1939 Cubs Scorecard

 My Cubs scorecard collection runs from 1948 through this year.  Those are the years that the Cubs sold a four page scorecard.  From 1940 though 1947 the scorecard was in the middle of a 12-16 page program.  I've got one of each of those too.

So now its time to start working further back. In the 20's and 30's the Cubs sold a four page scorecard though it's dimensions were smaller than the four-pagers from the late 40's and beyond.

I'm going to go very slowly with these.  They can get pricey and I'm not interested in paying big bucks.  My plan is to wait for cards to be sold in auctions or get listed with a Buy It Now price in my range.

The first card I picked up was from 1939.  It was via auction and the price I paid was much less than the current BIN listings.

Otis Shepard was in charge of all the Cubs graphics at the time, so the cover would have been designed by him.  Notice the extra writing the original owner added.  And how about that --- the Cubs won.  The date of the game was June 30.

No Old Style in 1939.  It was PBR.

The owner diligently kept score of the game and even noted the umpires.  Attendance for the game was 12,351.  I wonder how many of those 12,000 bought a scorecard?  I wonder how many of those, besides this one, 82 years later?

Happy Labor Day

 Labor Day became an official holiday in 1894, signed into law by President Grover Cleveland.

Grover Cleveland Alexander pitched for the Cubs.

I have now connected the holiday with the Cubs, and can consider this post complete.

Enjoy the day off!

Five Random Cubs Cards

 I've got 19,462 Cubs cards from 285 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1962 Topps #264 Dick Ellsworth  The lefty starter would lose 20 game in 1962, but had an amazing rebound year in 1963 when he won 22 games.

1980s: 1984 Topps #334 Chuck Rainey  Rainey was the odd starter out when the Cubs picked up Dennis Eckersley and Rick Sutcliffe in June of 1984.  He was traded to the A's on July 15 for a player to be named later.  Davey Lopes came to the Cubs from the A's in late August as the PTBNL.

1990s: 1992 Action Packed #18 Billy Williams  This picture has been used a few more times...

...since this card came out in 1992.

2000s: 2004 SP Authentic #21 Kerry Wood  This is a nice-looking card.  I like the intensity on his face.

2010s: 2019 Topps Silver Packs '84 Series #4 Javier Baez  The RNG gives us a card of the Met's .225 shortstop.

70s Saturday - 1975 Hostess Cubs

 Here's the first of four Hostess sets from the 1970's.  Though put on the backs of Hostess product boxes, the cards were produced by Topps.  Sometimes is seems as if the Hostess cards got better-looking pictures than what Topps used on their own set.

The 1969 team had been dismantled by 1975.  Don Kessinger was the last man standing.  his card is one of the six Cubs in the set.  I have seven cards since there was an error card that had both the first and last name of Burt Hooton spelled incorrectly.

The Reuschel card is also a name error card.  His given name is Ricky Eugene Reuschel, but the card spells his name "Rickey."  It is also the only Reuschel card among my 41 that uses his given name.

  

   

 

Craig Kimbrel Follows the Relic Rules

When I was putting the Craig Kimbrel Ginter relic card into the binder, I had one of those oops moments.  I realized that the card was a rule-following relic for my relic collection.  The card is of a Cubs player, shown as a Cubs, from a year he played for the Cubs.  He's the 91st player I've found that follows that rule.

I've got the list below.  There are only four current Cubs that have a relic card showing them with the Cubs, and their names are bold.  Two years ago there were fifteen active Cubs that had a relic card.

Arismendy Alcantara	Dexter Fowler	Gary Matthews, Jr.
Albert Almora	Kyuji Fujikawa	Fred McGriff
Moises Alou	Kosuke Fukudome	Bill Mueller
Adbert Alzolay	Nomar Garciaparra	Jose Nieves
Jake Arrieta	Matt Garza	Mike Olt
Javier Baez	Mark Grace	Corey Patterson
Darwin Barney	Mark Grudzielanek	Felix Pie
Francis Beltran	Jason Hammel	Juan Pierre
David Bote	Ian Happ	Mark Prior
Kris Bryant	Rich Harden	Aramis Ramirez
Damon Buford	Brendan Harris	Anthony Rizzo
Marlon Byrd	Kevin Hart	Addison Russell
Jeimer Candelario	Jason Heyward	Jeff Samardzija
Victor Caratini	Bobby Hill	Kyle Schwarber
Andrew Cashner	Rich Hill	Jorge Soler
Welington Castillo	Nico Hoerner	Alfonso Soriano
Starlin Castro	Todd Hundley	Sammy Sosa
Aroldis Chapman	Brett Jackson	Geovany Soto
Hee Seop Choi	Jacque Jones	Matt Szczur
Tyler Colvin	Eric Karros	Ryan Theriot
Willson Contreras	David Kelton	Josh Vitters
Juan Cruz	Craig Kimbrel	Darryle Ward
Yu Darvish	Bryan LaHair	Todd Wellemeyer
Wade Davis	Junior Lake	Randy Wells
David DeJesus	Derrek Lee	Rondell White
Ryan Dempster	Jon Lester	Jerome Williams
Blake DeWitt	Ted Lilly	Kerry Wood
Jason Dubois	Kenny Lofton	Carlos Zambrano
Jim Edmonds	Greg Maddux	Ben Zobrist
Carl Edwards	Carlos Marmol	Julio Zuleta
Mike Fontenot

2021 Topps Chrome UnCubs

 Topps Chrome came out a couple of weeks ago.  The set consists of 220 cards and eight of them are Cubs.  The set consists of 220 cards and one of them is a Cub.

Eight Cubs cards but only one is on the current roster.  That is sad.

 

 

 

 

 

There is no reason for Darvish, Lester, and Schwarber to be in this set.  Players that have changed teams eight months prior to a set's release should be shown with their new team.

Topps gets a pass with Baez, Bryant, and Rizzo.

That leaves Contreras still with the team and the ever-present but never played yet Brailyn Marquez.

2021 Allen and Ginter Mini Cubs

 The Allen and Ginter mini cards are my favorite parallels of the year.  I think they look better than the standard-sized cards.  They'll also more faithful to the original Ginter cards.

Below are all 12 of the Cubs cards.