A 1980s Card Part 46 - 1981 Fleer Bobby Bonds

Bobby Bonds had a great career with the Giants.  He played in a few All-Star Games, won a few Gold Gloves.  He bounced around with several different teams before getting traded to the Cardinals during December of 1979.  Bonds had been a good player with the Indians the prior season.  He hit 25 home runs, drove in 85, and had 34 stolen bases. 

His time with the Cardinals ended up being forgettable, but still got a few cards to remember his lone season in St. Louis.  I feel like this Bobby Bonds card fits in well with the John Smoltz Cardinals cards in my collection. 

Bonds was a part-time player with the Cardinals during the 1980 season, splitting time with Leon Durham.  I am not sure if that was the original plan, or if the Cardinals started splitting the time once the season got under way.  Bonds hit just 5 home runs, his averaged hovered around .200, and the Cardinals only gave him roughly 250 at bats for the season.  Quite a drop off from his usual numbers. 

Here is the 1981 Fleer card. 

The most obvious selling point for this Bobby Bonds card is that it shows his uniform number, which was 00 with the Cardinals.  He did not even wear the number the entire season according to Baseball Reference, at some point he switched to 26.  Bonds was the first Cardinals player to wear 00.  It was also worn by Omar Olivares in 1993. 

Interestingly enough, Olivares wore 26 as a uniform number for several seasons, and then switched to 00.  None of the other Bobby Bonds cards with the Cardinals show his uniform number.  Here is the back of the 1981 Fleer card.  

Love that these old Fleer sets put Minor League numbers on the back of card of their cards for players that have been around for 15 years.  You can see all of the great numbers Bonds posted throughout his career on the back of this card.  I like owning a Bobby Bonds card in a Cardinals uniform, but I like to ignore the stat line on the back of the card.