1954 Cubs Scorecard

I was able to snag another Cubs scorecard for a bargain price

We've got more Otis Shepard artwork on the cover.  I find it interesting that the cover shows the food and fun you can have at the ballpark, but doesn't show anything "Cub" related.  The 1954 Cubs finished in 7th place (out of 8), winning only 64 games.  Perhaps it was best to not show anything Cub related.

One nice feature on the cover is that it lists the year.  I know that this one in from 1954.  In 1956 the year was removed and it wasn't added back until 1977.

The card is scored and is from game one of a Sunday doubleheader on August 29, 1954.  The Cubs scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth to beat the Pirates 7-4.  The Cubs went on to win the nightcap, too, earning a sweep and sending 15,318 fans home happy.

Take a look at those concession items and prices.  You could get an egg sandwich and a big wedge of pie for 35 cents.  Simpler times back then, when a ballpark sold egg sandwiches and pie.

A Pabst Blue Ribbon beer set you back 35 cents.  In 1954, the minimum wage was 75 cents.  That means it took you less than half an hour to earn a beer at Wrigley Field.   Today, minimum wage is $7.25 and that same beer at Wrigley costs $7--almost a full hours work.  The 1954 working stiff could get loaded for a lot less back then---simpler times back then??

Ryno and Billy Dual Relic

Here is my latest relic pick up...

...from 2009 Sweet Spot.  As you can see, its a dual relic with two of my favorite Cubs, Ryne Sandberg and Billy Williams.  And as a bonus, the William jersey piece is from a Cubs home jersey (instead of a green A's jersey.).

What price would you put on a relic card featuring two Hall of Fame players?  There's a BIN of this card priced at $17.99.  It's been sitting there since February and will probably be sitting there a while longer.

I paid $6.75.  That comes to $3.37 per HOFer.

Do unnumbered relic cards have any value left?

2002 SP Legendary Cuts Cubs

The Legendary Cuts cards continue to arrive.  Putting the 2002 set together wasn't too tough since there were only five Cubs on the 90 card checklist.

Upper Deck went with an old-fashioned sepia-toned look  It's a bit too plain looking for me and a step down from the previous year's design.  It is also the only year among the nine that Legendary Cuts was issued that Billy Williams was missing from the set.  I wonder why they left him out?

The five Cubs that made the set are all in the Hall of Fame, though when the set was released only Banks and Jenkins were in.

 

 

And finally, to correct Upper Deck's slight of my favorite player...

It's not my best work, but you get the idea!

Tile Tuesday: 21 Years of the 2003 Cubs

This is my third and final tile of a Topps run of a Cub team.  Today, it's the team that was five outs away from the World Series, the 2003 Cubs.

Of the three featured, this tile has the shortest span.  I suppose that's a result of the free agent era.  Players just don't stick around with a team as long anymore.

The tile starts with a 1992 card of Sammy Sosa and finishes with Kerry Wood's card from last year.  In fact, the first two rows of the tile are almost all Sosa and Wood.  This team was built quickly, with many joining in 2003.  GM Jim Hendry did a lot of on the fly dealing that season and it really paid off.

But just as quickly as the team was built, it fell apart.  The last couple rows are almost all of just three players, Aramis Ramirez, Kerry Wood, and Carlos Zambrano.

Topps 1969 - 2012 Complete Set Prices

Here is my monthly look at set prices for all the year in which I have a complete Topps set, 1969 - 2012. 

• Christmas shoppers seem to be out in full force, as there were some sets that sold for both less than $20 and over $50.  
• The 2012 set price got a bump as factory sets with Babe Ruth or Roberto Clemente ring cards started showing up.
• One of each will run you $6,512.85, which is an increase of $277 over last month.

YEAR	Dec. 1	Nov. 1	Oct. 1	12 Mo. Avg.
1969	$1,083.19	$1,056.38	$913.80	$1,178.95
1970	$1,134.00	$918.80	$1,025.21	$931.10
1971	$968.30	$836.87	$670.78	$838.19
1972	$842.52	$1,023.22	$873.56	$1,006.76
1973	$522.99	$278.91	$419.80	$398.61
1974	$185.70	$337.40	$194.02	$247.80
1975	$364.71	$328.01	$272.06	$323.17
1976	$175.57	$164.81	$144.14	$169.93
1977	$104.53	$174.38	$143.45	$137.63
1978	$84.05	$79.40	$122.63	$95.84
1979	$84.88	$68.60	$82.41	$84.18
1980	$58.15	$61.40	$47.89	$65.82
1981	$32.56	$29.67	$32.72	$32.40
1982	$28.89	$34.89	$40.10	$40.92
1983	$27.80	$44.56	$36.71	$34.53
1984	$17.14	$14.30	$18.17	$25.44
1985	$23.32	$34.52	$28.53	$29.47
1986	$9.50	$21.93	$25.51	$16.96
1987	$4.54	$5.74	$13.91	$9.70
1988	$5.30	$11.70	$15.58	$9.43
1989	$8.58	$9.10	$6.64	$7.92
1990	$11.24	$8.20	$14.55	$9.58
1991	$9.53	$10.60	$18.13	$10.84
1992	$27.58	$20.99	$10.30	$12.36
1993	$22.60	$32.88	$16.43	$24.51
1994	$21.29	$19.65	$16.30	$22.22
1995	$27.76	$34.12	$26.29	$40.06
1996	$24.81	$17.91	$15.85	$21.46
1997	$44.40	$42.01	$37.34	$45.27
1998	$30.69	$57.19	$18.86	$40.99
1999	$40.00	$25.99	$27.01	$26.29
2000	$19.99	$21.99	$16.83	$20.93
2001	$59.49	$55.30	$46.89	$58.30
2002	$45.91	$45.78	$32.40	$37.31
2003	$38.38	$35.02	$33.59	$37.62
2004	$27.88	$27.78	$26.67	$28.78
2005	$40.18	$24.14	$15.26	$30.35
2006	$33.14	$22.93	$38.49	$25.95
2007	$25.07	$23.26	$21.72	$21.94
2008	$48.17	$25.49	$18.41	$29.78
2009	$34.02	$46.82	$46.23	$47.03
2010	$27.45	$21.69	$22.04	$29.01
2011	$36.29	$32.09	$24.45	$34.00
2012	$50.80	$49.12	$32.59	$39.44

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 11,073 Cubs cards from 75 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1950s / 1960s: 1955 Bowman #181 Eddie Miksis  The TV Set---Bowman's last as an independent company.  Miksis is posing in front of the spite wall at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.  

1970s: 1977 Topps #360 Rick Monday  This is a nice looking card, but Monday didn't even play for the Cubs in 1977.  He was traded to the Dodgers before the season; the Cubs got Ivan DeJesus and Bill Buckner in return.

1980s:  1986 Topps #460 Leon Durham  The Bull hit 20+ homers for the third straight season in 1986.  He led the team in triples and walks and hit his 100th homer as a Cub during the season.  

1990s: 1990 Fleer #35 Les Lancaster  Here's a card of the bone-head who forgot the count in game 6 of the 1989 NLCS.  He had a pretty lack-luster season in 1990 and even spent half of August in AAA.

2000s: 2009 Spectrum #21 Aramis Ramirez  This is one of those fancy-shmancy shiny card sets from Upper Deck.  Ramirez was injured in 2009, dislocating his shoulder and missed two months.  He came back a bit too soon and never really got back on track, playing in only 82 games.  

Five Star Billy Williams Autograph

One of the benefits of collecting an individual player is that I'll get some cards that otherwise I would have had nothing to do with.  Today's card is one of those.

Topps Five Star is reportedly their most expensive release ever.  A pack of five cards will set you back a mere $500.  That's about $495 above my comfort level.  Of course, the five cards are one base card (/80), three autographs (all on-card), a game-used relic card, and an autographed relic.  That's all good and well, but it's still $100 per card.  I can't get myself to spend $100 for a 100+ year-old T206 card; there's no way I'll pay that much for a new card.

But thanks to Ebay, I can cherry-pick the cards I want at a price waaaay  below the $100 per card price.  That's how I got this one...

...a Billy Williams  autograph card.  The card looks very nice--I really like the artwork.  The autograph is on-card.  And its numbers, though oddly, to /208.

And I paid only 20% of the $100 price....yea!