Sunday, December 9, 2018

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 16,134 Cubs cards from 135 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.




1900s - 1970s: 1959 Topps #113 Taylor Phillips  Phillips didn't last long with the '59 Cubs.  He was 0-2 with an ERA north of 7 and was then traded on May 12.  Phillips became a Phillie.




1980s: 1988 Team-issued Ryne Sandberg  This is a nice shot of Ryno in action at Wrigley.  One thing about the sets that the Cubs gave away is that they only used pictures from home games.



1990s: 1996 Finest #341 Mark Grace  Grace was a gamer. He was the Cubs leading hitter in 1996, with a .331 average.  



2000s: 2006 Factory Team Set #CHC10 Aramis Ramirez  This card is from the first year that Topps made the factory team sets.  Back then there were just 14 cards in the set.  Today there are 17.



2010s: 2013 Team-issued Season Ticket Holders #23 Ryne Sandberg The RNG likes team-issued Rynos today!  This card was featured on the tickets for the 23rd home game of the season, May 17.  Sandberg was featured because he wore, and the Cubs retired, #23.




4 comments:

  1. The rare mustachioed Sandberg! Quite a find in the wild!

    ReplyDelete
  2. "He was 0-2 with an ERA north of 7 and was then traded on May 12. Phillips became a Phillie."

    And so began the Cubs' periodic off-loading of their pitching rejects to the Phillies (Bob Buhl - '66, Dick Ellsworth - '67).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Something doesn't look right about that Sandberg photo on the Heritage card. It looks airbrushed. I'm probably wrong, but my eyes said otherwise...any verification?

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's the real deal. It was taken in Mesa in 1987. Ryne showed up with a mustache, but shaved it off just before the start of the regular season.

    ReplyDelete