A 1980s Card Part 48 - 1985 Topps Terry Pendleton

There are a lot of Cardinals fans who have mixed feelings about Terry Pendleton.  He was a really good defensive player while he was in St. Louis, but he had some offensive limitations.  While he was the starting third baseman on two National League Championship teams, his best years were spent with the Braves.  

I think this was his biggest moment as a Cardinal.  This home run to sunk the Mets at the end of the 1987 season.  Kudos to whoever added the explosion noise to this video clip.  

Pendleton's last year in St. Louis was brutal.  He hit .230 and spent most of September sitting on the bench while Todd Zeile learned to play third base in season. He followed that effort up by winning the National League batting title and MVP with the Braves in 1991.  Pretty hard pill to swallow.  Pendleton actually only had two really good seasons in Atlanta.  He ended up reverting back to the same .250 hitter with a great glove that he was with the Cardinals, but those seasons still sting with some around St. Louis.    

I know a Cardinals collector or two who skip over a lot of his modern cards.  Cardinals, Braves, whatever.  I am happy to collect his modern stuff.  Send it my way.  

I actually do not go out of my way to collect cards of Terry Pendleton, but I have a fair share of them in my collection.  I was looking through some of my 1980s Cardinals cards last week, and decided that this card needed to have a 1980s Card post.  

I do not have any mid 1980s baseball card magazines or personal memories to support my case, but I am pretty sure that this was a pretty popular card when the 1985 Topps set was released.  Pendleton did not have a 1984 card outside of one with the Louisville Redbirds. He actually hit really well when the Cardinals first called him up in 1984.  His average was over .320, and he managed to somehow steal 20 bases in just 67 games.  Not really one of the Cardinals I associate with stealing bases.  

Pendleton actually ended up seventh in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 1984, which really does not sound impressive until you consider the six players who finished in front of him were all long running starter/star quality players in the Majors.  Dwight Gooden, Juan Samuel (set the rookie stolen base record), Orel Hershiser, Dan Gladden, Ron Darling, and Carmelo Martinez were the players with more votes than Pendleton.  

Pendleton had some potential when this card first came out, and we all know how much people like to speculate about rookie cards.  

I also like this card because it's the last year that you can find the Cardinals wearing the powder blue road uniforms.  I know they brought them back last year, but they are not the same.  Not even close.  A bunch of the Cardinals cards in the 1985 Topps set have pictures of the players wearing the powder blues.  

The Traded set had the player photos taken on the road in the gray uniforms they switched to for the 1985 season.  

There is not going to be a post on the 1985 Topps Traded Bill Campbell card.  I thought this would be a safe one to use as an example.  

Back of the Pendleton card.  

The center is just a little bit off on this card side to side.  

Looking at everything on the back, the thing that stood out the most for me was how few games Pendleton played in the Minors.  Just guesstimating the games, it looks like he played in less than 200 Minor League games.  I can't remember too many modern Cardinals players who made it to the Majors really quickly.  J.D. Drew was one of them, he made it in just 45 games, but he also played an independent league the summer before getting drafted by the Cardinals.  

I also like the trivia question at the bottom of the card.  Topps needs to bring those back.  

I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 22 - Terry Pendleton

There are numerous 1990s Cardinals who appeared with the team for only a season.  Most of them do not have much of an attachment to the team.  That's what is going to be a little bit difficult about this post.  Terry Pendleton was a 1990s Cardinals for one year.  It was a pretty terrible year.

Pendleton first appeared for the Cardinals in 1984 and spent the first seven seasons of his career in St. Louis.  He was a great defensive third baseman and had some good moments at the plate too.  During the 1985 Postseason, Pendleton had some pretty big moments driving in 7 runs against the Dodgers and Royals.....

One of his biggest moments as a Cardinal came against the Mets in a game late during the 1987 season.  The Mets were leading the game with two outs in the ninth and on the verge of getting into first place.  Pendleton hit a game tying home run......

and the Cardinals won the game in extra innings.  The Mets did not come close the rest of the way and the Cardinals won the National League East.  

Seemingly half of the Cardinals roster were potential free agents entering the 1990 season and the wheels fell of the bus early in the season.  The team finished last in the National League East, manager Whitey Herzog quit in the middle of the season, and there were numerous players who failed to play up to their expectations.  

Pendleton was one of them.  

Every statistic was a career low/worst for Pendleton in 1990.  He hit .230/.277/.324 with 6 home runs, and 20 doubles.  Pendleton did have a solid year in the field, but even some of his defensive stats were lower than his normal highs.  Sadly, the Cardinals closed out the season with a long east coast road trip that resulted in the team losing their last seven games of the year.  

Pendleton's role during the last road trip?  

Sitting on the bench.  New Cardinals manager Joe Torre decided to move Todd Zeile to third base in hopes of finding Pendleton's replacement.  It also allowed Tom Pagnozzi, who was a great defensive catcher, to actually see the field.  During September of 1990 the Cardinals only played Pendleton 8 times with a total of 21 at bats.  

Probably not the ending that Pendleton probably wanted in St. Louis.  Let me quickly show off my three favorite Pendleton cards from the 1990s.  

His Score card is easily my favorite.  Pendleton was a good defensive player and I like this action shot of him fielding.  Bonus that the picture is in Busch Stadium.  Not sure what the result of this play was, but if it was on the ground around Pendleton and Ozzie, there is a really good chance the batter was out.  

Without narrowing it down to a year, or two, this is still a really good Pendleton card.  

My second favorite is his 1991 Topps card.  Last base Topps card featuring Pendleton in a Cardinals uniform.  I cannot remember which set Topps has put him in recently, but I am pretty sure that he has a few newer Cardinals cards floating around.  I like the batting cage/batting practice look of this card.  I cannot quite decide if this card is somehow staged, the background is in Candlestick Park, but something looks off about it. 

Last.  

His 1990 Bowman.  I know it's a generic staged card that was made off of a Spring Training photo.  I really like that hat that Pendleton is wearing.  Is that regulation?  It looks like he forgot his hat and picked one up a gas station.  Is there writing inside of the hat, or is that sweat? 

In the end, Pendleton left the Cardinals for the Braves, won a batting title and an MVP Award in 1991, and had a pretty nice second half of his career.  He was still a great fielder, just seemed to find his bat in Atlanta.  

Pendleton has also had a nice career as a coach post-retirement with the Braves.  He has been the bench and hitting coach and learned how to get tossed out of games from Bobby Cox.  

A Trip to Big D's Cardshop

I spent a little bit of time in my favorite local cardsharp this weekend.  I probably really needed to buy some boxes for all of the sets, 12 of them, that I collated last Thursday and Friday.  Instead I ended up buying a few cards and a really nice autographed baseball.  Hard a great time sitting around talking to the store owner Jimmy and another customer who was putting together a few Topps sets.

So, here's what I picked up this trip:

I tried to focus in on the signature for my picture?  Any guesses?  Terry Pendleton is the correct answer.  He was one of my favorite Cardinals players from the 1980s WhiteyBall teams, but he was probably a better player after he left the team for the Braves.  Jimmy had talked to me about the ball before, but gave me a good deal on the ball that I could not refuse.  Great signature on the sweet spot of the ball, great addition.  This is going on a shelf in my card room.

The cards.....

I know this is mainly a baseball card blog, but I still love my NC State basketball.  I have dabbled in T.J. Warren autographs and am happy to finally see a few floating around.  Jimmy, the owner of Big D's, found this card for me.  It's got a nice reflective finish that did not show well on the scanner and I love the fact that the signature is on-card.

I have done a lot with the 2014 Topps set and have pretty much wrapped up my searching on this set outside of a few really hard to find acetate cards.  I did not pick up a sparkle card this year, so here is my first.  Maybe there is another sitting in the stacks of doubles on my desk, I am not the best at picking out these cards.  The sparkle on this card is to the right side of the baseball next to Longoria's hand.  Cool card, cool variation even if it sometimes feels like you're looking for this guy.....

Friday Five: Top 5 Cardinals Third Baseman

Honorable Mention-  Albert Pujols 

Third base is a hard position.  Albert Pujols makes my honorable mention list based on his one season as a Cardinals third baseman.  It also happens to be one of the better rookie seasons ever, so there's that.  Again, third base is a hard position.  Without giving away the rest of the list, in one season as the Cardinals third baseman Albert Pujols posted a WAR of 6.0.  Terry Pendleton, who is also on this list, posted a WAR of 4.9 for the Cardinals in 7 seasons.  Pujols also had 47 doubles, 37 home runs, drove in 130 runs, and posted a slash line of .329/.403/.610.  The rookie third baseman also won the National League Rookie of the Year, made the All-Star team, and finished fourth in MVP voting.

5. (tie) Joe Torre 

Joe Torre spent one season as the Cardinals full time third baseman in 1971.  Turned out pretty well.  If I can put Pujols on here for one Rookie of the Year season I can also put Joe Torre on here for one really good MVP winning season.  In 1971 Torre posted a slash line of .363/.421/.555 with 24 home runs, 137 RBIS, and 230 hits.  The RBIs, hits, and batting average all lead the National League that year.  He posted an OPS+ of 171 and an oWAR of 8.6.  Torre spent a fair number of games at third again in 1972 before the Cardinals used him almost exclusively as a first baseman his last few seasons in St. Louis.  While his 1972 season was a far cry from his 1971 season, Torre still posted a .289/.357/.419 line with 11 home runs, 81 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 122.

4.  Terry Pendleton 

Pendleton was an important cog on the 1980s Cardinals.  Some times the Whiteyball era players can be a little tough to judge.  While Pendleton went on to win a batting title and an MVP award with the Braves, he was not that player while he was on the Cardinals.   In 7 seasons as a Cardinal Pendleton hit .259/.308/.356 with only 44 home runs.  He also only stole 99 bases as a Cardinal and almost all of those happened during his first four seasons on the team.  Pendleton is here for defense.  During those 7 seasons as a Cardinal Pendleton posted a dWAR of 10.7 which included a 1985 season of 2.9 and two seasons of 2.3 in 1986 and 1989.  It's not Ozzie Smith, but it's closer than you think.  For example, in 1985 Ozzie Smith led the National League in dWAR.  Pendleton was second.  In 1986 Pendleton finished fourth.  In 1985 Pendleton led the National League in Total Zone Runs with 24 and finished second in Range Factor.  In 1986 he finished second in Total Zone Runs and led in Range Factor.  In other words, if you hit the ball on the ground to the right side of the Cardinals infield, with Smith and Pendleton playing, you were likely out.  

3.  Scott Rolen 

I could have lived with Rolen at two or three on this list.  I think that the peak of Rolen was actually higher than my player at my two spot, but Rolen's lows as a Cardinal were really low.  Plus there is always the whole World Series ring.  Rolen has one ring from 2006.  He won it while pouting on the bench.  My player at two has three rings.  Now, on with Scott Rolen.  Rolen was probably already the best third baseman in the National League when the Cardinals picked him up from the Phillies in 2002.  He had a shot at an MVP award in 2004 when he hit .314/.409/.598 with 34 home runs, 124 RBIs, and Gold Glove defense.  He just decided to have his career year the same year that Jim Edmonds had a career year and Pujols was Pujols.  He finished fourth in the voting, but could have easily won many other years.  For his Cardinal career Rolen posted an OPS+ of 127, but only spent six years in St. Louis.  At his peak he could have been first on this list, but his Cardinals career was too short to move him past this spot on my list.  He was traded to the Blue Jays after the 2007 season was spent feuding with Tony LaRussa over playing time and health concerns with Rolen's shoulder which was injured in a weird play at first base in 2005.  The play involved Hee Seop Choi who seemed to run over a lot of people in the mid 2000s.  Ask Mark Prior.  Rolen ended up being a good player the rest of his career, but probably could have been the best Cardinals third baseman and a Hall of Famer in a perfect world.

2.  Whitey Kurowski 

Kurowski had a short career, but played on several important Cardinals teams that won three World Series titles.  Whitey was not just along for the ride either, but was an important part of the team.  The four time National League All-Star won the World Series with the Cardinals in 1942, 1944, and 1946.  He also helped the 1943 Cardinals to a National League pennant.  During his 9 year career, all spent with the Cardinals, he averaged 19 home runs and 94 RBIs with a career slash line of .286/.366/.455. He is one of those rare players who actually walked more in his career (369) than struck out (332).  His best season was probably in 1945 when he hit 21 home runs, drove in 102, and hit .323.  While JAWS ranks him as the 85th best third baseman to ever play the game, his OPS+ of 125 puts him in the top 30 of all-time even with Hall of Famer Ron Santo.  

1. Ken Boyer 

Boyer is the only Cardinals player, with their number retired, who is not in the Hall of Fame.  Basically, the most common argument is that he and Ron Santo are really the same player.  If Santo got in then Boyer should be in too.  Boyer was a really good and consistent player for the Cardinals for a decade starting in 1955 running through 1965.  During that time Boyer was always good for 25 to 30 home runs, 90 to 100 RBIs, a .290 to .300 batting average, an OBP over .350 and a SLG near .500.  He won the National League MVP in 1964 and hit a grand slam in the World Series to help the Cardinals defeat the Yankees, but in my opinion his best year was actually 1960.  During that season Boyer hit .304/.370./562 with 32 home runs, 10 triples, 32 doubles, 97 RBIs, and won a Gold Glove.  The problem with Boyer's Hall of Fame candidacy in my opinion is his post Cardinals years.  He bounced around with the Mets, White Sox, and Dodgers before calling it quits.  There were some rough years in there.  Still, as a Cardinal he played at a high level and is a pretty easy choice for the first spot on this list. JAWS ranks him as the 14th best third baseman of all-time.

Beating the Odds, Slightly.

I dropped by my favorite local card shop, Big D's Card Shop in Raleigh, NC, after work on Wednesday to pick up a pair a Archives boxes I bought. I always enjoy Archives and usually make it one of the sets I try to assemble every year. It's fun to open the packs and find cards with today's players on yesterday's designs. Especially designs that Topps used during my childhood. This year I was excited about the 1986 and 1989 designs. Here's a look at the base set cards.

For today's post I am going to focus on my hit cards from the boxes. I love the base set, parallels, and inserts, but we'll save that for another day. There are two autographs in every box and a relic too. The expectations for the autographs in an Archives box are always a little bit different than the traditional box of cards. There are usually a few current players for each of the teams and then a few older guys mixed in too. The majority of older guys tend to be good players who might be a little short on Hall of Fame credentials. For example, the Cardinals signers for set include Matt Adams and Shelby Miller from the current team, and also long time third baseman Terry Pendleton. 

So, I started my boxes out with those expectations, but left completely blown away.  My first box yielded me an awesome autograph just two packs in....

This "Jake Taylor" Tom Berenger autograph is just awesome. I had seen the Major League cards in the previews and reviews of the Archives product, but had not really given them much thought until I actually pulled one. The odds for these cards are pretty tough and I obviously really like the move Major League. Great baseball flick.  This autograph alone would have made my day, but with almost two full boxes left I had plenty of other good hits coming my way.

My first box was rounded out by another autograph and a relic card. 

My second autograph belonged to long time Atlanta Braves slugger, briefly a Cardinal, Bob Horner. This is a pretty typical Archives autograph actually. Horner was a good player managing over 200 career home runs with just over 1000 career games, but is certainly not a Hall of fame caliber talent. 

My relic hit from the first box was a piece of jersey from Diamondbacks All-Star Paul Goldschmidt. This is a nice card and I love the design.  

Now, my second box was even better than my first box for hits. The first pack of the box was mind- blowing. I pulled this beautiful looking card...  

The odds on the back of the Archives packaging list the odds on Printing Plates at 1:1400. Really long odds. How cool is it to land a copy of one of the Jose Abreu plates?  I am still in shock and it's been a few days. So, after pulling an autograph of Tom Berenger and a printing plate of Jose Abreu, any other hits from the box were gravy. In this case the gravy was pretty delicious. Next hit....  

Ron Gant Autographed Printing Plate. Those printing plates were 1:1400 and I pulled two out of a box. Second time this year. Perhaps I should start playing the lottery?  Probably not. The Gant plate is really cool though. I have seen plenty of autographed printing plates over the years, but most of them were sticker autographs on a plate. This is an actual on plate autograph. Again, really cool hit. I still landed another autograph out of my second box that prevented me from having to track down a copy of this card. 

I have picked up a few Pendelton autographs over the years, but they are all Braves cards. This is my first autograph of Pendleton wearing a Cardinals jersey.  Love the 1989 design too.  

Overall, I don't know how I could have done any better on the hits portion of my Archives boxes. A sweet Major League autograph, two printing plates, and two autographs of players who appeared for the Cardinals?  Anyone of the Berenger, Gant, or Abreu printing plate would have made for a cool pair of boxes by themselves. Throw them all together and all I can say is wow. 

Trade Day At Big D's

My local card shop, Big D's Sports Cards in Raleigh, hosted their first trade day this weekend.  It had been awhile since I had attended a trade day, so I was really pumped up to see what a trade day would look like at my new favorite local card shop.  I had attended a few back in my St. Louis days, but Trade Days can be hard when everyone collects the Cardinals.  More of a Show and Tell Day, then trading.  I packed up a few boxes of autographs and relics cards, loaded them into a laundry basket, and headed out for the store. 

The atmosphere of the Big D's was great as usual.  There was a nice gathering of some of the store regulars to trade, the store owner Jimmy ordered some pizza, and the Broncos-Patriots AFC championship game was on in the store.  We had a great time trading, talking sports, and watching some football.  At the end of my time in the store I walked away with 4 Cardinals related cards for my collection.  Here are my latest four Cardinals related cards courtesy of the 1st Trade Day at Big D's Sports Cards:

2013 Bowman Hometown Stephen Piscotty

I started out picking up two smaller cards.  The first of the cards was this cool looking Bowman Hometowns Stephen Piscotty.  I had picked up a Trevor Rosenthal card like this last summer with a Missouri flag in the background.  I also have a copy of the Seth Maness card floating around which has a North Carolina flag.  I don't have a California connection, but Piscotty showed some pop and great plate discipline in two minor league stops last summer.  He's likely to end up in Double-A Springfield or Triple A Memphis to start the season.  He's a good hitter and his not far off from St. Louis, good investment. 

1993 Topps Black Gold Ozzie Smith

My other small pickup was an Ozzie Smith Black Gold card out of the 1993 Topps set.  This was the first Topps insert set featuring the gold concept which the company has used ad nauseum over the past two decades on their cards.  The 1993 insert set was put out in two 22 card series with 11 of each set belonging to National League players and the other 11 belonging to American Leaguers.   I did not have an Ozzie yet, so why not now. 

2007 UD Elements Matt Holliday Jersey/Auto

 

This card I can thank the store owner Jimmy for finding me.  He saw my post earlier in the week on these cards and had givenme the heads up on Twitter that he had the missing copy needed to finish off my run of Matt Holliday autographs from this set.  I love the purple pinstripe on the jersey swatch.  Last one for today....

2013 Topps Tribute Terry Pendleton Autograph

Pendelton won an MVP and a batting title in Atlanta, but actually started his career for the Cardinals and was their starting third baseman during their 1985 and 1987 World Series runs.  He was not much of a hitter during his time with the Cardinals, but was a good glove man at the corner.  I believe St. Louis Post Dispatch writer Bernie Miklasz once described Pendleton as a player who could "field like Brooks Robinson, but hit like Brooke Shields"  Terry Pendleton ended up have a nice overall career and has had a good run as a coach for the Braves since his retirement. 

2012 Topps Five Star Terry Pendleton Autograph

There are very few major Cardinals players that I have watched during my lifetime that I haven't been able to find a certified autograph of at some point.  Sometimes I have had to wait awhile to find them, but they eventually turn up.  The newest addition to my collection would fit into that category.  Terry Pendleton is probably most noted as the Braves third basemen prior to the arrival of Chipper Jones and the winner of the 1992 National League MVP.

2012 Topps Five Star Terry Pendleton Autograph 

Pendleton actually spent the first seven season of his career, 1984 to 1990, with the Cardinals where he was apart of the "Whiteyball" era teams.  While Pendleton wasn't a huge threat to steal bases, or run, he was a great defensive third basemen and was a solid run producer at times batting behind Jack Clark.  He later played for the Braves, Marlins, Reds,  and Royals.  Pendleton has a certified autograph in the 2004 Topps Fan Favorites set and is a great in-person signer, but I just never managed getting around to find one of his autographs.  Late last week I ran into a fellow collector who was looking to trade this gem for the new Five Star release and couldn't pass up this card.  

2001 Fleer Autographics Jeromy Burnitz Autograph

I also got this Jeromy Burnitz autograph as an additional card in the trade.  I was pretty happy to score an autograph of the Brewers former right-fielder.