Dueces wild on this page, 2 HOF, 2 Hatless, and 2 Airbrush, but no Cubs.
#248 - Bob Priddy He's shown in a Giants uniform at Shea, meaning the photo is from 1966 or earlier. Priddy was priddy terrible for the Sox in 1968, going 3-11. He bounced around in 1969 with the White Sox, Angels, and Braves. #249 - Ed Spiezio The Padres plucked Spiezio from the Cardinals, where he spent parts of five seasons in a utility role. He started 90 games for the Padres in 1969 but hit only .234. #250 - Frank Robinson Off-centered of course, but still a nice looking card. Robinson was still at the peak of his game, as he had 30 homers and 100 RBI's in 1969 while finishing third in the MVP balloting. As kids, we would talk about the Robinson brothers on the Orioles and snicker. #251 - Ron Herbel The good news - in 1968 Herbel didn't lose a game; the bad new - he didn't win one either. He made 28 appearance and had no record. I wonder what the record is for most appearance in a season with no record? He picked up four wins and a loss in 1969, but his ERA was over four. #252 - Chuck Cottier Nice flattop, Chuck. He spent 1959 - 1965 in the majors before spending the next two seasons in the minors. He returned to the bigs with the Angels in 1968. He played in only two games in 1969. He would later go on to manage the Mariners in the mid '80's. He was also a coach with the Cubs from 1988 - 1994. #253 - Jerry Johnson Signed originally as an infielder, he converted to a pitcher and had a 10 year major league career. 1969 was not a good year for Jerry as he was a lousy 6-13. After the season, he was part of the biggest trade that winter, a trade that saw Curt Flood sent to the Phillies. Flood refused to go and so began the players fight to eliminate the reserve clause. #254 - Joe Schultz The only manager in the history of the Seattle Pilots. If you haven't read Jim Bouton's classic book on his time with the Pilots, "Ball Four," you absolutely must read it! Two memorable Joe Schultz lines from the book: "Aw, S**tF**k!!" and "Alright boys, go pound some Budweiser's!" #255 - Steve Carlton Our second Hall of Famer on the page. Lefty looks really young and really skinny in this shot. This would be his breakout season, as he would go 17-11 with a 2.17 ERA. Gibson from the right, Carlton from the left; not too shabby a 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation. #256 - Gates Brown Gates loved to swing! He was the AL's top pinch hitter in 1968, with an amazing average of .474! That was too good to keep up and in 1969 he slumped to .205 as a pinch hitter.
Overall Set Totals (player cards only) Hall of Famers - 17 Hatless - 57 Airbrush - 51 Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 42
On Saturday I checked out the completed listings prices of Topps complete sets from 1969 - 2009. I take the first five sales and average the price. The table shows the average. I don't factor in card condition (most sets are in at least excellent condition anyway) or shipping prices. This isn't the most scientific way to gauge prices, but it at least gives a ballpark figure.
The prices for the '69 and '71 sets are very high because only one sale was listed for each. Maybe the set buyers maxed themselves out at the National and need a little time to recoup.
As a comparison, here are the prices from about a month ago.
I have 5,452 Cubs cards from 17 different brands. A random number generator picked five of them. Here they are in the order selected.
Today the random number generator was Dolly Parton: it was very Topps heavy!
Topps 1975 #258 Dave LaRoche He had a really bad tenure with the Cubs, who had obtained him from the Twins in 1973 for Bill Hands. In 1974 he was 5-6 with a 4.79 ERA. In February of 1975 he was traded to the Indians, so he never suited up with the Cubs in 1975. Topps 1956 #102 Jim Davis I've heard of Jim Davis, the cartoonist who draws Garfield the Cat. And I'm familiar with the late actor Jim Davis who played Jock on Dallas. But I must confess I never heard of Cubs pitcher Jim Davis. The back of the card tells us he was a reliever and a knuckleballer. In 1956 Davis was 5-7 for the Cubs, who traded him after the season to the Cardinals. Davis split '57 between the Cards and the Giants and was out of baseball after 1957. Topps 1999 #18T Ron Walker Walker was the Cubs 8th round draft choice in 1997. He was in the Cubs organization for four seasons, but never rose above AA. He got the card based on his performance in 1998, when he smashed 24 home runs at Daytona, a high A team. He spent most of 1999 in AA but saw his power numbers drop to only 9 home runs and his average was only .219. Those are the kind of numbers that will stall a career. Topps 1976 #34 Mike Garman He came to the Cubs from the Cardinals after the 1975 season in exchange for Don Kessinger. That is why he has a really bad airbrush job on his hat. His only season with the Cubs was 1976 and one season was enough. He 2-4 with a 4.95 ERA. He was then sent to the Dodgers along with Rick Monday for Bill Buckner and Ivan DeJesus. Upper Deck 1993 #488 Greg Maddux This is a very painful card to look at because Greg Maddux did not pitch for the Cubs in 1993. After winning the Cy Young for the Cubs in 1992, Maddux became a free agent and signed with the Braves.
I thought it would be interesting to look at the oldest and newest cards of some Cubs. Today, we'll check out Lou Piniella.
Lou had the distinction of being on three rookie cards with three different teams. I guess Topps thought more of him than his teams did, since they kept trading him! In 1964 he was featured on a Senators rookie card. Four years later he was on an Indians rookie card. The card I've got is from 1969 and shows Lou as a Pilots rookie. Oddly enough, Lou was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1969, but for the Kansas City Royals. The two expansion teams swapped a few players just before the season began.
Here is that card, the first I have of Lou Piniella.
Move ahead 40 years and here is the Cubs skipper, a bit grayer and a bit bigger.
And with the help of a morphing program and Youtube, here is the a 40 year transformation in 24 seconds.
Alright, don't say it...I know the Cubs make lots of errors, so just keep your smart comments to yourself!!
I'm talking about errors on baseball cards. A few weeks ago I posted about an error on Lee Smith's 1982 Fleer card.
Today, I've got another Fleer error to show, this one on Keith Moreland's card from 1988.
This is the card that Fleer originally released. Moreland was a power hitter, so it must have been an unusual circumstance that would have seen him bunt. In fact, Moreland bunting was so rare that if you look closely, you will recognize that he is not pictured on the card. It's Cubs catcher Jody Davis who is laying down the bunt.
Fleer caught the error and later released a card with the real Keith Moreland ready to take a cut.
Moreland had a nice run during his time with the Cubs. He did some catching, played some third base, but mainly played in the outfield. Recently he did some fill-in announcing for the Cubs, both on TV (when Bob Brenly took an extended All-Star break to see his son play with the Cubs class A team in Peoria) and for Ron Santo on radio (Ron was ill). He did a nice job. I wonder if that was an audition in case Brenly ever leaves to manage again or if Santo's health keeps him from the booth.
#247 - Gene Oliver Oliver was a career back-up catcher, spending time with the Cardinals, Braves, Phillies, and Red Sox before coming to the Cubs in June of 1968. The card shows him in a Braves uniform.
He is one of the Cubs of 1969 that I don't really remember, probably because he rarely played. Randy Hundley was the Cubs ironman behind the plate, so Oliver only played in 23 games with 29 ABs, starting just twice. He hit a lowly .222 and on September 2, 1969 he was released, but named a coach for the rest of the season. This would help him gain additional time for his pension.
His time with the Cubs was short, but he seemed to have really bonded with the stars of the team. He was a popular fixture at Randy Hundley's Cubs fantasy camps until his death in 2007.
Since Topps didn't show him in a Cubs uniform, it is my duty to do so.
#239 - Bob Taylor After spending seven years in the majors, Bob spent all of 1968 in the minor leagues. He had a good enough year to get a second chance with the expansion Royals. He hit .270 in 64 games for the Royals, a nice comeback.
This was weird...when I was looking him up on BaseballReference.com, I could find info on another player named Bob Taylor, but nothing on this one. I had to dig around before I found him listed under a different name, Hawk Taylor. The really weird thing... the next player in the set.... Hawk Harrelson #240 - Ken Harrelson Nothing say Red Sox like a gold vest jersey, right Topps? Hawk had a great season with the Red Sox in 1968, but was traded to the Indians on April 19, 1969. He ended the season with 30 home runs, but 1969 would be his last good season and by 1971 he was done. It may be my Cubs bias, but I can't stand him as the White Sox TV announcer. There are others, including many White Sox fans, that agree with me... Heave the Hawk! #241 - Jim Brewer He broke in with the Cubs in the early '60's, but is best known for his time with the Dodgers. He made 59 appearances out of the pen for LA in 1969 and posted a nice 2.55 ERA #242 - Frank Kostro I absolutely never heard of this guy. His seven year career was just about over, and after 2 AB's in 1969, it was done. #243 - Ron Kline Kline is another guy who got to hold on to his career a little longer because of expansion. He spent 1969 with three different teams and moved on to a fourth in 1970 before finally being finished. #244 - Indian Rookies Fosse was Cleveland's answer to Ohio's other young catcher, Johnny Bench. Who knows how his career would have turned out if not for the collision with Pete Rose in the 1970 All-Star game. Woodson never made it to the major leagues. #245 - Ed Charles This would be Charles' last card as he finished his eight year career with the Mets in 1969. When you are 36 and hit .207, you don't have much job security. #246 - Joe Coleman Coleman looks really young on this card, yet he already had four years of major league service. He would go 12-13 for the Senators in 1969. Later in his career, in 1976, he spent half a season with the Cubs. #247 - Gene Oliver - Gene is a Cub, so he gets his own post tomorrow.
Overall Set Totals (player cards only) Hall of Famers - 15 Hatless - 55 Airbrush - 49 Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 42
#230 - Rusty Staub Rusty would have been airbrushed no matter what, as either an Astro or Expo. The Expos picked him up in a trade in January, 1969 and Rusty would be one of the most popular of the original Expos. He had a nice season in 1969, with a .302 average and 29 home runs. #231 - Pat Dobson He appeared in three games in the 1968 World Series. He was only 5-10 for the Tigers in 1969 and was traded away to the Padres after the season. #232 - Dave Ricketts Dig those dark black plastic frames. I wonder how that worked with his mask? Ricketts was a life time back up catcher. He played in 30 games for the Red Birds in 1969. #233 - Steve Barber Steve had some good years with the Orioles in the mid-'60's. But by 1969 he was in the journeyman phase of his career. He went 4-7 for the Pilots and was released just prior to the start of 1970. He was picked up by the Cubs, but lasted only five games before being released again. #234 - Dave Bristol There is an interesting fact on the back of Bristols card: "Just 35 years old, Dave is now in his 13th year as a manager of a pro ball club." That is pretty amazing. The 1969 Reds finished 83-79, but that wasn't good enough and he was fired and replaced by Sparky Anderson. Bristol hooked up with the Brewers in 1970 and would also manage the Braves and Giants. #235 - Jim Hunter Instead of airbrushing away a KC hat, Topps shows Catfish hatless. Though he tossed a perfect game in 1968, his career record was still under .500 at 43-49. He didn't turn that around in 1969, going 12-15. It wouldn't be until 1970 when he would begin to show his Hall of Fame stuff. #236 - Manny Mota It's pretty obvious based on the uniform that the Expos took Mota from the Pirates. He was off to a decent start in 1969, hitting over .300 when he was traded to the Dodgers, along with Maury Wills, for Ron Fairly and and Paul Popovich. The Expos then sent Popovich to the Cubs for Adolfo Phillips. Mota would hit just as well for the Dodgers, finishing the season at a .323 clip. #237 - Bobby Cox The Braves skipper looks alot skinnier in this card than he does today. He was a Topps Rookie All-Star in 1968, but after hittiing only .215 for the Yankees in 1969, his playing career was finished #238 - Ken Johnson A couple thing stand out on this card. First, what a cool looking patch the Braves wore on their sleeve. Second, Johnson looks very old; look at all the wrinkles on his forehead and face. Finally, does he look like he has already had several beers? What a goofy look. He was at the tail end of his career and spent 1969 with three different team, including nine games with the Cubs late in the season.
SInce he was with the Cubs in 1969, I felt the need to create a card for him in a Cubs uniform
Overall Set Totals (player cards only) Hall of Famers - 15 Hatless - 50 Airbrush - 48 Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 39
Early this morning I had something happen that was a first for this blog--spam in the comments. Three different posts has comments from a visitor named "Analog". The comment pretty much mirrored the comment just above it. The comment also included a link to another site, I did not click on the link - it seemed too suspicious. I also deleted the comments. Some digging around showed that I had a visitor from Shahapur, India at the time the comments were posted, which means one of two things. Either the Cubs gospel has spread around the world to India, or it was a spam attack. I'm going with the second! For now, I'm changing the comments settings to include word verification. Well see if that keeps Analog from returning.
I knew he was downsizing and I was happy to give a few Cubs cards a new home. I emailed Mark my address.
Days later the mailman dropped off a box of cards. It was a 300 count box from Mark, packed with Cubbie goodness. WOW!! I guess his definition of a few and mine are about 297 off!!
Thank you very much Mark!
I took a few minutes to redesign his blog's banner:
There were cards in the box from Topps 1970 all the way to this year. Here are a few that are new to me:
These are all from the 1991 Conlon Collection. These are sets that I'd like to put together in the near future. I like to think of baseball cards as a reference source. The Conlon cards help tell the Cubs story before the Topps era. In fact, these cards have players who appeared in the World Series in a Cubs uniform!
Some Cubs stars from the past:
And some prospect and rookie sets, including a card of the flaky Turk Wendell, who is shown jumping over the foul line.
I passed on to Sean the ones that I already had, so his collection also had some major growth to it.
Again, Mark, thank you very much for your amazing generosity!
I don't limit myself to just Cubs cards. I am also a set collector, and I have all of the Topps sets from 1969 to 2009. I've also been picking up wax wrappers, one for each of the sets.
What I never figured out was how to display the wrappers. For now, they were just stored in post card sleeves. I knew there had to be a better way to display them.
Yesterday, it hit me. It was a great idea, though some may see it as a bit dishonest. My plan: stick some cards in the wrapper and repack it.
I grabbed some of my doubles and Mrs. Wrigley Wax's iron. Here is how it turned out:
1969 - 1972
1973 - 1975, 1977 Pretty nice looking if I do say so myself!
I think an entire shelf lined with these would look great. But first, I will NEVER sell these as packs. They are for display purposes only, and my display purposes only. I know ebay if full of repacked wax that is being passed as unopened. I have no interest in doing anything as despicable as that .
These are for my use and display only. They display much nicer as packs than any other way I could come up with.
When packing them, in the interest of historical accuracy, I did put in cards from the wrapper's year. But alas, there is no gum! I've got 1969 - 1975, 1977, 1979, 1989, and 1990 packs put together.
But I don't have any singles from 1976, 1978, 1980 - 1988 , and 1991 - 1994. I sold off my 1976's and the rest of the years are from when I was buying factory sets and I didn't buy any wax packs.
My plea to you: If you have anything lying around from any of the above years, would you be willing to send 15 of them my way. I'd be happy to send you cards from '69-74 in exchange, though most of mine are not in the greatest of shape. And if there is a particular player or team, let me know and I will see what I've got.
UPDATE: All have been taken care of except 1982...thanks Matt, Ken, and Howard!!
#225 - Don Kessinger Don is one of several Cubs in the set pictured at Shea Stadium. It brought no tears to my eyes to see that place taken down.
Kessinger was one of my favorite players on the 1969 Cubs. He was the leadoff man and the only semblance of speed in the lineup. His 11 stolen bases led the team, though they only swiped 30 altogether, last in the NL.
Kess won the Gold Glove in '69 and was an All-Star for the second straight season. But like many of the '69 Cubs, he wore out late in the season and hit only .186 in September.
Growing up, I had two different ways to imitate Don Kessinger. As a hitter, it was to stand with one foot in the batters box and move around the batting helmet. He always seemed to wiggle his helmet before getting set in the box. The fielding Kessinger move was more fun. You would go far to your right for a ball, pick it up then turn, leap, and throw the ball all at once. It was Kessinger's signature move and we all could do it.
I updated the '69 set and here is Kessinger's card:
#221 - Art Shamsky I usually don't have much to say about a Met, but this card features a player who was on the Reds in 1967, which means the picture was taken at Wrigley Field. You can see a little of the scoreboard towards the bottom right of the card. #222 - Duane Josephson A nice posed shot of the Sox catcher. I had a hat just like his when I was little and still under the influence of my Sox-rooting family. My grandpa spent part of his high school years on the north side and was a Cubs fan, so with his help I was able to escape from the dark side in 1969. #223 - Tom Dukes The red brim on the hat would mean he is wearing a Braves hat. Dukes was traded from the Brave to the Astros in 1966. The Padres got him in the expansion draft and he had a 1-0 record in 13 games. #224 - Angels Rookies Harrelson got in to 10 games with the Angels in 1968, but never played in the bigs after that. Kealey pitched in 15 games for the Angels in 1969. After the 1970 season he was traded to the White Sox and he had a couple decent season with the Pale Hose. The big question from the card is...what is up with Kealey's glasses?? Those are pretty funky looking. #225 - Don Kessinger The Cubs All-Star shortstop gets his own post tomorrow.
#226 - Bruce Howard The smiling Bruce Howard is in a White Sox uniform, though he was traded by them after the '67 season. He started 1968 with the Orioles and was traded to the Senators in June. He had a 5.36 ERA in Washington and never played in the major leagues after that. His card also mention an oddity for a pitcher: Bruce was a switch hitter. #227 - Frank Johnson This part-time outfielder got into 67 games for the Giants in '68 and figured he was on his way. But in 1969, he went the wrong way and played in only seven games #228 - Dave Leonhard Dave is one of the luck few who got to play for his hometown team. The Baltimore native was 7-7 in 1968 and followed it up with a 7-4 season in 1969. He pitched in game 3 of the World Series and was taken deep by Ed Kranepool. #229 - Don Lock This is not an attractive card, in fact, its ugly! Lock was a part-time outfielder for the Phillies in 1969, but after only four games he was traded to the Red Sox. He hit .224 in 53 games in Boston. That was the end of the line for Lock.
Overall Set Totals (player cards only) Hall of Famers - 14 Hatless - 49 Airbrush - 45 Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 37
I started this series on May 5, doing two pages a week. With this post, I've hit the 1/3 mark of the set. 25 of the 75 pages have been shown for your perusal.
So far, the set has broken down like this:
12 League Leader cards 3 checklists 8 World Series cards
12 team rookie cards 183 player cards
183 players + 24 rookies (two per card) = 207 players total so far. Overall Set Totals (player cards only) Hall of Famers - 14 out of 207 players - 7% Hatless - 47 out of 207 players - 23% Airbrush - 43 out of 207 players - 21% Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 36out of 207 players - 17% Here's how lousy the photographs are in this set: If you add the hatless and airbrushed players together, you get 90 out of 207 players, a whopping 43% of the cards!
As the set progresses, these numbers will improve, as cards of the expansion team players start to show up in their new team's uniform. Also, the Houston problem gets worked out and we will see Astro hats, though the cards still say "Houston" instead of "Astros."
I also wonder how the past, present, and future Cubs percentage of 17% would compare with other teams? Anybody want to go back through the pages and come up with your team's count?
Its amazing that the Cubs are only a half game out of first place as we near the end of July. They have been hammered by injuries all season. There have been only a handful of games in which the eight starters have started the same game.
Yet, they have been plugging along, and with the rest of the division struggling, the Cubs are where I hoped they would be, right near the top.
There has been a constant shuffle of players from Iowa that have contributed to the team's success. I'm sure these guys won't make Topp's Update set, so I included them in mine.
Pitcher Jeff Stevens has been with the team for about three weeks and has made five appearances. He's done a decent job since his MLB debut on July 10, having given up runs in only one appearance.
UPDATE: Stevens was sent back to Iowa this morning. The Cubs needed a fresh arm in the bullpen and called up Mitch Atkins. This is Atkins' first time on a major league roster.
UPDATE UPDATE: Atkins got into the game today and pitched a scoreless inning. Welcome to the majors!
In the off-season, the Cubs let back-up catcher HenryBlanco go. We miss Hank White. To help ease our pain, this year we added Andy White to the team. Second baseman Andres Blanco did a nice job with the glove when the regular Mike Fontenot had to play third base in place of the injured Ramirez.
Jeff Baker is our new Mark DeRosa, the play everywhere type of guy. Unfortunately, he can't hit like DeRosa. I hope our old pal Mark doesn't come back to haunt us now that he is with the Cardinals.
Kevin Hart has done a nice job as a spot starter. We will need more good starts from him, now that Ted Lilly is out until mid-August.
The last two months of the season should be exciting and with strong contributions from unlikely sources like these four, the Cubs should be in the mix as they shoot for their third straight division title.
#212 - Tom Tresh The 1962 Rookie of the Year was on his last legs by 1969. He was coming off a season in which he hit only .195. He couldn't get back on track in 1969 and was traded to the Tigers in June. He finished the season with Detroit and was released by the Tigers at the end of spring training in 1970. With that, he was finished. #213 - Gerry Arrigo I had this card as a kid and it was one of my favorites, not because of the player, but because of what is behind Arrigo's right shoulder. Yep, that is the Wrigley Field scoreboard. This would be another of the many Reds photos taken at Wrigley in 1967. #214 - 3rd Series Checklist - This one doesn't have a photo on it like the first two. It does have a second checklist on the back, a checklist for the 33 card deckle edge insert set. And when I was a kid opening packs of cards in 1969, these inserts meant nothing. Of course, the autographs on the cards weren't real and there weren't any little square pieces of jersey attached to the card. #214 - Rico Petrocelli I like this un-centered photo, which works because of the way Rico is bent over. The name circle looks good over his shoulder. The Bosox shortstop had a career year in 1969, smashing 40 homers, being named to the All-Star team, and finishing 7th in the MVP balloting. #215 - Don Sutton The future hall of famer is shown at spring training, and look how absolutely awful the grass looks. That's what my lawn looks like in July (because if God doesn't want to water my lawn, why should I!!). Don had just finished his third season in the majors and had yet to have a winning season. That wouldn't change in 1969 as he went 17-18. #216 - John Donaldson This is the only airbrushed card on the page, as Topps had to get rid of his KC A's hat. He appeared in only 12 games for the A's in 1969 before he was traded to the Pilots for Topp's left-handed catcher Larry Haney. He got into 95 games for Seattle. #217 - John Roseboro John is hatless and wearing a Dodger uniform (you can see the top of the D in the very bottom left corner of the card). By 1969 he was one of the few Brooklyn Dodgers still active. Traded to the Twins in 1968, he made the AL All-Star team in 1969. Yet, the Twins released him at the end of the season. He spent a little time with the Senators in 1970 before hanging 'em up. #218 - Freddie Patek The shortest man in baseball at the time was a secret hero of mine because I was a little shrimp of a kid. The back of his card calls him "pint-sized." How nice! 1969 would be his first full year in the majors and he started 141 games for the Pirates. #220 - Sam McDowell Sudden Sam was at the top of his game. He led the AL in strikeouts in 1968 , was second in ERA and was an All-Star. He continued his dominance in 1969, again leading the league in K's and posting 18 wins.
Overall Set Totals (player cards only) Hall of Famers - 14 Hatless - 47 Airbrush - 43 Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 36
Wow...talk about taking a pretty good idea and completely screwing it up. What a flop!
When Documentary came out last winter, I was intrigued by the idea of a set of baseball cards chronicling the entire MLB season. Then came the reviews and complaints of cards with pictures that didn't correlate to the game on the card- players wearing home unis for away games, players pictures who didn't play in the game, etc.
Documentary was never really on my radar, and those reviews pretty much knocked it off.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. I'm scanning Cubs sets on ebay and run across a Cubs set of UD Documentary, all 163 cards of the set. The price was decent, about 11¢ per card. And the Cubs did have a really good regular season, with the National League's best record. The set could be a nice scrapbook of the season.
I figured I would just watch the set and if no one bid on it, I would try to snag it. Well, no one did bid on it so I grabbed it at the last second for the minimum bid. Good deal!
Not really!! The set came last week and I started thumbing through the cards. I look at the first ten games, and yes, not all the pictures matched the game, but that was ok. Then I get to games 11-20.......and the same 10 pictures are used again. On to 21-30 and its the same thing.....and the pictures are in the same order! This continued up to game 100.
This exact same picture of Alfonso Soriano was on cards 1, 11, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81, and 91. The same thing was true of 2.12....3,13... and so on.
The picture on the card has absolutely nothing to do with the game and everything to do with the pattern! That is absolutely ridiculous. I understand that it would be too costly for UD to have photographers at every single game. But AP did. If you are going to document the entire season, why not work out a deal with AP to use their pictures. Heck, you can put an AP logo on the cards. But at least make an effort to get pictures to match the game!
The pattern changed with cards 101-133. Now there are only three cards in the rotation, repeating every three. This Soriano picture shows up on 101, 104, 107, 110, 113, 116, 119, 122, 125, 128, and 131.
From 134 to 163, three more cards show up, again repeated every three.
And to top things off, this familiar looking shot of Rich Harden shows up 11 times.
Why familiar? Because shots from the same sequence also show up in 2009 Series 1, 2, and OPC.
I like Rich Harden, but I don't want to see another picture of him again!
And in the future, UD, if you are going to document the season, do it right. Use 162 pictures instead of only 16!!
I have 5,408 Cubs cards from 16 different brands. A random number generator picked five of them. Here they are in the order selected.
The generator came up with two Banks cards today. One is a really good one and one is a not-so good one. We also got two cards of players who didn't even play with the Cubs the year the card was issued.
Fleer 1983 #509 Pat Tabler He came to the Cubs from the Yankees in 1981 as a can't miss prospect. He murdered AAA pitching but really struggled with the Cubs. He didn't play with the Cubs in 1983, being traded across town to the Sox in the Steve Trout deal. Topps 1994 #15T Willie Banks This would be the not-so good Banks card. Most of you probably never knew that another player named Banks played on the Cubs. Willie had a very unforgettable Cubs career. The Cubs obtained Willie from the Twins for the 1994 season and he was placed in the starting rotation. He went 8-12 with a 5.40 ERA. In June of 1995 he was sent to the Dodgers for the immortal Dax Winslett (a pitcher who never rose above AA). Pinnacle 1997 #60 Jaime Navarro This is another card of a player who didn't suit up for the Cubs - Navarro was signed by the White Sox as a free agent for the 1997 season. He went 29-18 in his two years with the Cubs and the Sox thought they made a shrewd signing. Oops - he had a 25-43 record in three years on the south side. Topps 1957 #55 Ernie Banks Two weeks in a row we get to see Mr. Cub! This time, its the 1957 card, a style you should be familiar with because of the Heritage set from a few years back. He's pictured wearing a hat with the wishbone C. In 1957 the Cubs switched to the now-familiar rounded C on the hat.
Ernie had established himself as the premier shortstop in the National League by 1957. He had a great season, belting 43 homers and knocking in 102 runs. He was the only bright spot on a team that went 62-92 and finished one spot away from the cellar. Topps 2007 #41 Rich Hill 2007 was Rich Hill's breakout season. He spent the entire season in the rotation and went 11-8. His 183 strikeouts were good enough for 5th in the National League. I saw him pitch in Cincinnati the day after the Cubs clinched the division. He was lights out giving up only one hit in six innings in a tune up for the playoffs. Everything seemed so positive that day. But that was the Cubs last win of the season, as they lost the last regular season game and then were swept by the Diamondbacks in the NLDS. 2008 was Hill's breakdown season, as he could no longer find the strike zone.
I was surfing around this site, BaseballErrors.com. It is a great resource for finding error and variation cards. I was checking to see if there were any errors that featured Cubs cards and came across this one.
Fleer, 1982 Lee Smith. This was Fleer's second year of production. The first set from 1981 was riddled with errors, but they seem to have gotten their act together in 1982. Look again at the card. Can you find the error? Well, if you can't its because the error was on the back side!
Now look at the back. Back in the day, I must have looked at this card tons of times and I never noticed the error. Have you found it yet? . . . . . . . .
Check the Cubs logo in the corner of the card. The logo has been flipped horizontally. But because of the symmetry of the design and the letters, its not to easy to detect. I missed it for 27 years! Here is a closer look at it.
According to BaseballErrors.com, Fleer corrected the error. But the two cards I have both are error cards. If any of you have the corrected card, I'd be happy to trade you an error card for it. Let me know
While everyone else has been busy with their Allen and GInter, I've been putting together a Cubs team set from the Goudey 4 in 1 cards. These cards are based on the 1935 Goudey 4 in 1 set. The backs of the original cards were also puzzle pieces, with nine needed to form a picture. It would have been cool is Upper Deck had done that, too. I remember several Topps sets in the late '60's and 70's had subsets with card backs that formed a large picture. Have any sets done that recently?
I couldn't find any checklists that listed the players on these cards by team, so I just had to carefully scan the list to see which cards I would need. I hope I've got them all.
There were 12 cards that have Cubs players. Three Cubs from the past, Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg, and Billy Williams, were featured, along with current players Harden, Fukudome, Ramirez, Soriano, Lee, Soto, and Zambrano.
I'll start with the cards that show only Cubs. There were four of them.
And then, the other eight, with Cubs mixed in with other players. All of these have some theme that connects the four players.
One of Topps biggest uncorrected errors of 1969 is on this page.
#204 - Jack Hiatt - This would be a really nice looking card if it wasn't off-centered. Hiatt was the back-up catcher for the Giants. In 1970 he came to the Cubs to help replace the injured Randy Hundley. HIs .242 average wasn't much help. #205 - RIch Reichardt Another very happy young Angels outfielder in a batting helmet. He hit 13 home runs as the Angels starting left fielder in 1969. #206 - Phillies Rookies Hisle had a great rookie year for the Phillies in 1969, finishing 4th in the Rookie of the Year balloting. Lersch ended up with a six year career, including a really bad 1971, when he went 5-14 (though his ERA was 3.78). #207 - Roy Face Face was obtained by the Tigers from the Pirates to help with their pennant push in 1968. He appeared in two games with the Tigers in September. They released him at the end of spring training in 1969 and Face was signed by the Expos. He made 44 appearances and actually had a winning record of 4-2. But he was released by the Expos in August and at age 41, his career was over.
#208 - Donn Clendenon Poor Topps tried to keep up with the bouncing Clendenon, but couldn't. In both cards he is pictured in a Pirates uniform, the only team he was with in the first eight years of his career. In October, 1968, he was drafted by the Expos in the expansion draft. In January, 1969 the Expos sent him to the Astros in the Rusty Staub trade. But Donn refused to report to the Astros. In April he was traded back to the Expos and played in 38 games before being traded to the Mets. He ended up hitting .357 for the Mets in the World Series. #209 - Larry Haney Here is the big uncorrected error, as the card shows Haney left-handed; the negative was flipped around. This was a collossal blunder for a couple reasons. First, the picture is the exact same one used by Topps in 1968 and it was shown correctly.
Secondly, how many left-handed catchers have there ever been in big league history. You can probably count them on your left hand. It anyone proofing the set had any baseball savy, they would have caught the error right away. But the card was never corrected. #210 - Felix Millan Scrappy Felix is shown at spring training. The one thing I remember about this guy was how far he choked up on his bat. He always seemed to have a good six inches of bat below his hand. #211 - Galen Cisco Cisco made it back to the majors in 1969 after spending all of 1968 in the minors. Thank you expansion. He made it into 15 games for the Royals and that brought his big league career to an end.
Overall Set Totals (player cards only) Hall of Famers - 13 Hatless - 46 Airbrush - 42 Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 36
This card just doesn't look like someone on the Cubs, so here is my version of a 1969 Willie Smith card.
Willie Smith started his career as a pitcher with the Tigers in 1963, making 15 appearances from the mound. His 1969 card pictures him in a Tigers uniform, meaning Topps used a photo that was at least six year old (and a good reason for me to create a better card).
He was traded to the Angels for the 1964 season and pitched in 15 games. But his bat was too good to keep on the bench, so Smith played the outfield in 87 games, too. It sounds like Babe Ruth's career, but Willie was no Babe Ruth. He spent 3 seasons with the Angels and 1 1/2 with the Indians before coming to the Cubs in June of 1968. His entire time with the Cubs was spent as a pinch hitter and extra outfielder.
It was Willie Smith who got the 1969 season off to a magical beginning. The Cubs opened the season at Wrigley Field against the Phillies and on the strength of two Ernie Banks home runs and strong pitching by Fergie Jenkins took a 5-2 lead into the 9th inning. But Fergie weakened in the 9th and reliever Phil Regan was no help as the Phillies scored three to tie the game. Regan then gave up a run in the top of the 11th and the Cubs were trailing for the first time all day.
BUT...with one out in the bottom of the eleventh, Randy Hundley singled. Leo Durocher then had Willie Smith pinch hit for Jim Hickman. It was a great move as Smith smacked a Barry Lersch pitch into the left field bleachers for a game winning home run. The blast sent Wrigley Field into a frenzy.
Willie is mobbed by his teammates at home plate.
Willie played in 103 games in 1969 and hit 8 more home runs, but his first of the season was one of the most famous in Cubs history.
This page features a couple Cubs of '69 and one of the greatest pitchers of the '60's
#195 - John Odom Blue Moon Odom has his KC A's hat airbrushed out. He won 16 games for the A's in 1968 and followed it up with a 15-6 season in 1969. #196 - Lum Harris After short runs as the manager of the Orioles and Astros, Harris took over the Braves in 1968 and led them to a .500 finish. 1969 would be his best as the Braves won the NL West with 93 wins. #197 - Dick Selma Shown in a Mets uniform, Selma was selected by the Padres in the expansion draft. But his stay in San Diego was short as he was traded to the Cubs in late April.
This is what his 1969 card should have looked like. He spent the year as a fourth starter and occasional bullpen pitcher. But his most famous contribution to the 1969 Cubs was serving as the cheerleader to the Bleacher Bums. His antics were shown on the back of his 1970 card, even though he was traded to the Phillies in the off-season
#198 - Willie Smith - Willie is a Cub, so he gets his own post tomorrow #199 - Jim French French was the typical back-up catcher, good glove, no stick. He spent his entire seven year career with the Senators and his life-time average was .196. #200 - Bob Gibson This is another card that would look really nice if it wasn't off-center. The Hall of Famer was coming off a monster year in 1968, winning the MVP and Cy Young with a 22-9 record. His ERA was 1.12. Yes you read that right, no typo - 1.12. The amazing thing is he lost 9 games with an ERA that low. He also had 28 complete games out of the 34 he started. Can you imagine that- only six starts that he didn't finish. Today if a pitcher finishes six games its a major accomplishment. Gibson went 20-13 in 1969 and his ERA "ballooned" to 2.18. #201 - Russ Snyder The hatless Russ has a pretty unflattering look on his face. He split the 1968 season with the White Sox and the Indians. He was a back-up outfielder for the Tribe in 1969 and was sent to the Brewers before the start of the '70 campaign. #202 - Don Wilson He is wearing an Astros jersey (you can see the H for Houston just under his arm) but the hat still had to be airbrushed out. He was an up and coming starter for Houston, tossing a no hitter his rookie season of 1967. He won 13 in 1968 and won a career-high 16 in 1969. #203 - Dave Johnson This is the second green circle-black last name card in a row. Johnson was an All-Star in 1968 and repeated in 1969 and also won a gold glove. The final 24 games of his playing career were spent with the Cubs in 1978.
Overall Set Totals (player cards only) Hall of Famers - 13 Hatless - 45 Airbrush - 40 Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 35
The National Pride set fixes a big disappointment from last year. The big insert set from A & G last year was the states set, 50 cards. I used the cards in my classroom to help the kids learn their state capitals. But NONE of the 50 cards featured a Cubs player. I got some grief from the kids about that.
But now I know why there weren't any Cubs in that set -- they are all foreigners! The National Pride set has 75 cards and a whopping six are Cubs. Zero Americans last year, six foreigners this year.
On to the cards:
Here are the Canadians, Ryan Dempster and Rich Harden.
Alfonso Soriano, Dominican Republic
Kosuke Fukudome, Japan
Geovany Soto, Puerto Rico
Carlos Zambrano, Venezuela
Here's a strange thing: the Fukudome, Harden, and Soriano cards use the same drawing as the base card, while Demster, Soto, and Zambrano have different ones. I don't have my complete set yet, so I can't answer this. Is this about right for the entire 75 cards, half using different and half using the same drawing?
I have 5,408 Cubs cards from 16 different brands. A random number generator picked five of them. Here they are in the order selected.
The generator was in a Hall of Fame mood today, grabbing two of its members
Topps 2005 #299T Brandon Sing He's not one of the Hall of Famers. In fact, he spent eleven years in the minor leagues and has never made it to the show. He was a local boy, from Joliet, drafted by the Cubs in the 20th round in 1999. He spent all of 2005 in AA and hit 26 home runs. In 2006 he began the season in AAA, but a slow start got him demoted to AA and he was released by the Cubs at the end of the season. He is currently playing for the Bridgeport Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League, keeping his big league dream alive. Heritage 2005 #323 Joe Borowski He was the closer for the division winning Cubs in 2003, but by 2005, Joe and his 6.55 ERA was released. Fleer 2003 #387 Sergio Mitre In 2003 Sergio was an up-and-coming pitching star, one of many young arms the Cubs had. But he never lived up to the hype and in 2005 was sent, along with two other prospects, to the Marlins for Juan Pierre. He didn't play last year due to Tommy John surgery, and was suspended for 50 games this year for PEDs. He's currently in AAA with the Yankees. Topps 1967 #215 Ernie Banks Here's a Hall of Famer, Mr. Cub himself. This is a great looking card that shows a smiling Ernie Banks. Let's play two! The 1967 season was one on the years Leo Durocher was looking to dump Ernie. My 1967 scorecard lists him as a player and coach. But Ernie wasn't ready to hang up his spikes yet. He hit .276 in 151 games, belted 23 home runs, and was an All Star. Bowman 1991 #377 Ryne Sandberg And here is our other Hall of Famer. This is a fairly boring shot of Ryno. In 1991 he was still in his prime. He played in 158 games and had 26 HRs and 100 RBIs.
It's been a bit unsettling the past couple weeks as it seems like everyone else has been posting about their Allen and Ginter cards. I have been reading the posts and patiently waiting for my Cubs set to arrive. I was able to pick up the 17 card Cubs set (11 base and 6 National Pride) as a presell off of ebay for only $5.50. But then I had to wait for the release of the product, the seller to collate the set, and then Mr. Mailman to deliver.
Well, the cards finally came yesterday. There are 11 Cubs players in the base set which is the most Cubs ever. Last year there were only seven, with ten in '07 and nine in '06. I also picked up the two relic cards, Rich Harden and Kosuke Fukudome. The final card I nabbed is the Carlos Zambrano baseball highlights card.
My overall impression on the set is the same as most of you, I really like them. What I like the most is that all the Cubs are shown in their home blue pinstripes. It's a classic uniform and anytime a card can show the home duds instead of the roads or alternate blues, I'm all for it. Topps also did a pretty decent job of selecting players. The only glaring omission is Ted Lilly. Maybe Ted will get a card in '10 since he made the All-Star team this year.
So, today I've got 14 cards to show you. On Monday I'll get to the National Pride Cubs cards.
Ryan Dempster
Kosuke Fukudome - notice how on all the other cards, the blue on the hat and sleeves in washed out. But on Kosuke's card, its the normal, deep Cubbie blue. I like this card much better because of that. The question, of course, is why wasn't Topps consistent?
Kosuke Fukodome jersey card, and I know this has to be a Cubs home jersey.
RIch Harden
Rich Harder jersey card- could be from either an Oakland or Cubs road jersey.
Derrek Lee
David Patton
Aramis Ramirez, who looks very deep in thought.
Jeff Samardzija
Alfonso Soriano
Geovany Soto, with a strange look on his face, a weird-looking "I got the munchies" kind of grin.
Ryan Theriot
Carlos Zambrano, looking especially nice in the pinstripes. Dump the blue softball jersey, Carlos, and go with the pinstripes!
Carlo Zambrano Season Highlights - this card has a UD Documentary feel to it, since the season highlight written about on the back was his no hitter over the Astros on September 14. The game was an away game, though held at Miller Park because a hurricane was bearing down on Houston. But the card shows Carlos in a home uniform. Since Carlos always selects the blue alternate to wear when he pitches, all Topps had to do was make the pants gray and then the card would be accurate. I don't know why they didn't do that.
Today we have an airbrush free day, though there are four without a hat. We also get one of baseball's alltime greatest.
#186 - John Edwards No, not the former senator from North Carolina, but the catcher from Houston. He is shown in a Reds uniform (where he was a two-time All Star), but when a young catcher with the last name of Bench came along, Edwards lost his job. He spent 1968 with the Cardinals and was traded to the Astros for the 1969 season. #187 - Leon Wagner It looks like he is wearing a Reds uniform, with the vest and wishbone C on the red hat, but this is actually an Indians uniform. He was purchased by the Reds from the White Sox over the winter of '68, but the Reds returned him to the Sox at the end of spring training and the Sox immediately released him. He was picked up by the Giants in May of 1969 and appeared in 11 games. Released at the end of the season, he never played in the majors again. #188 - Rick Wise 1968 was his first year as a full time starter and he went 9-15. The Phillies stuck with him though, and he went 15-13 in 1969. #189 - Red Sox Rookies Lahoud spent 11 years in the bigs, though his career average is only .233. Thibdeau never made it to the majors. #190 - Willie Mays This is a great looking card of the Say-Hey Kid. In 1969 Willie became the second player to pass the 600 home run mark. But by then, the 38 year old's best seasons were behind him. #191 - Lindy McDaniel Lindy is shown with a Giants jersey. He went to the Giants from the Cubs in exchange for Randy Hundley and Bill Hands. The deal was a real bargain for the Cubs. #192 - Jose Pagan Another light hitting infielder, Pagan spent several seasons with the Pirates in a reserve role. #193 - Don Cardwell Don was a veteran starter for the Mets. He is best known for his first start with the Cubs after being optained in a trade with St. Louis. He is the only player to toss a no-hitter in his debut with a new team. #194 - Ted Uhlaender Ted was the starting centerfielder for the Twins in both 1968 and 1969.
Overall Set Totals (player cards only) Hall of Famers - 12 Hatless - 44 Airbrush - 35 Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 32
Enough of the faux vintage cards from O-Pee-Chee. It's back to the real thing.
Deuces are wild on this page: two hatless, two airbrushed, and two ex-Cubs
#177 - Ron Reed A two sport player, Reed played for the Pistons from 1965- 1967 and averaged 8 points per game. In baseball, he was an All Star in 1968, with an 11-10 record. In 1969 he won a career high 18 games for the division winning Braves, yet didn't make the All Star team. #178 - Ray Oyler Hatless Ray is wearing a Tigers uniform, a team he played on for four seasons. After being with the World Champion Tigers in 1968, he moved to the hapless expansion Pilots in 1969, going from the penthouse to the outhouse.
#179 - Don Pavletich This back up catcher spend his entire career in the Reds organization before being traded to the Sox after the 1968 season. He, like many other Reds in the set, had their picture taken at Wrigley Field in 1967. The Wrigley identifier in the picture is the upper deck grandstand and roof to the left of his face. #180 - Willie Horton Willie had a great year in 1968 for the Tigers, slugging 36 homers and finishing fourth in MVP voting. He's shown taking a cut at spring training. #181 - Mel Nelson This is the second time that a Cardinal card follows a Tiger card in the set. Two strange things about that; these were the World Series opponents in 1968 and the teams share the same card color scheme, yellow circle, red last names. There are very few instances in the set where the same color scheme is in consecutive cards. Mel Nelson lasted on 8 games in 1969 before his big league career was done. #182 - Bill Rigney Bill was the Angels first skipper in 1961 and by 1969 was still with the team. Expansion teams aren't that patient anymore. The Angels ran out of patience in 1969 and fired him after 40 games. He resurfaced as the Twins manager in 1970 and ed them to a division title. #183 - Don Shaw Don's Mets cap is airbrushed. He was one of many young arms the Mets had and they felt he was expendable. They were right as he went 2-5 with a 5.21 ERA for the Expos working out of the bullpen #184 - Roberto Pena This is a really old picture of Pena in a Pirates uniform, as he was traded by the Bucs to the Cubs in 1964. The light hitting shortstop was given a chance with the Cubs in '64, but lost the job to future all star Don Kessinger. He hit .250 for the Padres and was there staring shortstop in 1969, but was traded to Oakland after the season #185 - Tom Phoebus Phoebus is the forgotten starter on the Orioles. He was not Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, or Mike Cuellar, but did an adequate job for the O's, winning 15 in 1968 and following it up with 14 wins in 1969. But in 1970, he slipped to 5-5 and his career was in free fall. He ended up with the Cubs in 1972 going 3-3 out of the pen. He was finished after that. Overall Set Totals (player cards only) Hall of Famers - 11 Hatless - 43 Airbrush - 35 Cubs (includes past, present, or future) - 30
In late June a settlement was reached between Topps and Upper Deck in regards to a lawsuit Topps filed challenging Upper Deck's use of Topps' designs on O-Pee-Chee cards. This site says that the agreement calls for Upper Deck to stop selling OPC after July 16.
Well, tomorrow is drop dead day, July 16. What will happen?
It this article accurate? Does anyone have more information on this? Will stores be able to continue to sell existing stock or do they have to pull it off the shelves? How much OPC stock is already out there? How much will they have to destroy? And what will it do to the value of existing cards?
On Monday, when posting about the O-Pee-Chee Cubs team, I complained about the posed shots against a school picture background instead of using a ballpark. Well, if you're going to complain about something, you should be willing to do something about it.
I did something.
This is the boring original.
And here is my version of the 2009 O-Pee-Chee Derrek Lee card, at Wrigley Field, the way cards are supposed to look
A while back I wrote about long-time Cubs clubhouse manager Yosh Kawano. You my readers know more about him than current Cubs security staffers, who recently tossed Yosh out of the park. According to this Sun-Times article, Cubs brass pledged to apologize to Yosh for their over-zealous security staff.
You would think the security personnel would recognize a man who is pictured in a huge banner hanging in the concourse.
I haven't heard any rumblings about an OPC update set. With all the litigation, I would doubt very much that there will be anything more. The base Cubs set was missing some players who have made decent contributions to the team, so with the magic of photoshop, I added them to the OPC roster. Take a look...
Mike Fontenot, while his batting average is down, he did a decent job filling in for Aramis Ramirez at third base. Now that he is back at second, I hope he can get back to hitting.
Jake Fox, recently called up again from Iowa after hitting over .400, he has shown some decent pop with his bat. The problem is his defense. He played some third when Ramirez was hurt, but first base is his best position and that is filled. He is a real liability in the outfield. And now with Soto out for a month, he will be doing some catching. He'll make a great DH when we get to the World Series, though.
Angel Guzman has been a nice addition to the bullpen. He's turning into the seventh inning guy and doing a decent job.
Koyie Hill returned to the Cubs this spring and won the backup catcher job. He's no Hank White, but is adequate in his role. Hill is really going to have to pick up his game as he steps in as the everyday catcher until Soto is healthy.
Micah Hoffpauir, see Jake Fox. Decent bat, no glove.
Sean Marshall has moved from the rotation to the pen and has done a great job as our LOOGY (and recently as our left fielder!).
Randy Wells has been a very pleasant suprise since moving into the rotation when Sean Marshall was put in the bullpen. He has pitched in hard luck, not picking up many wins, but with a fantastic ERA of 2.72.
Lou Piniella, this year, the kinder, gentler Lou, although I love the scowl on his face in this picture. I can't fault Lou for the teams decline this year. I put the blame squarely on the offense, or lack thereof.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – July 13, 2009 – As Major League Baseball heads into the All-Star Game, the New York Yankees find themselves on top as the favorite baseball team among those who follow Major League Baseball for the seventh year in a row. The Boston Red Sox move up one spot to 2nd place while the Atlanta Braves drop one spot to #3. Rounding out the top five are the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers both tied for 4th spot on the list. Last year the Cubs were at number 4 and the Dodgers were at number 5.
These are some of the findings of The Harris Poll, a new nationwide survey of 2,177 U.S. adults surveyed online between June 8 and 15, 2009 by Harris Interactive.
Despite the fact that Upper Deck had reruns on many of these cards, I went ahead and put together the O-Pee-Chee Cubs team set. There are 21 cards listed on the team checklist. About half feature a posed shot. I suppose this was to give them an old-time look. But the poses are a massive failure. Back in the day, the pictures were all taken at a ballpark. One of my quirky things is to try and figure out what stadium the picture was taken at. I can pretty much figure out any MLB park, and a few of the spring training sites. But these poses are all against a very boring background. I want baseball cards in baseball stadiums, not looking like its picture day at school (I wonder if the players all got the free black plastic comb?).
One old school feature these cards are missing is the miscut cards that were so common years ago. These are all perfectly centered, unlike their '70's counterparts. Apparently printing technology has dramatically improved over the past 30 years. That is a good thing.
Well, anyway, here they are in alphabetical order.
Team Checklist - I like that they used a picture of Wrigley Field. Too bad they didn't use a picture from 2008. This was taken in 2006 or 2007, since the bleachers are expanded, but the extra seats added past the Cubs dugout for 2008 aren't there. Still, in my biased opinion, this is the best looking baseball scene in MLB today.
Milton Bradley, with the old-school bat coming at you pose.
Ryan Dempster, gripping the ball against the seams. Hey Ryan, watch out for that dugout railing!
Kosuke Fukudome, ho hum, very boring
Joey Gathright, no longer with the Cubs.
Kevin Gregg, Unfortunately, still with the Cubs
Rich Harden, in action
Reed Johnson, showing off his stirrups. I wish he would pull them a little higher and show more stirrup and white sock. Do any of you also follow Uni Watch?
Derrek Lee, Looking good as usual.
Ted Lilly, our lone All-Star representative this year.
Carlos Marmol, who has forgotten how to throw strikes.
David Patton, a rule five pick who has to stay on the roster all season or go back to the Rockies. He hasn't been all that impressive, and he recently and conveniently got injured and went on the DL.
Aramis Ramirez, shown running, something he is not known for.
Jeff Samardzija, Spellcheck had been on the Des Moines shuttle this year, now in his second stint with the Cubs.
Alfonso Soriano, rounding the bases after a home run.
Geovany Soto, taking his lead.
Ryan Theriot, fininishing his slide into third that he started in UD Series I and continued with in Series II.
Luis Viscaino, no longer with the Cubs. This is the player they got for Jason Marquis, who now leads the NL in wins. Oops!
Carlos Zambrano
The two moment cards feature Zambrano at the All Star game (when the Cubs sent 8 players) and a July 31 win that kept the Cubs in first place. The patch on his hat tells me the Zambrano picture was really taken at the All Star game. The date on the second card in July 31 and on that date the Cubs crushed the Brewers 11-4 at Miller Park. The blue wall in the background matches Miller Park, so UD could actually have this one right.
So what do you think? Do Cubs sluggers have a thing for TV doctors?
Case #1: Derrek Lee, and his TV counterpart, from ER, Dr. Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle). And ironically, ER was set in Chicago and Derrek Lee had a small cameo a few years back.
Case #2: Aramis Ramirez, and his TV doctor twin, Dr. Turk (Donald Faison) from Scrubs.
Do you see any resemblance? Hollywood is putting together the cast for the made for TV movie Die, Goat, Die, which chronicles the miracle season of the 2009 World Champion Chicago Cubs. These two are lined up. Who do we get to play Lou??
I am a life-long Cubs fan currently in exile in southern Michigan. I have been collecting baseball cards since the fateful Cubs year of 1969. I took about a 15 year break and have recently returned to the hobby.
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