Not everyone that I was excited to see on checklist showed up in a Cardinals uniform, which is to be expected. In the case of these three cards, they each have a strong connection to the Cardinals. Should they have been a Cardinal on their card?
First, I picked up a Lonnie Smith autograph. This is my second Lonnie autograph, but neither of them is with the Cardinals. His best moment as a Cardinal was being the starting left-fielder on the 1982 World Series winner. Lonnie finished second in the National League MVP voting that season and had some great stats.
Lonnie also had some crazy good years at the end of his career with the Braves. In fact, it's not a stretch to say that they were better than his time with the Cardinals and Phillies. He led the National League in on-base percentage in 1989 and had an OPS of .948. He did not do that while playing with the Cardinals. While I would love to see Lonnie Smith on a card in a Cardinals uniform, Topps actually did a good job of making him a card as a Brave.
I really liked Placido. Even after the Cardinals traded him to the Phillies, I still followed his career. While he was on the Cardinals, he was a super utility type during the 2000 and 2001 season. The Cardinals played him at third base in 2002, but traded him to the Phillies for Scott Rolen in the middle of the season. Turned out pretty good for the Cardinals.
Polanco spent most of his career on the Phillies, so I am fine with the team choice here. I could have also seen him as a member of the Tigers since he helped get them to the 2006 World Series. Placido was the American League Championship Series MVP that season.
Last one.
Preston Wilson was on the 2006 World Series team. He only played on the Cardinals for a few weeks during that season after the Astros released him. Wilson also played for the 2007 Cardinals, but was on the disabled list the majority of the season. I feel like my opinion of Preston Wilson has really changed over the past few years after following him on social media and watching him on MLB Network. I am just happy he signed some new cards.
I definitely think of Lonnie Smith as a Cardinal. I'm surprised he had more seasons, games, and WAR with Atlanta.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I still want to think of Preston Wilson as a Met, and he only played fewer than 10 games with us. But he came up through the Mets system and of course his father is a beloved Met.
Lonnie's time with the Cardinals got shortened by Vince Coleman. The only reason the Cardinals called him up was because Lonnie Smith was hurt at the beginning of the 1985 season. Kind of hard to send Coleman down or put him on the bench while he is stealing 100 bases. Definitely surprised Lonnie was that good at the end of his career. Those speed guys never seem to age well.
DeletePreston also had so many cards as a Mets prospect. He was in that first group of players who had draft cards, Minor League cards, Bowman cards, etc, etc, etc,. I actually went on COMC to check out the numbers. Most of his cards are with the Marlins and Rockies, not surprising, but he had more Mets cards than Cardinals, Astros, and Nationals cards.
When I think of Lonnie, I picture him as a Cardinal too. I almost used his name in yesterday's post when I wrote about guys who stole a lot of bases in the 80's.
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of 1980s stolen base guys. I will definitely have to check out the post.
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