Last team card was one who languished significant amount of
time in St. Louis…here is the card of Cards the more successful St Louis
franchise….At the time of publication the Cards had won 12 NL pennants…out of
those 8 they came out World Champs…Since 1972, 3 World Championships and 4 more
WS appearances have taken place….Back of card show team records identical to the 1971 card....Many team records still hold up with the
exception of home runs (thank you modern medicine and Mark McGuire)…Bob Gibson
1968 season still holds many of the pitching marks….Records now eclipsed are
games appeared (by multiple closers), Win Pct (based on baseball reference has
a different # decision criteria than Topps)….Birth of the team took place in
1882 when they known as the Brown Stockings, then shorten to Browns (not to be
confused with the AL Browns)….Over 132 years team holds over 10,000 wins hovering
about 700-800 games over .500….The 1971 Cards buoyed by Joe Torre’s career year, Ted Simmons ascendency, and HOF pitchers Steve Carlson and Bob Gibson….finished with a 90-71 record good for second
place in NL east….1971 was a comeback of sorts from a losing 1970 season…. Cardinals
could not repeat the upsurge and settled back to 75-81 record in 1972…to this day a highly
formidable franchise since 2000.
My favorite back format for team cards.
ReplyDeleteIt is. A big improvement from pitcher vs team matrix of the sixties and I never cared for checklist style. It interesting what Topps made for criteria of records I believe it was post 1900 plus I think Topps went for the known name over facts. Cy Young does not own the record for hits given up. That record is actually held by two pitchers after Cy set his mark. That's right I'm a truth seeker.
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