Junk Wax Rookies Tournament

The Tournament



I grew up a Junk Wax Junkie. Born in 1976, by the time I was really focused on baseball - and able to get some cards, junk wax was my thing. I didn't know any better, though.

Junk wax was just baseball cards to 9-year-old me buying cards in the summer of 1986. By buying cards, I mean using the change from grandpa's cigarettes to buy some Topps packs. It started as simply trying to accumulate cards, but it progressed into chasing the big-time rookies of the 1980s and '90s.

Boy, was pre-teen me mistaken. These rookies turned out to be work very little nowadays. That Barry Bonds 1987 Topps I thought was special wasn't. That 1988 Tom Glavine? Yeah, not so much.

Thinking back on some of my misguided youth, I began wondering about those Junk Wax Rookies. There were so many guys we thought were going to be superstars. Todd Van Poppel, Gregg Jefferies, Todd Zeile ... I could go on and on. 

Those names inspired a Twitter tournament: JUNK WAX ROOKIES! Let's take all those junk wax rookie cards we desperately sought and see which ranks the best. But there was a problem - well, a few ... well, several.

Setting the Field


First, the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. would win running away. It would probably face someone like Mark McGwire's 1985 Topps in the finals. It was too predictable. So, my first decision was if the guy was a Hall of Fame player - or at least on McGwire's level of super stardom - they were out.

Oh my goodness, the names that spewed when I asked Twitter people to chime in. Brien Taylor, Jefferies, Van Poppel, Mike Greenwell, Eric Anthony ... it kept giving. Some were big names - not Hall of Famers, but some big names. Some were flameouts. But those names were fun.
I searched Trading Card Database from 1984 into 1992 and grabbed rookies along the way. Eventually, I got it down to 64 teams - my own personal March Madness (although I didn't get started until April).

Seeding the Tournament


This was a tremendous undertaking. Just kidding, it was an arbitrary system where I basically picked some cards I thought had a good chance to go on and gave those better seeds. Those who I thought would get bumped quickly received high-numbered seeds. Then, I basically randomly picked 1 vs. 16, 2 vs. 15, and so on. The only stipulation I had when setting matchups was that either the same year/brand card did not face off or players from the same team did not face off.

I grabbed some big names (Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, Cecil Fielder), but I also grabbed some randoms no one remembers unless you were a fellow Junk Wax Junkie (Tim Pyznarski, Kyle Abbott, Ty Griffin). I also threw in some hometown favorites for my own sake (B.J. Surhoff, Teddy Higuera and Milwaukee-born Todd Frohwirth). I even threw in the 1985 Billy Swift USA Baseball card simply because I owned it as a kid and hoped beyond hope that it would become as popular as the McGwire. I even threw Michael Jordan some love.

Voting


Voting took some turns I quickly discovered that my rankings did not really match up. My top seeds (Kevin Maas, Taylor, Jefferies, Van Poppel) all advanced out of the first round. But No. 10s Harold Reynolds, John Kruk and Darren Daulton were winners. Surhoff was the only 7 seed to advance.

Cinderellas took off in the second round. No. 8 Terry Steinbach upset Maas, Daulton moved on over No. 2 Matt Nokes, No. 9 Mitchell knocked off Jefferies, Kruk kept trucking and No. 8 Steve Avery upset top-seeded Van Poppel - a guy whom I thought would be a Final Four participant.


Sweet 16


The second weekend has some fun matchups in store. Terry Steinbach faces off against Eric Davis, hoping to avenge the A's 1990 World Series loss, I am sure. Bobby Bonilla and Jordan face off in a Chicago White Sox fans' nightmare. Taylor, the only top seed remaining, will face off against upstart Jerome Walton. Daulton will face Olympian Jim Abbott.

Kevin Mitchell, Benito Santiago, Chris Sabo, Kruk, Avery, Clark, Greenwell and Surhoff round out the Sweet 16. 

Vote!

Jump to Twitter (@dmikecollecting) and get some votes in! Voting will run Thursday through Sunday. I have some more giveaways in mind, and I would love to get some more junk wax in people's hands.

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