CardBored: Breaking a Pack of 1992 SkyBox AAA Baseball

As I mentioned last week I’ve added some worthless football and basketball packs to my collection and will start rotating between each sport for future articles. Since it will be a few weeks until the next baseball article, I wanted to open a non-traditional pack for this article.

SkyBox was better known for producing non-sports cards for comic books, cartoons, and television shows although they did produce NBA cards for several years as well. They didn’t do much with baseball and this minor league set was their first foray into baseball cards. The official name of the set is SkyBox Pre-Rookie ’92. What exactly is a “pre-rookie”? I’ve never heard of the term outside of these cards. Someone in their marketing department must have come up with it. See they aren’t just rookie cards, they’re pre-rookie cards! They must be worth twice as much as rookie cards! The cards couldn’t have sold that well as this was the only year SkyBox produced the “pre-rookie” set although I definitely recall buying a few packs myself when they came out. As you’ll see some of these cards aren’t even true rookie cards let alone “pre-rookie” cards.

Note: At the end of the article I’ll list the 12 worthless football packs I bought. Would love to hear suggestions on which pack I should open first and write about next week.

#4

Card Value: $0.15
1992 Stats: 177 PA, .302/.350/.472 (AAA)

This set of cards is already a lie as Hamilton was hardly a “pre-rookie”, in fact he was the Dodgers regular third baseman when they won the World Series in ’88. He never really hit MLB pitching very well and a shoulder then knee injury effectively ended his career early. He retired during the middle of the ’92 season at age 28.

#20

Card Value: $2.00
1992 Stats: 92 IP, 1.21 WHIP, 162 ERA+, 2.3 WAR (MLB)

Now this really is a find and it’s one of only two cards in the set that’s worth a damn (Pedro Martinez being the other). Wakefield was called up at the end of July by the Pirates in ’92 and was a huge addition to their rotation going 8-1 with a 2.15 ERA. He’d also pitch complete game wins in Game 2 (boxscore) and Game 6 (boxscore) of the NLCS against the Braves.

#29

Card Value: $0.15
1992 Stats: 65 2/3 IP, 1.84 WHIP, 4.52 ERA (AA-AAA)

Part of the Mariners organization, Newlin was a career minor league reliever who had been the #81 rated prospect by Baseball America two years earlier but never panned out.

#40

Card Value: $0.15
1992 Stats: 145 1/3 IP, 1.61 WHIP, 5.08 ERA (AAA)

Mutis was the Indians 1st round pick in ’88, he had a brief call up in July of the ’92 season but was hammered, giving up 11 ER and 4 HR in 7 1/3 IP over two starts. He would throw 143 IP in the Majors over four seasons.

#51

Card Value: $0.15
1992 Stats: 603 PA, .275/.352/.481 (AAA)

“Bam Bam” was an overhyped Yankee prospect that spent the entire ’91 season in the Majors but only managed a late season call up in ’92, where he did hit a home run in his lone start (boxscore).

#57

Card Value: $0.15
1992 Stats: 123 2/3 IP, 1.16 WHIP, 2.69 ERA (AAA)

Springer was the #58 rated prospect entering the season. He was a starter in the minors but was used exclusively out of the bullpen when the Yankees called him up during the ’92 season. They traded him after the season along with J.T. Snow to the Angels for Jim Abbott.

#87

Card Value: $0.50
1992 Stats: 152 1/3 IP, 1.28 WHIP, 3.43 ERA (AAA)

Bottenfield had a cup of coffee with the Expos in July of ’92 and then was back up again as a September call up where he pitched very well.

#116

Card Value: $0.15
1992 Stats: 100 1/3 IP, 1.44 WHIP, 98 ERA+, 0.3 WAR (Majors)

Seminara was called up in June of ’92 where he pitched okay for the Padres, someone even gave him a 3rd place vote for N.L. Rookie of the Year. He’d only throw 63 1/3 more innings in the Majors after ’92.

#123

Card Value: $0.15
1992 Stats: 113 PA, .301/.354/.359, 106 OPS+, 0.5 WAR (Majors)

Brewer wouldn’t be called up until September of ’92 by the Cardinals but they’d give him an extended look as their starting first baseman. Cardinals would trade for Gregg Jefferies in the offseason to give him the starting job and Brewer would only play only one more year in the Majors.

#142

Card Value: $0.15
1992 Stats: 230 PA, .256/.320/.327, 85 OPS+, 1.6 WAR (Majors)

Frye took over as the Rangers everyday second baseman in July of ’92.

#152

Card Value: $0.15
1992 Stats: 150 PA, .248/.313/.346, 84 OPS+, 0.1 WAR (Majors)

1992 was Koslofski’s only extended look in the Majors, he did go 3 for 5 in his debut (boxscore).

#169

Card Value: $0.15
1992 Stats: 212 PA, .276/.351/.427, 113 OPS+, 0.9 WAR (Majors)

Valentin became the Red Sox everyday shortstop in late July, his first home run was a grand slam (boxscore).

#175

Card Value: $0.15
1992 Stats: 509 PA, .282/.348/.393 (AAA)

Decker had actually won the Giants starting catcher job out of Spring Training in ’91 but hit only .206/.262/.309 over 79 games. He had only 50 plate appearances in ’92 in the Majors.

#229

Card Value: $0.15
1992 Stats: 483 PA, .274/.333/.468 (AAA)

Martinez had an incredible career batting line in the Majors of .409/.435/.682… in 23 plate appearances.
Hit a home run in his second at bat with the Blue Jays (boxscore).

#275

Card Value: $0.50
1992 Stats: 142 IP, 1.34 WHIP, 3.68 ERA (AAA)

Reynolds had a rough start to his MLB career, gave up 20 ER in 25 1/3 IP for the Astros over a couple of call ups in ’92.

Next Week: First football CardBored entry. Which will be the first worthless pack I open? Here’s the list.

1988 Topps, 1990 Fleer, 1990 Score Series 2, 1991 Fleer, 1991 Fleer Ultra, 1991 NFL Pro Set, 1991 Topps, 1991 Upper Deck, 1992 NFL Pro Set, 1994 Collector’s Edge, 1996 Pinnacle, 1997 Donruss

Please visit the Sports Cards Hobby Thread on the TRTSM forums for more discussion.