Head East, Young Man

So, in the time that I was absent from blogging, some of that was due to a long-overdue vacation in late June - my first one since 2010.

Where did I go? Well, I'd never been further east than Ohio, so the girlfriend and I loaded up the car and hit the east coast. She's from Delaware and most of her family is still in the area.

Thus, we didn't have to pay for any lodging - *fist pump*

However, the major draw was Firefly Music Festival in Dover. We spent four days camped out in a tent doing nothing but listening to good music and hanging out. I can't think of a better way to spend a vacation. Foo Fighters, Third Eye Blind, Weezer, Beck, Cage the Elephant, Imagine Dragons, OutKast... and much, much more!

However, if that wasn't enough - we also made it a point to head slightly over the border to Philadelphia to take in a Phillies game too.

Guess who the opponent was. I'll give you a hint - they wear blue and have a baby bear (who doesn't wear pants) as a mascot.

On a day meant to honor Jim Bunning and his perfecto in '64, I saw Travis Wood take a no-hitter into the 6th inning and Anthony Rizzo homer as the Cubs cruised to a 3-0 victory. That quieted the Phillies fans heckling me real quickly.

But, Tony, this is a baseball card blog - what does any of this have to do with cards? Well, at Citizens Bank Ballpark, I found a souveneir item that I had been looking for all over Chicagoland before I left but could not find:

Ironically, I had to go all the way to Philly to find the 2014 Topps Cubs factory team set. While, I already had all of the players in said set in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection in some form or another, I was able to upgrade two men with their first Cubs cards in my binder:

Jake Arrieta, who, like Wood on that day, has taken several no-hitters into the late innings this year during his breakout campaign...

...and the cringe-worthy Jose Veras, who had been released just 4 days earlier. That'll happen to a closer with an 8.10 ERA and no saves. Also, Once a Cub already covered the major blasphemy with this card here on his wonderful blog.  Can you spot it?

Despite all the negative connotations, Mr. Veras still needs to be properly represented in my collection. Since this'll be the only Cubs issue that he receives, it'll have to do.  Meanwhile, the rest of the cards from the set have filtered nicely into my Cubs player collections.

Plus, my girlfriend found this sweet Phillies duck for her rubber ducky collection (she named it "Ryne" - I approve). See,that's how she tolerates my habit - we're both collectors!

But, that wasn't all the card hunting I did over there. One of the small, costal towns we stayed in had a a thriving antique market community, with 3 shops in it's downtown area. Who doesn't love adventuring through such shops? You just never know what you're going to find.

While there weren't any forgotten boxes of tobacco cards lying around (drat), there was one small shoebox filled with junk wax era cards in the third location. I gave it a cursory look and was able to pull a pretty neat card for my CATRC:

Scott May was a failed propect out of the Rangers system that the Cubs pulled off the scrap-heap in 1991. He received one last shot of MLB glory with the Cubbies, but gave up 4 runs in 2 innings that August and punched his ticket out of town.

Like Arrieta and Veras, he was already represented in my collection with his '88 Donruss card on the left, which shows off his Rangers duds.  However, this Iowa Cubs card is the closest thing he got to an actual Cubs card. Thus, it provides a solid upgrade.

Plus, I've made it no secret that I love minor-league cards and these 90's Line Drive sets are among the best-of-the-best in my opinion. Simple design, big sets, deeply-varied player selection... I can't say enough.

And yet, there were still more adventures in baseball card-hunting to be had for me on this vacation! While my girlfriend was in the bathroom at a local shopping mall, I was lucky enough to find a baseball card shop.

I believe that was the universe's way of rewarding me for patiently tolerating a couple hours of outfit shopping.

Since most of the stuff in the shop obviously steered towards teams like the Phillies, Orioles and Nationals, I decided to take my chances with a randomly-selected $5 mystery box of 100 cards.

Hey, I've spent $5 bucks on worse things - like that gas station hamburger...

But, this bet turned out pretty good for me, as this card was sitting right on top:

Well, that was unexpected! I don't have many relics in my collection, as I don't generally seek them out. But pulling one of my favorite players in Kid K out of a random box in Delaware was pretty darn cool!

While, that Wood relic marked the end of the cardboard portion of my adventure, I was way too busy rockin' out at the aforementioned Firefly music festival to do anymore searching anyway.

What a trip!

I'll leave you with a couple of great tunes from bands on the rise I caught at Firefly. Give these a listen - you won't regret it!

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You might have heard their radio-smash "Come With Me Now," but these South Africans rock with authority all throughout their new self-titled album.

While alternative, garage-rock and even reggae influences rear their heads, it's this 70's style rocker that steals the show.

"Hey, I Don't Know" proves that they, in fact, do know how to groove like Grand Funk Railroad.

Bleachers is the new project featuring Fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff.  While his main focus is currently inactive, Jack is keeping his creative muscles flexed.

Their debut album "Strange Desire" is a fascinating blend of indie rock, pop and even electronic and the variety of sounds is evident in each track.

However, the cut "Rollercoaster" might be the best of all.  If Bruce Springsteen was a young songwriter in today's indie scene, this is what "The Boss" just might sound like.

Back From the Dead

Well then.  I could post some long-winded, rambling excuse for why I've been absent from Wrigley Roster Jenga for so long, but I don't really have one.  I've honestly just not felt inspired enough to write about my baseball cards lately.  Perhaps it has something to do with the dreadful state of my team and the ham-fisted, ineptitude surrounding the renovation of Wrigley Field.

It's a shame that I can't get into hockey as much as I do baseball; the Blackhawks are certainly the best franchise in Chicago and one of the best in pro sports, after all.

No matter, it's time to resuscitate this blog because I have definitely pulled in some really interesting and odd cards that I feel inspired to show off and write about.  But, I'll warm things up with some more conventional vintage cardboard that I purchased in a (relatively) recent trip to my LCS.

This small, Chicagoland chain has a branch in Plainfield - right next store to my home in Crest Hill.  It has served me oh-so-well in the past few months, providing the best access to both vintage and new products at pretty decent prices.

But, I'm not an advertiser, so I'm going to stop tooting their horn... it's all about ME and MY stuff!!!!

*ahem* I mean, I'm not selling out.

Anyway, in their back room, the shop has big boxes of single cards from every Topps set from 1954 through 1985 (or thereabouts; it's been a few weeks since my last visit and my memory is hazy). This is a set collector's dream; but, it certainly has proved helpful to me in locating forgotten and semi-stars from bygone years.

For instance, these beauties from one of my favorite sets of all-time:

It might not be fair to call Bobby Thomson a role player, but his best years were definitely behind him when he arrived in Chicago.  In his two seasons (1958-59), he posted a .274 batting average with 34 homers.  Not bad for an aging slugger, but not exceptional either.  However, I'm very happy to finally have a "Cubs" card of the man behind "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" for my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.  I have a few of his NY Giants cards, but no others in Cubbie blue.

In the days before the MLB draft, Chick King was signed right off of the Memphis State campus by the Tigers in 1951.  A tall, lanky outfielder, Chick's main calling cards were his glove and his swift feet (he was also a track star at Memphis State).  However, they did not translate well in the majors and his complete lack of power was a problem.  By the time he got to the Cubs in 1958, he was completely washed up and he received only 14 at-bats over his two seasons in Wrigley.

 Chronologically, the next card that I scored from these boxes was from another phenomenal set and was pretty much a God-send:

Get it? It's because he's an Angel!

Okay, so I'm no comedian...

Archie Reynolds came up with the Cubs just as they were starting hit their stride in the late '60's.  He was drafted in 1966 down in the 38th round, but he came rocketing out of the gate to start his pro-career.  Archie dominated Rookie ball, going 9–3 with a 2.13 ERA, earning a promotion straight to double A in 1967. There, he went 13–2 with a 2.19 ERA and earned his first call to the major leagues in August of 1968.

Unfortunately, he never really hit his stride in the bigs, but he also never got an extended chance.  Getting into only 7, 2 & 7 games with the North Siders from 1968-70 respectively with an ERA of 5.80 in 35.2 innings.

The Cubs traded him to the Angels for a seasoned veteran arm in Juan Pizarro as the Cubs tried desperately to get over the hump.  They never did get over the hump and Archie never did get a real audition; he was out of the Majors completely by 1973.

This "high number" (#672) has eluded me for some time now and therefore I was prepared to spend a couple bucks on it.  However, the clerk was kind enough to drop it in my bag for free because of the crop job.  Hey, that's fine by me!

Let us now fast-forward two years to uncover my next find:

1974 is a set that I can go either way on; depending on the team's assigned color scheme, I either love it or loathe it.  This Twins example falls under "love it," as the red and blue blend well with the background in the photo and the Twins jersey (as it should).  Plus, Mike Adams was also a Cub!

Adams' career wasn't very noteworthy; he spent his entire career as a backup outfielder on some pretty "meh" teams, including the Cubs from 1976-77.  His slash line in Chicago was an anemic

.129

/.325

/.194; he wouldn't even crack today's Cubs outfield!

Also, he might share his name with a certain Phillie reliever, but he bares no relation.  However, his father Bobby played around the infield as a Cub for a few seasons in the '50s and his uncle Dick was also an MLB infielder.

Mike's father also resides in my collection.  But, alas, it is a reprint.

Thus concludes my rather productive trip to The Baseball Card King (three new Cubs players and a Cubbie Update) and my first post back on Wrigley Roster Jenga in some time.

Don't call it a comeback!

No, really.  Don't.  It just calls attention back to the fact that I've been a lazy POS and didn't feel much like writing anything.

But, I will definitely be back tomorrow with some international flavor.  You can count on that!

Cubby Upgrade

Since my stated goal for my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection is to collect any one card of every player that has played for the North Siders,  I have plenty who are represented in my binder wearing other teams' uniforms.

This is because many players never had a card issued of them during their Cubs tenure or because their Cubs cards are small in number and large in price.  I''m not working with an unlimited budget here.

On the plus side, this allows my collection some variety and adds an extra hint of history as well.  You'll find Pilots, Senators, Browns, Expos, etc. in my collection, not to mention the awesome uniforms sported by the Astros and the Pirates in the 70s/80s.

That said, I'd still have entirely Cubs issues if I could.  Thus, I'm always looking to "upgrade" players that I already have so that they're pictured in good 'ol Cubby Blue.  Yesterday, while perusing the LCS for storage boxes, I couldn't help but notice a few new upgrades calling out to me.

First up was one of those infamous 1969 Cubs, Mr. Jimmie Hall.  Hall came over very late in the season via trade with the Yankees (Rick Bladt went the other way) as reinforcement for the outfield.  However, it was too little, too late at that point and this former star was burning out.  He hit .208 in 11 games and then .094 in 28 games in '70 before being sold to Atlanta, where he finished out the year and his career.

The card itself isn't exactly an upgrade condition-wise.  After all, this 1970 Topps release is pretty well worn and creased.  But, it was 25 cents, so it hardly broke the bank; I'll look for a further upgrade later on down the road.  As far as I can tell, this is Hall's only card being depicted on the Cubs.

That said, I have very little love for the 1967 Topps set, due to their frequent use of poor framing and lack of hats.  I understand why they did this, but the film student in me will never be able to get over all of that negative space...

Pete Mikkelsen was an early, prototypical closer.  This fireman came up with the Yankees and spent some time with the Pirates where he racked up 27 saves and finished 90 games before coming over to the Cubs in 1968, via a waiver claim. His time was short in a Cubs uni, in just 7 games he accumulated a 6.43 ERA with no saves before being ejected to St. Louis

Hopefully the Cubs eject Jose Veras in a similar, timely fashion.

There's that 1967 Topps again.  I like this card a lot more than the Jimmie Hall, but I like both the Cubs and the 1968 Topps set much more.  The beige in the border really brings out the bright blue in the Cubs uniforms; beautiful!

Andre Thornton was one of those guys that got away from the Cubs in the 60's/70's era, when the Cubs player evaluation was worse than Jose Veras' ability to keep people off base.  Sorry, I'm being awfully hard on Jose today.

After putting up some decent years with plus power at 1st base for the North Siders starting in '73, he got off to a slow start in '76, the Cubs traded him to Montreal for the immortal Larry Biitner and Steve Renko.  Montreal then sent him packing to Cleveland all he did from there was post 5 seasons of over 25 homers, 2 All-Star appearances, a Silver Slugger and garner MVP votes in 3 seasons, playing until 1987.  What a trade!

But, the Cubs had Bill Buckner and Leon Durham over that course of time, so I guess they didn't miss him too terribly.

I have many cards of Thornton in an Indians outfit, but this 1987 Topps piece was my favorite.  The wood framing makes the set one of my all-time favs and the picture is framed  perfectly with a nice action shot.  However, the 1975 Topps set is just a touch higher on my all-time favs list and the Cubs uniform obviously gives it priority in my collection.

The last update purchase I made wasn't based on the uniform, but based on when the card was printed.  In addition to featuring them as a Cub, I like my cards to have been made in the era in which the player depicted was active, thus adding a little more history to my collection.

So, when I found this 1959 Topps card in the discount bin, I had to grab it - even though I already had the slugging Dale Long in a Cubs jersey.  It's a little beat up (thus it's presence in the discount bin) but this is probably my favorite set of all-time!

Not to mention, even though I love oddballs and I even dedicated a post to this Jack Brickhouse playing card set, I much refer the color photography found in the Topps release.  Sorry Jack!

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So, even though I wasn't able to find any more new players for my Cubs collection yesterday, I was able to update my collection in other ways.  Plus, I was only supposed to be buying new storage boxes to pack up my extra cards in anyway... shhhh... don't tell anyone!

All the cards depicted here that have been updated out are available for trades, so if you see anything you like, shoot me an email or comment or smoke signal or something.

In the meantime, I have a community wide garage sale to attend today, where I'm supposed to be finding some furniture on the cheap for our new apartment.  But, I'm secretly hoping that I'll be able to find some lots of inexpensive baseball cards as well.  It's an addiction!