2018 Gold Label Ernie Banks

I've got all the Cubs from all the years that Topps has produced the Gold Label set, including those from 2018.

My cards, though, are just the first level or class and Gold Label typically has three different classes of cards.

The 2018 checklist included Mr. Cub.  I decided to get the Class 2 and Class 3 cards of Ernie for the player collection.  They weren't as difficult to find as I expected, nor were they too expensive.

 

The big picture of Ernie is different on each of the three classes while the little shot stayed the same.  All three of the big pictures show him taking a hack at the ball, but they are out of order.  If they were in order we could have made a little flip book of Ernie's swing.

Meadow Gold Cubs

In 1986 Meadow Gold Dairy issued a couple different sets of cards.  The cards were produced by MSA and they had just a player's license, so the logos are missing.

The first set consisted of 20 cards.  Two card panels were inserted into boxes of Double Play popsicles, fudgsicles, and bubble gum cooler.  Stats were printed on the back.  The Standard Catalog says that this set is one of the tougher regional sets from 1986.

Two Cubs were on the checklist, though they didn't share the same panel.

Ryno shared space with Cal Riken.

Sutcliffe and Goose Gossage were paired on a panel.

A second set of cards was printed directly onto boxes of Double Play ice cream carton.  The backs of these cards are blank.  This set has just fifteen players.  Among those cut from the first set was Rick Sutcliffe.

Ryno was included but a different picture was used. That makes if easy to tell if a card is a stat back or blank back.

The third set includes just eleven players. The cards were printed on the side of milk cartons. They are also tough to find and the priciest of the three sets.

The cards have drawings instead of pictures.  I suppose printing the color pictures on wax cartons was not an easy thing to do, so they settled for drawings.

2018 Topps Tribute Ernie Banks

Mr. Cub was included in several of the higher-end 2018 Topps products.

This is his card from Tribute.  That's a nice picture of him later in his career.  Its a picture that I haven't seen on any of his cards before either, so kudos to Topps for that.

There are the usual parallel cards but I'm going to skip all of them.  One Tribute is all he's getting from me.

Kraft Kubs

Kraft got into the baseball card game a little earlier than many of the other food companies.  Their first set, Home Plate Heroes, cam out in 1987.

The MSA-produced cards were found on boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  Each box contained a two-player panel.  The picture was on the front and the backs were blank.  Of the 48 players in the set, two were Cubs.

 

Jody was just about at the end of the line, so his inclusion was a little unexpected. Ryno was the star of the team and he was a no-brainer for being on the checklist.

The Home Plate Heroes were a one and done.  Kraft took some time away from baseball but returned in 1993.  The new set was called Kraft Singles Superstars.  As the name implies, the cards were in packages of Kraft Singles.

The cards were pop-up cards.  

This shows you how to do it.  I didn't, since I don't want to mess up the condition of the card.

If you look again at the picture of Ryno, it might look familiar.

It's the same picture as the Mr. Turkey card, just different cropping.  The picture didn't require much logo removal from Ryno, but look at the batboy in the background.  His entire logo had to be scrubbed off.

Mark Grace was the lone Cub in the 1994 version.

The final Kraft set came out in 1995 and it was Sammy that was the Cub in the set.

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 16,637 Cubs cards from 195 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1971 Topps #350 Billy Williams The RNG gets things off to a great start!  Billy looks like such a nice guy. 

1980s: 1989 Team Issued Mike Bielicki This is the guy that led the team to the 1989 Eastern Division title.  He won a career-high 18 games and was 12-3 in his final 19 starts.

1990s: 1993 Topps #237 Jose Vizcaino  Jose played all over the infield in 1993 - 81 games at short, 44 games at third and 33 as a second baseman.

2000s: 2002 T206 #402 Hee Seop Choi The T206 did not produce very many nice looking cards.

2010s: 2010 Topps Peak Performance Relic #MF Mike Fontenot I've got a jersey card of Mike Fontenot with a nice blue pinstripe.  Are you jealous??     Didn't think so!

Oscar Mayer Cubs

Oscar Mayer hopped on the baseball bandwagon in 1994.  Their promotion started in the spring.  That was a good thing because the players went on strike in mid-August.  I figure that the strike killed most interest people had in getting a baseball-related giveaway.

Like the Kraft cards (Kraft is Oscar Mayer's parent company), these too are pull-ups.  Mine is unpulled.  The set is made up of 15 players from each league.  You could get the discs in bologna packages or mail away for a league set.

Sandberg was the lone Cub among the 15 National Leaguers.

2019 Series One Recap

With the Superstars of Baseball Stars of the Game cards in hand, I've wrapped up all of the Series One Cubs.  There are a total of 42 cards, 16 base and 26 inserts.

The base cards include...
1 team card
12 player cards
1 League Leader
2 Multi-player cards

Among the inserts are...
4 150 Years of Professional Baseball
3 1984
3 Cactus League Legends
2 Evolution
1 Greatness Returns
4 Home Run Challenge
1 Iconic Card Reprint
7 Superstars of Baseball Stars of the Game
1 Topps Now Review

The player breakdown is...
6 - Javier Baez
6 - Kris Bryant
5 - Ernie Banks
4 - Anthony Rizzo
4 - Kyle Schwarber
3 - Wrigley Field
2 - Jon Lester
1 - Albert Almora
1 - Jake Arrieta
1 - David Bote
1 - Willson Contreras
1 - Yu Darvish
1 - Kyle Hendricks
1 - Fergie Jenkins
1 - Daniel Murphy
1 - Jose Quintana
1 - Pedro Strop
1 - Duane Underwood
1 - Ben Zobrist

The I Don't Know Which Name to Use Cubs Cards

So what name do I use?

The 2019 Series One checklist includes an insert set called "Superstars of Baseball."  The set has 100 cards that are numbered SSB1 through SSB100.  We can all assume that SSB stands for Superstars of Baseball.

So far, so good.

 

 

  

 

   

 

So why is the name of the front of the card "Stars of the Game"?  Do the design people and the checklist folks not talk with one another?  Doesn't anyone proofread the cards?

Aside from the name issues, I also had collecting issues.  This is one of the sets that I didn't get from Brentandbecca.  I was lucky enough to pull the Rizzo card from the packs I bought.  I found one Ebay seller that had the rest.  But he didn't.  So I was refunded and had to go hunt a second time.  This time it took three sellers to get the missing six.  But now I've got them and I have series one wrapped up.

Bazooka Billy

I can't remember the last time I was able to add something to my collection of Billy Williams cards from the PSA master list.  Most of what I have left are big ticket items.

Yet I recently lucked into one item for a pretty reasonable price.

This is the 1966-1967 Bazooka card.  It was cut off from a box of Bazooka gum.  The reason for the dual year listing is that Billy's card used the exact same picture and number both years.  The only way to tell the year is by the complete panel of three players.  But since the card has been cut out, you have no way of knowing the year.

The cards isn't in mint condition but it's good enough for me.  I was the only bidder in the auction so I got the card for the opening bid of ten bucks.  That's a pretty good deal for a card that rarely surfaces on Ebay.

PSA lists the cards three different ways on the list.  Its shown once as a solo and twice as a part of the complete panel.  In 1966 Billy shared the panel with Al Kaline and Eddie Fisher. The next year his partners were Al Kaline and Matty Alou.

This card puts me at a completion rate of 78%.  That's 107 down, 31 to go.

1947 -1966 EXHIBITS BILLY WILLIAMS
1961 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 141
1961 TOPPS CUBS TEAM 122
1961 TOPPS STAMP PANELS BILLY WILLIAMS CARL WILLEY
1961 TOPPS STAMP PANELS BILLY WILLIAMS WARREN SPAHN
1961 TOPPS STAMPS BILLY WILLIAMS
1962 SALADA-JUNKET COINS BILLY WILLIAMS 207
1962 SHIRRIFF COINS BILLY WILLIAMS 207
1962 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 288
1962 TOPPS BUCKS BILLY WILLIAMS
1962 TOPPS CUBS TEAM 552
1962 TOPPS STAMPS BILLY WILLIAMS
1962 TOPPS STAMP 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
1963 EXHIBITS STATISTIC BACK BILLY WILLIAMS
1963 POST CEREAL BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT 172
1963 SALADA-JUNKET COINS BILLY WILLIAMS 30
1963 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 353
1963 TOPPS CUBS TEAM 222
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
1964 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 175
1964 TOPPS COINS BILLY WILLIAMS 44
1964 TOPPS CUBS TEAM 237
1964 TOPPS GIANTS BILLY WILLIAMS 52
1964 TOPPS PHOTO TATOO BILLY WILLIAMS
1964 TOPPS ROOKIE ALL-STAR BANQUET THE 1961 TOPPS... 10
1964 TOPPS STAND UPS BILLY WILLIAMS SP
1964 VENEZUELA TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 175
1964 VENEZUELA TOPPS CUBS TEAM 237
1965 BAZOOKA BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT-BATTING 17
1965 BAZOOKA PANEL HAND CUT TORRE/WILLIAMS/CHANCE
1965 OLD LONDON COINS BILLY WILLIAMS
1965 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS 220
1965 O-PEE-CHEE CUBS TEAM 91
1965 O-PEE-CHEE NL HOME RUN LEADERS 4
1965 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 220
1965 TOPPS CUBS TEAM 91
1965 TOPPS EMBOSSED BILLY WILLIAMS 40
1965 TOPPS MAYS/WILLIAMS/CEPEDA NL HOME RUN LEADERS 4
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
1966 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS SP 580
1966 TOPPS CUBS TEAM 204
1966 TOPPS MAY/MCCOVEY/WILLIAMS NL HOME RUN LEADERS 217
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
1967 DEXTER PRESS BILLY WILLIAMS PREMIUMS
1967 PRO'S PIZZA BILLY WILLIAMS
1967 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 315
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
1968 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 37
1968 VENEZUELA TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 37
1969 CHICAGO CUBS PHOTOS BILLY WILLIAMS
1969 DUNKIN' DONUTS CUBS BUMPER STICKERS BILLY WILLIAMS
1969 GLOBE IMPORTS PLAYING CARDS BILLY WILLIAMS 7 OF CLUBS
1969 KAHNS WEINERS BILLY WILLIAMS
1969 KELLY'S POTATO CHIPS PINS BILLY WILLIAMS
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
1969 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 450
1969 TOPPS MCCOVEY/SANTO/WILLIAMS NL RBI LEADERS 4
1969 TOPPS STAMPS BILLY WILLIAMS
1969 TOPPS STAMPS PANELS (VERTICAL)
1969 TOPPS SUPER BILLY WILLIAMS 39
1969 TRANSOGRAM BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT
1969 TRANSOGRAM COMPLETE BOX BILLY WILLIAMS
1969 TRANSOGRAM BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT-SIDE PANEL
1970 DUNKIN' DONUTS CUBS BUMPER STICKERS BILLY WILLIAMS
1970 KELLOGGS BILLY WILLIAMS 37
1970 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS 170
1970 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 170
1970 TOPPS CUBS TEAM 593
1970 TOPPS SUPER BILLY WILLIAMS 40
1971 BAZOOKA NO NUMBER BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT
1971 BAZOOKA NO NUMBER BILLY WILLIAMS/DAVE McNALLY/JIM FREGOSI HAND CUT-PANEL
1971 BAZOOKA NO NUMBER BILLY WILLIAMS/DAVE MCNALLY/JIM FREGOSI COMPLETE BOX
1971 BAZOOKA NUMBERED BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT 26
1971 BAZOOKA NUMBERED BILLY WILLIAMS/DAVE McNALLY/JIM FREGOSI HAND CUT-PANEL
1971 DELL TODAY'S TEAM STAMPS BILLY WILLIAMS
1971 KELLOGGS BILLY WILLIAMS 61
1971 MILK DUDS BILLY WILLIAMS COMPLETE BOX 9
1971 MILK DUDS BILLY WILLIAMS HAND CUT
1971 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS 350
1971 O-PEE-CHEE CUBS TEAM 502
1971 O-PEE-CHEE N.L. RBI LEADERS BENCH/PEREZ/WILLIAMS 64
1971 O-PEE-CHEE NL HOME RUN LEADERS BENCH/WILLIAMS/PEREZ 66
1971 TOPPS BENCH/PEREZ/WILLIAMS NL RBI LEADERS 64
1971 TOPPS BENCH/WILLIAMS/PEREZ NL HOME RUN LEADERS 66
1971 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 350
1971 TOPPS COINS BILLY WILLIAMS 75
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
1972 KELLOGGS BILLY WILLIAMS MISSED ONLY ONE LAST SEASON 46
1972 KELLOGGS BILLY WILLIAMS PHRASE OMITTED 46
1972 MILTON BRADLEY BILLY WILLIAMS
1972 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS IA 439
1972 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS 440
1972 O-PEE-CHEE CUBS TEAM 192
1972 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 439
1972 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS IA 440
1972 TOPPS CUBS TEAM 192
1973 KELLOGGS BILLY WILLIAMS 10
1973 KELLOGGS WILLIAMS/BLASS/ MATLACK-PANEL
1973 O-PEE-CHEE BATTING LEADERS B.WILLIAMS/R.CAREW 61
1973 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS 200
1973 O-PEE-CHEE CUBS TEAM 464
1973 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 200
1973 TOPPS CANDY LIDS BILLY WILLIAMS
1973 TOPPS COMICS BILLY WILLIAMS
1973 TOPPS CUBS TEAM 464
1973 TOPPS WILLIAMS/CAREW BATTING LEADERS 61
1974 KELLOGGS BILLY WILLIAMS 32
1974 O-PEE-CHEE CHICAGO CUBS 211
1974 O-PEE-CHEE ALL STAR RIGHT FIELD R.JACKSON,B.WILLIAMS 338
1974 O-PEE-CHEE BILLY WILLIAMS 110
1974 TOPPS BILLY WILLIAMS 110
1974 TOPPS CUBS TEAM 211
1974 TOPPS JACKSON/WILLIAMS ALL-STAR RIGHT FIELDERS 338
1974 TOPPS STAMPS BILLY WILLIAMS

Wonder Bread Cubs

Yesterday's cards came from a baking company I had never heard of.  Today I've got a much more familiar name, Wonder Bread.

Those colored circles are instantly recognizable.  Wonder Bread helps build strong bodies 12 ways.

The Wonder set came out during the 1990 season.  Cards were found in specially-marked loaves.  The logoless set has 20 different cards, including two Cubs.

 

Sandberg was at the top of his game in 1990 and Jerome Walton was coming off of his rookie of the year season.  Seeing them included was not a big surprise.

Metz Cubz

I've got another of the many smaller sets that I've recently acquired.  Today's set is from the Metz Baking Company.

Metz was a name I was unfamiliar with.  I expected the company to be from the New York area.  Mets = Metz.  I turns out that they were midwest-based.  The company had roots in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Metz set came out in 1993.  The sets consists of 40 unnumbered cards.  The fronts are either yellow with blue stripes or blue with yellow stripes.  There are 20 of each combination, but no particular reason for a player or team to have a particular color. The pictures are not actual photographs, but drawings.  The drawings make the lack of logos seem a little less jarring.

Three Cubs made the checklist, two in yellow and one in blue.

 

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 16,579 Cubs cards from 193 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1964 Topps #175 Billy Williams  The RNG starts things off with a bang!  What a great looking card of Billy taking a swing.  And I've said it before, but I'd love to see the Cubs go back to using the shoulder patch seen in the card.

1980s: 1988 Fleer #420 Leon Durham The 1988 season was the Bull's last with the Cubs.  He was traded to the Reds in May for pitcher Pat Perry.  That show's you how much his career had derailed.  It took Bruce Sutter to get him from the Cardinals and all they could get back for him was Pat Perry.

1990s: 1991 Star Nova #77 Ryne Sandberg I wonder if the picture was taken at the Cubs first spring game in 1990.  Would that explain the bunting in the background.

2000s: 2003 Champions #49 Juan Cruz  This set is being very optimistic calling Cruz a rising star.  The season prior he posted a record of 3-11.  I guess you could consider him rising because there wasn't much more room for him to drop.

2010s: 2012 Topps Factory Team Set #CHC1 Starlin Castro This card was hot stuff in 2012 when Starlin Castro was the first of what we hoped would be many young stars leading the Cubs to greatness.

2019 Topps 1984 Cubs

Inserts using designs from past years seems to have become a staple.  But isn't that why we have Heritage?

2019 Topps is using the 1984 design.   In 1984 I would just get the complete set and then put the box in a closet.  The set doesn't give me any warm fuzzy feelings.

The insert set has 100 cards on the checklist and three of those are Cubs.

And how did Topps do with these compared to the real things?

 

 

 

Here are the differences that I see between the 1984s and the 2019 remakes:

• The shade of purple on the 2019 version sees to be a little redder
• the yellow in the box is off
• the names are too close to the box
• The outline of the Topps logo comes to a point at the bottom of the T instead of being rounded