I like picking up autographs of Cardinals players. When the Cardinals get a new player I go shopping, or trading, looking for an autograph of the new players. This week I added Brandon Moss and Jonathan Broxton to my list of players I need to find an autograph of on cardboard. I already had a Steve Cishek. It did not take me long to track down a copy of a Brandon Moss autograph. Just a matter of a mere afternoon between his trade to the Cardinals and a completed trade. I also picked up a Jonathan Broxton, but I paid nothing, and traded nothing, for the card. Just a straight donation to my collection on one condition. I had to post a "bad" Cardinals card as payment for the Broxton. I thought the #MyCardMonday post would be a good format for the payment, but we had to agree upon the card. After a little haggling, we settled on Kip Wells.
Who remembers the Kip Wells era as a Cardinal?
I always post stats and videos with all of these cards, so let's cover Kip Wells terribleness in full. In 2007 the Cardinals signed the right handed veteran to a one year contract worth 4 million dollars. That was way too much money. In return for that sum of money Wells led the National League in losses, had an ERA of almost 6, and an ERA+ of 77. That ERA+ was second to last on the team, as he finished above Mike Maroth (0-5) who had an ERA+ of 42. In all, the Cardinals found 26 starts for Kip Wells that summer. There were so many low lights, but perhaps his worst start of the year came in a start against the Royals where he lasted just 1.1 innings while giving up 6 runs on 3 hits with 4 walks. In all, Wells had 12 starts during the season when he gave up more than 5 runs.
Despite the terrible single season that Wells spent on the Cardinals I still own an autographed card of the pitcher. It's a sticker autograph and it's from the Donruss Champions set. Not a great product. The sticker has started to get a little foggy. Seems fitting.