Topps 1954 Ray Blades For the first time, the generator gives us a card from the 1950's. Ray Blades was a coach with the Cubs and he doesn't look very happy about it! After managing the Cardinals in 1939 and 1940, he bounced around the majors as a coach with three other teams before coming to the Cubs. Ray was born in 1896, making this one of the few cards (or maybe the only one) I have of someone born in the 19th century.
Pacific 1999 Sammy Sosa: Two week in a row for a card from Pacific 1999. Since he is not hopping, I would have to say that Sammy just flied out. This is card #66 in the set, the year after Sosa hit 66 home runs. That was kind of a cool thing for Pacific to do. Can I assume #70 is Mark McGwire?
Donruss 1983 Larry Bowa: Bowa is digging in at Wrigley. Notice he is wearing his hat under his batting helmet. Player don't do that anymore since they now must wear the helmet on the bases, too.
Bowman 2004 Grex Maddux: This was Maddux's first year back with the Cubs after 11 seasons with the Braves. The card looks like a photoshop job; the Cubs logo just doesn't look right on the jersey.
Donruss 1994 Jose Guzman: Guzman making a pitch in the spring at Wrigley Field. The picture on the back of the card was taken later in the season, showing him against green ivy instead of the brown ivy we see on the front of the card.
Thanks for the post :)
ReplyDeleteI love the Maddux card - it gives you an insight into what a pitcher has to put his body through. There you can see his back, elbow, arm and legs or working together to provide the velocity for a major-league type pitch. Given all that, after all these years, I can't imagine how he is even able to get out of bed.