2017 Chrome Update Cubs

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea that there were Chrome Update cards.

Chrome Update first appeared in 2013  It was a 55-card set that was available only in retail mega-boxes.  These boxes contained five packs of regular Update cards and two chrome packs.  I looked over the checklist and realized why I Chrome Update was off of my radar -- the set didn't contain a single Cub.  No Cubs, no interest.

When Topps put out a 2014 version, the checklist snubbed the Cubs once again.  Chrome Update was dead to me.  Or at least it was forgotten by me.

So even though there were Cubs in each of the next three years, I had forgotten about the set,  I was genuinely surprised when I saw a blurb about Chrome update 2017.  And then I saw that there were four Cubs.

 

 

 

There's four Cubs cards but three players as two of Ian Happ's cards made the checklist.  

Once I realized that there was a Chrome Update for the past five years, I had to do some catching up.  Stay tuned for that.

Wade Davis Relic

I've added Wade Davis to my relics collection.  He was included in the All Star Stitches set in Update. 

He's shown as a Cub in a year he played for the Cubs, so it meets the criteria for my relic collection. The bright orange jersey is a bit jarring, though.

The relic collection is now up to 83 different Cubs players .

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

2018 Cubs Schedule

For the past few years the Cubs have issued three different pocket schedules.  The first version comes out in September, when the next year's schedule is released by MLB.  The second edition shows up at the Cubs Convention in January.  A couple months later they release the main schedule.

I've been getting all three versions for my collection, which means that I've got the early edition in hand.

This is the most bare-bones of the three.  It has no ticket information, since the 2018 prices haven't been given yet.  The actual schedule lists times for most of the home games (though there are several TBA's), but just locations for the road games.  

What I find most interesting with the early version is which players are pictured.  The four shown are all under contract with the Cubs for 2018.  You can assume that they'll be with the team on Opening Day.   Only the keepers are pictured.

1985 Topps Rub Downs Cubs

Topps came out a second edition of Rub Downs in 1985. They must not have been much of a hit because this is also the final edition.  The number of Cubs in the set doubled, from two to four.

The picture of Leon Durham is the same one used on the '85 version.

Not only does this sheet have Ryno, but former Cub Bill Bucnker makes an appearance too.

I had to turn this one sideways to get a good look at Rick Sutcliffe.

1999 Gold Label Cubs

Gold Label's second edition came out in 1999. Topps used the same format as with the initial release - 100 players, three different version for each player, and multiple parallels. To distinguish between the Classes, each Class 1 card has the player's team logo in the background. Class 2 shows the player's hat logo, while Class 3 has the team wordmark.

The set includes three Cubs, the three biggest names in 1999.

 

Those logos in the background seem way too big and they're distracting to me.

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 15,187 Cubs cards from 126 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1947 Tip Top Bread #83 Mickey Livingston The journeyman catcher spent parts of four seasons with the Cubs in the 1940s.  He was a member of the 1945 pennant-winning Cubs and hit .364 in the World Series.

1980s: 1980 Topps #574 Scot Thompson After hitting .289 the previous season, the Cubs expected big things from the 24-year-old Thompson.  The hope was that he would blossom, but instead he was a bust. His average dropped to just .212.

1990s: 1991 Score #71 Hector Villanueva The big catcher's carerr peaked in 1991 as he reached career highs in game played (71),  home runs (13), and average (.276).

2000s: 2008 Baseball Heroes #37 Kosuke Fukudome The card mentions his MLB debut on March 31.  He hit a ninth inning home run that sent the game into extra innings.  The Cubs lost the game in the tenth.  That somes up Fukudome's career....when you thought it might be good, but it wasn't.

2010s: 2010 T206 #268 Kosuke Fukudome Ugh!  The RNG picks another Fukudome.

1998 Gold Label Cubs

Here's the debut cards from Topps Gold Label.  The set premiered in 1998 and I'm assuming was a high-end card.  There were just 100 cards in the set.  The card stock was thicker and the cards have a reflective look to them.  Thought there were 100 cards in the set, since each player has three different classes of cards, that would mean there are actually 300 cards total.

I've only concerned myself with the Class One cards.

The set includes four Cubs....

 

 

 

...Grace, Rodriguez, Sosa, and Wood. The set must have come out later in the season because of Wood's inclusion.  This was his rookie season