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Remembering former pro athletes

LVRebel

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In this thread, list some former pro athletes that some people either never knew, or have forgotten over the years. I'll start with Jerome Walton of the Chicago Cubs. I packaged his rookie card with a couple others and traded a friend for his '89 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card. Walton was supposed to be legit, but didn't end up being very successful in the MLB.
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BurntJ

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Hang on......Chris Sabo and Gregg Jefferies, who BOTH made Multiple All-Star games, were little known? And @AgEngDawg is correct about the corked bat. MLB ONLY gave him a 7 game suspension for the corked bat. Think about that and then think about the Houston Cheaters and the way MLB lets them keep their World Cheatpionship. (If MLB ever wanted to stop cheating they would just Pete Rose EVERY cheater but NO....)
 

LVRebel

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Hang on......Chris Sabo and Gregg Jefferies, who BOTH made Multiple All-Star games, were little known? And @AgEngDawg is correct about the corked bat. MLB ONLY gave him a 7 game suspension for the corked bat. Think about that and then think about the Houston Cheaters and the way MLB lets them keep their World Cheatpionship. (If MLB ever wanted to stop cheating they would just Pete Rose EVERY cheater but NO....)
They were more well known at the time, but not so much anymore. I was thinking more like a name you haven't heard in a while that when you hear it, you're like, oh yeah...I remember him.

Not talking about someone that played 5 games in pro ball and never saw the field, but people that had some name recognition back in their day, but not enough to stay known over the years.
 

LVRebel

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Barry Word, Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans, etc. This guy looked like the real deal for KC in 1990, then fell off after that. Thought he was going to be legit though.

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BurntJ

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They were more well known at the time, but not so much anymore. I was thinking more like a name you haven't heard in a while that when you hear it, you're like, oh yeah...I remember him.

Not talking about someone that played 5 games in pro ball and never saw the field, but people that had some name recognition back in their day, but not enough to stay known over the years.
Gotcha....I was think like big name prospect that didn't pan out or have much of a career, but everyone would know. So when the first 2 had over 10yr careers and were All-Stars i was confused. :ROFLMAO:
 

LVRebel

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He was decent. I snagged his rookie card, which was the hottest item at the time.
Yeah, me too. I have boxes full of old sports cards (mostly baseball but some football and basketball) full of guys that I thought were going to be stars. I'll have to pull out one of my old binders.
 

PeytonMooning

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This dude sucked ass. I think every game he played significant snaps (Emmitt Smith being out) the Cowboys lost, even though he was running behind one of the most dominant OL in football history. Not sure how he even made it to the NFL, but he has a national championship ring and a super bowl ring. Impressive for a guy who probably wouldn't have made the roster had he not been drafted in the middle rounds.
 

Dawg97

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Here's another good one: Todd Van Poppel. I thought he would be a stud. Who knew he played in the MLB for 11 years?

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This is one of my favorite MLB players of all time. He was the consensus number one pick, and the Braves had the first pick. He said that he would not sign with the Braves if drafted, so we had to settle for some chump named Chipper Jones.
 

LVRebel

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This is one of my favorite MLB players of all time. He was the consensus number one pick, and the Braves had the first pick. He said that he would not sign with the Braves if drafted, so we had to settle for some chump named Chipper Jones.
Chipper was legit. My buddy in HS was a huge Braves fan, so I watched a ton of Braves games in the early to mid 90's.
 

MVTPatriot

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khael-hawk

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My favorite all-time baseball player, SP Mike Boddicker from Norway, Iowa.

1983 ALCS MVP and 1984 All Star (and WC) with the Baltimore Orioles. Won a GG in 1990 but never really returned to his earlier form. Don't think he ever threw a pitch over 90 mph but had some really good junk balls.

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Joe Kings

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This is one of my favorite MLB players of all time. He was the consensus number one pick, and the Braves had the first pick. He said that he would not sign with the Braves if drafted, so we had to settle for some chump named Chipper Jones.
Chipper Jones Signing bonus was $300,000. His family was around our Summer program a lot.
He pulled up in a new Ford Explorer or something.
 

AgEngDawg

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Only played hard in contract years?
Yea, he was only an all start in the two times he was in the final year of his contract. The Braves fell for that once, but not twice.

Look at his WAR in his last year of his contract compared to his usual average.

He played hard in the last years of his contracts, otherwise he coasted.

 

LVRebel

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As a Cubs fan, this one hurts. How about Kerry Wood. He busted on the MLB scene and it looked like he was going to be a superstar. He had a pretty good first 4-5 years, but faded into a reliever for the remaning 8-9 years. Ended up playing 14 years in the MLB.
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ChicagoFats

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As a Cubs fan, this one hurts. How about Kerry Wood. He busted on the MLB scene and it looked like he was going to be a superstar. He had a pretty good first 4-5 years, but faded into a reliever for the remaning 8-9 years. Ended up playing 14 years in the MLB.
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Kerry Wood and Mark Prior were pitchers at the same time for the Cubs. I actually think Prior had as much or more hype as Wood. But Prior ended up sucking too.

Had a signed baseball from prior hoping it would be worth something one day, but think it finally got used for batting practice a few years back.

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