Sunday, August 11, 2013

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 11,756 Cubs cards from 83 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades. 


1950s / 1960s: 1963 Topps #58 Bob Will  The 1963 season would be the veteran outfielder's final big league season.  He played in 23 games and had 24 plate appearances--that means he was used almost exclusively as a pinch hitter.  His .174 average means he didn't do much in the pinch.  He was sent to AAA in June and never returned to the majors.


1970s: 1975 Hostess #77 Don Kessinger The shortstop was the only '69 Cub left on the roster by 1975, which would also be his final season with the Cubs.  He played in 154 games for the '75 Cubs, but for the first time in his career, he played a position other that shortstop.  When third baseman Bill Madlock hurt his had in September, Kessinger played 12 games in his place.


1980s: 1982 Fleer #602 Ken Reitz Picked up from the Cardinals before the 1981 season in the Bruce Sutter trade, Reitz was not good at all.  He played in only 82 games for the Cubs in '81 and was released by the team at the end of spring training in 1982.


1990s: 1994 Bowman #194 Randy Myers   The Cubs closer had 21 saves in the strike-shortened 1994 season.  It was good for fifth in the league, but quite a letdown from his league leading 53 saves the year before.


2000s: 2009 SP Legendary Cuts #46 Ryan Dempster  This card is from the final release of Legendary Cuts.  By this time the checklist included current players that I wouldn't really consider to be legendary, guys like Ryan Demptser.  

1 comment:

  1. Bob Will coincidentally bears a slight resemblance to Cubs fan George Will (probably the glasses).

    ReplyDelete