Fave 4: Chicago Cubs

The Cubbies. If like me, you grew up without a real home team, the Cubs or the Braves most likely became a big part of your life. For me it was the Cubs, Harry Caray and WGN. Every summer I would look forward to going outside while it was still cool, playing wiffle ball and other games, then heading inside around noon for lunch and the Cubs. Wrigley quickly became my home team, despite its location over a 1,000 miles away.

The Cubbies have always been the lovable losers, but some of my first memories of the Cubs were as *cough* Winners *cough*. Yup. 1989, one of the great Cubs seasons I can remember. 1987 was fun thanks to the Hawk and 1988 meant the emergence of Mark Grace and my total fascination with him. But 1989 was special. I was watching a team every day as they made the chase for the pennant. Too bad the damn Giants had to ruin everything.

1. Mark Grace

Grace will forever be one of my favorite baseball players of all-time. He didn't have the star power of guys like Griffey or Canseco, but he was my guy. When he came up as a rookie, I was instantly sold. I was never a fan of Leon Durham, and I wasn't even watching the team in 1984 when he committed his biggest gaffe. Grace was the young golden boy with all the promise. I hoarded his rookie cards and became obsessed with his play. His battle with Will Clark in the 89 NLCS was epic and had me convinced he'd become one of the greats of all-time. I hated to see him leave the Cubs, but at least he went on to win a championship.


2. Ryne Sandberg

Ryno was an amazing second baseman during a time when second baggers didn't do the things he did with a bat, especially when they could flash the leather. His 40 home runs in 1990 were just ungodly to me. I wasalways thrilled to pull a Sandberg card out of any pack and my friends were always willing to trade them to me, so I filled many a binder page with the man's image.


3. Jerome Walton

Jerome Walton might have introduced me to the idea of Rookie of the Year does not necessarily mean future all-star/MVP. I loved watching the rise of Jerome and Dwight Smith during their rookie years and figured these guys were on their way to becoming an amazing duo for years to come. Not so much, but I'll still never forget Jerome and his hat under helmet awesomeness.

4. Hector Villanueva

My favorite fat catcher. There was no better feeling than finding out that Joe Girardi or Rick Wilkins was on the bench and my boy Hector was gonna get some time behind the dish. Added bonus, won the Puerto Rican league triple crown. There's nothing he can't do.

Honorable Mentions:

Andre Dawson

I wish I had known more about the Hawk before he made it to Chicago, but I still enjoyed the hell out of the man while he was a Cub. No one has ever been as menacing with a bat in his hands. And that includes my boy, the much hated, Albert Belle.

Alfonso Soriano

I know that as soon as you call a player underrated, he essentially becomes overrated, but I feel like we are taking for granted how good this guy is. His combination of power is speed is rare in the game today and he is a ton of fun to watch.

Carlos Zambrano

Has there ever been a pitcher that's more fun to watch at the bat than on the mound? And that's saying something since he is a beast on the hill as well.

Doug Dascenzo

He was petite, not an attractive fellow, the definition of an underdog and to top all that he was an outfielder who is pictured on most of his cards pitching.

Greg Maddux

I was heartbroken when he left for the Braves. Ok, heartbroken is a bit strong, but it was upsetting. Just an amazing control pitcher.

Lloyd McClendon

I already talked about him on my Pirates list, but he was a Cub to me first and that's how I still think of him.

Mike Harkey

After a really good rookie season in 1990, Harkey never really put it together again. I got his autograph at a show in Texas when I was young, wearing my Grace jersey. The show was sparsely populated and Harkey spent about 10 minutes talking Cubs with me. Very cool.

Mitch Williams

A heart attack on the mound. He was just so much fun to watch, although you always thought he was about to combust. It still kills me that he became synonymous with the Joe Carter walk-off World Series home run.

Shawon Dunston

Combine the Shawon-o-Meter with the rocket arm and I was won over instantly. Half the fun of watching the Cubs in the field was hoping to get a glimpse of Shawon uncorking one.

The Cubs were certainly the team of my youth thanks to the fine people of WGN. To this day they still hold a small place in my baseball heart. Hopefully they'll win that elusive title someday, but then again half the fun of the Cubs is that they just seemed destined to never pull it off.

Go Halos!

Craptacular Pack Break: 1986 Topps League Leaders

This was the pack I was most interested in opening out of this lot, mainly because I had never opened a pack before. So without further adieu or any adieu for that matter, here is 1986 Topps League Leaders.

Card 1: Rick Reuschel

What an epic way to start the pack. What's not to like? The dazed look on Rick's face, The sweet oddly shaped Pirates hat with multiple dents and most of all, despite Rick being a talented pitcher for a number of years, I will always remember him as the guy who gave up the blast to Bo Jackson leading off the All-Star game. LOVE this card.

So what did Rick lead the league in to deserve this card? 4th in ERA with a 2.27. A note was also made that he tied for 6th in Complete Games with 9.

Card 2: Jack Clark

Jack was a beast in the '80s, although I remember him more for his clunkiness in the '90s.

So what did Jack lead the league in to deserve this card? Jack was 4th in On-Base Pct. with a .393. A note was also added that Jack tied for 7th in Base on Balls with 83 and was 8th in Slugging Pct. with .502.

Card 3: Carlton Fisk

One of the cooler parts about these cards is their size. For some perspective here is Fisk with his back-up Ron Karkovice.

As for the Fisk card. Gotta love the catcher's helmet worn forward as a hat, the hideous blue and red stripes of the White Sox uniforms and the knee high pants. Well played Mr. Fisk, well played.

So what did Carlton lead the league in to deserve this card? Fisk was 2nd in Home Runs with 37. I had no idea Fisk was such an offensive juggernaut in 1985. He also ranked 7th in GW-RBI, 8th in Runs Batted In and 10th in Slugging Pct. with .488.

Card 4: Tom Browning

1985 was Tom's rookie year and it was a great one. He finished 2nd in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Vince Coleman and his 110 Stolen Bases.

So what did Tom lead the league in to deserve this card? Tom was 4th in Victories with 20, 5th in Shutouts with 4, tied for 2nd in Games Started with 38, 6th in Innings Pitched with 261.1 and 9th in Strikeouts with 155. It was quite the league leading year for Mr. Browning.

Card 5: Wade Boggs (Our first actual outright league leader)

One sidenote to this card, I miss players wearing actual stirrups like I wore all throughout Little League and beyond. I realize that fashions change, but this is one that needs to make a comeback. Wade was an absolute beast in 1985 and finished 4th in MVP voting.

So what did Wade lead the league in to deserve this card? Wade was 1st in Batting Average at .368, 1st in On-Base Pct. with .450, 1st in Hits with 240, 3rd in Doubles with 42, and 4th in Total Bases with 312. Willie McGee won the NL MVP with numbers inferior to these in 1985, however Boggs only managed a 4th place finish.

Card 6: Ryne Sandberg

As I've discussed before, I watched a lot of Cubs baseball while living in Texas in the late '80s and early '90s. While Grace was my favorite player by far, Sandberg was also a guy I loved watching. In 1984 Sandberg was an MVP, so 1985 was a bit of a letdown, but still a very solid year for Ryno.

So what did Ryne lead the league in to deserve this card? Ryne was 4th in Runs with 113, 4th in Stolen Bases with 54, 4th in Hits with 186, 6th in Slugging Pct. with .504, and 8th in Batting Average with .305.

So that ends what may have been the most enjoyable six card break I've had in a while. I'm used to feeling underwhelmed these days when I get a pack of six mediocre cards that I paid 6 dollars for. 1986 League Leaders is officially on my radar, even if only one player in my pack actually led his league in anything.

4 packs of Score is coming soon. The scanning is taking its toll on me.

Go Halos!

Cameo Fevor

The search for cameo cards has overtaken my nights. I've been up scouring my boxes searching for examples and noticing trends. I started to think maybe Ryne Sandberg was a King of Cameos after coming across the following examples:



Three cards, all from the early '90s, all with varying shots of Sandberg sliding into second.

Then I discovered an oddity that fascinated me. The curious case of Kirt Manwaring and Mark Grace.
It started with this card:

One of my favorite cards as a kid and a part of my Mark Grace collection, despite being a Kirt Manwaring card.

In my quick searches though, I found there was more:

Apparently Grace had quite a grudge against Kirt and photographers were well aware of the potential fireworks if Gracey was on the basepaths.

But there's more:

Not nearly as exciting or potentially explosive, but yup that's Kirt Manwaring behind the plate during this Grace at bat.

I'm sure someone out there could find more examples of players being linked on cards, but I'm sorta blown away by it.

Now getting back to my belief that perhaps Sandberg would be the new King of Cameos...well maybe not. I remembered a great Mark Grace website run by Brad Wackerlin. As part of that site, Brad has a Mark Grace card museum that includes a Cameos section. 33 Grace Cameo cards!! And the best part of it...another Manwaring/Grace combo!!!

I'm pretty sure Kirt hit fewer homeruns than he had appearances on cards with Mark Grace.

Amazing.

Go Halos!

Cameo Cards

In an odd run of events, I inspired Cincinnati Reds Cards to wonder whether or not the players in the background mattered to team or player collectors. His question in turn inspired me to want to search my own collection and discuss this topic. I have always been fascinated by what else is happening on a card. One of the first cards that popped into my mind was the 1991 Score Kirt Manwaring card.


As a collector of Mark Grace cards for a number of years I knew just where to find this card of a Giants catcher...in the back pages of my binder dedicated to a Cubs First Basemen. Besides just being a very cool action shot, I loved that this card had one of my favorite players on it. It instantly lost its status as a Giants card or Kirt Manwaring card and instead became a Mark Grace card.

So I decided to break out one of the storage boxes and grab a stack to see what I could find. To my surprise, I found a couple of nice examples and one jewel to add to a collection.


1992 Score Mike Brumley. Clearly these cameo cards most often show up on cards depicting an attempt at breaking up the double play. Here we have HOFer Cal Ripken Jr. sliding under the leaping Brumley. The vision of Ripken is small, but definite.


Clearly I bought too many packs of 1992 Score. Bill Doran just trying to save the throw into second while Ryne Sandberg slides in. Another real crisp action shot, with another HOFer on the slide. Score was all over it in 1992.

Finally, the card that made my day.

1992 Donruss Joey Cora Luis Polonia!
My main man Luis Polonia immortalized on yet another card. A card that I may never have known about were it not for the bantering of blogs. The Pursuit of Polonia continues and has just been strengthened. I love the Cameo Card!!

Go Halos!