2016 Topps Factory Team Set

The 17-card Topps factory team set has arrived at the WW Headquarters.

This is the 11th year of these team sets.  Since 2010 the set has been made up of 17 cards.  I like the fact that there are 17 as it fits nicely into binder sheets.  I have my year card, then the 17 cards, completely filling two pages.

Of the 17 cards, only two players are not on the current Cubs roster.  Chris Coghlan was traded during spring training and Javier Baez is on the DL, but should be on the roster soon.  That is a big change from a few years ago and goes to show how things are really improving for the Cubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As Long As I Was Making 2016 Topps Cards...

...I thought I should make one more.

I'm not sure if he'll stick with the Blue Jays long enough to be included in series two or update.  So I went ahead and made a card.

2016 Media Guide

I called the Cubs on Thursday to place an order for a 2016 media guide.  I had to leave a message.  They called me back on Friday and I ordered my book.

It came on Monday.

Way to go Cubs concessions department!

Here's a look at the cover.

As they have since 2011, the cover has a blue cloth-like look to it.  Featured players are Heyward, Rizzo, Arrieta, Maddon, Bryant, and Lester.

There are 384 pages of Cubs facts and info.  That's a bump up of 16 pages over last year.  A winning team means more good things to write about.

With this book, my run of roster books / media guides is extended to 59 consecutive years.

Filling in the Schwarber Gap

Surprise!

So, that wasn't the way the plan was drawn up.

Only three games in and one of your big boppers is done for the year.

On to Plan B.

Luckily, the Cubs have options.

Once Javier Baez is healthy, I can see a four-headed monster rotating between third base, second base,  and left field.

There's not the same pop that you get from Schwarber, and they're all right handed hitters, but I think that they could fill the gap nicely.

The wildcard is Matt Szczur.  He's gotten off to a really nice start this season.  He's also out of options, so either he stays with the Cubs or could be lost to another team.  I'd like to see him stick around and be given a shot at left.  I think he could be a pleasant surprise.

However, I'm happy to have no more surprises, too!

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 14,154 Cubs cards from 108 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1977 Jewel Ray Burris  Burris was a workhorse, starting 39 games and pitching 221 innings.  He was 14-16 on a team that was 81-81.  

1980s: 1988 Starting Lineup Talking Baseball Lee Smith I never understood how Kenner had a license for the Starting Lineup figures but not for Talking Baseball.  They ended up with some ugly looking cards

1990s: 1994 Upper Deck #492 Karl Rhodes With the home opener tomorrow, it is nice of the RNG to remind us of Tuffy's 1994 Opening Day...three home runs off the Mets.

2000s: 2006 Upper Deck American Family #12 Sean Marshall I haven't found much about this set, sponsored by American Family Insurance.  I'm assuming that they were given away at the ballpark, but the schedule and media guide don't mention them.

2010s: 2015 Topps Update #220 Addison Russell Variation The Cubs rookie was making his fans happy.  Looks like it was a pretty cold day at the ballpark.

The 1988 Cubs

As I write this on Friday afternoon, the Cubs are sitting at a perfect 3-0.  It's been 28 years since that has last happened, 1988.

The 1988 team was in rebuild mode, with Jim Frey taking over as GM and Don Zimmer as skipper.  The team actually had four future hall of famers...

 

 

And the core of the group would go on the next year to win the NL Eastern Division.  There was some talent.

But in 1988, after winning the first three in April, and five of the first six, they fizzled and lost ten of the next twelve.  They ended they year in 4th place, 77-85.

I'm counting on much better results from the 2016 team.

A Post Post

In the comments of the post on Marketside cards, it was pointed out that Topps and Post did a set together in 2002.  That was news to me, so I did some poking around.

I have all the original Post cards from the early 1960s.  Those are great cards.

I didn't have any of the Post cards from their second go-around in the early '90s and early '00s.  The 90s cards were licensed only by the players, so they are logoless.  That may have been my reason for staying away.

But the cards from the '00s were licensed by both MLB and the players.  In fact, they were done in concert with Topps ('01 and '02) and Upper Deck ('03).

With all of that now known, I decided I might as well have a complete run of Post.  It was off to Sportlots.  There were a total of 11 cards and I was able to get them through three sellers.  My Sportlots quest is always to find the way to get the cards with the fewest number of sellers.

It took only a week from placing the order to have all 11 in hand:

 

1990 - Mark Grace and Ryne Sandberg

 

 

1991 - Repeat

1992 - Ryno only

1993 - Repeat

1994 - Ryno retires, Grace replaces

2001 - Ernie Banks 500 HR Club

2002 - Sammy Sosa

 

2003 - Sammy Sosa, base and MVP