In my Cubs lineup post a couple days ago, I had some cards from the factory team set, but I didn't get into the set much. Today I will.
As it has since 2010, the factory team set has 17 cards, 16 players and one of Wrigley Field.
The cards are numbered CHC1 - CHC17. Other than the different numbers, the cards are identical to the base set cards.
The 16 player cards can be put into one of three categories: 1) already in series one, 2) new player photoshopped into a Cubs uniform, and 3) will be in series 2.
I'll show the cards by these categories.
1) There were six Cubs in series one and all six are in the factory set with an identical card.
Four of the cards are new guys photoshopped. So how did Topps do?
Not too bad here. In this post from last year, I pointed out that Topps made some errors on Carlos Pena's photoshopped Gypsy Queen card. Among the mistakes were the wrong number font on his jersey and the missing Cubs logo on the pants. I guess Topps reads my blog because they got both of those details right on DeJesus' card. The only glaring mistake is the helmet...the Cubs don't wear that style.
For as good as they were with DeJesus, they were bad with Ian Stewart. This is a Rockies uniform (see all the purple in the dugout) with the grey road pinstripes. The Cubs don't wear pinstripes on the road. Topps needed to make the pants whiter to look like the home uni or get rid of the stripes.
Not a bad job on Maholm. They even got the belt colored blue.
This one is not good. The Cubs logo is way too small and its in the wrong place; its over too far to the left. That leaves Topps 2 out of 4 with the fake cards. As a hitter, 2 out of 4 gets you into the Hall of Fame. In my classroom it gets you an F. Sorry Topps, I'm grading you like a student: you get an F.
The rest of the cards are the player's first with the flagship design, though several were in Heritage. If the format from the past several years holds true, this is the same picture that will be on the series 2 card of these guys.
And there you have the 2012 Factory Team set.
I'll start with the best news from Opening Day.
The ivy was green! It hasn't all come in yet, but its a month ahead of the usual schedule.
Now for the bad new: The Cubs started the 2012 season just like they finished the 2011 season, losing. The bullpen blew the lead and they lost 2-1.
I was listening to the game on the radio and announcer Pat Hughes was very excited at the start of the game. He barely got the words "And the Theo Epstein era begins" out of his mouth when Ian Desmond lined the season's first pitch for a single. Was that an indication of how the Epstein Era will go?
Ryan Dempster got off to a shaky start, giving up the leadoff hit and walking the next batter, but was able to turn things around and held the Nationals to only two hits over 7 1/3 innings while striking out 10 (Strasburg only had five Ks). The headline to the AP story says "Strasburg Dominates as Nationals Beat Cubs" but Dempster was just as, if not more dominate than Strasburg.
The Cubs held a 1-0 lead with a man on first and two outs in the eighth when Kerry Wood came in. He promptly walked the next three batters, forcing in the tying run. Closer Carlos Marmol pitched the ninth, and after getting two quick outs, gave up a double and single, putting the Nationals up 2-1. The Cubs wasted a one out triple in the bottom of the ninth and the game ended with Marlon Byrd striking out.
It's only one game, but the opening day optimism (what little of it there was) is gone. This is a rebuilding year and will be a long one.
To celebrate opening day, I've got the Cubs all time opening day lineup. The lineup features a majority of the players from the '60's and later. That seems odd to me, considering the long history of the Cubs. In fact, of the entire lineup, I have seen all but three (Hartnett, Grimm and Pafko) of them play (and I'm not that old).
The cards I'm showing were picked because they are from lesser known sets and this may be your first peek at them
I've also got the opening day count for today's Cubs lineup.
Pitcher: Fergie Jenkins, 7 Opening Day starts.
Ryan Dempster is making his second start today.
Catcher: Gabby Hartnett, 12 starts
This will be Geovany Soto's fifth start
First Base (since 1900): Charlie Grimm and Mark Grace, 12 starts
Bryan LaHair makes his first opening day start.
Second Base: Ryne Sandberg, 13 starts
This will be Darwin Barney's second start.
Shortstop: Shawon Dunston, 11 starts
Starlin Castro is also making his second start
Third Base: Ron Santo, 13 starts
Ian Stewart makes his first (and probably only) opening day start
Left Field: Billy Williams, 10 starts
This is #6 for Alfonso Soriano.
Center Field (since 1900): Andy Pafko, 7 starts
Marlon Byrd will be making his third start.
Right Field: Sammy Sosa, 12 starts From Fleer's Update set, 2003
Like Ian Stewart, this is David DeJesus' first and hopefully only start.
The season opens tomorrow and its time to take a look at the projected starting lineup.
The lineup is not pretty. This is Theo Year 1 and the Cubs are in a serious rebuilding mode. Most sportswriters are predicting a fifth place finish at best. What are we going to do next year when the Astros move to the American League? Plus, we used to be able to count on the Pirates and Reds to finish below us. But their young talent is blooming while our overpriced veterans have gone bust.
Many of the cards I've got are from the Topps Factory Team set, which I just got a few days ago. This is usually a preview of what the series two cards will look like for any of the returning Cubs. Those that are new to the team have photoshopped cards and will probably have a real picture if they are in series two. I'll take a closer look at the factory team set in a couple days.For better or worse, here they are:
OUTFIELD
Left Field...Alfonso Soriano...and he's only got three years at $18,000,000 per year left on his contract.
Center Field....Marlon Byrd...good hustle...nice guy...just not a lot of production.
Right Field....David DeJesus....hit .240 last year for the A's. Lucky for him. the bar for a DeJesus in the Cubs lineup is pretty low. The last time the Cubs had a DeJesus was 1981 and Ivan hit .194.
INFIELD
Third Base....Ian Stewart...This will be the first time since 2004 that Aramis Ramirez is not at third. Ian Stewart his a paltry .156 last season. Let's hope we don't start another drought at third base. It took 30 years for a longterm third baseman to replace Ron Santo. Will it be another 30 to replace Ramirez?
Shortstop...Starlin Castro....He avoided the sophomore jinks. Now he just needs to avoid the baseball Annies.
Second Base....Darwin Barney...Hopefully, Castro and Barney will man the center of the diamond for many successful seasons.
First Base....Bryan LaHair....A 29-year-old without a full MLB season takes over. Derrek Lee and Carlos Pena saved the rest of the infield a lot of errors. LaHair won't.
Catcher.....Geovany Soto...Has never repeated the success of his rookie season.
STARTING PITCHERS
Ryan Dempster makes his second straight opening day start. The best I can hope from him is a .500 record.
Matt Garza....would be the default ace of the staff.
Paul Maholm....our #3 was 6-14 last season for the Pirates. Wow.
Randy Wells....hoping he won't be eating his mitt this season
Jeff Samardzija....attempting to move from the pen to the rotation.
BULLPEN
Carlos Marmol...when he's good he is unhittable. When he's bad, he is also unhittable, because he's walking everyone instead.
Kerry Wood....with Sean Marshall gone, Woody will be getting more innings, if his arm doesn't fall off first.
That's not exactly the '27 Yankees that Theo has put together. The best I can do is hope for a miracle.
OK....one more Heritage post....indulge me please!
Today we'll do a flashback with the Heritage Flashback insert set. Flashback showed up in 2003 with Heritage's third release. It replaced the Classic Rendition set. For the most part its been a ten card set. The exceptions were in 2008 and 2009 (10 from 1959/1960 and 10 more in the update set from 2008/2009).
Over the ten years of Flashback, a Cub has been on the checklist five times. Despite five listings, only two players have made the list, Ernie Banks and Kosuke Fukudome.
Ernie was a superstar in the late '50s and early '60s, so its no surprise that he showed up so often.
His first card was 2005. He had both a regular card and a seat relic card.
He was doubled up again in 2006.
After missing the cut in 2007, he showed up twice again in 2008...Let's Make Two!....and
in 2009. Just explain to me why a relic card with a seat from Crosley Field in Cincinnati has a picture of Ernie in Philadelphia?
In 2010, Ernie wasn't in the base Flashback set but did get a relic. That's a Wrigley Field relic with the same Connie Mack Stadium picture used in 2009.
Ernie got the double treatment this year.
This is my newest Heritage card. It's got a seat relic from Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Topps had to stretch a bit to match up a Crosley relic and Ernie Banks. I'd guess they went through the box scores from the nine games the Cubs played in Cincinnati and found the best game. They came up with July 12, 1963. Ernie had two hits (including a homer) against the Reds ace Jim O'Toole to lead the Cubs to a 4-1 win.
Here is the only non-Ernie Cub flashback, Kosuke Fukudome. The card flashes back to Opening Day, 2008, his first game with the Cubs. He had three hits including a ninth inning, game tying home run. The card fails to mention that the Cubs lost the game in extra innings.
As Heritage moves through the '60s, Ernie's flashbackable (is that a word?) moments dwindled. Maybe we'll get another Cub on the checklist in a few years, a Billy Williams or Ron Santo card.
Topps Tribute is one of those high-end sets that I usually stay away from. I am not a high-end guy. Plus, with a limited checklist, these types of sets usually don't have much of a team set. But since I started player collections for a few Cubs, this year I dabbled with Tribute, picking up cards of Ernie Banks, Andre Dawson, and Ryne Sandberg.
The cards seem nice enough, but not nice enough for me to pay $60 for a pack of five cards. I chose to get the base card and blue parallel (/199) of each.
Ernie Banks is taking a swing at Wrigley Field in 1969.
Andre Dawson, circa 1987-1989, the years they wore the softball tops when he was with the team.
Ryne Sandberg, 1994 or 1996
