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  • Sealed 1997 St. Louis Cardinals keychain on its Tag Express header card, cardinal-on-bat logo visible through the poly bag.
  • Close-up of the St. Louis Cardinals keychain, red cardinal wearing a cap perched on a yellow bat, ยฉMLB 1997ยฎ on the ball.
  • Close-up of the Tag Express Sport Key Chains header card, showing the NFL, NBA, MLS, Notre Dame, NHL and MLB licensing seals.
  • Three sealed Tag Express Cardinals keychains together, cardinal-on-bat logo showing through the packaging on each.
  • Two sealed Tag Express Sport Key Chains Cardinals keychains side by side, header cards stacked above them.
  • Back of the Cardinals keychain header card, showing the UPC barcode, CARDINALS text and Made in China, with the keychain's black back visible through the bag.
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Vintage and Antique Gifts

Vintage 1997 St. Louis Cardinals Keychain ๐Ÿ”ด Last Year Logo โšพ NOS Tag Express Sealed

Vintage 1997 St. Louis Cardinals Keychain ๐Ÿ”ด Last Year Logo โšพ NOS Tag Express Sealed

17.00 USD
17.00 USD
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Size: 2 1/2" x 2 1/4" ~ Sealed in the original package. They vary a little one to the next.

โšพ The Last Year of a Classic Cardinals Logo

A sealed 1997 St. Louis Cardinals rubber keychain, still in its original Tag Express package with the hang hole intact. It carries the logo every Cardinals fan of a certain age grew up with: a cardinal in a ball cap perched on a yellow bat over a baseball, inside the red St. Louis Cardinals circle. That was the team's primary logo from 1966 through 1997. The Cardinals retired it after the '97 season, and the 1998 replacement only lasted one year before the next change, so 1997 was the last season for the old bird. The ball on the keychain even reads ยฉMLB 1997ยฎ to pin it down.

๐Ÿ”ฅ The Summer Big Mac Came to St. Louis

1997 was also the year the Cardinals changed everything. On July 31 they traded relief pitcher T.J. Mathews and minor leaguers Eric Ludwick and Blake Stein to Oakland for Mark McGwire, reuniting him with manager Tony La Russa. McGwire hit 58 home runs that year, 24 of them in a Cardinals uniform, including a 504-foot shot at Busch Stadium on September 3. On September 17 he signed a $28.5 million contract to stay. The next season, on September 8, 1998, he hit his 62nd home run off Steve Trachsel of Sosa's Cubs to pass Roger Maris, and he finished the year with 70. So this keychain comes from the season right on the hinge: the old logo's last year and Big Mac's first months in St. Louis.

๐Ÿท๏ธ Tag Express of Duluth, Georgia

The header card is Tag Express's "Sport Key Chains" line, laser-engraved durable rubber, made in China, and licensed across the major leagues. The same card turns up with Cubs, Braves and Arizona Cardinals keychains, so it was a league-wide line. Tag Express worked out of Duluth, Georgia, a Gwinnett County town that was Howell's Crossing until 1871, when it was renamed after Duluth, Minnesota once the railroad came through. Rico Industries bought Tag Express around 2000 or 2001, a few years after this card was printed.

This 1997 last-year-logo Cardinals keychain is a hard one to find, and once these are gone, they're gone.

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Returns & Exchange

Take your time โ€” you've got a full six months. If a piece isn't right for you, send it back the way it reached you and we're good.

In the first 30 days your money goes straight back the way you paid. After that it's store credit, so you can put it toward something you'd rather have.

Return shipping we sort out between us, case by case. I don't make this difficult.

If something arrives damaged, or it isn't what I said it was, send me a photo within 48 hours and I'll make it right.

Email info@vintageantiquesgifts.com or call 802-356-9872 โ€” that's me answering, not a call center.

The only things I can't take back are custom or special-order pieces and gift cards.

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a
amandacraysmcconnell

Great pieceโ€ฆ added to a bouquet to represent my grandfather.

c
cardinalal

Great item and sent fast

So glad you like it! I feel lucky to have found these as they are rare and so cool. Even though I have so much more of a collection to list I stay up with new finds and had to grab this for our community to enjoy! I can't help myself.