I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 31 - Terry Francona

It's hard to believe, I know, but Terry Francona was on the Cardinals during the 1990s as a player.  This post has nothing to do with coaching, or managing until the very end.  There is even a baseball card to prove that he was a Cardinal.  

During his playing career, Terry Francona was a first baseman/outfielder for several different teams, probably best remembered as an Expo.  He made his debut with Montreal mid way through 1981, and the team thought enough of him as a player that they shifted Tim Raines to second base.  During the first part of the 1982 season he was batting .321, but his season ended when he tore up his knee catching a fly ball on the warning track at Busch Stadium.

Not his only connection to the Cardinals as a player.  

As a kid who collected baseball cards in the 1980s, Terry Francona appeared in sets all the time.  Back in the day even fourth outfield, utility types still got baseball cards.  They still do today, but just not as often.  After tearing up his knee, Francona spent most of the next decade sitting on the bench, pinch hitting, giving players a breather from time to time.  

After the Expos dumped him in 1985, he bounced around to a bunch of different teams.  There was a year in Chicago.....

a season as a Red, another with the Indians, before he reached the Brewers.  A cursory glance at his baseball card stats show that the 1989 season in Milwaukee, appears to be his last.  He actually also showed up for a few games with the Brewers in 1990 before he was released.  

He actually signed with the Cardinals after the Brewers released him a few weeks into the 1990 season, but he never actually appeared in a game with the Major League team.  For whatever reason, it did not stop Topps from making one 1990 card with Francona in a Cardinals uniform.  His entire 1990 season was spent with the Louisville Redbirds after the Cardinals signed him.  He was never added to the 40 man roster, managing only a .263 average with the Triple A team.  Not surprisingly, Francona does have a Redbirds card......

I do not actually own a copy of the Francona card with Louisville, so I am borrowing one.  I will put it back when I am done.  

Again, I really have no idea why he got a Topps card that year, but here is the card.....

It's from the 1990 Topps TV set.  Before last week, I only had single cards from the set.  I actually finally got around to getting the entire sealed product, which Topps sold through ads on television.  Hence the set name Topps TV.  Why didn't I get the whole set before last week?  I am 100% certain that my parents would not let me buy stuff off of a TV ad in 1990. 

I am leaving my complete set sealed, but the checklist is on the outside of the box.  Pretty incredible list of players.  I am not sure that the current rules by which the card manufacturers play would permit them to make a set with almost 70 players in Major League uniforms.  I do not remember all of the rules that Topps has to follow with Minor Leaguers, but I know that they exist.  

The back of the Francona card.....

which ends at 1989 with the Brewers.  His 86 games in 1990 with Louisville were the end of his playing career, but he would end up latching with the White Sox as a minor league manager.  He worked his way up through their system, coached Michael Jordan while he was in Double A, and then ended up in the Majors as a third base coach for Tigers in 1996.  Francona managed the Phillies from 1997 through 2000, did a little coach for a few teams, before landing a gig with the Boston Red Sox.  

Heard he had a pretty good run.  

Francona has two World Series rings.  As a Cardinals fan, not touching the other one.