1988 Topps Jumbo Pak Baseball

dayf sent me this pack recently, so I decided to give it the ol' rip right here. For amusement's sake, I decided to make it a self-contained pack war, with the left half of the pack fighting against the right half of the pack.



Unless otherwise obvious or noted, the images are taken from my 88 Topps Cards blog.

The left side of the pack jumps out to a 1-0 lead by putting up a special Jerry Browne rookie card insert against nothing on the right side of the pack.



And here's the rest of the pack:

#272 Steve Ontiveros vs #614 Herm Winningham: Winningham takes it with his 3-triple game, score tied 1-1

#640 Garry Templeton vs #215 Von Hayes: Both were long mentioned as the bad end of a big trade, but I'll give it to Hayes for once hitting two homers in the same inning. Right side leads 2-1.

#601 Jack Lazorko vs #211 Frank DiPino: Whew, tough call here. I like th cinder block wall, so DiPino takes it. Right is up 3-1.

#524 Gary Lucas vs #329 Chris Speier: Give a nice veteran like Speier one last hurrah. Right side continues it's streak to a 4-1 lead.


#524 Harold Reynolds vs #703 Bob Brenly: Nice matchup here of guys who've done a lot after their playing careers. Reynolds needs a hug, so he wins. Right still leads 4-2.

#204 Paul O'Neill vs #24 Jim Deshaies: Paulie hit .290 off Deshaies (all singles) in 31 AB. Advantage Paulie. Right 4-3.

ROYAL WAR!

#724 Danny Tartabull vs #222 Steve Farr: Two good players. Danilo takes it and Left has tied up the game.



#388 Wade Boggs All Star vs #719 Denny Walling: In a massive upset, Walling takes it due to the awesome motion photo on the card. Right back on top 5-4.

#705 Juan Samuel vs #317 Tom Nieto. Don't mess with Juan Samuel. Tie game.

#433 Bill Pecota vs #657 Gary Redus: Redus, overrated his entire career, manages to steal another victory here. Right up 6-5.

#530 Gary Carter vs #659 Bobby Meacham: HOFer Kid puts the smackdown on Meacham. Tie game.

#674 Mike Fitzgerald vs #656 Lee Guetterman: These two never faced each other. I'm guessing that tall skinny guys would have trouble in a rumble. Advantage Fitzgerald. Left up 7-6.

#392 Dave Winfield All Star vs #112 Les Lancaster: Much as I Like Lancaster, HOFer Winfield wins it. 8-6, Left.

#325 Glenn Hubbard vs #570 Jeffrey Leonard: The guy with the most undeserving card number loses out to the guy scratching his back with his bat. 8-7, Left.

CLOSER WAR



#170 Rich Gossage vs #240 Lee Smith: Wow, that's a whole lot of heft. A very heated battle, but the edge goes to Lee Smith even though Goose is a HOFer. Tie game again.

#188 John Russell vs #505 Willie Upshaw: Upshaw wins in a knockout, plus he's not saddled with a terrible team to manage. Right up 9-8.

#704 Dennis Boyd vs #707 Fred Lynn: Two guys with stories better than their actual stats, but Lynn was still a very good player. Right up 10-8.

#710 Darryl Strawberry vs #31 Bruce Bochy: Bochy's success as a manager makes this closer than it should be, but Strawberry hits one last one out of the park, in his 12th comeback with the Yankees. Right up 10-9.

#86 Ron Karkovice vs #366 Chet Lemon: The underrated Lemon takes it. Right up 11-9.

CATCHER WAR



#265 Bo Diaz vs #180 Terry Kennedy: In the first dirty fight we've seen so far, Kennedy brings along Ray Knight and together they beat the shit out of Bo Diaz. Right up 12-9.

#574 Graig Nettles vs #748 Reid Nichols: In a war between guys with annoyingly spelled first names, Nettles wins. Right up 12-10.

#434 Rick Aguilera vs #773 Frank Williams: The versatile Aguilera wins it. Right up 12-11.

#62 Jeff Hamilton vs #583 Dave Valle: I give this one to Valle, but only on longevity. Right up 13-11.

#213 Albert Hall vs #81 Reds Leaders: Again, Right sends two guys to the fight, and Happy Clown and Sad Clown beat the crap out of Albert Hall, now no longer the most recent Brave to hit for the cycle, thanks to Mark Kotsay. Right again, 14-11.

#616 Jay Aldrich vs #443 Ken Griffey: No contest here. Griffey wins. Right storming ahead 15-11.

CLOSER WAR, PART TWO



#72 Dennis Eckersley vs Willie Hernandez: Eckersley in a landslide, despite a good career for Willie. Right up 15-12.

#489 Dodgers Leaders vs #619 Mike Dunne: Left takes a page out of Right's book and sends Fernando and Pete to thrash Dunne within an inch of his life. Right leads 15-13.

#304 George Hendrick vs #282 Pat Perry: Hendrick defeats Perry, making this an even closer game, 15-14, Right.

#438 Rob Ducey vs #77 Tom O'Malley: Ducey ended up having a pretty long and useful career. Tie game!

#423 John Smiley vs #673 Tony Phillips: I had to think about this one for a while. Tough call but I give Phillips the nod. He had 3 singles off Smiley. Right up 16-15.

SUPER VETERAN WAR



#660 Rick Reuschel vs #498 Bob Boone: This one could go either way. Today I choose Reuschel. Another tie game.

#61 Mark Knudson vs #135 Dennis Rasmussen: I'm going with Knudson since he has a real mustache. Left up 17-16. What a comeback!

#528 Checklist 397-528 vs #515 Juan Nieves: Nieves wins, but just barely. Yet another tie.

#435 Mike Pagliarulo vs #662 Turn Back the Clock 1978: With Jim Rice on the front, TBTC takes it. Right up 18-17.

#224 Tom Trebelhorn vs #641 Rick Honeycutt: If you look carefully at Trebelhorn's digital watch, it says "TIME FOR ASSKICKING." Sorry, Honeycutt, you're it. Right up 19-17.

SECOND BASEMAN WAR



#333 Wally Backman vs #595 Frank White: In a fairly compelling battle, Frank White wins this one even though he was never a major-league manager for 3 days. Right up 20-17.

#185 Rick Rhoden vs #15 Chili Davis: Another nice matchup, but Chili wins this one fairly easily. Right up 21-17...Left better rally soon!

#302 Jose Uribe vs #634 Jose DeLeon: Quite underrated, DeLeon wins this matchup. Right pulling out of reach at 22-17.

#790 Dave Righetti vs #17 Ron Oester: OK, a nice comeback by Left pulling out Rags. Right up 22-18.

#496 Guy Hoffman vs #515 Juan Nieves: In an upset, Hoffman beats out the Nieves double card. Right leads 22-19.

#201 Rangers Leaders vs #662 Turn Back the Clock 1978: Four guys on one card would beat anybody, but they especially beat a double of the TBTC 1978 card. Right clings to a 22-20 lead.

#743 Larry Herndon vs #641 Rick Honeycutt: Honeycutt gets his second asskicking as a double card here. Right up just 22-21.

Just 5 battles remain...



#2 Don Mattingly Record Breaker vs #457 Terry Leach: Even though either man alone would be enough for thje job, Left sends in both Mattingly and Rickey Henderson to dismember Leach. TIE GAME!

#249 Mike Marshall vs #246 Mike Campbell: Marshall wins this battle of very close card numbers. Left regains the lead, 23-22.

#98 Rene Gonzalez vs #368 Gerald Young: Somebody's got to win this one, and I guess it's Gonzalez due to his #88 jersey number. I guess he loved 88 Topps too. Left up 24-22.



#351 Cardinals Leaders vs #405 Dwight Gooden All Star: left tries to seal the deal by sending in another duo, forgetting that Schoendienst was a bit past his prime by then. Gooden starts off by drilling Red in the temple with a heater. After that. Pena simply drops his bat and runs the other way. Way to go, Doc! Left up just 24-23.

And the final battle:

#741 Mike Easler vs #315 Dave Parker: Well, hot damn, Parker crushes the Hit Man, laughing the whole time, and this whole damn war ends in a tie!

Overall, that's 94 base cards and the 1 bonus Jerry Browne card. Overall, this was a pretty good pack, with lots of HOFers although no huge stars except on AS or RB cards.