The 1988 Fleer baseball card set is considered one of the most iconic sets in the modern era of baseball cards due to the inclusion of rookie cards for future Hall of Famers like Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas. Nestled among the stars of that legendary set is card #3, depicting journeyman first baseman Ken Phelps. While Phelps never achieved the heights of stardom like others in the ’88 Fleer set, his career path was a fascinating one that saw him bounce around the league for over a decade.
Kenneth Charles Phelps was born on December 16, 1958 in Sacramento, California. Growing up, Phelps excelled at baseball from a young age. He attended Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento and signed with the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1977 after being selected in the 4th round of the amateur draft. Phelps made his MLB debut with the Yankees late in the 1981 season and showed promise by hitting .280 with 5 home runs in 24 games. He began the 1982 season as the team’s starting first baseman.
However, Phelps struggled with injuries and consistency at the major league level during his early career. After hitting .246 with 10 home runs in 1982, he split the 1983 season between the Yankees and their Triple-A affiliate before being traded to the Chicago Cubs in 1984. Phelps enjoyed his best season that year, setting career highs with 29 home runs and 87 RBIs while playing in 156 games. He followed it up with similar power numbers (28 HR, 83 RBI) the next season. Despite his early power surge in Chicago, Phelps began platooning more frequently and saw his average dip below .250.
In what became one of the most lopsided trades in MLB history, the Cubs sent Ken Phelps along with former top prospect Luis Salazar to the New York Mets on February 11, 1987 for legendary catcher Gary Carter. This trade has lived in infamy, as Carter went on to be an integral part of the Mets 1986 World Series title while Phelps and Salazar combined to hit .209 with 6 HR for the 1987 Cubs. Phelps rebounded with 21 homers for the Mets that season but was traded again after one year, this time to the Seattle Mariners on December 9, 1987.
It was with Seattle that Phelps began the 1988 season and was depicted on his rookie card in the ’88 Fleer set. By this point in his career, the journeyman first baseman was already on his fifth team in seven seasons. Phelps put together the best all-around season of his career in 1988 though, playing in 154 games and hitting .247 with career-highs of 31 home runs and 82 RBIs. His power surge helped lead the Mariners to an unexpectedly strong 85-77 record and third place finish in the AL West, their best season to that point.
Despite his breakout year, Phelps was included in one of the most lopsided trades in Mariners history on December 5, 1988, when he and three minor leaguers were dealt to the Baltimore Orioles for pitchers Mike Morgan and Dave Schmidt. The trade signaled a shift in strategy towards pitching for Seattle. Meanwhile, Phelps struggled to repeat his 1988 performance, seeing his numbers drop across the board for the next couple seasons with the Orioles. After hitting .225 with 14 HR in 1991, he was released and signed with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Phelps enjoyed a career resurgence in Toronto, playing mostly as a platoon player and hitting .270 with 11 HR in 1992. His success earned him a trade back to Seattle in 1993, where he hit 17 homers in a reserve role. It would prove to be the last above-average season of Phelps’ career. He bounced between the Mariners, Pirates, Mets, and Orioles over the next few years, aging into more of a part-time player. Ken Phelps finally retired from baseball after the 1995 season at age 36, wrapping up a 14-year MLB career.
In total, Phelps played in 1,274 games and put up a slash line of .248/.305/.421 to go along with 186 home runs and 595 RBIs. Despite never appearing in a postseason game or achieving All-Star status, he had some productive seasons offensively and showed surprising durability by playing over 100 games eight times throughout his journeyman career bouncing between eight different franchises. Phelps’ ’88 Fleer card will always remind collectors of a flash-in-the-pan power hitter whose career path took numerous unexpected turns throughout baseball’s hottest era of the late 1980s.
