The 10 most under-appreciated players of the 1990s: #7 Mike Jackson

Mike Jackson was a full-time closer for two seasons--1998 and 1999. He was amazing in 1998 and pretty good in 1999.

But you know what? He was pretty awesome for the rest of his career.












Jackson came up with the Phillies in the mid 1980s. That's not exactly a recipe for fame. Then he got traded to the Mariners in 1987. That didn't help matters.

At the time he was traded to the Giants for the 1992 season, he was already pretty accomplished in middle relief, with a 117 ERA+ over 487.1 innings. That wasn't enough to get him bumped up to closer, though.

He spent 3 years with the Giants, one with the Reds, one more with the Mariners, and his first with the Indians still pitching primarily middle relief. Over those years, 1992-1997, he had a 135 ERA+ over 397.2 innings.

Here are some of the top pitchers from that period, limited to relievers with 300 IP and no more than 40 saves:

Rk	Player	ERA+	IP
1	Eric Plunk	147	421.0
2	Steve Reed	140	385.1
3	Jeff Nelson	138	415.0
4	Michael Jackson	135	397.2
5	Tony Castillo	134	348.2
6	Bob Patterson	122	326.2
7	Greg Harris	118	319.0
8	Bob Wickman	116	531.2
9	Alan Mills	116	365.1
10	Mike Perez	116	315.1

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/17/2012.

Jackson is one of just 15 pitchers to appear in at least 1,000 games, although that obviously is due partially  to the era in which he played.

Overall, Jackson stacks up quite well in career numbers. Here are all the pitchers with an ERA+ of at least 120 with career IP between 1088 and 1288 (Jackson had 1188):

Rk	Player	ERA+	IP	From	To	GS	GF	SV
1	Mariano Rivera	206	1211.1	1995	2011	10	883	603
2	Trevor Hoffman	141	1089.1	1993	2010	0	856	601
3	John Franco	138	1245.2	1984	2005	0	774	424
4	John Hiller	134	1242.0	1965	1980	43	363	125
5	Doug Jones	129	1128.1	1982	2000	4	640	303
6	Jered Weaver	128	1131.2	2006	2011	177	0	0
7	Michael Jackson	126	1188.1	1986	2004	7	422	142
8	Mike Timlin	126	1204.1	1991	2008	4	467	141
9	Cole Hamels	126	1161.1	2006	2011	180	0	0
10	Ron Perranoski	124	1174.2	1961	1973	1	458	179
11	Babe Ruth	122	1221.1	1914	1933	147	12	4
12	Jeff Reardon	122	1132.1	1979	1994	0	695	367
13	Johnny Rigney	122	1186.1	1937	1947	132	45	5

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/17/2012.

Nice company.

The card is 1990 Leaf #351. Leaf was, at this time, essentially the parent company of Donruss. Both were owned by a Finnish company. In the 1980s, Leaf was known as the Canadian brand of Donruss, as they issued nearly identical card sets to the US Donruss release exclusively in Canada.

In 1990, they gave a whirl to releasing their own full US set that did not mirror a Donruss release. The cards were printed on premium, high-gloss stock. As you can see, the front design was sparse, leaving room for a huge photo. The back featured a nice color headshot along with basic stats and some copy.

I don't think this set was very successful, mainly because the cards were expensive but didn't offer very much of interest. The photos were fairly boring and the space on the back isn't well utilized. In my opinion it would have been more successful to show some unusual stats or some other differentiating content.