1997 Bowman's Best Cubs

The 1997 version of Bowman's best consisted of 200 cards, 100 each of veterans and prospects.  The Cubs ended up with eight cards, four vets and four prospects.

 

 

The veterans are the big three, Grace, Sandberg, and Sosa, plus Brian McRae.

 

 

 

Topps was 1 for 4 with the prospects.  Kevin Orie was already in the '94 and '96 sets and he'd make another set the next year.  Four sets in five years -- they sure were high on him.  Brant Brown is most famous from dropping a flyball in 1998 and Pat Cline never reached the majors.  The only one of these that really made it was Kerry Wood.

My Best Collection

Today's post deals with my best collection.

Not best in the sense of greatest or most awesome.

Instead, I'm referring to

Bowman's Best.

This is a brand that came and went during the time I wasn't collecting, though it has recently been brought back from the dead.  It was typically a smaller set, so when I came back and started grabbing different brands, Bowman's Best was left behind.

It is left behind no more.

Bowman's Best arrived on the scene in 1994, at the tail end of the junk wax era.  It survived the downturn after the 1994 strike and was issued each year through 2005.  Towards the end Topps added more gimmicks, things like short-prints and autographed rookie cards as part of the main set.  None of that helped to save it.

In 2012 it came back as an insert set with regular Bowman.  Three years later, a full blown set was released and has been each of the two following years.

There are a total of 94 Cubs cards over the fifteen different releases.  Familiar names from the era are in abundance, guys like Grace, Sosa, Wood, and Prior.  You'll also see unknown prospects like Bobby Brownlie, Kevin Collins, and Jason Szuminski.

I spent an evening a couple weeks ago tracking down all 94 of the cards on Sportlots.  I try to minimize the number of sellers I use to save on shipping, so it took some time. In the end I found all but four, and those were just a couple clicks away on eBay.

My plan is to show a particular season once I have all of the cards from that year in hand.  The mailman and my scanner have been busy and I'll have my first year up tomorrow.

For the curious, here is the entire Bowman's Best Cubs rundown:

1994	9	Mark Grace
	5	Brooks Kieschnick
	58	Randy Myers
	71	Kevin Orie
	70	Sammy Sosa
1995	19	Mark Grace
	12	Brooks Kieschnick
	35	Sammy Sosa
1996	89	Mark Grace
	175	Robin Jennings
	113	Brooks Kieschnick
	180	Kevin Orie
	8	Ryne Sandberg
	48	Sammy Sosa
	146	Amaury Telemaco
1997	173	Brant Brown
	123	Pat Cline
	16	Mark Grace
	55	Brian McRae
	195	Kevin Orie
	8	Ryne Sandberg
	83	Sammy Sosa
	154	Kerry Wood
1998	30	Mark Grace
	42	Kevin Orie
	87	Sammy Sosa
	125	Kerry Wood
1999	176	Roosevelt Brown
	61	Mark Grace
	182	Phil Norton
	159	Corey Patterson
	66	Sammy Sosa
	91	Sammy Sosa
	26	Kerry Wood
	96	Kerry Wood
2000	157	Ben Christensen
	188	Scott Downs
	25	Mark Grace
	110	Corey Patterson
	50	Sammy Sosa
	90	Sammy Sosa
2001	193	Antoine Cameron
	173	Hee Seop Choi
	194	J.J. Johnson
	155	Luis Montanez
	106	Corey Patterson
	25	Sammy Sosa
	83	Kerry Wood
	119	Julio Zuleta
2002	18	Moises Alou
	96	Ryan Gripp
	115	Nic Jackson
	13	Mark Prior
	66	Sammy Sosa
2003	MB	Matt Bruback
	BH	Brendan Harris Autograph
	FB	Felix Pie Autograph
	MP	Mark Prior
	FS	Felix Sanchez Autograph
	SS	Sammy Sosa
	AW	Aron Weston Autograph
2004	BB	Bobby Brownlie Autograph
	JJC	Jon Connolly
	MDC	Matt Creighton Autograph
	NAG	Nomar Garciaparra
	AG	Adam Greenberg Autograph
	RN	Ricky Nolasco Autograph
	MWP	Mark Prior
	SS	Sammy Sosa
	JSZ	Jason Szuminski Autograph
2005	136	Buck Coats Autograph
	71	Kevin Collins
	24	Nomar Garciaparra
	79	Sean Marshall
	35	Casey McGehee
	29	Mark Prior
	92	Andy Santana
	131	Brandon Sing Autograph
2012	BBP7	Brett Jackson
2015	16	Jake Arrieta
	50	Kris Bryant
	24	Anthony Rizzo
	6	Addison Russell
	93	Jorge Soler
2016	2	Albert Almora
	41	Jake Arrieta
	65	Kris Bryant
	51	Willson Contreras
	44	Anthony Rizzo
	64	Kyle Schwarber
	28	Ben Zobrist
2017	50	Kris Bryant
	38	Ian Happ
	35	Anthony Rizzo

Double Logos

This 1987 Fleer card was one of yesterday's Five Random Cubs cards.

One of the first thing I noticed is the double Cubs logos, the one on his uniform and the one that is part of the card design.  It struck me as odd looking, as logo overkill.

Moreland wasn't the only one with the double logos, either.

It was all over the place.

Other teams ended up with a similar look,

though they didn't have as many players affected as did the Cubs.

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 15,378 Cubs cards from 129 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1964 Topps Coins #97 Lou Brock  Topps saw enough in Brock to include him in the coins inserts.  Too bad the Cubs brass didn't see it!

1980s: 1987 Fleer #569 Keith Moreland The 1987 season was Moreland's last with the Cubs. He went out with a bang, hitting a career-high 27 home runs.

1990s: 1990 Star Platinum #178 Mark Grace This is one of 27 different cards of Mark Grace put out by Star in 1990.  He has nine cards in this set (Platinum), along with nine more from Gold and Silver.  Kudos to Star, because of the 27 cards,

only two use the same picture.

2000s: 2005 Topps Total #227 Corey Patterson  This is a nice action shot of Patterson diving back to the bag.  The 2005 season was his last with the Cubs and he was in all out KKKKKKorey Patterson mode.  He had 118 strikeout and just 97 hits for the year.

2010s: 2017 Bunt #119 Jake Arrieta  Jake looks like he's wondering if he overpriced himself for the market.  It will be interesting to see where he, and many of the other big name free agents, end up as spring training starts in less than a month.

Flick Friday Suggestions

In January, 2011 I started a feature I called "Flick Friday."  Each Friday during late January and throughout  February, I reviewed a baseball movie.  The idea was that watching a baseball movie would get my mind off of the cold winter weather.  By the time I wrapped up the feature, spring training was underway and I was able to see some real baseball.

I continued the feature through 2014.  Over those four years I wrote about Bull Durham, Rookie of the Year, Pride of the Yankees, The Natural, Bang the Drum Slowly, The Bad News Bears, A League of Their Own, Eight Men Out, Field of Dreams, Little Big League, Major League, Mr. Baseball, *61, Moneyball, Mr. 3000, The Rookie, Chasing 3000, Cobb,.42, Major League II, Trouble With the Curve, Fear Strikes Out, The Sandlot, and Diminished Capacity.

I stopped doing Flick Friday in 2015 because I'd run out of decent baseball movies to review.  I'm looking to restart it if there are good baseball movies that have come out since 2014 or that I missed during my first go-around.

So I have a simple question....

....Any suggestions?? 

2017 Chronicles Cubs

Panini put out a new set in 2017 called Chronicles.  I guess the set is supposed to mimic a newspaper, hence the name Chronicles.  The front of the card has a small and large version of a picture of the player on the left.  On the right is a headline and a story about the player, which also continues on the back of the card.  

The set checklist includes 150 players, and five of them are Cubs Chicago.

You may have noticed that pictures and story were flipped on Ian Happ's card.  His card is one of the last 50 in the set, all rookies, and all the dreaded short-prints.

Two New Relics

I finished with the autographs yesterday.  Today I'll move on to the relics.

I added two new unlicensed relics. One you've already seen...

...this dual auto/relic card of Jeimer Candelario.  Since his stuff is a little pricey, this one card will have to suffice for both collections.

This is the other new relic and Josh Vitter's stuff is not pricey at all.  I was able to get both the autograph card and this dual card for less than the price of the one Candelario card.

The relics tally is up to 86 cards.  They are divided perfectly between vertical and horizontal orientation, with 43 of each.

Arismendy Alcantara	Nomar Garciaparra	Mike Olt
Albert Almora	Matt Garza	Corey Patterson
Moises Alou	Mark Grace	Carlos Pena
Jake Arrieta	Mark Grudzielanek	Felix Pie
Javier Baez	Jason Hammel	Juan Pierre
Darwin Barney	Ian Happ	Mark Prior
Francis Beltran	Rich Harden	Aramis Ramirez
Kris Bryant	Brendan Harris	Anthony Rizzo
Damon Buford	Kevin Hart	Addison Russell
Marlon Byrd	Jason Heyward	Jeff Samardzija
Jeimer Candelario	Bobby Hill	Kyle Schwarber
Andrew Cashner	Rich Hill	Jorge Soler
Welington Castillo	Todd Hundley	Alfonso Soriano
Starlin Castro	Brett Jackson	Sammy Sosa
Aroldis Chapman	Jacque Jones	Geovany Soto
Hee Seop Choi	Eric Karros	Matt Szczur
Tyler Colvin	David Kelton	Ryan Theriot
Willson Contreras	Bryan LaHair	Josh Vitters
Juan Cruz	Junior Lake	Darryle Ward
Wade Davis	Derrek Lee	Todd Wellemeyer
Ryan Dempster	Jon Lester	Randy Wells
Blake DeWitt	Ted Lilly	Rondell White
Jason Dubois	Kenny Lofton	Jerome Williams
Jim Edmonds	Greg Maddux	Kerry Wood
Carl Edwards	Carlos Marmol	Carlos Zambrano
Mike Fontenot	Gary Matthews, Jr.	Ben Zobrist
Dexter Fowler	Fred McGriff	Julio Zuleta
Kyuji Fujikawa	Bill Mueller
Kosuke Fukudome	Jose Nieves

A Look At All of the Certified Autographs

The certified collection is now up to 130 different Cubs players and as promised, here is a look at all of them.

Terry Adams	Leo Gomez	Corey Patterson
Arismendy Alcantara	Tom Gorzelanny	David Patton
Albert Almora	Kevin Gregg	Carlos Pena
Moises Alou	Angel Guzman	Billy Petrick
Jake Arrieta	Jason Hammel	Felix Pie
Javier Baez	Todd Haney	Lou Piniella
Darwin Barney	Ian Happ	Mark Prior
Francis Beltran	Brendan Harris	Brooks Raley
Milton Bradley	Kevin Hart	Aramis Ramirez
Roosevelt Brown	Jose Hernandez	Anthony Rizzo
Kris Bryant	Jason Heyward	Henry Rodriguez
Scott Bullett	Bobby Hill	Henry Rodriguez
Freddie Bynum	Rich Hill	Chris Rusin
Marlon Byrd	Micah Hoffpauir	Addison Russell
Jeimer Candelario	Cesar Izturis	Jeff Samardzija
Andrew Cashner	Brett Jackson	Rey Sanchez
Larry Cassian	Reed Johnson	Ryne Sandberg
Frank Castillo	Jacque Jones	Kyle Schwarber
Welington Castillo	Matt Karchner	Scott Servais
Starlin Castro	David Kelton	Jorge Soler
Ronny Cedeno	Brooks Kieschnick	Alfonso Soriano
Rocky Cherry	Bryan LaHair	Sammy Sosa
Matt Clement	Junior Lake	Geovany Soto
Steve Clevenger	Tommy LaStella	Steve Smyth
Buck Coats	Derrek Lee	Matt Szczur
Tyler Colvin	Jon Lester	Ryan Theriot
Willson Contreras	Cole Liniak	Ozzie Timmons
Juan Cruz	Greg Maddux	Steve Trachsel
Wade Davis	Dave Magadan	Jermaine Van Buren
Blake DeWitt	Carlos Marmol	Josh Vitters
Rafael Dolis	Sean Marshall	Todd Walker
Scott Downs	Scott Moore	Todd Wellemeyer
Jason Dubuois	Matt Murton	Randy Wells
Carl Edwards	Rod Myers	Turk Wendell
Kyle Farnsworth	Thomas Neal	Jerome Williams
Mike Fontenot	Roberto Novoa	Kerry Wood
Kevin Foster	Will Ohman	Travis Wood
Dexter Fowler	Augie Ojeda	Michael Wuertz
Kyuji Fujikawa	Mike Olt	Carlos Zambrano
Kosuke Fukudome	Ryan O'Malley	Rob Zastryzny
Sam Fuld	Kevin Orie	Ben Zobrist
Sean Gallagher	Angel Pagan	Julio Zuleta
Nomar Garciaparra	Bob Patterson
Matt Garza	Eric Patterson

Five New Rule-Following Autographs

As I wrote about last week, I've come across several additional players to add to my Cubs certified autograph collection.  They are all unlicensed Panini cards, which is why I missed them when they first came out.

This one from 2017 Promising Pros will count for both the autograph and relic collection.  Jeimer Candelario is now with the Tigers, so part of me hopes the promise is broken, though he hit over .300 during his time in Detroit.  I had to spend $13 for this card, but if you divided that between the relic and auto binders, it's not an unreasonable price.

Panini issued this in 2015, Tommy LaStella's first year with the Cubs.  He is wearing a Braves uniform, but the card shows him with Chicago, so it follows the rules.  The card was pretty inexpensive, costing me three bucks and a quarter.

Thomas Neal played in just two games for the 2013 Cubs, but that was enough to earn him a certified card with Select Signatures.  I paid $1.93 to add this card.

Brooks Raley was another minimal performer for the 2013 Cubs that got a certified card.  He pitched in nine games and gave up eight runs over 14 innings.  His big league career ended with those games.  He has a certified card and Kyle Hendricks does not.  Brooks set me back just $2.75.

Josh Vitters was one of the crown jewels of the Cubs system when he came up in 2012.  He hit just .121 and never made it back.  I think Theo brought him up to show just how bad the Cubs system was and to buy some time for his rebuild.  I bought the .121 hitter for $2.75

Adding these five now ups my total to 130 rule-following Cubs players with certified autographs.  I'll have a tile with all of them tomorrow

World Series Autograph Collection Update #4

I'm now at 24 down with just one to go.

Here's the most recent addition, Pedro Strop.  That's a nice looking signature and he added his uniform number too.  This is not certified, as no certified Pedro card exists.  I'll have to take the sellers word that it is authentic.

Justin Grimm is the only player remaining.  I'm not going to pay $35 for the certified card that's on Ebay.  There was a regular Heritage signed card for $15 available, but I don't want to pay that much for a card that will just be a placeholder.  My only option right now is to wait for a reasonably priced certified card to show up.

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 15,306 Cubs cards from 129 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1970 Super #40 Billy Williams  I did a post on the Super set about a month ago.    It's a shame that Topps used a picture that was probably five years old.

1980s: 1988 Fleer Glossy #641 Prospects Mark Grace and Darrin Jackson  Both of these guys went on to have decent major league careers and work in broadcasting, too.

1990s: 1992 Topps Gold Winner #727 Chuck McElroy The card says "Winner" but Chuck, not so much.  He was 4-7 in 1992.

2000s: 2002 Topps Total #20 Juan Cruz The picture on this card must be from a spring training game because he is wearing quite a mish-mash.... the blue alternate top, home pinstriped pants, and the away red billed hat.

2010s: 2010 Topps Factory Team #9 Tyler Colvin This is another spring shot, because the Cubs are in the first base dugout.  His 2010 season ended early when a piece of a broken bat lodged in his chest.

2018 Cubs Schedule, Convention Version

The Cubs have recently been issuing three versions of their schedule.  Today I've got version #2.

This is given out at the Cubs Convention.  The schedule has more details than the one released last fall.  All the game times are listed.  The promotional schedule is there, too. 

It includes the usual bobbleheads, hats, and other goodies.  

But alas, there aren't any baseball cards being given away this year.

2018 Series One Inserts to Chase

The release of the 2018 Series One checklist gave me the chance to look over the inserts I'll be chasing.  It will be a major chase. Luckily Brentandbecca will help with most.

The number of insert sets is down.  There are just seven sets with basic cards (no patches, relics, autographs, etc).  The Cubs netted players in all but one.

Salute
15 Anthony Rizzo
18 Javier Baez
43 Andre Dawson
47 Kris Bryant
70 Ian Happ

Superstar Sensations
4 Addison Russell
42 Kris Bryant
44 Anthony Rizzo

MLB Awards
5 Anthony Rizzo
29 Jason Heyward

1983 Topps Baseball
1 Ryne Sandberg
15 Ian Happ
21 Jake Arrieta
23 Kris Bryant
54 Anthony Rizzo
81 Kyle Schwarber
87 Javier Baez
99 Addison Russell

Legends in the Making – retail only
AR Anthony Rizzo
KB Kris Bryant

MLB Opening Day – retail only
17 Kris Bryant

Topps Now Top 10
NO CUBS

I should be able to get all of the hobby versions from Brent, leaving me only to use Ebay for the two retail only sets.

The real bugger will be the one listed below...

Kris Bryant Highlights – 30 cards – Walmart only

The guy has been in the league for just three seasons yet he has a 30 card insert set.  Making matters more difficult, the cards are found only in Walmart packs.  I can see this one taking a while to complete.

The insert total from the first series on 51 cards.  That's five times the number of base Cubs in the series.  Yikes!

2018 Series One Checklist

Yesterday Topps released the checklist for Series One, sort of.  The PDF is here.

The checklist includes the names of the players, but there are no card numbers. I'm not sure why they didn't include them.  EDIT - Apparently Topps is holding off on the numbers until they reveal which player is getting #1.

As far as Cub, I'll be chasing after these:

Alex Avila
Javier Baez
Willson Contreras
Ian Happ
John Lackey
Jon Lester
Jose Quintana
Anthony Rizzo
Kyle Schwarber
Koji Uehara

That is a significantly smaller number of Cubs compared to last year.  Not winning the World Series might have something to do with that!

 I also question the inclusion of Avila, Lackey, and Uehara, who are all unsigned free agents that most likely won't end up with the 2018 Cubs.  What a waste of three Cubs slots.

For you collectors of other teams, here's the checklist sorted by teams:

American League	American League Combo Card
National League	National League Combo Card
Angels	LA Angels Team Card
	Cam Bedrosian
	Parker Bridwell
	Martin Maldonado
	Ricky Nolasco
	Brandon Phillips
	Garrett Richards
	Matt Shoemaker
	Andrelton Simmons
	Mike Trout
	Justin Upton
Astros	Jose Altuve League Leaders
	Houston Astros Combo Card
	Alex Bregman World Series Highlights
	Alex Bregman
	Carlos Correa
	J.D. Davis
	Mike Fiers
	Marwin Gonzalez
	Yulieski Gurriel
	Jake Marisnick
	Lance McCullers World Series Highlights
	Joe Musgrove
	Josh Reddick
	George Springer World Series Highlights
	George Springer World Series Highlights
	George Springer
Athletics	Paul Blackburn
	Jharel Cotton
	Daniel Coulombe
	Khris Davis League Leaders
	Khris Davis League Leaders
	Khris Davis
	Matt Joyce
	Jed Lowrie
	Sean Manaea
	Bruce Maxwell
	Marcus Semien
Blue Jays	Jose Bautista
	J.A. Happ
	Kendrys Morales
	Roberto Osuna
	Kevin Pillar
	Chris Rowley
	Aaron Sanchez
	Luis Santos
	Justin Smoak
	Troy Tulowitzki
	Richard Urena
Braves	Matt Adams
	Ozzie Albies
	Atlanta Braves Team Card
	Tyler Flowers
	Mike Foltynewicz
	Max Fried
	Luiz Gohara
	Ender Inciarte
	Matt Kemp
	Nick Markakis
	Lucas Sims
	Dansby Swanson
Brewers	Chase Anderson
	Orlando Arcia
	Ryan Braun
	Milwaukee Brewers Team Card
	Lewis Brinson
	Keon Broxton
	Zach Davies League Leaders
	Zach Davies
	Corey Knebel
	Brett Phillips
	Jonathan Villar
	Neil Walker
	Brandon Woodruff
Cardinals	Harrison Bader
	Aledmys Diaz
	Jack Flaherty
	Dexter Fowler
	Randal Grichuk
	Jedd Gyorko
	Lance Lynn
	Stephen Piscotty
	Michael Wacha
	Adam Wainwright
	Kolten Wong
Cubs	Alex Avila
	Javier Baez
	Willson Contreras
	Ian Happ
	John Lackey
	Jon Lester
	Jose Quintana
	Anthony Rizzo
	Kyle Schwarber
	Koji Uehara
Diamondbacks	Nick Ahmed
	Anthony Banda
	Brandon Drury
	Zack Godley
	Zack Greinke League Leaders
	Jake Lamb
	J.D. Martinez
	Chris Owings
	David Peralta
	A.J. Pollock
	Robbie Ray
	Jimmie Sherfy
Dodgers	Cody Bellinger League Leaders
	Cody Bellinger
	Walker Buehler
	Logan Forsythe
	Yasmani Grandal
	Rich Hill
	Clayton Kershaw League Leaders
	Clayton Kershaw League Leaders
	Clayton Kershaw
	Brandon McCarthy
	Joc Pederson
	Yasiel Puig
	Justin Turner League Leaders
	Julio Urias
	Chase Utley
	Alex Verdugo
	Alex Wood
Giants	Christian Arroyo
	Brandon Belt
	Ty Blach
	Johnny Cueto
	Matt Moore
	Hunter Pence
	Buster Posey
	Jeff Samardzija
Indians	Greg Allen
	Jay Bruce
	Carlos Carrasco League Leaders
	Carlos Carrasco
	Lonnie Chisenhall
	Mike Clevinger
	Cleveland Indians Team Card
	Jason Kipnis
	Corey Kluber League Leaders
	Corey Kluber League Leaders
	Francisco Lindor
	Francisco Mejia
	Andrew Miller
	Danny Salazar
	Carlos Santana
	Josh Tomlin
Mariners	Robinson Cano
	Nelson Cruz League Leaders
	Nelson Cruz
	Edwin Diaz
	Hisashi Iwakuma
	Mike Leake
	Seattle Mariners Combo Card
	Seattle Mariners Team Card
	Ariel Miranda
	James Paxton
	Jean Segura
Marlins	Brian Anderson
	Ichiro
	Miami Marlins Team Card
	Marcell Ozuna League Leaders
	Marcell Ozuna
	Dillon Peters
	Martin Prado
	J.T. Realmuto
	Giancarlo Stanton League Leaders
	Giancarlo Stanton League Leaders
	Giancarlo Stanton
	Edinson Volquez
	Christian Yelich
Mets	Yoenis Cespedes
	Michael Conforto
	Travis d'Arnaud
	Wilmer Flores
	Matt Harvey
	Steven Matz
	A.J. Ramos
	Jose Reyes
	Amed Rosario
	Dominic Smith
	Zack Wheeler
Nationals	Erick Fedde
	Gio Gonzalez
	Howie Kendrick
	Daniel Murphy League Leaders
	Daniel Murphy
	Washington Nationals Team Card
	Raudy Read
	Anthony Rendon
	Victor Robles
	Max Scherzer League Leaders
	Andrew Stevenson
	Stephen Strasburg League Leaders
	Stephen Strasburg
	Trea Turner
	Jayson Werth
	Ryan Zimmerman
Orioles	Dylan Bundy
	Kevin Gausman
	Austin Hays
	Adam Jones
	Manny Machado
	Trey Mancini
	Baltimore Orioles Team Card
	Jonathan Schoop
	Chance Sisco
	Chris Tillman
	Mark Trumbo
Padres	Carlos Asuaje
	Brad Hand
	Dinelson Lamet
	Wil Myers
	Luis Perdomo
	Jose Pirela
	Hunter Renfroe
	Yangervis Solarte
Phillies	J.P. Crawford
	Maikel Franco
	Cesar Hernandez
	Odubel Herrera
	Rhys Hoskins
	Aaron Nola
	Philadelphia Phillies Team Card
	Nick Pivetta
	Cameron Rupp
	Nick Williams
Pirates	John Jaso
	Chad Kuhl
	Starling Marte
	Andrew McCutchen
	Jordy Mercer
	Ivan Nova
	Gregory Polanco
	Felipe Rivero
Rangers	Elvis Andrus
	Adrian Beltre
	Willie Calhoun
	Andrew Cashner
	Shin-Soo Choo
	Joey Gallo League Leaders
	Joey Gallo
	Nomar Mazara
	Rougned Odor
	Texas Rangers Team Card
Rays	Chris Archer
	Alex Colome
	Corey Dickerson
	Adeiny Hechavarria
	Kevin Kiermaier
	Evan Longoria
	Jake Odorizzi
Red Sox	Matt Barnes
	Mookie Betts
	Jackie Bradley
	Rafael Devers
	Craig Kimbrel
	Mitch Moreland
	Eduardo Nunez
	Rick Porcello
	Boston Red Sox Combo Card
	Boston Red Sox Team Card
	Eduardo Rodriguez
	Chris Sale League Leaders
	Chris Sale
	Christian Vazquez
Reds	Zack Cozart
	Scott Feldman
	Brandon Finnegan
	Amir Garrett
	Scooter Gennett
	Billy Hamilton
	Raisel Iglesias
	Michael Lorenzen
	Tyler Mahle
	Jackson Stephens
	Eugenio Suarez
Rockies	Nolan Arenado League Leaders
	Nolan Arenado
	Charlie Blackmon League Leaders
	Charlie Blackmon League Leaders
	David Dahl
	Carlos Gonzalez
	Jon Gray
	Greg Holland
	Ryan McMahon
	Mark Reynolds
	Colorado Rockies Team Card
	Antonio Senzatela
	Trevor Story
	Raimel Tapia
	Pat Valaika
Royals	Cheslor Cuthbert
	Danny Duffy
	Cam Gallagher
	Eric Hosmer League Leaders
	Eric Hosmer
	Ian Kennedy
	Whit Merrifield
	Mike Moustakas
	Salvador Perez
	Jason Vargas League Leaders
Tigers	Miguel Cabrera
	Michael Fulmer
	Jose Iglesias
	Ian Kinsler
	James McCann
	Daniel Norris
	Detroit Tigers Team Card
	Jordan Zimmermann
Twins	Byron Buxton
	Brian Dozier
	Zack Granite
	Robbie Grossman
	Joe Mauer
	Jorge Polanco
	Eddie Rosario
	Miguel Sano
	Ervin Santana
	Aaron Slegers
White Sox	Jose Abreu
	Tim Anderson
	Nicky Delmonico
	Avisail Garcia League Leaders
	Avisail Garcia
	Nate Jones
	Yoan Moncada
	Carlos Rodon
	Tyler Saladino
	Chicago White Sox Team Card
Yankees	Miguel Andujar
	Dellin Betances
	Starlin Castro
	Garrett Cooper
	Clint Frazier
	Todd Frazier
	Brett Gardner
	Chase Headley
	Aaron Judge League Leaders
	Aaron Judge League Leaders
	Aaron Judge
	CC Sabathia
	Gary Sanchez
	Luis Severino League Leaders
	Luis Severino
	Masahiro Tanaka
	NY Yankees Team Card

World Series Autograph Collection Update #3

Two more autographs of the 2016 World Series Cubs have arrived!

 

Neither of  these are certified as both Rondon and Hendrick have not been deemed certified-worthy by either Topps or Panini.  I can certainly see Hendricks getting one sometime in the near future.  Rondon, though, is less likely.

Are the signatures real?

Both of the sellers didn't have any red flags in their Ebay feedback.  The signatures look very similar to what I've seen on items that are authentic.  And I don't think that anyone is going to get rich by selling fake signatures or either of these two.  So I'm going with them being real.

My World Series project is nearly complete, with just two players missing (Grimm and Strop).

Less Than Three Months

The Cubs home opener is less than three months away.

This is what the ballpark looks like right now.  The Friendly Confines seem very unfriendly.

Soon enough though, it will look again like this...

...and all will be well.

Last year the section behind home plate was rebuilt and a club for Mr. Big Bucks was added underneath the section.  This year they're working down the lines where two more clubs will be built.  The dugouts are also going to be rebuilt and moved down the lines.  From what I've read the weather hasn't hampered the work at all and everything is on schedule.

Can't Follow My Own Rules...

I've written often about my autograph and relic collection and the rules I have:

One card for any Cub player that has a certified autograph...
...issued in a year that the player played for the Cubs
AND
...the card shows the player as a Cub.

I use the same rules for relics as well.

I thought that I had every Cub covered, with autographs from 125 players and relic cards for 84 Cubs.  But I was wrong, very wrong.

Matt from Once A Cub recently left a comment about a player I may have missed.  He was right.  Pitcher Brooks Raley has a couple autograph cards from 2013, a season in which he pitched in nine games for the Cubs.  I was able get the card for $2.75, including shipping.

How did I miss this?

It's pretty simple.  His autograph cards are from unlicensed Panini products.  When I was getting my collection together a couple years ago, the unlicensed stuff was not on my radar.  I looked over checklists from various Topps products, but it never occured to me to check the Panini stuff.

I should have, and this past weekend, I did.

In addition to Raley, I found autographs and relics for five other players currently missing from my collection.  All of the cards are from Panini products.

The missing five are:

• Chris Carpenter (not the good one) has an autograph from 2011 and pitched in ten games for the Cubs
• Thomas Neal has an autograph from 2013, when he made a brief two game appearance
• Josh Vitters, both an autograph and relic from 2012, his one and only Cubs season.  I did buy an autograph of him from 2013, figuring that he would be with the team that season too.  But he never made it back to Chicago, meaning the 2013 autograph doesn't follow the rule of being from a year the player played for the Cubs
• Tommy LaStella, an autograph from 2015, his first year with the Cubs
• Jeimer Candelario, a dual auto/relic card from 2017, when he played in eleven games before being traded to the Tigers.

I was able to get the missing cards and I'll post them once they've all arrived.  I'm hopeful that I now have no holes left in the autograph and relic collection.

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 15,296 Cubs cards from 128 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1961 Topps Danny Murphy  Meet the original Scott Thompson, Karl Pagel, Brooks Kieschnick, Corey Patteson, Tyler Colvin, etc....  He was a bonus baby that went from high school directly to the Cubs.  He was in over his head from the start and eventually reinvented himself as a pitcher.

1980s: 1984 Jewel Larry Bowa  The 1984 set was the last of the Jewel sets.  It was also the most uninteresting, as most of the pictures were head shots with little in the background.

1990s: 1990 Star Silver #14 Mark Grace  This is one of nine 1990 Star Silver cards of Mark Grace.  This one highlights the 1987 season, which was his last full season in the minor leagues.  He spent the year in AA and hit .333 with 17 HRs and 101 RBIs.  

2000s: 2006 Topps Factory Team Set #7 Jerry Hairston  All I have to say about this card is why is he wearing Darwin Barney's number!

2010s: 2013 Sega CardGen #227 Jeff Samardzija  Sega gave Spellcheck four stars out of eight.  The look on his face says that might be a star or two too many.