Today’s blog post has a pre-rookie “not so missing” 1979 card for former third baseman Ken Oberkfell, who was just embarking on a very nice 16-year Major League career:
Oberkfell appeared in two-dozen games for the St. Louis Cardinals during
the 1978 season, after making his Big League debut in 1977 with nine
games.
Over those 24 games in 1978, hit hit a disappointing .120 with six hits
in 50 at-bats, scoring seven runs while collecting his first
extra-base-hit, a double.
Of course as you know, he would go on to play 16 seasons in the Big
Leagues, the first eight with the Cardinals before moving on to the
Atlanta Braves for five years, before playing out his career with four
others between 1988 and 1992.
Oberkfell gave St. Louis a solid few seasons between 1979 and 1983,
never hitting below .289 while admirably manning third base, including
their 1982 championship season.
By the time he retired after the 1992 season, he finished with a .278
career average, with 1354 hits over 4874 at-bats and 1602 games, with
558 runs scored and 446 runs batted in.
