Junk Wax Prospector - Todd Van Poppel - Oakland Athletics

 I don't think you can come up with a better name to summarize the failed rookie chases of the Junk Wax Era, than Todd Van Poppel. A name that will cause shudders from those who believed that he was the next ace of the Oakland Athletics. (Myself included.) So, besides everything, what went wrong?

It's a promising start to be pitching professional baseball, under an advertisement for a local car wash, when most of the people your age are working in one. You have to be an absolute stud in high school to achieve this.

The numbers say he was. 

Van Poppel pitched to an 11-3 record, posting an 0.97 earned run average, with 170 strikeouts, in his senior year at Martin High School in Arlington, Texas. Going into the 1990 MLB Draft, he was the consensus top talent. But he used college as leverage to chase any potentially low bidding teams off. Telling the Atlanta Braves specifically, that he would not sign with them. Weeks before the 1990 Draft, the Braves strongly considered drafting Van Poppel, with the first overall pick.

To my dismay, the Braves used the first overall pick on a high school shortstop out of Florida, named Larry, instead.

1995 Upper Deck Predictor - Chipper Jones

Oakland drafted the player everyone thought would be a Hall of Famer, but we all know who won that round.

Van Poppel's representative was Scott Boras. Boras had been making waves over the past few years with his clients, quickly gaining negotiating power against the MLB teams. Top prospects in particular were drawn to him for successfully arguing that teams unfairly get to exploit high draft picks. The structure and rules are place for not paying them much for a bonus, while getting years of cheap contracts in the minor leagues. Rightfully convincing the top prospects of their value to the team is far greater than they are offering in compensation. 

Hate him for what he's done to drive up salaries in the game over the last 40 years, you have to respect what he's done for players of multiple generations. Without aggressive agents like Boras representing his clients, the owners are able to get away with not paying them according to revenues. And that's kind of not the way it should be.

Oakland made the shocking surprise and drafted Todd Van Poppel, with the 14th overall pick, in the 1990 MLB Draft. It was a big story on ESPN's Baseball Tonight, in the days leading up to draft day. Which wasn't televised then. And you can't show highlights of a 26 team conference call. Over land line telephones!

Baseball Cards Magazine June 1991

Oakland gambled big time on an unproven high schooler, albeit one with serious potential. After nearly a month of negotiations, the Athletics signed Van Poppel to a $1.2 million Major League contract. One that placed him immediately on the MLB 40 Man Roster. A rarity then, and has since been banned by MLB for quite a few years now. Placement on the MLB 40 Man meant that by sending him down to start the season in Low A ball, the Athletics were already burning one of his option years. 

There's the problem. Sure, Van Poppel was guaranteed a call-up to the Major Leagues in 1991, Which is awesome for a 19 year old. But by MLB rules, you only get 3 option years, after you sign your first MLB contract. After that, you can't be sent to the minor leagues without passing through waivers. Every team in the league gets a chance to claim your contract, in order of the current worst record. Then the claiming team would be under the same obligation to keep you on the active roster. Todd Van Poppel had to be kept on Oakland's 24 Man Active Roster, after the 1994 season, or be exposed on waivers.

Oakland's all-in approach to sign Van Poppel did neither the team, nor player, any favors. Seems kind of shameful of Oakland for forcing him into a situation where he was all but doomed to fail. A lot of blame also has to fall on to Boras. Who likely overstepped what his client needed, in favor of getting this ridiculous contract.

In honor of that, let's celebrate the...

Top 57 Todd Van Poppel Cards I Own!

#57 - 1993 Topps

As long as 1993 Topps appears in a Whatever, it will nearly always rank last.

Just don't like 1993 Topps.

Oh, I have the gold version too. I don't like that one either...

#56 - 1994 Donruss

When 1994 Donruss first came out, I was fairly interested. They’d never done a full bleed set. And the player name and team logo, compliment the design pretty well. The Donruss logo is a bit large, but it's not too bad. I liked it so much that I bought a complete, hand-collated set, not long after 1994 Donruss hit the market. Unfortunately, they chose to pack the set with all action photos. 98% of the base cards are pitchers pitching and batters batting. The more you look at it, it tends to all look the same. The colors are also kind of muddy and nothing really popped. I still have the complete set, but it’s sat hidden away in an 800 box for nearly 30 years, instead of displayed in an album. As the other sets I really like are. 

#55 - 1992 Leaf

I really liked 1990 and 1991 Leaf. 1992 Leaf bores me to tears.

The Black Gold parallels are nice, but I don’t have the Van Poppel Leaf Black Gold.

#54 - 1991 Score

The Van Poppel draft pick card that many collectors called Van Pimple, due to the out of control acne going on his face. Good thing Score didn’t zoom in for a close up. Sucks being 18 and the talk of a major sport, when your bodily fluids are actively betraying you. 

I sure never want to be 18 again...

At least he was a phenomenal athlete at that age.

I excelled at Super Mario World.

For Van Poppel, comparisons to Nolan Ryan were inevitable. Any hard throwing high school kid out of Texas was going to be compared to Nolan Ryan. But Ryan was an anomaly, not a template. Ultimately, shoes that he could never fill.

In the spring of 1991, the Junk Wax Era couldn’t get much hotter. Becketts looked to capitalize on this popularity by introducing the Focus on Future Stars magazine, in May 1991. This title would feature stories on the young prospects for the four major sports. It was a good idea, and a magazine I tended to buy each month, as I was a fan of the minor leagues and following prospects from draft to the Majors. 

Beckett stopped printing Future Stars magazine in early 1998.

When Todd Van Poppel was 26 years old.

And I was 23...

#53 - 1991 Bowman

Bowman, the year before Bowman became BOWMAN. No one cared about 1991 Bowman, even though it had a great 700 card checklist, and featured most of 1991’s Top Prospects. In terms of ranking 1991 Van Poppel cards, this one is FAR better than that ugly orange zitty Score Draft Pick card. Any day.

#52 - 1995 Donruss

1995 Donruss was a (photo-wise) slight improvement over 1994, but the design was a step back. The home plate head shot box was usually a differently cropped action shot, instead of a posed mug shot. Also a bit too large. And the card backs are a hard to read distracting mess of individually boxed text.

#51 - 1993 Leaf

Another victim of that mid-1990’s Donruss blandness. I liked the card design. The team colored marble look in the lower right corner was a nice touch. However, the ribbon shaped Leaf logo is kind of puzzling as to why they went with that, over anything team or player related. 1993 Leaf Hockey swapped this out for a 3D team logo. Which looked a lot better.

#50 - 1992 Topps Major League Debut

Todd Van Poppel made his contractually obligated Major League Debut on September 11, 1991. 

He made the start on a day game in Oakland, against the Chicago White Sox. Pitching 4 2/3 innings, giving up 5 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks. He did strike out 6. Some positives to build off. And he was 19 years old.

#49 - 1991 Classic Best

Before his call-up to the Oakland Athletics, Van Poppel spent the season with the AA Huntsville Stars. Where he did post some decent numbers. He went 6-13, with a 3.47 ERA in 132 innings, over 24 starts. He struck out 115, but walked 90 batters. That a lot too many. Especially on a Major League contract. And at 19 years old.

Collectors in 1991, were still all-in on Van Poppel.

Baseball Cards Magazine May 1991 - New York Card Co.

Couldn't find anything about the New York Card Co. on the Googles, so I'm assuming they aren't around anymore. 

Pretty sure that 1990 was the first year that MLB Draft cards started becoming a thing. Sure, today they're just an absolutely bloatedly priced Bowman product (that I still buy), but in 1990, it was a simple 25 card set, housed in one of those old school snap cases. Sealed with a printed tape logo. 

Limited to ONLY 150,000 sets!

Find it funny that you could have bought a 50 card lot of 1990 Classic Draft Chipper Jones cards, for less than 50 card lots of such noted MLB players as Tim Costo, Adam Hyzdu and Marc Newfield!

You could also buy 350 Chipper Jones 1990 Classic Draft cards, for just $2.50 more than 50 1990 Classic Draft Todd Van Poppel cards! Now there's a return on investment!

I have too much time on my hands.

Baseball Cards Magazine May 1991 - Gary Madrack Klassy Kollectibles

Gary Madrack Klassy Kollectibles was undercutting the New York Card Co. on Chipper Jones by a penny, but charging a full 20 cents more on its Van Poppels! This Van Poppel fella really did a number on hobby shops...

I couldn't find much about this online, and I did a fair amount of research, but I seem to remember reading that Classic had signed an exclusive contract with Van Poppel, to produce cards for 1990 Draft Pick sets. But that would have been negated once he signed with the MLBPA? So I don't quite remember how all that worked out. 

I do know that Brien Taylor, the New York Yankees first overall draft pick in 1991, did have an exclusive contract with Classic for an unknown period of time. But it wasn't long before he had minor league cards with Upper Deck, and appeared hopefully in many Topps products until 1995.

Classic's exclusive contracts were absolutely a thing in the early 1990's, and an underlooked significant hobby development, at the peak of the Junk Wax Era.

As did card companies attempts at kid-focused card sets.

#48 - 1992 Donruss Triple Play

I can't with the red-orange-yellow-orange-red...

264 cards of this design?

No...

#47 - 1992 Upper Deck Minor League

I'm certainly no expert on pitching mechanics, but I distinctly remember a segment on MLB Network discussing how the "M" shape of the shoulders and elbows, coming as weight and momentum shift forward, can cause future arm problems with young pitchers. This was in 2010, just before Stephen Strasburg was promoted to the Washington Nationals.

The theory being this is a hitch many young pitchers develop as children. Some iron out their mechanics as they age and some don't. For some, the idea is that what they're doing is working, so why change it? The argument was all of the unneeded movement in your elbows and shoulders, place added stress on what already is an extraordinary skill of throwing a baseball near 100mph.

Looking at these different photos of Van Poppel throwing indicate that a lot of his poor pitch control and arm troubles over the years, were likely a result of his overcomplicated mechanics. Which likely would have been simplified and smoothed out, had he been given the proper timeline to develop in the low minors.

Something his contract just wouldn't allow.

And what's with all the weirdness Upper Deck did to this photo? Pretty sure they stole this picture of his MLB debut from Donruss's Triple Play, and Photoshopitized it without the aid of Photoshop. I think they tried to make it look Minor League, but this is really bad for Upper Deck's standards of the day. Van Poppel spent 5 months with the AA Huntsville Stars in 1991.

Couldn't get a picture of that? You guys had zero plans on putting out a Minor League card set in 1992?

#46 - 1992 Score

At least that meant Score could use a much better photo than his terrible orangey 1991 Draft Pick issue. 

This photo also came from Van Poppel's September 1991 Major League Debut.

When he was 19 years old.

Not rushed at all.

#45 - 1992 Bowman

I was almost positive that Topps used photos taken from the same session as his 1991 Bowman card. Then I found differences in the jersey. The sleeve patch has changed from the US flag to the A's elephant head logo. The "A's" is thicker in 1992 as well. Although I am awarding bonus points to Topps for getting Van Poppel's photo in the same spot, with the same mountains and clouds behind him.

#44 - 1996 Score

Always loved the 1994 MLB 125th Anniversary sleeve patches. Which confirms that Score didn't even bother trying to find a 1995 photo of Van Poppel. One better than Topps, who decided that Todd Van Poppel wasn't deserving of a 1996 Topps card.

Harsh.

#43 - 1992 Upper Deck

Todd looks a little stressed out in this picture.

I can't imagine the pressure of being a teenager trying to live up to that burdonsome contract. 

#42 - 1992 Score 90's Impact Player

Oakland was planning on Van Poppel becoming Oakland's next ace, after Dave Stewart moved on. They were banking on him becoming one of the biggest pitching stars of the 1990's. Anchoring a rotation composed of the Athletics high picks in the 1990 MLB Draft.

My research lead me to a ravaged May 1991 issue of Baseball Cards Magazine. Half saved during the first round of magazine recycling. Unfortunately that round ended nearly a decade ago, with no sign of round 2 beginning. The point of this isn't George Brett's happy face, but the card in the lower right corner.

ENHANCE!

Despite making it all the way to the 1989 World Series, thanks to free agent compensation, Oakland had 4 of the first 36 picks in the 1990 MLB Draft. Their plan was to go all in on pitching. Setting them up in the future when the current starting staff leaves for more money elsewhere.

Todd Van Poppel was the centerpiece, drafted 14th overall, out of high school. That pick was compensation for the Milwaukee Brewers signing Dave Parker in the offseason. That signing also gave Oakland additional compensation, with the 36th pick. The A’s drafted Kirk Dressendorfer, from the University of Texas in that slot. Which came after the 34th pick, granted when the Kansas City Royals signed Storm Davis. Oakland used that pick on lefty starter, Dave Zancanaro, from UCLA. 

They also had the 26th selection, which was their own first round pick! Not a bonus for not resigning one of their own players. That brought aboard right handed starting pitcher, Don Peters, from the University of Saint Francis. 

Seemingly an embarrassment of riches to a team that just lost the World Series.

But it's never that easy. Both Peters and Zancanaro developed arm troubles and never made it to the major leagues. Kirk Dressendorfer started 7 games for the 1991 Oakland A's (beating Van Poppel by a few months), then his arm broke down. He never made it back.

Todd Van Poppel never achieved the success demanded of him, but he stuck around for a while. Proving how much of gamble investing heavily into amateur pitching can be. For what it's worth, he was the Ace of those Four Aces. As illustrated exclusively by Classic.

I don't own that card, but I really should...

#41 - 1995 Upper Deck Special Edition

Wish there was a way to scan these foilboard cards without them looking so crappy.

#40 - 1991 Donruss The Rookies

Van Poppel didn't get a card in either series of 1991 Donruss, but was included in their final year end Rookies box set.

Good thing Van Poppel wasn't in these packs. I mean, look at these irresponsible children wildly flinging the (still) rare and valuable Elite Cards around the mean streets of those suburbs. 

I found this Donruss ad in the June 1991 edition of Baseball Cards Magazine. Don't remember seeing it outside of this issue. Not the sort of ad I would have gone with to highlight cards that were (and still are) pretty significant. Either way, I figured this belonged here.

#39 - 1991 Classic

Just didn't feel like Photoshoppitizing that hair off the left side of this grotesquely colored Classic card. It's kind of like that psychological slime from Ghostbusters 2. Which is really not that good of a movie. 

#38 - 1993 Stadium Club

That ballpark looks pretty minor league. When he wasn't injured in 1992, Van Poppel was in AAA. Could be AAA, but that outfield looks A ball-ish to me. But I'm probably viewing that through 2023 eyes, not remembering what the minor leagues looked like 30 years ago.

#37 - 1992 Stadium Club

A year earlier, he got a photo taken in Oakland Alameda Colosseum.

#36 - 1994 Select

Not the greatest example, but in recent years, 1994 Select has grown on me.

Unfortunately, this card has a bad case of chipping going on. 

#35 - 1994 Finest

While the Finest is just a tad linty.

I guess this is Todd Van Poppel's only Topps Finest card. That seems odd, but looking the timeline of the set, compared to his quick flame out in the hobby, that sounds about right.

Wish this was a Refractor...

#34 - 1995 Fleer

The less said about 1995 Fleer, the better.

#33 - 1992 Topps Gold Winner

I paid $1 for this card in the summer of 1992!

#32 - 1994 Upper Deck Electric Diamond

1994 Upper Deck was a really odd set sandwiched between two classic and simple sets. Both 1993 and 1995 are really nice looking, then there's this... 

A second, smaller and streched copy of the main picture next to it?

Why?

Don't even get me started about the pointless Electric Diamond parallels...

Hockey Break!!!

1991 Pro Set NHL Series 2 ad, courtesy of Baseball Cards Magazine!

You know why there's no picture of the Patrick Roy card?

His pads were too big and kept putting out the fire!

EVERYBODY KNOWS IT!!!

Whatever...

#31 - 1992 Ultra

1992 Ultra was a great looking set.

Bought way too much of it.

#30 - 1994 Pinnacle Museum Collection

Gave up on my mission to put together a complete set of 1994 Pinnacle Museum Collection in 1999, when I was still 150+ away from it. Including none of the redemptions. Which I've never seen. At least one of them is an Expo (Kirk Rueter), and that's a personal Holy Grail card to me.

#29 - 1992 Pinnacle

1992 Pinnacle was an underrated design.

I like how the UV coating allowed a black bordered set to exist without badly chipping.

#28 - 1993 Select Rookie & Traded

Serial numbered boxes and cases to assure the public of a lower print run. This came out just as the Junk Wax Era was entering kind of a burndown phase. In late 1993, the hobby started to show signs of the problems of overproduction. Which would catch up just a year later in a very painful way, thanks to the 1994 MLB Player's Strike. 

Ultimately, this set wasn't limited enough. A weak checklist (being a traded set, that's what you get) of only 150 cards, wasn't a big draw. Well, It was for me. I still have a complete set today. And the inserts were beautiful, and pretty rare.

Something else I didn't have either today or June 1991, would the Lineup Sport Card Inventory and Value System.

I remember seeing this ad in Baseball Cards Magazine, thinking that keeping track of my collection like that, would be the awesomest thing in the history of everything. 

Of course I didn't get my first computer until 1994...

The PC System Requirements are hilarious today!

Whatever...

#27 - 1993 SP

I did buy a lot of 1993 SP back in the day. But not after the packs moved up past the $5 tag.

$5 for any 1993 wax seemed like insanity. 

Except Finest. 

But there's no 1993 Topps Finest Todd Van Poppel.

No matter how much I want there to be.

#26 - 1994 Fleer

1994 Fleer is another of my all time favorite sets. I put it together by hand in 1994. Opening quite a few hobby boxes, then picking up the last few singles I needed, at a card show hosted by Coach's Corner, at Apache Plaza. I so need to write about that place.

I may have to free the 1994 Fleer set from its box and promote it to an album of its own album.

I still like it that much.

Hopefully it’s not a 720 card long brick at this point.

#25 - 1996 Ultra

1996 Ultra has a bunch of great photos, for an underrated mid 1990’s set. I think I have a complete set of series 1 and 2, but I’m not sure. I remember liking it enough to the point where I bought a complete set. Not sure if I broke it apart or not…

#24 - 1993 Excel

After his 1991 one game cameo with the Oakland Athletics, Van Poppel did not appear in Major Leagues in 1992. When he wasn’t out with an injury, he started 9 games for the AAA Tacoma Tigers. The numbers weren’t overly encouraging. 35 walks and only 29 strikeouts in 45 innings pitched. Granted, that came as a 20 year old, pitching between arm troubles at Triple A, but the warning flags were flapping already.

Beckett Focus on Future Stars June 1992 - Brien Taylor

In June 1991, the New York Yankees drafted North Carolina high school lefty, Brien Taylor with the first overall pick. After a lengthy hold out, he finally signed for a (then) record $1.5 million signing bonus. Taylor had wanted the same Major League contract that Van Popped received from Oakland, but did not get it. The Yankees wisely refused, but offered him more cash as a signing bonus. Wise enough to know that you don't tie up future development of a first round talent with a constricting schedule of promotions.

A year later, Brien Taylor (as the top pitching prospect in baseball) adorned the front cover of Beckett Focus on Future Stars. His story is one I'll write about here some time later. After all, I own an autographed Brien Taylor Classic card! An EXCLUSIVE to something of something sorts, serial numbered to ONLY 5,000!

Whatever.

The back cover of the June 1992 Beckett Focus on Future Stars, featured the second ranked pitching prospect in baseball...

Arguably the two top pitching prospects in baseball, bookended this magazine. Both Taylor and Van Poppel were interviewed about their minor league experience and opinions on the hobby in general. An excerpt:

"I think if you do it for the hobby, it's interesting."

Well, I agree with Van Poppel.

Here’s a case of something from Burger King being rare! 

And it’s not even salmonella!

#23 - 1995 Upper Deck

1995 Upper Deck was a great looking set. Full bleed photos with design elements that don’t take away from the pictures. If I had one complaint about 1995 Upper Deck, it’s the overall color is rather muted. This card isn’t the best example of that, but if you look at 100 random cards from the set, the photos are sharp, but the colors are just a little off. 

Maybe that’s just me.

#22 - 1992 Pinnacle Rookies

In 1992, Pinnacle decided to get into that late season boxed “update” set game, that all the other card companies were producing. Just like all of the other late season boxed “update” sets, by 1992 no one really cared anymore. The 1992 Pinnacle Rookies box set flopped and no one bought it. I picked one up for $3, five years after it came out. After all, there was Expos I didn’t have inside!

#21 - 1995 Pinnacle

That big blob of gold foil was just too much on every card. Pinnacle sure loved their gold foil!

#20 - 1995 Pinnacle Museum Collection

Museum Collection in 1995 had a different look than their 1994 debut. I credit the industrywide advances in Dufex technology, making the foily looking shards of colored whatever, much smaller on 1995 cards. As much as I loved the 1994 set, the 1995's are striking!

#19 - 1994 Pinnacle Artist Proof

But we'll go back to 1994 Pinnacle for this Artist's Proof parallel, because I don't have one of his 1995 card.

Don’t really need one either…

#18 - 1994 Topps

The strike shortened 1994 season was Van Poppel’s first complete Major League campaign. It wasn’t very good. He went 7-10, with a 6.09 ERA over 116 innings, spread over 23 starts. In those 116 innings, Van Poppel walked 89 and struck out only 83. He was still just 22 years old, but that line screams he should have been pitching in Double A. Nowhere near Oakland.

Thanks to that Major League contract he signed in 1990, Van Poppel was already out of contract options. Meaning if Oakland wanted to send him down to the minor leagues, he would have to clear waivers. Even with as grotesque as his numbers were, at 22 years old, Oakland would have instantly lost him to any team thinking they could fix him.

Van Poppel desperately needed a few more seasons in the minor leagues, but was not allowed to do so. 

Which was the entire problem with that contract.

#17 - 1991 Upper Deck Final Edition

Van Poppel still had all the talent in the world.

But due to his agent and his employer, it’s hard to decide which party caused more harm to his career.

#16 - 1994 Collectors Choice Silver Signature

Even as he was stinking up the league, I was still saving his cards. Even with his own team handicapping his development, I still had faith that he could turn it around and still be a productive pitcher.

Age was still on his side. 

He just needed a change of scenery, since he couldn't go to AAA.

Which is where he needed to be.

#15 - 1991 Studio

Which you get when you turn pro at 18, and make your Major League debut at 19. Not even old enough to drink, yet appearing in every notable card set of the day. Three years in, you’re still in your early 20’s, although it seems like decades...

#14 - 1996 Upper Deck

In 1995, Van Poppel started 14 games, but pitched in relief for 21 more. Perhaps he could become a late inning weapon out of the bullpen? Failing as a starter, you’ve got to start trying things to salvage a sizable investment. He posted a 4.88 ERA over 138 innings. Which isn’t great, but he managed to cut his walk rate by nearly half, and had a respectable increase in strikeouts.

But 1996 was an absolute disaster.

His numbers dropped sharply, and Oakland finally had no choice and tried to send him down to the minor leagues. Just as expected, Van Poppel was instantly claimed off waivers by the Detroit Tigers, on August 6, 1996. The worst team in the American League, Detroit had first crack at any player exposed to waivers. The Tigers pounced. Todd Van Poppel’s cursed Oakland tenure came to a quiet end.

Unfortunately, Van Poppel was an even worse Detroit Tiger, than he was an Oakland Athletic.

From that point, Van Poppel’s Baseball Reference Transactions page told the ultimate failed prospect story.

Detroit waived him after the 1996 season, and he was picked up by the Anaheim Angels. Who dumped him in Spring Training, March 1997. Shortly after the 1997 season started, he signed with the Kansas City Royals, and lasted less than two months at AAA Omaha. 

He then signed on with his home state Texas Rangers in June of 1997, and stayed in their minor league system for the next year (with a terrible 4 start cameo in early 1998). Suddenly, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates, for a guy who spent 2 years in prison for cocaine trafficking, after retiring from baseball. 

Several unremarkable years spent bouncing between the Major and Minor leagues of Detroit, Texas and Pittsburgh, before Van Poppel had two pretty successful years (2000 and 2001) as a middle reliever with the Chicago Cubs. That turned into a 2 year $4.5 million contract with the Texas Rangers. 

Maybe Van Poppel had finally figured it out as he was turning 30?

Nope!

His effectiveness quickly declined, and on June 4, 2003, the Texas Rangers released him.

Todd Van Poppel signed with the Cincinnati Reds, a week later. 

As Van Poppel’s effectiveness as a Major League pitcher declined, the size of baseball card sets shrunk as well. Making it so that Todd Van Poppel does not have any Major League cards picturing him as a Detroit Tiger, Cincinnati Red, Kansas City Royal, Chicago Cub (wait, he does have a couple of MLB Showdown Game Cards, with the Cubs. Need one of those.) or Anaheim Angel. There’s a couple of Van Poppel Texas Ranger cards, but his post Oakland career is is pretty much ignored by the dwindling Major League Baseball card manufacturers.

After finishing up the 2004 season in Cincinnati, Van Poppel signed on with the New York Mets, just before Spring Training 2005 started. Before Spring Training ended, Todd Van Poppel retired. Likely not wanting to go back to AAA. At only 33 years old.

His New York Mets team promotional picture just reeks of Gen X snark.

And I love it!

Guess I wrapped up this piece without finishing the Whatever. Ooops... There’s still the Top 13 Todd Van Poppel cards left to be revealed, and I’ve already retired the subject.

Oh well, here’s an underrated mid 1990’s card set that I’ve always been quite fond of...

#13 - 1994 O Pee Chee

I’m still a few cards short of completing the 1994 O Pee Chee set.

Seeing as I was the only person who ever bought any, I think I’m going to have trouble finishing it.

#12 - 1995 Topps

I see what Topps was going for here, but 1995 Topps was another in their string of dud sets between 1993 and 2003. There’s a whole lot to not like in those years...

#11 - 1994 Ultra

In my younger card-defacing days, I would have been tempted to draw a fire hydrant and stream of whiz coming out of Van Poppel.

But I’ve matured in the last few weeks.

******

So with an MLB career noted for little success and a lot of bad outings, lets see how all of the players I currently have Topps Black Chrome Autographed cards of, fared against Todd Van Poppel!

That seems like a perfectly reasonable pool of players to pick from!

Starting with Rockies and Expos Hall of Famer, Larry Walker!

2020 Topps Chrome Black Auto - Larry Walker

Larry Walker went 3-4 with 2 HRs and a 2B, against Todd Van Poppel.

That’s pretty damn good!

How about…

2022 Topps Chrome Black Auto - Torii Hunter

Torii Hunter hit a 3 run home run in his only plate appearance against Todd Van Poppel, back in 2002.

Well, that’s pretty good too!

Current Oakland A’s pitcher, Kyle Muller, and Minnesota Twins right fielder, Max Kepler, never faced Todd Van Poppel. So I guess my unplanned “Vs Topps Black Chrome Autographs” feature is now finished. 

Just in time for the Top 10 Todd Van Poppel cards!

#10 - 1992 Fleer

Most people (including me) find 1992 Fleer's gradient green borders hard to look at. But it's such an improvement over 1991 Fleer's solid bright yellow borders, that I'll forgive it. In small doses... In this case, the green fits Oakland's colors, and I like the photo more than most in the set. The Spring Training field setting with the rocks and trees for a backdrop, is a nice change from game action with blurred out Major League Stadiums. 

Redundant images combined with the gradient green borders, makes this set really unattractive.

#9 - 1994 Score

Another Spring Training photo standing out against nearly every other card around it. Score usually made loud and brightly colored set, but their 1994 offering was simple and clean. For some reason, this set is highly prone to chipping, despite the UV coating. Similar stock to 1992 and 1993 Pinnacle, sets without near the chipping problem.

Maybe it's just me.

#8 - 1993 Bowman

Gotta love a good "signing autographs" photo.

#7 - 1994 Bowman

All the chain link, nets and tarps, make it appear that Van Poppel is pitching in a maximum security prison. That's why I love Spring Training pictures. While the player doing baseball stuff is always the same, the setting is different than a 40,000 seat stadium.

#6 - 1993 Bowman Foil

You get more cool scoreboards in the background!

#5 - 1991 Upper Deck

And awesome horizons! 

Hey look! It's the card that inspired/doubled as the front cover of the June 1991 Baseball Cards Magazine!

What's with that oddly placed "A's" on his jersey?

Did Oakland not have his size, and were forced to buy a street vendor's bootleg before team photo day?

Upper Deck did a great job in making the best Todd Van Poppel rookie card of 1991. It would take the other companies a few year before they could compete with Upper Deck on generally making the best looking cards every year. 

It's tough to argue with the points raised in their June 1991 Baseball Cards Magazine ad.

A few pages from that ad, the New York Card Co. ran an ad selling player lots of 1991 Upper Deck Singles. Just like the ad earlier selling player lots of 1991 Classic cards. Likely not around after they took a big loss, selling lots of Todd Van Poppel cards at $2.45/per.

Man, I missed out on getting 100 Scott Scudder cards for only $5.00...

#4 - 1992 Donruss

Okay, there cannot be another Todd Van Poppel Spring Training photo better than this one. Possibly the best card in a set that is absolutely boring for nearly 800 cards.

Well, the future was almost 32 years ago, according to Beckett Focus on Future Stars.

Writing these Junk Wax Prospector stories makes me feel so old...

I was in my junior year of high school (but the Oakland A's, and every other MLB organization, had zero interest in offering me a million dollar contract) when this card set was the hottest in the hobby...

#3 - 1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations

A 20 card insert set, exclusive to retail jumbo packs of 1992 Fleer. These cards were so hot for a period of time, that if you were lucky enough to find any retail in the wild, the wrappers would be slit open to see if there were any navy blue borders, mixed in with the green.

I collected the full set from picking up singles as I found them. Having only pulled Wes Chamberlain, Jeff Fassero, Rich DeLucia and this Todd Van Poppel card, from a pack.

Which would be my favorite Todd Van Poppel card I'd ever pulled from a pack if it weren't for...

#2 - 1991 Leaf Gold Rookies

The first time I found packs of 1991 Leaf on sale was at the Shinders in Blaine, MN. I'd seen the ads for it in the Becketts, and was pretty excited about the set. It's still one of my favorite sets of the Junk Wax Era, I should try to pick up a complete set someday. Can't imagine it being more than $5 now...

My first exposure to 1991 Leaf came in the form of 10 loose packs, chosen at random from six different boxes, displayed on an endcap of the Shinders. Can't remember the price, but they were around $2 a pack when they first came out. Gold Leaf Rookies were inserted at a rate of 1 in 4 packs. My 10 packs that day brought in Wil Cordero, Arthur Rhodes and... Todd Van Poppel!

At the time, he only had (mainstream) cards in 1991 Score, which was orange and ugly, and 1991 Upper Deck. Which was awesome, except for that strangely misplaced "A's". Of these three cards, the Leaf Gold Rookie blows the other two away. Obviously in the spring of 1991, Todd Van Poppel was one of the biggest names in the hobby. Pulling an insert card of him (no matter how easy the odds) was a big thing at the moment. 

So this is an insert card and NOT a rookie card. Declared by those who KNOW!

(Who would be the Becketts...)

Whatever.

Before getting to number 2, I have to add in this honorable mention.

Since the card hasn't been removed from the package, I don't (yet) consider it a card:

1992 Kenner Starting Lineup

Todd Van Poppel's Kenner rookie! Pretty sure he doesn't have another...

I wish I knew where I got this from, but it's been in my collection since at least 1993.

#1 - 1996 Leaf Signature Autograph

This was a find in the $3 box at Unfriendly's Dickish Collectibles, about 20 years ago. Finding something like this when you don't expect it, is one of the best parts of collecting. I didn't want a Van Poppel autograph because of his pitching, but for how his career panned out, in relation to the lofty status the hobby put on him.

For his infamous place in Junk Wax History. 

A must-have for my collection.

Baseball Reference - Career Stats

(Squint hard!)

It's easy to look at Todd Van Poppel, and his prominent place in the Junk Wax Era, and write it off by saying he sucked. And yeah, the numbers did suck. But it's not fair to hold him responsible for not making some collectors thousands of dollars by now. 

Had Van Poppel signed a standard contract, that would have allowed him 3 years of development time before he had to be placed on the Major League roster, he would have turned out quite differently.

And what role did Scott Boras play in that? Perhaps if Oakland hadn't tempted him with unrealistic goals to match the record money offered, Van Poppel would have simply gone to college, and developed his game at that level. He could have been just as high of a draft pick in 1992 or 1993, as a more refined prospect.

There's so many hypotheticals that don't involve his play on the field, that it's foolish to ignore them in any assessment of Todd Van Poppel's career.

I'd like to have seen what he could have done if a different choice was made.

From what I read online, he's doing well these days. His son, Riley Van Poppel, has committed to play college football at Nebraska. I can imagine the advice Todd was able to give his son, based on his own experience.

The hobby moved on, but Todd Van Poppel landed on his feet.

******

Coincidentally, here's this...

Tom Brady was drafted out of high school by the Montreal Expos, in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB Draft. Prior to the draft, Brady had let it be known that he was planning on attending the University of Michigan, to play football. Rumors are the Expos offered him "second round money" to sign, but Brady stuck to his plan and went the football route instead.

We know how that worked out for him.

But could Tom Brady have combined with Vladimir Guerrero and Pedro Martinez, to save baseball in Montreal?

Could Todd Van Poppel have won 5 Cy Young Awards, over a 15 year Hall of Fame career?

Could Todd Van Poppel have ever signed with the Expos, and pitched to Tom Brady, catching for the Expos?

(With Vladimir Guerrero in right field?)

We'll never know...