I have 5,274 Cubs cards from 13 different brands. A random number generator picked five of them. Here they are in the order selected.
Topps 1966 #204 Cubs Team Card This is the first team card selected. The 1966 team was Leo Durocher’s first. When hired, he stated, “This is not an 8th place team.” Leo was right, the team finished 1966 in 10th place, dead last, with a record of 59-103.
But there was some reason for optimism. During the season pitcher Fergie Jenkins and outfielder Adolfo Philips were acquired from the Phillies. Rookies Bill Hands, Ken Holtzman, and Randy Hundley made major contributions. Their future all star infield of Santo, Kessinger, Beckert, and Banks was in place. And so the groundwork for the exciting team of the late ‘60’s was in place and ready to explode in 1967 as they left the cellar and finished third.
Bowman 2005 #102 Aramis Ramirez This card is from one of many years of black Bowman cards. The picture has an old-school look to it, with the posed swing and the bat seeming to come out at us. Ramirez put up his usual good numbers in 2005, hitting .302 with 31 home runs and 92 RBI’s.
Upper Deck 1991 #334 Derreck May May was the Cubs #1 draft choice in the 1986 draft. Son of former big leaguer Dave May, Derreck was projected to be a star Cubs outfielder for many years. He appeared in 17 games in 1990 and it was hoped that 1991 would be his breakout season. But he spent all of 1991 at AAA Iowa and was called up to the Cubs in September. He got into 15 games and hit .227.
Stadium Club 1998 #176 Lance Johnson. This card has a nice picture of the ball coming off of the bat. One-Dog played for both the Cubs and the Sox. I’ll have to do a North Side – South Side feature on him sometime soon. He played in only 85 games in 1998, spending most of the first half of the season on the DL with an injured hand.
Fleer Ultra 2003 #110 Moises Alou. The photo on this card is really dark, with much of Alou’s face in shadows. Moises had a good season for the Cubs in 2003, helping lead the Cubs to the NL Central title. But his most memorable moment of the season is the foul ball he couldn’t catch in game six of the NLCS. I don’t fault Bartman, but place some blame on Alou for his child-like tantrum. As soon as he flipped out, I knew the Cubs were in trouble. You could sense the tenseness on the field and it seemed like the team lost its confidence. Yuk, those are some really bad memories.
A few weeks ago I wrote about this game in 1979, when the Cubs came back from a 12 run deficit to tie the game. But they ultimately lost the game in 10 innings.
The team's record for coming from behind to win a game is nine runs, done twice. The most recent time was on August 29, 1989 at Wrigley Field against the Houston Astros. I wasn't at this game (school had already started up, and I can't ditch when I am the teacher), but I did watch the game on TV as soon as I got home.
Starter Mike Bielecki lasted only 4 innings - Donruss 1989 #512
The Cubs starter, Mike Bielecki just didn't have it that day. He gave up two runs in the second and fourth innings and with reliever Dean Wilkins was tagged for five more in the fifth. The lowlight of the fifth was a grand slam given up by Wilkins to Astro shortstop Rafael Ramirez. After five, the Cubs were down 9-0. That is about the time I got home from work and turned on the game.
It still seemed pretty hopeless even after the Cubs scored twice in the sixth. They trailed by seven with only three innings to go. They tallied three more in the seventh and my thought was that at least the score would now look respectable in tomorrow's paper. A 9-5 loss looks alot better than 9-0.
But the Cubs had other ideas. The put together a four run rally in the 8th to tie the game. Most of the runs scored on singles with Ryne Sandberg, Lloyd McClendon, and Mark Grace leading the way. The tying run scored on a double play, with Dwight Smith hitting a sacrifice fly that scored McClendon, while Mark Grace was thrown out trying to advance to second.
Lloyd McClendon went three for five with three RBI's - Bowman 1989 #287
The Cubs bullpen did a nice job of holding the Astros scoreless for five innings. Calvin Schiraldi, Scott Sanderson, Les Lancaster, and Paul Assenmacher were up to the task.
After a scoreless ninth, the Cubs game up against Houston closer Dave Smith in the tenth. Jerome Walton coaxed a leadoff walk. He was sacrificed to second by Ryne Sandberg. Lloyd McClendon's third hit of the day got Walton to third but he was held there. The game ended when Dwight Smith lifted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Walton and Wrigley Field went nuts and a crowd of 25,829 went home happy. In only four innings, the Cubs turned a 9-0 deficit into a 10-9 victory.
Jerome Walton was 0-4 but scored three runs including the game winner - Upper Deck 1989 #765
Dwight Smith game into the game in the 7th inning and was 2 for 2 with 3 RBI's - Score 1989 #642
Jim Marshall is in select company as someone who both played for and managed the Cubs. And as far as success goes, as a player and as a manager, he would be at the bottom of both lists.
Marshall spent one and a half of his five year major league career in a Cubs uniform. He was acquired from the Orioles off of waivers in August, 1958. He played in 26 games after joining the team and hit five home runs. Perhaps this gave the team some optimism about his future. But he had a very average season for the Cubs in 1959, hitting .252 with 11 home runs in 108 games. After the season he was sent to the Giants. He later played for the Mets and Pirates before his major league career was over in 1962.
The only card of Jim Marshall with the Cubs is this Topps 1959 card, #153. He is wearing an Orioles uniform in a picture that was taken at Yankee Stadium.
But his playing days weren't finished. He spent three seasons in Japan playing for the Chunichi Dragons. When he returned to the states, he looked to get into managing and landed a position with the Cubs Class A team in Lodi in 1968.
He worked his way up the ladder, managing in AA ball before being names skipper of the Cubs AAA team in Tacoma for the 1971 season. He continued at AAA until being named the Cubs third base coach in 1974.
Topps 1974 #354 shows Jim Marshall as one of the team's coaches
His rise to the top was completed when he was named the manager of the Cubs on July 24, 1974. Marshall spent the next two and a half seasons leading the team to mediocre finishes. In fact, the team had identical records in 1975 and 1976 of 75-87. He was fired following the 1976 season by new team GM Bob Kennedy.
Topps 1975 #638 Cubs Team Card with manager Jim Marshall, regular team photo
Topps 1976 #277 Cubs Team card with Manager Jim Marshall, floating head style
Marshall would have one more season as a major league manager, leading the A's in 1979. Their record was even worse than anything he did with the Cubs, finishing last with only 54 wins and 108 losses.
Mediocrity....thy name is Jim Marshall
An airbrush special, with Hickman in a Dodger uniform
My 1969 Update card for Jim Hickman
When the Cubs acquired outfielder Jim Hickman from the Dodgers in April of 1968, his major league career was in doubt. Hickman broke into the big leagues as an original Met in 1962 and had five solid but unspectacular seasons in New York. He was traded to the Dodgers for the 1967 season but hit .163. He didn't make the team in 1968 and was sent to the minors. It is not a good career move for a 30 year old veteran to be sent to AAA. He moved to the Cubs AAA team after the trade, but a month later was called up after hitting .344 at Tacoma.
The stint in the minors somehow change Hickman because in 1969, at the age of 32, he had the best year of his career up to that point. He played in 134 games, most as the Cubs right fielder. Though he hit only .237, he blasted 21 home runs and knocked in 54 runs. He was a quiet steady influence on the team.
He peaked the following season, hitting an amazing .315, almost 65 points above his career average. He knocked out 32 homer runs and drove in 115 runs. If his numbers jumped like that today, there would be whispers of steroid use. Back then, people just said he finally figured things out. He was 8th in the MVP balloting and also made his only all star appearance.
The all star appearance was also one of the most replayed events in all star history, though most don't connect the event to Jim Hickman. In the bottom of the twelfth inning he rapped a single. Pete Rose was on second and Cub manager Leo Durocher, who was coaching at third base waved Rose in. He flew into home and barreled over the catcher, Indian Ray Fosse, to score the winning run. Fosse's career was never the same after that, and the incident was a hallmark of Rose's career. But it was Jim Hickman's bat that made it all happen.
Rose, running over Ray Fosse, with Leo Durocher also visible.
Another shot of the collision
#62 - Chico Salmon Chico came to the Pilots from the Indians. The Pilots and the Padres share the brown colored name circle. The color makes sense for the Padres, but not for the Pilots, who had blue as their primary color.
#63 - Jim Hickman - another Cub, he gets his own post tomorrow
#64 - Bill Monbouquette Bill probably has the longest last name in the set. Look how small they had to make the font on his last name. Bill is shown in Yankee pinstripes. The Giants obtained him mid-season, 1968.
#65 - Willie Davis A nice shot of the Dodger star.
#66 - Orioles Rookies Adamson looks scared to death and Rettenmud looks thrilled to be on a baseball card. Merv would have several good seasons with the powerhouse Orioles of Earl Weaver in the early '70's. Rettenmund was signed by the Orioles in 1964 so I'm not sure what Topps had to airbrush out. Was the photo of him with a minor league hat?
#67 - Bill Stoneman Stoneman is pictured in a Cubs uniform, the team the Expos drafted him from. He was nothing special with the Cubs over two seasons, but tossed a no-hitter for the Expos in only their ninth game in 1969. He had another no-hitter in 1972.
#68 - Dave Duncan Tony LaRussa's right hand man is shown with an airbrushed KC A's hat. Most catchers at this time were still catching two handed, like Duncan is shown. Johnny Bench and Randy Hundley were the one handed pioneers.
#69 - Steve Hamilton The 6'7" lefty is posing at Yankee Stadium. The back of the card says he played pro basketball for the Lakers. He was a second round pick of the Minneapolis Lakers in 1958 and played two season for the Lakers. His baseball career ended in with the Cubs, making 22 appearances in 1972.
#70 - Tommy Helms Helms taking a cut at Shea. The Reds last wore sleevesless uniforms in 1966. Why did Topps not take a picture of him since then?
Overall Set Totals (player cards only)
Hall of Famers - 4
Hatless - 20
Airbrush - 11
Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 9
#53 - Sonny Jackson Sonny spent the entire 1968 season with the Braves, but Topps digs out a photo of him with the Astros and airbrushed the hat. That's an interesting look on Sonny's face.
#54 - Cisco Carlos Cisco is posing at spring training in Sarasota. The Sox were one of a few teams to wear TV numbers on their sleeves in the 1960's.
#55 - Jerry Grote I will have very little to say about any of the Mets in the set because if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
#56 - RIch Reese Forgive me if this is politically incorrect or insensitive, but it looks like Reese throws like a girl. His arm is at a very weird angle to throw the ball. Sorry ladies!
#57 - Series One Checklist The checklists included pictures of various All Stars, with 30 game winner Denny McLain on this one.
#58 - Fred Gladding Fred is pictured in a Tigers uniform. Both he and McLain were teammates and they look like twins. Compare this card with the checklist; same glasses, same smile. But where McLain won 30 games in one season, Gladding hadn't won 30 games in his six year career.
#59 - Jay Johnstone A rare card in which a batter is actually wearing a batting helmet. Jay looks like his is 16 years old. He would later spend 2 1/2 seasons with the Cubs in the early '80's.
#60 - Nelson Briles Nelson is looking all business in this spring training pose. And I will say it again, the yellow and red in the name circle match perfectly with the yellow and red on the Cardinals uniform. This is the best use of color in the set.
#61 - Jimmie Hall He was the AL rookie of the year for the Twins in 1963 and then spent the rest of his career trying to duplicate that season. He never could. He is pictured here in an Angels uniform. Jimmie came over to the Cubs at the tail end of the 1969 season and and stuck around for the early part of the 1970 season before being released. Since Topps have update sets back then, I had to create a Cubs card for Jimmie
Overall Set Totals (player cards only)
Hall of Famers - 4
Hatless - 18
Airbrush - 7
Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 6
I was able to pick up the 2009 Bowman Cubs team set off of ebay last week. There are 10 players in the base set and four in the prospect set. Today I'll feature the base cards. I'll show the prospects sometime soon.
First, a little about the cards. What is the deal with Bowman and black? I'll admit that I don't know much about the Bowman brand. Is there some reason why black has been the featured color on their cards for the past several years?
One thing that I you don't see too often is the player's uniform number on a card. Bowman has it in the bottom left of the card. I like that. However, the front of the card does not list the player's team. That, I don't care for.
Here are the ten Cubs cards, in alphabetical order.
#104 Milton Bradley This card features a pretty bad photoshop job. The red C on the hat is too big and the "Chicago" on the jersey looks ridiculous. I'm guessing this was taken when in 2008 when Bradley was with the Rangers. If you look at the left edge of the dugout, you see some of the lettering for "Rangers.com."
#96 Ryan Dempster A nice posed shot of the Cubs starter at spring training in Mesa.
#190 Kosuke Fukudome The Cubs outfielder is taking a swing at Wrigley. He has an interesting looking signature. I wonder what his signature looks like in Japanese?
#31 Rich Harden It looks like a shot from spring training. Harden's only spring with the Cubs was this spring, 2009. Did they take a picture in February and then get the card printed by May? Does Topps need more lead time than that?
#172 Derrek Lee This was taken at spring training, too because the Cubs are sitting on the first base side. It also looks like 2009 because the numbers and name on his back have the red trim missing (compare this to the letters and numbers on Soriano's back)
#17 Ted Lilly Ted is warming up in the bullpen at Wrigley Field.
#163 Aramis Ramirez The Cubs third baseman is taking a lead on the road. The Cubs sure are missing his bat in the lineup right now.
#176 Alfonso Soriano Soriano is waiting for a pitch at the Friendly Confines. Notice the red trim on the name and numbers, which is what the jerseys looked like last year.
#164 Geovany Soto A nice action shot of the NL rookie of the year. But I don't like that you can't see his face. If they want to use an action picture, use one of him with his mask off. I've never understood the point of a card of a player if you can't see what he looks like.
#131 Carlos Zambrano Big Z is on the hill at Wrigley. He just came off the DL and the Cubs need strong pitching from him, now that Harden has gone to the DL.
Total keeps going up and now the Sean-O-Meter is in four figures! Thanks this week to John and David.
In this post I talked about Dick Selma, who was a pitcher and Bleacher Bum cheerleader for the 1969 Cubs. MattR asked about a 1969 Cubs card of Selma. Ask, and it shall be given unto you!
All of the people who are participating in this have a blog, or at least something similar. For this question, I just want to know about the reasons you do what you do. Why do you blog? What made you choose Sports Cards as your topic of choice? What got you started? What has been your favorite post from your own work?
When I started collecting baseball cards again after many years away, I knew nothing about today’s hobby. What I knew was Topps, Fleer, and Donruss, one set each plus a traded set per year. Today’s hobby is far more complicated than that. I needed to re-educate myself and so I went searching around cyberworld to see what I could learn.
I found many of your blogs and started reading them daily. You all informed and entertained me and I appreciated that. I found several team-specific blogs, but could never find a blog dedicated to cards and the Cubs.
I thought it odd that a team with such a wide-spread following (thank you WGN) had no one blogging on Cubs cards. For months that sat in the back of my mind and a voice kept whispering “why don’t you do it.” I was busy with other things, so I ignored the voice.
But as winter approached, I was looking for an on-going activity to keep me busy. Last winter I was putting Cubs team sets together. With that done, if figured, why not, and started thinking more seriously about starting a blog. Plus, the blog would be much lighter on the wallet than what I did last winter!
I love baseball, I love baseball cards, and I am a Cub fanatic. It was time for me to share these passions with the rest of the world!
Because I write at work every day, the writing part would be no big deal. The content part of the blog was covered because my mind is filled with way too much Cubs information and I have way too many Cubs cards (well, actually, there is no such thing as too many Cubs cards!). So over Christmas vacation I took the plunge and on New Years Day Wrigley Wax was live.
I really enjoy the opportunity to share Cubs related topics with you. I know there are many who have less than favorable opinions about the Cubs and their fans. I hope I have at least been able to get you to see that there are some decent Cubs fans out there. It’s also been nice to connect with other Cubs fans and share our misery!
When thinking about my favorite post, I guess it would have to be this one, in which I shared with you what had happened to my son Sean. It is not the content of the post that makes it my favorite, but the response of you, the baseball card blogging community. So many of you responded to my request and were kind enough to send cards to Sean. I cannot tell you how much I appreciated that.
After that, my favorite post is my next post. And as long as I can keep saying that, I’ll keep writing.
This is the card that started it all, my very first Cubs card, from 1961, Frank Thomas, in all of its creased and worn glory
#43 - Joe Niekro At this point in his career, Joe was a young hard-throwing pitcher. It wasn't until much later that he took to the knuckle ball like big brother Phil.
The biggest contribution Niekro made to the Cubs of 1969 was the player brought to the team in exchange for him. Joe only pitched in four games for the '69 Cubs before he was sent, along with two other players, to the Padres.
The Cubs received pitcher Dick Selma. Selma had two roles with the Cubs. First, he became the fourth starter. He had a 10-8 record in that role.
But I remember him not as a pitcher, but as the cheerleader for the Bleacher Bums. While sitting in the bullpen on his off-days, he would wave a towel and get the Bleacher Bums stirred up. This was another of the magical pieces of the 1969 season.
There is no Topps card of Dick Selma with the Cubs. He is a Padre in the 1969 card and he was traded to the Phillies after the '69 season and is a Phillie in the 1970 card. The closest Cub connection is the cartoon on the back of his 1970 card:
#37 - Curt Motton A nice shot of a guy I never heard of taking a cut at Yankee Stadium. This photo wouldn't have been too old since Motton has the cartoon bird on his hat.
#38 - Zoilo Versalles How quickly they fall. In 1965 he was the AL MVP as he led the Twins to the World Series. Now he is still in a Twins uniform, but hatless and looking ticked off as he heads to the expansion Padres. He wasn't even good enough for the Padres, as they sent him to the Indians in December, 1968. And then the Indians sold him to the Senators during the 1969 season.
#39 - Dick Hughes Dick looks pretty stylish with those glasses! I like that Topps used yellow as the Cardinals color. The red name and yellow circle match nicely with the birds on bat logo. So why did they use orange as the Cubs color?
#40 - Mayo Smith Mayo is looking pretty strong and confident here, like someone who just led his team to the World Championship. By the way, what kind of name is Mayo? And how many "hold yourself" jokes (you know, hold the mayo) did he hear?
#41 - Bob Barton In a typical catchers pose at spring training.
#42 Tommy Harper This is the first card for a Pilot. He was the Pilots third pick in the expansion draft, taken from the Indians. He would be one of Seattle's top players.
#43 - Joe Niekro The second Cubs in the set, Joe gets his own post tomorrow.
#44 Danny Cater Another hatless A's player. Cater was second in the league in hitting in 1968.
#45 Maury WIlls Maury was taken by the Expos from the Pirates (he is in a Bucs uniform). That is a pained look he has on his face. I guess the Topps photographers don't tell the players to say "Cheese!" Who is that looking over Maury's hat?
Overall Set Totals (player cards only)
Hall of Famers - 3
Hatless - 15
Airbrush - 4
Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 2
Thirty years ago I was lucky enough to be at Wrigley Field for one of the best Cubs games, ever. On May 17, 1979, the Cubs lost to the Phillies in ten innings by the score of 23-22. Yep, you read that right, 23-22. It was an amazing game.
Photo of the scoreboard from the New York Times website
My story...
I was a senior in high school in 1979 and we picked May 17 as our senior ditch day. Several of us planned an outing to the bleachers at Wrigley Field. Getting tickets to a game was so much easier back then. This was before Wrigley had lights, so tickets to weekday games in April and May were a snap to get. The bleacher tickets were $1.50 and sold only on the day of the game (today they are $60 and sell out the first day they are available in February). We arrived at the park around 11:30 and got right in. We settled in the right field bleachers in about the fifth row.
I don't remember it being that windy, but the wind definitely was blowing out. The game saw a total of eleven home runs, which tied the record for most home runs in a game. Mike Schmidt hit two and Dave Kingman hit three!
Mike Schmidt, two dingers, Dave Kingman, three
The first inning set the stage for the entire day. Cubs starter Dennis Lamp lasted only 1/3 of an inning was was tagged for six runs. His relief Donnie Moore gave up a home run to Phillies starter Randy Lerch and before the Cubs even came to the plate they were down 7-0.
Lerch's home run was the highlight of his day, because he too lasted only 1/3 of an inning. Kingman hit his first homer of the day in the first as the Cubs scored 6 runs and trailed 7-6.
The two starting pitchers, each lasting on 1/3 of an inning.
The second inning was a rarity, one in which both teams failed to score. But the Phillies put an 8 spot on the Cubs in the top of the third and just like that the Cubs were behind by nine runs! The Cubs did not answer the Phillies like they did in the first, going scoreless in the third.
The Phillies kept their run parade going in the fourth as they added two more runs, but the Cubs answered with three in the bottom of the inning as Kingman and Steve Ontiveros hit back to back homers. But the score was 17-9 and Cubs were still down by 8.
The top of the fifth saw four more Phillies cross the plate and when the Cubs came up in the bottom of the fifth, they trailed 21-9. Usually when your team scores nine runs in the first four innings you feel pretty good. We didn't feel good. We were trying to decide how much longer to stick around at the park.
Well, the bottom of the fifth helped us decide to stay awhile longer. The Cubs put a seven spot on the board and narrowed the gap to five, 21-16 The highlights of the inning were a two run shot by Kingman (his second of the day) and a grand slam by Bill Buckner. Buckner's shot landed close to where we were sitting. I've watched replays of the game, looking for myself, but there was never a good enough shot to see me.
And when the Cubs scored three more in the bottom of the sixth as Kingman hit his third home run, they were within two runs. Wrigley Field went crazy. The Phillies added one in the top of the seventh and when the Cubs came up in the bottom of the eighth, they trailed 22-19. Five singles later, the game was tied! The Cubs had come back from a 12 run deficit to tie the game. It was absolutely the craziest thing I have ever seen.
Bullpen ace Bruce Sutter came in to pitch the ninth and got the Phillies out pretty easily. It was on to the bottom of the ninth, and as announcer Jack Brickhouse would say, "Any old kind of a run wins." Unfortunately. the Cubs went 1-2-3. It was on to extra innings. This was the first time since the second inning that an inning was scoreless.
Sutter again was on the hill in the tenth and got three easy outs. But squeezed between the outs was a monster home run by Mike Schmidt to give the Phillies the lead. Now when the Cubs batted in the bottom of the tenth, it was score or go home. And Dave Kingman was going to be up second in the inning. We were sure good things would happen. We were wrong! Kingman struck out as the Cubs again went down 1-2-3. The game was over and the Phillies won, 23-22.
Rawly Eastwick picked up the win, Sutter took the loss
Wow! What a game, what a day. Even though the Cubs lost, it felt like they won. How can you not feel good about a game in which you wipe out a 12 run deficit. The game tied the record for most home runs in a game and the 97 total bases set a record.
My very messy scorecard ended up looking like this:
The attendance for the game was 14,952. I've got the ticket stub, the scorecard, and the memories and I proudly say that I was one of the 14,952 to witness history!
The expectations for the 2009 Chicago Cubs are high. After two straight years of playoff flops, fans are getting impatient. We now expect the team to win the division (wow, I can't believe I just typed that), and then move on into the playoffs and have some success.
Fate, it seems, may have other ideas, as the injury bug has hit the team hard. Right now, #1 starter Carlos Zambrano and #1 RBI man Aramis Ramirez are on the Disabled List. Zambrano should return soon, but Ramirez is out at least six more weeks.
This reminds me of the 1985 season, when the Cubs had the same expectations. After a momumental collapse in the 1984 NLCS, fans were looking forward to the '85 season with the hopes of getting back to the playoffs and finishing what they couldn't in 1984.
The team got off to a good start in 1985 and in mid-June they were in first place. And then the injury bug hit and it hit hard. At one point, four of the starting pitchers were on the DL at the same time!
The backs of these 1986 Donruss cards mentions the injury of each pitcher.
Rick Sutcliffe was the first to go down, placed on the DL on May 20. He returned to the DL on July 8 and then went back a third time in late July.
The next to fall was Steve Trout, who was place on the DL on July 23 and then transferred to the 21 day DL on August 11.
The third starter to go down was Dennis Eckersley who went on the DL on August 11 (which is why Trout was moved to the 21 day list).
And finally, Scott Sanderson was hurt and out for the season as he was placed on the 60 day list three days later, on August 14.
After the All Star break, these four starters pitched in only 27 of 72 games. I don't know of any team that could handle the loss that many games from their starters. The 1985 Cubs sure couldn't. They ended the season in fourth place, 77-84.
I sure hope that 2009 is not a repeat of 1985!
This is one of the worst pages in the entire album, as 7 of the 9 cards have some sort of problem.
#28 - Mike Ryan If Mike is on the Phillies, then why is he at Yankee Stadium? And where is his hat?
#29 - Dave Morehead Our first Royals player, hatless Dave was acquired from the Red Sox, which explains the red piping on the jersey.
#30 - Bob Allison A pretty nice looking card with Allison at spring training in the standard, kneeling batter pose.
#31 - Mets Rookies Both of these players made it, although Otis made it big with the Royals, not the Mets. Gentry was only in the Mets organization and Otis had been with the Mets since 1966 so I'm not sure what Topps had to airbrush out.
#32 - Sammy Ellis This member of the California Angels is wearing a Cincinnati Reds uniform while playing the Mets at the Polo Grounds, circa 1963. Why would Topps have to use a five year old photo? And Ellis looks mad that they made him take his hat off.
#33 - Wayne Causey Our fourth hatless player on the page, Wayne is wearing a White Sox uniform. You can make out the "C" at his buttons, the second C in Chicago.
#34 - Gary Peters While initially the card looks ok, it's not. Peters is in a uniform that the Sox ditched after the 1966 season, making the photo at least three years old.
#35 - Joe Morgan Copyright issues kept Topps from showing the Astros logo or using the team name, which is why the card says "Houston" instead of "Astros." That is why Joe is shown hatless. And yes, I can't stand him on ESPN. Does anyone like Joe?
#36 - Luke Walker If only his middle name was Sky! This is a nice shot of young Luke at spring training in Bradenton, Florida. And may the force be with you.
Overall Set Totals (player cards only)
Hall of Famers - 3
Hatless - 12
Airbrush - 3
Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 1
Babbling idiots on ESPN - 1
And here is my updated version of the 1969 card, with Ernie in action
1969 was going to be a banner year for Ernie Banks. He was going to hit his 500th career home run (he needed 26 and had hit 32 in 1968) and he was going to lead the Cubs to the post-season.
Poor Ernie...he was 0 for 2; no 500th home run, no post-season. In fact, Ernie played in more games without a postseason appearance than any other player in baseball history. Sad, but true.
His 1969 card is nice enough looking, except it is the same photo that Topps used the year before. Even future hall of famers get the repeat treatment from Topps.
Ernie played in 155 games in 1969 which isn't too bad for a 38 year old with bad knees. This was his last full season as a player. He got the season off with a bang as he hit two home runs on opening day. He ended the year with 23 and he knocked in 106 runs. The stats say that Ernie did all he could to help the team win. But he slowed down considerably in September. He hit only two home runs and had 14 RBI's for the month. Age may have caught up with him when the team needed him most.
But we still love Ernie anyway.
Hitting for the cycle is one of the most difficult things to do in all of baseball. For the Cubs, it is even more difficult than throwing a no-hitter. The franchise has had 13 no hitters while only 11 cycles.
The last player to do it for the Cubs was Mark Grace, who did it at Wrigley Field on May 9, 1993. In typical Cubs fashion, they still lost the game, falling to the Padres 5-4.
Grace started the day with a double in the first inning.
All of the cards are from 1993.
Double: Bowman and Score
He singled in his second at bat in the third inning.
Single: Leaf
His only out of the day was when he lined out to right in the fifth inning.
Grace's next at bat in the seventh inning saw him getting the hardest part of the cycle, the triple. For Grace it was extra tough because he didn't have much speed.
Triple: Fleer, Fleer Ultra, and Pinnacle
When the game reached the ninth inning, the Cubs trailed 5-1. Grace was due up fifth in the inning so it was not a given that he would even bat again. But the Cubs staged a mini-rally getting two men on with two outs when Grace came to the plate. I'm sure he knew he needed a home run to get the cycle and I'm sure he was swinging for it. The baseball gods were smiling on Mark Grace, because on a 2-2 count he belted a home run. The blast brought the Cubs within a run, but the next batter, Ryne Sandberg, lined to short to end the game.
Home Run (clockwise): Donruss, Topps, Stadium Club, and Upper Deck
It was a big day for Mark Grace and another loss for the Cubs.
So often we focus so much on what's on the front of a card that we miss some interesting things on the back.
I was reminded of that as I was going through my Leaf cards.
The 1993 cards look like this on the front. It is a typical no border card, nothing terrible, but nothing to write home about.
But for some reason the back really caught my eye. Four different pictures are used in the background, each featuring Chicago scenes.
This Steve Buechele card had a picture of Buckingham Fountain, which is in Grant Park on the lakefront. It is the same fountain featured in the opening sequence of "Married With Children." The fountain is pretty impressive at night, with various lights and all.
On Jose Guzman's card we see two of Chicago's skyscrapers in the background, the John Hancock Building on the left and the Sears Tower on the right. Both buildings have observatories at the top. The Sears Tower is making a very interesting addition to their sky deck.
Over Mark Grace's shoulder we have another view of the Sears Tower. At the time these cards were made the Sears Tower was the world's tallest building. It has since lost its world crown, but remains the tallest building in North America.
Randy Myers' card gives us a look north on Michigan Avenue. The two tall buildings have a Cubs connection. The building on the left is the Wrigley Building, headquarters for the gum company and former owners of the Cubs. On the right is the Tribune Tower, headquarters for the Cubs' current (at least for a month or two) owner, Tribune Company. One picture sums up nearly 90 years of ownership.
These are the only cards from the set I have. What landmarks are featured on the cards from other teams? And what about the White Sox? Did they use the same Chicago pictures or different ones?
Today we finish up the league leaders and get to some actual cards.
#10 - National League Pitching Leaders Wow, what a card. Three Hall of Fame pitchers including Cub Fergie Jenkins. And look, Gibson looks so friendly.
#11 - American League Strikeout Leaders Two more Indians! Well, actually, the same two Indians. Why is McLain giving Tiant that look? And doesn't McDowell look a little like Charlie Sheen in that picture? Wild Thing!
#12 - National League Strikeout Leaders Smiling Bob Gibson completes a sweep, appearing on all three pitcher cards. And Fergie is on two of three.
#13 - Mickey Stanley One of the 1968 World Series heroes get the player first card in the set.
#14 - Al McBean Two player cards and already we have a hatless player. McBean is wearing a Pirates uniform and I doubt he would have such a happy look on his face if he knew he was going to an expansion team.
#15 - Boog Powell A pretty young and relatively trim looking Oriole slugger
#16 - Giants Rookies The Giants were 0 for 2 with these prospects. The airbrush shows up for the first time, too.
#17 - Mike Marshall Another hatless expansion player, he looks like he knew he was going to the Pilots.
#18 - Dick Schofield Dick is sporting a nice flat top haircut. He is also wearing a Pirates uniform, whom he last played for in 1965. No new pictures in the files, Topps?
Overall Set Totals (player cards only)
Hall of Famers - 0
Hatless - 3
Airbrush - 1
Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 0
Looking throught the Topps 1969 set, nine cards at a time
#1 - American League Batting Leaders. 1968 was the year of the pitcher and Yaz led the AL in hitting at .301, the league's only .300 hitter. Danny Cater's picture has him in a White Sox uniform, a team he last played for in 1966.
#2 - National League Batting Leaders The Alou brothers let Pete Rose join their party. NL hitters did better that the AL, with Rose hitting .335, one of five .300 hitters.
#3 - American League RBI Leaders Not one Hall of Famer in the bunch and Harrelson is in a Senators uniform.
#4 - National League RBI Leaders One of my favorite cards in the set, with two of my favorite Cubs featured.
#5 - American League HR Leaders Just like the RBI card, no Hall of Famers and an airbrushed Hawk Harrelson. Mercy!
#6 - National League HR Leaders Another favorite of mine, with Ernie Banks last appearance on a leader board. This was the only Ernie Banks card I ever had as a kid. McCovey had a heck of a 1968, leading the league in home runs and RBI's.
#7 - American League ERA Leaders Two Indians top the list. Their ERA's were unreal, Tiant at 1.60, McDowell at 1.81 and McNalley at 1.95. And note the old bird logo on McNalley's hat, a logo the Orioles ditched after the 1965 season.
#8 - National League ERA Leaders Bob Gibson was unbelieveable, posting a miniscule 1.12 ERA! And he actually has a bit of a smile on his face, something hitters never saw from him.
#9 - American League Pitching Leaders All Denny McLain did was win 31 games! Never done since, probably never will be done with five man rotations today.
1969 was a year full of memorable events. Richard Nixon took office, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon, and...
...the Cubs won the World Championship. Well, almost. But that was the season I got hooked. I got hooked not only on the Cubs, but also on baseball cards. They were five cents a pack for five cards and a slab of gum. (The next year the price went up to ten cents for ten cards, meaning you lost a piece of gum for your dime.)
Looking back on it 40 years later, you would have to wonder why I got hooked on a choking team and a really bad set of cards. I like to blame it on the youthful ignorance of a seven and a half year old.
The 1969 Cubs had a great team, a great start, and a lousy finish. Much could be written about them. But today I want to focus on the Topps cards of 1969. Because if you look at them objectively, you would have to say they are a major failure, too. But to me, with them being my first real cards, they are a thing of beauty.
Tomorrow I will begin a look at each of the cards from the set. I'm planning to do this twice a week. But being the impatient person that I am, I will go through the set nine cards at a time, which is one page from the album per post. And I also won't write much of a bio about the players because again, I am too impatient to do all the research. Instead, I plan to write about the card; what I see, what does the card say. When I get to a Cubs player, I will devote an entire post to that player and talk about their contributions to the 1969 team.
Today I'd like to give my overall impression of the set.
Overview: There were 664 cards in the set, divided into seven series. Four subsets were included: the league leader cards, World Series cards, All Star cards, and four cards with team stars together.
The Design: It lacks any originality.
The font and style for the team name is borrowed from the 1967 set, just shrunk down a little.
The circle with the player's name is borrowed from the 1968 set.
Topps even used the same color scheme for the teams as they did in 1967 and 1968 (orange was the color for the Cubs and White Sox).
Take 1967 + 1968 and you get 1969. The design team took the year off.
The Photography: I guess the photographers took the year off too. As I go through the set you will see that many of the cards used photos that were at least two years old, with some as old as five years.
Assorted Issues: 1969 was an expansion year, with the Pilots, Royals, Padres, and Expos beginning play. Since Topps had no photos of these players in their new team's uniforms, the set included a huge number of hatless players. The first expansion team player in the correct uniform didn't show up until the fifth series.
The set also had the Astros copyright problem that wasn't resolved until the fourth series. The A's presented a problem because 1969 was only their second year in Oakland and Topps was using many old photos of players with "KC" on their hat. The Topps solution was the infamous airbrush.
The Backs: No problems here for me. I love the cartoons, the red looks nice, although some cards have seen the red fade more than others. And after a two year absence, Topps returned the backs to a horizontal format. The stats are very readable on a white background. This is the only part of the card they seem to have gotten right.
In Summary...
This card sums up the 1969 set for me. It is of Senators manager Jim Lemon. Well, he was supposed to be their manager, but he was fired in January and replaced by legend Ted Williams. Its January and Topps has to decide what to do with the Lemon card. Should it be left in the set or replaced by another player, or maybe by a card for Ted Williams?
Well, Topps make the strangest decision. They left the card in the set, but changed the back of the card to this:
That right, they changed the drawing to say, basically, Jim Lemon, you stink, you got fired! That was the nicest thing they could say about him. Maybe the could have added a "U" on his hat since now he was on the Unemployed! And later they added two cards that featured Ted Williams.
And to you Topps, I say your 1969 cards stink (but in my seven and a half year old eyes, these cards are the best!)
I thought this would be interesting.
I have all of my Cubs cards cataloged on a spreadsheet. There are a total of 5,264 cards from Aardsma to Zuleta. I used a random number generator to spit out five numbers and then matched those numbers to the cards in those rows on the spreadsheet.
Here are the five random Cubs cards in the order the number generator gave them to me.
Topps 1973 # 81, Whitey Lockman.
This is Whitey's first Cubs card, as he took over as manager of the team in July of 1972. He passed away recently and I had this post on him. The biggest thing about this card isn't Whitey Lockman, but Coach Ernie Banks. In my mind, this is the last real card for Ernie Banks.
Bowman 1991 #421, Heathcliff Slocomb.
A typical Bowman card from the era, with a posed shot. Slocumb had yet to make a major league appearance.
Upper Deck 2006 #623, Geovany Soto.
This is Soto's first Upper Deck card. It looks like they got him at a spring training game since there is no name on the back of his jersey. At this point in his career, he had played in one big league game and made an out in his only at bat.
Fleer 1984 #486, Larry Bowa.
Bowa was the shortstop for the 1984 NL Eastern Division Champion Cubs!! (and the NLCS 2-0 games lead-blowing team...I hate Steve Garvey). Two things catch my eye on this card: First, the Cubs logo on his jersey is almost a direct match on top of the card's Cubs logo. Second, why is Larry throwing a ball with a glove on his throwing hand?
Pacific 1998 #254, Brooks Kieschnick.
The patch on his sleeve tells me this picture was taken in 1997. It is this patch,
commemorating the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's MLB debut. In 1998 Kieschnick was still seen as a decent prospect, but as it usually is with the Cubs, he didn't pan out. He later tried to reinvent himself as a pitcher, a reverse Rick Ankiel, and did make it briefly back to the bigs with the Brewers.
A very random selection, I must say. Five different players, five different seasons, five different products. I wonder if that will happen every time? We will find out next Monday!
Topps 1972 Fergie Jenkins
And the 1973 edition
Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux had their #31 retired by the Cubs today.
Over the course of two seasons, 1972 and 1973, a Canadian film crew followed Fergie and the Cubs. The result was a documentary called "King of the Hill." It gives you a great inside look as Fergie and the Cubs of 1969 had their last hurrah.
The movie is about one hour long and is well worth watching.
See it here.
According to SABR, there have been 675 triple plays in the major leagues from 1876 to the present. The Giants lead all franchises with 42 triple plays and the Cubs are second with 40. More triple plays (23) have been pulled off at Wrigley Field than at any other ball park in MLB history.
The last Cubs triple play was almost twelve years ago, on May 10, 1997, in the bottom of the fifth inning against the Giants at Candlestick Park.
Cubs pitcher Amaury Telemaco gave up back to back singles to start the inning. On a 1-2 count Giants batter Stan Javier hits a flyball that is caught by...
centerfielder Brian McRae for one out. The runner at second tags up and tries to make it to third but a nice throw from McRae to...
third baseman Jose Hernandez nails the runner for out number two. Meanwhile the runner on first decides to try and take second. A quick throw from Hernandez to...
Ryne Sandberg gets the runner at second and the Cubs have their triple play. For those of you scoring at home, that was an 8-5-4 triple play.
In a couple strange coincidences, the next most recent Cubs triple play was also against the Giants, in 1986. And the Cubs prior four triple plays, going back to 1965, were all against the Pirates. Their six most recent triple plays against only two team. Strange. But then again, I would expect nothing less from the Cubs.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_NEW.jpg)
