I like picking up autographs of Cardinals players. When the Cardinals get a new player I go shopping, or trading, looking for an autograph of the new players. This week I added Brandon Moss and Jonathan Broxton to my list of players I need to find an autograph of on cardboard. I already had a Steve Cishek. It did not take me long to track down a copy of a Brandon Moss autograph. Just a matter of a mere afternoon between his trade to the Cardinals and a completed trade. I also picked up a Jonathan Broxton, but I paid nothing, and traded nothing, for the card. Just a straight donation to my collection on one condition. I had to post a "bad" Cardinals card as payment for the Broxton. I thought the #MyCardMonday post would be a good format for the payment, but we had to agree upon the card. After a little haggling, we settled on Kip Wells.
Who remembers the Kip Wells era as a Cardinal?
I always post stats and videos with all of these cards, so let's cover Kip Wells terribleness in full. In 2007 the Cardinals signed the right handed veteran to a one year contract worth 4 million dollars. That was way too much money. In return for that sum of money Wells led the National League in losses, had an ERA of almost 6, and an ERA+ of 77. That ERA+ was second to last on the team, as he finished above Mike Maroth (0-5) who had an ERA+ of 42. In all, the Cardinals found 26 starts for Kip Wells that summer. There were so many low lights, but perhaps his worst start of the year came in a start against the Royals where he lasted just 1.1 innings while giving up 6 runs on 3 hits with 4 walks. In all, Wells had 12 starts during the season when he gave up more than 5 runs.
Despite the terrible single season that Wells spent on the Cardinals I still own an autographed card of the pitcher. It's a sticker autograph and it's from the Donruss Champions set. Not a great product. The sticker has started to get a little foggy. Seems fitting.
That post is great! You know that I finally tracked down a signed OMLB on him because I needed him for my Reds' collection. He appeared in 10 games in 2009 for the Reds and I actually saw him pitch in one of those games at GABP. All former Cardinals travel through Cincinnati to see if they can breathe life back into a dying baseball career i.e. see Skip Schumaker. I purchased a signed ball from St. Louis Sports Collectors last year! LOL.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ron! Glad you enjoyed the post. I don't remember Kip Wells playing for the Reds, but he bounced around a lot the last few years of his career. St. Louis Sports Collectors is one of my favorites. That guy was at every show when I lived in St. Louis, had tons of cool items, and sells at really good prices. I still buy stuff off of him from time to time.
DeleteDo you have a Mike Maroth autograph? Or a Russell Branyan?
ReplyDeleteYes to both. Maroth was never really highly regarded, but Branyan had some pretty good autographs during the late 90s. He came up with Giles and Sexson, was supposed to be a good class of prospects for the Indians. Best one I know of is his 1998 SP Authentic. The set has about 10-12 autographs worth owning, including a Ray Lankford, and also Russell Branyan.
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