Happy St. Pat's Day!

I hope everyone has or had a good time celebrating the holiday and, after haring about the drunken debauchery that occurred over the weekend on the side of town that my favorite baseball team calls home, did so responsibly.

Fan fact:  In the 140+ years of the franchise, no Cub has ever gone by the name of Patrick.  That said, several have gone by Pat; I guess that extra syllable is just too formal.

So, in celebration of St. Pat's Day, I present to you all the Lovable Losers from my Cubs collection who (kinda) share their name with the primary patron saint of Ireland.

*Sorry, this was the best theme I could come up with for today!

"Mr. Clutch" had a nice run in Cleveland, but his biggest contribution to the Cubs franchise was being traded for Steve Trout and Warren Brusstar - two key pieces of the 1984 NL East champions.

What a lucky deal!

Mr. Perry was a middle reliever for another NL East champion Cubs team - the 93-69 Boys of Zimmer in 1989.  Talk about a team that came out of nowhere: their 1988 record? 77-85.  Their 1990 record? Also 77-85.

They must have gotten their hands on some Leprechaun gold!

 Ugly pitching face isn't solely a recent card phenomena, as evidence by this Pat's Diamond Debut piece.  The face he's making isn't the only thing ugly thing associated with Mahomes - his career stat line isn't particularly pretty.  Though, somehow he managed to have an 11 year career out of the bullpen with a 5.87 ERA.

Hey - that card has some green on it.  That's the only Irish connection I've got.

Pat Moran was a key bench piece for the Cubs last World Series champions in 1907 and 1908.  Though it might look it, this card isn't that old - unfortunately, it is a reprint of it's 1910 Turkey Red cabinet counterpart.

Cabinet cards were quite large, large enough to decorate a cabinet, but Moran was not.  At 5'10" and 180 pounds, he was about the size of a leprechaun!

Well after Ragan's Cub days were over, he was one of the Black Sox players who wasn't on the fix during the 1919 World Series.  Was it because he already had a nice pt o'gold tucked away at the end of the rainbow?

More likely, it was because he only actually appeared in one game and that came during the regular season.

Pat Bourque's appearance on this 1973 Rookie First Baseman card might be insignificant at first glance, but there is more than meets the eye.

Bourque was one in a fairly long line of first basemen trotted out by the Cubs to replace Ernie Banks until Bill Buckner showed up.  He never solidified a claim on the job and was traded away to the Athletics (green jerseys!) in August of that year.

You might notice that, coincidentally, an Athletic first baseman appears next to Pat on this card.  Well, it just so happens that Gonzalo Marquez was the player that came back to Chicago in that transaction.

That bit of trivia is almost as glorious as those sideburns!
 

Let's wrap things up on a high note.

Malone is the most accomplished of the Pats, though it isn't a particularly high hurdle to clear.  He twice led the NL in wins with the Cubs (1929-30) and was part of two pennant winners (1929, 1932).

However, come 1934, Mr. Wrigley must have decided they needed a little more Irish blood, so they traded him to the Cardinals for Ken O'Dea.

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So, in conclusion, this is the best way I could come with to celebrate St. Pat's day on Wrigley Roster Jenga.  In my defense, I'm rushing so that I can go and get my hands on a Shamrock Shake so that I can be all festive and what not...

Well, really, it's just a justification for me to get some junk food. Shhhhhhhhh.

Here's some quality Irish-tinged rock'n'roll by way of the Southside Irish to close out today's post; play me out boys!

Manny Being Manny, Before Manny

Minor league cards, especially of the team issue variety are often very much lacking in the quality control department.  Thin card-stock, out of focus or unusually dark photos, head-scratchingly loud or bland designs (no in-between), etc. permeate the market; but, I absolutely love them just the same.

After all, without these regional issues, how would we remember the forgotten prospects of yesteryear?  Their stories are often more interesting than most of those that made the ultimate ascent.  This guy here is no exception:

I first saw this card at The Phillies Room and I knew I had to have it; it hails from the 1976 team set of Phillies' AAA affiliate.  Even though it looks like it was made on an old Xerox machine, there's always room for an oddball like this in my collection, especially when it depicts a Cub needed for my CATRC.

According to Jim's research, the set was handed out to the first 2,000 fans attending the 89ers' July 26th home game that year.  Now, I missed that game by - oh - 13 years, but now I have this rarity.

Outside of a couple TCMA minor league cards, no other cards exist of Manny Seoane.  This is unfortunate, as although his big league career was brief, undistinguished and unsuccessful, he was later involved in one of the most bizarre incidents in baseball history.

Manny warming up at Wrigley in 1978

Courtesy of Cusick at ootpdevelopments.com

The Phillies prospect didn't do so hot in Oklahoma City that season, posting an 8-7 record with a 4.77 ERA in 21 starts.  The next season was only mildly better, but he was able to get a September call-up with the Phils for 2 games, giving up 4 runs in 6 IP during the playoff chase.

His second appearance came against Chicago and though the Phillies were unimpressed with his work, the Cubs must have thought they saw something.  Manny was traded straight up to the Cubs for the aging Jose Cardenal in October of 1977.

At this point, Jose was "robbed" of his abilities by age.

Manny was stashed at AAA Wichita for 1978 and he continued his streak of mediocrity, going 12-9 with a 4.50 ERA in 28 games.  But, since the Cubs of the late 70's were the embodiment of mediocrity, Manny got another September call-up.

This time around, he saw a little more action - but not much more.  He gave up 5 runs in 8.1 innings across 7 games, one of which was a start.  This was to be the end of the line for his MLB career.

But, this is not where his story ends; au contraire, this is where it gets interesting.

Before eventually washing out of the Cubs organization, Manny became associated with the eccentric Mark Lemongello while still with Wichita - another washed up pitcher who had come to the Cubs organization to string along his MLB dreams.

Previously, Lemongello had only been known to the Wrigley faithful for this incident:

Figure out where this story is going yet?

In 1982, while Manny was in the Detroit farm system, he and Mark were arrested for the kidnapping and robbery of Lemongello's cousins Mike Lemongello, a former professional bowler, and Peter Lemongello, an entertainer who had appeared on the Tonight Show among other gigs.

The co-conspirators held the brothers at gun point, forced them into a van, forced them to withdraw $50,000 from a safe deposit box at a bank and left the brothers in a nearby wooded area in Florida.

Gotta get creative when your making minor league money, I guess.

Ultimately, both got off with just 7 years probation, but neither played professional baseball again.

                         Mike Lemongello - The Bowler                               Peter Lemongello - The Entertainer
                                    Courtesy of Historic Images                                Courtesy of History For Sale

There you have it, the story of one Manuel M. Seoane, who without a half-baked idea and a poorly executed plot would have been entirely forgotten to the annals of baseball history.

Now, thanks to this team-issued, OK City minor league card, he is now immortalized in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.  

If any of my cards go missing though, I'll know exactly where to begin my search!

Beware the Ides of March

I hope Matt is watching his back today, good thing there is nobody in camp named Brutus.

Seeing as how Matt is now second in the Cactus League to teammate Kris Bryant with 3 home runs and is presenting a strong case to be an extra outfielder, there are plenty of people who might be gunning for him.  Or would that be knifing?

Meanwhile, I'll be honoring this infamous date in literary history by trying to figure out how exactly the jumble of letters that is "Szczur" is pronounced as "Caesar."

Watch out though, if not Brutus, Jim Peterik might just be coming for you today as well!

Their Cubs rally song recorded for the 1998 playoff push

An excellent deep track that time has forgotten

The song for which you all knew, but probably forgot the band behind it

You Don't Know Jack!

No, really, I bet you haven't heard of this obscure baseball player who went by the name of Jack.  I wasn't trying to be a smart-ass... this time anyway.

I found this black & white, regional oddity on the eBay for cheap, so I followed my impulses and took the plunge.  It's a reprint of the 1955 full-color set of Kansas City Athletics produced by Rodeo Meats.  Their motive was to commemorate the first season of the A's playing in Kansas City and, of course, gain some exposure for their business.

In 1976, a company (maybe?) for which I can find no further information on that is referred to as JDM on the back of the card reprinted this set, but without the color.  This is the sort of thing that happened all the time as a cash grab during the junk wax boom of the late 80's/early 90's, but this is before cards were seen as an investments.  Strange - at least to me.

But, back to the player pictured:

Courtesy of  jacksbiggestfan on Fanbase.com

Though he was an original Kansas City Athletic, he was also later to become a Chicago Cub and, thus, this card has been cataloged into my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.

Jack was a minor league lifer who played from the day he signed with the Red Sox organization in 1948 until he retired from the AAA affiliate of the Milwaukee Braves in 1962.  In that time span, he made a few brief cameos at the Major League level.

The shortstop got the proverbial cuppacoffee for the Philadelphia edition of the A's in 1952 and 1954 and followed the organization west to Missouri for his first extended bit of action in 1955.  It didn't go particularly well: in 37 games and 76 PA's, he only managed a .200 average with just 1 XBH and 4 walks.

The A's played in Kansas City? It sounded so weird to childhood me

Courtesy of sportslogos.net

One can easily excuse his lack of production that season, as he had to deal with a devastating and life-altering loss; his wife was killed in a car accident the year before and he was left to raise his two young daughters on his own.

Somehow he found the strength to keep playing and ended up in the Cubs organization by 1957 and, unfortunately, things went even worse.  He batted .190 in 164 PA's over 61 games with 43 K's. Actually, those numbers fit in quite well with the Cubs of the 50's.

This famous Rockwell scene was published in 1948, but it's close enough to the 50's and is still fitting.

The Cubs told him to hit the road Jack right on back to the PCL and he was never to reemerge from the bushes again.  But, as stated earlier, he continued to make a living playing baseball for several more years as a baseball nomad.

Since his time in the majors was so brief, the only cards that seem to exist of Jack are the reprint and the original edition of the card spotlighted here.  Therefore, I am rather satisfied having been able to find one of these for a rational price.

That said, I will be keeping my eyes open for a copy of the original beauty; however, being a oddball piece of 50's vintage, it will cost a pretty penny.

In honor of Jack and the Kansas City A's, I leave you with this:

If There's a Will, There's a Way

Surely by now everyone on the planet has heard about Will Ferrell's publicity stunt yesterday, playing all 10 different positions (DH as a position is weird to this NL fan) for 10 different teams in the Cactus League to raise money for cancer research.  Thankfully for me, one of those teams was the Cubs:

Courtesy of the official MLB Facebook account

MLB has made a few of these card mockups for when players change teams and so they used it to create virtual cardboard for each one of Ron Burgundy's 10 stops.  I really wish that MLB would release physical copies of these, even if they were severely small print runs and extremely over-priced.

Obviously, since this was only spring training, I don't need to add MegaMind to my CATRC.  They just need to exist in real life; I want to be able to hold this in my hand!

Also - Topps - we know how much you love insert sets.  I'm just sayin', this might be good source material for Series 2.  We collectors would go absolutely crazy for a set like that.

Take a lesson from Strat-O-Matic - they have their act together.  Strats has gone ahead and already produced their own card for Jackie Moon:

 Courtesy of the Strat-O-Matic Twitter feed

Your move Topps!  Or Panini, I guess, but I'd much rather see these with actual MLB logos.

Regardless, it was an absolute riot watching Buddy play first base, take an at-bat and even coach third base for the North Siders:

 I think they might pick up on that Lord Business...

Now, this isn't actually Ricky Bobby's first dalliance with professional baseball.  In 2010, Will unofficially took the mound for the Round Rock Express "incognito" as one Rojo Johnson.  It was quite the riot:

With the state of the Astro's roster at the time, it's a wonder they didn't try this sort of stunt at the MLB level to try and get butts in the seats.

Now, of course, Minor League Baseball wasn't going to let a gimmick like this go without some memorabilia to peddle; i.e. a bobblehead and this baseball card produced by Multi-Ad:

Courtesy of Beckett Online; I'm not nearly lucky enough to land this slice of awesome

This gem appeared in the their PCL Top Prospect set.  Unfortunately, this blue-chipper never got the call and this card is rather rare.  I have not seen this card pop up on any of the normal sources.

Nothing about this or yesterday's stunt was normal.  That said, it's not unprecedented to have a celebrity make official appearances in spring training games.

Garth Brooks (or was it Chris Gaines?) was a recurring character in training camps, making extended appearances with the Padres, Mets and Royals from 1999 - 2004.  Tom Selleck took an at-bat with the Tigers when filming Mr. Baseball in 1991.  Kevin Costner played shortstop, went 0-3 and even made an appearance on the mound for the single A affiliate of the Mariners when they played their parent club in 2002, etc. etc..... it's not nearly as rare as one might think.

One of these indulgences was even immortalized on card-stock, a card I was lucky enough to pick up from a local garage sale:

 I actually own this one!

On March 13, 2008, the Yankees signed the 60 year old, lifelong Yankee fanatic to a one-day contract and let him lead off a game against the Pirates as the DH.  Facing future Cub Paul Maholm, Billy managed to make contact once (a foul ball up the first base line), but eventually struck out on six pitches.

It didn't take a Crystal ball to predict that Billy wouldn't make the team.... Zing!

Thankfully, TriStar realized that something as fun as this needed to have a baseball card and included the above beauty in their 2008 Projections set.

I bet Paul never thought he'd have to face Mitch Robbins at the plate

This is why baseball is so much fun; anyone can play.  After all, Will didn't look so bad fielding the ball in the outfield or on the mound.  Garth Brooks actually got a legit base-hit or two.  Rick Reuschel was actually considered a professional athlete!  Ok, that last one might have been a cheap shot on my part.

Plus, regardless of NFL (No Fun League) legend John Madden's opinion, baseball doesn't take itself too seriously.  What's the harm of letting personalities on the field for good causes or even just for good entertainment?  They've been pulling these sorts of publicity stunts since the days of Eddie Gaedel and Pete Gray.

In summation, here's hoping that Chazz Michael Michaels' exploits raises a truckload of money for cancer research and also gets the attention of the good people at Topps.  Such quirks are weaved into the fabric that is America's pastime and should thusly be represented on baseball's unofficial historical records.

Again, your move Topps!

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....