Well, with the exception of one stinkin' card that's been impossible to find (1992 Old Style Ernie Banks...any one got an extra laying around??!!), I'm done! I've come up with a total of 470 cards from 19 different sets, starting in 1982 and going up to 1999. The Cubs did issue cards some of the seasons after that, but usually it was one card per game. I didn't consider that a team set, so I didn't chase those cards.
I did make an exception for two different single card give-aways. On the day in 2003 when Ron Santo's #10 was retired, the Cubs gave away a card. They did the same thing two years later when Ryne Sandberg's number was retired. I got both of those cards.
I've tried to figure out how many cards from each give-away were available. Some years, the Cubs would say "to the first 15,000 fans." That would be a pretty solid number. Other years, it was to all fans, so I would look at the attendance of the game. But all in all, there are not huge numbers of these around, making them much more scarce than something from Topps or Upper Deck.
But what I liked most about the team-issued cards is how current they were. Several sets contained the first major league card (or Cub card) of a player, such as the '82 Sandberg. the '87 Dawson or the '87 Maddux.
And where else could you find a Cubs card of Steve Christmas?
Below is an updated list of Cubs team issued sets. The give away number is either from what the Cubs said, or the attendance from the game.
Year | Game Date | Card Sponsor | Give away amount |
1982 | August 20 | Red Lobster | 18,110 |
1983 | September 2 & 3 | Thorn Apple Valley | 15,000 |
1984 | August 8 | 7Up | 37,392 |
1985 | August 14 | 7 Up | 30,055 |
1986 | July 17 | Gatorade | 30,598 |
1987 | July 29 | David Berg | 37,019 |
1988 | August 24 | David Berg | 35,065 |
1989 | August 10 | Marathon | 36,745 |
1990 | August 17 | Marathon | 29,893 |
1991 | August 14 | Marathon | 34,817 |
1992 | July 10 | Marathon | 35,067 |
1992 | August 28 | Old Style | 20,000 |
1993 | July 28 | Marathon | 15,000 |
1993 | August 17 | Old Style Billy Williams | 15,000 |
1993 | September 24 | Rolaids Relief Pitchers | 15,000 |
1995 | August 24 | Gatorade | 10,000 |
1996 | August 18 | Gatorade | 10,000 |
1997 | August 7 | Gatorade | 10,000 |
1999 | May 15, June 26, Aug. 3 | Old Style All Century | 20,000 |
2003 | September 28 | Ron Santo Jersey | 39,940 |
2005 | August 28 | Ryne Sandberg Jersey | 38,763 |
Congrats on getting all of the team issued card sets! I'm looking for a checklist of the 1994 Cubs Photo Cards Series. Have you seen a checklist for this? I don't think they were all issued because of the strike but the cards (if you can call them that - they are 5x7) number them to 30.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I don't have a checklist for these. I do have a schedule that lists the dates the cards were to be given away, and six of the give-away dates were lost to the strike.
ReplyDeleteThe baseball card give-away was also lost that season due to the strike
Thanks for the note that six of the dates were past the strike date. So the realistic complete is really probably 24 not 30.
ReplyDelete