I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 59 - Shawon Dunston

Many baseball fans who followed the game during the 1980s and 1990s probably best remember Shawon Dunston as a slick fielding shortstop for the Chicago Cubs.  He was the first overall pick in the 1982 MLB Draft and arrived in Chicago about halfway through the 1985 season.  For the next decade, Dunston manned the middle of the infield for the Cubs. 

The vast majority of his cards in my collection feature Dunston in a Cubs uniform.  Honestly, his best cards are action shots of him playing defense.  I am not sure that any card companies ever got the Shawon-O-Meter on to a piece of cardboard.  

This sign was a fixture in the Wrigley Field bleachers during his time in Chicago.  Kind of shame it was never card worthy.  

After his time with the Cubs, Dunston wandered the league.  He went from the Cubs to the Giants, back to the Cubs, then off to the Pirates, signed as a free agent with the Indians, traded back to the Giants, and finally to the Cardinals as a free agent during Spring Training in 1999.  

Along the way, Leaf made the best Shawon Dunston card in my collection, which showed up in 1996.  It features Dunston as a Giant, that was his first stint there.  

I know he has some other autographs out there.  I am not sure exactly what they are, probably not going to go looking for them either.  Unless I pull one out of a pack of cards.  Otherwise no.  

Let's get to his time with the Cardinals.  Dunston only played 62 games in a Cardinals uniform during the 1999 season before he was traded to the Mets at the trade deadline for Craig Paquette.  The highlight, perhaps lowlight, of his Cardinals career came later that season while he was actually playing for the Mets.  

From the New York Times.....

"Shawon Dunston was oblivious to history. After Mark McGwire's 50th homer soared over the center-field fence yesterday at Shea Stadium, it bounced off a fan's glove and back onto the warning track. The ball was historic because no other player had ever smashed 50 home runs in four consecutive seasons. Dunston, who thought McGwire's scoreboard-bulb-breaking homer six innings earlier had been the 50th, scooped up a sliver of history and flipped it into the bleachers."

Dunston felt bad about the incident.....

''I thought that was 51,'' said Dunston, who was acquired from St. Louis last month. ''It was history. I felt so bad. I told Mark I was sorry.'' 

So, what sort of baseball cards does a 37 year old utility player get for half a season?  Not much, just two team issued cards.  The first was actually a part of a team set that were available at local McDonald's restaurants.  

I know, it's really an Upper Deck MVP card without the brand logo up at the top of card.  I have accidently sorted these cards into stacks of MVP cards in the past.  The brand logo is easy to miss, the only real difference is actually a small McDonald's logo on the back.  

Dunston also had a card in the baseball card set that was given away at Busch Stadium.  

and that is it for Dunston as a Cardinal in 1999.  However, the team brought him back in 2000 in the same utility role.  The Cardinals gave him another team issued card that year, no major brand cards though. 

At the beginning of 2001 several different card companies put him in their early products.  However, Dunston left the team to play for the Giants.  I am not sure how many different stints Dunston had on the Giants, but one of his early 2001 cards, in Upper Deck Victory,  had a picture of him in a Cardinals uniform....

with Giants logos and markings on the card.  His Topps and Pacific cards were actually Cardinals cards all the way around.  Picture, logos, the whole enchilada.  The Pacific card....

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with a picture in Wrigley Field.  Well done Pacific.  I wish you were still a card company. 

and his Topps.  Is this card in Pac Bell?  Feels right that even his non-Cub and non-Giant cards still appear in their stadiums.  It's also not every 1990s Cardinals post that I venture into the 2000s, but there are so very few Dunston cards with the Cardinals, especially considering he's a fairly well known player and he had two different stints with the team.