#5- Edgar Renteria

 

My Two Cents- Edgar is a player I should collect, but do not for some reason. He was great on the Cardinals and has been inducted into the team's Hall of Fame.  Every once in awhile, I would find an Edgar Renteria autograph or relic card and make a post about the card, but those were far and few between. Ozzie Smith was better, but in all of my years of Cardinals fandom, Edgar was probably the second best shortstop I have seen don the birds on the bat.  I love this photograph on the front of the card with Edgar in the Cardinals Sunday blue hats from the late 1990s. The blue Cardinals hats are under worn and underrated.  Anyway, nice start to this card.  

The Card Back- Another look at the Cardinals Sunday blue hats here on the back of the card. I really like that the "DYK" section mentions one of his clutch career hits, in this case the 1997 World Series walk-off, which was really his calling card as a player. Edgar Renteria was extraordinarily clutch when it came to his offensive production. In fact, I have seen people argue that he should be in the Hall of Fame simply based on his Postseason resume. Beyond the World Series walk-off in 1997, Edgar also won the World Series MVP with the Giants in 2010.  It's really a shame that Skybox did not use his Postseason stats for the Love to Face and Hates to Face section of the card.  Loves to face Charles Nagy.....

Video Highlight of Edgar Renteria.....

#4 - Rafael Palmeiro

My Two Cents- Three-thousand hits, five-hundred home runs, and a bunch of Viagra commercials. I best remember Raffy for wagging his finger in front of Congress proclaiming he was not a steroid user a year before he failed a steroid test, blaming the failed steroid test on a bad B12 shot he got from Miguel Tejada, and then returned to the field with ear plugs to drown out the boo birds. Palmeiro was a terrific player, but the last few months of his career absolutely ruined himself with me.  Sorry if you are a fan, I am not. This is the hard part about doing a set blog, inevitably you run across a player you do not like. Rafael Palmeiro is the first, but certainly will not be the last.  

The Card Back- Palmeiro was a really good player and stats bare that out. It appears he's massaging his backside in this photo, maybe he was on "B12" in 1999 too.

Video Highlight of Raffy- Raffy's son played baseball for NC State and had this crazy little league home run in an ACC Tournament game.  

#3 - Brian Jordan

My Two Cents- I am a huge Brian Jordan fan, he's easily one of my favorite 1990s Cardinals players. Honestly, he should be a more broadly popular player given his status as a two-star athlete. If you are not familiar, Jordan played a few seasons with the Atlanta Falcons as a safety in the same defensive backfield as Deion Sanders. He quit playing football when the Cardinals signed him to a contract that included extra money to retire from the Falcons. Deion or Bo? If we're talking about baseball, then I am taking Brian Jordan. He easily had a better baseball career than either of those other two players. In all, Jordan played 15 seasons with the Cardinals, Braves, Dodgers, and Rangers and posted a 32.9 WAR with nearly 1,500 hits and almost 200 home runs. Great player, best two-sport baseball player, and a fun career to follow.  

The Card Back- The back features a nice photo of Jordan smiling, standing around the batting cage. The stats on the back of the card are from 1998, which was one of his better career years. He frequently batted fifth in the Cardinals lineup behind McGwire and Ray Lankford. I found the "Hates To Face" line interesting because his .256 batting average against the Giants does not seem all that bad. I did a little digging into Baseball Reference Jordan had some lower averages against other teams, but also had multiple home runs against them. For example, he only hit .258 against the Mets, but had 3 home runs and 8 RBIs in just 9 games. As I was saying, 1998 was a good year for Jordan. The "DYK" section mentions his two sport stardom.  

Video Highlight of Brian Jordan   

 

#2 - Jose Canseco

My Two Cents- One of the greats from the steroid era, it's hard to imagine having a baseball card set from the late 1990s without a card of Jose Canseco. Look at those unnaturally large forearms. This was near the end of Jose's career when he started bouncing around from team to team every year. After his second stint with the A's, he played for the Blue Jays, Devil Rays, Yankees, and White Sox. He also signed contracts with the Angels and Expos, but never played a game for either team. Jose could still hit at this point in his career. In 1999, he hit 34 home runs for the Rays in just 113 games. I imagine this is a photo of him hitting a home run, or maybe a really long, loud foul ball.  

The Card Back- Love the portrait photograph in the background of Jose standing with his bat. The "DYK" has an interesting factoid about Jose owning the record for most consecutive walks in a row.  I tried to do a little research about this record and could not find much about it anywhere on the internet other than David Dahl walked in 17 straight games in 2016. Maybe this record has fallen into some sort of black hole, because Jose is more or less banned from MLB for steroids.  

Video Highlight of Jose Canseco- You know what it is.......

#1 - Larry Walker

My Two Cents: Larry Walker was one of my favorite non-Cardinals of the late 1990s. He ended up on the Cardinals at the end of his career, but was a really fun player to watch in his prime with both the Rockies and Expos.  In 1999, Larry Walker won the National League batting title with a .379 batting average. He hit .461 at Coors Field that season, which is incredible regardless of thin air and altitude.  I like the old school soccer shin guard that he wearing in the photo, which was taken at one of the old concrete cookie cutter stadiums of the National League in the late 1990s. I am going to guess Cincinnati or Pittsburgh.  The Cardinals had grass.  

The Card Back- If you are not familiar with Skybox from this era, you are in for a treat with some of these card backs. The Vitals and Stats sections of these cards are pretty standard and straight forward. The Marlins were terrible in 1998 and Larry Walker loved facing them.  The Astros were very good in 1998 and Larry Walker did not like facing them. Seems pretty standard. I wish the "DYK" section was better here, they can be interesting on some of the card. Elvis Stojko is the best we can get here?  Yawn.  

Video Highlight of Larry Walker-