Cubs Silver Slugger Winners

Javier Baez won the NL Silver Slugger for second baseman this year.  I thought I'd follow up yesterday's post on the Gold Glove winners with a look today at all the Cubs who have won the Silver Slugger.

The award has been around since Hillerich & Bradsby gave out the first in 1980.  Since then there have been eleven different Cubs honored.  They've covered all the positions except shortstop.  I'd imagine if the award existed in the 50's and 60's that Ernie Banks would have picked up a few at short.

Pitchers: Carlos Zambrano (2006, 2008-09) and Jake Arrieta (2016)

Catcher: Michael Barrett (2005)

 

First Baseman: Derrek Lee (2005) and Anthony Rizzo (2016)

 

Second Baseman: Ryne Sandberg (1984-85, 1988-1992) and Javier Baez (2018)

Third Baseman: Aramis Ramirez (2011)

 

Outfielders: Leon Durham (1982), Andre Dawson (1987), and Sammy Sosa (1995, 1998-2002)

Cubs Gold Glove Winners

Last week the 2018 Gold Glove winners were announced and the list included one Cub, Anthony Rizzo.  It is his second win, having also picked up the award in 2016.

Here's a look at all of the Cubs who have been Gold Glovers.  I picked a card from the year they won the award. I also went for cards that showed them in the field, not batting. For multiple winners I used a card from the year of their first award.

 

Pitchers: Bobby Shantz (1964) and Greg Maddux (1990-92, 2004-05).  There aren't any cards that show Shantz as a Cub, so I had to make one.

 

Catchers: Randy Hundley (1967) and Jody Davis (1986)

 

First Base: Mark Grace (1992-93, 1995-96), Derrek Lee (2005, 2007) and Anthony Rizzo (2016, 2018)

 

Second Base: Ken Hubbs (1962), Glenn Beckert (1968), Ryne Sandberg (1983-1991), Darwin Barnye (2012)

Shortstop: Ernie Banks (1960) and Don Kessinger (1969-70)

Third Base: Ron Santo (1964-68)

 

Outfield: Bob Dernier (1984), Andre Dawson (1987-88), Jason Heyward (2016-17)

130 Cubs Cards in 65 seconds

This will do it for me with the 2018 Topps Cubs.  Take a look at all 130 cards in 65 seconds.

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 16,116 Cubs cards from 135 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1966 Topps Rub Off Dick Ellsworth Some day I'll have to upgrade this one.  It seems to be a bit off-centered!

1980s: 1986 Fleer #377 Dick Ruthven This card is from Ruthven's final season.  He pitched in just six games, all in relief.  He gave up six runs over ten innings and was released by the Cubs on May 6.

1990s: 1991 Upper Deck #85 Domingo Ramos  Upper Deck got ahead of themselves with this one.  Ramos didn't play for the Cubs in 1991,  In fact, he didn't play for anyone in 1991.

2000s: 2009 Topps Chrome #220 Bobby Scales I remember lots of hype about him in 2009, as he came to the majors as a 31-year-old rookie.  The 2009 season was the pinnacle of his career, as he played in 51 games for the Cubs.

2010s: 2018 Gold Label #27 Anthony Rizzo The RNG picks a Gold Label card for this year's Gold Glove first baseman.

Wrapping Up Topps 2018 - The Inserts

Here's part two...

The base yielded 39 Cubs cards.  The number of inserts was more than double that, coming in at 91 cards.  Am I showing my age if I say that I remember when there was just one or two insert sets and they added three or four more Cubs?  Am I showing my age if I say that 91 more cards is ridiculous?

The 91 cards are spread among 14 different insert sets...

• 1983 - 15 cards (4 All Star, 2 Rookie, 9 base)
• Kris Bryant Highlights - 30
• Don't Blink - 1
• Future Stars - 4
• Home Run Challenge - 3
• Instant Impact - 1
• An International Affair - 5
• Legends in the Making - 7
• Longball Legends - 4
• MLB Awards - 2
• Opening Day - 1
• Postseason Preeminence - 3
• Salute - 12
• Superstar Sensation - 3

Kris Bryant was the most popular in the inserts, even if you don't card the 30 cards from the Bryant Highlight sets.  In addition to those, he was in another twelve cards.  Rizzo was next, with ten, followed by Russell (7), and Baez (6).

Wrapping Up Topps 2018

With Update now in binders, I can wrap things up with the 2018 Topps set.

• There are 39 Cubs base cards between Series 1, 2, and Update
• Three of the 39 are multiplayer or team cards
• 31 different players have a card
• Javier Baez has the most cards - 3
• 4 of the 31 players never played for the 2018 Cubs (Avila, Lackey, Smyly, Uehara)
• 5 players have the rookie designation (Bote, Davis, Caratini, Maples, Tseng)
• 13 cards are horizontal, 26 are vertical
• 22 show the player in a home uniform, 17 have road uniforms

An International Affair Cubs

Here's an insert that makes it debut in Update, An International Affair.  The 50-card set focuses on the players' home countries. Its not an original idea.  Bowman sets have had an insert called Hometown that did the same thing.  The Bowman cards featured the flag of the players native land in the background.

Five of the 50 cards belong to Cubs players.

Javier Baez - Puerto Rico

Kris Bryant - USA

Willson Contreras - Venezuela

Yu Darvish - Japan

Jose Quintana - Colombia