who does this guy think he is?

classic claims that this is shawn green on a 1993 classic best card, back when he was a minor leaguer in the blue jays' system.

yes, 4-home runs in a game hitting, leaving game 1 of the 1988 world series early-ing (i didn't leave early!), gary sheffield frustrating shawn green.  i contend that it is not.  the back of his card boasts the right stats, but this guy bats righty.

shawn green was a lefty, just as it says on the back of the card.  so, i did a little digging.  the player pictured is definitely from the 1993 knoxville smokies - the team for which green played in 1993 after his 1992 season in aa.  according to baseball reference, the team was known as the knoxville blue jays in 1992, so there wouldn't have been any reason for the big 's' on the uniforms if this were a photo from 1992.

i'm pretty sure it's alex gonzalez.  look at his 1992 bowman card (which i do not own, but am willing to break one of my blog rules to allow you to make the comparison without clicking any links)

looks like the same guy.  i have a pretty good sized pc of shawn green, given that i lived in orange county during his high school phenom years and heard a lot about him.  i met his dad once in an lcs shortly before 1992 topps was released - he said that shawn would have a card in the set, but wasn't sure if it was a solo card (it was) or a multi-player rookie card.  anyway, i didn't have that classic card until i received it in a trade from nick at dime boxes.  he sent a bunch of cool cards, some of which i will show over the next week or so.

in the meantime, i'll try to figure out what to do with my shawn green/alex gonzalez card.