Five From Wrigley Roster Jenga

I recently sent over a pair of Mike Montgomery cards to fellow blogger Tony over at Wrigley Roster Jenga after the reliever/starter was traded to the Cubs.  Montgomery used to pitch for the Durham Bulls back in the day and I saw him throw a no-hitter once.  True story.

I had a few Montgomery cards to spare.  

I received a package of cards back in exchange for the Montgomery cards.  Pretty big stack of cards and I am not huge on scanning tons of cards, so I narrowed the trade into an overview picture.....

and five other cool oddballs that were in my package of cards.  Tony sent my cards of all my favorite modern Cardinals and a few Durham Bulls cards, but you get to see those all of the time if you stop by and read and blog with regularity.  I am going with unique instead.....

5. 1999 Team Best Memphis Redbirds Rick Ankiel 

Ankiel was a highly touted prospect for the Cardinals, completely lost the ability to throw the ball over the plate, went back to the Minors, and went back to the Minors to reinvent himself as an outfielder.  As much as I loved watching Ankiel as a pitcher, he was also a pretty fun player to watch as a position player.  Especially if you watched him play a little D in the outfield.  Only one base at a time, max.  

As a card collector, he did have a few cards when he returned as an outfielder, but most of the cool ones are from his days as a pitcher.  This card brings back some good memories....

4.  1992 Confex Baseball Enquirer Ozzie Smith 

I have never seen one of these cards.  Ever.  Which is saying something if it came from the 1990s.  The front of the card features a cartoon picture of The Wizard with a neck brace.....

but the best part of the card is the back which features a mock interview with Ozzie Smith after he has had some sort of injury which caused him to wear a back brace and a cervical collar.  Apparently, Ozzie is not going to do any flips anymore.  

Just to make sure that this card was not a serious card, Ozzie did kind of do the David Eckstein shot put throw to first towards the end of his career, I found a video of him doing his flip after 1992.  

Is that Darnell Coles in the background running out wearing 15?  Sigh.  I am glad that the Busch family sold the team.  

3. 1992 Classic Best Springfield Cardinals Dmitri Young 

Da Meat Hook was once a highly regarded Cardinals prospect.  He had a huge hit against the Braves in the 1996 NLCS, but apparently the internet has forgotten about the hit.  While his time with the Birds on the Bat was brief, it was fun to watch him progress through the Minors.

Is that Cardinals logo an iron on?  The hat is also sweet.  The only way this could be a better card is if it had him with a blonde goatee.  I guess he did not have to distinguish himself from Greg Vaughn like he did while he was playing for the Reds.  

2.  1979 TCMA Baseball History Joe Cunningham 

I have always been a big fan of the 1970s TCMA cards.  Simple designs, but still very enjoyable to collect.  

I picked up a Cunningham autograph last spring at a card show here in Raleigh.  He played for the Cardinals in the 1950s and early 1960s.  Very underrated player in the team's history.  Besides playing alongside Stan Musial, Cunningham might also slip through the cracks due to the fact that the majority of the 1950s Cardinals teams were not competitive.  Hasn't happened often in Cardinals team history.  Overall, his 7 year slash line with the Cardinals was .304/.413/.443 with 52 home runs, 113 doubles, and an OPS+ of 120.  Not a bad sidekick to go along with the tandem of Musial and Ken Boyer.  

1. 1993 Upper Deck Denny's Grand Slam Ray Lankford 

Of course I have a copy of this card, but can you ever really have enough Ray Lankford cards?  Can you really have enough Denny's Grand Slam cards?  These were 1990s classics.....

It's hard to see from the scan, but the hologram picture in the background shows Lankford fielding.  I really must say, I love getting Ray Lankford cards in the mail.  It's gotten hard to find new cards of his anymore.  Another card with some good memories.  

I have attached a video to almost every player in this post.  Not many Ray Lankford videos, but there is that one......

Look away Darren Daulton fans....