Five Random Cubs Cards

 I've got 19,569 Cubs cards from 285 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1963 Topps #557 Cuno Barragan   I love the picture on this card.... helmet with felt C, Otis Shepard's cubbie bear on his sleeve, the Polo Grounds in the background... great pic.

1980s: 1988 Star '88 #65 Andre Dawson The pic on this one... not so great, though I do like the little tape recorder microphone.

1990s: 1993 Studio #199 Willie Wilson... not a good look when the picture in the background seems to overwhelm the picture of the player.

2000s: 2001 Heritage #95 Luis Montanez This was a prospect card as Montanez had just one year of pro ball under his belt.  The 2001 set was the first for Heritage and they hadn't figured out just what type of product it was going to be.  The 2005 set was the last with any Cubs prospects.  

2010s: 2011 Topps #16 Aramis Ramirez The 2011 season was Ramirez's last with the Cubs.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with the Brewers.

70s Saturday - 1974 Topps Cubs

 The 1974 Cubs were a very bad team.  They finished in last place, 22 games behind the leader and 30 games under .500.  They changed managers in late July and did worse under the new skipper.  As you scroll through the cards, you'll understand why.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 Years Later for Derrek Lee's Heritage Card

Two of the Cubs Fan Favorites Autographs use the 1960 design.  That design was also covered by Heritage in 2009.  I thought I'd compare the 2021 Fan Favorite cards to their 2009 Heritage counterparts

Ramirez had one of those gimmick cards in 2009.  It was dumb back in 2009 and still is today.  Notice how the FF card lists the position as "Third Baseman" while it is "Third Base" on Heritage.

  

It was "Third Base" on the 1960 cards.  Topps got in right in 2009 but messed it up this year.

Derrek Lee has the other Fan Favorite autograph.  Lee was still going strong in 2009.  He was a team leader and one of the team's most popular players.  What does his 2009 Heritage card look like?

This....empty... blank.... void.  For some unknown and unnecessary reason, Derrek Lee was left out of the 2009 Heritage set.  If you wondered what his card may have looked like back then, 2021 Fan Favorites gives us that card, twelve years later.

The Next Four Homemade Cubs

 I keep plugging away and I'm in the home stretch now.  With these four done I have just six more cards to go.

 

 

2021 Archives Fan Favorites Autographs

Archives' Fan Favorites Autographs is the only autograph set I collect each season.  I do so because the cards are usually former Cubs, not anyone with the current team.  That was true for 2021 as the three Cubs cards in the set are retired.

All three were with the back-to-back division winning teams of 2008 and 2009.  They were definitely fan favorites back then, though Zambrano wore out his welcome a few seasons later.

Its nice to have all three of these be on-card signatures instead of stickers.