Where Have You Gone, Gene Krug? The Epic Conclusion!

So, I've been away from the blog for a few days due to the fact that the end of the school year sucks up pretty much all of my time, energy, and will to live.  During the graduation season, I rarely have time to sit down and eat, let alone set aside time for hobbies like baseball card collecting and blogging.  Seriously, I've forgotten to eat my lunch at least twice during this time.

In an attempt to rest and relax, my wife and I took a trip down to our apartment complex's pool during it's opening day last Sunday.  Unfortunately, I neglected to check my pockets (seriously - pockets on swimming trunks are a disaster waiting to happen) and my cell phone got some "relaxation" in as well.  Luckily, I had a replacement already earmarked for the now water-logged iPhone, but that still took up even more time I didn't have.  In short, it's been a trying time in Wrigley Roster Jenga land.

Obviously, between the end of the school year chaos and smart phone swimming, I was in desperate need of a pick-me-up.  Oftentimes, checking my mailbox is just what the doctor ordered in this situation.  Of course, sometimes this metal container holds nothing but junk mail, bills, red light camera tickets, and other dredge - but, other times, it contains greeting cards, surprise packages, and *best of all* baseball cards.  Luckily, on Tuesday, the contents of my mailbox came from the latter scenario.

On the very afternoon of graduation - a ceremony for which this IT professional has a surprising amount of responsibilities - I was absolutely giddy to discover something that I had been anxiously waiting with bated breath for weeks stashed within:

That's no ordinary 1981 Topps single... that's my custom made, custom printed fantasy card of cameo Cub, Gene Krug.  Best of all, that's a bonafide autograph scribbled on the front!  Also, as an aside, my new Samsung LG K20 takes a pretty decent photograph!

I'm sure many of you fellow collectors will agree, there's nothing like a TTM return to brighten the spirits.  However, there's more to this story than meets the eye.  As longtime readers of Wrigley Roster Jenga might be aware, I've long had a sort of fascination with the career of Gene Krug.  Having received six PA's in 1981, Mr. Krug is the latest player to debut with the Cubs that has NEVER appeared on a trading card whatsoever, despite debuting near the dawn of the junk wax era.  I'm not exaggerating either - no regional oddballs, no minor league team issues, no local product premium... nothing, nada, zero, zilch!  Being that my ultimate goal is to collect at least one card of every single Cub possible, it's only natural that I should latch onto this surprisingly "modern" case.

One of my earliest posts on this blog detailed my discovery of Gene Krug's interesting circumstances and publicly pondering as to how to handle them.  Later on, I made an order of custom cards from the fabulous Rookies App to fill some gaps in my CATRC binder, including a mock-up of Krug using the only photo of him I could find on the internet, in his AAA Wichita Aeros uniform.  Having figured that the issue was, at least, temporarily solved, my collecting curiosities were directed to other tasks and the topic of Gene Krug went dark for a loooooooong time.

Krug wasn't the only Aero to make it onto my Rookies invoice!

Then, out of the Cubbie blue, two years later, I received a totally random Google chat that immediately brought this latent issue back to the forefront of my consciousness.

Brandon stumbled across my humble blog late on night and came across a name that he recognized... a name that he knew, personally.  As it turns out, Gene Krug continues to work in America's pastime, as a high school baseball coach in his adoptive home state, Colorado.  One of his junior varsity charges at Pine Creek HS happens to be my new amigo, Brandon - an aspiring ballplayer himself.  Out of the kindness of his heart, he reached out to me and offered to put me in touch with his high school baseball coach and play the middle man in a TTM request, if I were interested.  Ummmmm.... hell yeah!

Once a Cub, Krug is now an Eagle

However, there was one problem - I only had one copy of that Rookies App custom. I didn't want to risk my only copy getting lost in the mail and I wanted to provide a copy for both Brandon and Gene as a token of my appreciation. Luckily, in the years since my initial foray into blogging, I've gained access to quality photo-editing and design software and I've kept my college-educated graphic design skills sharp. Thus, I took it upon myself to whip up a card that never was, but should have been - the 1981 Topps custom that you saw at the top of the post (and, again, below).

If you want more details about the process of creating that fantasy card, you can check out that post here.  As you can see, it involved some detailed Photoshopping and colorization, among other challenges!

Back to the prize, if I may be permitted a bit of self-aggrandizing, I must admit, this card and it's powder blue-clothed ballplayer look especially sharp with a ballpoint pen John Hancock!  One further detail that adds a bit of character is that Krug opted to sign with his given first name - Gary.  Gary Eugene Krug went by the shortened version of his middle name during his playing days; but, apparently, these days he prefers the forename on his birth certificate.

Mr. Krug kept one copy for himself and was generous enough to sign the copy seen here for little old me.  Additionally, a third printing was created for Brendan as a gift for his troubles.  Seriously folks - this guy is one good egg.  Not only did he offer to hook me, a stranger, up with an autograph from his coach without any strings attached, he actually sent ME a thank you note with my latest CATRC addition!

No - seriously - Brandon, thank you a thousand times over for approaching me out of nothing but the kindness in your heart and helping complete a loooooooong neglected collecting goal.  It's people like you that keep me from completely losing faith in this wild and crazy world... and I'm not just saying that, either.  This might be my favorite thing to ever happen to me since I started Wrigley Roster Jenga back in the spring of 2014.

Speaking of favorites, it's fortunate that I chose to shop Krug into one of the Cubs' infamous pajama jerseys, as according to Brandon's note (it may be tough to read on a computer screen, those glorious monstrosities were Gene's favorite uniforms.  Simply put, absolutely everything about this entire interaction worked out in perfect fashion.

This whole process took a couple of months.  This relative delay is more than understandable, seeing as this secondary education student was also going through the end of the school year schedule crunch.  Granted, Brandon was experiencing this chaos from the other side of the teacher's desk, but I can still empathize with the plight.  I'm sure both of us are exuberant over summer break finally releasing us from education-related stresses.

Thank you once again, Brandon, for completely delivering on your generous and selfless promise - good luck in your studies and with your career on the diamond.

...also, let me know if you come under the wing of any other former Major League Baseball players!