Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 13,895 Cubs cards from 105 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1978 Topps #523 Donnie Moore Topps gives us Donnie at the Stick.

1980s: 1984 Nestles #787 Bill Campbell  Soup and chocolate are a nasty combination.

1990s: 1991 Vineline #13 Mike Harkey  This card was part of a set that was included in the Cubs monthly magazine Vine Line.  The cards came in panels of nine and were to be punched out.  My set is still in panels, so this is a virtual version of the card that I cropped.

2000s: 2007 Topps Factory Team Set #CHC5 Rich Hill The A's signed him for $6 million after he was 2-1 in four starts for the Red Sox.  Boy are teams desperate for pitching!

2010s: 2010 Topps #511 Franchise History  This is the 2010 version of the team card.  NIce to see the W flag flying! The picture was taken on September 20, 2008, the day the Cubs clinched the Central Division championship by beating the Cardinals 5-4.

2 out of 12...Yikes

When the Cubs traded Starlin Castro, the Cubs 2015 calendar took another hit.  Of the twelve players featured, only two are still with the team.  Yikes...talk about turning over the roster!

Rizzo and Wood are the two left standing.

Darwin Barney, along with these bums and has-beens have been jettisoned.

I've got the 2016 calendar on my Christmas list.  Hopefully in a couple weeks I'll be able to look at its lineup, and hopefully, most of the players featured will be with the Cubs for a while.

Looking Back On All the Starting Lineup Cubs

Let's wrap up our look at Starting Lineup

• The brand lasted from 1988 to 2001
• Like many products from that era, it started out big and then started a gradual shrinking until it disappeared.
• I've got a total of 47 Cubs cards.  More than half, 26 of them, come from the first four years.  The last ten year yielded just 21 more Cubs cards.
• 16 different Cubs have cards: George Bell, Damon Berryhill, Jody Davis, Andre Dawson, Shawon Dunston, Leon Durham, Mark Grace, Greg Maddux, Brian McRae, Ryne Sandberg, Sammy Sosa, Rick Sutcliffe, Jerome Walton, Rick Wilkins, Mitch Williams, and Kerry Wood.
• Ryne Sandberg and Sammy Sosa tied for the most cards, with nine of each.  Those two represent almost a third of all the Cubs cards.

• My favorite design is the first one.  The red border, red stripes on the top, blue and red Starting Lineup logo, and the red and blue of the Cubs uniforms all combine to make a nice looking card.
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2000 and 2001 Starting Lineup Cubs

We're reaching the end of the line(up) today, with the final two years of Starting Lineup.  

The 2000 version included 37 players, but just one Cub...

...good 'ol Sammy.  There was also a special version put out with Pacific cards, and it to just featured...

....Sammy.  Starting Lineup was getting pretty boring with their choice of players.

The final year of Starting Lineup, 2001, saw 36 players.  Stuck in a Sammy rut, guess which player was the only Cub...

...of course.    Notice the logo change on the card.  It looks like they were going for a Starting Lienup reboot.  But the change didn't catch on and the product line came to an end.

More of the DP Combo For Years to Come

This card comes from 2011 Bowman Sterling...

...and when it came out I was sure that this would be the Cubs Double Play Combo for years to come.  Years to come ended up being just 3½ years.  Barney's bat and Castro's head disappeared.

In 2011 I bought this version of the card....

which is /196.  I didn't realize until a month ago when I saw the gold version above that other parallels existed.  I picked up the gold two weeks ago for much less than I paid for the base version in 2011.  There is also a refractor (/99), black (/25), purple (/10), and red (1/1) out there.  I'll be trying for any of them that show up, provided the price is right.

P-Town Tom's Generosity

Fellow Cub fan Tom from Waiting 'Til Next Year is one of the most generous bloggers out there.  It seems like each day there is a post from someone showing  cards he has sent them.  Today it's my turn.

He sent me this beauty...

...of my favorite player Billy Williams.  This would be Billy in Scottsdale, the Cubs spring home, in 1969.  The patch on his right sleeve was worn only during the 1968 season and back then teams wore the previous season's unis the next spring.  New ones were broken out on opening day.

The card is a bit of a mystery, though.  We know it was given away by the Salt Lake City Bees, but when and why? A Triple-A team giving away Hall of Famers cards seems unusual, especially if the players on the cards have no connection to the team.  

The card has no copyright date on it, so we have no idea when it was given away by the Bees.  The best I could come up with was the mid-to-late 2000s,  based on the KJZZ logo on the card and when Bees games were televised by the station.

An internet search on the cards turned up nothing.  They're not listed in the Standard Guide either.

I know nothing about the card, but I'm happy to have it. Thanks Tom!

Hey Heyward!

Wow!

This was a big surprise.  A very good big surprise.

I really didn't think the Cubs were really even in the hunt.  And yet they sign the guy for less than what either the Cardinals or Nationals offered.  Again, wow.

Several random thoughts about signing:

• Not only do the Cubs have a serious upgrade in center field, but the Cardinals now have a hole to fill.  Adding to your team while taking away from a division rival, win, win!
• Hayward is just 26.  He's the same age as Anthony Rizzo.  As good as he's been, he can still get better, for several years.
• The lineup got younger and stronger.  
• Players want to play for the Cubs, good players.  I think they see the team as one on the rise.  I also think Joe Maddon is a big factor.  Players want to be on his team.
• I'm still nervous about the starting pitching.  While the starting lineup is pretty young, the starters are not.  I'm worried about an old arm or two blowing out during the season.  With Hayward, the Cubs can trade Soler or Baez for a young arm.
• The 2016 season should be very interesting!