The 600 Club

As of yesterday, Wrigley Roster Jenga officially entered into the 600 club, a prestigious milestone in the game of baseball which indicates top tier greatness.

Of course, in the game of baseball card blogging, 600 posts is a completely arbitrary count that holds no real significance; however, we human beings love big, round numbers, so I feel compelled to notate this milestone.

Luckily, a few weeks ago, I pulled this 2007 Topps Updates & Highlights card of Sammy Sosa from a thrift store repack; so, I have a Cubs-related, new-to-the-blog card to serve as the cornerstone of this post.

On June 20, 2007, Sammy Sosa, then playing in his second stint with the Texas Rangers, cracked a long drive to right center field at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for the 600th home run in his Major League career.  The 600 home run club is the upper echelon of power hitting talent, and Mr. Sosa became, at that time, the seventh member of that exclusive group; for that matter, during the ensuing years, that club has only seen two further additions.  As one of the most feared sluggers of his generation, it seems somewhat appropriate that, while not the team for which he's most associated with, both his first and last MLB homers came in a Rangers' uniform.

Also appropriate, is the team who allowed Sosa to take his 600th skip:

Yup, the Cubs and the Rangers don't match up very often, but it just so happened that "Slammin' Sammy" got to shove it the face of the team which unceremoniously jettisoned him after the debacle that was the 2004 season.  That's not to say that he didn't deserve to be traded away, but this does seem almost like poetic justice to me.

Furthermore, it just so happened that the man who pitched that 600th home run ball was Jason Marquis, who was the first player to don the Sammy's #21 since Sosa said, "so long!"

Couldn't have scripted that moment up any better, huh?

One #21 was significantly happier that day

Of course, we all know how about the steroid accusations, the corked bat incident, the sudden need for an interpreter in court, his continuing beef with the Chicago front office, and his generally terrible attitude.  I remember watching this moment on live TV and thinking to myself, "well, doesn't that just figure."  While it may have come at the expense of my favorite club (in the thick of a tight divisional race, at that), I must admit I was quite happy to see the player that I and my entire city worshiped just a few years earlier get one final moment in the sun.  

Besides, the Cubs would come out on top of the tilt by a lopsided 7-3 scoring, so all is well that ends well.

At any rate, when I saw this Update and Highlights single in my repack stack at Savers Thrift Store, I tucked it away, as my upcoming 600th post seemed like an appropriate occasion to break out a card highlighting the only Cub in the 600 club.  Hopefully you've enjoyed my random thoughts and musings about baseball cards because I probably have at least another 600 posts in me.  

Now, Sammy Sosa and I are in the same company... well, not really, but you get the idea.  I'm (somewhat) easier to tolerate.

The Terrible Two's and a Contest

On this very day, two short years ago, this was the projected starting lineup for your 2014 Cubs, per the depth chart on the team's official website:

If you can't make that out, the lineup was as follows:

LF - Junior Lake

CF - Justin Ruggiano

RF - Nate Schierholtz

3B - Luis Valbuena

SS - Starlin Castro

2B - Darwin Barney

1B - Anthony Rizzo

C   - Welington Castillo 

The fact that Mr. Rizzo is the only one of these men still around should speak volumes - that outfield is particularly ghastly.  So goes a Major League roster in the midst of a rebuild.

Meanwhile, the following three men were expected to be key contributors in the starting rotation:

While Wood has since found his niche in the bullpen, Jackson's fall has been well documented and Rusin has struggled to even be a fifth starter in this league.

Worst of all, though, was the fact that this man was set to be our closer:

An 8.10 ERA in 13.1 innings to go along with no saves (plus two blown) has ensured that 2014 will have been his last year in the Bigs (thus far).

All of this dreadful information was drudged up courtesy of the Wayback Machine, an internet archive which will allow you to see what a seemingly infinite number of websites looked like throughout the years.  Careful, it's an easy rabbit hole to fall into.

Anyway, why am I making any Cubs fan reading this blog suffer through this stroll down memory lane?  Well, on March 2, 2014, while sitting in the office of my previous employer one super-chilly morning, decided to take the leap and start my own baseball card blog.  After lurking on popular blogs such as Wrigley Wax, Dime Boxes, Waiting 'til Next Year, etc., I finally took the plunge and began to bang out my first post on what would become Wrigley Roster Jenga.

What this blog looked like around that time; thanks Wayback Machine!

Of course, a lot has changed since that first post - the Cubs became worth watching, I grew as a writer and collector, I moved twice, got engaged, changed career paths, etc. etc.  It's funny how much life can morph in just two, short years.

Anyway, enough self-reflection - it's time for a contest.  Since I've now been blogging for two years, comment below with the name of the first Cub to don the number 2 in an MLB contest.  Everyone who answers correctly (one chance per person) will be entered into Random.org and the final list randomized twice to win two team bags filled with the franchise of their choosing.  I'll do my best to include a nice variety of products and the winner will be announced on Friday.

**EDIT** Since this entry method was very much half-baked, I've decided that anyone who comments on this post will be entered into the contest.

Or, if you give the tilt a shoutout on your blog, you can earn an entry that way.  If you do both, you'll get two entries, but no more than two.

Go!

Meanwhile, here's hoping I've got at least two more years of blogging left in me.  Of course, if I could blog through the era of a Lake/Ruggiano/Schierholtz outfield, I should to be able to maintain an even higher level of enthusiasm now.