A Thunderous New Addition, Pt. 2

Been a while since I checked in here.  Life's been busy, lots of big life changes, figuring out this whole parenthood thing, the Cubs have been a whole bucket of bleh this year, the hobby has lost it's collective mind... I have a whole laundry list of reasons and/or excuses why my passion for blogging has ebbed, but who really cares, right?

However, yesterday, that part of my heart twinged for the the first time in a while.  All it took was an *extremely* surprising transaction.  Seriously, when I read that swingman, Alec Mills (he of no-hitter fame), was going on the 10-day injured list with a lower back strain, you could have given me two dozen guesses and I never would have called the corresponding roster move.  But before I talk about the guy going the other way on the transactional log, a little background information is needed for proper context.

For most of my conscious life, the Windy City Thunderbolts have been my local baseball team.  I've been going to 'Bolts games regularly for nearly two decades now and the independent, Frontier League club has kept me engaged with the game in ways that would be prohibitively costly with the Cubs or any Major League franchise.  I have always been able to count on a cheap ticket, a quick commute, and a good show whenever I get bored or antsy in the summer.  Sure, the level of play is nowhere near the Big Show and is roughly equivalent to Low-A ball, but baseball is baseball and the Thunderbolts are the best show in town.  

With the climb up the ladder so long long, I feel an intense bit of local pride any time a 'Bolt gets scooped up to the affiliated ranks, let alone makes the ultimate ascent to the Major League level.  Just two Big Leaguers previously wore the black and blue of this Crestwood, IL-based club before reaching the summit - Andrew Werner of the Padres and Dylan Axelrod of the White Sox.  Technically, a third Bolt alumni has an MLB resume and he played with my favorite team -  Billy Petrick, a reliever on the 2007 Chicago Cubs.  That being said, his time in Crestwood came on the downswing of his career, years after his time in the Friendly Confines.  Thus, no player has ever made the dizzying climb from Ozinga Park to Wrigley Field, which isn't all that surprising, considering the almost insurmountably long odds.  Well, that is, no player had made the climb until yesterday...

With Millsy going onto the injured list, Tommy Nance was called up from AAA-Iowa to take his place.  Nance's story is incredible, a Disney-worthy feel-good tale that is guaranteed to make you rediscover your love for baseball.  This undrafted hurler was given a shot by the Thunderbolts in 2015 to get his pro career off the ground.  His success and stuff got him noticed by the crosstown Cubbies and they inked him to a minor league deal for 2016.  In fact, I covered this transaction at the time because deals between these two Chicago-based teams are so rare and I was pumped about a Bolt just getting a shot with my beloved Cubs and I had a longshot prospect to root for and follow.

From there, Nance got hurt almost immediately and lost a good chunk of 2016 and all of the 2017 season.  When he came back, he was deployed at multiple levels of the minor league system and seemed destined for a career as a roster reinforcement, organizational arm.  After the pandemic provided the excuse Rob Manfred was looking for to retool the minors and axe so many teams and players, I thought Nance's career was surely over - he was far from a blue-chipper and there just didn't seem to be a spot for him anymore.  Lo and behold, I could not have been more wrong.

Nance survived the chopping block and turned heads in spring training this past March.  He was deployed in a handful of Major League exhibitions and parlayed that exposure into a spot at the alternate training site and then AAA once the season began - just a phone call away from the Majors.  After being part of a combined no-hitter with the Iowa Cubs, Nance punctuated his storybook breakout with a call-up to the Major League roster.  Needless to say, I was thrilled and actually yelped with excitement when I read the news.

Nance on the mound in Big League camp, 2021.  Image courtesy of Cubs Den.

It's not everyday a thirty-year old, undrafted, indy league alum makes it all the way to show, especially when their career is bookended by stints on my favorite local ballclubs!  It's with great pleasure that I now get to add the above Choice, Thunderbolt SGA giveaway to my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection binder - like Nance himself, the very first such card to make that impressive ascent.

Coincidentally, I'll be taking my son to his first baseball game today and it just so happens to be a Thunderbolts contest.  The club never charges admission to their spring training games, so Rowan and I will be playing hooky to see their exhibition against the Schaumburg Boomers this afternoon.  Like I said the Thunderbolts have been a big part of my life for a long time now; now, I get to share one of the most important moments of fatherhood with my son thanks to the Thunderbolts.  This is symbolic of why Nance's call-up inspired me to open Blogger for the first time in months.

Here's hoping that Nance can continue to build on this momentous surge and stick with the Big club.  The opportunity is there seeing as the bullpen has been in flux all season - a run of good results could keep him up all year, or at least maintain his spot on the 40-man roster.  Lord knows I'll be rooting for the Thunderbolt alumnus - welcome to Chicago, Tommy Nance!

Cheetahs Never Prosper

One of my favorite things to do when I have free time is to go thrift shopping.  As a cheapskate who loves a sense of adventure, second hand shopping is the perfect intersection of these two characteristics.  You never know what you are going to find - in the past, I've been lucky enough to find an original pressing of Sgt. Pepper on vinyl, baseballs autographed by legit Major Leaguers, Taiwanese baseball cards, etc., all for chump change.  As such, I rarely miss an opportunity to stop in a Goodwill, Savers, Unique, or any other thrift shop location when the opportunity presents itself.

In the past, I've had a surprising amount of success finding minor league uniforms and ephemera on such shelves.  In fact, I've happened to come across and purchase several game-used jerseys of local teams, past and present, including the Gary SouthShore RailCats, the Schaumburg Flyers, and - most notably to me - the Cook County Cheetahs.

The Cheetahs were a previous incarnation of the nearby Windy City Thunderbolts, the closest thing I have to a hometown baseball team.  They play ball right next door to where I currently work and less than three miles from where I grew up.  The club had already transformed into their current T-Bolt moniker by the time I started truly paying attention, but as a history buff, I've long been fascinated by the previous era.

That's why I was absolutely thrilled when I discovered this item in my most recent trip to Goodwill:

A Cook County Cheetahs hat!  I'm fairly certain that it's game-used too because:

1. It was covered with a thick layer of light brown-colored dirt and dust that looked suspiciously like that used on the infield of a baseball diamond.
2. The Cheetahs were an independent team that was constantly on the move and, likely didn't have the capability to market much in the way of souvenirs. 
3. It's a fitted hat (in my size, which is a phenomenal coincidence) and even if they did have souvenirs to sell, I highly doubt they had it in the budget to push a multitude of different sized caps.   I imagine they'd be of the adjustable snapback or Velcro variety.
4. Heck, a quick glimpse of their 2003 website (their last year of existence) doesn't even indicate the existence of a team store. 

Thanks, Internet Wayback Machine!  That is a very early aughts lookin' website.  Was it hosted by Geocities??

All of these factors considered, I would find it exceptionally surprising to know that the Cheetahs were hawking such wears during this time.  In fact, I know for certain that the physical team store at their park wasn't even built until after the club was re-branded into the Windy City Thunderbolts.  Thus, I feel pretty safe in saying that this Cook County Cheetahs cap is most likely a game-used piece.

It will pair quite nicely with the game-used jersey I found at a local Savers location a few years previous:

Now, if they weren't selling hats, there's absolutely no way that the Cheetahs were selling replica jersey tops.  This certainly saw game action.

Ever since I gleefully came across this red uniform, I've been hoping to come across a hat to match.  I've already got a couple of GU T-Bolt jerseys and hats (again, I have ridiculously good luck with finding minor league stuff), so it brings me great joy to now have a complete Cheetah kit.  Well, except for the pants, I guess.

The hat, like the screen grab of their website, dates from 2003, as indicated by the Frontier League's nifty 10-year anniversary patch stitched onto the right hand side.  The independent league has been the steadiest such circuit over it's now 26-year history and is, in fact, the oldest indy still operating today.  My, my... how time flies...

The Cheetahs/Thunderbolts haven't been around for that entire time.  In fact, when this hat was still resting on the head of a hungry, young ballplayer, they hadn't even been around for most of it.  Perhaps I should take this opportunity to dive into the history of my hometown ballclub.

The franchise was originally formed as the Will County Claws in 1995, called Romeoville, IL home, and entered into doomed North Central League during it's maiden season.  The league was never very financially stable and folded before it could complete the 1996 season, a fate that is all too common when it comes to indy leagues.  In a move straight out of the David Bowie playbook, the former Claws changed their name, look, and pivoted to the Heartland League as the Will County Cheetahs.
 

 The Will County Cheetahs, logo courtesy of Logo Server.

Even after that, change was still in the air.  After one season of play in their new league, the club abandoned Romeoville for the greener pastures of Crestwood - a suburb on the south side of Chicago and next door to my hometown.  There were no literal pastures, but there was the lure of a brand new, publicly-funded stadium of their very own.  Crestwood's mayor had played bush league ball himself in the 1950's and wanted to bring in a team to revitalize his sleepy suburb.  For an independent team that had been borrowing Lewis University's collegiate baseball field, this offer was simply impossible to refuse.

Of course, this 20-mile relocation shuttled them from Will County to Cook County, necessitating another name change.  Thus, the iteration of the team that wore this cap was officially born into existence.


Crestwood and it's powers that be assured that the winter of 1997-98 would be more than enough time to finish construction on the state-of-the-art, partially double-decked Hawkinson Ford Field and the Cheetahs would be able to start their second season in the Heartland League within it's confines.  Of course, those that live in Illinois know that construction projects in this area almost never go as planned - especially when accounting for unpredictable Midwestern winter weather.  Delays not only kept them from opening at their new facility, it keep them from playing a single game at all there in 1998.

Time for yet another quick pivot.

My hometown of Midlothian (like I said, just down the road), just so happened to have a baseball diamond in it's northeast corner.  Howie Minas Field had been the longtime home of the semi-pro Midlothian White Sox (a topic for another day).  They had been around since the corn was plowed under to create the park in the 1950's and even won the National Baseball Congress title in 1992.  Unfortunately, the club soon folded thereafter and Howie Minas Field was relegated to the occasional Little League and high school ball duty.

Howie Minas Field, 2004. Image courtesy of Charlie's Big Baseball Parks.

A deal was hammered out to allow the Cheetahs to play the entirety of the 1998 season in this temporary home and temporary bleachers and stands were built to bring the facility up to professional caliber. Despite the fact that the season began with seeming disaster, the Cook County Cheetahs went on to have the best season they ever would under the Cheetah moniker, posting 37–29 record and winning the Heartland League pennant. With the ballpark nearly complete at this point, things were looking great in Cheetah land!

Then the Heartland League folded.

I tell ya, the Cook County Cheetahs simply could not catch a break.  This could have been a total disaster, with a publicly-funded stadium nearing completion, potentially without a tenant to take over.  Luckily, the largely Midwest-based Frontier League was looking to edge into the Chicagoland market and offered the defending champs a spot as an expansion franchise in time for the 1999 campaign.

At this point in the team's history, it seems as though the Cheetahs were constantly cheating certain doom.  Of course, you can only cheat the devil so many times before it catches up with you.

 via GIPHY

Despite finally settling into a semblance of stability, over the next five seasons, the Cheetahs never once finished above the .500 mark and did not once make the Frontier League playoffs.  Accordingly, attendance struggled, as it's tough enough getting people to come out and watch independent baseball, let alone BAD independent baseball.  Hell, they only produced one All-Star during that stretch.  One.  They consistently ranked near the bottom of the league in attendance and bottomed out in 2003, placing 8th in attendance (60,481) in the 12-team league.  That's pretty abysmal for a team meant to edge into the Chicagoland market.

As such, the mayor essentially forced an ownership change (again, they're playing in an expensive stadium that was built on the backs' of the taxpayers, his butt was on the line) and death was knocking at the doorstep.

With new owners came an expansive re-brand; after all, Crestwood was trying to disassociate themselves from years of lackluster baseball.  Thus, the Windy City Thunderbolts were born out of a name the team contest (what even is a "thunderbolt?") and the Cheetahs were officially no more.  While the 'Bolts do claim their feline ancestor's history as their own, it certainly felt like a different team, with such widespread changes.

 Former 'Bolt manager, Haines, and hurler, Nance, have since spent time in the Cubs chain.

Back to the product on the field, the new ownership group apparently knew what they were doing, as the Thunderbolts would soon go on to win two consecutive Frontier League flags in 2007 and 2008, to go along with five playoff appearances.  Although, as I bang out this post, the 'Bolts haven't been to the postseason since 2011.  That seems ominously Cheetah-like.

Meanwhile, the club still plays in that same park, on the corner of Kenton Ave. and Midlothian Tpk.  Very little about the facility has changed, other than a switch to turf in 2015.  The main difference is in the name, which has gone through a few corporate sponsorship since the Cheetahs fizzled out.  Beginning this year, the place will be known as Ozinga Stadium through at least 2023, which really just flows right off the tongue...  Ozinga, in case you were curious is a building materials company based in upper Midwest.

As for the Cheetah's previous home, Howie Minas Field lost it's extra seating and reverted back to Park District duty after it's one glorious season of hosting professional baseball.  It's the only field on which I've played that has also hosted pro ball, as I got to play a few in Pony League games there back in my junior high days.  Although, HMF was eventually able to find another regular tenant and, since 2017, it has served as home to the Crestwood Panthers, of the Midwest Collegiate League, a summer, wooden bat circuit.  Funny, Midlothian is again hosting Crestwood baseball...

A Crestwood Panther pitcher warms up at Howie Minas Field during a game I attended in 2018.

As far as notable Cheetah alumni, Chris Oxspring was the only player to don the black, red and yellow and then eventually make it all the way up to the Majors, The Australia native made his first stateside pro appearance with the Cheetahs in 2000 before eventually making five appearances out the San Diego Padres bullpen in 2005.  He'd also have the honor of throwing the first official pitch in Australian Baseball League history (2010) and the even won a silver medal with his home country's nine in the 2004 Olympics.  His number has since been retired by the Windy City franchise.

Beyond Chris... ummmm... there was a guy named Paul Molitor who played for the team briefly in 2003.  He had nothing to do with the Brewers' Hall of Famer, but that was interesting enough to make me look him up.  They were also managed by former Cub Big Leaguers, Brian Dayett and Chico Walker, at various points.  So, there's that.

And so, there you have it - the history of the Cook County Cheetahs.  Their's is a story of constantly treading water in the choppy waters that are life outside of organized baseball.  However, they are a cherished part of the local identity and provided the base upon which the much more successful Thunderbolts were built.

The Cheetahs/Thunderbolts franchise will be celebrating their 20th year of Frontier League play throughout the upcoming season.  While I haven't seen anything yet, I'm desperately hoping that they will be doing a special promotion night where the club dons uniforms that throwback to the Cheetah days.  After all, throwback jerseys have become "bread and butter" staples of both major and minor league baseball and make for effective lures to attract nostalgic fans and their families.  In fact, the Bolts have done several special uniform promos in years past, although I don't remember any retro-themed events.

Should they choose to revisit the days of the Cheetah, you know that I'll be there.  Plus, courtesy of this thrift store find, I'll be completely ready to dress the part myself!

(Even that bat is a game-used piece from the Cheetahs/Bolts!)

Hankering For a Big Helping of Chili

In between the close of the NLCS and the start of the World Series, Theo Epstein told us Cubs fans that Joe Maddon would have all of the coaches that he wanted back for next season.  The implied lack of turnover wasn't too surprising, given the immense success the franchise has had under their tutelage in the last three years.  However, one might notice that there was a deliberate loophole left in that statement... the ones that Joe *wanted* back.

Since that time, much-heralded pitching coach, Chris Bosio has been handed his walking papers.  His success in reclamation projects has been unparalleled in recent years; but, his magic and his act seemed to wear thin in '17.  Furthermore, John Mallee (hitting) and toothpick-chompin' Gary Jones (third base) have been given their walking papers.  Furthermore, Eric Hinske, the assistant hitting coach, took a promotion with the Angels as their primary batting tutor.  Now, according to the front office, the turnover comes mostly as the result of a desire to bring in a new crop of voices and the availability of other coaches.

In summation, the coaching staff of the 2018 Chicago Cubs is going to have a very different configuration.

With that, allow me to introduce you to the newest member of the Cubs; welcome to the club, Chili Davis! Get it?  It's a "two of clubs" from the 1992 U.S. Playing Cards Baseball Aces deck!  ba-dum-tiss

Of course, Chili had a long and productive career as a Major League player for the Giants, Angels, Twins, Royals, and Yankees, from 1981-99.  Seeing as his career spanned throughout the entirety of the "junk wax" collecting period, I had no shortage of Chili's to choose from in my trade box to move into my Cubs collection.

See?  And that was after just a cursory check.

Even though, in my years of hoarding trading cards, I never collected Chili Davis, the Angels, or the Twins, I have many Chili's to choose from for my Cubs coaches binder.  Since the slugger played in the 80's and 90's and was a semi-star, thanks to the overproduction so prevalent during his time patrolling the outfield, I am nearly overflowing with Chili!

via GIPHY

Once he hung up his spikes, Davis' .360/.451/.811 slash line and 370 home runs landed him jobs as the hitting coach for the Athletics and the Red Sox.  He's been known for his patient approach and inclination to work the count, holdover traits from his playing days - he walked 12% of the time and struck out in just 17% of his AB's.  The Cubs, in need of a hitting coach and having the same, "make the pitcher work" philosophy, pounced and signed him to a contract yesterday, satiating their sudden hankerin' for chili.

Meanwhile, Davis wasn't the only addition to the coaching ranks to be added on Thursday.  Also signing on the dotted line was Andy Haines, earning a promotion from roving minor league hitting coordinator to assistant hitting coach, taking over for the aforementioned Hinske.  This will be Haines' first stint in a Major League dugout.

Normally, even the most fervent of baseball addicts doesn't even get excited about a new assistant hitting coach hire; yet, I'm pretty pumped up.  Why, you ask?

Well, back in 2007, Haines cut his teeth with our local independent, Frontier League baseball club - the Windy City Thunderbolts.  In fact, he helped lead the traditionally second-division band of rag tags from irrelevance to their first league championship in his only year at the helm.  Not bad for his first year as a skipper, eh?  That performance afforded him opportunity in affiliated ball and now he's risen all the way from Crestwood indy ball to the glitz and glamour of the Major Leagues.

I must admit, I'll feel a good bit of local pride when I see him don a Cubs uniform for the first time.

Seeing as I almost never miss the 'Bolts annual baseball card team-set giveaway night, I just so happened to have his '07 managerial pasteboard in my collection already.  A second copy would be ideal, however (for now, at least), he'll transition from my T-Bolt memorabilia collection to my Cubs All-Time Coaches binder, with Chili Davis.

An interview with the new asst. hitting coach, from my 2007 T-Bolts program

Also announced with the Davis and Haines signings was the addition of Brian Butterfield, taking over the third base coach's box from Gary Jones.  Butterfield is a longtime fixture in Major League instruction, having served in various roles for the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, and - most recently - the Red Sox.  He'll be defecting to Chicago along with his former Boston staff-mate and fellow subject of this post, Chili Davis.

Unfortunately, since Brian's playing days were brief, in the early 80's, he never rose above A-ball, and the big card companies rarely show love to coaches, he doesn't have much of a cardboard presence and, thus, will remain unrepresented in my collection until I can track down one of his Best or ProCard singles.

A pair of Butterfield examples, courtesy of COMC.

That about covers the Cubs early off-season coaching shuffle... at least for now.  As of yet, there has been no replacement named for Chris Bosio; although Jim Hickey is seen as the favorite, especially considering his long run as Maddon's PC in Tampa Bay and the Cardinals taking Mike Maddux off of the market (Edit - after drafting this post, it was reported that Hickey has indeed signed on with Chicago). Additionally, bench coach, Dave Martinez, appears to be a finalist for the vacated manager's chair in Washington and may yet also be lost.  Only time will tell what other changes might be in store this offseason, but - as you can plainly see - that early reassurance of coaching staff stability has been completely shattered.

Not that the coaching likely had much of an affect on the Cubs meek NLCS loss, but it'll be nice to see some new blood leading the way for next year's club.  I'm excited to see the approaches of Chili Davis, Andy Haines, and crew and what changes that they might implement to the still well-oiled machine that is the Chicago National League Ballclub.  Maybe the strikeouts will start to dwindle?

In any case, welcome to Chicago (and to my Cubs binders) guys!

Thrift Shop Mania

One of my favorite things to do on a lazy weekend morning/afternoon is to secondhand shop.  Be it garage sales, flea markets, antique shops or thrift shops, there's just something exciting about wandering about aisles of someone else's junk in hopes of turning up a forgotten or otherwise unappreciated treasure.  Now that the wife and I both work jobs where we are guaranteed to have our weekends off and free from the non-sense that is the American workplace, we get to go on these sorts of adventures far more often than ever before in our relationship.  To put it succinctly, it's quite awesome.

This past Saturday was one of those mornings.  Of course, we still had to purchase three mother's day gifts (mom, mom-in-law, step mom-in-law), two graduation gifts (sister and sister-in-law both graduating from high school), find a cute outfit for the wife to wear to the ensuring parties, and take in a hearty breakfast... But, yea, otherwise it was a lazy morning, perfect for strolling up and down the local Goodwill.  Our though process was that maybe we'd find some of those things we needed, except for the breakfast.

Well, we found some stuff...

...and none of it was productive.

What I'm holding here is a trivia game called "Cub Mania," which is basically a Northside baseball-themed Trivial Pursuit expansion pack.  Printed up in 1985, in the afterglow of the surprise NLCS appearance from the previous season, the "trivia game for die-hard Cub fans" can be played as a standalone game or "can also be played with trivia board games!"  I wonder which trivia board games they might be referring to... there are so many, after all...

 As a lover of useless trivia and the proud owner of a brain stuffed with far too much knowledge of the frivolities of Cubs baseball, there was absolutely no way I was going to pass over this test of noggin power, especially with it's two dollar price tag.  No way, whatsoever.

Here's a look at your basic card, with numbers differentiating the categories instead of colors.  The categories are:

1. The Early Years, 1876-1939
2. The years from 1940-1959
3. The 1960s on up to the 1984 Cubs
4. Player personnel - front office, trades, etc.
5. Numbers - from uniforms to records
6. Miscellaneous - organ players to nicknames
7.  

How many of the questions on this random card do you know the answer to?  I'll post the reverse side of the card, which contains those answers, at the end of the post, so that you can ponder (or Google) them for a few minutes.   In the meantime, allow me to tell you about the rest of my thrift shopping experience.

Outside of my "trivial" find, we didn't have much luck at the Goodwill and we still had some time to kill.  Thus, we decided to continue our secondhand shopping adventure and travel just a few more miles down 159th street to the local Savers.  We were on a mission.

This time, my wife was fortunate enough to track down a cute sun dress, validating our time spent at the two thrifty locations.  Meanwhile, as she was flipping through racks, I was completely dumbstruck by what I saw resting on one of the checkout counters:

Then I looked around and saw that there was a similar basket on EVERY checkout counter:

Ooooooo boy - I was simply overwhelmed with cardboard choices.  Clearly, some poor sap had decided to divest himself of his entire baseball card collection and dumped his former treasures on the doorstep of the Orland Park, IL Savers.  Their loss was my gain, as there was no way this "basketcase" was leaving that store without at least a sampling of this repack overstock.

In the end, I decided to go with a collation from the first basket, seeing as I'd also be getting some Ultra Pro, nine-pocket pages to go along with my card findings.

This unknown donator must have collected in the early to mid 2000's, as most of the cards came from that time period.  They were sorted by team, so I grabbed a cello pack that showed all Cubs on the front.  As further evidence that they were accumulated in the mid aughts, names like Aramis Ramirez and Dusty Baker are sorted with the Cubs, despite appearing in different uniforms.

Let's see what gold that the plastic wrap held, shall we?

A nice selection of some stalwarts of any self-respecting card collector's Cub selection, from that particular era.  It made me irrationally happy to find both the 2002 Donruss Fan Club Sammy Sosa and it's chromed up Best of... parallel.

Also among the gems were some forgotten brands and inserts from forgotten brands that hail from that black hole of a time period that is the first half of the first decade of the millennium.  I swear, sometimes it feels like Y2K was real and the bug actually just swallowed up all of the baseball cards printed around that time.

The 1938 World Series program is probably the best of this here bunch - however, a shiny Nomar is always a good way to get into my good graces.  Also, the Spotlights insert of Corey Patterson from Topps Stars has me completely thrown for a loop - I've never heard of the brand or it's corresponding inserts, at all.

My absolute favorite card of the whole thrifty repack was the above "Who Would Have Thought" Sammy Sosa, from the subset found within the puke-bordered 2002 Topps Flagship checklist.  Crosstown crossovers have always fascinated me, as men who have played for both Chicago franchises are few and far between.  Furthermore, like many a young Windy City native who grew up with the home run race on the television, my mind was blown to bits when I first discovered that Sammy Sosa was once a South Side rival.  After all, at the time, Sammy Sosa WAS the Cubs, like Walter Payton was the Bears or Michael Jordan was the Bulls.

Honestly, seeing as I wasn't really collecting at the time, I had no clue that a card existed to commemorate Sammy's transition.  A whole set based around similar crosstown crossovers, in Chicago and other MLB cities, would be an excellent idea, in my humble opinion.

As I mentioned, the collector who jettisoned their collection had their pages sorted by team.  While the cello pack I picked up showed Cubs on the front and back, there were a few stray Angels pages hidden within, as well.  That's okay though, as these bonus Angels provided me with a new card of short-term and forgotten Cub, Ramon Ortiz, courtesy of 2004 Topps.  The former Angels starter found his way into 22 games (mostly from the bullpen) for the pre-rebuild, 2011 Cubs, in the penultimate stop of his MLB career.

Ortiz also appears on the 2004 Fleer Tradition "League Leaders" card on the left, as he led the 2003 Anaheim squad in pitching wins.  Accompanying the surprise ace is a baby-faced John Lackey, who led the staff in strikeouts.  In my mind, Lack has always been a surly, salty veteran, so it's jarring to see him so young.

 via GIPHY

 


That about did it for the Ultra Pro packaged repack - a bunch of early to mid-00's cardboard and a handful of nine-pocket pages.  All in all, not a bad deal for five bucks.  That said, even still, that was not the highlight of my thrift shopping adventure.

Whenever I go into a Savers, Goodwill, or what have you, I always like to check the athletic wear section of the men's department.  As a runner, I know that good running gear can be quite expensive; therefore, I like to keep an eye out for a good deal on dri-fit and technical running shirts.  This day was no exception.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to come across any such tees that fit my figure.  Fortunately, I was able to find something much, much better:

I was stunned to find a game-used, minor league Windy City Thunderbolts jersey sitting on the racks, among the glut of hastily abandoned Jay Cutler jerseys.  Granted, the Crestwood, IL based club is an independent (Frontier League) team that plays, roughly, at the level of Low-A; but, you can't tell me that it isn't cool to find such memorabilia at the local thrift shop.  It was even in my size - how fortuitous!

 As an added bonus, the jersey features the greatest number in Chicago sports, worn by such luminaries as Michael Jordan, Ryne Sandberg, Devin Hester and 2005 World Series MVP Jermaine Dye.  There's some seriously good Chicago mojo in the number 23.  Now I just have to figure out which Bolts player sported that number in the south suburbs.  I've had no luck in figuring that out yet, as neither team records nor Baseball Reference make not of the uniform numbers worn by the indy league's athletes.

Believe it or not, between the local Goodwill and Savers, this is the third time I've found a game-used minor league uniform at a thrift shop.  The most recent time before this, the uni top was even autographed by a former Major Leaguer.

With that, the jersey made for the perfect way to close out to the thrift shopping experience.  On that note, let's revisit that trivia card from the beginning of the post and find out just how much you know about the Chicago Cubs:

When my wife read me the questions on this card, the only one that I got wrong was number two, where I incorrectly guessed Ronald Reagan.  I don't know if she was more impressed with my vast amount of useless knowledge or horrified at how deeply insane that I am.  How did you do in answering these bits of trivia?

To conclude, I had myself one heckuva day in the thrift shops AND we even finished up all of our gift shopping in a timely manner thereafter.  All in all, I'd say my Saturday was well-spent!

You just never know what treasures are going to pop up at the second hand shop.

Last Minute Christmas Shopping

First of all, I hope everyone reading this had a Merry Christmas and that Santa Claus was nice to you. But, never again.

Never again am I waiting until the last minute to do ANY Christmas shopping. Between dealing with the crazy, blood-in-their-eyes shoppers, the demolition derby that was the main roads and the crummy weather, I wasn't feeling particularly cheery on the day before, the day before Christmas.

I'm usually pretty good about getting my seasonal shopping done.  This year, not so much and I have no excuse.

However, it wasn't all terrible.  I made a quick pit stop at the local Goodwill to browse, as I am want to do from time to time.  It was a fruitful endeavor, even though I didn't come across anything for anyone still on my list, as I walked away with a few gifts for myself:  a pair of playable LP's from their "well-loved" record bin - James Taylor's Sweet Baby James and John Denver's Greatest Hits.  Plus, I also scored a jersey from a former, nearby minor league team:

The Schaumburg Flyers were members of the Independent Northern League from 1999 through 2010, playing their games at Alexian Field, just a few miles away from O'Hare Airport (hence their name).  Fun fact - the land upon which this suburban team's home park was originally purchased with the intent of luring the Cubs, in the event that the franchise was unable to bring night baseball to Wrigley.
In the course of their history, the Flyers never won a title and were eventually folded after tax issues with the local government.  Later, they were replaced by a Frontier League club, the Schaumburg Boomers, in 2012.

Anyway, finding what I presume to be a game-used, minor league jersey of a familiar club for chump change at a thrift shop definitely brought a smile to my heretofore frustrated face.  That said, there was even more than what meets the eye:

As you can see, we have a name.  Not only do we have a name, we also have what appears to be an autograph.  Let's take a closer look at that, shall we?:

This made the purchase all the more intriguing.  I assumed that this was just some indy league, non-prospect who maybe got a brief taste of affiliated ball; but, otherwise, was not exceptionally notable.  After all, the Northern League is about even with Low A on the MiLB ladder; in other words, a long, long way away from Major League Baseball.

Researching exactly who this "Marshall" fellow was was made easy by the fact that this uniform top included a nifty patch on the right sleeve:

Presumably, this dude played for Schaumburg during the franchise's first year in the city's northwest suburbs.  Armed with that information, it was easy to look up the team's initial roster on Baseball Reference.  Making things even easier, was the fact that there was only one Marshall on that 1999 active roster... and that's where this purchase got even cooler.

Mike Marshall - as in 1988 World Series Champion Mike Marshall

Not to be confused with the pitcher of the same name (who also spent time with the Dodgers), Mike Marshall was drafted by the Dodgers in the sixth round of the 1978 draft out of close by Buffalo Grove HS in Libertyville, IL.  The local hero rose through the ranks, ascending to the Bigs in 1981 and staying there through the 1991 season.  Along the way, Mike became the (mostly) regular right fielder in LA and, as a key piece for the 1988 World Champs, paced the club with 82 RBI and was second with 20 home runs.

Unfortunately, Marshall also carried a reputation as a softy and missed a lot of time with general injuries throughout his career, leading to confrontation and consternation with his teammates and manager Tommy Lasorda.

Even still, finding the John Hancock of a World Series winner on the back of a game used uniform in Goodwill seemed too good to be true.  Let's examine that autograph, just to be sure:

On the left, we have an IP autograph of the Dodger semi-star (he has no certified autos, to my knowledge) and on the left we have my find.  They look pretty darn close to me and I don't know who has the time to forge signatures of Mike Marshall on the back of obscure, indy team jerseys.  I'm calling this one legit.

Now, you might be wondering, what brought this guy to the Schaumburg Flyers?  You see, his reputation for being unable to play through injuries eventually led to his ouster from affiliated baseball.  After a year spent in Japan (1992), Mike found himself on the outside looking in, estranged from the game he loved.

That is, until seven years later, when the Flyers made it known that they were looking for a player-coach to round out their roster.

Mike's profile in the 1999 Flyers' yearbook, swiped from Ebay

Marshall's status as a local product and a recognizable name likely played a role in his getting the position; gotta put butts in the seats, after all.  That said, as a 39-year old first baseman with a considerable layer of rust, Mike posted a respectable .307/.358/.423 slash line across 33 games in his last year as an active player.  From there, Marshall was able to parlay that success into coaching and management jobs all over the independent league map.

Unfortunately, to this day, Marshall still has not been able to break back into the organized ranks.  A call to the Dodgers lead to a request for his resume and an invitation to throw out the first pitch at a Dodger Stadium contest was rescinded due to a Latin-themed promotion.  Maybe someday.

Overall, I'd say this fascinating piece of baseball memorabilia was worth the six dollar price tag; easily one of my best thrift shop deals ever.  In contrast, I could have layed down ten bucks on a 660-count box full of junk wax.  I think I'm happy with my choice.  It'll look quite nice with my modest jersey collection, which includes a couple more indy league uni's:

My new, signed Schaumburg Flyers jersey will hang proudly with my game-used Cook County Cheetahs and Windy City Thunderbolts tops.  The Cheetahs and Thunderbolts represent both iterations of the hometown minor league team, which plays in the Frontier League.  The club originally went by the Cheetahs moniker, from 1997-03, before "modernizing" with the "edgy" Thunderbolts name, which is still in use today.

The Cheetahs jersey was actually another thrift shop find, while the T-Bolts top was a gift from a family friend.  Unfortunately, I have no idea what player sported either one, as neither has name on the back or a helpful, dated patch.

And so, with that find, I suddenly found myself in a much better mood, ready to plunge into the crazed-crowd at the local Target to get the last of my last minute, "white elephant" party gifts.  I'm happy to report that the person who ended up with the Bluetooth, disco-ball speaker and "A Country Christmas" CD is thrilled with their selection and i am just as giddy about this Mike Marshall jersey that's sticking with me.

Sometimes, you just have to treat yourself.