I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 49 - Stan Musial

I know Musial's last season was in 1963.  If you had asked me that question after 1988, I for sure would have known the answer since Topps gave him a Turn Back The Clock card in that year's set.  Pretty sure that this was my first Musial card.

 

Not many cheap Musial cards hanging out at the baseball card shops in St. Louis during the late 1980s.  So, this Topps card was as good as it got until the 1990s.  

There are many things that the 1990s got right on baseball cards.  One of the most important in my opinion is the reappearance of retired players.  How many brand new cards did Stan Musial get during the 1980s?  Not many.  In making this post, I had to narrow down a huge long list of different sets he appeared in during the 1990s just to get it down to a few favorites.  Even more Musial cards have been released over the nearly twenty years since the 1990s ended.  

I know there are modern collectors who get a little annoyed with the older players popping up, but it's a great way to introduce younger collectors to the older players and Hall of Famers.  Also a great way to create some inexpensive cards of players who have outrageously priced vintage cards.  Some of them are really nice looking, well designed cards too.  

Here are a few of my favorite Musial cards from the 1990s.  

First up is a card from the Cardinals 100th Anniversary set.  I am actually going to do a 1990s Cardinals post on this set, not to give away too much, but it was a small set that Pacific put together for the team.  The cards came in packs and were sold at McDonalds.  I managed to put together a set during the summer of 1992.  You can still find the packs floating around, not expensive.  Fun times.  

I like this Pacific Musial card.  Love the batting stance, one of the most identifiable things about Musial.  

If you have never been to a Cardinals game, he's got a giant statue outside of Busch Stadium with his distinct stance.  Not sure if people still do this at the new Busch Stadium, but back in the day at the previous Busch Stadium everyone used to make the Musial statue a meeting place before the game.  Sort of a zoo.  I preferred the Gas House Gang flag behind Stan, off to the left with the red and green flags.  

Old picture.  The card is seriously great, so is the set.  Check them out.  

Musial also appeared in more mainstream sets.  This Score card was one of the first that I remember seeing, which was in the 1992 product.  The card was part of a small little insert set that Score stuck into packs that featured Musial, Yaz, and Mantle.  There were autographed versions of these cards, but the fifteen year old me just got the regular base card.  I wish the picture had the classic Musial batting stance, obviously getting ready to hit here, or he's taking a pitch.

The adult version of me should track down a copy of the autograph.  One of the few older Musial certified autographs missing from my collection.

Twoish more.

In 1999, Fleer decided to use Stan Musial on the packaging for their flagship base set.  It was during those years it was called Fleer Tradition instead of just Fleer.   I was surprised at the time.  Although, the packing also featured J.D. Drew.  In 1999, baseball people were pretty sure that J.D. Drew was going to be the next Mickey Mantle/Stan Musial/Great Generational Hall of Fame player.  He ended up being a good player, but I am not sure he could have ever lived up to the hype.  

The boxes of Fleer cards.  Not my picture.  

Fleer placed Musial into the base set, plus they made a really nice insert set that highlighted different parts of Musial's life and career.  I believe it was only 10 cards.  Nice looking set though....

There are also autographed versions of the insert cards.  Not too difficult to find, but the base cards are great looking without the signature.  Highly recommended.

Musial also signed a lot of cards during the late 1990s.  They could be there own post, so I am going to limit myself to one autograph for this evening.  I have a favorite......

Not to say that his Greats of the Game, or SP Signature autographs are not worthy of a spot in your collection, they are, but I love these Century Legends cards.  I love the black and white picture with the blue autograph, great look.  Musial continued to sign as his health declined later in life, if you are going to take the time and money to buy one of his autographs, the 1990s era cards are definitely your best bet.