I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 42 - Bernard Gilkey

No pictures of Bernard from Men In Black. 

Bernard Gilkey was in the wave of prospects that the Cardinals called up in 1990 to replace the WhiteyBall Era players.  Willie McGee was traded towards the end of the season, still won the National League batting title, and Vince Coleman was not going to re-sign with the team.  The Cardinals reconstituted their outfield with Felix Jose, who came over in the trade for Willie McGee, along with Ray Lankford and Bernard Gilkey. 

According to Baseball America, Lankford was the 19th best prospect entering the 1990 season, Felix Jose was the 51st best prospect, and Bernard Gilkey was not on the radar for whatever reason.  Admittedly, he showed little power in the Minors and mainly just stole a bunch of bases every year.  Gilkey did have good discipline at the plate, so he at least drew a lot of walks.  His career Minor League on-base percentage was .361. 

In 1991, Lankford and Jose both established themselves as everyday Major League players.  Gilkey hit .216/.316/.313, which earned him a spot on the bench and only slightly more than 250 at bats.  It didn't help that Milt Thompson had a career year of sorts. 

Baseball card wise, I am not sure that any Gilkey rookie card was highly desired enough to be considered valuable.  There are a bunch of them, they have never had any value, and can be found for pennies all over the internet, or in the cheapy boxes at card shows. 

I am partial to his 1990 Leaf card. 

Gilkey had a really unique stance, video in a few minutes, but I am not sure he had it when he first got called up to the Cardinals.  

Not a rookie card, but an early card and one of my favorite all-time Gilkey cards is his 1992 Upper Deck.  He's running over the bullpen mound in Busch II catching a ball.  

The picture is everything on this card.  Great action shot.  

After a shaky first season, Gilkey turned around his performance and became a good player for the Cardinals, save for a down year in 1994.  He ended up surpassing Felix Jose and Mark Whiten as the complementary piece to Ray Lankford in the Cardinals outfield.  Gilkey had OPS+ of 127 in 1992, 129 in 1993, 85 in 1994, and 124 in 1995.  100 is an average player.  The Cardinals ended up settling on an outfield with Gilkey in left, Lankford in center, and Brian Jordan in right.  

After the 1995 season the Cardinals traded Gilkey away to the Mets after signing away Ron Gant from the Reds.  The Cardinals were looking for offense and more power, Gilkey offered the least of the three outfielders prior to Gant's signing.  Gilkey went on to have a career year with the Mets in 1996.  He hit .317/.393/.562 with 30 home runs, 117 RBIs, and 33 doubles.  

Some say the season got Bernard an acting gig in a Will Smith movie.  Something about aliens running around New York City.  It would be funny to see a UFO flying over Shea.  

Gilkey had some off the field issues, which hurt his on field performance.  He bounced around between the Diamondbacks, Red Sox, and Braves for a few years.  Gilkey was out of professional baseball by the end of 2001.  

A few more cards.  

I have always been a huge fan of this card.  It's a 1993 Upper Deck.  Gilkey and Lankford are on the sides of Ozzie Smith and Geronimo Pena is in the back.  These were the three young players who eventually stood out amongst the group of players that were promoted to replace the WhiteyBall Era players.  Pena is the least recognizable of the group, good player when he was healthy.  He was never healthy.  Kind of a good passing of the torch card from Ozzie, the best player on the 1980s Cardinals, to Lankford and Gilkey.    

Two more.  This is a great picture of the old Busch Stadium on this 1995 Upper Deck.  I would recognize that blue color on the dugout walls and the outfield walls in the background anywhere.  If you go back up to the Upper Deck card where Gilkey is running over the mound, the wall behind him in left field is that same color.  The blue went away in 1996 when the team switched over to a grass field.   The walls turned green.  I also like that you can see the arches on the top of the stadium.  Great still shot that does a great job of capturing some of the signature elements of the stadium.  

 Last card for this post.  This is also from 1995, it's a Flair.  Really nice set from the mid 1990s.  The design from this era is a little bit more gaudy than the designs from the 2000s, but I dig the sparkly stuff in the background.  The card stock on these are really nice too.  One of Gilkey's last cards as a Cardinal, this is my favorite from the tail end of his run in his hometown.