71 Years in the Making

Tonight is the first World Series game featuring the Chicago Cubs as participants since 1945.  For those of you who are bad at math, that is a looooooooooong time ago.  As the excitement builds and builds towards tonight's contest in Cleveland, I thought it might be prudent to take a look at the starting lineup of the last Cubs team to take the field during World Series play.

On Wednesday, October 10th, 1945, the Chicago Cubs took the field at Wrigley against their frequent World Series foe, the Detroit Tigers, for Game 7 of baseball's championship series.  Here are the names that were written onto that day's lineup card by manager Charlie Grimm:

Hitting lead-off and playing third base - Stan Hack

(1992 Old Style SGA)

Batting second and manning second base - Don Johnson

(1947 Tip Top Bread reprint)

Due up third and playing left field - Harry "Peanuts" Lowrey

(1949 Bowman)

In the cleanup spot and manning first base - Phil Cavaretta

(1989 Pacific Baseball Legends)

Batting fifth and playing center field - "Handy Andy" Pafko

(1992 Old Style SGA)

Due up sixth and manning right field - Bill "Swish" Nicholson

(2004 Hero Decks)

In the seventh spot and catching - Mickey Livingston

(1947 Tip Top Bread reprint)

Batting eighth and playing short stop - Roy "Jeep" Hughes

(1992 TSN Conlon Collection)

 And last, but not least, the pitcher - Hank Borowy

(1951 Bowman CCC reprint)

Of course, as history tells us, this team lost to the Tigers that day in blowout fashion:  9-3.   Hank Borowy, the ace acquired mid-season in a salary dump trade by the New York Yankees, got the start despite being severely over-worked.  After starting game one and game five, as well as making a multiple inning relief appearance in game six, Hank was running on fumes.  Despite this, Charlie Grimm did not trust the rest of the arms available to him and Borowy was able to convice the skip that he was good to go.

Needless to say, he was not.  This situation reminds me somewhat of the gassed Clayton Kershaw we saw in game six of this year's NLCS.

After giving up 3 runs in the first without ever recording an out, Hank was lifted for a calvacade of relievers who just could not stop the bleeding:

                                    1940 Play Ball reprint                                      1943 Cubs Photocard Team Issue

                                                                                                                 (scan swiped from the internet)

                                     1976 Chicago's Greats                                       1947 Tip Top Bread reprint

In the end, the Cubs went on to lose the game and lose the World Series.  Of course, no one realized it would take more than 70 years for the Cubs to get another crack at the crown.  Here's hoping that the Cubs' first World Series game in 71 years goes a little bit better than their last one!

This time around, we have a fresh Jon Lester ready to deal zeroes, a deep offensive lineup lead by the first African-american Cub in World Series play (Dexter Fowler) and the much-anticipated return of the prodigal son (Kyle Schwarber) at DH - a position which wasn't even dreamed up yet in 1945.It's been a while.

Let's go Cubs!

A Secret Surprise Mailing

To begin with - HOLY CRAP!  The Cubs are going to the World Series for the first time in 71 years!!  What a time to be alive!!!  Now, we Cubs fans can finally put the Durham error and the Bartman game behind us - they're finally going to the big dance!

All things considered, it was one heckuva weekend... and not just because of that bit of baseball history either.  In addition to the Cubs claiming the National League pennant, I also had the good fortune to attend a enthusiastic early Halloween party, a long-overdue family get together and receive a PWE from Shoebox Legends.  What more does one need out of a weekend?

And he used a nifty stamp too - I might have to locate some of those beauties for myself.

Now, despite what the title of this post might lead you to believe, I completely expected this envelope.  In my post detailing my first experience with this year's edition of Heritage High Numbers, Mr. Shoebox was generous enough to offer the card that I  swung and missed on.  So, the envelope itself was not "a secret surprise mailing;" rather, it was something about the contents of the trade package that caught me off guard.

There's the Munenori Kawasaki I was "jonesing" for from HHN, along with a bonus rookie card of the first-year sensation known as Willson Contreras.  As I detailed in my previous post, this is Kawasaki's first card appearance as a Chicago Cub and it's a fairly surprising inclusion for the set's checklist.  After all, Mune had only appeared in a couple of games before this set went to print.  Anyway, I'm super excited to "Cubgrade" my Kawasaki, since I didn't expect him to ever appear on a card wearing Cubbie blue.

Also, Willson is greatly appreciated too.  Needless to say, his card prices are inflated heavily around the Chicagoland area.  Hitting a home run in the pennant-clinching game will do that, I suppose.

Of course, that wasn't all there was to be found in this PWE.  Also included were these singles from another fairly recent Topps release - BUNT.

With this pair of key contributors to the biggest series win since 1908 - in fact, Lester was co-MVP of the NLCS along with Javy Baez - I must be nearing completion of the BUNT team set.  Perhaps I should sit down and actually put together a want-list... but, then again, that would require some work and effort.

Furthermore, there was this trio of 80's gems to be found as well.

One does not see Carmelo Martinez in a Cubs uniform very often, so that is always a nice treat.  Also, I think I've made it abundantly clear on this blog that Mark Grace is a-ok in my book and any card of his is a welcome addition to my collection, especially a glossy rookie card!  Meanwhile, Broder cards are always welcome too; they may not be "real" cards, but they make for some fascinating oddballs,e specially when they depict a Hall of Famer such as "the Hawk."

Now, while these were all new and welcome additions to my Cubs collections, we still haven't seen the "secret surprise" that blew me away.  Before curiosity gets the best of you, please allow me to unveil the card that caught me off guard:

A certified auto of former Cubs uber-prospect Felix Pie from one of my favorite sets of all-time (Topps Cracker Jack)!

Okay - so maybe I'm the only person on the blogosphere who would be so excited about getting an autograph of a busted prospect from ten years ago.  But, I don't care - autographs rarely fall into my super-tight budget, so anytime I can add a new one to my CATRC binder, I do a little happy dance.  Even for Felix Pie.

And yet, Mr. Shoebox Legends still wasn't done.  As an extra bonus, he also threw in a few Blackhawks cards for my burgeoning hockey collection:

 

Vintage hockey is rare in my Blackhawks All-Time Roster Collection; so, adding that "super action" Tony Esposito to my binder was pretty sweet.  So too was adding that Gary Suter Topps Finest beauty.  What can I say?  I have a thing for shiny objects!

Kane and Toews are also constant victims of hometown inflation around these parts; thus, anytime I can acquire nice cards of them via trade I'm a happy camper.  I especially love that canvas UD single showing the Hawks' captain touting the Stanley Cup - it truly feels like a little piece of art.

And so, we've reached the end of the Shoebox Legends PWE.  It made for the perfect exclamation point to finish off and already otherworldly excellent weekend.  I'll make sure to get a nice return package in the mail ASAP - I've been working on acquiring some nice Red Sox and Bruins cards for a proper thank you gift.

What a whirlwind weekend!

An Urgent Update

First, let's address the elephant in the room.  The Cubs are one win away from going to their first World Series since 1945 and the seemingly inhuman Clayton Kershaw is guarding the gate. However, they're at Wrigley, this their second time seeing Kershaw and there's still another shot tomorrow if they don't figure him out.  I'm cautiously optimistic... and extremely nervous.

Okay - back to cards.  Although Halloween is still nine days away, I had to kick my procrastinating butt into gear this afternoon in order to get my costume finished up.  Turns out, we were invited to a costume party tonight and I still had yet to finish my outfit when I woke up this morning.  So, I threw on some clothes and rushed out to Walmart to get my finishing touches.

Of course, once I was able to successfully locate my feather-duster and English driving cap (I'll let you guess how those work together), I couldn't help but swing through the card aisle and see if Update had made it to their store shelves yet:

It did :)

There are two specific cards (both base) that I am chasing in this years Flagship add-on - Trevor Cahill and Aroldis Chapman.  In both instances, this is each pitcher's first appearance in a mainstream set while sporting the Cubbie blue.  Chapman has a couple of Topps Now issues, but I barely tolerate his inclusion on the team, so I'm not about to drop ten bucks on one of those.

Anyway, I was hoping that the good luck I had in claiming the first parking spot in the first row at Walmart on a Saturday afternoon would transfer over to any card purchases that I made.  Let's find out if it did:

Well, I did pull a couple of Cubs base cards; unfortunately, neither one of the guys I was after were featured.  That said, pulling a couple of hot rookies playing key roles on this year's potentially legendary squad make for pretty nice consolation prizes.  Both of these cards will slot into my CATRC as their representation.

There was also one more Cubs base to be found:

A "rookie debut" for Kyle Schwarber... this seems like an odd inclusion for the product checklist.

After all, Kyle debuted last season and lost his entire 2016 campaign to injury in just the second game of the schedule.  Why then do we get a commemorative card of the debut of a guy who barely appeared in 2016 in the Update series?  Well, I know why (Schwarbs sells), but nevertheless...

Onto the inserts:

One Cub insert fell out of this value box - it features a guy who suited up for exactly two less games than Kyle Schwarber in 2016, Warren G.  I'm not much of a 90's rap guy, but apparently whoever is in charge of booking the celebrity first pitch/stretch performers at Wrigley Field is.

As for the rest of the inserts:

Those are some artsy-farstsy and trippy pieces of cardboard.

Since Topps lost it's football license, it makes sense to see them try out their popular "Fire" design in baseball.  It's soooo damn busy and it looks more like splatter paint than fire (at least in my opinion), but I think I like it.  As for the "3,000 Hits Club" Ichiro - meh.

Ichiro hot pack!  Hey - did you hear that Ichiro was in the 3,000 hits club?

I truly do consider Ichiro one of my favorite non-Cub players, but does anyone really need a card-by-card chronicle of the man's hits?  If you're chasing this set down, I envy your commitment.

Here we have a very nice snapshot of a jubilant David Ortiz, presumably watching the home run derby.  With this being his final season and all, you knew Topps was going to cram him down our throats; but, this is one card that I didn't mind pulling.  

Meanwhile, Aaron Nola appears on a "birth year" insert - the concept being that a player is depicted on the design used for flagship during the year said player was born.  Hmmmm.... where have I heard of this idea before?....

CarGo is a fairly prodigious slugger; however, with 201 homers through his nine seasons in the Majors so far, I'd say the odds are stacked against him for ever reaching the 500 home run club.  He'd have to hang around for an awfully long time and see a significant power surge.  Apparently, this is the gold parallel version of the insert set only available at Target.

Speaking of gold parallels, here's the base card shimmery parallel of Jonathan Lucroy.  The golds are numbered /2016, if you were wondering.

That does it for the inserts and "fancy" cards.  The rest of the hanger  box provided a good sampling of what Update is all about:

 

There were plenty of a guys sporting their new uniforms after in-season trades...

... a vast assortment of the latest rookies to earn a call-up during the 2016 season.  My favorite here is Tony Barnette, the 32-year old rookie who couldn't quite cut it over here, went to Japan and dominated as a closer and carried turned that success into a key bullpen role on a playoff club.

Of course, it wouldn't be Update without a large selection of All-Star cards, would it?  These seem pretty polarizing on the blogosphere, as people either love them or hate them.  That said, I have a sense of cool indifference.  Although, I think Max Scherzer would have rathered that this card had not seen the light of day.

Also of note, is this the first time that Home Run Derby cards have gotten their own special badge? Will Myers has a majestic swing on this card; but, the first thing I noticed was the little trophy on the bottom right.

 Finally, just because, here are a couple of excellent photo selections; these almost seem more like Stadium Club-worthy photographs!

All in all, while I wasn't lucky enough to walk away with the cards I was hoping for, I did end up with some nice consolation prizes and a good stock to add to my trade-bait piles.  Not to mention, I did what I went to Walmart for in the first place and was able to finish my Halloween costume.  I guess that's an acceptable shopping experience.

Now, I just have to convince the host of this party to have the ballgame on in the background.  There's no way in hell I'm missing a game where the Cubs could potentially clinch their first World Series berth since the year we dropped the atomic bomb.

No way.