#33 B. J. Wallace

About the Front: So we come to the first 1992 draft pick, a subset that is scattered through Series 1 and 2 in the 1993 Topps set. These cards have a pretty dull design, with the player superimposed on a green baseball field. Most are wearing their college or high school uniforms, so that you have to flip the card over to figure out who actually drafted the guy. In the case of B. J. Wallace, he pitched for Mississippi State University and was taken third overall by the Expos.

About the Back: Rafael Palmeiro and Will Clark get name-checked in the writeup. Both of them left a much greater imprint on baseball than Mr. Wallace, sorry to say.

Triple Play:

1. Wallace is one of the five players who were famously picked ahead of Derek Jeter in the 1992 draft. Chad Mottola (fifth overall) is the only other one included in this set. For whatever reason, Topps didn't feature many of the first round picks, which is why you'll note that the cards just say "1992 Draft Pick".  Phil Nevin (first), Paul Shuey (second), and Jeffrey Hammonds (fourth) were the other top-five picks that year.

2. B. J. never made it to the big leagues, as injuries led to the end of his pro baseball career in 1997. In parts of three minor league seasons, he had a 15-15 record and a 4.21 ERA.

3. Sadly, Wallace has had serious legal problems over the past decade. In 2003, he was charged with driving under the influence after rear-ending another car at a traffic light; the other driver died as a result of his injuries. In 2011, B. J. and his wife Amber were arrested for manufacturing and possessing methamphetamine.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: It always bugged me that the draft picks weren't pictured in the uniforms of their major league clubs.

Bill James Said: N/A

On This Date in 1993: July 10. Kenyan runner Yobes Ondieki became the first man to run 10,000 meters in under 27 minutes.