Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 14,403 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: 1968 Venezuelan #37 Billy Williams This comes from the PSA master list collection.  The older Venezuelan cards are not easy to find and are a bit pricey.  I've still got two more on my needs list.

1980s: 1987 7-11 Chicago #12 Keith Moreland  There are several regional sets put out by 7-11 in 1987.  The Chicago set featured 16 Cubs and Sox players.

1990s: 1994 Fleer #386 Greg Hibbard After spending four seasons on the south side, Hibbard moved north for 1994.  He had a decent season, posting a record of 15-11 and an ERA of 3.96.  The 15 wins led the team.  

2000s: 2008 Topps #150 Alfonso Soriano  Topps gave his a star card x50 number.  Injuries limited him to 109 games in 2008 but he still led the team with 29 HRs.  The picture also gives you an idea of just how high the field was crowned.  Look how low the wall seems behind him.  This picture was taken in 2007 and after the season...

...the Cubs renovated the entire playing field and removed the crown.

2010s: 2013 Finest #KF Kyuji Fujikawa Jersey  I've got this card for both the relic and autograph collections.  It meets my rule, but otherwise, why bother with this guy.  He was an even bigger bust that Kosuke Fukudome.

Yes, I Know I Should Stop

Yes, I know that I should stop buying these.

For some reason, I can't.

They are rare and they are cheap and they are Darwin Barney.

I added my 11th copy of his 2013 Heritage Venezuelan card.

I've been tracking the card's Ebay sale for three years.  My recent purchase was the 13th to be listed in over three years.   That's just 1/3 the number of the supposed super SP no position card from the previous year.  And while the average price of the 2012 card is $93, the more rare Venezuelans are going for peanuts, $3.42 each on average.

I've bought 10 of the 13 on Ebay and also got a copy from COMC for 99¢.

They are rare, cheap, and I am going to corner the market!

2016 Chrome Cubs

Topps issued the 2016 Chrome set a little more than a week ago.

You know the drill....200 cards from the flagship set are made all shiny and slightly bowed.

Two years ago there were just three Cubs among the 200 Chrome cards.  This year that number is triple...9 of the 200 in the set are Cubs.

And yes,

Carl Edwards was one of the nine.

Here's the other eight...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2016 Heritage 1967 Postage Stamp Billy Williams

I know its kind of a gimmicky card, but its Billy Williams and its /50.  When I saw one listed I saved it to my watch list.  A quick check of sold listings didn't bring up another (just this one listed at a higher price).

Turns out that I was the only bidder so I got it for the opening price.

And being the curious sort that I am, I checked on the price of the stamp, too.

It didn't set Topps back a whole lot.  The first site that popped up on my Google search has the stamp priced at 40¢ for a mint version.  I wish 1967 baseball cards could be had for 40¢ mint.

Sold...Finally!

I got to hand it to Ebay seller Iowacubs1, he is very persistent.

After listing the Darwin Barney 2012 Heritage no position card several times, it was finally sold.

By the looks of the final listing, it looks like he was getting ready to give up.  This was the first time the card was listed with a Best Offer option.  And that's what led to the sale.

The first time I saw the card listed, the Buy It Now price was $350.  It came down with each new listing.  Sometimes it was even reduced while the listing was current.

And how much did it go for?

$110...less than a third of the original asking price.

But that is still a decent price for a card that is not as rare as you were led to believe.  The card is the 42nd Ebay listing and the 38th to sell.  The average sale price is now at $93.11.

Cubs 2016 Allen & Ginter Full Size Relics

Last week I showed the 2016 Ginter mini relics.  Today I'll be featuring the full sized version.

This year there are 107 full sized relics divided among two different designs.

 

These two are from the A group.

 

Three Cubs were in the B group.

 

Here's an A and B next to each other so you can see the design differences.

It is also worth noting that three (Lester, Rizzo, and Russell) of the five Cubs with full sized relics also had mini relics.  Seem like a little overkill to me.  One or the other should be good enough.

Ryno Repeat, and Dawson Too

I don't know why this keeps happening.

 

The picture on this year's Ginter card of Ryne Sandberg was used in the 2005 Rookie Cup set.   Topps used Getty images.  I found 295 pictures of Sandberg that were dated from the time of his active Cubs career.  Couldn't one of them have worked?

And Andre Dawson, too.

   

The 2016 Ginter used the same picture as the 2014 Ginter, and the 2011 Kimball.  I found 130 Getty images from his time with the Cubs.

A little originality, please!