2012 Panini Triple Play

Back in the spring I picked up all of the Donruss Triple Play Cubs.  The sets were from the early '90s, 1992 - 1994.  It was a no frills set, but there were some interesting cards....

Twenty years later, Panini, which owns the Donruss brand name, brought back the set.  Without a license, however, the cards have a slightly different look to them.

I actually like what Panini has done.  To me nothing looks worse than a card with the team logos removed.  It is so distracting.  Something that I know belongs in the picture is gone, and that's all I can focus on. Panini found a way to get me to focus on the card...

 ...with drawings instead of photographs.  I'm not focusing on the lack of logos because the cartoon has my attention.  The missing logos don't seem so glaring in the cartoons, either.

Three Cubs made the 90 player base checklist, which is exactly the right number.  Besides Matt Garza...

 

...it was Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto.

Starlin Castro was included in the puzzle pieces checklist, with cards #100 - 108.  Except for the card number, the fronts all looked like this.

The nine backs come together to make this puzzle...

....of the Cubs shortstop.

I don't think I'd want a 660 card set of these, but this smaller set I can handle.  Nicely done, Panini.

A Bonus Page I Didn't Want

I've got another reminder of a really bad Cubs season.

I keep my Topps Cubs team sets in binders, one for each decade.  I also have a yearly stat sheet that I use as a divider between the years.  It makes it really easy to find a particular year when I'm searching for a card.  It's also a handy reference page if I'm looking for stats on a particular player.

Here is what a typical page looks like...

 

...On the top I've got the team's record and place.  That is followed by the stats of the position players.  All of the pitching stats are on the bottom.

Yesterday I was working on the 2012 version.  It was a very unpleasant task to type in the 101 losses.  Then I started putting in the position players.  Soon I realized that there was going to be a space issue.  The 24 position players took up quite a bit of room on the sheet.  They used a lot of players.  Typically, when that many players have stats, its not been a good year.

Below them I was going to need to fit in 30 pitchers.  Yes, 30 pitchers.  Need any more evidence of a really nasty season?  Well, there was no way that I was going to be able to fit in 30 more players on the page.  I could do it only if I reduced the font size to something almost unreadable....not a bad idea considering how bad the stats are.

In the interest of readability, I had to put the pitchers on a second page.  For the first time in 62 seasons of stat sheets, I've got a front and a back.  I hope this bonus page...

... never happens again!

Sorry, Sori

I don't mind admitting when I'm wrong, and regarding Alfonso Soriano, I was wrong.

Jim Hendry massively overspent to get Soriano in 2007, in both dollars and years. For the first couple seasons, Soriano would get amazingly hot and single-handily carry the team for weeks. It's no coincidence that they won the division his first two seasons with the Cubs.

But Soriano got old very quickly and coming into this season, he was 36 years old with $18 million due him each of the next three seasons. I can't think of any player his age worth that amount of money, let alone one with declining offensive skills and little defensive skills.

When the first first six weeks of the season came and went, Soriano had yet to hit a home run. It seemed like he was done, and the Cubs would be on the line for $54 million worth of nothing. Somehow, though, he was able to turn things around. He hit his first homer on May 15 and would end up with 32. He also knocked in 108 runs, his most ever as a Cub. He stayed healthy and played in 151 games. He even improved himself defensively, making several plays during the season that would never have been made in previous seasons.

So Sori, sorry for doubting you!

I've been looking for over a year to add a Soriano autograph to my collection, but was never able to find one at a decent prices. Most of his auto cards go for over $30. Finally I found this bargain...

....2007 UD Premier. It went for below the usual price and its a /35 card to boot. Now, if there's another team looking for an aging outfielder, maybe Theo can give them a $36 million bargain.

 

OPC 1973 Billy Williams

Another O-Pee-Chee card has arrived, this time the 1973 version...

These are my first vintage OPC cards, so you'll have to excuse my ignorance about the backs.  Other than some minor cropping differences, the fronts are typically identical to the Topps version.

 

In 1973 the OPC was nearly identical to the Topps back.  The only differences are due to the bilingual nature of the card.  Our Canadian friends don't get the cartoon writing, they get smaller type.

I've now got two of Billy's OPC cards.  They're first modern release came out in 1965, but for most seasons they had only the first couple of Topps series.  If a player's card was a high Topps number, they probably didn't have an OPC card.  For Billy, he's got Cubs cards in the 1965, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1974 sets.  You've seen the '73 and '74 cards, and the '70 and '71 are on their way.  That just leaves me '65, '68, 'and '72.  The hunt continues.

2012 Triple Thread Cubs

A couple Hall of Fame Cubs made the 2012 Triple Threads checklist....

....Ryne Sandberg and

....Andre Dawson.  I picked up both of these cards for my player collections.

I don't think you can tell from the scans, but both cards arrived with creases in them, compliments of the United States Postal Service.  I bought the cards from Sportlots for a price much cheaper than what they were going for on Ebay.  But when you buy from Sportlots, you can expect that most of the time the cards are going to come in a PWE.  These did, and the envelope got crushed in processing.  The toploader was cracked and the cards were creased. My thriftiness cost me this time.

On another note, while not trying to sound like a broken record, why was Ron Santo not included in this...or any Topps product this year?  At this point, I'm wondering if Topps can't.  Do they need a special licensed from his estate, since I'm assuming that dead guys aren't part of the MLB licensing agreement?  I would think that his family would have signed an agreement if that's whats needed.

I haven't heard anything at all about an issue with the family.  Anyone know anything about this?

Tile Tuesday: Autographs

I showed all my relics last week, so it makes sense that next I'd show all of my autographs.  These I'm planning to keep adding to the collection.  I feel more confident in the authenticity of the autographs than the relics.

All together I've got 102 autographs.  They run the gamut from Hall of Fame superstars to regular players to unknown prospects that never made the majors.  There are on card certified autos, stickers, and in-person signatures that may or may not be genuine.

I'm always looking for more; in fact that was one of my goals for 2012.  Notice anyone missing that I should add?  Let me know.

A Bryan LaHair Autograph, Before Its Too Late

What a year it's been for Bryan LaHair.  He won a starting job for the first time in his MLB career in the spring, got off to a terrific start and made the All Star team in July, and spent most of the second half of the season on the bench.

Topps included him in the 2012 Triple Threads set, but just barely.  He has a card in the Unity Autograph Relic insert.  There are 113 different cards in the set.  Most of the cards are numbered alphabetically, by the player's first name.  But apparently several got added at the last minute, and Bryan with a B is the final card in the set, #113.

My card is the base, numbered to 99.  Mine is #87.  There are also several parallels; sepia /75,  emerald /50, gold /25, sapphire /10, and ruby 1/1.  I won't be chasing a rainbow with these.

I wanted to get this card because I don't think that there will be many more LaHair autographs with the Cubs.  Anthony Rizzo has made LaHair expendable.  Maybe he'll end up a DH with an American League team.  That would seem to be a role he would do well with.  Plus, when the team is on the field, he can spend the extra time working on his signature.  It would be nice to see him come up with something other than the BLH he signs now.