I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 12 - Gary Gaetti

Gary Gaetti had a good run during the first half of his career with the Minnesota Twins.  The highlight of his time with the Twins was his performance in the 1987 Postseason against the Tigers and Cardinals.  In the American League Championship Series, Gaetti secured the ALCS MVP award with a .300 batting average and a pair of home runs in the first game.  

In the World Series, "The Rat" contributed 5 extra base hits in 7 games, but the MVP Award was taken home by pitcher Frank Viola.  The following season, Gaetti enjoyed his best regular season, hitting .301/.353/,551 with 28 home runs, 29 doubles, and 88 RBIs.  Gaetti also took home a Gold Glove that season and made an appearance with the American League All-Star team.  

His last two years in Minnesota, 1989 and 1990, were not good.  He was allowed to leave for the Angels as a free agent following the 1990 season.  He played for the Angels from 1991 through the middle of 1993 when they released him.  Gaetti signed with the Royals.  He played for the Royals in 1993, 1994, and 1995.  Surprisingly, after years of not hitting, Gaetti managed to post 35 home runs in 1995 while playing in the pitcher friendly Kaufmann Stadium.  

The Cardinals signed him to play third for the 1996 team.  Gaetti seemed like a good fit to help out with the younger players and he was returning close to home.  He is from Centralia, Illinois, which is about an hours drive east of St. Louis.  He contributed 23 home runs, 27 doubles, and an OPS of .799.  Not bad for a 37 year old.  

Probably his two biggest highlights in St. Louis during this time were his grand slam against Greg Maddux in the 2nd Game of the NLCS......

and after the Cardinals released him in mid August of 1998, he ended up being on the field with the Cubs when Mark McGwire passed Roger Maris.  All of the Cubs infielders got a high five, except Gaetti who got a hug.  

That was a nice moment for a guy who had just been released by the Cardinals a few weeks earlier.  

On to baseball cards.  

Gaetti played for the Cardinals in the mid to late 1990s during the time when there were way too many card products being put out every year.  He wasn't really a star with the Cardinals or anything, but he still had some shiny high-gloss baseball cards.  For whatever reason, a few different card companies treated the 1996 Gaetti like he was the 1987 Gaetti.  He managed to pop up in some nice sets. 

First, he was in the 1997 Topps Gallery set.  Only 180 baseball cards in the set and Gaetti made the cut?  McGwire was on the Cardinals by July of 1997 and in baseball card sets later in the year with the Birds on the Bat.  A lack of star power on the team opened the door for a lot of random players to appear.  Lankford and Gant were usually always in there, but beyond that it could be Eckersley, Brian Jordan, Delino DeShields, or Gaetti.  

Gallery was a good 1990s set.  Loved the designs Topps used.  

On to a not so great looking Gaetti card from his Cardinals days.  

What in the world was Topps doing with the whole "protective coating" thing on the fronts of the cards?  I get that the high gloss cards can get scratches on the surfaces, but having the words "TOPPS FINEST PROTECTOR PEEL AND REMOVE COATING" is ridiculous.  Without the sticker and words this is a mediocre Finest set, but with it is among the worst.  

Terrible.  

One more Gaetti card.  If you are a Twins collector, he has a few Twins certified autographs floating around, which is a good thing.  I'm sure that for most who remember Gaetti as a player, it's the team he is probably best remembered having played for.  He has a Cardinals autograph, no Topps should not make another one, which is just a matter of timing.  Here is the card.....

I have posted this card before.  The 1996 Leaf Signature set is one of the best mid 1990s sets and the first of the mega autographed sets.  There were some good names in the Cardinals set including Gaetti.  His time in St. Louis was far from his prime, but it was still cool to see him included in an autograph team set.  Especially considering that Ron Gant, Ray Lankford, and Andy Benes, probably the three best players on the 1996 Cardinals, did not appear in the set.  

Last week was Eckersley, this week Gaetti.  Next week I will go back to some of the real 1990s Cardinals.  

A 1997 song from the IPod.  

#MyCardMonday

I am not have the smoothest of Mondays, so #MyCardMonday is making it onto my blog a little bit late this week.  I didn't spend much time this weekend on cards, but did take about ten minutes out of my school work on Sunday to put away a few autographed Cardinals cards I had picked up over the past week.  Don't worry I scanned them and will share them this week. 

While I was in my box of Cardinals autographs I stumbled upon my 1996 Leaf Signatures Cardinals autographs.  There were a bunch of good Cardinals players in that set.  Guys like Tom Pagnozzi, John Mabry, and Brian Jordan.  There were also a few veteran players in the Cardinals team set that you probably wouldn't associate with the team, but had ended up on the Cardinals during Tony LaRussa's first year as the manager.  There was a Mike Gallego autograph, I think of him as an A's player, and Rick Honeycutt, Dodgers.  There was also Gary Gaetti who is always a Twin in my book, but was the Cardinals third baseman in 1996, 1997, and part of 1998.  

Gaetti is actually from a small town in Illinois, Centralia, that's not far from St Louis.  The veteran third baseman had two pretty good years for the Cardinals before he was released by the team in 1998.  When I moved to North Carolina I ran into Gaetti again as the first base coach for the Durham Bulls.  I decided to add a Gaetti autograph to the collection. At the time this was his only certified autograph, but he's signed for several of the Topps Archives/Fan Favorites sets during the past decade. 

 He also happens to be one of the few players who has appeared for both my favorite Minor League team, the Durham Bulls, and my favorite Major League team, the Cardinals.  

Master Archivist of Cardinals Autographs Not Necessarily In Cardinals Uniforms

Beyond the Delino DeShields autograph, there were four other autographs in the 2013 Topps Archives set of Cardinals players from the past.  While they do not all appear in Cardinals uniforms in the set, they all appeared on the Cardinals for at least half a season.  Two of the autographs were first time certified autographs that I was excited to add to the collection.  The other two were good additions too.  Let's start with the first time signers:

2013 Topps Archives Bob Tewksbury Autograph 

Tewksbury played for the Cardinals for several seasons in the early 90s.  He was the best pitcher on those teams, which were not really that good.  Tewksbury won double digit games every season he pitched for the Cardinals and was also successful pitching with the Twins, Padres, and Yankees.  His pitching style can best be described as extremely slow.  Only once during his 13 year career did he strike out more than 100 batters.  In fact, one of Tewksbury's most memorable career moments was when he threw Cardinals first baseman a 44 MPH pitch with the Twins.  McGwire did not get a hit that game.  

2013 Topps Archives Chuck Finley Autograph

 

Finley only appeared for the Cardinals during the second half of the 2002 season.  The Cardinals traded Coco Crisp, he might have been Covelli at that point, from the Indians to replace deceased pitcher Darryl Kile.  Finley won half of his starts for the Cardinals during the regular season and struck out almost a hitter per inning.  He also picked up a win against the Giants in the National League Championship Series.  This is Finley's first certified autograph which should be pretty popular with Angels and Indians collectors too.

The last two cards are players whose autographs already appear in my collection:

2013 Topps Archives Lee Smith Autograph

Lee Smith actually has a pretty healthy supply of autographed cards out on the market.  A fair number of them appearing in a Cardinals uniform.  While Smith had some good years as a Cardinals player, he also had some really rough years wearing the birds on the bat.  While I am certainly not a Cubs guy, this is how I best remember Lee Smith.  Just not against the Cardinals.  

2013 Topps Archives Gary Gaetti Autograph

Last, but not least, is a new autograph of "The Rat".  Gaetti played part of two seasons for the Cardinals at the end of his career and was not all that great.  He did hit a grand slam against the Braves in the 1996 National League Championship Series, but I think that was his lone Cardinals highlight.  Gaetti also won two World Series with the Twins and later went on to be a first base coach for the Durham Bulls.  Currently, he is managing the Sugarland Skeeters.


I'd also like to take a moment to wish my alma mater, North Carolina State, the best in their appearance at the College World Series.  GO PACK!  Go To Hell Carolina!