Four Topps, #308

So, I'm sitting here dreaming of the baseball cards that Santa might bring me in a few days and I decided to funnel that hopeful spirit into a new installment of Four Topps.  Sadly, the elves at Random.org felt like doling out a hot, steaming spoonful of Bah Humbug! when they came up with today's card number.  Oh well, maybe it won't all be coal.

Wellp, let's go back to the magical picture card era of 1987-90 and check to see if we've been naughty or nice with card No. 308, shall we?

1987

Ooh, off to a good start with the hunched batting stance of longtime backstop Don Slaught.  You know you've got a top-shelf card design coupled with a decent photo when a Don Slaught card gets you excited.  Slaught batted .264 with one homer and 13 RBIs in 95 games for Texas in 1986.  Is this card Naughty or Nice:  Nice, of course.  It would take a devious creature to get on Santa's naughty list when you're wearing the wood grain border of an '87 Topps card.

1988

Brooklyn's very own Lee Mazzilli.  Your standard spring training facility snapshot of the handsome Italian-American lad.  In a limited role, Mazzilli contributed three homers and 24 RBIs to the '87 Mets.  Naughty or Nice:  A Mets card from '88 Topps, what do you think?  Nice!

1989

Let's have a little BP action with Ron Karkovice!  Everything works out rather well on this card: It's a fantastic action shot, framed and centered well, and the color elements of the '89 Topps design accent it harmoniously. Kark appeared in 46 games for the ChiSox in 1988, cracking three homers with nine RBIs.  Naughty or Nice:  No 1989 Topps card has ever been naughty, and don't let anybody tell your differently.

1990

Oh jeez.  Naughty, I say, naughty!  Naughty or Nice:  Umm... NAUGHTY!

And the Winner Is:  In Santa's eyes, we're all winners (even you, Jose).  But, for the sake of this exercise, there can only be one true champion.  It came down to the two catchers, but I'll give the candy cane to the '87 Slaught, with the '89 Karkovice getting the second-place fruit cake.

MK