The 2021 Archives Cubs Inserts

 Cubs players have cards in four of the 2021 Archives insert sets.

This is from the Peel-off set and it is a total train wreck.  The card is numbered 69PO-14 because Topps quality control forgot that they came out in 1963, not 1969.

But that's not the worst part.  They are called peel-off because the 1963 originals were stickers that you had to peel off the backing.

But these peel-offs aren't peel-offs. They are not stickers, just a regular cardboard card.  How lame is that??

This is a total Photoshop job since Madrigal was injured when he was traded north from the White Sox.  He has yet to set foot on the field in a Cubs uniform.

Of course we can't have a set in 2021 without a card or two of Brailyn Marquez.

 

These are from the best insert set in my humble opinion.  It an original idea of making fake movie posters.  The building the background of the Boys of Zimmer poster is the Wrigley Building.  It would make more sense if the Tribune Tower was back there instead, since the Cubs were owned by the Trib in 1989.

My Miller Mistake

 I was looking over my homemade 2021 Cubs cards and realized I made a Miller mistake.

When I made my homemade cards, I used the Cubs 2021 roster from Baseballreference and compared it with the Topps checklists from the flagship set and update.

There's a Miller in the Update set and a Miller on the roster.

The update card is of Tyson Miller.  He pitched in two games for the 2020 Cubs.  He didn't make the team out of spring training in 2021 and was sent to AAA.  He lasted there for a couple of months before being released. 

The Miller on the 2021 Cubs was Shelby Miller.  He got shelled in three games in April (7 runs over 3 innings) and was released.

I have zero recollection of either Miller.  So when I was making my cards and saw that there was a Miller in the update set and a Miller that played for the 2021 Cubs, I incorrectly assumed they were the same guy.

That means I have one more homemade card to make.  Since I'm posting them in alphabetical order, and I'm already past the M's, I'll show him now.

Five Random Cubs Cards

 I've got 19,568 Cubs cards from 285 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: TCMA 1938 Cubs Clay Bryant  This guy had one of those sell your soul to the devil type years in 1938.  He was 19-11 as the Cubs won the pennant.  He was with the Cubs for five other seasons from 1935 - 1940 and was 13-9 over that span.

1980s: 1987 Team Issued Bob Dernier The 1987 season was his last with the Cubs.  He went out strong, hitting .317.  His role with the team was limited to just 93 game, however.

1990s: 1999 Stadium Club #189 Jeff Blauser  He's a Brave to most baseball fans.  Blauser spent the last two years of his career with the Cubs.  His average was 42 points lower than it was during his time in Atlanta. and he was done after the 1999 season.

2000s: 2009 T206 #67 Alfonso Soriano  Injuries limited Soriano to 117 games in 2009.  The Cubs did not get their $17 million worth out of him that year.

2010s: 2016 Factory Team #CHC9 Jake Arrieta This is the Arrieta I'd like to remember - the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner who would help lead the team to the title.  That's a much better memory than the 2021 Jake Arrieta.

70s Saturday - 1977 Burger Chef Cubs

 In 1977 Burger Chef hired MSA to produce a nine player disc set for 24 teams (the expansion Mariners and Blue Jays were skipped over).  The discs were part of a cardboard Funmeal tray.  

The discs have a copyright date of 1976, but they were produced after the '76 season was over.  The Standard Catalog listing for them uses the date of 1977.  You would assume that they were made in late 1976 and distributed in 1977.   The big tell for this is the Bill Buckner disc.  He was traded to the Cubs in January, 1977. That made the 1976 copyright either clairvoyant or wrong.

The disc look pretty much like other MSA discs from the era.  They are the same size as the smaller Wiffle discs, which also have a 1976 copyright.

No numbering was used on them, so they are often numbers in alphabetical order by teams.

Since each team got nine players, there are some in this set that didn't appear in any other MSA disc sets.  These are the one and only disc for Bill Bonham, Rick Reuschel and Tarzan Joe Wallis.  Bonham and Wallis didn't deserve another disc, but Reuschel was the ace of the staff in the late '70s. It surprising that he didn't show up in any other sets.

Black Frey Day

 The title says it all...

Turkey Red for Turkey Day

My traditional Thanksgiving Day post.... 

The original Turkey Red set came out in 1911. Topps released their own versions in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, and 2020. There are 70 Cubs cards in those eight sets. Take a look at them and then go back to your own turkey! 

Be Safe! Happy Thanksgiving!

 

2021 Topps Archives Cubs

 I've got the base set from 2021 Archives now in hand.  

Topps has finally caught up to the trades the Cubs made in late July, so Baez, Bryant, and Rizzo don't have Cubs cards.  There are nine Cubs in the set, but only four are active players.

The set uses the designs from 1957, 1962, 1973, 1983, 1991, 2001, and 2011.  They also threw in a fantasy design from 2091.  That seems really dumb since the set is called "Archives."  Seem kinda tough to archive something from 50 years in the future.

 

 

 

 

The Cubs have a card for each of the years except 1973.  That's since since we're getting 1973 in next year's Heritage.  1983 was the big Cubs winner with three cards.  And did we really need another card for Brailyn Marquez?

2021 T206 Wave 8 Cubs

 Wave 8 arrived recently and it's one of the best waves yet

 

Two hall of famers and a player that is actually still on the team!

Four More - We're into the S's Now

 I keep plugging away at the 48 homemade cards I needed to make so each of the 69 Cubs has a 2021 Topps card.  I've been working through alphabetically and I'm up to the S's now.

 

 

Five Random Cubs Cards

 I've got 19,558 Cubs cards from 285 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1933 Goudey #67 Guy Bush The is the second week in a row that the RNG starts us off with a card from the 1933 Goudey set.

1980s: 1989 Donruss Rookies #36 Phil Stephenson  The Cubs had Rafael Palmeiro and then Mark Grace to play first base.  Stephenson got locked out.  He was traded to the Padres in August, 1989.  His career average over four MLB seasons was .201.

1990s: 1992 Star #8 Ryne Sandberg This is card #8 of 11 in the Sandberg set.  The picture is not very exciting looking.

2000s: 2005 Heritage #300 Sammy Sosa  This is the SP version of Sammy's card.  The regular card has a different picture in the background

2010s: 2019 Finest Blue Chip Ian Happ While he's not a cow chip, Happ hasn't been what I'd consider a blue chip either.

A Look at All of the 2021 Flagship Cubs

The 31 base cards from the 2021 set along with another 48 inserts give me a total of 79 Cubs cards from the Topps set.

Here are all 79 Topps Cubs in a 79 seconds.

Wrapping Up The 2021 Flagship Inserts

 I've got the inserts recap today.

There are 48 Cubs inserts in the 2021 set.  That's a little better than last year, when there were 45.  But those numbers are way down from the years prior to that, with 63 in 2019, 101 in 2018,  87 in 2017, and 81 in 2016.  It would be nice if  the number of inserts and the number of team wins goes up in 2022, but I'm doubtful that either will happen.

The 2021 Cubs inserts....

• Cubs were included in 17 of the 19 sets (they are missing in DH Debuts and Significant Statistics)
• 12 different players were shown
• 2 of the 12 players are with the Cubs right now (Contreras and Marquez)
• 7 of of the 12 are on different teams (Baez, Bryant, Darvish, Kimbrel, Lester, Rizzo, Schwarber)
• 3 of the 12 are retired (Banks, Maddux, Sandberg)
• The most popular players were Javier Baez with 14 cards and Kris Bryant with 10
• just 4 of the inserts are horizontal
• 44 are vertical

Wrapping Up The 2021 Flagship Base Cards

 I can wrap up the 2021 flagship set now that I have Update in hand.  I'll have the base set recap today, the inserts on Friday, and I'll put them all together on Saturday.

The Cubs netted a total of 31 base cards.  Its down quite a bit from the previous two years, which each had 39 cards. 

Among the 31 cards, there are...

• 26 vertical layout
• only 5 with a horizontal layout... good for me because I prefer the verticals
• 1 team card
• 0 combo cards
• 1 League Leader
• 30 different players, including 1 HOF photo variation
• 12 players on the Cubs 40 man roster today
• 17 no longer on the roster
• 8 players that never played an inning for the 2021 Cubs - that's a fourth of the players with Cubs cards
• 15 pictures taken at Wrigley Field
• 16 pictures on the road