Minor League May continues this week with 1989 Star Series 2 Baseball. This release was split into two series, each with 100-card checklists. Now, as you can imagine, with this being a 1989 release there isn’t a whole lot going on. Just the base cards, and that’s it. These boxes are also massive.
Highlights will be few and far between with this kind of set, but I will have fun with it anyways. There are some good names on the checklist, and you should expect to find all of them in a box this size.
1989 Star Baseball Series 2 Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 10
Packs per box: 48
Price paid: $17
Shop for 1989 Star Series 2 Baseball boxes on eBay.
Pack 1 highlights:
Manny Alexander & Goose Gozzo
Who is Goose Gozzo? With a name like that he deserved to be highlighted!
Pack 2:
Jeff Frye, Wes Chamberlain & Eric Alexander
Pack 3:
Trey McCoy
McCoy hit .357 with 14 HR and 78 RBI in just 68 games for Butte in 1988.
Pack 4:
Jeff Frye
Pack 5:
Robb Nen
Pack 6:
Pedro Munoz
Munoz seems just absolutely thrilled to be there.
Pack 7:
Skipper Wright
Skipper pitched in 45 games for Sumter during the 1988 season, posting a 1.95 ERA.
Pack 8:
Ben McDonald & Phil Plantier
Pack 9:
Charles Nagy
Pack 10:
Brook Fordyce
Pack 11:
Robb Nen
Pack 12:
Joey Belle
Albert played the 1989 & 1990 seasons under the name Joey.
Pack 13:
Pete Rose, Jr. & Mike Morandini
Morandini went by Mickey during his 11-year MLB career.
Pack 14:
Ben McDonald, Robb Nen, Scott Cooper & Joey Belle
Pack 15:
Steve Hosey
Pack 16:
Wes Chamberlain
Pack 17:
Phil Plantier
Plantier was rated as a top-100 prospect prior to the 1990 season.
Pack 18:
Charles Nagy
Pack 19:
Brook Fordyce & Mark Lewis
Pack 20:
Mickey Pina
Pack 21:
Joey Belle & Manny Alexander
Pack 22:
Mike Morandini & Eric Alexander
Pack 23:
Pete Rose, Jr. & Ben McDonald
Pete couldn’t quite hit like his dad. He did play professionally for a long time, though, playing in independent leagues until he was 39-years old. Though he played in just 11 major league games, he played in almost 2,000 total professional games by the time he retired.
Pack 24:
Robin Ventura & Joey Belle
It doesn’t get much better than finding this duo in a single pack of this one.
Pack 25:
Steve Foster
Steve was drafted 12th overall in 1988, and pitched in 18 minor league games during his first professional season. He posted an impressive 1.19 ERA.
Pack 26:
Tino Martinez
Pack 27:
Andy Benes
Pack 28:
Sandy Alomar, Jr.
Pack 29:
Deion Sanders
Pack 30:
Sandy Alomar, Robb Nen & Andy Benes
Pack 31:
Scott Cooper
Cooper played 130 games for Lynchburg in 1988, hitting .298 with 9 HR and 73 RBI.
Pack 32:
Sandy Alomar & Deion Sanders
Pack 33:
Deion again, Scott Cooper & Tim Nedin with a printing error.
Pack 34:
Tino Martinez & Scott Cooper
Pack 35:
Joey Belle & Tino Martinez
Pack 36:
Tino Martinez & Robb Nen
It took a while to find a Tino card, but now he has popped up in 4 of the last 11 packs.
Pack 37:
Mike Morandini
Pack 38:
Jim Orsag
I had never heard of Orsag, but man could he hit. In 112 games for Lynchburg in 1988, Orsag hit .324 with 12 home runs, 69 RBI and 24 stolen bases.
Pack 39:
Here’s Pedro again!
Pack 40:
Phil Plantier & Manny Alexander
Pack 41:
Pete Rose, Jr. & Charles Nagy
Nagy reached as high as the 27th ranked MLB prospect prior to the 1990 season.
Pack 42:
Robin Ventura
Pack 43:
Andy Benes & Ventura
Pack 44:
Manny Alexander & Pete Rose, Jr.
Pack 45:
Phil Plantier & Robin Ventura
Pack 46:
Charles Nagy, Ben McDonald & Andy Benes
Pack 47:
Future Cleveland teammates Charles Nagy & Sandy Alomar
Pack 48:
Another Deion
Lastly, the Deion card back. By my math, Deion hit .284 across three levels of the minors during his first season.
Was there anything valuable in here? All of these cards can be had for a couple dollars shipped. But, it is more fun to pull them from a pack and some of these definitely found a home in my player binders.
Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
