All I Got of Him: Derrek Lee

He was with the Cubs for just 6½ years, but I amassed quite a collection of Derrek Lee cards - 155 cards.  And this was without any player collection; these were all just coming from the regular Cubs team sets and inserts.

Lee was the guy during most of his time with the Cubs, so he showed up in just about every set and many of the insert sets.  I really appreciated the way he played...he let his bat and glove do his talking.  He reminded me of Billy Williams.

Here's all I've got of Derrek Lee:

Value

I saw this picture in a tweet yesterday.

These are forty of the 60 known T206 Honus Wagner cards.  The card in the worst condition would have a value of several hundred thousand dollars.  The best cards go for millions.

It is the holy grail of baseball card collection.

This is the 2013 Topps mini platinum card.  There is only one of these in existence.  I own it.  It is barely a holy paper cup for collectors.  It can be had for $30 - $50.

Scarcity doesn't always equal value.

Value can be a very subjective thing.

I Hate Those Uh, Oh Moments

I try to be a complete collector.  I like to complete sets...no holes for me.  So it really bugs me when I have one of those Uh, Oh, moments and realize that I have a hole.

I had one of those a couple weeks ago.

Remember how I forgot to get the MLB Debut cards from 2016 series one and then found out that there were three versions of each card?  Well, why reading up on those I read a line that said that the different versions of MLB Debut were like the 2015 First Home Run inserts.

Uh, Oh!

There were three versions of the First Home Run cards?  I checked my binder.

I had just one version.

Rats!

I had some more cards to get from 2015.  More than some, actually. Since there were six Cubs in the set, I had to get twelve new cards.

I had the base cards, which came in loose packs.  I needed the gold (found in hanger packs) and the silver (blasters and rack packs).  Luckily, all were available through Sportlots.

Now instead of six First Home Run cards, I've got 18.

Ahhhh!

Four Years Ago

I saw an interesting tweet yesterday that said that this year the Cubs have seven All Stars; four years ago they didn't have seven players that belonged in the major leagues.

Sad, but true.

I thought I'd take a look at the positions the seven All Stars play and see who their counterparts were four years ago.

First Base...Bryan LaHair was the Cubs first baseman early in the season and had a career year; he was an All Star in 2012....and was out of the majors by the end of the season.  A rookie named Anthony Rizzo took over.  Belong in the major leagues??  NO

Second Base....Darwin Barney had arguably the best year of his career.  His record setting errorless streak propelled him to the 2012 Gold Glove.  He also had career-bests in homers and RBIs...  Belong in the major leagues??  OF COURSE...ITS DARWIN BARNEY!!

Shortstop...Starlin Castro was the golden boy.  He was an All Star for the second straight season and we kept saying, "Just wait till he matures."  We gave up on the wait.  Belong in the major leagues??  YES

Third Base...Ian Stewart was supposed to be the third baseman, but he stunk.  Josh Vitters was the future and got a late season look, but he stunk too.  Luis Valbuena ended up with the job by default. Belong in the major leagues??  NO, NO, YES

Center Field...Speedy Tony Campana was fun to watch, but wasn't very good. Belong in the major leagues?? NO

#1 Starter...Jeff Samardzija was at the top of the rotation, he and his 9-13 record.  Belong in the major leagues?? YES

#2 Starter...Travis Wood was 6-13...pretty impressive for your #2 guy, wasn't it?  Belong in the major leagues??  NOT AS A STARTER...TO THE BULLPEN

FYI...Wood and Rizzo are the only current Cubs that were on the 2012 roster.

I'd have to say that the 2016 team is a significant upgrade over 2012!

Series One Inserts I Forgot

I was reviewing the 2016 Topps checklist to make sure that I have picked up all the Cubs inserts from Series Two.

I had.

Turns out, though, that I forgot to get some from Series One.  I don't know how or why I overlooked them, but I did.

The missing cards were from the MLB Debut insert set.  There were two Cubs in the set, Starlin Castro and Kris Bryant.  So I clicked my way to Sportlots to pick up the six cards.

Yes, six cards; that's not a typo.

Topps made three versions of each MLB Debut card.  There is the gold, which came in blasters and retail rack packs, silver, available only in hanger boxes, and bronze, from loose retail packs.  None of the card versions were numbered, so they aren't all that hard to get.  Its just that there are more of them to get.

Here's the six cards of two players.  They are left to right, gold, silver, and bronze.

2016 Stadium Club Cubs

• Yes, it looks like Fleer 1997
• The Cubs have 11 cards in the base set, one above what each team should get
• All of the usual suspects are included...Arrieta, Baez, Bryant, Heyward, Lester, Rizzo, Rondon, Russell, Schearber, Soler
• Absolutely....Topps did include Carl Edwards, too!

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 14,329 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: 1978 Hostess #46 Bill Buckner  What a great looking card of Billy Buck!  Looks like they got him at spring training.  The Hostess cards were produced by Topps, and I think that many of them look better than their Topps counterparts.

1980s:  1988 Fleer #416 Brian Dayett  Fleer jumped the gun on this one.  Dayett was sold after the 1987 seasons to the Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japan Pacific League.  Sayonara Brian.

1990s: 1996 Signature Series Ozzie Timmons  I've got this card only because it meet my autograph collection rule...The card shows Timmons as a Cub and it came out in 1996, a year in which he played 65 games for the Cubs.  He just cleared the Medoza line, hitting .200 right on the nose.

2000s: 2009 Upper Deck #574 Rich Harden Oh the irony that a guy with "Hard" in his last name had a glass arm and was taking multiple trips to the disabled list.

2010s: 2013 Allen and Ginter Across the Years #SC Starlin Castro This is one of the insert sets from 2013 Ginter. Castro's card is for March 24 and on the day he was born in 1990, the first California Condor (recently extinct in the wild) was hatched at the LA zoo.