• Card series: Pilgrims
• City: St. Louis
• Team: Cardinals
• League: National League

Edward J. Konetchy (1885-1947) reminisced about growing up in LaCrosse “when we used to get pictures of athletes out of cigarette boxes.” The big kid from Wisconsin not only carved out a worthy career as a NL 1st baseman, he lived to see himself on a few of those picture cards. “Koney” was the Cardinals’ best hitter & such a consistent speedster & fielder that John McGraw observed “Konetchy is worth the whole team,” & often tried to trade for him. A train wreck cast a pall over the Cards’ 1st good year with their young infielder, 1911. Many never recovered from the fatalities they witnessed, yet Koney & manager Roger Bresnahan were heroes, rescuing as many as they could. Many teams coveted the star & Pittsburgh finally pried Koney away from St. Louis in ’14.

• Konetchy was a marvel of consistency afield & at bat. He compiled more hits (2150) than games played (2085), a .285 BA, 992 RBI & 255 SBs
• Hit safely in 10 consecutive ABs in ’19 & stole home twice against Boston, 9/30/07