I've got 20,848 Cubs cards from 305 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.
1900s - 1970s: 1973 O-Pee-Chee #285 Don Kessinger He's choking up, even in his posed shot. Do players choke up any more? Seems like they are more free-swinging (and more often than not, missing). I wonder if they will play to contact more now that the shift has been banned.
1980s: 1989 Bowman #281 Rick Sutcliffe It looks like a nice sunny day, but there appear to be a bunch of empty seats. 1990s: 1993 Stadium Club #21 Frank Castillo I've always preferred the look of the Cubs numbers on the back as we see in this picture. They are a plain blue, instead of the blue with red outlining we see on today's uniform. Also, no names on the back is my preference too.2000s: 2006 Greats of the Game Pewter #41 Gary Matthews Sarge doesn't show up as a Cub very often, so it was nice to see him in this set. 2010s: 2018 Factory Team Set #CC11 Tommy LaStella He had a career high in games played in 2018, 123 games. Theo wasn't impressed though, and traded him to the Angels after the season in exchange for a player to be named later.
Reigning NL batting champ Jeff McNeil chokes up somewhat. He even uses a bat without a knob to keep himself from having his hands too low. But I know that precisely because it's so unusual these days.
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