Baseball Card of the Year

Name a member of the 2023 Cardinals who played the most positions on the field?  

You may have guessed Tommy Edman, but the answer is Taylor Motter.  

Name the only Cardinals shortstop to not strikeout more than 50 times in 2023?

Tommy Edman again? Paul DeJong before he got traded?  Nope, Taylor Motter.  

We could talk more about Taylor Motter's dominance on the field in 2023, but you are all reading this blog post waiting to see the best baseball card of the year. You already know who is going to be on the card at this point.......

A great looking card of a great utility player for my favorite team.  

Did I mention that Taylor Motter was a long-running member of the Durham Bulls a few years back?

He was. 

Here is the back of the card.  

"Super Utility" isn't a title that Topps throws out on just anyone's baseball card.  The second fact is actually pretty interesting, although slightly misleading. Motter has not caught in a Major League game and only appeared as a pitcher on three different occasions. He gave up a home run to Mike Moustakas.  

I was curious about the cartoon on the side of the card. I did not know much about his performance with the Memphis Redbirds in 2023, but he stole 8 bases and hit 8 home runs in just 56 games. The 8 steals were Motter's highest total since he had 12 with the Mariners in 2017.  

I had expressed my concerns about Taylor Motter not having a Cardinals card this summer.......

I am glad that Topps followed through on a tweet with only 109 views and thousands of ignores.