and you left St. Louis because?

There are some players who just play really well in certain places or against certain teams.  I remember about ten to fifteen years ago the Cardinals could not touch Glendon Rusch.  A similar thing happened more recently with Astros pitcher Bud Norris.  No explanation for it, just the way it seemed to work.  Of course, there have also been players who have been great in St. Louis and no lived up to expectations in other places.  One of the better Cardinals of the mid-to-early nineties was one-time Mets phenom Gregg Jefferies.  I recently picked up an autograph of the long-time Major Leaguer.

 

This card comes out of last year's Topps Archives set and features a great on-card autograph.  If you are not familiar with Jefferies, he was a very talented Mets prospect in the mid-to-late 80s.  Jefferies never really lived up to potential with the Mets and he showed a lot of "immaturity"  

The Mets shipped him away to the Royals in exchange for Brett Saberhagen and then a year later was traded away to the Cardinals for Felix Jose.  Jefferies entered his Cardinals career with a career OPS+ a few points over 100.  His career high for WAR was 2.7.  All of that changed after Jefferies showed up in St. Louis.  Sure he still slammed his batting helmet into the ground and played with a lot of fire, but also posted career highs across the board.  In 1993 Jefferies posted a career high 5.1 WAR with a .348/.408/.485 line.  His OPS+ was 142.  His numbers slipped slightly in 1994, but still posted .325/.389/.489 line.  Add in two All-Star game appearances.  Pretty good.  

For whatever reason, Jefferies signed at the end of the 1994 season with the Phillies.  He also spent some time with the Tigers and Angels at the end of his career, but never came close to reaching his numbers in St. Louis.  More of a glorified utility man.  Plus, Pedro apparently could not stand Gregg.  The sound Jefferies makes when he gets beamed in this video is outstanding.