A Super Generous Student...And He Didn't Even Know It

As a teacher, I have the opportunity to brainwash educate my students on the awesomeness of the Chicago Cubs.  Unfortunately my efforts seem to fall on deaf ears.  But at least they know a little about the Cubs and a lot about my passion for the team.  That comes in handy at gift giving time!

My birthday was last week and a couple of my students gave me some Cubbie trinkets.  From one I got a Cubs pen.  Another gave me a Cubs keychain.  In both cases, the kids were at a store and saw the item and told their parents they should get it for me.  The generous parents went ahead and spend a couple bucks...very nice.

A third student gave me a gift that he said he found at a rummage sale...

...this teddy bear figurine in a Ron Santo uniform.  It's pretty detailed for a teddy bear.  They've got the 1972 road uniform pretty close to the original, including the centered number on the front (though the number should have been red, not blue).

I put on my detective hat to figure out the story behind the figurine.  There was a pretty significant clue on the bottom of a foot...

...telling me it was made in 2001.  It was a pretty simple search of Ebay to find more of these.

They were given away at Wrigley Field on August 8, 2001, to the first 10,000 women that entered the park.

This is a picture I snagged from Ebay that shows the box and other goodies that came with the figurine.

What amazed me with these is the price.  The one in the picture is a BIN listed at $49.95.  The cheapest one listed goes for $30, a couple others go for over $100.

I think my student paid a buck for mine.  Lucky for him and for me that there isn't much of a market for Cubs collectibles in southwest Michigan,

My detective work turned up a couple other versions of these and I'll have that tomorrow