Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 21,195 Cubs cards from 316 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1963 Topps #212 Glen Hobbie The lefty lost 57 games between 1960 and 1963, won just 35, and had an ERA above 4 over that span.  How bad were the Cubs that they kept running him out there every four games?

1980s: 1982 Fleer #606 Mike Tyson  Tyson was cut during spring training in 1982 and never played in the big leagues again.  

1990s: 1993 Studio #8 Steve Buechele The placement of the logo background and Buechele's helmet almost end up giving him a Mickey Mouse ears hat.

2000s: 2000 Topps Chrome #106 Mickey Morandini This is the guy that should have gotten the Mickey Mouse ears, not Steve Buechele.

2010s: 2016 Topps Now Throwback Thursday #133 Kris Bryant  The only Throwback Thursday cards I have are those, like this one, from the World Series.

Comparing the Main Brands - 2001

 Year - 2001

Main Brands -  Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Pacific, Upper Deck

Number of Players Included Among All the Sets: 39

Players Included in Every Set: 4

Donruss has returned after a two-year break, so we are back to five brands.  However, they didn't add much to the tally since there are just six Cubs cards in their set.

The number of Cubs players is up, to 39, while just four players have a card in each of the five sets.  Topps has a team picture on a team card for the first time in twenty years.

Light Blogging Ahead

 Things are going to be pretty slow around here for the next several week.  Mrs. WW and I are going back to work at Camp Arcadia for four of the next six weeks. Then, after a week at home we are heading across the pond to Berlin, where WW Jr. is going to college.

I'll have the Saturday brand comparison posts, since they are already written and scheduled.  I may also may schedule some Five Random Cubs Cards posts for Sunday.

Play nice while I am gone!

Living Set Ron Santo

July was the best month ever, as the Living Set had three different Cubs cards.  In fact the three in one month matches the three Cubs total from each of the years 2020 - 2022.

The print run for Santo's card was a bit disappointing, at just 1,917.  

The photo that was used as the basis of the artist's work was one that Topps has used before.  That too is disappointing.  

 

But I guess I shouldn't complain and just be happy that he was included in the set and that there have been three Cubs in a pretty short time-span.

Now, when will Topps include Billy Williams in the set?

Card	Player	Date Released	Days Since Last Cub	Print Run
5	Ian Happ	3/21/18		3,042
30	Brandon Morrow	5/16/18	56	5,585
64	Ryne Sandberg	8/8/18	84	7,212
67	Anthony Rizzo	8/15/18	7	5,568
83	David Bote	9/19/18	35	5,345
103	Javier Baez	11/7/18	49	4,499
127	Kris Bryant	1/2/19	56	5,361
210	Jason Heyward	7/10/19	189	2,573
217	Ernie Banks	7/31/19	21	5,406
266	Kyle Hendricks	12/4/19	126	2,074
310	Nico Hoerner	5/6/20	154	3,523
323	Willson Contreras	6/25/20	50	2,052
352	Alec Mills	9/30/20	97	1,886
429	Craig Kimbrel	7/7/21	280	1,780
453	Patrick Wisdom	9/29/21	84	1,547
473	Frank Schwindel	12/8/21	70	1,764
516	Marcus Stroman	5/4/22	147	1,686
519	Fergie Jenkins	5/18/22	14	2,589
547	Seiya Suzuki	8/24/22	98	3,340
609	Lee Smith	3/9/23	197	1,775
638	Rick Monday	7/5/23	118	1,612
641	Christopher Morel	7/19/23	14	2,187
643	Ron Santo	7/26/23	7	1,917

Miles Mastrobouni Follows the Rules

Yes, I have an autographed card of Miles Mastrobuoni.  

Who? you may say.  And I don't blame you.  The light-hitting infielder has been on the Iowa shuttle all season.  I've been totally unimpressed with him, yet Topps thought him worthy of inclusion in series two's Baseball Stars autograph insert set.  Baseball Stars??  Miles Mastrobuoni????

But, since rules are rules, I had an obligation to get the card. Luckily, there wasn't a big run on his cards like there was for Matt Mervis.  I got the card for $10, delivered.

Mastrobuoni is the 161st player in my collection of those with a certified autograph showing them as a Cub in a season that they played for the Cubs.  

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