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.

An Acceptable Bunt

"No bunts. Bunts is an out.... No bunting whatsoever.  If someone bunts on us, throw it to first.  Don't try to be a hero and go to second.  Let them make the mistakes."

That bit of dialogue from one of the greatest baseball movies of all-time, Moneyball, let us know exactly what new-age, statistically-minded front offices think of archaic baseball, small ball strategies like bunting.  Of course, nothing in life or baseball is truly black and white and a well-placed sacrifice bunt or attempt to bunt for a hit absolutely has it's place in baseball.  That said, you are just handing the opposition an out, something that they should have to scrounge and battle for, seeing as you only get three per half inning.

When it comes to baseball cards though, there's no doubt that a Bunt is a good thing.  Of course, I mean the now annual, low-end set release, with a digital connection, put out by Topps.  Last year, we didn't see this product hit the shelves until late in the season; this year, the Kris-Bryant graced packs and blasters were being stocked in retail stores and LCS' across the nation in the second week of May.  i don't know why Topps moved up the release by so many months, but I'm certainly not complaining - it was my favorite product of all of 2017.

Bunt started out as just a digital card application in 2015, downloadable on any smartphone, that allowed enterprising, young kids to swap exclusive digital "cards" with each other on their digital devices, while simultaneously streaming music from Spotify, texting their besties, playing Fruit Ninja, and posting selfies on Facebook.  Then, last year, Topps thought it might be a good idea to their tie their digital product in with something physical, to get a bit of cross-promotion going, much in the same way they did with their Star Wars Digital Card Trader app.

While I could honestly care less about collecting digital scans and .jpg images of baseball cards, the physical version of Bunt really grabs my attention.  The main reason for this is the cheap price point - it's right there with Opening Day as Topps' most inexpensive product, except this brand features it's own, unique base card design, instead of being a Flagship carbon copy..  Furthermore, the inserts included within the product are generally pretty fun.  In short, when one wants to rip packs on a budget, like a cheapskate like me always does, Bunt is always the best option.

Thus, I was super excited when these packs finally appeared on the shelves on my local Target; my LCS doesn't stock the new-ish product.  I couldn't help but pick myself up a jumbo pack as the wife and I finished up our Mother's Day and graduation shopping.

Here's a look at the base cards, of which I hadn't seen anything of the design before opening the above pack and of which none of the cards featured Cubs.  The design is very slick and TV graphic-esque, which I'm sure looks quite sharp on the screen of an iPhone.  Also, the central focus of the card is funneled almost exclusively to the depicted player, seeing as the background in the photograph has been completely obliterated.  Again, keeping it slick for the screen.

What I really like about this set is the fact that the base cards are team color-coordinated in their "borders," as displayed by the three guys that you see above.  That's a characteristic that will always win my collecting heart over - I love when my Cubs cards are blue and red.

Speaking of which...

This one is REALLLLLLLLYYYYYY blue.

Like I said, I didn't pull a single Cubs base card from my jumbo pack, but I was lucky enough to come away with this blue parallel of mister blue-eye-sparkle himself, Kris Bryant.  Is it just me, or does it look as though someone left my card in the freezer overnight?  Of these colored parallels (which fall one per normal pack), Black (1 per box), Green (#/99), Orange (#/50), Purple (#/25), Red (1/1) and the associated printing plates.  These are gimmicky and kind of lazy parallels, but I'll still take an extra blue Cubs card.

Now, let's flip this card over and discuss the card backs, which are the same for these colored parallels as they are the base cards:

Very bare bones - so that they can be easily reproduced in the digital app, no doubt.  We get the same basic personal information that we've been getting on baseball cards for years, plus a short bio.  Additionally, Topps made sure to place the information on how to download it's digital counterpart application, just underneath the brief write-up, which makes sense when it comes to cross-promotion.

In short, nothing to see here - just your basic baseball card back with a small advertisement.

On that note, that wasn't the only Kris Bryant to fall out of my impulsively purchased, jumbo pack to Topps Bunt:

Again, seeing as the idea of this product is to generate some cross-interest in their digital card trader app, Topps has included the following "loot" cards, which include a special code that will allow you to earn some free "coins" for use in buying digital packs of cards.  Basically, you can use the edge of a real coin to earn you some digital coinage.  Seeing as I have no interest in reviving my Bunt account (I deleted the application several months ago because all it was doing was taking up space, though I tried it), I shan't be scratching this code any time soon.

Furthermore, even though this amounts as nothing more than an "ad" card and is what would otherwise be filler in any other pack of cards, the fact that it features Kris Bryant specifically and prominently as part of the advertisement makes it a true, blue Cubs card in my book.   I'm just a cardboard junkie, just looking for any excuse to add a card into my binders.

Anyway, that does it for the Cubs content - let's take a look at the rest of my pickin's:

I got two more blue parallels, along with the reigning National League MVP.  I may be a Cubs fan, but I live on the South Side and go to my fair share of Sox games every year - it still looks bizarre to see Adam Eaton in a Washington Nationals uniform.

As far as inserts go:

Andrew Miller, the seemingly invincible Cleveland reliever that the Cubs finally broke in the World Series last year, pops up in the Infinite checklist.  It appears as though the basis of this set is just taking close-up shots of star players, robbing them of color and super-imposing them over the stadium in which they call home.  Overall, I can't say that they look half bad, I just wish they hadn't turned Andrew into a photographic negative.

Speaking of close-ups:

"Alright Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."

Perspectives is another insert set which focuses on players focusing on the field.  Unlike the angular, Word Art-ish inserts from last year's editions of Flagship, the only true "perspective" in this insert checklist appears to be introspective, which I rate as a indifferent "meh."  What's the purpose?

On the other hand, this next insert is anything but "meh":

My favorite insert, not only in Bunt but from any product, from last year makes a grand return - Programs.  The concept of this set is fairly obvious, as the card is meant to look like an old, beat-up ballpark periodical, with dog-eared corners, torn up edges and even a table of contents on the back side all successfully playing part in the illusion.  As an added, special touch, you can even see what appears to be a hint of a ticket stub poking out from under the "cover."  I even learned something from this old "program" - I didn't know that the ol' knuckleballer managed the famous, all-women Colorado Silver Bullets baseball club.


Unfortunately for my Cubbie-centered collection, this is the wrong Niekro brother.  This and any of the inserts and parallels that you see above, that aren't Kris Bryant, are available for trade.  Just leave a comment below and I'll be sure to set them aside for you.

 via GIPHY

Before I go, I have one more note on these cards:  I've noticed that these bad boys are uber glossy and super slick because of that fact.  Trying to scan these cards kind of felt like trying to wrangle up kids that are all hopped up on birthday cake at a party - they were running away all over the scanner glass, like friction was a foreign concept.  I wonder what the dealio is there.

At any rate, thus concludes my first experience with Bunt 2017 - it doesn't break any new ground, but it's still the most enjoyable low-end product on the market.  I only wish that the base card set would be expanded beyond the 200-card set; let's make this puppy the second-coming of Topps Total, eh?  I think that when the biggest problem with a product is that you want to see more of it, that's a pretty darn good problem to have on your hands.

See Brad Pitt?  A Bunt isn't always a bad thing!

 

It's Happ-ening!

I can't say I saw this roster move coming; in fact, I audibly gasped when I read the news, which freaked out my wife because she immediately assumed that someone had died.  It's all good news though, as Cubs' mega-prospect, Ian Happ, will be making his Major League debut, this afternoon. In order to make room for the 2015 first round draft selection, live-armed reliever, Felix Pena, was optioned back to AAA Iowa.

Happ has torn up the minor leagues since he was drafted out of the University of Cincinnati, as the last bit of fruit from the dreaful rebuilding period.  His performance earned him a non-roster invitation to his first MLB Spring Training camp this past February and let's just say that he turned some heads.  During his time with the big club, Ian posted an eye-popping .417/.473/.813 slash line with an incredible 1.286 OPS, four doubles and five homers.  Despite having only briefly tasted AA in the preceeding season, murmurs of him breaking camp with the Cubs were heard and he earned an aggressive promotion to AAA Iowa.

Once the minor league season began, Happ's momentum carried him through to a phenomenal start, smacking nine more big flies in his first 26 games.  There was almost no doubt that we'd see the 22-year old in the Majors at some point this year - his bat has proven to be more than ready.  That said, I don't think anyone expected his debut to come before the All-Star Break,

For one, Happ's defense at second base is still a work in progress and, accordingly, the franchise has been working him in the outfield positions, in hopes of speeding up his development.  Long term, there's a possibility that he develops into a Ben Zobrist-type super utility player; but, for now, he'll be roaming Major League outfields.

You see, Happ's timeline was sped up by the spate of injuries affecting the roster of the Chicago Cubs.  Right fielder Jason Heyward was just placed on the 10-day disabled list with a thumb injury and center fielder Jon Jay was removed from last night's contest in St. Louis with back spasms.  Additionally, first replacement right fielder Kris Bryant has been battling illness and Addison Russell has been kept off of the infield by shoulder soreness.  Thus, suddenly, the Cubs found themselves with a nearly empty bench, in the middle of a key series with their biggest divisional rival.

I figured that the call-up of a spare infielder was imminent when Jay's recurring back issues popped up last night; however, I figured that this might be John Andreoli's long awaited first chance in the Major Leagues.  But, with the offense reeling as of late, the club appears to be hoping that Happ's bat can inject some life into the lineup, from right field.  At any rate, I'm excited to be adding the above cracked ice parallel from 2016 Bowman Platinum (courtesy of JediJeff, of 2x3 Heroes fame) into my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection binder.

I'll bet that Joe Maddon was excited to be adding Happ's name to the all-time roster as well, seeing as his name was immediately inserted into the starting nine for today's tilt with the Redbirds:

Five of these guys were not on the active roster a year ago. None of the 5 has played a full big-league season yet. pic.twitter.com/XBiQz2n4ME

— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) May 13, 2017

That's an interesting note by Cubs' beat reporter, Gordon Wittenmyer; also of note, on this active, 25-man roster, you will find the team's last five first round draft selections.  Those dreamy, projective lineups that everyone drools over on forums across the internet?  One of them has actually come to life.

 The other four first-rounders are, as follows:

You're simply not supposed to be this successful in the draft selection - it's really quite incredible.  The waves and waves of talent that were so often talked about are more like tsunamis of ability.

As I type up this post, Ian Happ has officially put his name into the Major League portion of Baseball-Reference.com, striking out in his first official at-bat.  Welcome to the Big Leagues, kid!  here's hoping he makes the next few at-bats a little more notable, maybe even Topps Now worthy.

It's Happ-ening, folks!

Itchy and Scratchy

Collecting baseball cards is like dealing with the chicken pox.  No, not in the literal sense - I don't have little Topps and Panini logos popping up on my skin.  However, metaphorically speaking, in collecting cards, I constantly feel like I have a bunch of "itches" to do different things within the hobby or pursue different goals within the field and to scratch them all would be detrimental to my health (or wallet).  That said, sometimes these itches get far too intense for me to continue to ignore and I can't help myself but to scratch... and oven mitts and lotion don't help.

Last night, while making a late night Target run, one of those itches manifested and with my fingers I did scratch.  I used those fingers to pull a random pack of the latest edition of Bowman out of a gravity feeder, a pack which had obviously been searched.  In fact, every single pack in the box had obviously been aggressively felt up by some aggravating pack searcher.  But, that's a tangent I'm not prepared to go on at this moment... argh!!

Anyway, I was hoping to locate some packs of the latest product to hit the retail shelves, the second coming of Bunt; unfortunately, like always with my local big boxers, they've been super slow to get the new product out on the shelves.  Nevertheless, I still felt an overwhelming itch to rip into a pack of cards and I hadn't sampled this year's Bowman yet.  With that in mind, Topps prospect-heavy product was the scratcher.

As far as content goes, there wasn't any cards I was hoping to hit in Bowman this year or any chase cards, per se.  That said, I wouldn't have minded scoring a nice Eloy Jimenez card or an Oscar de la Cruz, a top prospect making his mainstream card set debut.  Both are on an MLB track and I'd like to have some cards set aside for my CATRC if they make the ultimate ascent.  I could tell you one thing for sure, though - I wasn't going to get any hits out of my purchase (curse you, searchers!).

While I didn't land Jimenez, de la Cruz, or any hits, I did walk away with one Cubs card and a nice Anthony Rizzo one, at that.  Anytime I pull any Cubs card from a single, impulsively bought retail pack, I consider that a victory, in and of itself.

The design of this year's Bowman isn't bad; although, if last year's flagship set was the "TV graphics" set, this layout is the "TV Graphics on Steroids" set.  Seriously, I can almost hear the Sportscenter theme blaring in the background as I gaze at this card.  I don't hate it though - at least it differentiates itself from the previous editions of the product, which is something you really can't say about the last few years of Bowman.  One thing irks me though:  that weird, pseudo-embossed thing going on in the upper right corner.  What purpose does that serve?  Was each card notarized before being packed up?

Anywho, let's flip this bad boy over and take a look at the back.

The team color coding in the background is a nice touch and a characteristic I welcome anywhere on any set.  We also get the normal "Bowman Briefing" write-up and prerequisite single year line of stats, as well.  Additionally, like 2017 Flagship, Bowman recognizes the continually growing influence of social media by including the depicted player's Twitter handle, if they have one.

All told, nothing crazily different here.

Like I said, the Rizzo was the only Cubs card I was so fortunate as to pull; so, here's the rest of what resided within my itch-scratching pack rip.  We have a pair of established Major Leaguers in DeGrom and Rizzo's main rival for premier NL first baseman, Goldschmidt, a couple of rookie cards in Strahm and Tapia that I, admittedly, know nothing about, and a bunch of prospects - a couple of which are all chromed up.

I hear that Austin Meadows kid is pretty good and is all but a sure thing to give us Cubs fans fits in future NL Central races.

I'm not attached to any of these cards (except the Rizz) at all; so, if any of them catch your fancy, just shoot me a line and they are all yours.  I know I'm quite a bit behind when it comes to sending out trade packages; but, I assure you that if you are expecting something from me, said package will be hitting the mail in the near future.  Sorry for the delay!

via GIPHY

Overall, I'd say that this little impulse purchase successfully scratched that pack-ripping itch.  Like I said, any time I actually pull a Cubs card out of a pack, I consider that endeavor to have been a success.  Furthermore, I actually kind of like this hyped-up TV graphics design for Bowman, as it differentiates it from the previous years of sets, which run together like one big, white-bordered blur.

That said, I still kind of wish that I'd bumped into Bunt.  At $2.99 for 10 cards, Bowman isn't the best deal on value and I still haven't seen the new design for Bunt yet, so I'm extremely curious.  But, I can't complain too much with my purchase.

Here's hoping that the next itch that proves to strong to ignore is just as harmless and satisfying.

Hopefully, the Butler Did It

The Cubs' pitching staff has been in a state of constant flux for about a week now.  Names like Anderson, Grimm, Pena, Zastryzny and Dylan Floro have come and gone, all in the name of keeping the bullpen relatively fresh and injecting some life into the starting rotation.  Floro made his Cubs debut on Tuesday, in Game One of the day's doubleheader with the Rockies, to mop up Jake Arrieta's short outing and was immediately sent back down in favor of Jeimer Candelario.  I guess it's actually a GOOD thing that Jake couldn't make it four innings, otherwise my purchase of Floro's Bowman card would have been for naught.

How selfish of a thought is that?

Anyway, the shuttle between Iowa and Chicago continues to run a schedule that only a trucker hopped up on coffee and 5 Hour Energy could maintain - I'd hate to have to pay that fuel bill!.  In the midst of this continuous game of roster jenga (hey!), we have received another Cubs debut alert!

Cubs will add Eddie Butler to the roster for the Cardinals series. Has a 1.17 ERA in five starts at Iowa. Cubs announced he'll start Friday.

— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) May 10, 2017

Eddie Butler was acquired in a minor trade with said Rockies, this past February, in exchange for relief prospect James Farris and a couple of international bonus slots switching hands.  Now, it's time for this Butler to answer the call to service.

The 26-year old hurler comes with a first round draft pick pedigree (46th overall, 2012) with a live fastball that consistently reached the upper 90's.  He quickly progressed through the Rockies chain, from there, and (controversially so) reached the Bigs by 2014.  Unfortunately, his stuff never translated to the Big League mound at Coors Field, as he offered a nearly one-to-one strikeout-to-walk ratio, with his secondary breaking pitches flattening out and getting hit hard.  All told, across three partial seasons of being jerked back and forth between the Majors and AAA, Butler posted a dismal 6.50 ERA in 159.1 innings.

The Rocks gave up on the former top prospect this winter, after a roster crunch forced their hand, leading to his being DFA'ed.

Butler during his time in the Rocky Mountains, image courtesy of Getty Images.

Change of scenery types have long been a favorite of this Cubs administration.  Jake Arrieta is the obvious poster boy for success in this method; however, the cases of Trevor Cahill, Pedro Strop, Mike Montgomery, et al offer further examples of just how successful they've been.  Perhaps a little work with pitching coach Chris Bosio can add Mr. Butler's name on that list?  In fact, Cubs VP called the young pitcher a 'perfect change-of-scenery candidate.'

The "Bosmosis" effect seemed to work in Spring Training, as Eddie limited opponents to a .204 batting average and struck out batters at an impressive clip.  While Brett Anderson initially won the fifth starters job out of camp, Butler solidified his chances at being the first called up if starting reinforcements were required.  With Brett's ugly start to the season and subsequent injury, now is Butler's time to shine.

As long as his breaking pitches break, there's no way he could be worse than Brett.

Sorry to poo-poo on you, Brett, but the results just haven't been there.

Back when the Cubs pulled the trigger on the Eddie Butler deal, I quickly took to my trade box to see if I had any Butler cards hiding in my Rockies trade bait.  Whenever the Cubs make a new acquisition, this is something that I've made a habit of doing, no matter how minor the deal is, because you never know who might end up contributing.  Baseball is a funny sport, after all.  Luckily, as it turned out, I found the following card nestled in said section, so that I might have it at the ready if this Butler's services were required:

Honestly, I don't remember purchasing any 2013 Topps Heritage Minor League in any form; but, apparently, at some point in the past few years, I pulled the trigger on at least a singular pack of the stuff.  I guess it's a good thing that I did, as this was the only Butler in my trade box - into my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection binder it now goes.  Here's hoping that he seizes his opportunity, takes that fifth starter's spot with authority, and earns himself a real, authentic Chicago Cubs baseball card.

The pitching staff could really use that stability, at this time.

It's amazing how quickly the baseball tide can turn.  Last year, the Cubs starting staff was historically good and it took until almost the All-Star break before someone other than the original five took a turn in the starting rotation.  This year, the Cubs rotation ranks in the middle-lower part of the pack and we barely made it to May without the whole thing starting to unravel.  Like I said, baseball is a funny sport.

Perhaps when the Cubbies eventually turn this thing around, we can look back and say, unironically, that "the Butler did it!"

Hungry for a Championship

Ever since Tom Ricketts and his family loosened their purse strings and spent gobs of money to purchase their beloved baseball team, way back in 2010, ownership has been hungry for a World Series Championship.  Ever since these new, financially-inclined owners went out and got their man, Theo Epstein, to lead the franchise in 2012, he and his front office cohorts have been hungry for a World Series Championship.  Ever since this new Theocracy went out and began their lengthy rebuild by acquiring long-favored prospect Anthony Rizzo via trade, the players on the roster have been hungry for a World Series Championship.  After 108 years of historic and oftentimes laughable futility, there's no doubt that generations of Chicago Cubs fans were absolutely STARVING for a World Series Championship.

What do you do when you're hungry?  You eat, duh, and that's just what the 2016 Chicago Cubs did - they feasted on the rest of the National League and, then, the Cleveland Indians on their way to that World Series Championship.

Now that this hunger has been temporarily satiated, it's still important that you don't forget to eat some actual food, as well; you can't live off that excitement forever.  Thankfully, in the same way that Anthony Rizzo helped  to satisfy the hunger of a title-starved fan-base, Mr. Rizzo is now helping those same die-hards start off their day with a balanced breakfast in their belly.

That's right, Cubs fans - RizzO's are back... and, like Madonna or David Bowie, with a whole new look:

Last year, the popular Cubs first baseman and his Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation partnered with Chicago-area grocer, Jewel-Osco, and distributor, PLB Sports, to raise money and awareness for cancer research by branding a line of breakfast cereal in Anthony's name.  Given that his last name ends with such a pronounced vowel, it's no surprise that the powers that be went with their own version of Honey Nut Cheerios - they are shaped like "O's" and all.

This cereal was a big-seller throughout the course of the 2016 season and became something of a local sensation.  Thus, the cereal is back again for 2017, this time with a key update.  This year's version of the product is therefore labeled as the 2016 Championship Edition.  You might say that these RizzO's are more like little World Series rings.

With me being the incessant collector that I am, having already picked up the previous edition of the Cubs-tinged breakfast cereal, I couldn't help but to pick up another box of my own in order to complete the run, of course.  So, one night, after work, my wife and I hopped into the car for the expressed purpose of picking up a box... and some odds n' ends on our grocery list, but that wasn't where my focus lied.

As you can see from the previous two photographs, Jewel was more than prepared for crazy Cubs fan turnout and this player-licensed breakfast cereal was well-stocked in multiple locations throughout the store.  Although, having already been out for a week or so and with it already being marked with clearance prices, I have to wonder, will the 2017 edition of RizzO's be nearly as well-received as it's predecessor?  Has the gag already run it's course?

At any rate, I had my new collector's box of knock-off Cheerios (and bananas, apples, and mixed nuts) and I was a happy camper.

Here's a closer look at the front of the updated box.  Instead of featuring an image of Rizzo at the plate after a majestic, home run stroke, we see Anthony with his arms in the air, in a state of pure jubilation, immediately after catching the final out of the 2016 World Series. While the real deal happened in the birthplace of rock & roll, here the cartoon-ified Rizzo is placed on a background which features the capacity-filled Wrigley Field bleachers, with ivy and bunting abound.  Of course, like last year's version, the key part of a balanced breakfast is not licensed by Major League Baseball and thus required the removal of all Cubs markings by airbrush and Photoshopping.

I said this last year and I'll say it again now, it's a shame that the people behind this promotion didn't also include a trading card inside of their cereal, in the mold of the old Kellogg's or Post promos.  I would love to own this same artwork, in 2.5" by 3.5" cardboard form for my binders.

C'est la vie.

On the backside, there's a bare-bones advertisement for purchasing the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation's latest t-shirt, manufactured in partnership with the 108 Stitches company, the same company behind former Cubs reliever, Jason Motte's, "K Cancer" t-shirts.  There's not much to this particular top, but the blending of the "z's" in Rizzo with his uniform number of 44 is pretty neat.  Plus, the proceeds go to an excellent charity.

Speaking of which, if you have any questions about what the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation is and what exactly it is they do, all you have to do is visit the side panel of the cereal box:

Here we get a nice rundown of the foundation's stated goals and their background, if you were curious.  If you didn't already know, when Anthony Rizzo was still a prospect in the Red Sox system,  he was diagnosed with limited state classical Hodgkin's lymphoma in April 2008 and underwent six months of chemotherapy.  Ever since he got the news that his cancer was in remission, Rizz has been trying to give back and use his status to assist with those afflicted with the dreadful disease.

Opposite of that, on the other side of the box, we have the nutrition facts, as required by the Food & Drug Administration.

With that, we've covered each and every panel of the 2016 Championship Edition of RizzO's.

Here's a side-by-side of the two editions, so that you can compare and contrast and/or admire my blossoming cereal box collection.  In addition to these two promotions, I also have a box of Blackhawks' defenceman, Duncan Keith's "Keith Krunch" from last winter, as well as an old box of Slammin' Sammy's Frosted Flakes, released in the aftermath of the great home run race.  As cool as these goofy, little promotions are, I'm running out of space on my mantle and if, heaven forbid, a Cub should appear on a box of Wheaties anytime soon, I don't know what I'm going to do with these things.

Sidenote - seriously, a Cub has never, ever appeared on the front of a box of Wheaties.  Not Sammy Sosa, not Ryne Sandberg, not Ernie Banks... what gives?

Well, that's a lie, I know exactly what I'm going to do.  I'm going to run to the store, buy a box, pour myself a big bowl of whatever and make space somewhere for the latest cereal box edition to my miscellaneous sports memorabilia collection.  I may no longer be starved for a World Series Championship (though I wouldn't mind another), but I still need something to put on the breakfast table.

Breakfast - it's the most important meal of the day, serving it up Rizz's way.

-----------------------------------------------------*UPDATE*------------------------------------------------------

After perusing the official website for PBL Sports, I've discovered that my dilemma will be coming to fruition much sooner than I anticipated. Apparently, Anthony Rizzo is not going to be the only member of the cure-busting, 2016 World Series Champions to get his own brand of cereal, this year:

Looks like the World Series MVP will be getting the balanced breakfast treatment as well, which seems only fair. I wonder what kind of cereal "Zorilla Crunch" will "ape."

But, even that's not all:

Allegedly, this is already even on the market! How did I miss this?

Seeing as "Grampa Rossy" was one of the most popular personalities on the club and continues to shine in the public eye through Dancing with the Stars, this also seems like a natural selection. Guess I have to add "Grandpa Rossy Crunch" to the shopping list, as well.

My wife is going to be SO thrilled.