MLB - Major League Bremen

Just about a week ago, I wandered into my alma mater for a community rummage sale.  I don't think that I'm the only card collector who enjoys these sort of resale events - I think most of us love to peruse flea markets, garage sales, thrift shops, and other similar secondhand shopping happenings in hopes of coming across some abandoned trading cards.  This rummage sale was held in the cafeteria of my old stomping ground and, outside of a decent button-up dress shirt, didn't end up having anything to make me want to open my wallet.  However, that doesn't mean the day was devoid of baseball cards.

Within the last couple of years, Bremen High School has done some rennovating and part of the draw to this rummage sale was the opportunity to walk around and take my first, firsthand look at what they've done.  Some fresh coats of paint and a mural have really spruced up the joint.  Additionally, there were some new display cases for showcasing notable alumni.

Behind the glass, I was pleased to see that Bremen's only Major League Baseball player had made the case:

Pete Lovrich, class of 1960, pitched in 21 games for the old Kansas City Athletics in 1963.  Over the course of 20.2 innings (including one start), the former Bremen Brave posted a 7.84 ERA with a 1-1 record.  I suppose you can see how Pete ended up being a "one-year wonder."

From the nearby community of Blue Island, Lovrich went from the All-Conference ace of the Bremen pitching staff, to Arizona State University.  When he ascended to the Bigs, he was both the first (and only) Brave and the first Sun Devil to play Major League Baseball.  While his time probably didn't go as well as he'd hoped, he can always hang his hat on those bits of trivia.

As you can see from the quick picture I snapped, the school even made sure to include a copy of his only baseball card as part of the display - a 1964 Topps single:

Here's a better look, courtesy of COMC.  If anyone happens to have an extra one of these lying around, I sure wouldn't mind talking trade.  I feel like I should own a card of the only guy to have both walked the halls of Bremen High School and from the bullpen to an MLB mound.

I'm irrationally glad to see that Bremen had put up this display, seeing as I had been completely unaware of Pete's accomplishment until long after I graduated.  It seems criminal that such a notable alumni wasn't being celebrated by his school.

Meanwhile, while Mr. Lovrich might have been the only Bremen Brave to make it all the way to the majors, he isn't the only professional athlete to hail from our small-ish high school.  There was still one more baseball card proudly on display:

Tim Flannigan is a name that was much more recognizable to me, seeing as he was the Bremen baseball coach during my four years of schooling, one of which was spent on the baseball roster.  I played with the freshman squad during my first year of high school before realizing I was better at running around a track than hitting a baseball and Coach Flannigan was the varsity coach, so our paths didn't actually cross very much.  Still, pretty cool to see such a familiar face on a baseball card.

The second-team All Stater starred on the same diamond a little less than a decade earlier, playing up the middle.  After a collegiate career for nearby Saint Xavier University, Flannigan was drafted in the 30th round of the 2000 amateur draft and signed on the dotted line with the New York Mets.

The Harvey-native played for two years in the bushes with the Mets org - he spent the 2000 season with the low-A Pittsfield Mets (with whom he's shown on the framed, team-issued card) and 2001 with the single-A Capital City Bombers.  As a utility infielder, Coach Flannigan could only muster a 

.202/.302/.258 slash line before his release, but he still played in 73 more professional games than I did.

A powerful swing(and miss) during my diamond days

In the end, while I wasn't able to pick up anything new for my collection at this rummage sale, my morning wasn't completely baseball card-less.  The short trip was worth it to see this new display, anyway.

I felt compelled to show these notable alumni off, after seeing some similar-themed posts pop up on the blogosphere.  Gavin, of Baseball Card Breakdown, and his "Guys from Granite" collection comes to mind, specifically.  Bremen High School might not have produced very many professional athletes, but there are a few, including Mr. Lovrich and Coach Flannigan.  I suppose they have molded some fine young minds as well... but sports!

Go Braves!

Nothing Major

I've decided to start up a new collection; please allow me to explain it in a rather long-winded fashion.

For many moons, I've been fascinated with baseball cards featuring Major League players during their minor league years; it's an interest that's probably bubbled just under the surface since I started collecting way back when.  I think it has something about seeing well-known players in unfamiliar uniforms, at least partially.  

For instance:

Casey McGehee, seen as not much more than minor league depth, may have broken out as a Brewer, but he started out in the Cubs system and even received a September call-up at the end of the 2008 season.  In contrast, Corey Patterson was about as highly-touted as a prospect possibly can be... and we all know how that turned out.  That said, how can anyone not love a team named the Lansing Lugnuts?

I just picked up this Chris Valaika, who made a brief stopover in Chicago in 2014, from my LCS from a quarter box.  Truthfully, it was mostly to round my purchase up to a full dollar; but, again, what's not to love about a team known as the Dayton Dragons?

Neal Cotts never could consistently hold down a spot in the Cubs bullpen, riding the shuttle between AAA and the Majors for a couple of seasons after winning a World Series ring with our neighbors to the south.  

In the ensuing years, along with minor league Cubs, I've also set aside cards that show these athletes during their days in college and high school, as well  For a while now, I've had a binder going where I stash these curiosities:

That Scott Maine is a slightly over-sized oddball single from a set made to honor the University of Miami nine in 2005; I'm fairly certain it was team-issued, but I can't find any manufacturing information on or about it.  If anyone knows anything more about that Hurricanes issue, please let me know!

Meanwhile, we all know about Jeff  "the Shark" Samardzija's much-ballyhooed girdiron career for the Fightin' Irish; it's easy to forget that he played baseball for them too.  Additionally, I picked up this Bob Howry autograph dating from his days with McNeese State for fifty cents - can you believe that?

As far as high school goes, there aren't a lot in my collection; but, a few have found their way into my clutches:

Classic Four Sport was always good for a few varsity baseball cards, seeing as the sets were based pretty much entirely around prospects in several of the major sports. Here you can see future Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee taking a hack on a chain-link circled diamond near El Camino Fundamental High School in California.

On the other hand, while you see Serra HS graduate Dan Serafini holding a bat on this "limited," serial numbered, shiny offering from Classic, he eventually made it to the Majors as a pitcher, including 42 games for the 1999 Cubs.

All these cards you see above have long been set aside in a special place; I've even referred to the stack on this blog as my "Baby Bear" collection.  However, I've always felt that I could do more with this accumulation - I just didn't know what.

At the same time, I've also made a habit of hanging onto cards that feature future/former Cubs players participating in leagues from outside of the traditional Major/Minor system:

I've got Senior Leagues (which come from my original collection, as a gift from my late grandfather)...

...Negro Leagues....

....international leagues...

...independent leagues...

...hell, I've even got Little Leagues.  Again, these all catch my attention because they depict familiar faces in unfamiliar settings and digs.

Although, after showing off all of these slightly-jarring keepsakes, my absolute favorites in this loosely-connected family are cards that feature stars on the diamond competing in sports that are NOT America's pastime.

Cards like these: 

Like I mentioned earlier, much has been made about "Shark's" football exploits; but, did you know that this similarly difficult to spell name played collegiate football?  In fact "Super Szczur" required a hefty signing bonus to keep the wide receiver from entering the NFL draft when he was drafted out of Villanova in 2010.

Coincidentally, Delino DeShields was another future Cub, multi-sport star; he almost attended Villanova too, to play point guard on the basketball squad.  No doubt, Foot Locker and the NBA were aware of this when they invited the hyped youngster to compete in their celebrity slam dunk tournament in 1991, which also included names like Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Bo Jackson. Thank goodness a card set was produced by the shoe hawkers to commemorate this cross-sport overlap.

These are the only two like this, but there are a bevy more out there - Kenny Lofton and Tim Stoddard on the hardwood, Ernie Banks on the back nine, etc.

See? I'm not (entirely) crazy

Anywho, if you've made it through all of this rambling, congratulations - I'm finally about to get to my point.  I've come to the conclusion that the best way to show off, store and continue to build these half-baked accumulations is to merge them all together under one banner:  my "Nothing Major" collection.  The idea being that the collection is made up of cards of Cubs playing in the minors, prep, international and even other sports, but "Nothing Major" League Baseball.

I love a good pun.

So, if you have any cards of this vein lying around in your dupe/trade stacks, please drop me a line; I'm more than willing to talk trade!

Lord knows I don't already have enough projects...

#ThrowbackThursday - High School Never Ends

For the past few weeks, I've been using the popular social media phenomenon known as #ThrowbackThursday as an excuse to post a series of retrospectives on Cubs players younger days.  We kicked the series off by looking at their minor league cards, followed by a look back at cards from their time in in the collegiate ranks.  Thus, the natural progression leads us back even further, to the time many a burnout would declare their "glory days"

I, of course, am talking about their time spent in high school - the days of honors biology, awkward parties and attempting to bribe creepy old men to purchase alcohol for them.  Ahhhh, good times, good times.

That said, I'm sure none of these guys know anything about that... nothing at all...  Anyway, here are some cards that feature future Cubs in the uniform of their varsity nine:

I'm just going to go ahead and acknowledge the elephant in the room and state that Classic Four Sport is a brand that's going to make up a majority of this post.  After all, this sort of thing was kind of their specialty.

Here we have one in a long line of good Cubs first basemen in Derrek Lee, way back when he was swinging the stick for the El Camino Fundamental HS Eagles in California.  Nothing screams high school athletics quite like a chain link fence, some mulling about in windbreakers and a parking lot in the background.

You can see the powerstroke in that swing, even then.

Next up, we have a guy whose Cubs tenure was much shorter than D-Lee in Ben Grieve, who had a couple of brief stints in 2004-05.  Well before that, he was swinging a heavy stick with the James W. Martin HS Warriors in Texas.

That's quite the crowd for a high school baseball game.  Although, since he was drafted second overall in the 1994 draft by the Oakland Athletics, he must have been worth the price of admission for local sports fans.

I actually prefer the image used on the back of this card though:

It's a much clearer view of his jersey - a quality that I find very important in my pre-rookie baseball cards.

Moving on:

Pitcher at the plate alert!

The former Serra HS Padre (Cali, again) was drafted in the first round of the 1992 draft by the Twins for his abilities on the mound, rather than his skills at the dish.  He never did fulfill that potential, bouncing around the league in brief spurts (with Cubs in 1999) until 2007, with a few stints in Japan and Mexico mixed in.  He must have played out of sheer love of the game though - he was still active in independent/foreign league as late as 2013.  

However, all I can think of when I see this card is "wow, that looks like a Seattle Pilots uniform."

Additionally, check out that very 90's serial number; one of 9,000+? Soooooo limited!

Here's the last high school image I was able to dig up and what a one to close out with; Tarrik Brock's glamour shot is a real winner, especially thanks to that lovely button-up!

I'm sure this image also graced his Hawthorne HS (Cali x3) yearbook, surely with some "clever" inspirational quote underneath.  Couldn't Topps have, at least, used a picture of his playing baseball with the Cougars?  For that matter, all of these SC cards would have looked much better with actual baseball photos.

Tarrik (no relation to Lou) played in the minors for many years (1991-2003), getting one cuppacoffee with the Cubbies for the opening of the 2000 season.  As such, he got to play in the first MLB game played in Japan, since Chicago opened their season against the Mets at the Tokyo Dome.

Opening ceremonies for the 2000 season opener

And that is the extent of my Cubs high school cards; unsurprisingly, I didn't have all that many to choose from, seeing as they went on to bigger and better things.

Maybe next week we'll take this concept back even further and see if I have any cards that depict Cubbies as little leaguers.  I know a few sets have been produced with that concept in mind; I may have a few of them too.

Thanks for throwin' it back, high school style, with me this week.  Although, I suspect most of us spent more time "throwin' 'em back" during those four years than building prospect status.