Sunday, June 3, 2012

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 10,497 Cubs cards from 68 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.  This week the RNG liked Topps.



1950s / 1960s: Topps 1968 #219 Rob Gardner The Cubs picked up the lefty from the Mets in June, 1967 and he spent the last half of the season in Chicago.  He was 0-2 in 18 games.  He went to spring training with the Cubs in 1968, but was traded to the Indians in late March.  He spent most of the season in AAA and then got a September call-up with the Tribe.




1970s: Kelloggs 1978 #48 Bruce Sutter The random number generator pulls a Kelloggs card for the second time in a row!  Sutter saved 28 games in 1978 and also posted an 8-10 record.  He made the All Star team and got the win, pitching 1 2/3 innings and striking out two.  




1980s: Topps 1986 #125 Dave Lopes My apologies to Night Owl and GCRL for this selection.  It looks strange to me too.  Right color, wrong logo.  Lopes was with the Cubs through mid-July of '86 before being traded to the Astros.  During that time he played in 59 games and hit .299.  Even better, he stole 17 bases, which isn't bad for a 41-year-old.




1990s: Topps 1993 #156 Sammy Sosa Rockies Logo Last fall I picked up the Rockies and Marlins parallel cards for all the Cubs.  Topps put out specially marked sets to commemorate these expansion team's first season.  It seems like a good idea for the Rockies players, but a dumb idea to have a Cub card with a Rockies logo on it.  


1993 Rockies inaugural season logo
In 1993 Sosa became the Cubs first 30/30 player with 33 homers and 36 stolen bases.  Sammy also came close to setting another Cub record by striking out 135 times, second all time and missing the record by only 8 Ks.  He would shatter the team record with 174 strikeouts in 1997.



2000s: Topps 2011 #582 Kosuke Fukudome Limited Edition  Two parallels in a row from the number generator.  This card is from the limited edition complete set that Topps gave to those who earned enough points in the Diamond Anniversary giveaway.  The Cubs finally gave up on Jim Hendry's $48 million bust by trading him to the Indians in late July, 2011.  And what do you get in return for a $48 million man?  Abner Abreu and Carlton Smith, two guys that aren't even in the Cubs system anymore.  

9 comments:

  1. I never get tired of seeing the 3D's!

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  2. How about this for some baseball trivia. Rob Gardner was traded in 1971 from the Yankees to the A's for Felipe Alou. In 1972 he was traded from the Yankees to the A's for Matty Alou.

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  3. Interesting...but why didn't the A's complete the trifecta and trade him for Jesus Alou?

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    1. Eh, the Yankees threatened to keep him if he came back a third time.

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  4. If I haven't said it in a while, I love this feature!

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  5. Someone needs to do a blog of all the Kellogg's cards from 1970-1983. Maybe that'll be my next project after I finish the 1977 blog

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  6. I looked at Kosuke's numbers this morning. I think he's done. Man did he win the lottery, though.

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  7. How I find out what my cards worth

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  8. How I find out what my cards worth

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