The Milk-Bone Cubs*

Today's set comes from Milk-Bone and was their one and only foray into the baseball card world.  Specially marked boxes had a package with two cards inside.  The set has just 20 cards and there was one Cub....sort of, hence the asterisk in the post title.

The card shows us catcher Joe Girardi and his dog Nikko.  The set is called Superstars, but Joe was no superstar.  He was a serviceable catcher.

You'll also notice that the card says "1993 Limited Edition."  That is the reason for the asterisk.  He is clearly shown as a Cub, making a throw at Wrigley Field.  But in 1993, Joe was no longer with the Cubs.  He was taken by the Rockies in the expansion draft after the 1992 season. (And by the way, are superstars left unprotected in an expansion draft?)  

But since the card has no team designations, and it shows him as a Cub, it goes into my collection.

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 16,275 Cubs cards from 155 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1960 Fleer #50 Frank Chance Fleer did a nice job of colorizing the pictures on these cards.  This one gives us a nice look at one of two managers to lead the Cubs to a World Series crown

1980s: 1989 Topps Stickers #49 Shawon Dunston... or Shawon Tungsten as he is known by Cardtoons 

1990s: 1999 Team Issued Wrigley Field Top Ten Gabby Hartnett  Twenty years after this set came out, the Homer in the Gloamin would still rank as a Wrigley Field Top Ten Moment.

2000s: 2004 Leaf #114 Corey Patterson  The 2004 season marked the time that Corey turned into KKKKKKKKKKKKorey.  It was the first season his hit total didn't exceed his number of strike outs.

2010s: 2011 Topps Update Cognac #157 Reed Johnson Reed is celebrating a walk-off home run he his against the Padres on April 20, 2011.

Living Set Kris Bryant

Here's a look at my first card with a 2019 copyright...

.... Kris Bryant's card from the Living Set.

He is the seventh Cub to be included.

Here's the other Cubs and their print run:

#5 Ian Happ -  Print run - 3,042
#30 Brandon Morrow -  Print run - 5,585
#64 Ryne Sandberg - Print run - 7,212
#67 Anthony Rizzo -  Print run - 5,568
#83 David Bote -  Print run - 5,345
#103 Javier Baez -  Print run - 4,499
#127 Kris Bryant -  Print run - 5,361

Sandberg's card is, by far, the most popular Cubs card.  Bryant just barely beat out David Bote.  I think if Bryant's card was sold during the season it would have generated more interest.

1995 Cardtoon Cubs

Today's cards are from a brand that was around for just one year, but they had an interesting story.

The brand name is "Cardtoons."  The concept was borrowed from Topps' Wacky Packages. Instead of paroding packages, Cardtoon parodies baseball players.  Like Wacky Packages, they used cartoons.  They also used parody names for the players in the same way that products were parodied on Wacky Packages.

Have I used the word "parody" enough yet?  It is, however, an important word for Cardtoons.  The cards have a copyright  on them of 1993, but they weren't released until 1995.  And the reason for the delay?

Litigation.

Cardtoons did not have a license from MLB or the Players Association.  When the Players Association got wind of the product, they issued cease and desist orders to Cardtoon and Cardtoon's printer.

The matter went to court.  Cardtoons position is that parody is protected by the First Amendment.  Parody requires no license or permission.  They prevailed in both district court and on appeal.  Yea Constitution!

The card back has this disclaimer.

The set consists of 95 cards and five of them are Cubs.

Well, not quite Cubs.  These are "Scrubs."

Ernie Banks is "Mr. Club"

Harry Caray became "Harry Scaray" though he doesn't look very scary.

Shawon Dunston and his rocket arm becomes "Shawon Tungsten."

Mark Grace is "Amazing Grace" and the card back has a complete parody of Amazing Grace.

Ryne Sandberg turns into "Ryne Sandbox."

It's an interesting little product.  I may try to track down a complete set.  I'm curious what they called some of the other teams.

2018 Triple Threads Ernie Banks

Topps released Triple Threads in mid-November.  This is a brand that is not part of my Cubs collection because of the small set size (though that may change soon).  The 2018 set has 100 cards and one of the 100 is Mr. Cub.  Him I do collect.

I thought I'd take a shot at a Mr. Cub rainbow.  The set has several parallels -
Amethyst (serial-numbered to 299 copies)
Emerald (serial-numbered to 259 copies)
Amber (serial–numbered to 199 copies)
Gold (serial-numbered to 99 copies)
Onyx (serial-numbered to 50 copies)
Sapphire (serial-numbered to 25 copies)
Ruby (one-of-one)
Printing Plates (set of four for each card)

I've been able to get the ones that are in bold.  I'm not sure why the gold hasn't been available much.  I'm sure one will pop up soon.

Denny's Cubs Card

The Denny's restaurant chain gave out baseball cards from 1991 through 1997.  The cards were usually available during the summer and were given with the purchase of a meal.  The sets had one player from each of the MLB teams.  That makes it pretty easy to track down the Cubs - one per year.

Most years the cards were made by Upper Deck and included a holograph feature.  I'm sure they were a technological marvel in the 90's.  Holograms are cool to look at but not easy to scan.  You can't really get the full effect of these with a picture.

1991 -  Andre Dawson - The card came with a Grand Slam meal and the back of the card describes the player's career grand slams.  Dawson had four as of 1990,two with the Cubs and two with the Expos.

1992 - Ryne Sandberg - This edition of the set shows the player and a feature from the team's city.  In the background is the John Hancock Center 875 North Michigan Building.

1993 - Ryno repeats in 1993.  This is also the last year that the cards have the Grand Slam name on them and the last time they talk about the player's career slams.

1994 - The Bulls weren't the only early 90's three-peat, Ryno did it with Denny's!

1995 -  The Ryno three-peat is snapped by Sammy.  The 1995 set is also the last that was produced for Denny's by Upper Deck.

1996 -  Ryno returns!  Pinnacle took over as the maker of Denny's cards in 1996.  They kept the holograms, but it really didn't scan very well.  It just looks like a blue sky.  

1996 Grand Slam - The Grand Slam set returned in 1996 as a 10-card set.  There were regular cards and specially marked Artist Proof cards.  The AP cards came one in every 360 packs.  The card I've got is the AP version.

1997 -  End of the line!  Sammy is the player featured, though Jose Hernandez (I think) gets some solid camera time, too.

No Foil Barney

I guess I'm getting desperate to add anything to the Darwin Barney player collection.

I picked this up for a buck.  It's the diamond version of the card, but there is no foil printing.  It is a printing mistake, not a special parallel.

 

Here is the card side-by-side with a properly printed version.

The card gives me 12 different versions...
Base, base blank back, factory set limited edition, cognac, diamond, diamond no foil, hope diamond, black border, gold border, red border, Target, Walmart.