Now I'm Definitely Going to Have to Wait

Javy Baez joined the Cubs on Tuesday and hit a game winning home run in the 12th inning...to go along with three strike outs, a ground out, and a wicked line out to right field.

It was quite a debut and reminds me of Starlin Castro's first MLB game in 2010, when he hit a 3 run homer in his first at bat and drove in five runs on the night.  The hot start drove the price of his cards up pretty high.  That was one of the reasons I gravitated towards collecting Darwin Barney....I knew that I could always afford Darwin's cards.

Baez's home run will only drive the price of his cards even higher.  Now I am definitely going to have to wait on an autograph or relic card from him.

But that doesn't mean that I'm completely shut out of the Baez market.

I've already got seven of his cards from a couple products released the past few years...

 

From 2012: Heritage Minors and Pro Debut

 

 

From 2013: Heritage Minors, Pro Debut, Bowman Chrome and Bowman Top 100.

From 2014: Bowman Top 100

Topps may try to sneak him in a few more things this year.  Next year I'll bet that we will see him in just about any and everything...kinda like they did with Castro in 2011 and Rizzo last year.

Following the Rules With A Cheap Auto

Yesterday I talked about following my autograph and relic rule.  Alcantara was affordable, but Javier Baez is not.  Today I've got a really affordable item.

I picked up this Mike Olt card back in April.  Technically it would satisfy both the auto and relic rule since the card has both.  But that doesn't really satisfy me.  One of the two binders would be missing the Olt card.  So I filled the hole with...

...this, which can go in the autograph binder, while the Museum card heads to the relic binder.

When I picked up the first card in April, there was some optimism with Mike Olt.  His eye troubles were cleared up and he had a decent spring.

The optimism vanished quickly.  Olt turned into a K or HR guy.  In 212 plate appearances this year, he hit 12 home runs but also struck out 83 times.  His batting average is .139.  Olt has recently turned into an Iowa Cub.  With what the Cubs have in the pipeline, I'd be surprised if he ever makes it back to Wrigley.

The only positive out of all of this is that I was able to get the auto-only card for an afordable three bucks.

I bet by Christmas I could get one for 99¢.

Obediently Following My Rules...Alcantara Auto and Relic Cards

One autograph card and one relic card for any Cubs player that had an auto or relic that shows them as a Cub during a season they played for the Cubs.

That's the collecting rule I adopted a couple years ago to keep me from feeling the need to get all the relics that Topps was putting out.

Infielder Arismendy Alcantara has been with the Cubs for about three weeks now.  He came to the team when Darwin Barney went on paternity leave.  Alcantara had a very strong start and soon Barney was gone.

Right after it was announced that Alcantara was coming to the Cubs, I checked Ebay to see if he had any auto or relic cards released this year.  If there were any I would need them to follow my rule.

It turns out that he had an autograph and auto/relic card in Bowman Inception.  Prices were pretty cheap and I grabbed both.  Turns out it was a good move to get them right away.  Since his strong start, the prices have been going up.

The autograph card has an on-card signature.

That's a sticker auto on the dual card.  And the jersey would be MLB game worn, since the card came out before his MLB debut.  I can live with both of those issues.

By my count, Alcantara makes player number 107 that meets my rule.  I've got 106 of them.  The missing one....Kosuke Fukudome.  I've got a non-certified auto of him, but the certified version is rare and expensive and probably will never be added to my collection.

As far as I can tell, there are 64 players that meet the rule with relics,  I've got all 64.

Tonight, both of those numbers could change.  One of the long-awaited prospects, Javier Baez, has been called up and may play in tonight's game.  If he does, you can add one more both the autograph and relic list.  Though he has 2014 relics and autographs, I will probably have to wait on him.  The stuff he has now is what the prospectors chase and they typically chase me out of the market  I may have to wait a while for the prices on Baez items to be affordable.

1994 Topps Finest Cubs

Today I've got a look at year two of Topps Finest.  The initial release was limited (4000 cases) and successful.  Of course that means that the next year would see Topps go nuts with the stuff.
The set size was more that doubled, going from one 199-card series to two series with 220 cards each.  Production was cranked up too, though numbers were not released.  As in 1993, the 1994 set included base cards and parallel refractors of each card.

The increased set size means more Cubs on the checklist.  There were 16 Cubs in the set, which is exactly the number there should be if you divide the 440 cards by 28 teams.  Pretty much any name player from the team made the set.

The 1994 team wasn't very good, so you're not going to see too many big stars.  The strike shortened season didn't cause much disappointment among Cub fans.

Two Cubs had the Superstar version of the cards...

 

....Sammy and Ryno.

The other 14 Cubs got the standard design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These sixteen cards mark the most Cubs from any Finest set.  That makes sense since the 440 cards in the complete set was the high-water mark for Finest.  

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 12,642 Cubs cards from 92 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1953 Bowman #71 Paul Minner  As plain as they are, the '53 Bowman cards sure do look nice.  This card has Minner is the standard pitcher pose at the Polo Grounds in New York.  Minner was a so-so starter on a very so-so Cubs team.  He was 12-15 while the team was 65-89.

1980s: 1989 Topps #439 Frank DiPino Though shown as a Cub, DiPino wasn't with the 1989 Cubs.  In 1988 he was just 2-3 with a 4.98 ERA.  He was a free agent after the season and the Cubs had no interest in re-signing him.  It made sense when you see those '88 numbers.  He was signed instead by the Cardinals and he had the best year of his career, posting a perfect 9-0 record and an ERA of 2.45.

1990s: 1990 Star Silver #18 Mark Grace  Star included three Cubs in the 1990 Silver set.  Grace was a big deal in 1990 after hitting .647 in the 1989 NLCS.  He played well in 1990, hitting .309 which was good for sixth in the league.

2000s: 2002 Topps #603 Todd Hundley If you are looking for a definition of free agent bust, see Todd Hundley.  The Cubs signed him to a four year, $23.5 million deal starting with the 2001 season.  He ended up with the team for just two years and had a combined average of .199.  The shocking thing was that they were able to trade him after 2002, while he still had $13.5 million left on his deal.  The Cubs were nuts for signing him but the Dodgers were even nuttier for making a trade for him.

2010s: 2010 Topps Peak Performance GU Derrek Lee Topps was cranking out GUs for Cubs at a crazy level in 2010.  This card is from series two; Lee also had one in the first series.  The 2010 season was DLee's last with the Cubs.  After hitting .251 in 109 games, he was traded to the Braves for three guys that never got a whiff of major league baseball.

Topps Complete Set Prices 1969 - 2014

Here is my monthly look at Topps complete set prices for all the years in which I own a set, 1969 - 2014.  The prices are from Ebay sold listings taken on August 1.  The prices do not include shipping.

• After a really big drop in June, the 1969 set recovered nicely in July.
• Sets from 1987 - 1990 could all be had for between five and six bucks.  Junk wax!
• I don't remember it happening very often, but a set was sold for a penny.  It was a 1988 set...junk wax!  The seller did have a shipping price of $15.00, which is a bit high, so he wasn't completely losing his shirt on the deal.
• The 2014 set price was higher now that the factory set is available.
• One of each set will run you $5,630.40 and that is about $570 higher than a month ago.

YEAR	Aug. 1	July 1	June 1	12 Mo. Avg.
1969	$1,274.89	$836.75	$1,254.40	$1,040.94
1970	$672.00	$716.58	$1,461.41	$914.31
1971	$661.21	$626.94	$864.21	$793.84
1972	$887.62	$755.20	$1,031.00	$944.59
1973	$353.41	$419.00	$374.30	$380.53
1974	$194.51	$186.60	$289.27	$218.51
1975	$357.19	$355.50	$325.50	$315.66
1976	$152.30	$143.66	$152.91	$165.16
1977	$118.20	$121.10	$117.50	$141.72
1978	$95.62	$114.90	$111.89	$98.85
1979	$95.01	$61.60	$111.62	$91.07
1980	$63.04	$64.60	$48.79	$64.91
1981	$30.91	$26.38	$27.76	$27.70
1982	$37.49	$25.85	$41.19	$37.87
1983	$32.80	$32.50	$32.99	$34.75
1984	$22.69	$13.88	$28.04	$18.43
1985	$18.85	$16.17	$16.85	$20.19
1986	$13.84	$12.77	$15.12	$13.68
1987	$5.64	$4.45	$11.04	$8.24
1988	$6.34	$11.18	$11.48	$9.21
1989	$5.40	$7.52	$9.09	$7.44
1990	$6.39	$6.81	$4.80	$8.63
1991	$8.32	$10.99	$6.89	$8.49
1992	$13.71	$8.25	$10.39	$12.24
1993	$27.31	$16.25	$20.05	$19.38
1994	$16.00	$20.48	$11.50	$20.37
1995	$35.99	$18.74	$28.51	$31.68
1996	$12.10	$22.93	$12.11	$19.60
1997	$25.67	$29.69	$39.00	$39.18
1998	$28.71	$28.83	$31.58	$33.25
1999	$18.40	$17.20	$23.02	$22.80
2000	$18.99	$15.68	$19.79	$21.43
2001	$41.50	$31.59	$29.94	$40.55
2002	$32.98	$42.98	$25.99	$36.75
2003	$35.56	$32.28	$44.38	$35.16
2004	$33.59	$26.35	$31.45	$27.07
2005	$28.10	$19.31	$27.41	$29.30
2006	$15.90	$18.68	$26.70	$25.52
2007	$20.48	$12.09	$18.00	$20.65
2008	$25.58	$29.38	$26.19	$26.89
2009	$20.05	$30.49	$30.13	$30.66
2010	$17.87	$21.74	$18.82	$22.02
2011	$30.40	$24.69	$23.08	$24.56
2012	$17.90	$22.60	$22.00	$24.19
2013	$29.50	$33.90	$31.02	$37.91
2014	$38.22	$37.81	$0.00	$38.01

Great Moments In Cubs Baseball

I've got a retired friend that enjoys going to garage and estate sales.  He and his wife enjoy finding unusual knick knacks for their home.  He knows that I'm a huge Cubs fan, so he will keep an eye out for any Cub-related items.  They're not very plentiful in our neck of the woods, but he'll come up with something for me from time to time.

Recently he snagged me a real treasure...

....a record album from 1971 titled "Great Moments in Cubs Baseball."   My Tiger-fan friend said he was surprised that there was an entire album filled with great Cubs moments; he thought there were barely enough moments to fill up a 45 (and those of you that don't know what a 45 record is, ask your parents!).  Nice friend, huh??

Narrated by Cubs broadcaster Jack Brickhouse, the album has nearly 45 minutes worth of highlights.  Some of the recordings go back to radio's early days.  A good chunk of side two is dedicated to the 1969 and 1970 seasons.  The Cubs blew the pennant both years, so I'm not sure I'd consider them "great" moments.

I don't even have a record player at home any more, so I had to use one we have at school.  The record player has a headphone jack, so I was able to connect the phonograph to my laptop, and using a free program called Audacity, I made a digital copy of the album.

The digital copy still has the scratches and popping you'd hear playing the record, but that just adds a little retro feel.  Once I had it digitized, I was able to burn a CD.  I also have it on my iPad.  Now I can listen to the album anywhere I'd like!

I even went ahead and made a CD label and case using the album artwork.

I burned a few extra copies of the CD, though without the expressed written consent of the Chicago National League Ballclub.

If you're nice to me and  promise not to laugh at the content, maybe I'll send you a copy.  Email me.  UPDATE: I have no more CDs to send, but you can access the MP3s and make your own CD....link HERE