I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 7- Braden Looper

I know I might get a few people with Braden Looper being a 1990s Cardinals.  His appearance with the team during this decade was very brief.  His stint with the club in the mid 2000s was much more notable.  The Cardinals signed him away from the Mets before the 2006 season and he became an important member of the team's postseason run that ended with a World Series win over the Tigers.

It was his second World Series ring, he had previously won a ring with the 2003 Florida Marlins.  The Cardinals converted Looper into a starter for the 2007 and 2008 seasons.  He ended his career in 2009 with the Brewers as a starting pitcher.  Looper tried a comeback with the Cubs in 2011, but was released at the end of Spring Training.

Back to Looper as a 1990s Cardinals.

The Cardinals drafted him as a relief pitcher out of Wichita State in 1996 with the third overall pick.  Painful to think that a team used a pick that high in the draft to get a relief pitcher.

Looper did not pitch for the Cardinals until 1997 and made it all the way to Double A Arkansas.  At the beginning of the 1998 season the Cardinals actually used him on the Major League roster for the first two weeks.  His debut was on Opening Day against the Dodgers.  Looper pitched one inning and struck out all three batters.  He made three more appearances for the Cardinals in those two weeks.  A little rough.  

As far as cards go, Looper started appearing in sets right away.  He had a few Minor League cards in 1996, but his major brand licensed cards started in 1997.  

He had one card in the 1997 Topps set as a Draft Pick card......

The edges of this card are white.  Makes it look a little funny on a white background.  The 1997 Topps set was one of those missable products.  Not very memorable.  There are a lot of things that I actually like about that set, for another post, but I suspect that much of it is the fact that there are not any strong rookie/early cards.

As a prospect in the late 1990s it would be impossible for a high draft pick to not make an appearance in a Bowman set.  There were a few Bowman products in 1997.  I like the base set with the black borders.

There is something nice about cards with a solid black border.  Simple.  The Bowman cards from this era always had the "1st Bowman Card" stamp somewhere on the card.  Looks like a Spring Training photo here.  Flip the card over.....

I did not know, before writing this, that Looper was on the 1996 Olympic team.  I believe I actually have an autograph of his out of the 2004 Upper Deck USA Baseball mega-autograph set.  I just did not know when he played there.  Considering that they have high school and college players there, it leaves a wide range.  Plus, baseball has been out of the Olympics long enough that sometimes I forget that it was there.  Sorry Ben Sheets.  

That's it for Looper as a 1990s Cardinals player.  After his two weeks in the Majors the Cardinals sent him to Memphis.  He never made another appearance for the team that season.  At the end of the year the team traded him, along with shortstop prospect Pablo Ozuna, to the Marlins for Edgar Renteria.

That trade worked out pretty well for the Cardinals.  One of these days I will give Edgar a 1990s Cardinals post too.  In the meantime, a song from 1997 off of my Ipod.....

Pretty sure that I wore out my OK Computer CD over my last few years of college.  If I thought my readers would take time to listen to a full album I would post it, I know you're just here for a few minutes though, and that time is almost up.