Five Random Cubs Cards

 I've got 21,519 Cubs cards from 316 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1972 Topps Posters #21 Billy Williams  What a great way to start! My guess is that the picture is from spring training in 1971 or 1972. Billy is wearing a jacket under his jersey, trying to lose a few of the pounds he gained over the winter.

1980s: 1985 O-Pee-Chee #19 George Frazier He's looking pretty smug here.  He should have that same look after the 1985 season when he posted a 7-8 record with an ERA of 6.39

1990s: 1996 Stadium Club #53 Jim Bullinger  He's hanging out on a rooftop in Sheffield Avenue.  I wonder if they took rooftop pictures of several players or just Bullinger?

2000s: 2003 Heritage #408 Hee Seop Choi  There was lots of optimism surround Choi in 2003 and he was the Opening Day first baseman.

2010s: 2013 Team Issued Season Ticket Holders #47 Starlin Castro This is Castro's fourth card in the set.  He was a big deal ten years ago, which shows how low the team had sunk.

Eighties Alphabetically - Archives Reprints

 These are cards from the 1980s, but not really.  

In 1983 Topps released a reprinted version of their iconic 1952 set.  It gave collectors the chance to have the cards without breaking the bank.

Topps didn't fully commit to the original as they didn't use the cards original larger size and instead opted for the now-standard 2½" x 3½" format.

2023 Heritage High Clubhouse Collection Cubs

 I have all of the Cubs Clubhouse Collection cards since Heritage's beginning, so I can't quit now.  There were five more CC cards in the 2023 High set.  They are getting easier and cheaper to get as they just don't seem to have much value to collectors any more.  That tiny piece of cloth or bat isn't a big deal any longer.

 

 

I'm confused as to why these cards have three different color schemes.  The base cards have one scheme per team, so doesn't it make sense that the Clubhouse cards would do the same?  And don't get me started on the use of the same photoshopped background on all of the cards.

2023 Heritage High Numbers Cubs

The High Numbers Heritage cards came out a couple of weeks ago and I now have all of the Cubs cards.  The set adds another 225 cards to Heritage, including 25 more short prints.  No Cubs were included in the short prints, so my wallet was spared a bit there.  I had to buy just seven regular cards.

 

 

 

Most of these are action shots instead of the more standard Heritage posed pictures.  That makes senses since many of the players were with other teams in the spring during picture day, so no posed Cubs pictures were available.

Three of the seven Cubs are catchers, since no Cubs catchers were included in the base Heritage set.  Look carefully at the Tucker Barnhart card and you'll notice an oddity.  Though a catcher, he is wearing a regular fielders glove.  He also has an odd smile on his face.  The reason for both - he was pitching.  In fact, he pitched in four games for the 2023 Cubs.  Over the four innings he gave up just one run, for an ERA of 2.25.  

Topps did a very quick turnaround on the Jose Cuas and Jeimer Candelario cards, as they were both trading deadline pickups on July 31.

2024 Cubs Wall Calendar

I have the 2024 Cubs wall calendar ready to go up in a few days.  By the way, this makes the 25th year of Cubs wall calendars for me.  Some day I'll have to show the entire collection.  The problem is scanning them... the calendars are 12" x 12" but my scanner bed is 8½" x 11".

Anyway, this is what the cover looks like, with a picture that I borrowed from eBay so I didn't have to scan it.  As usual, each month features a large picture of a Cubs player.

And who did the maker, Turner Licensing, consider to be calendar-worthy this year?

January - Keegan Thompson

February - Drew Smyly

March - Nelson Valezquez

April - Nico Hoerner

May - Codi Heuer

June - Patrick Wisdom

July - Brandon Hughes

August - Justin Steele

September - Seiya Suzuki

October - Jamison Taillon

November - Dansby Swanson

December - Christopher Morel

I think that there were two major omissions, Cody Bellinger and Adbert Alzolay.  Both were major players in the Cubs 2023 season.  

And how did Turner do with respect to players still on the team?

Three are gone... Nelson Velazquez, who was traded on July 31, and Codi Heuer and Brandon Hughes, who both elected free agency in November.

2022 Finest Flashback Cubs

 Ok, this one is my fault.  I bought these cards 13 months after the season ended because I didn't realize that the set had even been released.  It was an online only product, released in late August of 2022.  I guess I wasn't paying attention.

The set is based on 1995 Finest and has 220 cards, with the last 20 being short prints.

 

There are just three Cubs among the 220 and Sammy is one of the short prints.  I wish I could find a better way to scan these.  The cards don't look this dark in hand, but scanning the chrome cards gives me this dark look.

Merry Steve!

 I knew that this guy played a few games for the Cubs, and I knew that I just had to get a card of his. He played only three games for the Cubs in late April of 1986, and he was just one for nine, a crummy .111 batting average. As far as I can tell, this card from the Cubs team issued set is the only card that features him as a major leaguer, though he did play with the Reds in 1983 and the White Sox in 1984. 

He didn't have much of a big league career, but once a year his cards will be here on Wrigley Wax.

 

Merry Steve Christmas to all!

The Christmas Story According to St. Luke

 My traditional Christmas Eve post.  It has been run each Christmas Eve since 2010.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

From the Gospel according to St. Luke, the second chapter: 

In those days

Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire

world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So

also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of

because he belonged to the

and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the

to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. 

She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a

because there was no

for them in the inn. And there were

living out in the

nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at

An

of the

appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

May the simple, yet miraculous truth 

of the Christmas story 

touch your heart anew this year.

Peace,

Paul

Wrigley Wax