Current Cardinal, Former Cardinal, Bay Area Teams.

Just two random baseball cards for this evening.  Just clearing a few things off of my desk.  The Cardinals have had a quiet offseason compared to what the fan base was really hoping to see this winter.  The trade for Marcell Ozuna was nice, but seems to be the only splashy move the team is going to make in an effort to catch the Cubs.

The team also traded Stephen Piscotty, but that was because the outfield is really crowded and he has some things going on off the field that would be better dealt playing close to home with the A's.

Hope he does well with the A's next season.  

In the meantime, the trade gave me two new players to track down.  One of the players is Max Schrock, who is from Raleigh, and the other is Yairo Munoz.  I will do something with Schrock at some point, but Munoz actaully has some really nice cards floating around.  I picked up my first, a Bowman autograph, recently in a trade from a fellow collector.  

Munoz made it all the way up to Triple A last year with the A's and showed a little more pop in his bat than in he did in previous seasons in the lower Minors.  He had 13 home runs, 26 doubles, 4 triples, 68 RBIs, and 22 steals.  Not a great walk rate, but he's still just 22.  Really inexpensive card, good one to hold on to for awhile.  Let's hope he shows up at Busch Stadium sometime in the near future.  

Last card for tonight is a childhood favorite that I picked up in the same trade.  Just an interesting card that was sitting in someone's photo album.  Did not have to give up too much in trade for this Jack Clark autograph......

Always liked these Upper Deck Trilogy cards which were put out in 2005.  It's actually a sticker autograph, boo, but you can barely tell it's a sticker autograph when you scan the card.  Yes!  When you look at it in person it's clearly a sticker autograph.  Did I mention that this card didn't cost me very much in trade?  It lessened my Cubs cards if nothing else.  

This is actually my second Clark autograph out of this set.  I also have the version with the relic pieces on the bottom.  Tiny, tiny relics.  

This was several scanners ago thankfully.  This version of Clark's autograph is signed on card, which means it will probably remain my favorite Giants card of Jack Clark.  Overall, a pretty nice pair of cards for my Cardinals collection.  

2005 Upper Deck Trilogy Signature Materials Jack Clark Bat/Jersey/Autograph

I am a huge fan of the 80s Cardinals, but can find collecting the majority of the players on the team a little bit tricky.  There are plenty of Ozzie Smith cards to go around, but there were few other star players on a team that made three World Series appearances during the decade.  Every once in awhile a new autograph of one of the key players turns up, like my Terry Pendleton autograph last week, but that is a rare occurrence.

2005 Upper Deck Trilogy Jack Clark Bat/Jersey/Autograph

Often when I do find good players from the 1980s Cardinals teams they aren't pictured in a Cardinals uniform.  Players like Terry Pendleton, Jose Oquendo, Andy Van Slyke, Keith Hernandez, Vince Coleman, and Willie McGee all have autographed cards in a Cardinals uniform their signatures are often more commonly found on another team.  Some players like George Hendrick and Tony Pena played important roles on 80s Cardinals teams, but don't appear in a Cardinals uniform on a certified autograph.  

Jack Clark played on the Cardinals for three seasons between 1985 and 1987.  He was the only real home run threat on the team those years and performed well during the 1985 and 1987 seasons.  Clark was injured for much of the 1986 season.  His most important moment as a Cardinal came during the 1985 National League Championship Series when he hit this series clinching home run against the Dodgers.  

Clark left the Cardinals for the Yankees after the 1987 season and did not leave on great terms.  He's moved back into the St. Louis area after his playing career and mended the fences around town.  I enjoy picking up Clark cards and am often on the look out for them regardless of what uniform he's wearing on the card.  I really liked the looks of this card and was actually trying to scout out a Tim Raines version of this card when I stumbled upon this for dirt cheap.  I couldn't pass up an on-card autograph of the former Cardinals slugger.  It's hard to tell from the scan, but the background behind Clark is actually translucent.  Really cool card.