Player Name: Sean Casey
Sets From: 1996 Topps
Card Numbers: 25
Why is this card a must have?: This will be the last of the 1996 rookie cards and to that I say thank god. What an awful year for rookies. Even the ones that are listed in the book were completely marginal except for maybe AJ Pierzynski. Casey was another flameout by age 30. His last great season (and probably his best) was in 2004 when he went 0.324/24/99. He never hit over 25 homers or over 99 RBIs. He had about a half dozen good years from 1998 – 2004. Over those years he had 3 All Star selections, and a top 15 voting for the MVP. He also averaged 0.302/15/85 over those years, which by itself is impressive, but coupled with the fact that he was in a power position like first base is less impressive. He will always be a Red’s fan favorite but is far from a Hall of Fame career. He career numbers are 0.302/130/775. He announced his retirement in January, earlier this year after a disappointing 2008 in which he failed to hit a home run. The first season since his rookie campaign of 1997 where he didn’t hit one.
On a scale of 1 – 10, how must have is this card: 2, like I said earlier, he was a fan favorite and that gets him on this list. His is the first card that I can think of on this list which isn’t worth book value. The card runs $4 in the book. On eBayor checkoutmycards they go from $0.25 – $2 depending if the card is graded.
