Andres Galarraga forgettable season as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Big Cat. El Gato Grande. Andres Galarraga. He played for seven teams during his illustrious baseball career. Aside from the last seven games of his tenure spent in an Anaheim Angels uniform, which one of the other six jerseys did he wear which didn’t really mesh? I’d say the St. Louis Cardinals.
Yes, imagining Galarraga in a San Francisco Giants or Texas Rangers uniform is hard to do, but he wore those threads after turning 40, in the twilight of his baseball days.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
The year he spent with the Cardinals was sandwiched between seven years with the Montreal Expos and five with the Colorado Rockies, in the prime of his playing days. He was All-Star with the Expos, winning multiple Gold Gloves. He was an All-Star with the Rockies, twice leading the league in home runs.
Galarraga was born and raised in the Expos system and enjoyed several years playing first base north of the border. Rather than risk losing him in free agency and unwilling to pay him, the Expos traded Andres to the Cardinals for a struggling pitcher named Ken Hill.
While Hill found himself in Montreal, winning 16 games twice, Galarraga struggled to gain a foothold during his lone year in St. Louis.
After breaking his wrist being hit with a pitch in the second game of the year, he entered July batting .185 with no home runs. He even looked bad wearing his number 41 jersey, after wearing a more succinct looking number 14 for years prior.
He was able to raise his average to .243 by years end, though his lack of power was part of the reason the Cards wilted towards the end of the season, finishing third in the NL East.
Happy to see him leave after the season, Galarraga signed with the expansion Colorado Rockies and after collecting their first hit in franchise history, continued to swing a hot bat. He’d finish the year with a league-high .370 batting average, in a crisp, clean, number 14 jersey.
Later he’d join forces with others to be known as the Blake Street Bombers and hit a career-high 47 home runs in 1996 for the Rockies.
Andres Galarraga would go on to have a productive, lengthy career, totaling 399 home runs and over 2300 hits. His time with the St. Louis Cardinals is an afterthought though.