2019 Heritage High Clubhouse Collection

I have all of the Cubs Clubhouse Collection cards since the start of Heritage in 2001.  The High Numbers set gave me four more to grab. 

Bryant already had a Clubhouse Collection card in the regular set.  I'm not sure why he needed another.

Three of the four of these have pieces of bats instead of jerseys.  I haven't seen many bat cards lately.  I appreciate the switch.

The Clubhouse Collection Collection now consists of 63 cards:

 

Accuracy Is Not Important... Again!

This feature is back again, now that I've got the Heritage High Number cards.

Take a look at the front and back of Brandon Kintzler's card.

I have nothing more to say...

2019 Heritage High Number Cubs

My Heritage High Number cards have arrived.  The set consists of 225 cards.  Just five on the list are Cubs.  That a bit low.

 

 

 

 

Kudos to Topps for including Craig Kimbrel.  They did not take a picture of him as a Cub, though.

The card was Photoshopped.

Cubs New 1969 Website

I've made it no secret that the 1969 Cubs team is my favorite of all-time.  It's the team that made me a Cubs fan and the team that broke my heart.

Fifty years later the team is still talked about, which is pretty surprising for a team that won nothing.  In fact, they're a team that blew it.

Maybe that's why we still talk about them. Losing has a different mystique.  We can discuss several "what ifs".  It they won, we'd have just one thing to talk about.

Yesterday the Cubs debuted an entire website devoted to the 1969 Cubs - 1969chicagocubs.com

 There are five different chapters to look over, each with a video.  It was an enjoyable trip down memory lane.  Even if your not interested in the Cubs, I still recommend you take a look.  The chapter on the Bleacher Bums was especially good.  Take a look!

Accuracy Is Not Important

Just a quick post with another in a long line of errors on the back of a card.  This time it is the 2019 Stadium Club Sammy Sosa.

Take a look at the back...

...and at this close-up.

It shouldn't take a Cub fan very long to spot the mistake.

Sammy was acquired by the White Sox in a trade with the Rangers on 7-29-89.  The Cubs got him in a trade with the White Sox on March 30, 1992.

My guess - the person writing the back of the card saw that Chicago got Sammy in 1989 and just assumed it was the Cubs.

So, my semi-annual plea to Topps - please allow me to proof-read anything Cub related and I'll improve your accuracy, assuming that accuracy is important to you.

2019 Topps Total Wave 5 Cubs

The fifth wave arrived and there were a little surprise.

All the listings showed three Cubs: Brad Brach, Willson Contreras, and Mike Montgomery.

When my cards arrived there were just two in the package.  Mike Montgomery was missing.  I messaged the seller, letting him no he forgot to include a card.

He messaged back that Topps had changed Montgomery from the Cubs to the Royals, since he had been traded by the Cubs in mid-July.  I guess since Total is print by demand set, Topps has a much later print deadline.

SInce I only got two cards instead of the three I paid for, I politely asked the seller for a partial refund.  I haven't head back from him yet.

 

These are the two cards that I got. 

There are 16 Cubs in the first 500 Total cards.

Seven of the 16 are not on the current roster.  This is like back in the dark days of the rebuild when the roster was constantly turning over.

In AAA - Almora, Bote, Zagunis

On the IL - Descalso, Contreras, Webster

Released - Brach

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 17,156 Cubs cards from 200 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1954 Topps #67 Jim Willis  Willis pitched in 14 games for the '54 Cubs, all between April and June 5.  I'm assuming he got hurt because he made no appearances in the majors or minors the rest of the year. The Cubs traded him to the Reds in the off-season.

1980s: 1983 Topps #125 Leon Durham  It was a season of two contrasting halves for the Bull.  He hit .310 up to the All-Star break and was on the NL team.  He was hurt a couple times after the break and ended the season with a .258 average.

1990s: 1992 Star Platinum #2 Ryne Sandberg  The card highlights Ryno's playoff stats and they were pretty good.  In ten playoff games he hit .385 with a homer and six RBIs.  Unfortunately, the Cubs won just three of those ten games.

2000s: 2003 T205 #51 Sammy Sosa  The Topps T205 set was a one and done.  A card like this one gives good reason why.

2010s: 2017 Heritage #155 World Series Game 5  The Cubs won this game to stave off elimination. It was then back to Cleveland, where anything could happen.... and it did! 

My First 2019 Heritage High Number Cards

Brentandbecca is back and busting.  I'm awaiting a double shipment - Heritage High Numbers and Archives.

A couple of the Heritage insert sets were retail only, so I had to use other sources.  Both were easy to find and fairly cheap on Ebay.

Bryant was included in the candy lid set while Baez got a cloth sticker.

The rest of my Heritage should be arriving within the next week.

2011 Ginter Mini Cubs

I've had about 120 of the Allen & Ginter mini cards show up.  Most sets still have a few holes, but the 2011 set is complete. Unfortunately, it has one of the ugliest mini cards.

A quick word about the tile - I have it set at five cards across because that matches the sheets in the binder.

Take a look at all sixteen of the 2011 cards and see if you find the card I consider to be the ugly one.  I think that it really sticks out like a sore thumb.

The ugly one?

This horitzonal card of Koskus Fukudome.  It looks really out of place when you compare it to all the vertical cards.  A nice looking page is ruined by one stinker.

2005 Reflections Cubs

The 2005 version of Reflections was quite different from the 2004 debut set.  It was smaller by nearly 100 cards, from 390 down to 286.  The jerseys and autographs were no longer part of the base set.  All the numbered base cards were regular cards.  The first 200 were in the original release and the final 86 were in the update.

The 2005 set also included retired players.

 

Too bad they couldn't find a color picture for Ernie. That black and white doesn't look good.

Twelve modern Cubs were on the checklist, including five rookies with the "Future Reflections" tag.  Only one of the five did much for the Cubs, Geovany Soto.  The rest were busts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2004 Reflections Cubs

Most of the older sets that I've picked up over the past six months have been oddballs, one-and-dones, and logoless.  Today I've got one that is from a major company, lasted two years, and has logos.

Upper Deck issued a set called "Reflections" in 2004 and 2005.  Below are the Cubs from 2004.  The full set consists of 390 cards, but they are broken down into several subsets.

#1-100: regular cards

#101-130: Rookie Reflections

#131-298: Jersey cards, in four different levels

#298-340: Autograph cards

#341-390: Update series Rookies

You don't often see jersey and autographs numbered as part of the main set.  When I put my Cubs set together, I skipped the jerseys and autographs and picked up just the regular cards.  Among the 280 regular cards are eleven Cubs.