Silky Smooth Hair(ston)

The inserts, manufactured relics, parallels, etc. of the modern collecting landscape are a divisive topic in the cardboard community.  Some absolutely loathe their existence with their overwhelming flooding of the market and silly premises, others love the variety and creativity that they bring to the table.

Me, I sit on the fence; I like them in moderation and when they have a purpose.  On the flip-side, things like manufactured relics and 342 different color parallels are pointless and gratuitous.

One of the sillier examples, in my non-expert opinion, in recent years, has been silk cards.  They're encased in plastic like a graded card (ugh, different rant) and while they are different, they have no real reason to exist.

So, if I feel this way, why the heck did I purchase one the other day, knowingly and purposely?

Because it is the only Cubs card of Scott Hairston produced to date and I can say, with 99.9% certainty, that it will be the only one ever made.  This Hairston brother spent just half a season on the North Side of Chicago way back in 2013.

Well, 2013 feels like a really long time ago anyway, with all the players the Cubs have shuffled through during this rebuild.

Scott was signed going into that season to serve as the first bat off of the bench and to provide some power.  Having hit 20 homers for the Mets the previous season, he seemed to be rather qualified.

It didn't go so well; in 52 games, he managed to put up 8 taters, but counteracted that production by staying well under the Mendoza line (.172 - yikes).  He was promptly flipped to the Nationals for Ivan Pineyro, who has actually been an interesting prospect for the Cubbies.

Unfortunately for Scott, things never really turned around for him in Washington and after a season and a half of meager production, he was was allowed to walk.  As of today, he remains unsigned.

Thanks COMC! I never did pull these cards

But back to the card.  As you can see above, Scott appeared as a Met in Series one that year and as a National in Update.  You might also notice that the picture on his Nationals card is exactly the same as his silk parallel, except for one key component: the jersey.

When the Cubs shipped him to the Capital, Topps moved quickly to keep their set up to date and sent their photoshoppers to work.  Magically, the shot they had earmarked from Cubs spring camp to represent Hairston was transformed.  All is well then, right?

Welllllllll, I imagine that these silk pieces take a little more effort and time to be whipped up than your traditional card; you can't just stick silk into an industrial printing press after all.  Thus, Scott's smoothy of a twin could not be corrected.

That's fine with me though, seeing as my goal is to acquire at least 1 Cubs card of every player that they've rostered.  Without this snafu, it'd be impossible for me to fulfill this goal for THIS Hairston family member.

Brother Jerry Jr. came to Chicago in the Sosa trade while uncle Johnny got a cuppacoffee with the '69 heartbreakers

(the Johnny is a custom that I created with the Rookies smartphone app, spotlighted here)

The Hairston family is among the most pervasive in baseball (and maybe professional sports) history.  Patriarch Sam was a Negro League star and saw some time with the White Sox in the 50's while his sons Johnny and Jerry both made the majors.  Jerry Sr. was a key piece of the Winning Ugly White Sox and then spawned two more major leaguers himself, Jerry Jr. and today's subject Scott.

Fun fact - every single one of the Hairstons played in at least one game for one of the Chicago ball clubs.  They must be genetically drawn to the Windy City!

Jerry Sr. and his sons early in their careers

So, in summation, though I'm not a huge fan of the silk parallels and what they represent in the current sports card industry, I was very happy to add this one to my collection.  Besides the Cubs duds, it also came for the right price, just $2 bucks including shipping.  Perhaps it's because it's serial-numbered out of just 50, but after many months of seeing it listed between $8-$15, I had to pounce.

Also, this card is definitely very silky smooth and looks pretty good nestled in my binder.  Damnit, I think this concept could grow on me.

Does that make me a hypocrite?  I guess so.  Does that mean I care?  Not so much!

Wada Pack!

I rarely ever even consider buying blasters, let alone boxes of new product.  It's not in my budget and there are rarely more than a handful of base cards that I am interested in.  I'm just not a set-builder; it's the second-hand market for me.

That said, I almost always pick up a pack or two when something new hits the shelf.  Gotta scratch that curiosity itch and, who knows, maybe I'll land one of my targets.

When the checklist for this year's Heritage release was revealed, there were 5 cards that struck my fancy - the first Cubs appearances for Miguel Montero, Tommy LaStella and Tsuyoshi Wada (which you see above), Eric Jokisch's very first major card, plus Kyle Hendricks' second Heritage showing (though this one is not a silly high number, like last year).  These all fill needs for my CATRC.

So, I bought two packs from the LCS on the way home from work the other day.  The first one I opened not only contained the apparently forced happiness of Wada, but also a hat-less and photoshopped LaSTELLAAAAAAAA!

The second pack was a complete dud for Cubs, but getting almost half of my set needs from a singular pack of cards is a pretty good day in my book.

I know that the original 1966 set is pretty hit or miss with a lot of people; I am among those that appreciate the less as more approach and I've always thought that the color used in the text banners melded rather well with the Cubbie blue uniforms, but did they get it right?

Let's take a look for ourselves, shall we?

Pretty good, but I don't understand why the names on the bottom became yellow.  Plus, the text boxes went from orange to more of a golden-yellow.  Yellow on yellow?  I might not have majored in art in college, but I know that's a bad idea.

Despite that, it looks like Tommy approves with distinct enthusiasm.  After all, the text was replicated perfectly and the layout looks like it was expertly traced.

There was something else that I really appreciated about this set.  This quality is in regards to a specific card though.  It was on the back of Wada's card that Topps included some details that are far-too-often ignored:

The stats from his time in Japan!  Far too often does Topps pretend that these imports never played professional baseball before.  Nippon Professional Baseball is no little league!  Kudos to Topps.

Now, like I said, the rest of the packs' contents weren't really useful for my collection; but, here are some of my favorites anyway.  A "best of the rest" of sorts:

The first cards of these guys in their new digs; it's always pretty cool to see such things, even if one is a Cardinal.

In addition, Topps has certainly had their fair share of shockingly bad airbrush/Photoshop jobs, but they sure did do much better job here than the creator of Brandon's Twitter picture:

Not even Bob Locker's 1973 card was that horrendous!

 There are a couple of award-winning faces.  I think Asdrubal was trying to hold off a trip to the bathroom.  I can't decide if Topps' photo editor was asleep at the wheel or if they felt that the snapshot was so bad that it was actually good.

Or, maybe, he's just a jarred by finding a card of a team like the Nationals or D'Backs in such a retro-themed set as I am?

Meanwhile, I think that Mike is still bitter about losing to the Giants in the World Series.  Sorry buddy, it was out of your hands:  it was an even-numbered year!  Turn that frown upside down, you'll feel so much better.

One of my favorite parts of Heritage is that they are the only major sets (from any company) that seems to remember that managers are still around.  Bruce Bochy's Hall of Fame resume is certainly worthy of some cardboard recognition and here's hoping that after his health scares this offseason that all is back to normal and he can add to it.  Get well soon Bruce!

Now, Mr. Eaton might play ball on the other side of town, but I always have had a soft spot in my heart for top of the order spark-plugs, as evidenced by my waxing-poetic over the career of Juan Pierre yesterday.  Hopefully he stays off of the disabled list this year.

A collision with a wall was among the incidents that put Adam on the shelf in 2014

While I do find these cards at least mildly interesting, they are all up for grabs if anyone desires them.  Perhaps someone can help me out with the rest of my Cubs needs from Heritage?

Packs are really the essence of baseball card collecting; nobody was buying blasters or boxes of cardboard from their local corner-store before card become a money-making commodity.  So, though my collection is super-specific, I will always want to rip a pack or two of every new release.

That reminds me, tomorrow I should pick up a couple packs of the new Donruss set that came out today....

Pierre Today, Gone Tomorrow

I'm several days late on this, I know, but it seems like that's kinda my thing.

Juan Pierre recently announced his retirement from the game, calling it a career ranked 18th all-time in stolen bases with 614 and a .295 career batting average through 14 seasons and 6 different teams; not to mention a World Series Championship.  One of those teams was the Cubs, though it was only for one year in 2006.

On the left, we have Juan's 2006 Topps Flagship issue and on the right is his photoshopped card from the Factory Set

After a terribly slow start in Chi-Town, Juan ended up leading the NL with 204 hits and stealing 58 bases.  He was a spark plug at the top of the Cubs lineup and did a much better job than Corey Patterson had the previous couple of seasons. Unfortunately, the offense behind him was lackluster after Derrek Lee was lost for the season in May and nothing was done to replace him.  A month late trade for an over-the-hill Phil Nevin was the best you could do Jim Hendry?!

Compounding the issue, his other stats were pretty pedestrian, he didn't hit his stride until the season was already lost and his extraordinarily weak throwing arm cost the club several runs throughout the year.  Thus, the Cubs let him walk that winter.

While Topps went the Photoshop route, Fleer went the lazy route

(I honestly don't know which way I actually prefer)

The Cubs played a pretty high price to acquire him from Florida as well.  Ricky Nolasco was the centerpiece and has gone on to have a pretty good MLB career; he'd have looked really nice in the rotation of the 2007-08 one-and-done playoff teams - maybe they wouldn't have had to give up Josh Donaldson to get Rich Harden... but I digress.

To make matters even worse, Sergio Mitre had a few more good seasons as an innings eater and Renyel Pinto became a key cog in the Marlins bullpen for the next several seasons.  Oopsy daisy.

Another strike against him in Cubdom was his role as a key contributor to the Marlins incredible comeback against the Cubs in the 2003 NL Championship series.  All he did was bat .303 in 36 ABs and mashed the double off of Mark Prior in the 8th inning of game 6 that begat the ensuing historic rally.  No doubt it was his performance in that heart-breaker of a set that put him on the Cubs radar.

Juan Pierre as a Marlin only helped to break Cubs fans' hearts

Now after all that, why would I have such a soft spot for this guy?

Well, as a runner, I always appreciate players who wreak havoc on the basepaths.  It was always exciting to watch him as he took his lead off from first, twitching with anticipation.  Juan was a genuine pest for the opposing pitcher and the Cubs have lacked that sort of game changing speed for many years before and since.

Not to mention, he always played the game with class and grace, despite the vitriol he received from the LA press for not living up to the large 5 year, $44 million contract he signed with the Dodgers after leaving the Windy City.

Initial lack of production, a hefty contract and the acquisition of Manny Ramirez fueled the fire in LA

He also had a little tradition that I thought was really cool before the NL told him to quit it in 2006:  he always wore a camouflage shirt matching the color of his team underneath his jersey.  For whatever reason, I latched onto it myself and immediately ran out to the local army surplus store and bought my own.

Scraggly, teenage me at the Wrigley garage sale in 2006; can I take a picture or what?

In addition, at the time the Cubs acquired him, I remember that he told the press that as soon as he heard the news, he went into his closet and pulled out an Andre Dawson jersey just to see what he would look like in Cubbie blue.  I thought that was just the coolest thing; he was both enthusiastic to be a Cub and aware/respectful of the franchise history.

But, it wasn't just me; though he was a bit bit of a baseball nomad, he seemed to be pretty well-liked everywhere that he went.  Even the Dodger press grew to like him after a little while.  Juan was known for his work ethic and for his durability (5 years in a row of playing 162 games and only twice playing less than 130).  Thus, Rockies, Marlins, Cubs, Dodgers, White Sox, Phillies and Marlins fans again enjoyed having him around.

Juan originally came up with the Rockies back in 2000

Plus, he really showed off his aforementioned class through his Twitter account on the day he announced his retirement.  He tweeted out though-out and genuine "thank you" messages to each of the organizations and fan-bases that he played for.  He also expressed his one regret in what turned out to be a very successful MLB career:

He's got jokes too!

I'll close out this post with my favorite card of Mr. Pierre, even though it doesn't depict him in blue pinstripes.  It features him in the jersey of the franchise that he will likely be most identified with, the Marlins, during his second go-round and sunset season:

This 2013 blue sparkle parallel really gels with the oranges and yellows of the Miami uniforms quite well.  I might typically find the recent phenomena of parallel madness rather annoying and silly, but I must admit that sometimes it produces some pretty spectacular pieces of cardboard.

So, here's to you Juan Pierre!  You may have only lasted for one season on the north side of Chicago, but you and your speed sure did leave a mark on the Great American Pastime!

Coaches' Corner

I've been actively working on my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection for over 10 years now.

While the Cubs franchise has existed since before the Great Chicago Fire and has seen a couple thousand players come and go throughout that time, the collection is starting to hit a lull.  I've covered pretty much all of the players of stature and a great majority of players since Topps started up.

After that, it's really hard to find reasonably priced cardboard of players from the days of horse and buggy.  I can't exactly afford real Allen & Ginter or Gypsy Queen.

That's if there's even cardboard at all.  Cards probably weren't made of Joe NoName and his 3 at-bats for the 1890 Chicago Colts.  That said, I will search until I can search no more.

Thus, in order to keep from falling into an extensive funk,  I've started to explore another avenue of my archive:  coaches.

I've always kept cards of Cubs coaches when I've come across them, but I've never really actively pursued them.  It wasn't until the last month or so that I finally decided to start organizing them, research a full list of coaches and put them into their own little section of my CATRC binder.

Duffy and Tony here were among my first gets.

Dyer had a fourteen year MLB career that included a World Series title in 1969 with the Mets *shudder*  Clearly the Cubs didn't hold that against him when Lee Elia added him to his coaching staff in 1983.  Muser spent 4 years as the Cubs hitting coach from 1993-97 after a journeyman ten year, big-league career.

I must say, I've always liked the Pirates yellow batting helmets and the White Sox jerseys that incorporated red from the late 60s/early 70s.  They look so odd today.

Before Ruben's son was running the Phillies and after Ruben was playing for the Phillies, Ruben was coaching for the Cubbies from 1983-86.  Cottier's MLB career ended in 1969, courtesy of an Achilles tendon injury, leading to a long coaching career that included a stint as manager of the Mariners from 1984-86 and a lengthy stint on the Cubs staff from 1988-94.

I will always love the wood grain borders of 1962 Topps; it's iconic for a reason, after all.  Plus, any opportunity to add a card featuring a forgotten franchise like the Senators is a welcome one.

Sonny Jackson was a member of Dusty Baker's staff throughout his entire run (2003-06).  Meanwhile, Dick Cole's tenure on the Cubs staff came 40+ years earlier in 1951.  Unfortunately, that is not an authentic 1954 Topps card, but a Topps Archives reprint.  Nevertheless, those are two pretty iconic sets represented by these two cards.

Ray Schalk might be more of an icon on the south side of the city for his Hall of Fame playing career and being one of the honest members of the Black Sox, but he also plied his talents on the other side of town right after his retirement from 1930-31.  Who knew?

Herm Starette might have been recognized by TCMA in their 1978 set "Star of the 60's," but otherwise his brief playing career has been largely forgotten.  After all, it only lasted 27 MLB games, 46 innings. Regardless, he's a baseball lifer and besides the Cubs in 1987, he's spent time with the Braves, Orioles, Giants, Brewers, Expos, Red Sox and the 1980 World Champion Phillies.

One more for tonight:

Mark was the pitching coach under the infamous Mike Quade-era of the Cubs in 2010 and 2011.  He never made the majors as a player and, to date, he has not served on another big league coaching staff before or since his time with Chicago.  After all, the pitchers that the Cubs trotted out under his watch (John Grabow, Doug Davis, Ramon Ortiz... gag me) really didn't do much to boost his resume.

Still, gotta appreciate minor league baseball cards.  Unfamiliar teams and garish designs make up for the fact that this is a Cardinals card.

So, my coaching collection is off to a pretty decent start.  Besides these guys, I have about 47% of the all-time staff covered.  One of these days, I'll get around to updating my lists and include the coaches in case anyone wants to arrange a trade.

That said, my main focus is still on my Cubs player collection, this at least gives me a nice tangent to pursue when that trail starts getting cold.

I guess when it comes to adding coaches to my CATRC, that famous Fogerty tune becomes "put me in, I'm a coach and I'm ready to play!

Coke, No Pepsi!

Cheezborger!

Ahem... Perhaps that iconic bit of Chicago-inspired SNL history is lost on you, just like the minor-league signing the Cubs made a couple days ago:

Or maybe you did know; he was a fairly big-name amongst relief free agents on the market this off-season.

At any rate, the Cubs were able to snag the lefty on a non-guaranteed deal when Phil allegedly had MLB deals on the table.  So, much like last years signing of Emilio Bonifacio, it seems like all Phil has to do is look like a semi-competent pitcher this spring and he'll make the roster.

 You can find Emilio all over the diamond on the other side of town this year

Plus, the Cubs surprisingly cut their only experienced situational lefty, Wesley Wright, this winter.  So, while his overall numbers were pretty bad last year for the Tigers (3.88 ERA in 58 innings), it appears as though he was over-exposed to righties (126 AB vs. righties, 108 AB vs. lefties).  He figures to be the favorite for the LOOGY.

I guess he wasn't the "Wright" fit

Meanwhile, I'd like to take this opportunity to discuss the other non-roster guys I have cards for, lest they be cut before I get the chance:

About a month ago, it was reported that the Cubs had signed Feliciano to a minor-league deal; but, as of today, it still has not been announced.  But, until I hear otherwise, I'm considering him as part of the organization.  There's a lot of mileage on that arm and he hasn't pitched much in the last few years due to injury, but it doesn't hurt to let him compete with Coke for that LOOGY spot.

Bard is a Theo guy and essentially took last season off from pro baseball after a series of setbacks in the Rangers organization.  This is actually the second time he's been acquired by the Cubs, as Theo and Jed claimed him off waivers in September of 2013, but he never appeared in a game.  If he can finally harness his control with a little Bos-mosis, he'd be a compelling darkhorse bullpen piece.

Adron (apparently pronounced as "Adrian") is a one-dimensional speedster who's greatest achievement in baseball thus far has been appearing on an inordinate number of 2012 Topps Heritage floating head rookie cards.  The Cubs outfield is very crowded, but if he hangs around in AAA until September and the Cubs are in contention, he'd make a nice addition to the roster as a pinch-running specialist.

Joe is actually not a non-roster invitee, but a waiver claim.  However, I'm including him here because he is far from being guaranteed a roster spot.  He's another lefty to add to the mix, coming over from the Rangers organization.  I would have considered him the favorite for the LOOGY until the Coke signing, seeing as he'd likely be lost to waivers if run through again.  But, the water is a lot more murky now.

I'm doubly prepared to add Herrera to my CATRC if he should break camp with the team.  The defensive-whiz is pretty weak with the stick (.233 is 90 AB in '14) and the Cubs middle-infield is almost as crowded as the outfield (Castro, Baez, LaStella, Alcantara, etc.).  But, if an injury were to occur, he may very well head to Chicago.  Also (should he stick around long enough) like Chambers, he'd be extremely useful off of the bench come September.

These two guys are much more "prospecty" than those we've already discussed.  Corey came over from New York in exchange for Alfonso Soriano and just broke Hunter Pence's arm.  Armando came over from Cuba in 2013 and is darn near ready for the Show.  It's highly unlikely they come north, but it is quite possible that they end up in the Bigs before 2014 is over.

Meanwhile, these two prospects are not breaking camp with the big league club;  Bryant for service time reasons and Almora for more minor league seasoning.

Surely you know the scoop on Bryant at this point.  MLB's top prospect will probably be called up as soon as three weeks on the MLB calendar go by so as to secure an extra year of club control.

Almora's bat hasn't developed as quickly as hoped and he's ticketed for AA to further flesh it out.  Patience will be his main concern in West Tennessee.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There you have it, my non-expert, incomplete and slightly rushed opinion on the Cubs non-roster invitees.  Non-expert because I am a baseball card blogger, not a beat-writer.  Incomplete because there are several other non-roster invitees (Hunter Cervenka, Anthony Carter, Donn Roach & Germen Gonzelez) come to mind, but I don't have any cards of these guys.  Rushed, because I'm going to the Windy City Brewhaha this afternoon and I really need to start getting ready!

I'll be spending all afternoon tasting craft beer; what a labor, right?

I'll leave you here with this, the classic Saturday Night Live skit alluded to in the title of this post;  I really need to get up and shower and stuff.