2018 Topps Series Two Team Checklists

The Series Two checklist is out.  Like Series One, there are 350 cards.

The Cubs netted 15 cards:
Team Card
Combo Card
Albert Almora
Kris Bryant
Victor Caratini
Yu Darvish
Carl Edwards Jr.
Kyle Hendricks
Jason Heyward
Dillon Maples
Addison Russell
Drew Smyly
Jen-Ho Tseng
Justin Wilson
Ben Zobrist

A couple of those seem like a stretch.  Dillon Maples and Jen-Ho Tseng?  I'll give Drew Smyly a pass because he is on a rookie card.

For my fellow team collectors, below is the checklist, divided by teams.

Angels	Kole Calhoun	381
	Jesse Chavez	390
	Yunel Escobar	577
	Andrew Heaney	491
	Jim Johnson	520
	Alex Meyer	548
	Shohei Ohtani	700
	Carlos Perez	644
	Albert Pujols	582
	J.C. Ramirez	568
	Ben Revere	642
	Troy Scribner	440
	Nick Tropeano	372
	Chris Young	620
Astros	Jose Altuve	400
	Tyler Clippard	671
	Gerrit Cole	443
	Combo Cards	361
	Derek Fisher	416
	Evan Gattis	375
	Ken Giles	516
	Dallas Keuchel	397
	Brian McCann	562
	Lance McCullers	539
	Team Cards	423
	Justin Verlander	650
Athletics	Franklin Barreto	624
	Santiago Casilla	509
	Matt Chapman	669
	Liam Hendriks	367
	Brandon Moss	677
	Matt Olson	396
	Chad Pinder	394
	Team Cards	580
	Blake Treinen	687
Blue Jays	Josh Donaldson	503
	Marco Estrada	528
	Curtis Granderson	649
	Russell Martin	685
	Steve Pearce	524
	Carlos Ramirez	467
	Dwight Smith Jr.	541
	Marcus Stroman	392
	Team Cards	584
	Devon Travis	453
Braves	Ronald Acuña Jr.	698
	Johan Camargo	525
	Freddie Freeman	510
	Scott Kazmir	610
	A.J. Minter	514
	Sean Newcomb	607
	Danny Santana	441
	Kurt Suzuki	608
	Julio Teheran	387
Brewers	Jesus Aguilar	442
	Lorenzo Cain	421
	Jhoulys Chacin	535
	Yovani Gallardo	458
	Matt Garza	472
	Josh Hader	357
	Wade Miley	359
	Jimmy Nelson	456
	Hernan Perez	455
	Manny Pina	637
	Domingo Santana	377
	Travis Shaw	638
	Eric Sogard	666
	Eric Thames	615
	Stephen Vogt	438
	Aaron Wilkerson	378
	Taylor Williams	505
Cardinals	Matt Carpenter	652
	Paul DeJong	462
	Greg Garcia	616
	Carlos Martinez	634
	Jose Martinez	674
	Alex Mejia	470
	Yadier Molina	544
	Bud Norris	686
	Tommy Pham	665
	Ryan Sherriff	698
	Team Cards	690
	Breyvic Valera	459
	Luke Weaver	593
Cubs	Albert Almora	432
	Kris Bryant	500
	Victor Caratini	422
	Combo Cards	529
	Yu Darvish	436
	Carl Edwards Jr.	487
	Kyle Hendricks	552
	Jason Heyward	691
	Dillon Maples	572
	Addison Russell	384
	Drew Smyly	699
	Team Cards	399
	Jen*Ho Tseng	498
	Justin Wilson	643
	Ben Zobrist	391
Diamondbacks	Patrick Corbin	662
	Daniel Descalso	479
	Jarrod Dyson	490
	Paul Goldschmidt	618
	Zack Greinke	507
	Jeff Mathis	474
	Shelby Miller	425
	Steven Souza Jr.	612
	Team Cards	659
	Yasmany Tomas	566
	Taijuan Walker	360
Dodgers	Combo Cards	364
	Andre Ethier	655
	Kyle Farmer	485
	Josh Fields	623
	Enrique Hernandez	680
	Kenley Jansen	696
	Tom Koehler	658
	Tim Locastro	466
	Kenta Maeda	484
	Corey Seager	550
	Chris Taylor	369
	Team Cards	625
	Trayce Thompson	654
	Andrew Toles	518
	Justin Turner	599
Giants	Gregor Blanco	664
	Brandon Crawford	585
	Sam Dyson	398
	Cory Gearrin	613
	Gorkys Hernandez	592
	Derek Holland	648
	Mark Melancon	560
	Reyes Moronta	519
	Joe Panik	488
	Hunter Strickland	684
	Team Cards	536
	Kelby Tomlinson	380
	Tony Watson	692
Indians	Cody Allen	635
	Yonder Alonso	554
	Trevor Bauer	413
	Michael Brantley	401
	Edwin Encarnacion	632
	Yan Gomes	353
	Brandon Guyer	382
	Corey Kluber	393
	Jose Ramirez	418
	Bradley Zimmer	374
Mariners	Ben Gamel	558
	Dee Gordon	590
	Mitch Haniger	660
	Ryon Healy	508
	Guillermo Heredia	522
	Felix Hernandez	567
	Taylor Motter	388
	Kyle Seager	454
	Danny Valencia	414
	Mike Zunino	513
Marlins	Sandy Alcantara	594
	Justin Bour	499
	Derek Dietrich	657
	Cameron Maybin	641
	Chris O'Grady	531
	JT Riddle	651
	Miguel Rojas	362
	Dan Straily	561
	Jose Urena	647
Mets	Asdrubal Cabrera	670
	Jacob deGrom	555
	Phillip Evans	517
	Jeurys Familia	689
	Adrian Gonzalez	575
	Robert Gsellman	460
	Seth Lugo	640
	Tomas Nido	486
	Brandon Nimmo	672
	T.J. Rivera	405
	Noah Syndergaard	600
	Team Cards	565
	Jason Vargas	530
	David Wright	588
Nationals	Combo Cards	379
	Wilmer Difo	473
	Adam Eaton	683
	Brian Goodwin	656
	Bryce Harper	351
	Brandon Kintzler	693
	Miguel Montero	434
	Tanner Roark	526
	Joe Ross	355
	Max Scherzer	629
	Michael Taylor	461
	Matt Wieters	424
Orioles	Tim Beckham	532
	Brad Brach	358
	Zach Britton	603
	Alex Cobb	420
	Chris Davis	587
	J.J. Hardy	437
	Jeremy Hellickson	619
	Ubaldo Jimenez	451
	Caleb Joseph	597
	Joey Rickard	564
	Anthony Santander	433
	Seth Smith	663
Padres	Freddy Galvis	636
	Austin Hedges	609
	Travis Jankowski	464
	Manny Margot	430
	Kyle McGrath	376
	Clayton Richard	501
	Tyson Ross	679
	Cory Spangenberg	463
	Matt Strahm	368
	Team Cards	465
	Luis Torrens	403
	Christian Villanueva	661
Phillies	Aaron Altherr	444
	Victor Arano	675
	Jake Arrieta	606
	Jerad Eickhoff	621
	Tommy Joseph	583
	Scott Kingery	409
	Mark Leiter Jr.	573
	Hector Neris	563
	Pat Neshek	407
	Yacksel Rios	551
	Vince Velasquez	628
Pirates	Josh Bell	611
	Francisco Cervelli	527
	Adam Frazier	673
	David Freese	631
	Tyler Glasnow	366
	Josh Harrison	471
	Jordan Luplow	546
	Daniel Nava	591
	Jose Osuna	521
	Jameson Taillon	633
	Team Cards	542
	Trevor Williams	570
Rangers	Matt Bush	523
	Alex Claudio	404
	Delino DeShields	482
	Doug Fister	617
	Carlos Gomez	447
	Cole Hamels	371
	Keone Kela	569
	Mike Minor	412
	Mike Napoli	512
	Martin Perez	395
	Ryan Rua	622
Rays	C.J. Cron	571
	Jose de Leon	646
	Jacob Faria	426
	Brad Miller	478
	Logan Morrison	477
	Wilson Ramos	476
	Mallex Smith	365
	Blake Snell	489
	Denard Span	553
	Team Cards	468
Reds	Tucker Barnhart	452
	Luis Castillo	543
	Anthony DeSclafani	694
	Adam Duvall	589
	Jared Hughes	574
	Keury Mella	596
	Jose Peraza	601
	Scott Schebler	504
	Robert Stephenson	354
	Team Cards	352
	Joey Votto	450
	Jesse Winker	581
Red Sox	Andrew Benintendi	556
	Xander Bogaerts	502
	Dustin Pedroia	439
	Drew Pomeranz	483
	David Price	411
	Hanley Ramirez	457
	Steven Wright	370
Rockies	Tyler Anderson	668
	Chad Bettis	678
	Charlie Blackmon	431
	Wade Davis	511
	Ian Desmond	559
	Kyle Freeland	586
	Jeff Hoffman	356
	DJ LeMahieu	449
	Jonathan Lucroy	667
	German Marquez	534
	Gerardo Parra	604
	Bryan Shaw	363
	Tony Wolters	688
Royals	Jorge Bonifacio	373
	Melky Cabrera	578
	Trevor Cahill	445
	Lucas Duda	446
	Alcides Escobar	630
	Alex Gordon	549
	Jason Hammel	385
	Kelvin Herrera	406
	Jon Jay	492
	Jakob Junis	428
	Brandon Maurer	626
	Jorge Soler	653
	Team Cards	682
Tigers	Matthew Boyd	627
	Nicholas Castellanos	545
	Niko Goodrum	639
	JaCoby Jones	383
	Mikie Mahtook	408
	Victor Martinez	429
	Travis Wood	547
Twins	Ehire Adrianza	681
	Jose Berrios	506
	Jason Castro	538
	Eduardo Escobar	697
	Mitch Garver	540
	Kyle Gibson	493
	Phil Hughes	537
	Felix Jorge	410
	Max Kepler	448
	Adalberto Mejia	494
	Michael Pineda	602
	Addison Reed	595
	Fernando Rodney	419
	Team Cards	614
	Kennys Vargas	533
White Sox	Aaron Bummer	495
	Welington Castillo	645
	Matt Davidson	695
	Carson Fulmer	579
	Leury Garcia	496
	Lucas Giolito	605
	Yolmer Sanchez	417
	James Shields	386
Yankees	Greg Bird	515
	Aroldis Chapman	475
	Combo Cards	389
	Jacoby Ellsbury	557
	Sonny Gray	469
	Chad Green	676
	Didi Gregorius	576
	Aaron Hicks	480
	Matt Holliday	435
	Jordan Montgomery	427
	Jace Peterson	415
	David Robertson	598
	Chasen Shreve	497
	Gleyber Torres	699
	Ronald Torreyes	481
	Adam Warren	402

Jake is Back in Town

Jake Arrieta and the Phillies are in Chicago for a three-game series.  The Phillies rotation is set and Jake will not be facing the Cubs.  Anthony Rizzo asked Jake why he was ducking the Cubs.  He also said if Arrieta did pitch against the Cubs that he'd ask Maddon to lead off so he could take Jake deep (Rizzo has hit home runs several times  from the leadoff spot).

Over the winter it seemed on paper that the better move for the Cubs was to take Darvish over Arrieta.  Right now that seems like the wrong move.  Only time will tell.

Jake was a stud during his time with the Cubs and he will always be a 2016 hero.

Here are a few of my favorite Jake Arrieta cards.

 

 

Short Family Trees

I thought it would make for an interesting post to trace the lineage of some of the current Cubs players.  I'd follow their transactions going backwards and see how far it would lead me.

It didn't lead very far.

Most of the current roster is made up of players that were acquired via free agency or through the draft.  Very few came via trades.

Drafted by the Cubs (6) - Almora, Happ, Baez, Bryant, Schwarber, Contreras
Free Agents (12) - Lester, Farrell, Mazzoni, Duensing, Morrow, Cishek, Chatwood, Rosario, Heyward, Zobrist, Giminez, Darvish

The guys that game through trades were either prospects gained from when the Cubs were flipping veterans 4-5 years ago or were acquired by giving up prospects.  Either way leaves a short family tree.

Addison Russell - Jeff Samardzija - draft pick

Kyle Hendricks - Ryan Dempster - free agent

Mike Montgomery - Dan Vogelbach - draft pick

Jose Quintana - Eloy Jiminez (free agent) and Dylan Cease (draft pick)

Justin Wilson - Jeirmer Candelario - free agent

Pedro Strop - Steve Clevenger (draft pick) and Scott Feldman (free agent)

Anthony Rizzo - Andrew Cashner - draft pick

The only player with a family tree that goes any further back is Tommy LaStella....

Obtained in a trade with the Braves for Arodys Vizcaino, who came to the Cubs for

 

Reed Johnson (free agent) and Paul Maholm (free agent).

Only three branches on this tree, but it is the longest.

June 4th is Battery Day

Its been a very busy weekend, so not much time for anything.  The best I could come up with was a few Cubs that are celebrating a birthday today.

A quick check at Baseball Reference brought up a list of six Cubs that were born on June 4.  I don't have cards of three of them:
Chang-Yong Lim, who pitched in six games in 2013
Lee Magee, 79 games with the 1919 Cubs
Orlie Weaver, 13 games with the 1910 and 1911 Cubs.

The three others with cards are:

Other than Lee Magee, these June 4th birthdays were pitchers or catchers.  June 4th for the Cubs is now known as Battery Day.

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 15,813 Cubs cards from 133 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1957 Topps #346 Dick Littlefield In an era when there were just 16 major league teams, Littlefield ended up pitching for nine of them.  He hurled in a career-high 48 games in 1957, his one season with the Cubs.  He was sold to the Braves at the end of spring training, 1958.

1980s: 1982 Topps Stickers #32 Ivan DeJesus  Ivan looks happy, but the Cubs were happier  because he was traded to the Phillies and never suited up for the 1982 Cubs.  Instead, it was Larry Bowa and throw-in Ryne Sandberg on the '82 Cubs.

1990s: 1997 Team Issued Kevin Orie  His 1997 numbers were much better than I remember, hitting ..275 with 8 HR and 44 RBIs in 114 games.

2000s: 2009 SP Legendary Cuts Generations #ED Ernie Banks Derrek Lee  What a great card this is!  Some flannel from Ernie and polyester from D-Lee.

2010s: 2011 Pro Debut #321 Dustin Geiger  Things didn't turn out well for Dustin Geiger.  He never got above AA with the Cubs and was released in 2015.  He played independent ball for the rest of '15 and '16.  He was back in organized ball with the Marlins  A and AA teams in 2017, but has not caught on with anyone in 2018.

Kosman Baseball Cards

In yesterday's post I said that there has never been an official baseball card of anyone with my last name, Kosman.

I choose those words carefully because there have been baseball cards of Kosmans.  But they were unofficial.  Those of you who have been with me since 2009 might remember.

In April of that year my son Sean broke his arm, derailing his baseball season.  To help cheer him up I asked my fellow bloggers to send him a card or two in the mail, as a way to cheer him up.  Several of you were extremely generous with what you sent him.  It was a great thing.

As a thank you, I created these cards of a Kosman.

 

Sean autographed them and we sent out.  We now find it funny that he played for the Indians, the 2016 World Series losers.

He never really took to baseball but did end up doing cross country, swimming, and track in high school.  He was also involved in Youth in Government, Student Senate, orchestra, and Business Professionals of America.  In fact, his BPA team finished second in the nation and won Best in Show at this spring's competition.

Tomorrow he graduates from high school.

Wrigley Wax Jr. is all grown up.

Oddball Autograph

I've recently added a Cubs autograph to my collection and it is not a rule follower.  Its a player that you've most likely never heard of.  Its not a certified autograph.

So why on earth would I get a card of a guy that made one career appearance with the Cubs, just one inning in 1970?

Very simple.

My last name is Kosman.  There has never been an official baseball card of anyone with that name.  Jerry Koosman and Jim Cosman are as close as as anyone has come.  Koosman was a Met and Cosman a Cub.  That makes it pretty easy for me.

When I saw the card with a price of less than ten bucks, I went for it.  Is it a real signature?  I hope so.  I also figured that there isn't much of a reason to make a forgery of his card.