I thought they just sold bats. I didn't know that Louisville Slugger was also in the glove market. Not only did they sell gloves, but they also attached a baseball card to each glove. The cards were of players on their "Advisory Staff." There were 18 different cards on the gloves from 1982 through 1989. The cards are undated, but you can get an ideas as to when they were issued based on the career highlights mentioned on the card backs.
There was one Cub player on the Advisory Staff. It wasn't Ryne Sandberg, who won several Gold Gloves during that time. Jody Davis, Bob Dernier, and Andre Dawson also won Gold Gloves during those years. It wasn't any of them.
Notice the hole punched in the upper left corner. That was used to attach the card to the glove.
It was Gary Matthews. His card is from at the earliest, 1985, since a 1984 highlight is mentioned. Now remember, Matthews is on their Glove Advisory Staff. Guess what Matthews led the league in for the 1984 season...... errors committed by an outfielder. He was the leader in 1980 and 1986 as well.
I don't know about you, but I don't think I'd put a three-time league leader in errors on my glove advisory staff.
Never seen these before, but I feel like I do remember seeing cards being issued with gloves at some point. I looked at the checklist and it looks like there are a couple of Padres for me to collect from this set.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about him maybe not being the best choice for an advisor, but it's still a cool card!
ReplyDelete