Kirk Dressendorfer

The next in the Gold Leaf Rookies set, Dressendorfer was one of the A’s four aces from the 1990 draft (Todd Van Poppel, Don Peters, and David Zancanaro were the others). We know how well that whole group worked out, right? Dressendorfer was a question mark from the beginning, as I recall – he had pitched for the University of Texas, which was notorious for its handling of pitchers. He looked good early on, but got injured and was never the same after that. The only one of the Aces to make an impact was Todd Van Poppel, and his impact wasn’t that great.

 This is an uncharacteristically weak shot for this set. I mean, it’s decent for the action, but it’s pretty blurry, and his face is hard to see. Definitely not my favorite in the set, even if it was one of the more esoteric of the cards early on.

Nigel Wilson

Continuing on from yesterday’s entry about John Burke, here is the top Marlins prospect that I remember (although I remember him as a Blue Jay first). It’s funny, though, he was never an interesting Blue Jays prospect, and yet as soon as the Marlins drafted him #1, I became interested in him. I was a victim of expansion hype. I admit it. Of course, Wilson didn’t pan out, just as his standing in the Blue Jays system would have suggested, but that didn’t stop me from snapping up every card of him I could find.

 

And we get to the 93 Fleer Final Edition; I’ve already shown the Kevin Rogers card from this set, but didn’t comment on it. However, I was absolutely crazy about this set when it came out. It was loaded with rookies and prospects, many of which will eventually make their way here, and many of which never made an impact. Looking back, though, it’s a butt-ugly set, and I’m not sure that I would have cared if it weren’t for the prospects.