A 1980s Card Part 42 - 1986 Donruss Rookies Mike LaValliere

I really like the player photos on the front of the Baseball Reference home page.  I look at them a few times a week, give myself a minute or two, and try to figure out as many of the faces as I can.  This was one from April.  I did pretty well on this one.

There are players on here that are just really easy to pick out.  Tom Henke is the Blue Jay in the top left.  J.D. Drew is the Braves player on the far right in the top row.  Usually, the older players give me fits, but there are some pretty easy ones in this group.  Ty Cobb is on the bottom row. 

There are some faces that just stick with you.  I am sure that many of you who read the title of this post, can already picture Mike LaValliere in your mind before I even post a picture of a card.

Short stocky catcher with a mustache, right?

I am going to mix in an action shot here.  Looks like he has a beard in this picture, but I found it flipping through my cards and really liked this one.  I had to include it.  You can still picture LaValliere's face in your mind.  

Here it is....

There you go.  That is Mike LaValliere.  I could pick him out anywhere.

Except his Cardinals cards, where he does not have a mustache, and he does not look like the same person.  Here is his 1986 Donruss Rookies card without his trademark mustache.

I actually ran across this card the other day.  My nine year old has been reading a lot of baseball books during our Corona vacation.  He's even flipped through some of my cards at times.  He gets to this card, holds it covering the name, and asks me how to say the player's name.  I had no idea who was even in the picture.  

None.  

I actually thought that it might be Tom Nieto at first, who was another catcher in the mid 1980s, but when I saw the name I was surprised.  I flipped through a few more 1986 and 1987 Cardinals cards, and the results were surprising.  I remember LaValliere on the Cardinals, I just always picture him the same way.  See the Pirates photo above.   

He looks like he just graduated from junior high on this card, but no mustache.  This was 1986 though, his first year with baseball cards, so I went to find a 1987.  

Still no mustache.

Flip ahead a year after the Cardinals traded him to the Pirates, and magically on his 1988 baseball cards he looks like the Mike LaValliere everyone knows and loves.  

I flipped back through a bunch of my 1986 Cardinals cards a second time just to see if there was anyone else I could not recognize.  I knew them all, even Randy Hunt.  

Back of the 1986 Donruss card.  

I also did not know that Mike LaValliere played briefly for the Phillies.  

Who knew?  

Mike turned out to be a pretty good player for the Pirates and White Sox.  He won a Gold Glove, and played on a bunch of playoff teams during the first half of the 1990s. 

A 1980s Card Part 39 -1988 Donruss Lance Johnson

Another week, another cool set of Donruss cards.  Last week, I gave this space to a Diamond Kings card of George Hendrick, this week I am going to spend a little time looking at the Rated Rookie cards.  The Cardinals did not get one in the first few Donruss sets, but starting in 1986 with Todd Worrell, they had a good run of players into the early 1990s.  I decided to pick one that flies under the radar a bit for my post this week. 

If you watched baseball in the 1990s, I am sure you ran across Lance Johnson with the White Sox, Cubs, or Mets.  He also briefly played for the Yankees at the end of his career.  I am not sure many people would remember him playing for the Cardinals, although he does seem like the type of player who would fit on their 1980s teams.  Speedy base runner, good defender.  He made his Major League debut in 1987, and the Cardinals actually used him as a pinch runner during the playoffs in the NLCS and the World Series. 

Our friend over at Courtside Tweets actually has a short video clip of Lance Johnson getting a hit in a Cardinals uniform. 

  

Johnson got traded to the White Sox in the middle of Spring Training in 1988 in exchange for pitcher Jose DeLeon.  The Cardinals played an outfield of Vince Coleman, Willie McGee, and Tom Brunansky that season, so Lance Johnson was blocked.  Although, Brunansky was an early in season trade.  

Back of the card.  

Lance did not do much with during his brief stint with the Cardinals, but he was a really good player in their Minor League system.  The numbers at the bottom of the card are pretty impressive.