In 1999 there was only one card that I wanted to add to my collection: A Skybox Premium Autographics Joe McEwing autograph. The Cardinals lost second baseman Delino DeShields to the Orioles in free agency after the 1998 season the team brought up Joe McEwing to fill the void. The first half of the year McEwing, or Super Joe, hit .305/.350/.418 with 4 home runs, 3 triples, and 19 doubles. Card companies were a little slow to add his cards into products, but eventually a few companies floated out a few cards.
The second half of the season McEwing hit the wall and was eventually traded to the Mets the following spring for Jesse Orosco. His career ended up lasting a total of 9 years with most of his time spent as a utility player for the Mets.
I still looked for this card after he was traded away from the Cardinals and landed a copy a few years back for a couple of bucks. At one point, during the summer of 1999, card shops in St. Louis were selling this card for as much as $25. It was pretty hard to spend that kind of money for a light hitting second baseman. The card is not necessarily the easiest to find, only one copy on Ebay in the last 90 days, but they sell for less than $3.
Beautiful card. I've always been a fan of 90's Autographics. As for Joe... I remember him and his streak. Pulled a refractor of his. I think it was out of 1999 Bowman's Best.
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