Kevin Kaduk, an MLB blogger (Big League Stew) for Yahoo Sports, is reporting that the baseball trading card company, Topps, is preparing to release its 2012 set to stores, but not before doing something that it has never done before.

Skip Schumaker, second baseman of the St. Louis Cardinals will not be featured on his own card. Instead, the St. Louis “rally squirrel” will be the focal point of the trading card.

Cardinals fans and baseball fans alike may remember the infamous squirrel that ran across home plate as Schumaker was up in Game 4 of the 2011 NLDS. The phenomena surrounding this little critter has taken on a life of its own supplanting it as a celebrity at Busch Stadium. It even has its own song now, written and performed by St. Louis native, Randy Mayfield.

Schumaker was selected by the Cardinals in the fifth round of the 2001 Amateur Entry Draft out of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

He has played in 269 games over a two-year span (2005-07) with Memphis. In his last stint with the Redbirds (2007), he hit .306 with seven home runs and 31 RBI in 59 games.

Last season he posted a .283 batting average with two home runs and 38 RBI. He was used in all different formats as he made appearances at his primary position, 2B, but also in LF, CF and RF.

 

By: Michael Stagno, Memphis Redbirds media relations

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