · August 18, 2008 3:24AM

Shawn Abner #1 pick in 1984....

Carew29 · August 18, 2008 3:29AM

Asked my dad and he remembered something about Jay Ward (64',65') that came up in the Twins org with alot of hype//

taka · August 18, 2008 4:25AM

<< Shawn Abner #1 pick in 1984.... >>

lol...i have over 100 1985 shawn abner cards sitting somewhere in my closet.

rexvos · August 18, 2008 6:50AM

<< David Clyde >>

that is the one that I always think of.

rexvos · August 18, 2008 6:53AM

<< 

<< bobby bonilla had a decent career and kevin Mitchell was MVP. how can that be considered disappointing? >>

Disapointing in what I was shelling out for there rookies back in the day...

Maybe I misunderstood the op, I thought he was asking what are some rookies we stocked up on thinking they would be worth something and now are not worth anything... For example there's a lot of 41 kevin mitchell 1986 topps traded on ebay for buy it now or best offer of 9.95.. >>

besides the fact that he was asking for guys before this era, how much could you have possibly shelled out for their rookies $1 each. I guess you could have spent a ton if you were buying 1000 card lots of them.

digicat · August 18, 2008 7:18AM

For "disappointing prospects", I guess the most disappointing prospect would be the one who never makes it to the pros.

Steve Dalkowski was signed out of High School by the Orioles in 1957. He was said to have fastball that was well above 100 MPH, but had zero control. In 1960 while in the minors, he struck out 262 batters, but also walked 262 batters in 170 innings pitched. After finally finding some element of control under Earl Weaver's guidance, he blew out his arm before he could make his major league debut, and his career was pretty much over.

Nuke Lalosh from Bull Durahm was loosley based on Dalkowski.

fiveniner · August 18, 2008 7:47AM

Purnal Goldy early 60s Detroit Tigers.

markj111 · August 18, 2008 8:02AM

Dalkowski did get a baseball card-63 Topps.

digicat · August 18, 2008 9:14AM

<< Dalkowski did get a baseball card-63 Topps. >>

Yup. He was expected to make the team in 1963, so I guess Topps wanted to make sure they had a card for him. He blew out his arm during spring training instead.

hugely disappointing prospects - pre Cory Snyder

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