This trade comes in from Pat in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Giving: Jeff Francoeur, #56 (red back)
Getting: John Wasdin, 1995 Topps

Pat writes: "One of my favorite things about baseball cards is looking back at 'future star' cards of players who turned out to be quite forgettable." I agree. There's nothing like coming upon Steve Searcy's 1989 Topps Future Star card and trying to figure out who he is. Or Mike Harkey. Or Pat Dodson, Todd Van Poppel, Jeff Juden, Earl Cunningham, Nigel Wilson, David Nied--stop me if I'm hitting nerves here. I mean, we all bought into these guys.

The only thing better, when it comes to rookie cards, is going back through old stacks and finding an overlooked star rookie. I have very clear memories of finding about six or seven of the 1986 Topps Cecil Fielder rookie during his breakout 1990 season. I also just pulled a few Torii Hunters and Derrek Lees from old stacks of 1994 Score (which, by the way, is a very clean, attractive set with a nice array of inserts. Unopened wax is also abundant and cheap, if you've got an itch for ripping old wax).

A couple fun things about Wasdin. The back of this card is just classic Topps: two photos on the back that are exactly the same. Good times. Also, although he's out of the game, he's in MLB: The Show 06, which I still play (I'm in season nine of my Red Sox franchise). And no matter how many runs I'm down, if the computer puts Wasdin in the game, I know I'll be able to tie the score or take the lead in one inning. I mean, he wasn't called Way Back Wasdin for nothing.