The 2000 set has (hopefully, since that's what I've got) a total of 29 cards. The Cubs-issued sets always have included the manager and coaches, so I'll start with those.
The 2000 season was Don Baylor's first as Cubs manager. All of the coaches except for Jeff Pentland and Billy Williams were new to the Cubs also. In a 29 card set, it seems odd that seven of the cards were given to non-players.
The 2000 Cubs were 65-97, so players were coming and going. That would be my guess for including just 22 players. I'm thinking the promotion department just went with players they were pretty sure would still be on the roster on August 15 when the cards were given away.
Sammy and Grace were the big names on the team, though this was Grace's last season in Chicago.
The rest of the position players...not much here.
As far as the pitching, Kerry Wood was the big name, though he was in comeback mode, having missed the 1999 season following elbow surgery. The rest of the staff? Look over them and you'll see why 65-97 made sense.
Finally, a checklist. The cards do not have a number on the back, so I'm using the number shown on the front, which is their uniform number:
46 Oscar Acosta
38 Rick Aguilera
2 Sandy Alomar
25 Don Baylor
37 Brant Brown
9 Damon Buford
44 Kyle Farnsworth
76 Daniel Garibay
8 Joe Girardi
3 Gene Glynn
17 Mark Grace
39 Willie Greene
12 Ricky Gutierrez
49 Felix Heredia
29 Jeff Huson
5 Rene Lachemann
32 Jon Lieber
11 Jose Nieves
4 Jeff Pentland
48 Ruben Quevedo
41 Steve Rain
16 Jeff Reed
21 Sammy Sosa
36 Kevin Tapani
47 Todd VanPoppel
26 Billy Williams
34 Kerry Wood
45 Tim Worrell
7 Eric Young
Wow... Steve Rain, Daniel Garibay and Jose Nieves? Not sure I wanted to remember those names.
ReplyDeleteTwenty-nine cards?
Henry Rodriguez was traded before the cards were released. Is it possible he was the thirtieth card, and they cancelled his card at the last minute before production started? Or maybe there's a case of 10,000 Oh Henry cards collecting dust in the bowels of Wrigley Field?
Other guys who were traded away mid-season include Ismael Valdes, Glenallen Hill and Scott Downs.
I'm a little surprised fan favorite Augie Ojeda didn't make the cut, but that probably has more to do with him making his MLB debut only two months before the cards were given away.
It is an interesting collection of players. Earlier team issued sets included fairly recent additions to the roster. These are a higher quality, so maybe there was a earlier deadline.
DeleteVery nice looking set. Are these standard card size or postcard size?
ReplyDeleteThe are the standard size. It's the first time since the 84 set that the Cubs used the standard size.
ReplyDeleteWow. Not too surprising they lost 97 games.
ReplyDelete