Nice Players. Wrong Uniforms?

As a Cardinals fan, I really liked the autograph checklist for Archives.

Not everyone that I was excited to see on checklist showed up in a Cardinals uniform, which is to be expected.  In the case of these three cards, they each have a strong connection to the Cardinals.  Should they have been a Cardinal on their card?  

First, I picked up a Lonnie Smith autograph.  This is my second Lonnie autograph, but neither of them is with the Cardinals.  His best moment as a Cardinal was being the starting left-fielder on the 1982 World Series winner.  Lonnie finished second in the National League MVP voting that season and had some great stats.  

Lonnie also had some crazy good years at the end of his career with the Braves.  In fact, it's not a stretch to say that they were better than his time with the Cardinals and Phillies.  He led the National League in on-base percentage in 1989 and had an OPS of .948.  He did not do that while playing with the Cardinals.  While I would love to see Lonnie Smith on a card in a Cardinals uniform, Topps actually did a good job of making him a card as a Brave.  

I really liked Placido.  Even after the Cardinals traded him to the Phillies, I still followed his career.  While he was on the Cardinals, he was a super utility type during the 2000 and 2001 season.  The Cardinals played him at third base in 2002, but traded him to the Phillies for Scott Rolen in the middle of the season.  Turned out pretty good for the Cardinals.  

Polanco spent most of his career on the Phillies, so I am fine with the team choice here.  I could have also seen him as a member of the Tigers since he helped get them to the 2006 World Series.  Placido was the American League Championship Series MVP that season.  

Last one.  

Preston Wilson was on the 2006 World Series team.  He only played on the Cardinals for a few weeks during that season after the Astros released him.  Wilson also played for the 2007 Cardinals, but was on the disabled list the majority of the season.  I feel like my opinion of Preston Wilson has really changed over the past few years after following him on social media and watching him on MLB Network.  I am just happy he signed some new cards.  

A 1980s Card Part 27- 1982 O-Pee-Chee Lonnie Smith

The Topps Traded sets in the 1980s were great, but you had to wait all the way until the end of the year to get new cards of new players on your teams.  If you did not get the Traded sets, then you had to wait all the way until the following year to get the new players in their new uniform.  Then there were the O-Pee-Chee cards.  You know, the Canadian version of Topps. 

They were sort of a halfway point between the traded set and the regular Topps cards.  I am not sure when they came out during the year, but they often included traded players, so later than the base Topps set.  They also did not show the players in their new uniforms, just merely restyled their Topps card to fit the design of their new team. 

I have already covered a bunch of this in a post a few months back with a John Tudor card from the 1985 O-Pee-Chee set.  Great card.  

I know there are likely some who would put out that John Tudor is wearing a Pirates uniform, but the card clearly says, "Traded To Cardinals 12-12-84" and the logos and word marks also all belong to the Cardinals.  This is his first Cardinals card.  I feel like I could make a whole post of "Traded To..." posts of Cardinals O-Pee-Chee cards, but for today I am just going to stick with Lonnie Smith.  

Here is the card.  

Lonnie was a really important player on the 1982 Cardinals.  He finished second in the National League MVP voting in 1982 with almost 70 stolen bases, an average over .300, and an on-base percentage just a tad over .380.  The team won the World Series, so that's always a good thing.  

Prior to playing on the Cardinals, Lonnie played a few years for the Phillies.  It was the only team he played for prior to getting traded to the Cardinals.  Here is the back of the card.....

The coloring on the back is a little different than the standard Topps card, which were a little darker shade of green.  The information is obviously different since it is written in French and English.  Also love that Lonnie was a young enough player that you can see all of his Minor League stats, as well as his Major League numbers.  

Lonnie played on the Cardinals until the beginning of the 1985 when he was traded to the Royals to make room for Vince Coleman.  He was apart of the Pittsburgh cocaine trial along with Keith Hernandez and Joaquin Andujar.  That was where the guy who was inside Pirates parrot mascot was selling drugs to players.

Whitey Herzog ditched all the Cardinals players involved with the Pirates drug scandal.  Lonnie did get a 1985 O-Pee-Chee card, but it did not have a "Traded" stamp anywhere on the front of the card.

I have been saving the greatest 1980s Cardinals O-Pee-Chee card, might need to post it sooner than later.  Anyone have any ideas of player who might have a card like the Lonnie Smith or John Tudor card above?  

#MyCardMonday

I did not spend a lot of time on cards this weekend, but did spend a few minutes Friday night sorting through a box of old Cardinals cards and autographs I had picked up long ago.  There were a few really cool cards in the box that I had completely forgotten about over the past five or six years, but one really stood out from the rest of the cards.  How did this card end up neglected in a box of cards featuring former Cardinals players like Brendan Ryan, Ryan Ludwick, and Andy Benes?

No idea, but it's been sleeved and placed in a box with some nicer Cardinals cards.  If you are not familiar with Lonnie Smith I will give you a two minute run down on "Skates".  He came up with the Phillies in the early 1980s and was used as an extra outfielder off the bench.  He was actually an important bench player on the 1980 Phillies World Series team.  The Cardinals traded for him before the 1982 season, and like all fast athletic outfielders, Whitey Herzog turned Lonnie Smith loose on the bases.  During his three seasons as a Cardinal he stole 68, 43, and 50 bases.  He played part of the 1985 season in St. Louis and stole 12 more.  Lonnie Smith started the season on the DL and the team called up Triple A outfielder Vince Coleman to fill the void.  Coleman went on to steal 110 bases, Lonnie got traded to the Royals.  

His time as a Cardinal is how I best remember Lonnie Smith.  He was not the biggest base stealing threat on the team, did not have a ton of power, and was not a great defender.  The guy was still a winner and a fan favorite in St. Louis in the mid 80s when I first moved to St. Louis.  I ran into Lonnie Smith again towards the end of his career when he ended up back in the National League with the Braves.  I know baseball fans always remember the core group of pitchers with those 1990s Bobby Cox teams, but Lonnie Smith was an important player at the beginning of that run for the Braves.  

His best year with Atlanta was in 1989 when he hit 21 home runs, a career high, and lead the National League in on-base percentage with a .415 mark.  He put up a .384 mark in 1990 and a .377 mark in 1991.  Lonnie ended his career with the Orioles in 1994 posting almost 1,500 hits and a slash line of .288/.371/.420.  Combine that great on base percentage with 370 steals and it's easy to see why Topps put him in the All-Time Fan Favorites set back in 2005.  Lonnie also ended his career with three World Series rings (1980 Phillies, 1982 Cardinals, 1985 Royals) and two League Championship rings (1991 and 1992 Braves)  Great player.