Still Call Them "Trading Cards"

I was looking through some things and just realized that I forgot to enter a blog post for a big trade I made last month! One of the real fun parts of working on Project87 these past few months has been connecting with a community of people who are also collecting '87 Topps autographs. Through Twitter, I've "met" a bunch of people who are further along than I am and some who are just getting started. It would seem that none of them is pursuing this goal with quite the tenacity that Ryan Schear is. Ryan lives in Arizona and (like me) just started going after 87s this year. Unlike me though, he has already accumulated 450 of them!

As sort of a "project within a project," I'd especially like to get all of the Cardinals cards signed in the set. When Ryan heard this, he mentioned that he had duplicates of Jack Clark, and asked if I had any that I'd be willing to trade. I looked through my old cards I had gotten signed at games back in the 80s and found two that I had "doubles" of that he needed: Tom Hume and Luis Aguayo. He said he'd include another of his extras (Ken Schrom) and we had a deal! We sent each other the cards through the mail and in a couple days the trade was completed.

Clark was the one big bat in the Cardinals' pennant-winning lineups of 1985 & 1987. In '85, he only hit 22 home runs, but Andy Van Slyke was the only other player on that team with more than 10, and he only had 13! In 1987, Clark was the most dominant offensive player in the National League with a 1.055 OPS. Unfortunately, with 24 games remaining in the season he injured his ankle and was unable to start another game. Cardinal fans were left to wonder how things might have been different if only they'd had "The Ripper's" big bat for the World Series, which they would lose to Minnesota in seven games.

What Clark is best remembered for though is the two-out, ninth inning blast he hit off Tom Niedenfuer in Game 6 of the NLCS to send the Cardinals to the World Series. The image of (future Cardinal) Pedro Guerrero slamming his glove to the ground and Clark's tortoise-like trip around the bases will forever be cemented in the minds of fans of the 1980s Cardinals!

As for the second card in the deal, I honestly didn't even remember Schrom as a player. Turns out that he pitched exactly 900 innings in his seven year MLB career, going 51-51 with a 4.81 ERA. Mostly used as a starter, he pitched for Toronto, Minnesota and Cleveland, representing the Indians in the 1986 All Star Game. 1987 would turn out to be his final season in the majors.

Luis Aguayo

If you are wondering why I would have a post dedicated to a week-hitting middle infielder like Luis Aguayo, let me just say this: That is a very good question.  But it's a question to which I also have some very good answers.

First of all, as evidenced by the fact that on three different occasions I got his autograph, Luis Aguayo must have been a generous autograph signer.  That was not the case for all players...many preferred not to sign at all and some were downright rude about it.  Of course, if (like Aguayo) my career batting average was .236, I probably would be happy that anyone wanted my autograph in the first place!

Secondly, some years ago, I went through the cards I had gotten autographed as a kid and put them in alphabetical order.  As a result, Aguayo ended up on the top of the pile (unfortunately Hank Aaron never came to town).

Finally though, and most importantly, Aguayo is linked to a very memorable moment for me at Busch Stadium...though he wasn't even there!  The date was September 30, 1987.  I was at the ballpark for the second straight day.  On the 29th, the Cardinals swept double header against Montreal, on the strength of shutouts by pitchers Joe Magrane in game one and Greg Matthews game two.  That, coupled with a loss by the second place Mets had dropped our magic number from 5 to 2 over the course of six hours.

The Cardinals would lose on the this night, but somewhere around the 7th inning, I remember a message being placed on the scoreboard.  It announced that in Philadelphia, Luis Aguayo had hit a game-winning pinch hit home run off of Mets closer Jesse Orosco.  However popular Aguayo was with Phillies fans at that moment, he was even more so with Cardinal fans such as myself! 

The Cardinals would win the next night against Montreal to clinch the NL East championship.  The Mets were the Cardinals' heated rivals of that era, and would close out the season in St. Louis.  That night,, they were already in town, helplessly watching the action from the press box.

The Cardinals would go on to defeat the San Francisco Giants in seven games to win the NL Pennant.