1970 Dunkin Donuts Billy Williams

Dunkin Donuts was one of several retail outlets to jump on the Cubs bandwagon in the late Sixties.  In both 1969 and 1970 they issued a Cubs bumper sticker set.  Billy Williams was among the six Cubs in each set.

Both the '69 and '70 stickers are on the PSA master list for Billy and I've been in the hunt for each for a few years.  They don't show up often and when they do they are out of my price range.

Recently a 1970 sticker was listed on Ebay.  It was a Buy it Now / Best Offer so I made an offer. It was accepted and I now have another item to cross off the list.

I got it at a decent price because the printing of the red is off.  There is supposed to be a white border around the CUBS letters, but the red was printed too high.  You can also see on Billy's face how the colors are off.  This sticker gives me the chance to check another item off the list, but it is also just a placeholder.  I plan to upgrade this sometime in the future.

With this sticker I've now reached 80% of the items on the master list.

1987 Boardwalk and Baseball Cubs

Today's cards from Boardwalk and Baseball came out the same year that the theme park of the same name was opened.  The cards weren't much, and either was the theme park.  The cards lasted just one year while the theme park closed after just three years of operation.

The set has 33 cards and two are Cubs.

 

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 16,797 Cubs cards from 198 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1957 Topps #42 Dee Fondy I really like the look of this card.  Fondy was hitting .314 when the Cubs traded him to the Pirates on May 1, 1957.  They got Dale Long in return, so maybe the Cubs were looking for more power out of first base.

1980s: 1989 Upper Deck #303 Rick Sutcliffe  This is an odd choice for a picture, not showing him on the mound or batting, but instead tossing off his helmet.

1990s: 1991 Upper Deck Traded #27 Frank Castillo  Castillo was one of the first Cubs that I recall wore his pants low.  The days of the stirrup were numbered.

2000s: 2002 Heritage #245 Jason Bere  After a surprisingly OK season in 2001, the 2002 campaign was a disaster for Bere.  He had 16 starts and posted a record of 1-11.  His ERA was 5.67.  Yes, a disaster.

2010s: 2012 Timeless Talents #20 Ernie Banks A pairing of Mr. Cub and a very popular Rockie.  I'm not sure who Colorado fans consider to be Mr. Rockie.

2019 Bowman Cubs Inserts

Most of the insert sets from Bowman 2019 contains a Cub player...

This is the only Cub in the Scout's Top 100, and he comes in at #81.  The cupboard is getting pretty bare,

Each team has one card in Talent Pipeline.  Hoerner is the only one of the three with a card in this year's set.  Hatch and Alzolay were in Bowman 2018.

 

Sterling includes two Cubs.  Ademan makes Sterling but not the prospect set, which I find to be odd.

 

Bryzzo makes the 30th anniversary Chrome set.  Topps forgot that the cards from Bowman 30 years ago were bigger than standard 2½" x 3½" cards.

2019 Bowman Cubs

The 2019 version of Bowman was released a few weeks ago.  I've been busy with Panini, so I'm finally getting to Bowman today.

The formula is pretty much the same as it has been for the past severals years... a set of current players, a prospect set, and a chrome version of the prospect cards.  There are also the usual parallels and inserts. 

There are 100 current players on the checklist and another 150 prospects.  Of those,seven are Cubs - three players and four prospects.

 

The three players are Bryant, Rizzo, and...

...Arcia???  Francisco Arcia???  Topps was realllly stretching with this one.  Arcia made his MLB debut last season with the Angels at the age of 28.  The Cubs signed him over the winter to add depth at catching.  He didn't get the backup spot this spring.  When backup Victor Caratini got hurt, Arcia didn't get the callup; Taylor Davis did.  Arcia stayed in Iowa where he is hitting .171.

 

 

 

Here's a look at the four Cubs prospects.  We won't be seeing any of them at the Friendly Confines any time soon.

The One and Only Billy Williams Card from 2019

Billy Williams has been missing from most of the 2019 releases.  Do an Ebay search for "Billy Williams 2019" and you get just one card.

This one.

It a stamp insert card from 2019 Heritage.  I waited a while to get mine, holding out for the price to drop.  One came up for auction a couple weeks ago and I was able to get it for less than any of the Buy-it-nows that are currently listed.

I was hoping for more of Billy in Heritage this year since he had a really good year in 1970. Nope, this was it.

But I'll take it.

2019 Cubs Scorecard

I recently scored a 2019 scorecard!

This is from the opening homestand against the Pirates.  I really like the cover.  It has a retro-Otis Shepard look to it.  It would be nice if the Cubs kept this on the front for the entire season, like was done when the covers were done by Otis Shepard.  But I know that won't happen.

My scorecard collection now spans 73 seasons.  Enjoy a look at all of them, especially the top few rows with the Shepard designs.