1984 Hangover Lineup

I remember in 1984 watching the Cubs game the day after they clinched the division.  The lineup shocked me.  Where was Sandberg...Dernier....Davis....Moreland....??  What was going on?

You see, I knew nothing of the day after clinching procedure.  The Cubs had never done that in my lifetime.  I didn't know that teams sent in the scrubs the day after.  There were so many lessons learned in 1984.

So who played that day against the Pirates?

Four of the eight had a card in the 1984 Topps set and two more were in the '85 set, so these guys weren't total strangers to the team.  Dan Rohn was the least known of the bunch.  He never had a major league Cubs card, so I had to go with an Iowa card from 1983.

And how did this lineup do?

Not very well.  They lost 7-1 in front of a miniscule crowd at Three Rivers of 4,068.

The Hangover Lineup

The Cubs clinched the Central Division title on Wednesday.  On Thursday, their lineup was, shall we say, interesting.

As is typical for a day after clinching game, none of the regulars started.  Instead, it was four catchers and a few other guys.

Here's what Joe went with:

You know that the lineup is not very good when only one of the eight position players has an actual Topps card, not one of my homemade jobs.  That also tells you how Schwarber has fallen off, seeing that he is starting.

Heritage High Discs

I buy most of my team sets from Brentandbecca.  He can get me most, but not all, of the Cubs cards from a particular brand.  He buys cases from Topps, so he typically won't have the retail or hobby only cards.  Those I've got to chase myself.

The High Number Heratige set had a couple retail only insert sets.  The 1968 game rookie cards were only found and Target.  No Cubs were on that checklist.  The Walmart exclusive is the 1968 discs.  Two Cubs were on that list.

It's hard to believe that Bryant was left off the disc checklist from the main Heritage.  It's hard to believe that Bryant was left off of any checklist.   I guess Topps felt they had to leave a few names for the the High set.

Gone and Forgotten

The last time the Cubs did not make the post-season was in 2014.  That team was 73-89 and finished in last place.

There were 22 different position players that suited up for the Cubs that year.  Want to guess how many of those 22 are still on the roster?




The answer is....

 

...just two!  Rizzo was a star already.  Baez made his MLB debut that year and played in 52 games (and struck out 95 times in 213 at bats!).

The other 20 are gone...and mostly forgotten.  Less than half are still in the majors.  Only one plays regularly.  They are gone from the Cubs and with one exception, are gladly forgotten.

Here's the exception...gone and not forgotten!

The other 19... well, you can tell me if you miss any of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All I've Got of Him: Frank Chance

A win tonight (or a Brewers' loss) and the Cubs will be the Central Divison champs.  It will mark their third consecutive trip to the postseason.  It has been a long time since that has happened.  Specifically, it was the 1906-1908 Cubs that last had three straight trips to October baseball.

Hall of Famer Frank Chance was the player-manager for that squad.  So with that in mind, here are all the cards I've got of the Peerless Leader.

One of the most valuable cards in my entire collection would be the T206 of Chance.  It's the only real card I own from his playing days.  I have a few reprints from his active years but the majority of these are from later times.  There's some early '60s Fleer cards and several Cubs team issued cards, among others.

Cards That Accurately Portrait the Player: Jose Cardenal

A big fro and a big smile....that's Jose Cardenal to a  tee!

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 15,094 Cubs cards from 122 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1911 Turkey Red #33 Jack Pfeister The 1911 Turkey Red cards in my collection are reprints.  Unless I win the lottery, they will alway be reprints.  By the time Turkey Red issued these cards, Pfeister was pfinished.  He went 1-4 over six games in 1911.

1980s: 1981 Topps #609 Lynn McGlothen  I didn't remember this until I started looking things up for this, but McGlothen played on both sides of town in 1981, and had an ERA over 4 for both teams, too.

1990s: 1994 Flair #362 Rey Sanchez Sanchez had big shoes to fill in 1994 when Ryne Sandberg unexpectedly retired in early June.  Rey became the Cubs second baseman. He led the team with six bunts and also had 11 infield hits, meaning he was no Ryne Sandberg.

2000s: 2000 Bowman #208 Mike Meyers  Shwing!!  This guy was a great pitcher for the Cubs...NOT!  Actually, he never made it to the big leagues.

2010s: 2013 MVP #EB Ernie Banks  The MVP is officially the Kennesaw Mountain Landis Memorial Baseball Award.  I wonder how much longer his name will be attached to it?

Chicago Champions Fixed

I mentioned yesterday that this card violates one of my rules of baseball cards - you must show the player's face.  I felt obliged to fix it.

I came up with two face-showing variations.  

The picture is from 2015, but it does show their happy faces.

I really like the way the Bryzzo version turned out.