1982 Fleer Stamps Cubs

 I knew that Fleer had stickers starting in 1981, but I had no idea that the put out a set of stamps too. The stamps must not have been as popular because they had just a two year run (1982 &1983) while the stickers lasted from 1981 through 1988.

The 1981 Fleer Stamps set has a checklist of 242 players.  The stamps are very plain, with just a white border and the stamp number in the bottom left hand corner.

Fleer's numbering system at the time gave consecutive numbers to a team's players.  The Cubs are numbered 91 - 100. 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice #97, Jim Tracy, with the 23 on his back.  He was the second to last player to wear that number for the Cubs.  It was retired because of the next guy to wear it, Ryne Sandberg.

1991 Showcase Baseball

 Showcase Baseball is one of the three new-to-me price guides with cards.

The premier cover has a nice picture of Frank Thomas.  You can see on the cover that the guides were numbers up to 10,000.  I suppose that was a ploy to get more collectors buy the guide as a limited-edition collectible.  The ploy must not have worked because only two editions of Showcase were published.

I couldn't find a copy of the card of the lone Cubs player, Ryne Sandberg (of course!), so I bought the entire magazine.  That gave me eight cards instead of one.

It also means that I needed my scissors.  Notice how the cards are numbered the same as the magazine, in my case with #1667.  They were pretty serious about the limited number with these.

I did some trimming and have...

...another Ryno card for the collection.

2008 Cubs Game Program Cards??

 I found Cubs cards in the 2000 editions of Cubs Quarterly.  That year was also the final year of Cubs Quarterly.  Future editions were just call the Official Souvenir Program.  Being the curious sort of person I am, I went though eBay listings of the programs to see if any of them contained Cubs cards.

I found mention of cards of the magazine covers for the years 2006 - 2009.  Pictures from the listings show Upper Deck cards in the 2006 and 2007 programs while the 2008 and 2009 sets have Topps cards.

Were the cards in the magazines from a special set made exclusively for the Cubs?  The fronts of the cards shown in the listing pictures appear to be identical to the regular base set.  The backs weren't shown because the cards were attached to the page.  

The TCDB doesn't list any special Cubs sets from those years.  Then again, the TCDB didn't list the set I found in the 2000 books, so they aren't the definitive source.  The only way to find out is to get my hands on the programs and look for myself.

I was able to find reasonably priced copies of the programs from each of the four years and they are starting to roll into the WW Headquarters.

This is the first one I have in hand, the 2008 edition.  You can see at the bottom the mention of the card inside.

And this is how the card came, attached to a page in the magazine.  It's attached with that rubbery type adhesive, so the card can be removed without damaging either it or the page.

I carefully removed the card and then turned it over.  Was it a special Cubs-only set?

Yes, and no.  It is Cubs-specific, as you can see from the card number, CHC14.  But this isn't specific to the program.  It's the factory team set and a card I already have.  I'm a little glad that I don't have to buy an entire additional set of cards, but a little disappointed that Topps and the Cubs didn't make a unique set for the game program.

That leaves the 2006, 2007, and 2009 for review.  I'll keep you updated as I get them in hand,

Eureka!

 I love being able to get really old stuff at a really good price.  I feel like I struck gold, Eureka!

This is the stamp album cover for the 1949 set put out by Eureka Sportstamps of Scranton, PA.

The cover tells you all you need to know - there are 200 stamps featuring players from the National League.  Each of the eight NL teams got 24 stamps (24 x 12 = 198) and there was also a stamp of the NL president and the commissioner.  You'd assume that an American League edition would follow the NL, but that's not the case.  No AL set was ever released and the 1949 set is the one and only made by Eureka.

The stamps measure in at 1½" x 2".  The ad claims "dramatic action in full color."  That's half right.  The stamps are in full color, but there isn't much dramatic action as the pictures are all posed shots.  They include the player's name and the stamp number.  Each team was number consecutively and in alphabetical order, making it pretty easy to make sure you've got the whole team.

These are now 71 years old and you'd think they'd be pretty tough to come by.  Stamps typically aren't an easy thing since many were stuck into an album.

Recently I was able to pick up an entire Cubs team set of 24 for less than $2 per stamp.  The team set was listed in an auction and I was the only bidder.  I really thought that there might be more action since we're talking about a complete set of something over 70 years old.  I was please that I got it for the opening bid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deeper Down the Price Guide Rabbit Hole

 I thought I was wrapping up all of the Cubs cards from price guides with my Allan Kaye's Sport Card post on Saturday.  Instead, I went even deeper down the rabbit hole

I had to purchase the May, 1992, edition of the Kaye's magazine to get the two final Cubs cards I needed.  I couldn't find the cards alone anywhere.  Besides, its nice to be able to page through a 30+ year old guide.

As I was paging through, this ad caught my attention.  Doris has a full page ad for various editions of price guides.  Though prominently featured in the ad, Kaye's competitors are also shown, which I thought was unusual.

All the ones pictured in the ad are guides I've already written about - Kaye's, Cartwrights, Legends, and Investor's Journal.

But this blurb in the upper right of the ad is what sent me further down the guide rabbit hole.  She lists several guides and a few of them are ones I hadn't seen before.  Do they have cards, and specifically, Cubs cards too?

Sports Educational put out sport-specific editions and this is their one baseball version.  It has 18 cards including one Cub, Ryne Sandberg.

Showcase Baseball put out two edition in 1991, November and December.  Each magazine has eight cards and one of them was a Cub.  Of course it was Ryne Sandberg.

The search for Showcase Baseball led me to another guide from 1993.

This is the only edition of Showcase Gallery that I could find.  It had a sheet of nine cards with one Cub among the nine --- Ryne Sandberg!

My trip led me to three more Sandberg cards, which I was able to get and will show them to you soon.

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 18,989 Cubs cards from 278 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1974 Kelloggs #10 Billy Williams  This is the last of Billy's five 3-D Kelloggs Cubs cards as he was traded to the A's after the 1974 season.

1980s: 1983 Fleer #512 Gary Woods  The 1983 set has several of these posed by the dugout with a darkened background cards.  It's not a good look.

1990s: 1993 Flair #21 Dwight Smith  The 1993 season was Smith's last with the Cubs.  Despite hitting an even .300, the Cubs didn't try to resign him after he was granted free agency.

2000s: 2009 Finest #38 Carlos Zambrano Just a coincidence or did Topps do this on purpose -- Zambrano was #38 and the card is #38.

2010s: 2016 Topps Now #587 Javier Baez I was at this game!  Wrigley was rocking after this play.