The Truest Rookie Card

 

Today is my son's sixth month "birthday."  I honestly cannot believe that little Rowan is already half of a year old.  Even more incredible than that fact is that I've managed to keep him alive for that long!  I think anyone out there on the blogosphere who also has children will understand that surprising sentiment, as the chaos, stress, and unpredictable challenges that come with raising a newborn.  The false alarm health scares, the bottomless pit appetite, the inconsolable colic-caused temper tantrums, random night terrors, etc. - it's hard not to feel like you're doing it wrong!  Yet, here we are, half of a calendar year later with a happy and healthy little cherub.

To celebrate this milestone, here's the only card in my collection with a baby on it.

 

 

 

The 2002 MultiAd Sports single that you see above - featuring journeyman catcher, Mike Mahoney - has long been one of my favorite cards due to it's unique photograph.  Originally issued as part of a factory sealed SGA set, I have no doubt that it stuck out from it's cello-wrapped brethren - talk about a rookie card!  

 

However, since Rowan has come into my life, it has taken on a new significance.  Now, rather than just appreciating an off-kilter picture, I too understand and feel that beaming pride that Mike exuded while showing off his newborn daughter 19 years ago.  Thus, when my wife scheduled Row's newborn photo-shoot a couple of weeks after his official introduction to this world, an idea crept into my mind.

First of all, let me just say that the photographer was a miracle worker. When your talent is a cranky newborn and a pair of neurotic, first time parents, I can't imagine it's easy to get anything done. That said, she produced a whole reel's worth of timeless snapshots that feel like they belong in a coffee table book more so than a simple photo album.  If you ever need to book a photog in the Chicagoland area, I strongly recommend that you check out Photography By Angel for any occasion - she does far more than just newborn pictures.  Exhibit worthy work, positively pleasant to work with, excellent customer service... she is, in fact, an Angel!

Anyway, after we got all of the posed shots that she wanted during our booked slot, we had a little bit of extra time. Luckily, I just so happened to have brought my Cubs jersey, hat, my high school baseball glove, and the perfect idea with which to close out our session:

 

And it turned out even better than I had hoped!  Although, thankfully we shot on a blank background because it still seemed like it was missing something:

Rowan definitely needed a baseball backdrop to complete the look.  To keep things close to home, I opted to use a picture that I took from the dugout of Howie Minas Field, a local ballpark that's been a cornerstone of the community since it was plowed into a cornfield 70 years ago.  This field has played host to the National Baseball Congress champion Midlothian White Sox, the Cook County Cheetahs of the Frontier League, the Crestwood Panthers of the Midwest Collegiate League, and Rowan and I when we we noticed the gate was left open during a summer walk around the surrounding park.  So, of course, we stopped to take some pictures in the dugout.  As it turned out, they provided the perfect canvas for my latest Photoshop project.

Shhhh... don't tell anyone!  But, here are a few more pictures from our little visit:

 

 

Howie Minas Field, as viewed from the parking lot.

The view from home plate at Howie Minas Field

Tossing a quick bullpen session

My god, I cannot wait to take him to a real game.

If you want to learn more about the history of our little ol' community ballpark, I get a little more in-depth in this previous post.

Anywho, circling back to the reason for this post, happy half a year birthday, Rowan!  Six months simultaneously seemed to breezily fly by like a jet and yet also drag like a low rider with flat tires.  It's funny what having a child - and the ensuing lack of sleep - will do to your sense of time.  I'm sure that Mike Mahoney and his now college-aged daughter will agree.  

 

Here's to a lifetime's worth of further baseball adventures, Row!

 

No Respect, No-Hitter

Alec Mills first reached the Big Leagues in 2016 and has been with the Chicago Cubs organization since 2017.  Despite this sustained tenure at the game's highest level, it took until 2020 for the righty to appear on a "mainstream" baseball card.  For what it's worth, the bespectacled moundsman did sneak onto the checklist of 2016 Onyx Authenticated Platinum Elite (phew, what a mouthful), which earned him an autograph hit and several different parallels.  However, one could hardly call the oft-forgotten, pre-rookie product mainstream; plus, no regular ol' base card for the everyman collector like me.  Other than that, your only option for an Alec Mills card prior to last year was team-issued minor league set breaks.  Topps, Panini, and - heck - not even Leaf would give this guy the time of day.

 

In all actuality, Alec was up-and-down (but mostly down) between the Majors and the minors most of that time and the former college walk-on was never anywhere near blue chip prospect status.  Still, you'd think that a young starting pitcher on the roster for a major market club that's highly sought after in the collectibles market (and coming off a World Series win, no less) coming up in an era that places a ridiculous premium on rookies and prospects would have at least slipped into a Bowman or Prizm product during that time.  Talk about no respect!

Then, this past year, things took an abrupt left turn.  Suddenly, Alec started to appear in the checklist for seemingly every baseball card set printed since the summer of 2020 began.  What changed? Why was this previously unknown force suddenly getting acknowledged by the powers that be at Topps & Panini?

Well, all he had to do was simply toss a no-hitter.  On the 13th of September, the unheralded fifth starter went out and confounded Milwaukee Brewers hitters on their home turf.  It was just the 15th start in Alec's Big League career and it took him "only" 114 pitches.  As a finesse pitcher without much velocity and that most often pitches to contact, I don't think anyone saw this coming from Alec.

 

Things changed for Alec after that whirlwind performance.  The breakout pitcher was suddenly good enough to be included in Heritage, Update, Chrome Update, the Living Set, Total, On-Demand, Road to Opening Day, and - as you can see above - Now.  If that's all it took to get some love, why didn't Alec just go out and pitch the 16th no-hit game in franchise history sooner?  Sheesh!

To be fair, a lot of the products on that list are online exclusive - thus, one can easily contest their merits as "mainstream." What was cannot argue, on the other hand, is that there was an absolute Alec Mills explosion in 2020.  I'd been trying to track down a pasteboard with his likeness since he was acquired via trade with the Royals in 2017 and found very little in terms of options.  Suddenly, I had more options than I knew what to do with.

 

 

Of course, that's not completely true - I knew which card was the pick of the litter for me.  You can probably guess which one I went with too, since it's the only card that has appeared in this blog post so far.

 

As a Cubs fan, a no-hitter has always been a hallowed event.  For most of my lifetime, the Lovable Losers hadn't been able to close the door on such a feat.  From Milt Pappas' shoulda-been perfect game in 1972 (long before I was even a concept) until Carlos Zambrano finally made it through all nine innings in 2008, I'd seen the boys in blue come frustratingly close on several occasions; but, they could never quite cross the finish line.  Thus, even though Jake Arrieta powered through two no-hitters on his own since that dry spell ended, such an event is still absolute must see TV to me.

That's all well and good, though the no-hitter itself wasn't the biggest reason why I wanted Mills' celebratory Now card for my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.  This bit of baseball history had an extra special personal connection to me... and someone else:

This was the first no-hitter twirled by the Cubs in my newborn son's lifetime!  The little guy doesn't know how lucky he is - it took this team the first 19 years of my life to achieve this feat and it didn't even take them a full month of his to do the same!

 

My wife and I were out and about searching for caffeine (a regular occurrence in Row's early months) while listening to the game on the radio.  As things started getting interesting, we came home and I got to listen to Alec close out the ninth with my new best friend nestled on my lap.  As you can see in the image above, the kid - mouth agape - seemed almost more excited than I did!  I think all the noise and cheering is what stimulated the boy, though I choose to believe that he somehow knew something of significance was happening around him.  All in all, Alec Mill's no-hitter was the first special baseball moment that I was able to share with my son.

Rowan, the 20th time he's heard me ramble about this occurrence.

Admittedly, it's not exactly an enthralling story in and of itself - that being stated, it's something that I will absolutely never forget.  I cannot wait to regale him with the tale when he's older.  In the end, I'm kind of glad it took four years for me to fill Alec Mill's slot in my CATRC binders.  After all, I ended up with a trinket that holds much more significance to me than some unlicensed pajama Onyx oddity that would be forgotten almost as soon as it entered it's tome.

Thanks for the memory, Alec, and - finally - welcome to the Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.  Here's hoping you can build off your emergent 2020 season and help solidify the Cubs' Swiss cheese starting rotation in 2021!

A Needed Distraction

This summer, my wife and I welcome our first child into this world.  What a time to be born, right?

Hopefully, this kid has no memory of the pandemic, political and societal unrest, and tension which has surrounded his birth and early months of existence.  But, needless to say, there was a lot going on and a lot on all of our minds throughout the summer months of 2020.  Trying to navigate the birth of your first child during all of that chaos truly added a whole other dimension to the stressors of the last year and a half.  What was I getting this poor kid into?  

As a result, throughout the late stages of my wife's pregnancy and the immediate aftermath, this blog went dark because there was just too much else going on - my mind was in other places and baseball was far from a priority.  However, there was one brief moment of clarity and, ironically, it occurred during the most stressful twenty-four hours of the whole process:  labor.  Sure, my blood was pumping and my whole brain was crying once we realized the process had began; but, after we finished our Mario Andretti-like hustle to the hospital, there wasn't much else to do but wait.  Due to this brief snippet of time caught in the waiting room of life, I will always associate the following player with the rush of emotions that I felt that day.

Hernan Perez was called up to the Chicago Cubs roster from the alternate training site during the evening hours of August 18.  At that very same time, my wife and I had arrived at the hospital, been checked in and were queued up and waiting for a bed and a birthing suite.  Due to COVID restrictions, we couldn't even leave the room we were being staged in unless using the bathroom.  Thus, to calm our nerves, my wife and I were able to passively follow their game against the Cardinals that night, via MLB At Bat, while we plowed through takeout and looked for anything else to distract our restless minds.  Better to obsess about the inconsequential prospects of a pro sports team than ponder all the things that can go wrong in birth, eh?

I remember being surprised that the Cubs had recalled the utilityman, but happy to add another name to my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection hunt.  Rather than obsessively over analyze every sound we heard in the hallway or count scuffs in the paint of the cream-colored walls, I spent a few minutes hunting down a card of Hernan for my CATRC tome.  I don't think it will surprise anyone that the ivy backdrop found on Perez's 2017 Topps Flagship single was too perfect for me to pass up when securing a piece for Wrigley's newest resident.

I'm pretty sure the photo you see above was taken while sifting through Ebay search results

In the end, without getting into too many details, the birth was quite a long and hairy experience - the little guy didn't make his grand entrance until a full day after kicking labor into gear.  But, in the end, the process was ultimately successful - our little Rowan was born and still is a happy and healthy little guy, now five months on.  In stark contrast, Hernan Perez's Cubs tenure was brief and unsuccessful - he only made six PA's in three games, recorded just one hit (a single) with two strikeouts, and was designated for assignment before the end of the month.  

Therefore, even though I've since been able to replace the visiting Brewer placeholder with a proper Cubs card from this season's Heritage High Numbers release, I will not be offloading the original.  Now, I'm not about to start super-collecting Hernan Perez or anything; but, the memories associated with that player and that card in particular are far too strong to simply discard.  It will hold a special, nostalgic place in my heart for the rest of my life.

Like I was caught off guard with his call-up, I was also surprised when Hernan was included in HHN.  After all, his tenure was "blink and you missed it" brief and he didn't do anything even approaching notable in a Cubs uniform.  However, with the pandemic effing up the schedule and printing deadlines being a thing, I guess I should have seen it coming that any player in Big League Summer Camp with an MLB resume was going to be fair game for both HHN and Update.  I'm not complaining either since Mr. Perez and his sweet arm tats look better in Cubbie Blue than Brewer Blue in my CATRC binder anyway.

In conclusion, I hear Hernan just signed with the Nationals on a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training.  Here's hoping he can reestablish himself and join his former teammates in Jon Lester and Kyle Schwarber on the active roster.  Despite his lack of staying power, I wish Mr. Perez well.  I'll always think of him when I reminisce about the experience of bringing Rowan into this world.  And now I sit here banging out this post with my son sitting cheerfully on my lap.  

Life comes at you fast.

Is This Thing Still On?

 Hey, remember me?

This place sure is dusty and covered in world wide cob webs... how long has been it been?  Jesus - my last post was in June... I missed a whole (ish) season of baseball.  Man, time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister.

Well, I'm left to ask myself, what might have caused such a long absence?  My answer is threefold.  First, a general dissatisfaction with the sport.  Between minor league baseball being nuked, labor strife wreaking havoc on baseball's future, and rooting for a directionless team seemingly ticketed for decline while stuck in a Groundhog Day-like state of mediocrity, it's been hard to feel enthused about my favored sport.  Although, I will say that despite some negative connotations, MLB's long-belated recognition of the Negro Leagues as being officially Major League caliber has perked my enthusiasm up a little bit.

Furthermore, there's the whole chaotic purgatory that is the year 2020.  Between the heated Presidential election, the coup attempt by the world's most sore loser that is somehow still ongoing, and - y'know - the raging pandemic that continues to spread like wildfire across the world, but even more powerfully in the only first world nation that thinks science is for wussies.  While we're on that note, I might as well mention that I just tested positive for COVID-19 and am now quarantined away from the world.  I've been as responsible as possible; however, having to work in four different buildings as part of my current employment has left me extremely exposed.  Thankfully, my symptoms are pretty mild - it mostly feels as though I just have a prolonged head cold.  Although, I have lost my senses of smell and taste, which figures because I have nothing better to do than eat my feelings.  

I suppose I'll have to settle for the next best way to spend my time - blogging about baseball cards.  After all, I've missed covering a bunch of new additions to the Cubs All-Time Roster while I was away, seeing as the 2020 season somehow ended up happening, despite the best efforts of the Marlins and Cardinals.  While I wasn't blogging, I was still passively collecting and I am pretty much up to date at this point.  The expanded rosters created a whole bunch of new Cubs, I might as well take this opportunity to document them.

I think I'll go one by one, in (approximately) the order the players were added to the active roster, starting... tomorrow.

Why drag my feet after all this time already taken off?  That brings me to the third reason Wrigley Roster Jenga has been dormant for so long - my wife and I welcome our first child into the world this summer and, unsurprisingly, he's been a bit of distraction.  Needless to say, 2020 was a stressful year to go through the whole childbirth process; but, at least I can say something wonderful did happen during this year of otherwise unrelenting frustration.  Both Rowan and his mother are doing quite well, though we are all three battling that damn virus, at the moment.

Also - sidebar - Rowan definitely wasn't name AFTER Cubs reliever Rowan Wick; although, I might have discovered that I liked the way the moniker sounded while listening to Cubs' broadcasts during the hurler's Wrigley tenure.  Don't tell mom.

Anyway, I'm going to use the last few minutes of the kid's nap to sort through my binders and get my upcoming posts ready.  See ya'll tomorrow!