Baseball Heroes Ryne Sandberg

Upper Deck released its first Baseball Heroes cards as inserts in the 1990 set. The sets were usually comprised of an eight to ten card tribute to one particular player. The 1990 set had ten cards of Reggie Jackson. Other heroes included Nolan Ryan, Ted Williams, and Willie Mays. But Upper Deck never saw fit to honor a Cubs player. (There were a couple Cubs in sets that Upper Deck called Heroes of Baseball, but I'm not counting them as Baseball Heroes sets, since, well, since they have different names!)

The first Cub to show up as a Baseball Hero was Ryne Sandberg in 2005. But the set had been changed to a stand-alone set of 100 base cards and another 100 short-prints. Ryno had five cards in the set, numbers 66-70. Each card highlights a different event in Sandberg's career. My only gripe is that the picture on the card doesn't always match with the event on the back.

#66: 1984 - The Sandberg Game....but the picture on the front is from 1997 (that is the Jackie Robinson 50th anniversary on his sleeve)

#67: 1984 - Wins NL MVP...and another picture from 1997

#68: 1990 - Sets Record For Second Baseman

#69: 1997 - Sets HR Record in 1997, but this card doesn't have a picture from 1997. Go figure!

#70, a nice looking end to the run.

Upper Deck brought Baseball Heroes back one last time in 2008. I'll have those Cubs tomorrow.