Nothin' But Bangers

A-sides, hit singles, chart toppers, etc. 

When you deal with Baseball Card Breakdown, you know you're gonna get the good stuff. We completed a trade all the way back in the fall of 2016 involving a George Brett relic that I pulled, as well as some other items in my trade box, and Gavin responded in kind with a whole mess of shiny Cardinals.

Jack Flaherty is, the internet assures me, a starting pitcher and not a base burning infielder as his photo might suggest. He just completed his third season of pro ball at the age of 20, so it may be awhile yet before we know what kind of player he is.

David Freese, former World Series Hero and the pride of St. Louis, appears here on this gold plated Triple Threads card numbered to 99.

I'm not sure that I'd ever seen one of these gold parallels from the inaugural Bowman Platinum set from way back in 2010. This one features... sigh... former Cardinal Matt Holliday. That's going to take some getting used to.

Another one of my favorites of the bunch is this snazzy blue Prizm Matt Carpenter from 2015. Does everyone else work "snazzy" into your casual conversation at least once a day? No? Well, you should.

Adam Ottavino, when healthy, has been a surprisingly effective reliever with the Rockies after washing out as a Cardinal. Of course, it's that whole health thing that he needs to work on now.

Hopefully this is the year that Michael Wacha rebounds and can show some more of what he previewed back in 2013 when he was the NLCS MVP, but I am afraid my brain is copy-pasting these same words from another post from a year ago, and another one from two years ago, and probably another one from three years ago. We'll see.

I thought that Eduardo Perez was a really strange choice for the 2016 Archives Fan Favorites autographs set. He spent a number of years with the Cardinals, but mostly served as a backup/pinch hitting type. His most prominent playing time with the Redbirds came in replace of an ailing Scott Rolen as I recally. I can only assume he's in here because of his post-playing career broadcast work with ESPN.

Finally, Gavin is known for his inventive custom cards, and this is as good as it gets if you ask me. Here's 1990 Donruss-style Ozzie Smith, from the beloved Homer at the Bat episode of the Simpsons.