Boy I sure wish that my title referred to the Cubs and
this guy instead of the White Sox
and him.
The Sox caught everyone off guard with yesterday's announcement that Robin Ventura will replace Ozzie Guillen as their skipper.
What struck me the most was just how different the Cubs and Sox organizations are. The Cubs seem to never take a chance, while the Sox throw caution to the wind. Robin Ventura has no experience as a coach or a manager. He's only been a part of the Sox organization since last June, serving as an assistant to Buddy Bell, director of player development. That's quite a leap into the managers spot. It's also quite a gamble by GM Kenny Williams.
The Cubs, on the other hand, had Ryno spend four years riding buses in the minor leagues, gaining managerial experience. And then when the big league job finally opens up, they pass him over. Hopefully the new GM (whoever that will be) will make dumping Mike Quade and hiring Ryne Sandberg one of his first orders of business.
Since I don't buy much wax, I haven't been too involved with the Million Card Giveaway last season or this year's Diamond Giveaway. But I did see that one of the Diamond Giveaway prizes is a Limited Edition Factory Set. The cards are the same 660 as the regular set, but they are specially marked in two different ways.
I saw a Cubs team set of these pop up, and the price was only a few bucks, so I splurged. Since I already had the base, gold, and platinum versions, I figured I might as well have the Limited Edition, too.
I won't bore you with all 23 cards.
I'll just show this one, of the National League's 2011 hits leader, Starlin Castro ( I know that sounds kind of lame, but its one of the only positive things to come out of the season!).
In the upper left hand corner you can see the Diamond Anniversary logo instead of the basic Topps logo on the regular cards.
And then above the team name, they've added "Factory Set Limited Edition."
Does anyone have any idea how "Limited" the set is? I didn't see anything in the official rules that list the number of prizes awarded.
Here is the newest addition to my Billy Williams collection. It also becomes the oldest in my Billy WIlliams player collection. It's the embossed insert from Topps 1965. There were 72 players in the set. The American League players had a blue border while the NL players border was red.
The concept of the card seemed very unique. It was certainly more interesting than the coins or tattoos that Topps had been inserting. The only problem is that the embossed portrait of the players didn't really look too much like the player. Luckily, the card has the player's name in big white letters. Without that you'd have no idea who it was supposed to be!
There is also an Ernie Banks card in the set, and I hope to get one soon.
I've haven't seen or heard too much about this set at all. And very little has shown up on Ebay, either. When the Heritage set was released back in March, there was, as always with Heritage, plenty of buzz. It's a cool product and the season is about to begin. Everyone is filled with hope and optimism.
But in late September, many of us have lost that optimism; mine disappeared in June. There's also been a bunch of other products released since March, and it's hard to get excited about another one, especially if a majority of the players are guys you've never heard of.
I found a Cubs team set for less than two bucks, so I went ahead and bought it. The five cards will be the only five Heritage Minor League cards that I'll get. All of the Cubs in the set were first round draft picks.
Michael Burgess was a first round draft pick of the Nationals in 2007. The Cubs picked him up as part of the trade that sent Tom Gorzelanny east. The Cubs assigned him to their high-A team in Daytona. He hit only .225 in 122 games, though he did have 20 HRs.
If you look on his sleeve you'll see the Ron Santo 10 patch. The Cubs had all the teams in their organization wear the patch this season. It will be an easy way to tell if a picture is from 2011
Ryan Flaherty was the Cubs first round pick in the 2008 draft. He spent 2/3 of the season in AA and hit .305 with 14 HRs for the Smokies. That earned him a promotion to AAA for the rest of the season. Things didn't go as well in Iowa, as his average dropped to .237.
Brett Jackson was the Cubs first round pick in 2009. Like Flaherty, Jackson split the season between AA and AAA. But he improved with his promotion, hitting .256 in AA and .297 in AAA.
Baseball America had him rated the #38 prospect prior to the 2011 season.
Josh Vitters was the Cubs first round pick in 2007. Only 21, he now has five years of pro ball under his belt. Vitters spent all of the season in AA and put up decent numbers. He hit .283 with 14 HR and 81 RBIs. I'm guessing he'll get a good look next spring and then spend the year in AAA.
Last week I watched ESPN's newest 30 for 30 documentary, Catching Hell, which tells the story of Steve Bartman. I thought the film was well done. I've seen others complain that it was too Red Sox-heavy, but I'm a big Bill Buckner fan, so I didn't mind it so much. The filmmaker even brought up the fact that Buckner was wearing a Cubs glove in 1986 (I've got more about that here.)
The movie hammered home the point that Bartman was only a scapegoat, but losing the NLCS wasn't his fault. I agree with that 100%. In my mind, if you need to blame anyone (do you if its a team game?), then put the blame on Moises Alou, for his little girl hissy fit and Alex Gonzalez for booting a routine grounder that could have ended the eighth inning.
If I'm being 100% honest, I have to admit that while Alou's tantrum is very clear in my memory, Gonzalez' error isn't. Fox showed the Alou play ad nauseam. Gonzalez' error got lost in the shuffle. For me, after the Bartman play, the whole inning became one big blur. Maybe I don't want to remember it! But in hindsight, the error was a killer.
This is Gonzalez' Donruss card from 2003.
and this is the back.
Look at what it said. Wow. If that statement held up in game six, then the Cubs would have won the NL pennant. "Flawless glove work"....no way!! "Priceless commodity for his double play ability"...are you kidding me!!!
I no longer blame Bartman, Alou, or Gonzalez for what happened in 2003. Donruss, its all on you! You lied to me and and your crazy Gonzalez statements cost the Cubs the pennant!
Here is my monthly look at complete set prices, taken from the first five completed sales listings on Ebay on October 1.
**There was no love for 1990; not a single complete set was sold over the past two weeks.
**For the second month in a row, the modern sets aren't selling. Just one set for 2003, 2004, and 2005 was sold, while 2001 had two move and 2006 only three. No one is buying these and the prices of the sets sold are dropping.
**One of each will run you $5,713.54, which is almost $300 below the 12 month average. Looks like card prices are matching the stock market.
| YEAR | Oct. 1 | Sept. 1 | Aug. 1 | 12 Mo. Avg. |
| 1969 | $707.07 | $1,166.67 | $916.67 | $1,076.95 |
| 1970 | $859.00 | $1,177.51 | $869.50 | $933.68 |
| 1971 | $894.50 | $834.63 | $839.77 | $809.81 |
| 1972 | $1,004.03 | $990.50 | $941.30 | $957.29 |
| 1973 | $516.00 | $311.12 | $476.00 | $378.76 |
| 1974 | $206.61 | $227.53 | $199.08 | $241.68 |
| 1975 | $256.00 | $258.48 | $308.97 | $286.56 |
| 1976 | $140.60 | $181.44 | $159.30 | $174.17 |
| 1977 | $141.20 | $145.88 | $114.00 | $132.57 |
| 1978 | $101.59 | $103.25 | $92.53 | $98.20 |
| 1979 | $102.58 | $72.13 | $85.39 | $86.79 |
| 1980 | $60.42 | $66.64 | $63.81 | $65.03 |
| 1981 | $30.45 | $22.44 | $24.37 | $29.11 |
| 1982 | $34.01 | $33.65 | $43.30 | $33.25 |
| 1983 | $34.90 | $35.83 | $34.27 | $33.40 |
| 1984 | $17.01 | $20.02 | $20.45 | $22.94 |
| 1985 | $28.07 | $23.01 | $18.90 | $24.48 |
| 1986 | $11.44 | $14.95 | $13.61 | $14.30 |
| 1987 | $8.40 | $10.69 | $8.81 | $8.61 |
| 1988 | $5.62 | $6.31 | $9.30 | $8.00 |
| 1989 | $2.12 | $5.10 | $5.90 | $7.75 |
| 1990 | $0.00 | $7.14 | $9.49 | $7.90 |
| 1991 | $6.99 | $9.77 | $10.18 | $8.59 |
| 1992 | $9.79 | $10.75 | $10.49 | $10.08 |
| 1993 | $20.50 | $15.59 | $17.92 | $19.63 |
| 1994 | $15.28 | $23.68 | $20.51 | $22.39 |
| 1995 | $44.82 | $32.70 | $75.41 | $41.78 |
| 1996 | $13.24 | $18.56 | $12.91 | $20.63 |
| 1997 | $33.88 | $56.30 | $44.70 | $44.02 |
| 1998 | $49.89 | $47.71 | $30.25 | $42.90 |
| 1999 | $39.84 | $22.97 | $15.99 | $24.42 |
| 2000 | $21.39 | $18.71 | $27.33 | $17.91 |
| 2001 | $38.00 | $42.38 | $41.69 | $50.22 |
| 2002 | $24.58 | $20.21 | $53.69 | $37.40 |
| 2003 | $7.50 | $36.31 | $33.83 | $30.65 |
| 2004 | $19.99 | $32.48 | $24.49 | $24.93 |
| 2005 | $31.00 | $32.00 | $21.16 | $24.93 |
| 2006 | $22.41 | $20.00 | $19.62 | $20.99 |
| 2007 | $17.25 | $25.50 | $18.80 | $15.60 |
| 2008 | $26.79 | $25.25 | $21.00 | $23.12 |
| 2009 | $49.48 | $36.60 | $33.47 | $37.08 |
| 2010 | $26.39 | $28.80 | $26.80 | $37.08 |
| 2011 | $32.93 | $26.31 | $37.94 | $30.84 |
By the time 1997 rolled around, Score seemed to be dying a slow death. Factory sets hadn't been released for several years and the set was gradually shrinking. So in 1997, it seemed like Score was going to make one last stab as success.
First, the factory set returned. This time, the set was in a tin. It has the same shape as their last two factory sets, but now the cards were in three rows. The set also reversed the shrinking trend, going from 517 cards to 550.
The design, however, was about as minimalist as you can get. It was just name at the top, team at the bottom, and a picture.
My guess is that the last-gasp attempt in 1997 wasn't successful, because in 1998 the factory tin disappeared. So did almost half of the set; the '98 set contained a Score-low 270 cards (though the traded set has the same number of cards).
At least the design team went back to work, coming up something that wasn't so plain. And the Cubs, who were bad in 1997, rated only four cards out of the 270 card set including one of Brant Brown. Brown was infamous for dropping a flyball in a September game against the Brewers in the bottom of the ninth. Three runs scored, costing the Cubs the game and featured a meltdown by Ron Santo.
The 1998 set was Score's last. Score's parent, Pinnacle, went out of business in September, 1998. The brand name was sold to Playoff, which was later bought out by Donruss, later bought by Panini.
