During the 2000 season, Albert Pujols had played the majority of the season with the Cardinals A-Ball team in Peoria. He hit well enough to get a Spring Training invite, where he hit well enough to catch the attention of the other players, media members, and fans. He seemed likely to go back down to the Minors though.
From a February 15th interview with Tony LaRussa during Spring Training:
"Pujols shouldn't make the club," He paused. "But," La Russa added, "I didn't think McGwire was going to make the club in 1987."
Many thought that Pujols would be sent somewhere in the Minors to start the season, but then Bobby Bonilla pulled a hamstring at the end of Spring Training. It was Bobby Bonilla's last season in the Majors, and he ended up doing almost nothing with the team. He ended the year with a .213/.308/.339 slash line that included 5 home runs. Yet, Bobby Bonilla getting hurt during Spring Training is one of the most important events in Cardinals history over the past two decades.
The Cardinals response to Bonilla getting hurt: Call up Pujols.
There were no 2000 baseball cards of Pujols, because I do not think he was on anyone's radar. The Cardinals picked him in the 13th Round out of a junior college in Kansas City. So, no Bowman cards of any sort. He was not on a Major League roster of any sort, not on the 40 man, so Topps, Upper Deck, Fleer, and whatever Donruss was at this point, could also not touch him.
His first card? At least the first I remember getting, was out of Fleer Premium. It was not even clear that it was a Pujols card at the time. Just a bland looking exchange card that simply promised you a rookie card. No names attached. Sort of a mystery redemption. I wish I could find a copy of the redemption card somewhere, but I cannot.
I ended up with two of them. The first was a Wilson Betimet, who was a good prospect at the time. He would later go on to disappoint me by a failing a drug test while playing for the Durham Bulls. In 2001, that was a cool card, and Betimet was a very highly regarded prospect.
My second exchange was the Albert Pujols rookie card:
This card was the first Pujols card in my collection. There are half a dozen other Pujols rookies that are roughly the same thing as this card, but being first counts for something. In this case, I have always had a soft spot for this card. Even if it is a pretty emblematic baseball card of the 2000s, and there is very little that is unique or special about this card. I love this card, and it will always be in my collection.
It's hard to believe that it has been 18 years since Albert Pujols started his career with the Cardinals. I went to the Cardinals home opener in 2001, but the team started the season on the road, so this was not his first game in the Majors. First time I saw him, he hit a home run.
I need to find the ticket stub.
Nowadays, it seems like Albert is on the highlights every few weeks for passing up some Hall of Famer in an important category, or he is reaching some sort of plateau number. I know on a day to day basis Albert is not the same player, but it's still amazing to see him pass up some of the all-time greats. I think my favorite most recent milestone was his 3,000th hit last year against the Mariners.
A few years back when he first signed with the Angels, I narrowed down my collection of his cards a bit. A little bit of a knee jerk reaction to him being signed away from the Cardinals, but I have added a few cards back over the last year or two. I would really like to spend some more time showing off my Albert cards at some point. I started writing in this space in 2012, the year he left St. Louis, so naturally I have not written much about him. I have thought about loop back and doing a few posts.
Let me start out by showing off a few cards today.
Here are this week's rules.
I am only using Pujols rookie cards, no other years outside of 2001
I am only using rookie cards in my collection. There might be Pujols rookie cards that are considered better than the ones on the list, but I do not own them.
The cards are in order of how I view them, which has a large sentimental factor, don't bother me about where I put his Bowman autograph.
Go team.
10. 2001 Donruss The Rookies - This was a mail in card that I got out of a box. I lost the redemption coupon for awhile, but luckily I found it. I like that he is a third baseman on this card, and not a utility player. If you have never heard the story of Pujols making the Cardinals in 2001, it's out there somewhere. Short version. The Cardinals signed Bobby Bonilla to be a utility player off the bench, he got injured at the end of Spring Training, and so Pujols made the team. Third was his natural position at this point, although LaRussa did play him all over the place.
9. 2001 Fleer Platinum - I always liked this set, which was to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1981 Fleer set, but there is something unappealing about this photo. It's like Pujols had to get a picture taken by someone, and is trying really hard to seem happy to be there. Reminds me of school picture day. Not as a kid, but now as an adult. The photographers don't distinguish the teachers from the kids, "Say school lunch!!!". No, and I'd rather go hungry.
8. 2001 Fleer Tradition - Always liked the Fleer base sets from the late 1990s and early 2000s. I actually think this is one of the worst designs they had, it's still above average. This was only sold in the factory set, which I did not want to buy, so I picked this one up at a local card shop in St. Louis. Maybe the only low end Pujols rookie that I did not pull out of a pack.
7. 2001 Upper Deck - Pulled this out of a pack back in the day. Love the action shot of him hitting the ball. The looks like it's in Coors, which is where the Cardinals started out the 2001 season, got to figure it likely from one of his first games.
6. 2001 Bowman Autograph - It has always bother me that Bowman used the same Pujols picture on tons of cards in 2001. I think it just felt that way. It's a Spring Training photo, but you think they could have gotten a more updated picture at some point for their later products. Considering where Pujols was at his career entering Spring Training in 2001, not supposed to make the roster, I suppose it's nice the Cardinals gave him a decent uniform number. He could be wearing 72 or 89. This autograph is terrible for Pujols.
5. 2001 Topps Traded- Really nice card. I always liked this update set. There are some cool parallels where they played with the card stock, chrome parallels, etc. It's well done. Good clean card of Pujols.
4. 2001 Topps Gallery - I liked this brand during the 1990s and early 2000s. Of course, it's not nearly as good anymore. The art was a lot better back in the day. Love this Spring Training picture. I would love to know if the Cardinals actually have a Coke machine on their Spring Training field, or if that's some sort of artist's addition? I also miss the birds on the bat hats. The Cardinals do not wear them enough.
3. 2001 Bowman's Best- Pretty random choice here, but I have always liked this set. Yes, it's really modern. Yes, this is a batting practice photo. Just something about the photo with Pujols following through on a swing. Good looking picture.
2. 2001 Fleer Premium - This was the first Pujols card that I pulled out of a pack. It was actually a redemption card. Always been in my top 2, ever since 2001.
1. 2001 Bowman Heritage - Just a great looking card. It's been my favorite since it came out.
Eric Davis should be on baseball cards in a Reds uniform. I'd also accept him as an Oriole, but I really always place him with the Reds. When I was growing up he was a dynamic player, a great combination of speed and power. The Cardinals and Reds were in different divisions at that point, and their games were not nearly as tense as they have been in recent years.
Davis had some pretty insane stats early in his career. My favorite being his 27 home runs and 80 stolen bases in 1986. The next year in 1987 he hit 37 home runs and had 50 steals. I loved the run the Reds made through the playoffs in 1990 too. Not a huge Barry Bonds/Pirates fan, not a huge A's fan at that point either.
The Nasty Boys were the lesser of several evils. Plus, they were diluted by actual likable players on the Reds like Eric Davis, Chris Sabo and his goggles, Barry Larkin, and Paul O'Neill.
I had Eric Davis rookie cards. His 1985 Fleer was my favorite.
In my opinions, this photo is much better than the one on his Topps rookie card. The red border around the card helps too. Very clean design, nice card.
A rundown of the baseball happenings of Eric Davis between 1991 and 1998 with some pictures and a video....
He was injured much of the 1991 season and was eventually traded to the Dodgers. Plenty of people were excited that he got traded to his hometown Dodgers, but he did little with the team who traded him again to the Tigers. After hitting .183 with the Tigers in 1994, Davis missed the entire 1995 season. He returned to the Reds in 1996 and things started to look up again after he stayed healthy for a full season and hit like the Eric Davis from the 1980s.
Davis left the Reds after 1996 for the Orioles. His 1997 season started out well, but he was diagnosed with colon cancer in May of that season. He only appeared in 42 games, but returned for the playoffs and helped the Orioles get to the American League Championship Series against Cleveland.
Major League Baseball presented him with the 1997 Roberto Clemente Award before Game 4 of the 1997 World Series. It was 35 degrees when this game started, so there is no picture of Davis with the Roberto Clemente Award on the field.....
but I assure you he has it somewhere in his house......
right next to the Gold Gloves.
In 1998, Davis hit .327/.388/.582 with 28 home runs and 89 RBIs.
A remarkable comeback.
The Cardinals bought in, but there was not much left in the tank. I am not going to use the word "bust" on a guy who had colon cancer, beat it, and returned to play professional sports. He still showed up in games, played hard, but he just was not the same guy who was an All-Star caliber player for the Reds and Orioles.
The Cardinals had actually signed both Eric Davis and Shawon Dunston to help out with some of the younger players on the team during the 1999 season. The team had J.D. Drew, Fernando Tatis, Placido Polanco, and Edgar Renteria. Good talent, but at that time all of those players were under 25.
At the end of the 1999 season, Davis had a .257/.359/.403 slash line with 5 home runs, 9 doubles, and 30 RBIs. He managed to play in just 58 games. The next season, in 2000, was much better for him. Davis was still a bench player at that point, but he did help the team win the National League Central hitting .303/.389/.429 with 6 home runs and 14 doubles off the bench.
Davis does have a few Cardinals baseball cards. The first few were of the mismatched logo variety, not really a good look. This Pacific Aurora is terrible......
I used to always say that I would rather have a card with mismatched logos, uniform of one team with card logos of another team, but this is a really unattractive looking card. I understand that the Pacific Aurora set was a one time thing, no second series, so if they wanted to include Eric Davis in the set this was what they had to do. I guess they could have airbrushed.....
The back is slightly better since the photo is black and white and it does not have an odd background color like the front of the card. Never really liked the stat lines on some of these late 1990s/early 2000s Pacific baseball cards.
Pacific eventually got it right later on in the summer.
Much better picture on the Paramount card. Aurora was a spring release, Paramount was a summer release. This photo is from Spring Training. The Cardinals in the late 1990s wore blue helmets on the road, note the grey pants, but during the spring the team wore red helmets. The Cardinals also have never worn red jerseys in regular season games. Ever. Clearly a batting practice jersey.
The Spring Training photos are a common theme with the Eric Davis Cardinals cards.
Leaning towards this being a Spring Training picture too on his 1999 Bowman card. I actually have another post coming up on this card at some point in the next week or two. Always surprised when I run across an Eric Davis card in a Cardinals uniform, even more surprising when it is in a newer product.
Now, for my two favorite Eric Davis card in a Cardinals uniform.
First up is a Fleer Premium from 1999. I am not sure what is going on with the red and yellow hazy stuff that is lingering around Davis, but I like the rest of the card. Good photo of Davis stretching out before a Spring Training game. The background is blurry, but you can still clearly tell that it's a Dodgers players, maybe a ballboy.
I was curious about his shoes since they have an 11 on them next to the Nike swoosh. There were no Cardinals with the uniform number 11 in 1999, but there were three different members of the quad with that number from the previous year. Fernando Tatis and Luis Ordaz wore the number later in the year, but Royce Clayton started the year with that number.
Royce, your shoes.....
I'm guess that maybe Royce Clayton abandoned them when he was traded to the Rangers in the middle of the 1998 season. Maybe there is some other story here too, I don't know, just speculating.
Last card.
This is a really cool card of Davis signing autographs in a sea of kids. It's always nice to see a card of players interacting with fans. No creepy adults shoving any of the kids out of the way. Quality picture. I really miss Upper Deck.
Davis would end his career with the Giants in 2001. He does some work with the Reds still and recently appeared in a video opening a pack of baseball cards. Makes fun of Geronimo Pena and Joey Votto gets in the video at the end.
