I was able to finish the Padres Replacement Player set today. Here are all of the cards I made, along with whatever interesting info I found out about them.
Jim Campanis, Jr., CATCHER-Jim followed his father
Jim and grandfather
Al into pro baseball. He
never quite made it to the majors after being a 3rd round pick, retiring after the '95 Spring ended. I found an
2015 interview of him online, which also has a link to his
Twitter page, but it looks like it hasn't been active since 2017. It should also be noted that Jim appeared on
4 major cards, a 1988 Topps Traded Team USA one, a 1992 Bowman, a 1992 Donruss, and 1992 Topps Catcher Prospects card (shared with Brad Ausmus and Dave Nilsson).
Lee Henderson, CATCHER-Lee played in the minors from
1989-1995, hitting .232 over his career.
Kevin Schula, CATCHER-I'm not quite sure about some things in Kevin's
career, but here's what I do know. The Houston Astros drafted him in 1989, BBRef shows his career starting in 1992, and it looks like becoming a replacement player helped his career, as he played from 1995-1997, even pitching in one game.
Matt Schwenke, CATCHER-Matt played from
1993-1998, hitting .199 over the course of his career. He
passed away in 2009 with a pulmonary embolism, and the family set up a
memorial website, although after looking at the site, it appears it is no longer active.
Larry See, FIRST BASE- Larry is sort of a white whale to Los Angeles Dodgers custom card makers, as it has taken forever to find a quality image of him. Apparently, someone has, and uploaded it to an
awesome OOTP forum. He
played for them in 1986, and for the Texas Rangers in 1988. Larry hit 27 Home Runs in the minors in 1986, and retired after 1988. After coming back as a replacement player with the Padres, he spent 1995 in their minor league system, hitting 15 Home Runs and batting .333 in 87 games in A and AAA. Why didn't he get a chance in the Majors?
David Mowry, FIRST BASE-David played in the minors and independent ball from
1990 to 2002. His high mark of 23 Homers came in 1997.
Steve Springer, SECOND BASE-Steve made it to the Majors in
1990 with the Cleveland Indians, and 1992 with the New York Mets. I actually made a custom of his for the 1993 Topps set.
He finished up his career in 1995 after the season ended, and now runs a
baseball clinic. He appeared on a 1991 Topps Debut card as his only major one.
Matt Howard, SECOND BASE-Matt played baseball from 1989 to 1999, making in to the Majors in
1996 with the New York Yankees for 35 games and 54 At-Bats. The Yankees won a World Series in '96, but judging from a conversation I had with Tim McIntosh, who appeared in 3 games from that team, I doubt George Steinbrenner gave Matt a ring. Matt doesn't appear on any major-issue cards, and I will have to get him a '97 Topps custom.
Marvin Cole, SECOND BASE-Marvin looks like he
played in the minors from 1988 to 1991, and then independent ball from 1994 to 2001.
Dave Tollison, SECOND BASE-Dave played organized ball from
1990 to 1995.
Al Barsoom, THIRD BASE-Al was a doozy for me. The only photo of him that I could find was from an ended minor league team set auction, and was very small. Sorry for the pixely image, but that is what I had to work with. He doesn't have pictures of any of his cards on
Trading CardDB, so I don't even know which player he is, but I would assume since he was a 3rd Baseman, that he would be the guy sliding into the base. I don't know where Al came from, because it looks like he
only played independent ball, and that was in 1995 after he was a replacement player.
Steve Bethea, SHORTSTOP-Steve played from 1989 to 1995 in the
minors. Greatest 21 Days did a
post on him in 2017.
Roberto DeLeon, SHORTSTOP-Roberto played organized ball from
1992 to 1998.
Tony Walker, OUTFIELD-Tony got into the Majors with the Houston Astros in
1986, and appears on 1986 Fleer Update, 1987 Fleer, and 1987 Topps cards. His last year in the minors was 1987, so he was one of the older players in camp that year.
Keith Thomas, OUTFIELD-Keith played organized ball from
1986 to 2000, taking the year of 1997 off. The past player, Keith, and the next one, all have a good number of years in organized baseball.
John Cotton, OUTFIELD-John played organized ball from
1989 to 2003. He never made it to the Majors, but did appear on a 2000 Bowman Chrome Draft & Prospects card, and some various Upper Deck Olympic sets. He was part of the 2000 USA Olympic team that went to the games and won a gold medal.
Eric Bullock, OUTFIELD-Eric played organized baseball from
1981 to 1995. He got into the Majors in 1985 and 1986 with the Houston Astros, 1988 with the Minnesota Twins, 1989 with the Philadelphia Phillies, and 1990-1992 with the Montreal Expos. I made him a 1992 Topps custom when I was working on that set.
Eric got 1989 Fleer, 1991 Bowman, 1992 Donruss, 1992 Fleer, 1992 Score, and 1992 Stadium Club cards over the course of his career.
Jay Andrews, OUTFIELD-Jay played in the minors from
1989 to 1991, looks like he retired, and played independent ball from 1994 to 1997.
Chris Prieto, OUTFIELD-Chris Prieto made it to the Majors in
2005 with the Los Angeles Angels for 2 games and 2 At-Bats. It looks like he debuted in the minors in 1993, and retired after the end of the 2005 season. He has a twin brother
Rick, who also followed him into pro ball. In 2015, he made it back to the Majors as a coach with the Seattle Mariners, and is currently with them.
Dan Boone, PITCHER-Dan Boone came up to the Majors in
1981 with the Padres. His pro career started in 1977. He spent 1982 with the Padres and Astros, and I made a card of him for my 1983 Topps custom set.
After spending '83 and '84 in the minors, he retired. In 1990, he was back, this time with a knuckleball, and made it back to the Bigs with the Baltimore Orioles. I made a custom 1991 Topps of him for that set as well.
Dan came back to the Padres in 1995 for one last comeback attempt, and retired after the spring. Major card sets that Dan appeared in are 1982 Donruss, 1982 Fleer, 1982 Topps, and 1991 Score.
It should also be noted that Dan pitched in the Senior Professional Baseball League, and has cards from 1991 Pacific set from the league.
Rick Lysander, PITCHER-Rick played in the Majors for a
few years. He came up in 1980 with the Oakland Athletics, and spent 1983-1985 with the Minnesota Twins. He attempted a comeback in 1990, and went 0-1 with a 6.92 ERA in 10 relief appearances in AAA for the Toronto Blue Jays. Rick appeared on a number of cards, 1984 Donruss, 1984 Fleer, 1984 Topps, 1985 Donruss, 1985 Fleer, 1985 Topps, 1986 Fleer, 1986 Topps. He also pitched in the Senior League and appears on the 1989 Topps, 1990 Pacific, and 1991 Pacific sets for the league. His son Brent pitched in the
minors in 2007 and 2008.
Eddie Dixon, PITCHER-Eddie pitched in organized baseball from
1985 to 1994, and came back for a season in 2001 before retiring.
Rob Mattson, PITCHER-Rob played in the pros from
1991 to 2001, sitting out the 1993, 1994, and 1997 seasons for some reason. He pitched in Japan and Mexico.
Ryan Whitman, PITCHER-Ryan appeared in the 1993 Topps set as part of the
2-player Florida Marlins prospect cards. He played organized baseball from
1990 to 1995, not pitching in 1991.
Reymundo DeLeon, OUTFIELD-All I can find of Reymundo was that he played in the
minors in 1995.
Joe Kramer, OUTFIELD-Joe must've been attempting a comeback or something. He played in the
minors from 1983 to 1987.
Greg Page, PITCHER-Greg played in the minors from
1988 to 1990.
Ira Smith, OUTFIELD-Ira played ball from
1990 to 2003.
Billy Hall, SECOND BASE-Billy appeared on a
1993 Bowman card, which I pulled from a pack at some point. His career spanned from
1991 to 2005, never making it to the Majors. He is a part of
Impact Sports, Wicita, a training facility.
Rich Holsman, PITCHER-Rich played in the minors from
1987-1991. This is a colorized image I found from a
cool newspaper article.
Pete Roberts, PITCHER-Pete played ball from
1986 to 1991. This shot is from the same article.
The only player I couldn't find an image of was
John Violette, a pitcher who played in the minors from 1979 to 1984.
That was a long post to write, and I have never posted so many links before, but I am happy to have made all of these cards and passed some information along to you about the forgotten replacement players of 1995. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy
