Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 6,099 Cubs cards from 22 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.



1950's - 1960's - Topps 1961 George Altman I hope you like this card's design because you'll be seing it with 2010 Heritage. Altman had the year of his career in 1961. He belted 27 homers, knocked in 96 runs, and batted .303. Ernie Banks finally had someone protecting him in the lineup! Altman was also an All-Star in 1961.


1970's - Kelloggs 1970 Ernie Banks This is the first Kelloggs card that has been selected! And it's of Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks. Sadly, Ernie's career was just about done in 1970. He played only 72 games. But in one of the games, on May 12, he hit career #500. Here's a nice video of Ernie's milestone home run. Today, 500 seems like a cheapened number. But Ernie was only the ninth player to hit that milestone, and it was a huge deal.



1980's - Donruss 1987 Rafael Palmeiro, or Raffie Light, the pre-steroids version. This would be one of the several rookie cards of his that came out in 1987. Palmeiro spent the first couple months of the season in AAA, but came to the Cubs in June and was the regular left fielder for the remainder of the season. He hit 14 home runs, but had only 30 RBIs. He would later become on the the players that cheapened the 500 home run mark.



1990s - Stadium Club 1991 Danny Jackson This is the second 1991 Danny Jackson card the generator has picked. Jackson had a strange follow-through and there are a lot of cards like this one that show him on the ground or nearly falling over. The Cubs signed him as a free agent in the off season to a three year contract. He was a real bust with the Cubs, going 1-5 with a 6.75 ERA. All that for $2,625,000. Thank you random number generator for reminding me of this disaster, again!!



2000's - Allen and Ginter 2008 Ramirez The Cubs' third baseman put up his usual good number in 2008, being one of the main reasons the Cubs were 2008 NL Central champs. He hit 27 HRs and had 111 RBIs and was named to the All-Star team. It was only the second time he made the team, yet since 2003 he has averaged 30 home runs and 100 RBIs. I know there are some Cubs players that get more media attention than they really deserve because they play for the Cubs (Zambrano, Soriano, Fukudome), but for some reason it seems like Aramis doesn't get the attention he truly has earned by his performance on the field.