90's Box Breaks

Phillip Alan Plantier (born January 27, 1969 in Manchester, New Hampshire) is a former Major League Baseball player who played in the major leagues primarily as an outfielder from 1990-1997. Plantier is most often remembered for his rookie season performance.

Plantier was an 11th round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in the 1987 Major League Baseball Draft. He developed a knack for hitting home runs in the minor leagues and skipped the Double-A level altogether. Plantier entered the major leagues 1991 after a midseason callup from the Pawtucket Red Sox. In 53 games and 148 at-bats, he hit 11 home runs and 35 RBI while hitting .331. This worked out to a home run hit in roughly every 13 at-bats. As a result, Plantier finished 8th in Rookie of the Year voting.

Plantier was unable to repeat his rookie performance in 1992, and was traded to the San Diego Padres the following season. He enjoyed his best full season in 1993 wherein he hit 34 home runs with 100 RBI, both career highs.

In 2008, he was the hitting coach for the Double-A West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx in the Seattle Mariners organization. On January 13, 2009, he was named the manager of the Diamond Jaxx.

I usually don’t like to take a full article and quote it but there really isn’t much out there on Phil Plantier, and this article on Wikipedia had it all in one spot. While he isn’t the only player to ever have a nice rookie season and not be able to follow up the next season or so, he did have his best season in 1993, but that was it.

Phil Plantier

According to Wikipedia, Plantier holds the MLB record for most career home runs by a player born in New Hampshire. That’s a lot of pressure from fans into sports betting in The Granite State!

Who knew a box of 1991 Topps would be so difficult to sort through? I busted a box earlier this week and will get a review going this week sometime. I probably won’t do a checklist since I’m not sure if I want to complete the set or not, thought the adventurer in me is saying “go for it”.

I’ve succeeded in getting the Crusade site going, now I just need to get help from other collectors that would like to display their images on the site, as well as get a trade section going for those that need to complete their own collection. www.crusadecollectors.com

That’s it for now, taking a break today and working on cleaning the house.

To all those that served and are serving, Thank You.

Remember to thank, or hug, a Vet

Because I honestly don’t remember much. I was 11 and I was more concerned with cartoons and playing outside than I was with anything else.

That all changed when my dad bought me a few packs of 1991 Topps, trying to get me in the spirit of collecting. Honestly, I watched baseball during the summer when it was raining outside in my area or when there was nothing else to do. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the sport, as I played up until I was 15, but I never really watched it much on tv. I was having too much fun playing the sport out back with my friends or through the city league.

Back to the cards. I heard stories about baseball cards and how this one guy named Mickey Mantle had a rookie card that forever changed the collecting world, but I never became interested in them because really, why collect cardboard pictures of men? Well I opened the first pack and right on top was a stick of gum, followed by 15 cards underneath. Do I know who I got in the packs? Nope, I popped the piece of gum in my mouth and tossed the cards to the side. I did that with the rest of the packs, but the cards did stay in my room for some reason. Maybe I would go through them, maybe I would give them to my friends.

Little did I know that it was my dad’s way of bonding with me. My perception of all that changed the day he came home from work and told us at dinner time that his military unit had been called to go to Saudi Arabia to protect them from Iraq. I might have been 11 at the time, but it hit me hard. I went to my room after dinner and stayed in until I fell asleep. I didn’t cry, and I certainly didn’t question faith at the time. No, I dug through my shoebox to pull out the cards that were purchased for me a few months earlier and sorted through them.

I put them in order by number and I remember seeing guys like Frank Thomas, Nolan Ryan, and Cal Ripken, Jr. in the mix. At that moment, I decided to talk to my dad before he shipped out to see if he would help me get something to put the cards in so I can display them. That weekend, we went to a card shop and it was there that I saw Donruss and Upper Deck brands sitting on the shelf. My dad bought me a box of 1991 Topps, a binder, and a box of card sheets to put the cards into.

After that moment, I was glad that I had my father around to show me this. I know my friends would still be there to play baseball or to hang out, but I had no idea if I would ever see my dad again, and to me, this little collection would keep us connected until he came back.

I am proud to say though that I was very fortunate. About a week after hearing the news, my dad’s unit was put on hold indefinitely by order of the President, then George H. W. Bush. After that, one weekend a month, my dad would take me to the local flea market to get me to collect other cards and to see what I would like to buy. If there wasn’t anything worth getting, we’d take a trip to the local card shop and buy packs here and there.

I may not like George H. W. Bush or his Desert Shield/Desert Storm conflict, but if it wasn’t for that, I don’t know if my dad and I would have become close like that. Here I am, 18 years later, and I’m still collecting and sharing my finds with my dad.

Take nothing for granted and enjoy each day as if it’s your last.

I previously mentioned that I am working on a site dedicated to the 1998 Donruss Crusade insert set. If you have cards that are in your collection, whether they’re for yourself or you’re not sure whether or not to sell them, I need you.

More specifically though, I need hi-res scans of the front and back, your name (or nickname) and email address, and whether or not the cards are for your collection, or if you want to get rid of them.

Right now, the site will have Set Info, Checklist, Gallery, Registry, and a Contact page. The Registry page will contain the information as to who own’s what card and if they’re trying to get rid of them. The Gallery of course is to showcase all 130+ cards in the set, in each of their colors (Green,Purple, and Red).

Send an email to tim@90sboxbreaks.com with the subject “Crusade” with the information and images.

More details on the site will be posted once I get closer to uploading the site.

Please note, this is for baseball only. I’m aware of the football release but at this time, I’m concentrating on baseball.