317 Keith Hernandez Baseball Cards

My box of 317 Keith Hernandez baseball cards. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

I’ve always liked Keith Hernandez. He was one of those players I knew about pretty early on in my childhood baseball fandom, which started right around 1986 and 1987, probably the peak of Hernandez’s fame. I knew Keith Hernandez played first base for the Mets and had an awesome mustache. I knew that his nickname was “Mex,” even though he wasn’t actually Mexican. (The 1980’s were a different time...) I knew the Cardinals had made a disastrous move by trading him to the Mets in 1983 for Neil Allen. (And Rick Ownbey, but as a kid it stuck in my mind as Hernandez for Allen.) And from the backs of his baseball cards, I knew that Keith Hernandez was a Civil War buff. I theorized from all of this that Keith Hernandez must be a pretty cool guy. (And this was before I knew that Keith smoked cigarettes in the dugout and did crossword puzzles.) I read Hernandez’s book If At First, a diary of the Mets’ 1985 season, when I was a kid, although I don’t know if I made it through all 400+ pages of it. And a good amount of it just went over my head, of course. As an adult, I read Hernandez’s entertaining book Pure Baseball, in which he examines two baseball games pitch by pitch. I remember finding the book in a used bookstore and thinking to myself, “Wow, going through a game pitch by pitch? That’s for like a hardcore baseball fan. Oh wait, that’s me.” And I always enjoy reading random articles about Keith and his cat, or whatever random things he’s been talking about on Mets broadcasts. 

Recently I had a dream that Keith Hernandez figured in somehow. I don’t remember exactly what it was, maybe I saw one of his baseball cards? Who knows, my subconscious focuses on odd things sometimes. After that I decided, “You know what? I need to get all of Keith Hernandez’s baseball cards.” I found an inexpensive lot on eBay. Fittingly enough, it was for 317 Keith Hernandez cards—Keith wore number 17 for the Mets. (The Mets retired his number in 2022.)  

The lot featured a nice variety of Hernandez’s cards from 1980-1991. Nothing super rare, but a few special cards beyond just the base issues from the major manufacturers.  

Keith Hernandez's iconic 1979 Topps card. 

The lot unfortunately didn’t include Hernandez’s iconic 1979 Topps card. This is a card that I’ve had since childhood, and it’s just so cool. Keith is looking off-camera, smiling and handsome, his iconic mustache now at it’s full glory. (Vern Rapp had forbidden facial hair during his stint as Cardinals’ manager, so Keith was clean-shaven on his 1978 Topps card.) As a kid, I remember finding it odd that the “STL” logo on Keith’s batting helmet was peeling off. (Same with the helmet on Lou Brock’s 1979 Topps card.)  

Hernandez’s 1980 and 1981 Topps cards are pretty cool as well. I can’t believe that Topps gave Keith card number 321 for the 1980 set, instead of a “star” number ending in 5 or 0. Hernandez had “star” numbers in the 1977 and 1979 sets, so I guess they were on an every other year pattern with Keith. But he led the majors in batting average in 1979, hitting .344! He was the co-MVP with Willie Stargell in 1979, of course he should get a star number card the next year!  

In 1987, Fleer still didn't realize that Keith didn't live in Saint Louis.

It’s funny to see that Fleer still thought that Keith lived in St. Louis in 1987. Obviously, no one at Fleer had read If At First, where Keith describes his East Side condo.  

These cards stuck in my memory. Athletes can be intelligent too!

Keith’s 1985 Topps card and his 1988 Topps Big card both reference his interest in the Civil War. As a kid who was also interested in the Civil War, I thought this was pretty cool, and proof that Keith must be a smart guy.  

Keith's 1991 Score and Fleer cards. It's so weird to see him with the Indians.

This lot of 317 cards also featured a few cards of Hernandez with the Cleveland Indians. It’s just weird to see Keith in a uniform that isn’t the Cardinals or Mets. Hernandez only played 43 games for the Indians in 1990 before injuries forced him to retire. This lot of Keith Hernandez cards brought back fond memories of one of the coolest baseball players of the 1970’s and 1980’s.