Thursday, March 15, 2012

Triple Errors on Triple Play

They come in threes with Triple Play.

The back of the 1992 Triple Play cards featured either a quote from the player or a baseball trivia fact/question. Three of the Cubs cards have mistakes.



The mistake....the ivy was planted the same time the scoreboard was installed (and the bleachers were built too); in 1937.



This picture is from late 1937. The bleachers are finished, and there's baby ivy on the walls, but the scoreboard isn't done yet. You can see the old scoreboard in left field. It was originally in center field, but got moved during bleacher construction. Once the new board was finished, the old one was removed.



This card is totally wrong. It says that four of the original franchises are still in the National League. Actually, of the original National League teams, only two franchises have operated continuously, the Cubs and the Braves (which were left off of the card's list). That also means that the Cubs are the only team to still be in their original city. The 1876 National League did have teams in Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and St. Louis, but each of those teams lost their franchise for a time.

The original Reds played from 1876 to 1880. The new team started in 1882. The original Philadelphia franchise lasted only one season. The current Phillies joined the NL in 1883. St. Louis had a team in the NL's first two seasons, and then not again until today's Cardinals joined in 1882.



The mistake...they were one MVP short. There are actually three Cubs that won an MVP award, and they all had cards in the 1992 Triple Play set.

These two are in the answer.



NL 1984



NL 1987.

And the one that Triple Play left out?



AL 1987. Technically the card is correct since Bell was traded away before the 1992 season and wasn't an active Cub. But if were going by that, then they should have changed Bell's card to show him with the White Sox. You can't have one without the other.

1 comment:

  1. I love the shot you found of Wrigley in 1937. I do appreciate all the great new ballparks but Wrigley is like a time machine. It really hasn't changed so much that you can't imagine all the games and players from era's past.

    ReplyDelete