ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Three cards from yesterday's post stood out to me.

 

They are not the best players, or most well-known.

What I noticed was their last names.  They all begin with the letter Z.  How odd, I thought, that three players on the team have Z last names

But then I was thinking of recent Cubs teams and players like Zobrist, Zagunis, and Zastryzny.  Go back a few year for Zambrano.  

The Cubs seem to have more than their fair share of Z-named players.

So I did some digging.  It turns out that the Cubs have had 15 different players with a Z name, and that is by far, the most of any MLB team.  The next closest is 9.

Here's a listing of the 15 CubZ

Mark Zagunis - 2017-2019

Geoff Zahn - 1975-1976



Carlos Zambrano - 2001-2012



Eddie Zambrano - 1993-1994



Oscar Zamora - 1974-1976



Rob Zastryzny - 2013, 2016-2019



Rollie Zeider - 1916-1918



Todd Zeile - 1995



George Zettlein - 1874-1875 - no cards of him exist.



Bob Zick - 1954 - His MLB career was just eight games with the Cubs in 1954.  No cards of him exist, so I created one, using the 1954 Red Heart template.



Don Zimmer - 1960-1961



Heinie Zimmerman - 1907-1916



Ben Zobrist - 2015-2019



Julio Zuleta - 2000-2002



Dutch Zwilling - 1916

And how about the rest of the teams?  Here's how many Z's they have
9 - Pirates, Giants, Twins, Yankees
8 - Reds, Cardinals, Dodgers, Orioles, Red Sox, White Sox, Athletics
7 - Phillies, Tigers
6 - Marlins, Astros, Rangers, Royals
5 - Mets, Indians
4 - Diamondbacks, Braves, Brewers, Mariners, Rays, Blue Jays
3 - Nationals
2 - Rockies
1 - Padres, Angels

1916 Sporting News Cubs

I'm back with one of my recent reprint purchases, the 1916 Sporting News cards.

The set was issued as a premium.  A new subscription to the paper got you the 200-card set.  You could also purchase the cards in series of 20 for 10¢ per series.  The Cubs were well represent, with 22 cards out of the 200.  In fact, no team had more players than the Cubs. 

The card design is very basic, with a picture of the player, his name, position, team, and the card number.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fixing the 1972 In Action Cards

The 1971 set was the first to feature in-game action on cards.... for some of the teams.


The 1971 Cubs were not one of those teams.  All their cards were posed.

The first action pictures for the Cubs came the next year in the In Action subset.

 

 

 

Four Cubs have those cards.  Most of the action shots are not very good.  The Beckert and Santo cards are the worst. All four pictures are from Candlestick Park.  I wonder if they are all from the same game?

Being the fixer that I am, I found some action shots of the four players and updated their cards.

 

 

 

No Candlestick Park for me -- it's all Wrigley!

Comparing the Flagship, Factory Team Set, and Opening Day

Le'ts do a little comparing today.  Thus far, we have cards in series one, Opening Day, and the Team Sets all sharing the same design.

A total of 20 different Cubs players have been featured between the three sets.

I've got all 20 below in three columns.  From left to right we have series one, the team set, and Opening Day.  You can who got cards in which sets.

Six players showed up in all three, seven were in two of the three, and seven have just one card.