Looking Back at 2013

Total Number of Cubs cards in the collection from 2013: 564 Cubs cards, my third best total of the decade.  The number was boosted by the two team-issued sets.  Each was 81 cards, one given to season ticket holders, the other at the ballpark on three different days.

Total Number of brands collected: 25 brands.  New to 2013 were Aunt Millies, a bakery that put out a one-time only set, and Pinnacle, resurrected by Panini.  It lasted just one year.

Brands and number of Cubs cards:
Topps - 110
Allen & Ginter - 32
Autographs - 5
Archives - 5
Aunt Millies - 11
Bowman - 35
Chrome - 3
Factory team set - 17
Finest - 3
Gypsy Queen - 28
Heritage - 35
Opening Day - 8
Pinnacle - 6
Pro Debut - 11
Relics - 2
Sega Card Gen - 14
Team-Issued - 164
Topps Stickers - 10
Triple Play - 4
Turkey Red - 2

Ernie Banks - 18
Darwin Barney - 51
Andre Dawson - 2
Ryne Sandberg - 3
Billy Williams - 27

The player with the most cards:  Starlin Castro's 37 cards was tops.  I should point out that I do not include any of the five players with player collections.  Theyhave all sorts of parallels, which skews their totals.

The nastiest looking card: Heritage at this time was using lots of candid shots that they thought looked like posed pictures.  It didn't work out very well.

My favorite card: The 2012 Cubs won just 61 games, so any victory was worth celebrating.  And when Darwin Barney is the hero, that makes for as good as you will get in 2013.