Five Cards Whenever #37-41: Josh Smith, Jorge Mateo, Adam Wainright, Keegan Thompson, Brian Serven

See here for a headnote and explanation.

#37: Josh Smith

A second-round draft pick for the Yankees in 2019, Smith was traded to the Rangers in 2021 and made his debut with them last year, so another first-carder.

#38: Jorge Mateo

Led the American League in stolen bases in his first full season last year.

#39: Adam Wainright

Wainright is not having a good season at the moment: 3-9 with an 8.61 ERA in 77+ innings. But he’s just two wins away from 200, which these days might make him attractive for Hall of Fame voters. Reminds me of the scene in The Pride of the Yankees when Gehrig suggested he stop his consecutive game streak at 1,999, just to make it more interesting. Maybe Wainright — who has been with the Cardinals for his entire 18 big league seasons — should have retired with his batterymate Yadier Molina last year.

#40: Keegan Thompson

There’s a thread on some Facebook group that asks “what’s the first thing you think of when you think about” a specific ballplayer. When it comes to this guy, I can’t help thinking about a mashup of comedians Keegan-Micheal Key and Keenan Thompson. That said, I like that he appears in the “City Connect” uniform of the Chicago Cubs. Some people dislike those togs, but aside from the fact that I look at them as a money grab, I find them quite nice for the most part. Oh, yeah, Thompson. He was selected by the Tigers in the 33rd round of the 2016 draft but did not sign. The Cubs picked him as their #3 the following year. Split time between starting and relieving last year to the tune of a 10-5 record.

#41: Brian Serven

Yet another first carder, Serven served as a backup catcher for the Rockies last year. I keep wondering about the thinking that goes into selecting fewer than 500 players to appear on cards (including cards about teams, special events, stat leaders, etc.). BITD (get used to this acronym for “back in the day,” because I seem to use it a lot), you could almost put a full team together since there were only 20 of them. Now you have to be a lot more selective.

Tagged as: Adam Wainright, Brian Serven, Jorge Mateo, Josh Smith, Keegan Thompson, Topps