Up For Grabs Cardinalpalooza: Chris Carpenter

Previously on the Cardinalpalooza: Mark McGwire | J.D. Drew | Colby Rasmus | Yadier Molina | Allen Craig | Stan Musial | Rick Ankiel | David Freese | Keith Hernandez | Steve Carlton | Lance Berkman | Lou Brock | Dennis Eckersley

It's no secret that Chris Carpenter is my favorite pitcher in the game right now, and possibly of all-time. Being that he's on my list of so-called top players that I collect, it's also no surprise that I have accumulated a lot of his doubles. The list of those doubles follows at the end of the post.

Carpenter has probably thrown his last pitch in the big leagues, but he was still working to get back to the mound as recently as this summer. The man had one of his own ribs (!) removed after suffering through pain and numbness in his shoulder and various other locations in his pitching arm just to try to prolong his career.

A lot of people seem to dislike him, and I get that. Most baseball players, especially Cardinals players it seems, are rather boring, non-personality having non-entities. Carp isn't one of those guys. When you take his fiery on-field mound intensity (totally genuine unlike, say, Kevin Garnett) and add it to the status of perennial contenders that the Cardinals seem to enjoy, and you get a mix that probably doesn't sit well with your average fan. People don't often like the angry yelling guy unless he's on their team.

Carp was a well regarded young pitcher who came up alongside Roy Halladay in the Blue Jays organization, but before he ever reached the Halladay level of success, he suffered a major injury that would sideline him for the entire 2003 season. The Cardinals snatched him up anyway, knowing that he wouldn't take the field in the season that came to be the "3 Nights in August" year. It wasn't until 2009 that he experienced something that's almost a rite of passage for big time young pitchers these days: Tommy John surgery. So at 36 years old, when he single-handedly led the Cards through a series-deciding playoff duel for the ages with his old boy Roy, I was beginning to feel that Carp's time was just about up. By the time the Cardinals pulled off the improbably World Series win, Chris Carpenter had logged more innings than anyone in professional baseball that year. It's no great wonder that he's only pitched 25 innings since (and none in 2013.)

The list:

2004 Topps Total #626
2005 Donruss Diamond Kings #217
2005 Topps #207 [3 available]
2005 Topps (Sporting News All-Stars) #727 [3 available]
2005 Topps Update (All-Star) #UH194
2006 Bowman Gold #44
2006 Fleer Tradition #51 [2 available]
2006 Fleer Tradition Black and White #51
2006 Fleer Ultra #39 [5 available]
2006 Fleer Ultra Strikeout Kings #SOK6 [3 available]
2006 Topps #488 [7 available]
2006 Topps (Cy Young Award) #261
2006 Topps Update (Postseason Highlights) #UH199 [3 available]
2006 Topps Update (All-Stars) #UH260 [2 available]
2006 Topps Own the Game #OG29
2006 Upper Deck Future Stars #65
2007 Bowman #124
2007 Fleer #42 [6 available]
2007 Fleer Ultra Retail #150 [7 available]
2007 Topps #240 [6 available]
2007 Topps Own the Game #OTG22
2007 Topps Opening Day #41 [4 available]
2007 Upper Deck #451
2007 Upper Deck #964 [4 available]
2007 Upper Deck (Team Checklist) #965 [4 available]
2007 Upper Deck Goudey Red Back #133 [2 available]
2007 Upper Deck MLB Artifacts #68 [3 available]
2007 Upper Deck SP Authentic #47 [2 available]
2007 Upper Deck SP Rookie Edition #47
2008 Bowman Chrome #60
2008 Topps #630 [2 available]
2008 Topps Gold Foil #630
2008 Topps Chrome #165 [2 available]
2008 Topps Chrome Refractor #165
2008 Topps Opening Day #151 [7 available]
2008 Upper Deck #651 [5 available]
2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes #158 [5 available]
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #2352
2008 Upper Deck First Edition # 470 [2 available]
2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces #85 [2 available]
2008 Upper Deck Spectrum #89 [2 available]
2008 Upper Deck Sweet Spot #27
2009 Topps #484 [3 available]
2009 Topps Ticket to ToppsTown #TTT66 [4 available]
2009 Topps First Class Ticket to ToppsTown #FCTTT66
2009 Topps Unique #38 [2 available]
2009 Upper Deck #345 [3 available]
2009 Upper Deck A Piece of History #87 [2 available]
2010 Bowman #45
2010 Bowman Gold #45
2010 Bowman Chrome #15
2010 Topps #479 [3 available]
2010 Topps (ERA Leaders w/ Tim Lincecum and Jair Jurrjens) #106
2010 Topps Chrome #99 [2 available]
2010 Topps Opening Day #153 [2 available]
2010 Upper Deck #474 [3 available]
2011 Bowman #96 [3 available]
2011 Topps #299
2011 Topps Lineage #38 [6 available]
2012 Topps #490
2012 Topps (ERA Leaders w/ Tim Lincecum and Roy Oswalt) #92
2012 Topps (World Series) #264
2012 Topps Gypsy Queen #138 [2 available]
2012 Topps Opening Day #96 [3 available]