Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 13,651 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: 1965 Topps #596 Don Landrum  The 1965 season was the only one in his eight year career that saw Landrum as a full-time player.  He played in 131 games for the Cubs.  The results weren't good... a .226 average, 6 HRs, 34 RBIs.  After the season he was traded to the Giants in a steal of a trade for the Cubs.  Landrum and pitcher Lindy McDaniels went to the bay and the Cubs got Bill Hands and Randy Hundley.  The trade was headline news when it was made,

1980s: 1984 Fleer #494 Fergie Jenkins This is a sad card, as was any 1984 card of Fergie.  The Cubs released him during spring training of 1984 and that ended his Hall of Fame career.  Here is the Tribune article the day after he was let go.

1990s: 1990 Upper Deck #736 Derrick May May made his major league debut for the Cubs in 1990.  He played in 17 games after getting a September call-up.  He hit .246 in 17 games.

2000s: 2001 Topps Chrome #317 Sammy Sosa  Sammy and his needle were still at the to of their game in 2001.  He became the first player in MLB history to have three seasons with 60+ home runs.  He hit .328 and knocked in 160 runs.  All that wasn't enough to win the MVP, though, as he finished second to Barry Bonds and his needle.

2010s: 2014 Topps Update #14 Justin Grimm  The righty has a nice year for the 2014 Cubs out of the bullpen.  He made 73 appearances and posted a 5-2 record.

Another 2015 Scorecard, A Look at 69 Years Worth

Although I got a 2015 scorecard from P-Town Tom, I decided to pick up a second one.

This is the scorecard from the opening series of the season.    Since Ernie Banks is on the  cover, I couldn't let it stay out of my collection.

My collection goes back to 1947, meaning I have a run of 69 cards.

Here they are:

Still can't beat the top five rows with the Otis Shepard and Shepard-inspired designs.

A Fantastic Resource is Gone

One of the difficulties of being a team collector is knowing which cards in a set belong to your team.  It's not too hard with modern Topps sets since Topps has been posting checklists on their website and the checklists include the players' team.

For older and oddball stuff, the task its much more difficult.  Though there are checklists available, most just list the player and the card numbers.  Team designations are missing.

Without a doubt, the best resource for team sets was Teamsets4u.com.  The website had hundreds of sets going back to the turn of the century broken down by teams.  The site was invaluable to me when I was putting my Cubs sets together. I used it not only for the checklists, but I also made several set purchases from the site.  I consulted it just a couple weeks back when I got the 1978 Grand Slam set.

A few days ago Nightowl had a couple tweets about Teamsets4u.  The news he shared was disturbing and disappointing.

This is what the homepage of the site looked like for years.  It wasn't flashy but it was practical.

Here is the team set checklist homepage.

And this is what the site looks like now.  It looks much more professional now.  But....

The team checklists are gone.  They are not a part of the new site.

And that stinks!

I know that the site is there to make sales.  But many people were introduced to the site because of the checklists.  I'm sure they drove plenty of traffic to the site.  Bloggers like myself mentioned the site, too, and they should have brought eyeballs and potential customers to the site.

That's all changed now.  A fantastic resource is gone.

I've got no good reason to go to the site any longer, and I can't see a reason to talk about it here any longer, either.

My only hope is that the checklists will reappear later; that they are just temporarily gone as the site transitions to the new setup.

5 & 10 Ernie

It's Mr. Cub's turn.  How many points did he score on the Wrigley Wax Card Number point scale?

Here's the scale:
If the card number ends in 00, you get 5 points
If the card number ends in 50, you get 3 points
If the card number ends in 0, you get 2 points
If the card number ends in 5, you get 1 point
Anything else is 0 points.

Here are all of Ernie's Topps cards.

And here is how he did:

Year	Card #	Points
1954	94	0
1955	28	0
1956	15	1
1957	55	1
1958	310	2
1959	350	3
1960	10	2
1961	350	3
1962	25	1
1963	380	2
1964	55	1
1965	510	2
1966	110	2
1967	215	1
1968	355	1
1969	20	2
1970	630	2
1971	525	1

Ernie started earning points by his third year and never went without a point the rest of his career.  That's pretty impressive. However, despite back-to-back MVPs, he never got a 00 card.  That hurt his average, which is 1.5.

And Ernie and Billy head-to-head?

Billy topped Ernie by a very slight margin, 1.64 to 1.5.  It was a 00 number for Billy in 1973 that put Billy on top.

But you also have to recognize Ernie's impressive 16-year point scoring run.

Call it a draw??

5 & 10 Billy

Today's post is not about Kresges or Woolworths.

I'm dealing with a different 5 & 10 -- baseball card numbers that end with a 5 or 10.

You can tell how good Topps thinks a particular player is by their baseball card numbers.  If your card ends in 00, then you are a superstar.  End in a 0?  You're pretty good.  End in a 5?  Your are decent.

End in anything else?  Well, you are in the major leagues and you have a baseball card.

Here's what I have in mind for today:  Take a look at the card numbers that Topps assigned to Billy's cards and see how they thought of him as a ballplayer.

I've also developed a points system for the card numbers.  Its kinda arbitrary and if you have a better way to assign points, leave a comment.

The Wrigley Wax Card Number Point Scale
If the card number ends in 00, you get 5 points
If the card number ends in 50, you get 3 points
If the card number ends in 0, you get 2 points
If the card number ends in 5, you get 1 point
Anything else is 0 points.

Here is a look at Billy's run of Topps Cubs cards, from 1961 - 1974.

And now, his card numbers and points:

Year	Card #	Points
1961	141	0
1962	288	0
1963	353	0
1964	175	1
1965	220	2
1966	580	2
1967	315	1
1968	37	0
1969	450	3
1970	170	2
1971	350	3
1972	440	2
1973	200	5
1974	110	2

His first three years he had basic numbers and no points.  Despite being the 1961 rookie of the year, Topps was going to make him earn his points.

He did.

From 1964 - 1974, he got at least one point every year except 1968.  I should explain one slight diversion... in 1972 his base card was #439 and his In Action card was #440.  I went with #440, since Topps was on a run of two cards per player and it wouldn't work out to give the good players base card a 5 and a 10.

His best card numbers were in 1973, 200, 1969, 450, and 1971, 350.  For his Cub cards, he ended up with an average of 1.6 points.  I think that is a pretty decent number.

Tomorrow, I do the same thing with Ernie Banks and see how these two Cubs sluggers compare with one another.

Where's Billy?

The PSA master list of Billy Williams cards includes all of the team picture cards from his active years. In theory, Billy would be in the picture on the card.

But does the theory hold water?

Let's take a look and see if we can find Billy.

The picture for the 1961 card was probably taken at Spring Training, 1960.  There are too many players for this to be from the regular season.  

It looks like Billy is in the front row, far left.  But that is just a guess. The picture isn't clear enough.  A search of ebay for Cubs team pictures from this era only turned up regular season team pictures, so they weren't any help.

If I was right with the 1961 card, then I'm right for 1962 also since the same picture was used.

In 1963, no Billy.  That doesn't make sense since he'd been with the team a while by then.  But...

...the picture on the 1963 card is the same one as...

...the 1960 card.  How Topps messed up is that??

In 1964, again, no Billy as we go from messed up to.... well, I just don't know what to say.

It's the same 1960 picture, making its third appearance.

Surely, by 1965 we'll get to see Billy.

Nope....ITS THE SAME 1960 PICTURE AGAIN!!

So recapping the first five years of Billy, we have two pictures over five years, with only a maybe for his appearance on the cards.  Hopefully, things will improve as we move on to 1966.

Yay!! A different picture, and a new one at that!  Well, kinda new.  This is the Cubs 1964 team picture.

Billy is in the second row, fourth from the right.  It doesn't really look like him, but I found the original of the picture that includes a listing of all the players, so I'm 100% sure that Billy is inside the red circle.

The 1967 card uses another new picture!  Two years in a row with a somewhat up-to-date picture.  Topps is awesome!  The picture is the 1966 team, with Leo Durocher front row, center.

Billy is in the front row, last player on the right.

We move ahead to 1970, since there were no Cubs team cards in either the 1968 or 1969 set.

The picture is from 1969, since you can see the centennial patch on some of the sleeves.  Billy must like being on the end.

This time he's on the far left of the front row.

From here on the game of Where's Billy gets pretty easy because of

 

Floating Heads!!  Those are from 1971, 1972, and 1974, which was his last year with the Cubs.

The 1973 set used an actual team picture and Billy is very easy to spot.

He's still on the end, but this time standing in the second row.

Billy did show up on one more Cubs team picture,

the 1975 card.

This time he's not on an end, but fourth from the left in the front row.  PSA doesn't count this one since he was with the A's in 1975.  It seems odd to count several cards with no Billy and not count one with him.

We found him.  Thanks for playing!

(Military Service)

George Altman's card shows that he didn't play ball in 1957.  Instead the card shows (Military Service).  You don't see that on cards any more.

But the Cubs have a pitcher named Danny Lewis in class A South Bend and he spent four years in the Air Force.  You can read his story here.

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 13,651 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: 1956 Topps #227 Russ Meyer The righty went from the Penthouse to the outhouse... he was 6-1 with the World Series champion Dodgers in 1955.  Traded to the Cubs over the winter, he was 1-6 and then waived by the Cubs in September.  

1980s: 1989 Score #360 Darrin Jackson After hitting just .229 for the 1989 Cubs in 70 games, Jackson was traded to the Padres.  He did even worse there, hitting .207.  But an even worse fate was ahead for Jackson: years in the White Sox broadcast booth with Ken Harrelson and then Ed Farmer.

1990s: 1991 Star Nova #80 Ryne Sandberg This is one of 175 different Star cards of Ryne Sandberg in my collection.  It looks like he's taking some grounders before an early Spring game.

2000s: 2003 Fan Favorites #30 Ernie Banks Why would Topps use such and ugly card for a Fan Favorite?

2010s: 2013 Aunt Millies #5 Back to Back Central Division Championships Remember the good 'ol days when the Cubs were winning?  I miss those.  I hope they return soon, like this year!

The Billy Williams Master List

A few weeks ago I decided to use the PSA master list for my Billy Williams player collection.  Though the list covers his entire playing career, I'm only using his Cubs years.  I have no interest in anything that shows him in green and gold.

The list has a total of 127 cards.  Right now I'm at 74, which is 57%.  I think most of what I've got are the easy ones, and the less expensive ones.  Filling in the other 43% is going to be a long term project. I'm ok with that.  Its nice to have a few on-going projects.

Here's the list.  The bold items are the ones that I've got.

	1947 -1966 EXHIBITS BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1961 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	141
x	1961 TOPPS CUBS TEAM	122
	1961 TOPPS STAMP PANELS BILLY WILLIAMS CARL WILLEY
	1961 TOPPS STAMP PANELS BILLY WILLIAMS WARREN SPAHN
x	1961 TOPPS STAMPS BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1962 SALADA-JUNKET COINS BILLY WILLIAMS	207
	1962 SHIRRIFF COINS BILLY WILLIAMS	207
x	1962 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	288
x	1962 TOPPS BUCKS BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1962 TOPPS CUBS TEAM	552
x	1962 TOPPS STAMPS BILLY WILLIAMS
	1962 TOPPS STMP.PANELS GUS TRIANDOS BILLY WILLIAMS
	1962-1965 JAY PUBLISHING PHOTOS-TYPE 2 BILLY WILLIAMS PORTRAIT POSE TO CHEST,DARK BACKGROUND
	1962-1965 JAY PUBLISHING PHOTOS-TYPE 2 BILLY WILLIAMS PORTRAIT, POSE TO WAIST, ARMS CROSSED
	1962-1965 JAY PUBLISHING PHOTOS-TYPE 2 BILLY WILLIAMS PORTRAIT-POSE TO WAIST, FENCE BACKGROUND
x	1963 EXHIBITS STATISTIC BACK BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1963 POST CEREAL BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT	172
x	1963 SALADA-JUNKET COINS BILLY WILLIAMS	30
x	1963 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	353
x	1963 TOPPS CUBS TEAM	222
x	1964 BAZOOKA BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT-KNEELING	17
	1964 BAZOOKA STAMPS BILLY WILLIAMS
	1964 BAZOOKA STAMPS MLB PLAYERS COMPLETE PANEL	8
	1964 RAWLINGS GLOVE BOX-HAND CUT BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1964 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	175
x	1964 TOPPS COINS BILLY WILLIAMS	44
x	1964 TOPPS CUBS TEAM	237
x	1964 TOPPS GIANTS BILLY WILLIAMS	52
x	1964 TOPPS PHOTO TATOO BILLY WILLIAMS
	1964 TOPPS ROOKIE ALL-STAR BANQUET THE 1961 TOPPS...	10
x	1964 TOPPS STAND UPS BILLY WILLIAMS SP
	1964 VENEZUELA TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	175
	1965 BAZOOKA BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT-BATTING	17
	1965 BAZOOKA PANEL HAND CUT TORRE/WILLIAMS/CHANCE
	1965 OLD LONDON COINS BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1965 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS	220
	1965 O-PEE-CHEE CUBS TEAM	91
	1965 O-PEE-CHEE NL HOME RUN LEADERS	4
x	1965 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	220
x	1965 TOPPS CUBS TEAM	91
x	1965 TOPPS EMBOSSED BILLY WILLIAMS	40
x	1965 TOPPS MAYS/WILLIAMS/CEPEDA NL HOME RUN LEADERS	4
x	1965 TOPPS TRANSFERS BILLY WILLIAMS
	1966 BAZOOKA PANEL HAND CUT KALINE/FISHER/WILLIAMS
	1966 CHICAGO CUBS TEAM ISSUE BILLY WILLIAMS
	1966 H.F. GARDNER POSTCARD BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1966 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS SP	580
x	1966 TOPPS CUBS TEAM	204
x	1966 TOPPS MAY/MCCOVEY/WILLIAMS NL HOME RUN LEADERS	217
x	1966 TOPPS RUB-OFFS BILLY WILLIAMS
	1966 VENEZUELA TOPPS CUBS TEAM	204
	1966/67 BAZOOKA BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT	48
	1967 BAZOOKA PANEL HAND CUT KALINE/ALOU/WILLIAMS
x	1967 DEXTER PRESS BILLY WILLIAMS PREMIUMS
	1967 PRO'S PIZZA BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1967 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	315
x	1967 TOPPS CUBS TEAM	354
	1967 TOPPS PUNCH-OUTS BILLY WILLIAMS
	1967 VENEZUELA TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	337
	1968 BAZOOKA BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT
	1968 KAHNS WIENERS BILLY WILLIAMS
	1968 TOPPS ACTION ALL-STAR STICKERS BILLY WILLIAMS/ROD CAREW/TONY GONZALEZ
x	1968 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	37
	1968 VENEZUELA TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	37
	1969 CHICAGO CUBS PHOTOS BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1969 GLOBE IMPORTS PLAYING CARDS BILLY WILLIAMS 7 OF CLUBS
x	1969 KAHNS WEINERS BILLY WILLIAMS
	1969 KELLY'S POTATO CHIPS PINS BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1969 MILTON BRADLEY BILLY WILLIAMS
	1969 MLB PHOTOSTAMPS BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT
	1969 MLBPA PINS BILLY WILLIAMS
	1969 O-PEE-CHEE NL RBI LEADERS	4
	1969 SUNOCO CUBS PINS BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1969 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	450
x	1969 TOPPS MCCOVEY/SANTO/WILLIAMS NL RBI LEADERS	4
x	1969 TOPPS STAMPS BILLY WILLIAMS
	1969 TOPPS SUPER BILLY WILLIAMS	39
x	1969 TRANSOGRAM BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT
x	1970 KELLOGGS BILLY WILLIAMS	37
x	1970 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS	170
x	1970 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	170
x	1970 TOPPS CUBS TEAM	593
x	1970 TOPPS SUPER BILLY WILLIAMS	40
x	1971 BAZOOKA NO NUMBER BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT
	1971 BAZOOKA NO NUMBER BILLY WILLIAMS/DAVE McNALLY/JIM FREGOSI HAND CUT-PANEL
x	1971 DELL TODAY'S TEAM STAMPS BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1971 KELLOGGS BILLY WILLIAMS	61
	1971 MILK DUDS BILLY WILLIAMS COMPLETE BOX	9
x	1971 MILK DUDS BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT
x	1971 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS	350
	1971 O-PEE-CHEE N.L. RBI LEADERS BENCH/PEREZ/WILLIAMS	64
	1971 O-PEE-CHEE NL HOME RUN LEADERS BENCH/WILLIAMS/PEREZ	66
x	1971 TOPPS BENCH/PEREZ/WILLIAMS NL RBI LEADERS	64
x	1971 TOPPS BENCH/WILLIAMS/PEREZ NL HOME RUN LEADERS	66
x	1971 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	350
x	1971 TOPPS COINS BILLY WILLIAMS	75
x	1971 TOPPS CUBS TEAM	502
	1971 TOPPS GREATEST MOMENTS BILLY WILLIAMS	37
	1971 TOPPS TATTOOS BILLY WILLIAMS PERFORATED	100
	1972 CHICAGO CUBS TEAM ISSUE BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1972 KELLOGGS BILLY WILLIAMS MISSED ONLY ONE LAST SEASON	46
	1972 KELLOGGS BILLY WILLIAMS PHRASE OMITTED	46
x	1972 MILTON BRADLEY BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1972 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS IA	439
x	1972 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS	440
	1972 O-PEE-CHEE CUBS TEAM	192
x	1972 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	439
x	1972 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS IA	440
x	1972 TOPPS CUBS TEAM	192
x	1973 KELLOGGS BILLY WILLIAMS	10
	1973 KELLOGGS WILLIAMS/BLASS/ MATLACK-PANEL
	1973 O-PEE-CHEE BATTING LEADERS B.WILLIAMS/R.CAREW	61
x	1973 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS	200
	1973 O-PEE-CHEE CUBS TEAM	464
x	1973 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	200
	1973 TOPPS CANDY LIDS BILLY WILLIAMS
	1973 TOPPS COMICS BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1973 TOPPS CUBS TEAM	464
x	1973 TOPPS PIN-UPS BILLY WILLIAMS
x	1973 TOPPS WILLIAMS/CAREW BATTING LEADERS	61
x	1974 KELLOGGS BILLY WILLIAMS	32
	1974 O-PEE-CHEE ALL STAR RIGHT FIELD R.JACKSON,B.WILLIAMS	338
x	1974 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS	110
x	1974 TOPPS CUBS TEAM	211
x	1974 TOPPS JACKSON/WILLIAMS ALL-STAR RIGHT FIELDERS	338
x	1974 TOPPS STAMPS BILLY WILLIAMS

And here is a tile with the current collection. The cards in the tile are in the same order as those on the checklist.

1. 
   

2015 Diamond Kings HOF Sluggers Billy Williams

Just one card in today's post and it isn't pretty:

Not only does the card look nasty because of the missing logos, but the face doesn't really look like Billy Williams, either.

Panini really struck out with this card from the 2015 Diamond King set.

1978 Grand Slam Cubs Set

Here's a recent oddball pick-up, the Cubs from the 1978 Grand Slam set.  This was a one-and-done product put out by collector Jack Wallin.  The 200 card complete set features black and white pictures on the front and a player biography on the back.

These simple looking cards were used quite a bit for TTM autographs back when the set came out.  It would be much tougher to get any autographs on these today since most of the players can't sign from six feet deep.

The cards don't have any team designations on them, so putting a team set together is a subjective thing.  My set was listed on Ebay and included 15 cards.  Teamsets4u's checklist shows only 13 Cubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These eleven show are in my set and the Teamsets4u set.

 

 

 

These four were also in my set.  The Teamsets4u checklist puts Baumholtz, Lowery, and Sauer with the Reds and Stephenson with the Indians.  I think some of the confusion would be due to the fact that the Cubs were using a wishbone C on their hats that looks similar to one worn by both the Reds and the Indians.

 

Here are the two players (with pictures borrowed from Ebay) on the Teamsets4U list but not in my set.  Burgess is definitely wearing a Reds uniform.  Douthit played in just 27 games for the Cubs, so it seems pretty silly to include him as a Cub.  He's better placed on the Cardinals list, where nine years of his career were spent or the Reds (192 games played).