Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 7,312 Cubs cards from 31 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.



1950s' / 1960's Topps 1952 #322 Randy Jackson The card says "Randy," but this is Handsome Ransom Jackson. He was coming off of a very nice rookie campaign in 1951, hitting .275 with 16 HRs and 76 RBIs. But the sophomore jink hammered him in 1952 as his average dropped 43 points and his homers and RBIs were each halved. Handsome Ransom put up some ugly numbers!



1970's Topps 1974 #598 Rookie Outfielders Jim Tyrone Of course this card isn't known as the Jim Tyrone rookie card, its actually the Steve Ontiveros Ken Griffey Junior's dad's card. Drafted in June of 1971 by the Cubs, Jim Tyrone hit .303 in 61 games at Class A Quincy, and even got a two day call-up with the Cubs in August, though he didn't play in any games. The next season, he hit .282 at AA Midland...and got another call-up (and was 0-8). Do you think the Cubs were rushing him just a little? In 1973 he started the season with AAA Wichita, but after a slow start, went back to AA for the rest of the season; there was no September appearance this time. All of this made him rookie-card worthy in Topps' eyes. In 1974 he started out in Wichita and hit a blistering .366 in 18 games. The Cubs then brought him to Chicago for the rest of the season. He played in only 57 games and hit a lousy .185.




1980's Team Issued 1988 Darrin Jackson This team-issued card was given out to all in attendance at Wrigley on August 24, 1988. Jackson didn't play that day, as the Cubs beat the Astros 3-2. The two starters that day were Greg Maddux and Nolan Ryan, though neither got a decision. Jackson played in 100 games for the Cubs in 1988 and hit .266.

He would later end in the TV booth on the south side, paired with Hawk Harrelson, and agreeing with every annoying thing Hawk spouted. Today he is the color man on the Sox radio broadcasts, getting booted out of the TV booth when Steve Stone moved in. And I apologize in advance for offending any Sox fans, but the Sox have to have baseball's worst pair of lead announcers, with Harrelson on TV and Ed Farmer on radio. Mercy, are they bad!



1990's Score 1992 #75 Andre Dawson It looks like the Hawk is making solid contact here! 1992 was his final season with the Cubs. Dawson's average and power numbers dropped, hitting .277 with only 22 HRs. After the season, he became a free agent and left Chicago for the Red Sox, where he could be a DH.



2000's Topps 2003 #108 Fred McGriff Fred didn't play for the Cubs in 2003, as the Cubs elected to not re-sign him after 2002. They felt confident in the abilities of rookie Hee Seop Choi to take over at first. Oops!