1989 Alaska Goldpanners All-Stars #17

Card Review: 9.7  I've known of this cards existence for about 20 years now.  I saw a partial picture of it in a magazine somewhere once.  It was part of a collage photo or something like that.  In the pre-internet days, I believed it was a legitimate minor-league card.  It's not, it was issued in 1989 (or '88 depending on what database you believe), and it's not a minor league team.  It's a team of college players in an elite summer league based in Alaska.  That fact didn't lessen my desire to own this card.  It spent over two decades as my number one most wanted Wallach.  Then just like that, I picked up three in one swing.

Upon opening it from the envelope they arrived in, was the first time I had ever seen the back of this card.  The back is everything you could ask for from an obscure limited issue set like this.  The front is extremely glossy, to point of being a bit disappointing, but I'm not complaining.  This card is far from a let down.

The set itself was 12 cards in size.  Other notable players in it included Don Slaught and Dave Winfield.  The numbering starts at #13 and runs to #24, as they did a series of these by decade.  I'm assuming #1-12 were stars from the 1960's.  The Goldpanners are a summer league team in Alaska that still exists today.  They have a very detailed write up on Tim Wallach on their web page.  That's where the photos below are lifted from.

Fun Facts:

*Wallach played for the Goldpanners in 1978.  The team roster included Ed VandeBerg, Tim Leary and Terry Francona.

*Wallach was named the League MVP after hitting 20 HR, and a .328 avg. over 70 games.

*Wallach would lead Cal-State Fullerton to their 1st National Championship and win the Golden Spike Award as the Nation's Top Amateur the following season in 1979.

Number of this card in my collection: 3

2016 update: 5

Photos from Goldpanners Website (until they tell me to take them down):