One of my favorite 1980s and 1990s Cardinals players. Jose Oquendo did not make any All-Star games, or win any awards. He was just a fun player to watch. The Cardinals picked him up from the Mets in a trade at the beginning of the 1985 season. I have seen different people put him in the Keith Hernandez trade, but that did not happen.
Hernandez and Oquendo were both starting infielders on the 1984 Mets.
Oquendo was the shortstop, Hernandez was the first baseman.
The trade that brought Jose over from the Mets was really just a swap of light hitting utility infielders. The Cardinals got Oquendo, the Mets got Angel Salazar.
Jose was a bench player in 1986, but got a bigger role during the 1987 season. He was dubbed "The Secret Weapon". He played every single position outside of catcher for the National League Champions. In fact, he started a game at each one of those positions outside of pitcher. A unique player, who also contributed to the team that season on offense.
Easily my favorite Oquendo moment as a Cardinal.
The 1986 Topps Traded card was Oquendo's first appearance in a Cardinals uniform. The building in the background was a part of the Cardinals Spring Training facility and shows up in a ton of 1980s Topps cards.
Back of the card.
Pretty standard card back with the brighter colors on the traded card. Had to find where Grays Harbor was, and when they had a team. They were a Mets team in the Northwest League that allowed Bill Murray to play a game for the team in 1979.
Whenever I see Oquendo's name... I think about the time he played all of the positions. I remember a few years ago Topps honored the occasion by creating a bunch of different autographs of him in their Archives set.
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