A 1980s Card Part 19 - 1986 Topps Kurt Kepshire

The 1985 Cardinals should have won the World Series against the Kansas City Royals.  They were a bad Don Denkinger call away from capturing the team's second title of the 1980s.

The 1980s Cardinals were best known for their speed and defense, but they also had some pretty solid pitchers.  John Tudor, Joaquin Andujar, and Danny Cox led the 1985 National League Championship team's rotation.  Those three players accounted for 60 of the team's 101 victories.

What about the last two spots in the rotation?

One of the spots belonged to long time Cardinal pitcher Bob Forsch, while the other spot belonged to a younger pitcher the team had picked up a few years earlier in the Rule 5 Draft from the Reds.  The Cardinals gave Kurt Kepshire roughly two years two nail down the fifth starters job.

He got a few baseball cards along the way too.  HIs 1986 Topps card was his last as Major Leaguer.

The backdrop of the card was common on 1980s Cardinals cards.  This was at the team's Spring Training facility in St. Petersburg, Florida. There are at least five or six Cardinals cards in the 1986 Topps set alone that were taken some piece this building in the background.

Kepshire did win 16 games between 1984 and 1985, but he got a lot of support from the team to get to those totals.  He started the season with the Cardinals in 1986, but was quickly demoted to Triple A in favor of Greg Matthews after a few starts.  The team also signed former Cubs pitcher Ray Burris as a free agent, picked up pitching prospect Tim Conroy from the A's, and had first round draft pick Joe Magrane in the wings too.

Kepshire spent the rest of his career in the Minors with the Cardinals, and eventually with the Expos.  He never pitched in another Major League game after his demotion from the Cardinals.  The retooled rotation with Matthews and Magrane, combined with Cox, Tudor, and Forsch, got the Cardinals back to the World Series in 1987.

Back of the card.

Love the centering on the card.

I like when players are young enough that you can see all of their Minor League stats on the back of the card.  I thought it was also interesting that Kepshire was a relief pitcher in the Reds Minor League system, the Cardinals turned him into a reliever.  Usually goes the other way around.