Now That's Something You Don't See Very Often

Last week I showed my new Don Kessinger autograph card. The post inspired me to go back and look at all of the Kessinger cards I've got. While doing so, I found something that you don't see very often a card.



This is the back of his first card, from Topps 1966. Now check out his vitals:



He's listed as Bats: Right

Now take a look at his card the following year



And again check the vitals



Now he's listed as Bats: Both

So what happended? Topps didn't make a mistake did they??

Actually, the back of the '67 card explains: "After a slow start at the plate in '66, Don took up switch-hitting and finished his sophomore season in the majors very strongly" Can you think of another player that became a switch hitter after becoming a major leaguer? And what about making the change during the season? I doubt that there are many cards of any modern player that has a change in batting position.

According to the 1967 Cubs media guide, Kessinger first batted as a lefty against the Astros in May. No date was given and the Cubs played the Astros five times during the month, so I couldn't narrow it down to a specific date.

Kessinger remained a switch-hitter the rest of his career. I first really started following the Cubs in 1969, so I only knew him as a switch-hitter. It wasn't until years later that I learned he started out as just a righty. But the change certainly made him a better hitter. As a righty only in 1965 he hit .201. The next year the average was up to .274.

A Cartoon Boo-boo

So every now and then Topps makes a little mistake on a card.

And I found one on this 1960 card...



....of the other Frank Thomas. Thomas came to the Cubs in a trade with the Reds in December, 1959. The card obviously has him pictured in a Reds uniform, though Topps did update the team and logo on the card to the Cubs.

But the mistake is not on the front, its on the back.



Take a look at the cartoon on the card. We see that Thomas had a nice season for the Pirates in 1958. His 35 homers and 109 runs are impressive numbers.

Have you found the mistake yet? You're going to have to look very carefully.

Here is a little help.



Check out the hat on the player. It's got a C on the front. When I first saw it, I thought, wow, Topps updated the cartoon since he is with the Cubs now. Of course, since he came from the Reds, the C could also be for Cincinnati. So what is the mistake?

The cartoon highlights his 1958 season, with the Pirates. The Pittsburgh Pirates. Not the Cittsburg Cirates. Shouldn't there be a P on the hat? Just asking.

T206 Cubs: The Last Two

I'm down to the last two players, but there are five different cards!





Shortstop Joe Tinker had four cards in the set, the most of any Cubs player. We've got the bat on shoulder, bat off shoulder, hands on knees, and portrait cards. My favorite...the hands on knees.

Tinker was with the Cubs from 1902-1912. Known more for his glove, he led the league in assists twice and was in the top three a total of seven times. His career batting average was only .266, which has to be among the lowest of all the Hall of Famers. He was elected into Cooperstown in 1946 by the Old Timers Committee, going in the Evers and Chance. When the writers voted, Tinker got very little HOF support. He never cracked 20% among the writers.



I guess its fitting the the final player begins with a Z, Heinie Zimmerman. The card spells his name with a double n at the end, which is incorrect. His big season was 1912, when he led the NL in homers (with 14--this was still the dead ball era) and in batting, with a .372 average. He missed the triple crown by finishing third in RBIs, a mere three behind the leader.

Zimmerman was later traded to the Giants, and while in New York, he allegedly began throwing games for gamblers. That led to his eventual ban from baseball in 1921.

And with that, I'm finished with the T206 Cubs. There were 36 different cards of 20 different players. Somewhere down the line, I'd like to pick up a few of the real deals. And if I win the lottery, then I'll be grabbing all 32. But for now, its just the reprints

Guess What I Spent Five Fifty On

It set me back five fifty but it was worth it. In fact it was a real bargain!

If you've been following me for a while, you might have figured out that I'm an economy collector. I don't like to spend big bucks. OK, I'm cheap! But I was thrilled to get this deal for only five fifty.

Not five hundred fifty dollars; five dollars and fifty cents. So what was the bargain?


Three tickets to yesterday's Cubs game! That was $5.50 for all three, not per ticket. In some ways I'm thrilled to get such a bargain. On the other hand, only sucky teams have tickets available at that price.

The seats were in the upper deck on the third base side, even with the bag. The upper deck is divided into two main sections with the aisle dividing them. My tickets were in the third row above the aisle. The were really nice seats for the upper deck. Only a small corner of the left field line was out of view. Otherwise, we could see everything.

The face value of the tickets was $15.68 each. I picked them up on ebay last Sunday for $5.50, meaning the seller lost $41.54. The tickets came on Thursday and the seller even included a nice writeup about the seat location, where the bathrooms were, and tips on concessions. I thought that was a nice touch from someone who was taking a beating in the wallet.

With tickets in my pocket, at 9:30 a.m. yesterday morning, me, WW Jr., and a friend of his hit the road. Our theme for the day was, "That cost more than the tickets." Our first chance was with the tolls on the Indiana Toll Road and the Chicago Skyway. Between the two, they cost more than the tickets.

We took advantage of the shuttle service the Cubs have for weekend and night games. We parked at the remote lot and took a CTA bus to the ballpark, avoiding having to drive in all the ballpark traffic. And the cost to park and ride was very reasonable, only $6, though it was more than the tickets!

We got to the game about 45 minutes early and decided to have lunch on the rooftop patio behind the pressbox. The cost of the hotdogs, beer and pop was well above the price of the tickets. In fact, just the beer alone (Old Style of course!) was more than the tickets.

Then it was time to settle in for the game. Rodrigo Lopez started for the Cubs and gave up a run in the first. I thought we were going to be in for a long day. But the Cubs got the run back; actually Tony Campana got the run back. He walked, went to second on a fielders choice, stole third and then scored when the throw went into the outfield. One run, no hits.

Then both pitchers settled down. The only other run in the game was on a homer by Cubs September call-up Bryan LaHair. Lopez went six, the bullpen worked out of some jams, and the Cubs won 2-1.

It was their 4,000 win at Wrigley Field, and they became the third franchise to win that many in their home park (the Red Sox at Fenway and the Yankees at Old Yankee Stadium were the others).

Though it was a bit chilly in the upper deck, it was a beautiful day and a nice win for the Cubs. On the way home we stopped at one of the rest areas along the Indiana Toll Road. After finishing our supper, we had ice cream at the Dairy Queen. The two cones and a blizzard cost more than our three tickets!

Might As Well Show the Beckert Autograph

Since I showed the Don Kessinger autograph yesterday, I thought I might as well show my Glenn Beckert Autograph today.



This card was given to me early in my blogging days by a reader who had a bunch of extra Cubs to unload. The card is from Pacific Legends second series, released in 1989. Pacific didn't have any official autograph cards, so this would have been signed in person. I'm assuming its real.

Like Don Kessinger, Beckert started with the Cubs in 1965 and was with the team through the 1973 season. He won one gold glove and was named to four All Star teams. He was always the #2 man in the lineup. His job was to move Kessinger into scoring position so the big boys that followed (Williams, Banks, Santo) could drive in the run.



From the back of Glenn Beckert's 1970 card

Beckert was best known for making contact as a hitter. He was one of the toughest men to strike out in the National League. For four straight years, from 1966 -1969, he was the toughest to fan. He "slipped" to second in 1970 and third in 1971 before leading the league again in 1972. His career peaked in 1971 when he hit a career high .342.

A Kessinger Autograph

Not too long ago I added this card to my autograph collection



It's from Topps 2004 Fan Favorites. The card is obviously a 1972 styled card. The picture is also from 1972, at Shea Stadium. The autograph is on-card, and you can read his name (what a concept!).

Don Kessinger was the Cubs shortstop from 1965 - 1975. During that time he won the gold glove twice and was an All Star six times. He and Glenn Beckert formed a great double play combination and they also usually batted 1-2 in the lineup.

After leaving the Cubs, Kessinger ended up in the two worst possible places. The Cubs traded him to the Cardinals in 1976 and then in 1977 the Cardinals sent him to the White Sox. In 1979 he became the player/manager of the White Sox. But he lasted on 106 games. He was replaced by some unknown minor league maganger named Tony LaRussa.

Chrome Cubs

The Topps Chrome 2011 Cubs have arrived. While I'm not all that into the whole chrome thing, I do have all of the Cubs since the first Chrome release in 1996. As mentioned by others, the 2011 cards do not have the same curling problem that last year's cards did. This year's have only a slight curl. My question is why should there be any curl to the cards at all?

There are a total of nine Cubs included in this year's 220 card set. Several big names are missing....Ryan Dempster, Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto...and were replaced by guys who did little for the team this year....Tyler Colvin, Andrew Cashner, Marcos Mateo. I think Topps locked in their Chrome checklist a little too early in the season.

All nine have already been featured in either the base set or the factory team set. I'll show the Chrome card side by side with its parallel card from the earlier set



Darwin Barney's card is the only one that has a new picture. I like the Chrome picture better.







The two newer Cubs, Matt Garza and Carlos Pena, have Chrome cards that match the Factory Team set. Both of these are mediocre Photoshop jobs.













The other six all have Chrome cards borrowed from the base set.

Topps also released a bunch of different colored refractor parallels and I won't be chasing any of them. In a rare instance of restraint, Topps didn't put out platinum diamond chrome cards. Too bad...it would have been fun to get one just for the name: Diamond Anniversary Platinum Chrome Atomic Refractor. (They did put our canary platinum cards that are 1/1 and going for crazy prices.)