12

On 12-12-12 I thought it would be appropriate to look at all of the Cubs that have worn the number 12.

The Cubs started wearing uniform numbers in 1932 and since then a total of 44 different player wore the number.  Some are familiar names---Shawon Dunston, Dusty Baker, Alfonso Soriano.  Others are players that even I never heard of---Guy Mancuso, Chico Hernandez, Chris Kitsos.

Of the 44 who were #12, I've got cards of 25 of them.

Here are the 19 missing from my collection:

Bob O'Farrell (1934), Jim Weaver (1934), Gus Mancuso (1939), Rip Russell (1940-42), Johnny Hudson (1941), Chico Hernandez (1943), Billy Holm (1943), Roy Easterwood (1944), Dewey Williams (1944-45.1947), Lou Stringer (1946), Cal McLish (1949), Tommy Brown (1952-53), Chris Kitsos (1954), Ed Winceniak (1956-57), Dick Johnson (1958), Mel Roach (1961), Jerry Tabb (1976), Bobby Darwin (1977), Angel Echevarria (2002)

No too many familiar names there.

Now the 25 players with a card...and if one shows a 12 on it--even better!

Charlie Root (1932)

Mark Koenig (1933)

Lon Warneke (1935-36)

Ken O'Dea (1937-38)

Mickey Owen (1950-51)

Bob Usher (1952)

Bobby Morgan (1957-58)

Jim Marshall (1959)

Dick Gernert (1960)

Nelson Mathews (1960)

Len Gabrielson (1964-65)

John Boccabella (1966-68)

Gene Oliver (1968-69)

J.C. Martin (1970-72)

Andre Thornton (1973-76)

Rudy Meoli (1978)

Steve Macko (1979-80)

Carmelo Martinez (1983)

Davey Lopes (1984)

Shawon Dunston (1985-95.1997)

Leo Gomez (1996)

Mickey Morandini (1998-99)

Ricky Gutierrez (2000-01)

Dusty Baker (2003-06)

Alfonso Soriano (2007-12)

Tile Tuesday: The 1989 Cubs

Today's tile is for JT, who wanted to see his favorite team, the 1989 Cubs.

This team is The Boys of Zimmer.  The team came out of nowhere to win the 1989 division.  Rookies Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith, plus new closer Mitch Williams played a big part in the team's success.  1984 holdovers Ryne Sandberg and Rick Sutcliffe also helped, as did youngsters Mark Grace and Greg Maddux and veterans Shawon Dunston and Andre Dawson.  The team won 16 games more than the previous season and won the division by six games.

The first card in the tile is Ryne Sandberg from 1982 and the tile ends with Greg Maddux's 2006 card--a span of 24 years.  There were 33 players that suited up for the '89 Cubs and 32 have a card in the tile.  The Topps Debut sets are the main reason why---there are several that have Debut cards as their only cards.

The lone '89 Cubs without a Topps card is pitcher Kevin Blankenship.  He pitched in six games over the 1988-1990 seasons. Though Topps excluded him, Donruss, Bowman, Fleer, Score, and Upper Deck all did make a card for him.  But to keep the concept pure, I didn't include any of those cards in the tile.  Sorry, Kevin, but no Topps means no tile for you.

Though Blankenship-less, the tile still ended up with 175 cards, more than the '69, '84, or '03 teams.

 

The Last Little Bear

Bill Caudill's time with the Cubs was not the very good--he was 6-18 over three seasons.

But with this card from 1981...

...he has the distinction of being the last Cub to have the Cubbie Bear patch showing on a Topps card.

This is the Cubbie bear that was worn on Cubs uniforms from 1962 through the 1978 season.  Since I was born in 1961, this bear is the one I grew up with and its my favorite. Though the bear disappeared from the uniform in 1979, it still showed up on cards in both 1980 (not too surprising that pictures from 1978 were used) and made it's last appearance on Caudill's 1981 card.  My guess is that the picture is from spring training 1979.  Back then, team didn't break out the new unis until opening day.  In spring training, they wore last season's models; hence the  bear on Caudill.

My favorite bear was retired for the 1979 season and replaced with a more angry looking bear.

That bear stuck around until 1993.

This is the bear that replaced it for the 1994 - 1996 seasons.

In 1997, the walking bear was used and its been on the uniform ever since.

The original bear first made an appearance on a Topps card in 1963 and showed up on at leas t one card until Caudill's 1981 card.  Here's a look at cubbie bear card from each of those years:

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

In the interest of complete accuracy, the Cubs did not wear any bear logo in 1976.  Instead they wore a team centennial patch on the left sleeve and the NL centennial patch on the right side.

 

Excusez mon ignorance s'il vous plaît

I recently added another O-Pee-Chee card to my Billy Williams collection.  It's his oldest OPC card,

from 1965.  This is also the first 1965 O-Pee-Chee card  I've ever seen.  The front is identical to the Topps version...

  

....(OPC on the left, Topps on the right).  That I already knew.  But then I flipped the card over, expecting to see some French and English...

...and it was all in English.  My first thought was that the seller messed up and sent me a Topps card instead of the OPC version.  I was thinking I'll have to go through the hassle of contacting the seller, send the card back, and wait for my OPC version to arrive.

Then I looked at the fine print on the bottom...

...Printed in Canada.  This is the OPC version...so where is the French?

Like I said in the title, excuse my ignorance, please.  I just assumed that all O-Pee-Chee cards were bilingual.  And I assumed wrong.  A little research later, I now know that the first bilingual cards showed up in 1970, a result of a Canada's first Official Languages Act, passed in 1969.  But prior to that, the card backs were identical to the Topps' version, expect for a "Printed in Canada" line like the one on the '65 card.

I'm still in the market for Billy's 1968 O-Pee-Chee card.  When I do get one, I won't expect to see any French on the back, just an itty-bitty Printed in Canada.

2003 SP Legendary Cuts Cubs

Moving right along with these...

The 2003 version of SP Legendary Cuts seemed to go back to roots of the original 2001 set. The cards have black and white pictures, include some gold borders and printing, and feature players from all eras. The set also got a bump to the checklist, adding 40 cards to now include 130 players. The bump also meant a bump in Cubs, to nine...or eight.

Here is the question mark card. No team is indicated on Harry's card, but the picture is taken at Wrigley Field. Would Cardinal or White Sox fans include him in a team set for their team?

The eight other Cubs include Tinker and Evers (but no Chance) from the 1900's, Hartnett, Cuyler, and Herman from the '30s, and Ernie, Fergie, and Billy from the '60s and '70s.