Eighties Alphabetically - Jays

Last week I had a set from a Canadian potato chip company that I'd never heard of.  Today's cards are from another potato chip company.  And this one is very familiar to anyone who grew up in the Chicago area, Jays.

Everyone I knew ate Jay's potato chips.  The similarly named Lay's were a distant second.  Oddly, the Jay's name came about because of Pearl Harbor.  The company was founded by Leonard Japp and the chips had his name on them, Japps.  That was not a good name for a company after December 7, 1941, and they soon rebranded themselves as Jay's.

Their lone baseball issue as a 20-disc set that featured players from the Cubs, White Sox, and Brewers, as those were the teams in the Jay's market.  The discs were made by our usual disc maker, MSA, and were logoless.

There are seven Cubs in the set.

 

Five Random Cub Cards

 I've got 21,868 Cubs cards from 317 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1972 Topps #61 Cubs Rookies One for three here, though Hooton had his best seasons after the Cubs traded him away.

1980s: 1986 Fleer Traded #51 Guy Hoffman Hoffman is one 97 player that pitched for both the Cubs and the White Sox.  

1990s: 1993 Stadium Club #531 Sammy Sosa Looks like Sosa is celebrating a Cubs win at Wrigley, high-fiving a staff member.

2000s: 2007 Topps Chrome #280 Felix Pie  He started the season with a lot of hype, but never played up to it.

2010s: 2015 Allen and Ginter Mini #59 Hector Rondon  I miss the days when you didn't have to wait until the season was almost over to get Ginter.  Right now there is no official release date for 2024 Ginter other than a vague "September."

Eighties Alphabetically - Hostess

While the name is the same, this is not the snack company that put cards on their boxes in the 1970s.  This Hostess is a Canadian company that made potato chips.

The Canadian Hostess got into the baseball card game in 1987 with a 30-card sticker set.  The stickers were pretty small, measuring just 1 3/4" x 1 3/8".  They were found in specially marked bags of their chips.

Just one Cub player was on the checklist, but boy was that sticker a doozey!

Yes, that is Ryne Sandberg.  It looks like punk Ryne Sandberg, though, with dark eyebrow, eye liner, and lipstick.  I looked through pictures of all 30 stickers and Ryno is the only one that wes messed up like this.  Do they not like him up in Canada??

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 21,868 Cubs cards from 317 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1972 O-Pee-Chee #29 Bill Bonham Bonham looks really young in this picture.  It was taken in Scottsdale in 1971, when he was in just his second season of pro ball.  When he made it to the majors during the 1971 season, he wore #33, not the #52 he has on in the picture.

1980s: 1985 Subway Rick Sutcliffe This is one of my most wanted acquisitions of 2024.

1990s: 1992 Pinnacle #414 Mike Morgan  What an odd place to crop his head, right at his neck.  It looks like the white border is decapitating him.

2000s: 2006 Fleer #109 Todd Walker Walker is on the go in an early spring game, with brown ivy in the background.

2010s: 2018 Donruss #80 Willson Contreras  The Donruss set should be catchers only, because hiding the logos is pretty easy with all of the gear that they wear.

Eighties Alphabetically - Holsum

Last week's cards came from Hills, a store I had never heard of.  Today's cards come from a brand I'm very familiar with, Holsum bread.

I remember having many a PB&J sandwich on two slices of Holsum bread that came out of a bright orange wrapper.

The jingle from their commercials is running through my head now, too... 

H - O - L - S - U - M, 

H - O - L - S - U - M, 

H - O - L - S - U - M, lets be friends"

They too jumped into the baseball card craze in the late '80s with a disc set produced by Michael Schechter Associates.  It was without an MLB license, like most MSA products, meaning logoless pictures.

The set featured 20 players, including the Cubs' Mark Grace.

Holsum also issued the same 20-disc set in Canada, with their Canadian partner, Schafer's

Shota Imanaga Follows the Rules, but....

 There are plenty of 2024 Shota Imanaga autograph cards available.  The Trading Card Database lists 44 different 2024 autograph cards for him as a Cub.  But I don't have one.  And I don't think that I will for a while.

Price is the problem.  You can always expect higher prices for a Japanese player that comes over to MLB because you now have to compete with collectors from Japan.  This was true back in 2008 when the Cubs signed Koskue Fukudome.   His prices came down within a year as everyone realized that he was not going to be the next Ichiro.

Imanaga got off to a great start in 2024 and made the All-Star team.  That alone would have driven up his prices, but add to that the Japanese angle, and you have very high prices.

Most of his autograph cards are selling well above $100 each.  Those are the auctions.  Some sellers have listed Buy it Now prices at double and triple that.

I started watching some Imanaga auctions at the same time I picked up my autographs of Luke Little and Alexander Canario.  I was hoping that I could sneak in a win at a bargain price.  My hopes were dashed.

I'll keep watching and try for an inexpensive win, but I am doubtful.  It may take a while before I'm able to fill in this rule follower.

1990 Sportflics Fixed

 The big news with the 1990 set is that the number of pictures on each card was reduced from three to two.  There are no more portrait pictures, just two action shots. I'm assuming this was a budget move.  It really doesn't make sense because you've really started to take away the unique feature of the cards.

The name of the player and the border around the card don't change, but the bottom line switching between the team name and the player's position.  It's hard to see on some of the pictures below.  The first pictures of Damon Berryhill give the best look.

Luke Little Follows the Rules

Rookie pitcher Luke Little has this card in Chrome's Rookie Autograph set.  Little pitched in 30 games for the Cubs this season before a shoulder injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season.  Those 30 appearances were more than enough for him to follow my collection rule, as he has a certified autograph card showing him with the Cubs this season.

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

Living Set Shota Imanaga and Cody Bellinger

 Topps is playing Cubs catch-up in the Living Set.  There were 203 days without a Cubs card until one for Michael Busch was made the week of June 6.  Two weeks later, Shota Imanaga had a card and then there was one for Cody Bellinger the following week.  So after 6+ months without any Cub, we get three in four weeks.  Crazy!

 

The artist that did the Imanaga card is Angel Aviles while Jared Kelley created Bellingers.

The print run for Imanaga was the highest for a Cubs player since Ernie Banks in 2019.  Bellinger's was the lowest for any Cubs card in the set, ever.  

The cards are the 27th and 28th Cubs players to be featured.

#	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	3/10/23	197	1,775
638	Rick Monday	7/6/23	118	1,612
641	Christopher Morel	7/20/23	14	2,187
643	Ron Santo	7/27/23	7	1,917
667	Dansby Swanson	10/19/23	84	2,652
676	Justin Steele	11/16/23	28	1,535
734	Michael Busch	6/6/24	203	1,603
740	Shota Imanaga	6/27/24	21	4,114
742	Cody Bellinger	7/4/24	7	1,520

Five Random Cubs Cards

 I've got 21,868 Cubs cards from 317 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1973 Topps #501 Larry Gura The 1973 season was Gura's last with the Cubs.  After going 2-4 with an ERA of 4.87, he was traded to the Rangers.

1980s: 1986 Topps Stickers #62 Dennis Eckersley  Topps stickers from this era didn't have much of a design.

1990s: 1992 O-Pee-Chee #676 Turk Wendell Not many decent baseball players here but we do have the father of a pretty decent quarterback.

2000s: 2008 Baseball Heroes #36 Alfonso Soriano  The card says he joined the 40-40 club in 2006.  That is true, but he did it with the Nationals.  Seems odd to mention that on a Cubs card.

2010s: 2012 Topps Stickers #209 Carlos Pena That is a mighty swing he is taking!  And look, and actual design on Topps stickers!

Eighties Alphabetically - Hills

I had never heard of the Hills department store chain until I saw their baseball cards.  They had no stores in the Chicago area, so the name was a mystery to me.

There were many department stores that produced cards in the 80's and 90's.  Hills teamed with Topps to make two sets, one in 1989 and the other the following year.

This is the lone Cubs card in their 1989 set, Team MVPs.  There are 33 cards in the set, so some teams have more than one MVP.  But doesn't that go contrary to the word "most".  Can a team have more than one "most"?

Christopher Morel Update

 

It's been a little more than a week since the Cubs traded Christopher Morel to the Rays, with the Cubs getting Isaac Paredes in return.

Morel hit a home run in each of his first two games with the Rays.  Some Cubs fans went crazy, thinking that he never should have been traded.  Personally, while I liked the energy he brought, I wasn't excited about his all or nothing approach at the plate nor his defense.

I looked into just how well he was doing with the Rays.

Truth is, he isn't doing well at all.  He's played in seven games for Tampa and his batting average with them is .120. Besides those two home runs he has just one other hit while wearing a Rays uniform.  Like I said earlier, for him it was all or nothing.

Paredes hasn't been tearing it up either, but his average with the Cubs is .195 and that is robust compared to Morel.  He's also been an asset at third base while Morel was a liability. 

Alexander Canario Follows the Rules

 

The release of series two has made a couple more Cubs ruler followers for my autograph collection.  Outfielder Alexander Canario has been on the Chicago / Iowa shuttle this season.  Though he is currently in AAA, he has played in 15 games for the 2024 Cubs.  He has a certified autograph card showing him as a Cub in a season he played for the Cubs, which means he qualifies for my autograph collection.  This cards is from Topps 2024 series two's 1989 Autograph set.

He becomes the 168th player to follow my rules.

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