Cards That Never Were #64

1988 Classic Blue - Greg Walker

From 1987 until 1991, Classic made quite a splash onto the hobby. The company got around the whole license issue by making a board game. The backs of the cards had trivia questions and even a place for the player's autograph.

Some collectors loved these cards and others hated them. I personally don't know anyone who actually played the game attached to these cards. I was always disappointed when my team did not get any cards in a release. Classic made two sets of fifty cards each in 1988. Two teams were absent from both releases. The Dodgers and the White Sox.

I can almost see the absence of the White Sox. The team was spiraling towards mediocrity. The Dodgers, on the other hand, won the World Series in 1988. It's harder to explain the lack of Dodgers cards in a 1988 release than the White Sox.

This entry and the next will try to rectify that issue.

I chose Greg Walker as the White Sox card because Carlton Fisk and Harold Baines had cards in 1987. Greg was a popular local player, who was still decent. His life would be threatened on July 30, 1988 from an epileptic seizure. While he would come back strong during Spring Training in 1989, his '89 season was not up to his usual standards. After playing in two games in the 1990 season, the White Sox released Greg. Walker would sign with the Baltimore Orioles a few days later, but was released after fourteen games.