I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 54 - John Mabry

Mabry worked as a hitting coach for the Cardinals in recent years under the unsuccessful and unpopular Mike Matheny.  He took a lot of flack, maybe rightfully so, about the lack of offense during his time with the club as a coach.  More specifically, the team seemed to lack much power.  Mabry was not exactly know for his power as a player, which likely added to fans criticism of him as a coach.

Manager Mike Marheny, John Mabry.And Billy Mueller all fired from #Stlcards staff

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 15, 2018

Cardinals fans rejoiced.  I am not sure if he has found another job as a coach.  

The Cardinals selected Mabry in the 6th Round of 1991 Major League Draft.  He made it through the Minors with little fanfare.  Mabry never put together a great season in the Cardinals system, he was just sort of a solid player who happened to reach the Major League level at a time when the roster was a little thin on talent.  It did not help that All-Star first baseman Gregg Jefferies left the Cardinals for the Phillies.  

Mabry showed up in a few different baseball card products while he was in the Minors, but there were better Cardinals prospects to go after beyond Mabry.  He appeared in an Upper Deck Minors set, also the 1994 Bowman set.  My favorite early Mabry card was his 1994 Score Rookie/Traded card.  Loved the red border on these cards.....

He was more or less a full time player on the 1995 Cardinals.  He frequently started at first base for the team, but also made some appearances in the outfield.  One of Mabry's best attributes as a player was his throwing arm.  The Cardinals had a crowded outfield though with Ray Lankford, Brian Jordan, and Bernard Gilkey taking up the majority of playing time.  

I think there are several 1995 cards that do a good job of summarizing Mabry's offense skills.  

A Collector's Choice card with a picture of Mabry throwing the bat.  He did hit over .300 in 1995, which is something positive.  Mabry also came in fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting.  

Look at that check swing.  Mabry also only hit 5 home runs, which seems borderline criminal for a corner infielder.  His slugging percentage was .405, which sadly ranked just behind the aforementioned starting outfielders.  He often occupied important places in the line-up, but probably would have been a seventh or eighth place hitter in many other lineups.  

One of his highlights from 1995 was a fake bunt walk off hit against the Cubs.  

If you want to understand how bland and boring Mabry was a player, I think it is best exemplified by his Emotion card from 1995.  These cards had adjectives stamped on the side of the player's picture which was a description of their style of play.  Mabry's word.....

Adroit, meaning skillful, is a way of saying he shows up and he puts his jersey on the correct way.  I am not exactly sure in what way Mabry showed that he was adroit.  Really, it probably made people go grab a dictionary or thesaurus.  

Seriously, he looked nice on a card or two.  Like his Flair.....

That's a good look for Mabry.  He just hit a single.  

John Mabry's best season was probably 1996.  He just missed hitting .300, had 13 home runs, 30 doubles, and drove in 74 runs.  In the Postseason, he hit .300 against the Padres in the Divisional Series and .261 against the Braves in the National League Championship Series.  Mabry also had his best baseball card made, which appeared in the 1996 Leaf Signature product.  

Mabry has some oddball autographs from early in his career, but this is his best autographed card available.  Probably his best card overall too.  I am not a huge fan, if you could not tell, and if I did not need the other cards in the post to complete sets in my collection, this would likely be one of my only Mabry cards.  

There were a few cards of Mabry during the 1997 and 1998 seasons, but his role on the club was rightfully diminished after the team signed Ron Gant and traded for Mark McGwire.  The two moves made it hard for him to find playing time as an outfielder or on the infield.  The Cardinals played around with making him a third baseman, but that did not work out well.  

My favorite 1997 card of Mabry was his Stadium Club.  He's fielding in this picture, but I like the action shot in Wrigley against the Cubs.  That park always makes for a great baseball card backdrop.  Having the Cubs player being Ryne Sandberg also probably helps too.  Great photo, exactly what you would expect out of a Stadium Club card.  

Mabry was non-tendered by the Cardinals after the 1997 season and ended up playing for the Mariners in 1998.  He still had a few cards with the Cardinals in 1998 though.  My favorite is his Topps card, which shows him fielding a ground ball at first base.  

The rest of Mabry's career was spent on the bench bouncing around the league.  There is always space for an extra left handed bat.  Mabry would reappear for the 2001, 2004, and 2005 Cardinals teams.  In between he played for the Mariners, Padres, Marlins, Phillies, A's, Cubs, and Rockies.  There were not a ton of baseball cards to commemorate his second and third stints with the Cardinals.  Those that were made were rather.......

boring.  Sort of fitting.