Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, and Craig Biggio never played for the St. Louis Cardinals, but one guy in this year's Hall of Fame class did, albeit quite briefly. John Smoltz made his last 7 career starts for the Cardinals in 2009, along with 2 innings in relief in the NLDS. Of course, almost no one outside of Boston or St. Louis - and probably even very few inside those cities - will ever think of Smoltz as a member of any team but Atlanta, which is where he earned his Hall of Fame plaque.
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| 2009 Topps Heritage #507 John Smoltz |
I wasn't sure if there were any cards showing him in a Cardinal uniform at all, or if I had any, but a quick search through Zistle showed me he had several issued, and I own exactly one, this nice horizontal Heritage card. The Cardinals picked him up on August 19, so it's actually pretty impressive that this card made it into the Heritage High Numbers set for 2009.
Looking at the current and upcoming Hall of Fame Ballots, I may be waiting a while for my next post like this. The best chances, though still slim, appear to be Lee Smith, Mark McGwire, Larry Walker, Jim Edmonds, Edgar Renteria, or Scott Rolen, and those last 3 won't show up on the ballot until 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively.
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