I have none!!
But I was feeling left out, not posting anything about the set like everyone else, so I thought I would at least talk about what I'll be after this year.
First, I will get a Cubs team set. Actually, I already bought one and am just waiting for Mr. Mailman to do his thing. There are only eleven Cubs in the set this year: Alfonso Soriano, Starlin Castro, Ryan Dempster, Matt Garza, Carlos Zambrano, Marlon Byrd, Geovany Soto, Carlos Marmol, Kosuke Fukudome, Aramis Ramirez, and Carlos Pena. And because the Cubs are so lousy this year and there aren't a lot of people interested in collecting them, not a single Cub is among the shortprints #301-350. The good news there is that I save a few bucks. But I'd rather spend the money and have the team doing better.
Two insert sets also have a Starlin Castro card; Hometown Heroes and Baseball Highlight sketches. I'm on the prowl for them. I'll probably wait a few weeks and get them from Sportlots.
The crazy part this year is the relics. I've got all of the Cubs relics since Ginter first came out in 2006. Most years it was one or two, three at the most. But last year there were five. And this year, it's gone nuts. Even though there are only eleven base set Cubs, there are relics for Ten. That is just ridiculous. What's even more ridiculous is that I'm going to go after all ten. I just can't stand to have a hole in the collection. I hope that Topps starts to realize how stupid it is to have so many of these so-called "hits." A Blake DeWitt jersey card? Really?
Last night I was able to get seven of the ten. They came from only two sellers, so that helps keep the shipping down. And most were pretty cheap. The only one I paid more than $3 for was Starlin Castro. I've got the other three in my sights, and hope to have them by the end of the weekend.
As I get these in hand, I'll get them on the blog. Stay tuned.
A little while back I wrote about the one and only time that Upper Deck didn't include a player's picture on the back of the card, 2003.
Yesterday I took a some time to look at the backs of all the other Upper Deck Cubs cards. I was interested in pictures that caught my eye for whatever reason. I found the following four.
Rondell White, 2002....it looks like Rondell stayed up really late the night before, and came to photo day straight from the bar.
Steve Trachsel, 1998....You would think that a guy with a lifetime record at the time of 37-43 would just keep his mouth shut and pitch.
Mark Grace, 1994...many who have heard Mark Grace doing Diamondbacks or Fox games on TV suggest that he follow the first line on his shirt.
Mark Grace, 1998, The guy to Graces' left just said, "Good God, Grace, did you just cut one?" And the look on Grace's face gives us the answer.
....continuing an occasional look at Topps Trades sets through the years....
Topps began issuing separate Traded Sets in 1981 and would be very consistent for eleven years. I call these years the "Colored Boxes" years because, well, look...
....For eleven straight years Topps used the exact same style of box for the traded set, just changing the color from year to year. During most of the same time, 1981-1990, Topps used a consistent design on their wax packs. They just rotated the colors on a three year cycle; blue, green, then red, and repeat. I find it interesting that they didn't match the color of the traded box with the wax packs. It only happened once, 1987, when both the wax and box were green. The box colors break down this way:
1981 - Red
1982 - Blue
1983 - Green
1984 - Brown
1985 - Purple! That was the one and only time for purple
1986 - Red This was the first year a color was re-used
1987 - Green
1988 - Blue
1989 - Red
1990 - Brown
1991 - Green
I keep my traded cards in their original boxes. Some day I may put them in binders, but for now, they're fine in the boxes. Since there are only 132 cards in the set, if I need to find a card it's fairly easy. I've also found that six traded boxes fit perfectly in a 800 count box...
...so storing them is pretty simple.
I even made labels for the boxes, borrowing Topps' design.
As far as value, these vary quite a bit. The most expensive is the 1982 set which can fetch over $100, and that is for one reason....
....the Cal Ripken rookie card. I got really lucky here. I bought my 1982 set back in 1982, so I didn't have to pay an inflated price for the Ripken. Then, in 2008, when I was putting my Topps base sets together, I bought one from a seller who threw in some bonus sets too. I didn't pay much attention to what the bonus was; I just needed the complete set. Turns out, one of the bonus sets was a 1982 traded set, with the Ripken! So I've got two of them!
The rest of these sets can be found for no more that $20, with many going for less than $10.
Two slight changes were made to the traded cards in 1982 and then Topps left things alone the rest of this run. First, the cards were numbered separately, with a T following the card number, from 1T - 132T (in the 1981 the the numbers were just a continuation of the base set).
The backs were also a different color from the base set. Some years the backs were just a different shade of the base color. But you could always tell the traded cards apart from the base and that change continued all the way through this era.
As far as Cubs go, there have been some years where they have had way too many players in the set. When you've got a lot of traded players, that usually means a lousy team trying to get better, instead of a good team that is just making a couple tweaks. Here is the year by year Cubs breakdown, plus one of the cards from that season
1981 - 10 Cubs...I picked Joe Strain because he was featured on another blog a couple weeks ago (forgive me, I don't remember which one)
1982 - 12 Cubs...The first Cubs card of our new radio color man
1983 - 6 Cubs...This one is for Night Owl, who I'm sure cringes at the sight of the Penguin in any uniform other than the Dodgers'.
1984 - 9 Cubs....Had to go with the 1984 Cy Young winner
1985 - 3 Cubs...not much to pick from this season
1986 - 4 Cubs...for all the Bosox fans
1987 - 5 Cubs...Two cards from this season, a HOFer and future HOFer
1988 - 9 Cubs...so young looking here
1989 - 7 Cubs...the 1989 NL Rookie of the Year
1990 - 3 Cubs...I loved how Harry would also massacre this guy's name
1991 - 6 Cubs...this guy was going to be the third baseman for years to come...but he and his .165 BA didn't stick around too long.
All season long I've been hearing talk about Jose Bautista. I don't get it.
Team Issued card, 1993
He had a really nice season in 1993, going 10-3 with an ERA of 2.82. He was 4-2 as a starter and 6-1 out of the pen. It was a great year, though he did get suspended for three games for intentionally throwing at the Giants Mark Carreon on June 11.
Pacific, 1994
In 1994 he fell off a bit, going 4-5 and his ERA rose to 3.89, though he was injured for part of the season. But in December, the Cubs granted him his free agency. He went on to spend time with the Giants, Tigers, and Cardinals through the 1997 season, but was not very good those years.
So why are we talking about Jose Bautista in 2011??
Oh, that's why!
I've got 9,070 Cubs cards from 54 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.
1950s / 1960s: 1958 Topps #135 Moe Drabowsky I'm not sure how Topps could mix up "Moe" and "Mike," but they did. The error went uncorrected, though the next season he was "Moe." In 1958, Mr. Drabowsky went 9-11. He had an arm injury that limited his appearances in the second half of the season. Here's how bad the Cubs were at the time: Moe had 24 career NL wins after 1958, which was tops on the Cubs staff. The pitching staff was very young/very bad.
1970s: Topps 1973 # 552 J.C. Martin Martin is on the list of players who played for both the Cubs and the Sox. He was with the Sox at the start of his career, from 1959-1967. By the time he got to the Cubs in 1970, he was a broken-down back-up catcher. The Cubs got him just before the season, and when Randy Hundley went down with a season ending knee injury, he became one of several catchers who tried to fill Hundley's position. By 1972, Martin saw limited action, appearing in only 25 games. He was released by the Cubs at the end of spring training in 1973. He spent about half the season in AAA, but hung them up for good after playing in only 53 games.
1980s: Kenner Starting Lineup 1989 #18 Billy Williams This card came with a dual player action figure set; Billy was paired up with Ernie Banks. Here is what the package looks like:
I've got both the Ernie and Billy cards, but not the figures. Some day.
1990s: Star Nova 1992 #59 Ryne Sandberg This card came from one of the bazillion sets Star put out. Right now, I've got 12 of the 19 different Sandberg sets from Star. Unfortunately I've been stuck on that number for a while too. None of the sets I need have popped up on ebay in the last year. Ryno had a decent year in 1992, hitting .304 with 26 HRs and 87 RBIs. He also led NL second baseman in assists and total chances, but saw his streak of nine straight Gold Gloves come to an end.
2000s: Topps 2004 #514 Todd Hollandsworth As a member of the Marlins, Hollandsworth was 3-3 in the 2003 NLCS against the Cubs. The Cubs figured if you can't beat him, sign him. He came to the Cubs as a free agent, hoping to bolster the 2004 Cubs bench. He was hitting .318, but on June 27 he fouled a ball off of his shin and that injury sidelined him for the rest of the season.
A post last Sunday on Adam Dunn's 1999 traded set card got me thinking about all of my traded sets. I don't think I've said too much about them. Might as well start now!
As a concept, I like the traded sets idea. I'd much rather have a card of a player in the correct uniform, but a little later in the year, than an airbrushed card. I've got all of the traded sets, starting with the first. All together, there have been 5381 traded cards in the separate traded sets issued over 29 different years they were made, plus seven more that were a part of the1972 set.
Topps rolled out the traded idea all the way back in 1972, with seven specially marked cards in the 6th series. One of the seven was a Cub.
....Jose Cardenal.
Two years later, in 1974, Topps had a separate traded card for 43 players and included a traded checklist too. These cards were included in regular packs and featured some really bad airbrushing. That was the big difference between the '72 and '74 cards. The '72s all had pictures taken in spring training, while the '74s were all airbrushed.
These three Cubs were in the '74 set.
Topps took 1975 off, but brought back the traded set in 1976. It was done just like the '74 set, with airbrushed cards included in regular packs. The Cubs were quiet during during the offseason and didn't have a single player in the 43 player (plus a checklist) set. The only "name" deal they made was trading Don Kessinger to the Cardinals for Mike Garmen. The trade was made in late October, so Topps had time to make a regular airbrushed card for Garmen.
Since there weren't any Cubs, I'll show a couple ex-Cubs.
(I just couldn't pass up the chance to show the Oscar Gamble super-fro card!)
It would be another five season before Topps brought back the traded card. I would think that the new competition from Fleer and Donruss may have had something to do with that decision. The cards were not included in regular packs, but were sold later in the summer as a complete 132 card set. They were also numbered as a continuation of the base set, using #727-858. Unlike their previous traded cards, these had no traded marking on them. The cards looked just like the base set. Topps also did something they never did before, placing the players in alphabetical order. That made Danny Ainge the first card in the set and Richie Zisk the last.
Most of the cards had spring training pictures....
....though the airbrush hadn't been retired yet....
.... and a few really ugly cards were made. The 1981 traded set was the first of what we know today as the Update series (or whatever Topps is calling it this year). You can pick up a complete set for around $10.
In future posts, I'll look at more of the traded sets.
