Comparing the Main Brands - 2006

 Year - 2006

Main Brands -  Topps, Fleer, Upper Deck

Number of Players Included Among All the Sets: 35

Players Included in Every Set: 13

And then there were three.  Donruss baseball bit the dust when MLB decided to not renew their license.  Fleer was on life support, too, as it declared bankruptcy in 2005 and was bought by Upper Deck.  

The 2005 set was the first Fleer set produced by Upper Deck.  It had just 430 cards, much smaller that Topps' 659 cards and Upper Deck's set of 1000.  Yes, the UD set had 1000 cards (and another 250 in an update set).

The massive Upper Deck set is the reason for 35 Cubs players among the three sets.  You'll see lots of players with just an Upper Deck card.

What Do These Players Have in Common?

 

 

Do you know what these five players have in common (besides playing for the Cubs at one time in their career)?

The answer can be found on the backs of their cards.

Check out where they were born...they were all born in Germany.

And why does that matter?  

Tomorrow, Mrs. WW and I are heading to Germany.  No, we are not riding our bikes there!  We're flying to Berlin to visit WW Jr., who is a student and Humboldt University in Berlin.  We plan to visit sites in Berlin and also take day trips by train to other parts of Germany.  I don't anticipate seeing anything Cubs-related, but who knows.  I always am on the lookout for baseball stuff.

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: 1975 O-Pee-Chee #411 George Mitterwald  Today there were be three trainers looking at his eye.  In 1975 he had to do it by himself.

1980s: 1987 Topps Traded #27 Andre Dawson  He looks like a guy that just signed a contract with no salary amount filled in...:"What did I just do??"

1990s: 1991 Upper Deck Traded #27 Frank Castillo The righty was called up to the Cubs on June 27 and made his MLB debut that evening against the Pirates.  He started and took a shutout into the ninth inning.  After giving up two singles to start the ninth, the bullpen took over and turned a 3-0 leading into a 4-3 loss.  Welcome to the Cubs!!

2000s: 2004 Upper Deck Traded #562 Nomar Garciaparra I was in Denver at Nomar's third game as a Cub.  The crowd was at least 50% Cubs fans and he got a standing ovation at his first at bat.

2010s: 2017 Topps Storied #1 1907 Cubs I don't think the 1907 World Series was all that storied other than the fact that it was the first time the Cubs won it.