I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 28 - Mike Gallego

There are tons of players who made brief appearances with the Cardinals during the 1990s.  Several of the those players came over with Tony LaRussa from the A's when he took over the manager's position before the 1996 season.  When I look at the Cardinals rosters from 1996 and 1997 there are literally a dozen different players who could fit into that category.  I have covered a few of them in previous 1990s Cardinals posts, the most prominent of them being Dennis Eckersley.  

Others are a little less well known.  

This week's 1990s Cardinals is probably a little bit more well known by A's fans than by those in St. Louis.  Mike Gallego only played 78 games for the Cardinals over two seasons, but LaRussa used him frequently during the team's National League Championship Series run during 1996.  His career slash line for the Cardinals stands at just .199/.254/.220 with only 4 doubles.  No triples and no home runs.  

Prior to his time with the Cardinals he played for three of LaRussa's World Series teams in Oakland.  He appeared on the 1988, 1989, and 1990 World Series teams.  Gallego's best postseason performance took place in 1990 when the A's swept past the Red Sox and into the World Series. 

Gallego spent a few years with the Yankees before he rejoined the A's for one more season in 1995.  The Cardinals signed in January of 1996.  LaRussa loves his utility players and Gallego seemed to fit the bill for the Cardinals.

For a player who barely appeared for the Cardinals, the card manufacturers got the number of Gallego cards with the Cardinals just right.  There are three of them in a Cardinals uniform, but I only have two of them.  If you really want a good Gallego card consider one from earlier in his career.  While most of his early cards are after thoughts to other A's players like Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, his 1989 Upper Deck card is somewhat legendary.....

Mainly because it is one of the cards with a reversed photo.  Gallego's photo reversal is more difficult to spot than some of the other ones in the set since you cannot see the writing on the front of his jersey, or his uniform number, but he is a left handed thrower on the card.  

On to his Cardinals cards.  Up first, is his first Cardinals card.  

This is a Spring Training photo with the red jersey on during a game.  This is a Leaf Signature card, which makes it somewhat cool, but it's also one of the cards from that set that you can find for $1.50 on Ebay or COMC.  Gallego has a nice signature, so there is that.  Really, if I had to make a Mike Gallego autograph I would put it in one of those Topps Archives sets and package it around some other 1990s A's players.  I'm sure someone in the Bay Area would love to have a certified autograph of him.  At least more than Cardinals fans love this autographed card of him.

Last Gallego card.  

The old Spanish-English Pacific sets.  This is from the 1997 Crown Collection set.  If I had taken a few seconds to scan the back of the card you would find it written in Spanish.  I like this card because it feels like Gallego is really short here.  He's listed at 5'8 on the back of his baseball card and on his profile over at Baseball Reference, but I am guessing that they might have measured him with his hat on while he was also wearing his cleats.  

I searched for photo evidence of his true height by comparing him to a larger Oakland Athletic player from the late 1980s, or the early 1990s.  My first thought was McGwire, but this picture does not really offer any help....

but he is clearly a lot shorter than McGwire.  My second thought was Canseco, although he's shorter than McGwire, he is still a large individual.  This is what I found.....

George Bush, Barbara Bush, Queen Elizabeth, Mike Gallego, Rick Honeycutt, and Jose Canseco all in front of an Orioles banner.  Why was this not a baseball card?  I feel like someone really missed a golden opportunity here.

That last photo is actually better than any of the Cardinals cards of Mike Gallego.  I am missing a card stadium giveaway of Gallego from 1996.  I have single cards from that set, but not the whole thing.  Not going out of my way to find it either.