Champions was a one and done set put out by Donruss in 1984. It consists of 60 cards that measure 3½" x 5". There are ten Hall of Famers on the checklist along with 49 current players and a checklist card.
There weren't any Cubs among the HOFer but they did land two players on the active list.
I picked up the Cubs scorecard while I was at the home opener. The cards are becoming harder and harder to get. It used to be that there were booths right inside the gates that had them. You always entered the park to the cry of the vendors yelling "Scorecards, get your scorecard here!"
Now, the only place I could find one was at the team store and they were behind the counter there, not even out on display. I wonder how much longer the Cubs will continue to even sell them? Will they disappear like the team schedule and media guide?
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the cover. It is a totally different design from what has been used...
.... the previous three seasons. I'm glad that they changed it up.
Of course I had to find out the date of the picture of the scoreboard, and that ended up being a bit disappointing. The Cubs used a picture from 2017, seven years ago! The picture was take at 6:57 PM on Tuesday, June 6, 2017. The Cubs ended up crushing the Marlins 10-2, so that was a good thing. But why use a picture on the 2024 scorecard from 2017? Wasn't there one from a more recent game?
My scorecard (or program, which replaced the four-page scorecard from 1940-1947) collection now spans from 1932 to 2024. I've got them all pictured below. Also note that there isn't a scorecard from 2020 since fans weren't allowed to attend games that season.
The Cubs had to make a roster change after just one day into the 2024 season. Justin Steele tweaked his hamstring on Opening Day and was moved to the IL. Replacing him was rookie Ben Brown.
Wasting no time, Brown was brought into the second game of the season. It was his MLB debut and it would be memorable, but not for a good reason. The rookie was rocked by the Rangers, giving up six runs in 1⅔ innings. He had a nice bounce back outing last night, giving up just one run over four innings.
No surprise here. When he threw his first pitch on Sunday, Jordan Wicks became a rule follower for my autograph collection. While that was a good thing, his performance was not. He gave up five runs in four innings, though just two were earned. Hopefully he turns things around in his next start.
There are 13 Cubs on the current roster with a certified autograph on a card in a year that they played for the Cubs and the card shows them as a Cub. Half the roster is a pretty good percentage. They're names are in bold in the list below.
The total number of rule-followers is 165.
| Terry Adams | Mike Fontenot | Jon Lester | Manuel Rodriquez |
| Arismendy Alcantara | Kevin Foster | Cole Liniak | Chris Rusin |
| Albert Almora | Dexter Fowler | Greg Maddux | Addison Russell |
| Moises Alou | Jackson Frazier | Nick Madrigal | Jeff Samardzija |
| Adbert Alzolay | Kyuji Fujikawa | Dave Magadan | Rey Sanchez |
| Jake Arrieta | Kosuke Fukudome | Trey Mancini | Ryne Sandberg |
| Javier Assad | Sam Fuld | Dillon Maples | Kyle Schwarber |
| Javier Baez | Sean Gallagher | Carlos Marmol | Scott Servais |
| Darwin Barney | Nomar Garciaparra | Sean Marshall | Jorge Soler |
| Cody Bellinger | Matt Garza | Miles Mastrobuoni | Alfonso Soriano |
| Francis Beltran | Leo Gomez | Matt Mervis | Sammy Sosa |
| David Bote | Tom Gorzelanny | Alec Mills | Geovany Soto |
| Milton Bradley | Kevin Gregg | Scott Moore | Steve Smyth |
| Roosevelt Brown | Angel Guzman | Christopher Morel | Justin Steele |
| Kris Bryant | Jason Hammel | Matt Murton | Marcus Stroman |
| Scott Bullett | Todd Haney | Rod Myers | Seiya Suzuki |
| Freddie Bynum | Ian Happ | Thomas Neal | Dansby Swanson |
| Marlon Byrd | Brendan Harris | James Norwood | Matt Szczur |
| Jeimer Candelario | Kevin Hart | Roberto Novoa | Ryan Theriot |
| Victor Caratini | Kyle Hendricks | Will Ohman | Keegan Thompson |
| Andrew Cashner | Jason Heyward | Augie Ojeda | Ozzie Timmons |
| Larry Cassian | Jose Hernandez | Mike Olt | Steve Trachsel |
| Frank Castillo | Bobby Hill | Ryan O'Malley | Duane Underwood |
| Welington Castillo | Rich Hill | Kevin Orie | Jermaine Van Buren |
| Starlin Castro | Nico Hoerner | Angel Pagan | Nelson Velazquez |
| Ronny Cedeno | Micah Hoffpauir | Bob Patterson | Josh Vitters |
| Rocky Cherry | Brandon Hughes | Eric Patterson | Jared Young |
| Matt Clement | Cesar Izturis | Corey Patterson | Todd Walker |
| Steve Clevenger | Brett Jackson | David Patton | Todd Wellemeyer |
| Buck Coats | Reed Johnson | Joc Pederson | Randy Wells |
| Tyler Colvin | Jacque Jones | Carlos Pena | Turk Wendell |
| Willson Contreras | Matt Karchner | Billy Petrick | Hayden Wesneski |
| Pete Crow-Armstrong | David Kelton | Felix Pie | Jordan Wicks |
| Juan Cruz | Brooks Kieschnick | Lou Piniella | Jerome Williams |
| Yu Darvish | Caleb Kilian | Mark Prior | Patrick Wisdom |
| Wade Davis | Craig Kimbrel | Brooks Raley | Kerry Wood |
| Blake DeWitt | Bryan LaHair | Aramis Ramirez | Travis Wood |
| Rafael Dolis | Junior Lake | Alfonso Rivas | Michael Wuertz |
| Scott Downs | Tommy LaStella | Anthony Rizzo | Carlos Zambrano |
| Jason Dubuois | Derrek Lee | Henry Rodriguez | Rob Zastryzny |
| Carl Edwards | Jon Leiber | Henry R. Rodriguez | Ben Zobrist |
| Kyle Farnsworth | Julio Zuleta |
It was cold (43° at game time) and windy (12mph blowing into our face), but nothing like a win at the home opener to make you feel warm all over!
The Cubs shut out the Rockies 5-0 with starter Shota Imanaga pitching six stellar innings and the bullpen following his lead. Imanaga was awesome, giving up just two singles, both with two outs in the sixth inning while striking out nine. I sure hope that he can keep pitching like that, especially with Justin Steele out for a while.
The Cubs offense didn't get going until the bottom of the sixth, when they had three singles. The third single, by Christopher Morel, ended up a bases clearing Little League home run thanks to two Colorado errors. Two more runs that scored on a single by Cody Bellinger in the seventh put the game out of reach.
It started raining in the seventh inning and the fans in the box seats scrambled for cover. Out seats were well-protected by the upper deck, so we stayed dry. The rain never affected the play of the game and it quit by the time the game ended and we needed to walk to the L.
I'm now on a three-game home opener win streak. I hope I can go back again next year!
And this is no April Fool's joke! Mrs. WW and I will be at the Cubs home opener this afternoon. My friend with season tickets again offered us a couple tickets which we gratefully and immediately accepted.
This will be the fourth time I've attended a home opener. I also went in 1979, 1980, and last season. The Cubs lost in 1979 but have won the other two I saw. Hopefully the winning streak gets bumped up to three in a row.
I've got 21,688 Cubs cards from 316 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.
