You Know What They Say When You Assume...

Just before I disappeared from the blogosphere, I made a couple of purchases that might have - subconsciously - helped push me out of full-bore collecting and writing. You know that feeling? Where you mess up so frustratingly that you just have to step back and stay from whatever situation you're involved with for a period of time? Well, that's at least partially what happened with these card-related transactions. Now, there's a litany of other contributing factors that played a much larger role in my absence; but, these mess ups were non-zero de-motivators.


Now, you might be asking yourself, what monumental screw ups could this guy have made that were so heinous that he had to temporarily put one of his favorite hobbies on the backburner.  Well, I ignored one of life's most important guidelines - "if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is."  To make things even worse, I did it twice in a row, meaning I snookered myself and then, knowing what I'd done, willingly dove right back into a shallow pool.  What a dunce, right?

Anyway, on with the show.  Here's a couple of things that I bought that weren't at all what I was expecting.  First up:

What's this?  A stretched and pixelated picture of an old school pitcher that was clearly downloaded from the internet, blown up well-beyond the limits of the original file, and spat out on a ink-jet printer on some cheap photo paper?  

Bingo! You nailed it!

When I saw this image attached to a listing on Ebay, for some reason, I assumed that it was just a poorly scanned image of a vintage postcard.  You know, like one of those Brace and Burke photo postcards that I've often showcased on Wrigley Roster Jenga, several of which populate my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection because they are the best, most budget friendly source for cards ballplayers from the WWII era and earlier.  The seller wasn't being deceptive - I just made an assumption about what I saw based on absolutely zero evidence.  Well, you know what they say when you assume - you make an ASS out of U and Me.  Going back and looking at the listing, the vendor never made this claim, so I had no right or reason to make this leap and, yet, I jumped right in with both feet and no life preserver.  

Thankfully though, this transaction wasn't a total loss.  While I did think I that was getting a Brace/Burke postcard out of the deal, the photograph wasn't the main focus of the Ebay listing - I'd zeroed in on the wrong part of the advertised package.  In fact, in all honesty, the Kodak print was just used as a throw-in to spice up the package for the true center of attention:

Any purchase that comes with the autograph of a bonafide Major League Baseball player can't be a total wash, right?  Especially when the total purchase price is less than a measly five bucks, correct?  It's kinda hard to stay upset when looking at that silver lining.

At any rate, the photograph depicts and the autographed index card comes from former Cubs hurler, Ed Hanyzewski. Of course, with his sterling penmanship, you probably didn't need me to spell that out for you - worlds apart from today's certified autos of today.  Beyond practicing his cursive, Eddie pitched on the North Side of Chicago from 1942-46, taking the mound in 58 games (about half of which were starts) while posting an ERA 3.30 and a record of 11-12.  Overall, the highpoint of his career was definitely the 1943 campaign, when he appeared in 33 games (16 as a starter) and won eight of 15 decisions. This year, he contributed a 2.56 ERA in 130 frames to go along with three complete games.  That's one helluva swingman!

Unfortunately for Ed, he hurt his arm along the way in '43 and was never really the same afterwards.  Such a sad and common tale in the time before Tommy John.

Here's a clearer image of Ed, courtesy of SABR

Overall, getting an autograph from such a vintage player is always a victory, so I really shouldn't be too sad about this acquisition.  However, I am left with a minor quandary - should this count towards my CATRC binder?  After all, it's an index CARD, right?  Even though it's not a traditional baseball card, it would hardly be the first off-the-wall addition to said binder.  The only thing that gives me pause is the lack of an image to go along with his John Hancock.  Perhaps I should create my own cut-auto card to jazz it up, though that's a risky proposition with the signature of a guy who's been dead for thirty years now.

What do you think I should do about this dilemma?  How would you handle this sort of situation?  Please share your thoughts in the comment section below; I would love to hear what you have to say!  As of now, I have this index card included in the tome, displayed in a postcard page along with the bum photo print.  I mean, I lay down my hard earned money for that picture after all, I might as well put it to good use, for the time being.

So, that's the story on frustrating purchase number one of two.  The Hanyzewski index card is definitely the less annoying of the two; although, to be upfront, both transactions do involve an autograph.  "What a complainer," you must be thinking.  How could getting two autographs of Cubs players for your favorite collection be such an annoying thing?  Well, please allow me to make my case.

This is an item, like with Ed, that I was under the falsely assumed presumption was an antique Brace or Rowe postcard that came with a proper autograph.  Unlike with Ed, this item came with the signature on the item itself, rather than on a separate index card.  All seems well here - a vintage postcard feature a non-mangled image and autograph of a rare, forgotten Cubs player that I still needed to fill an empty slot in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.  This should be an absolutely perfect and celebrated acquisition, eh?

Sadly, all is not as it seems - there's a couple of black marks that go against this buy that are not readily obvious from the picture above nor from the original listing.  First of all, once again, rather than being an actual Brace or Rowe postcard, this is an image that someone printed on their own.  This time, it's not even on photo paper; rather, it's been printed on thin, though slightly matted, traditional paper.  While this is a negative, it's not a deal breaker on it's own.  While slightly disappointing, were these the only defects, I would still be perfectly happy in nestling this bit of ephemera into my CATRC binder.  After all, this is another case where I made an unjustified assumption about the item in question and it's still an autograph on a piece which properly features the actual player in question.

Or is it?

Here's the thing.  Roy "Pop" Joiner, besides being another athlete with excellent penmanship, had a couple of brief trials with the Cubbies in 1934 and 35, as well as a cameo with the Giants five years later.  As someone who played so long ago, you would be correct to assume that he also passed away some time ago - December of 1989 (the same year I was born).  If you're keeping score at home, we're now 31 years on.  The photograph in question is printed on some pristinely white paper that is in immaculately good condition... are you thinking what I'm thinking?

I feel like there should be at least some signs of aging on three-decade old, basic paper  Furthermore, there isn't a wrinkle or corner ding to be found on what is, once again, three-decade aged, regular ol' paper.  Maybe I'm overly skeptical and am looking for problems, but this seems rather suspicious to me.  What do you think about these red flags?  Once again, I'd really and truly appreciate it if you weighed-in in the comment section below.

On the plus side, the Ebay seller has overwhelming positive feedback and the few down votes they have are completely unrelated to forged autographs.  Plus, who would go to the trouble of faking the signature of such an obscure and uncollected athlete from a time before plastic had even been invented?  That would be like counterfeiting pennies.  Plus, I only spent six bucks on the piece, so even if it was a forgery, it's not like it really hurt my wallet all that much.  With that in mind, for now, I've also included this imperfect acquisition in my CATRC binder, as it very well could be the real McCoy.  However, if I come across a good deal on Joiner's 1940 Playball pasteboard, you darn well better believe that I'll be making a swap.

Have you seen this man?

Overall, I'm mostly just being a baby.  Maybe I got scammed, maybe I didn't.  Either way, in both cases, I made some stupid assumptions that I shouldn't have and, in neither case, did I spend much money.  I'd say these are premium examples of low risk, high reward purchases.  With that in mind, maybe they could pitch a few innings in the bullpen next year?  However, with all of the other malaise surrounding baseball at the time of these transactions, the annoyance caused was just another nail hammered into my hibernation coffin.

Now I ask you, have you ever made such presumptive purchases or am I alone in making such delusional deals?  Feel free to tell me what a dunce I am.

In the end, at least I was (maybe) able to check a couple of obscure names off of my want-list.  In 2021, my News Years resolution is going to be doing a better job of looking on the bright side - there's already far too much negativity in the world right now.

You Da Real MVP

So, elections have been a pretty hot topic for the past several months, huh?

However, let's not talk about a certain, specific election that involves a seditious, orange goblin trying to coup his way into an office he never should have occupied.  Instead of diving into that democracy-killing rabbit hole, let's discuss an infinitely less important, but no less argued vote - the MVP Awards in the American and National Leagues.  While this particular contest has no bearing on the future of our country, it sure does generate it's own fair share of controversy.  What's more important, a player's individual statistical performance or the relative effect that they have on the team around them?  Should players from losing teams be considered, even if their world-beating performances couldn't keep their teams out of the cellar?  Should the voters focus on the traditional, familiar stats like pitcher wins and batting average, or should they instead set their sights on geeky calculations like WAR and OPS+?  Should pitchers be considered for the trophy or should they be limited to the Cy Young Award only.  There's no right answer, but - of course - that doesn't keep the discourse from getting heated on Twitter.

While the 2020 season was shortened, that didn't keep the arguments from being long.  How could Freddie Freeman win over the World Series winning Mookie Betts?  Is there any player in the American League truly better than Mike Trout - how did he not win again?  That being said, there was one thing that everyone who parsed the MVP-voting results could truly agree with, no matter how they stood on any of the above arguments:  who the heck is Ryan Tepera?

Ryan Tepera, a former Blue Jays reliever who signed a split-contract with Chicago over the previous winter, didn't make the Cubs out of Summer Camp; but, he didn't have to wait long to get his call.  In fact, he probably didn't even make it to the alternate site in South Bend before his phone rang - just two days into the season, Brad Wieck was placed on the injured list and the Cubs found themselves a touch light in the bullpen.  In stepped a future MVP candidate to carry the load.

Okay, so that statement might just be a touch hyperbolic.  While Ryan Tepera was a perfectly adequate reliever (3.92 ERA in 20.2 IP) with sometimes eye-popping movement on his breaking pitches who managed to stay on the Big League roster for the rest of the year, he wasn't exactly making waves.  In fact, once the 2020 season concluded (with yet another embarrassing playoff exit), Tepera was non-tendered off of the roster.  While there's been rumors that the front office wants to bring Ryan back on another flier, how many times in baseball history has a player that received MVP consideration been booted from the roster is such an unceremonious way?

Okay, so, saying that Ryan honestly received MVP consideration might be another slightly hyperbolic statement.  Here's the deal - Ryan Tepera did, in fact, receive an MVP vote... one singular tally.  Obviously his middle of the road stats did not call for even one vote, so how did this happen?  Well, it's simple really - it was a typo.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Rick Hummel was trying to show some love towards the Washington Nationals sparkplug shortstop, Trea Turner.  As it turns out, while Hummel was filling out his ballot via the dropdown menu used in the online voting process, he erroneously clicked on the player alphabetically listed next to Turner, who just so happened to be, you guessed it, Ryan Tepera.  Apparently, it wasn't until the results were announced days later that Hummel realized his mistake.  Whoopsy daisy.  And so, that's how Tepera got just as many MVP votes as the most valuable Cubs player on the year, Ian Happ, breakout Brewers relief ace, Devin Williams, and Braves stars Dansby Swanson and Max Fried.

All in all, this misadventure turned out to be an entertaining and fun story in an otherwise dreary year, especially for North Side baseball.  Plus, Ryan will always have "MVP-18" attached to his name on Baseball Reference - how many players can say they got an MVP nod in their career?   Everybody wins!

Image courtesy of Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Thankfully, I purchased a Tepera card for my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection before his "MVP-caliber" breakout season got underway.  Once the votes came in, his card prices would have probably shot through the roof!

I say that half-jokingly, considering the massive, real estate market-like bubble the trading card industry is under right now.  No matter, my local card shop kindly dug a 2015 Topps Update single - as seen at the top of this post - out of backroom storage for me.  Honestly the '15 design is my favorite from the previous decade and, when given the choice, I will always pick it's team color-coded borders for my most treasured collection.  That said, here's hoping the MVP candidate signs back with the team and get his own, proper Cubs card in the near future.

It does seem likely to me that Tepera could come back to Wrigley in 2021.  For one, the bullpen is once again wide-open, with only Craig Kimbrel and Rowan Wick as true locks at this point in the offseason.  Furthermore, Tepera - once again - represents the type of low risk/high reward flier that the Cubs organization tends to favor for bullpen construction.  Finally, Tepera represents the only "MVP level" player that this "impoverished" ownership group might allow for Jed Hoyer to open the purse strings.

At any rate, thanks for the fun story, Ryan Tepera and Rick Hummel!

Friends of Warren, Friends of the Blog

I know I'm supposed to be playing catch-up with the Cubs' roster and, thus, Cubs All-Time Roster Collection additions that I missed while I was away from Wrigley Roster Jenga.  But, that being stated, I feel inspired to blog about a different CATRC acquisition that I was lucky enough to make during my sabbatical.  Muses are fleeting, so I am not about to question when the inspiration strikes. I highly doubt anyone's jonesing for me to talk about the random Cubs reliever who was added to the team in July anyway.

Back when both professional baseball and the blog were dark, I was randomly perusing the internet when I stumbled upon the website for Warren Ball Park in Bisbee Arizona - The Friends of Warren Ball Park.  At this point, I cannot recall how I ended up at this web address; perhaps I happened to stumble in while planning our vacation to the Grand Canyon State that COVID-19 86'ed.  Whatever the reason, I'm glad that I found them because, as a history nerd that happens to love baseball, Warren Ball Park is about as historic as a baseball diamond can get.

My beloved Wrigley Field may be one of the oldest ball parks in the Major Leagues, but Warren predates the Friendly Confines by nearly a decade.  In fact, Warren's build date of 1908 makes it the oldest ball park standing in the United States and is still in it's original condition.  Built to serve as recreation for the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company, it eventually came to host minor league baseball, starting in 1928 with the Bisebee Bees and then the Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings calling the diamond home, starting in 1947.  During this time, the team and and it's host were affiliated with the Yankees, Dodgers and Pirates.  However, after 1958, the club folded and professional baseball would stay out of Warren except for two brief cameos with independent circuits in 2003 and 2016-17.

Beyond pro ball, Warren Ball Park has a rich history hosting amateur baseball.  In the 1920's & 30's two outlaw leagues played through Warren's confines and, for almost 5 decades between professional stints, Warren was used for high school sporting events.  Furthermore, a semi-pro version of the Bisbee Coppers Kings has called the field home since 2006 and Warren has played host to a vintage baseball tournament since 2013.  To the latter point, I can't think of a better place to host vintage baseball, with it's period dress and 1860's rules, than the most vintage ball park in the country!

Warren Ball Park in it's earliest days, via a vintage postcard courtesy of Tour Cochise County

Warren Ball Park as it stands today - image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Copper Classic vintage baseball action

The history of Warren Ball Park is much longer and richer than I have time to go into here.  Seriously, if you love baseball history, go spend some time at the Friends of Warren Ball Park website - you won't be disappointed.

Anyway, as you might be able to tell, I got lost and spent a few hours delving into this artifact of America's pastime.  Then, I stopped into the online shop for the Friends of Warrenville and saw that they were selling baseball cards to raise some funds for the ballpark's upkeep.  You're telling me that I can add some cool oddball pasteboards to my collection and help the Friends rebuild the outfield fence at Warren at the same time?

The organization printed up their own set of baseball cards which shine the spotlight on players who have sat in the home dugout of Warren Ball Park throughout it's 110+ year long existence or who originally hail from the Bisbee area.  Sold in four sets of five cards, I figured that - with such a long and rich history of baseball to pull from the 20-card checklist must feature an eventual Cub or two.  Luckily for me, after checking each listing, I was thrilled to discover that I was not only correct in my hypothesis, but that there was even one player featured that I still needed for my CATRC binder.

Seeing as most of the guys I still need for my marquee collection are super obscure and old players who don't have much of a cardboard footprint, you better believe that I was making a purchase.

As it turns out, the guy who I was after holds an important distinction, despite his obscurity:

This sepia-toned, 4"x 3" oddity is one of my favorite finds in a long time, even though they're printed on thin, almost photo paper-esque stock.  

Signed by the Chicago Cubs prior to the 1938 season, Jesus "Jesse" Flores would eventually become the first Mexican-born pitcher to play in the Major Leagues four years later.  However, before this pioneer blazed his trail, he started his journey with the Bisbee Bees.  Though they didn't seem to have an official working agreement with the Cubs, they must have had some sort of deal, as there were a few Cubs prospects farmed out to the Bees down in Class D ball.  At any rate, the knuckleballer made short work of his competition and quickly rose through the ranks.

Flores was quite good during his short time in the Majors too.  Throughout his seven-year career, the hurler posted a 3.18 ERA across 176 appearances, 113 of them being starts.  In fact, he even earned some down-ballot AL MVP votes in 1943, after the Cubs allowed his contract to be purchased by the A's.  All in all, Flores had himself a pretty nice Major League career.  Not to mention, when he wasn't in the Bigs, he was a star in the open classification Pacific Coast League through 1954, which was nearly as popular as the Majors in that time.

Here's what the back of these Warren cards looks like

After baseball, he continued to have a large impact on the game, eventually becoming a revered scout for the Minnesota Twins.  He'd go on to sign quite a few significant names, including Lyman Bostock and Bert Blyleven, among dozens of others.

Despite his cultural significance and quality performance both on the mound and behind the clipboard, Flores remains nearly completely forgotten today.  At least partially, this most likely has to do with the fact that he played for some truly terrible teams.  Despite his low career ERA, he was saddled with a 44-59 record in a time when the pitching win meant everything - the Cubs and Athletics of the 1940's were not exactly powerhouses and were nearly always near the cellar.  It should also be noted that, especially considering the era, a hefty dose of racism more than likely played a role as well.

Flores with the Cubs-affiliated Los Angeles Angels, second from left.  Image courtesy of KCET.

As an added bonus, seeing as most of his career took place during the War Years and the seasons immediately following, Jesse's baseball card ledger is quite desolate.  Best I can tell is that there were a few rare regional issues made during his active days and one Historic Autographs cut signature card made a couple years ago.  So, until Friends of Warren swooped in and became friends of Wrigley Roster Jenga, my only choices for Flores' slot in my CATRC were super rare/expensive and ugly. That's the way it typically goes for players who came up in an era were paper was much more valuable in the war effort than bubblegum cards.

While the focus of this post is definitely on Flores, remember the set in which this card was sold in packs of five.   So, perhaps we should take a look at the other four cards which the Friends of Warren Ball Park mailed my way?  Especially since Jesse wasn't the only Cub in the bunch!

 

Roy Johnson was a longtime coach for the Cubs and even (ever-so-briefly) served as interim manager in 1944.  Prior to that, Johnson began his dugout career as the very first manager for the Bisbee Bees.  Furthermore, "Hardrock" spent some time playing in the outlaw Copper League and thus played through Warren as a visiting player.  Thus, Johnson is yet another Cub who has strong ties to the Warren Ball Park.  That being stated, Johnson is already represented in both the managers and coaches sections of my CATRC.

Next up, we have yet another Cubs card - this Cubs fan is getting a lot of bang for his buck with this set!

Hadley Hicks was born in Bisbee, AZ in 1933 and is best remembered for his time as the head football coach at Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas for two seasons, from 1988 to 1989, compiling a record of 3-16.  However, prior to that, Hicks was a baseball star at Arizona State and was able to parlay that into a brief minor league baseball career.  For one season, he played for the Pulaski Cubs in the rookie level Appalachian League.  He was also a published author and served on the board of the Arizona Athletic Hall of Fame

On that note, here's a relevant sidebar.  The Pulaski Cubs eventually became the Pulaski Yankees and were unceremoniously axed from organized baseball in the great minor league reorganization project that Rob Manfred has overseen.  But, that's an angry rant for another time.

Finally, we have another local star and an area umpire, but this blog post is already running too long.  These guys have no connections to the Cubs, so if you want to learn more about them, you should toss a few bucks to the Friends of Warren Ball Park and add some of their oddball cards to your collection.  Beyond the five cards you've seen here, there are four other sets of five available in their store and the subjects of those collations are every bit as interesting as those seen here.  There's even some AAGBL stars in there for some added flavor, a league which has been criminally ignored by trading card manufacturers!

So there you have it, the story behind Warren Ball Park, the Mexican-born trailblazer who called the park home and eventually made history with the Chicago Cubs, and some wonderfully obscure oddball trading cards for your viewing pleasure.  My eternal gratitude to the Friends of Warren for printing up these pasteboards, allowing me to add Jesse Flores to my favorite collection, and for being so quick to ship and a pleasure to deal with.  For those reading, now you understand why I was still excited to talk about these even though they were acquired several months ago.

Hopefully, when the world starts returning to some semblance of normalcy and I can reschedule our family trip to Arizona, I'll have the time and opportunity to visit the oldest ball park in the United States.  Everyone always talks about Fenway and Wrigley, but I'd say that Warren Ball Park definitely deserves a little more attention from the baseball-loving populace.

As far as baseball cathedrals go, you can't get any older than Warren.

Your Invitation Is In The Mail

Every year, teams bring in a bunch of guys to Spring Training for trial runs. After all, when you can roster several dozen players and have to fill several different levels of farm clubs, you're going to want to get a look at as many guys as you can. This, every March, clubs send out invitations to a couple handfuls of aging stars, former blue chip prospects, career journeymen, and chronic injury risks looking for a change of scenery or one last shot at glory. Most times, these guys are cut before the month is over or are stashed throughout the bush leagues as insurance. In fact, some end up selling insurance rather than playing ball. However, if you're a club like the Cubs - owned by a billionaire clan but crying poorer than TV's Connors family your spring training invitation might just end up being a ticket to the starting lineup.

After all, that's what happened to Northbrook, Illinois native, Jason Kipnis in 2020.  And with the tear down really kicking into high gear this winter, the cast at Wrigley Field might closer resemble a bunch of TV extras than a competitive show.

Anyway, before I fully launch into another rant, let's get back to the topic at hand - training camp invitees who ended up making the Major League roster out of the gates.  Of course, this post is part of series of blog entries covering the Cubs' roster additions that I missed while I sat out the 2020 baseball season.  This year, with *ahem* circumstances turning Spring Training into Summer Camp and expanding rosters by four, a whopping three invitees upgraded their non-guaranteed contracts into Major League deals.

First, let's talk about the aforementioned Kipnis.

Personally, despite my snark, I was absolutely rooting for him to make the club; I just didn't expect him to end up as the everyday second baseman.  While the longtime Indian made life hell on the Cubs in the 2016 World Series, it's hard to root against a hometown guy.  Despite injuries and age catching up with him by the time he became a free agent, the two-time All Star was adequate for the Cubbies in what was originally supposed to be a time share at the keystone with Nico Hoerner.  However, Nico proved himself not quite ready for the big time and Kip's .341/.404/.744 slash didn't do anything to fix the broken offense.

Now, Jason is a free agent again and there's been no word on him returning back to Chicago, despite the franchise's bargain bin shopping plan.  At any rate, I'm glad the Chicagoland resident got a chance to don his hometown colors.  Now, I just have to decide which card to add to my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection - the Heritage High Number which tops the post or this sweet double play shot from Topps Update.  Bonus points to the latter for a fellow Cub cameo:  the runner, Phillip Ervin, was claimed off of waivers last month.

Next up, we rotate through the infield from second base to home plate, with backup to the backup catcher, Josh Phegley:

For a guy who barely came unglued off of the bench during his stint with the Cubs, Phegley sure did get a lot of love from Topps this year.  Two cards in Topps' flagship set (between Series 2 and Update) and a pop-up in Heritage High Numbers seems a bit excessive for such a role player, but who am I to complain?   I didn't think he'd ever even receive a Cubs pasteboard based on the usual Topps treatment for such players, after all.

Phegley was a top prospect across town with the Sox for a few years, making him one of a select Windy City few to have plied their trade for both sides of the rivalry, before making his way to the A's.  The Cubs brought him on board with the intent of him serving as catching depth in AAA Iowa - but, with the cancellation of the minor league season, the expansion of rosters, and Victor Caratini being the best backup option at both catcher and first base, it wasn't much of a surprise that Josh made the team out of Summer Camp.  What was a bit puzzling was the fact that he only appeared in 11 games with all of 14 frames in the field.  

Although, with a .063 batting average, maybe my eyebrows shouldn't be quite so raised.  Still, I expected some more unique roster utilization with the extra extra catcher hanging around.

Finally, like Phegley, the final non-roster invitee to make the club might have been somewhat familiar to Chicago baseball fanatics... emphasis on fanatics, as only the most diehard rooter would have noticed him.

As a matter of fact, this wasn't Rex Brothers' first time in the Cubs' pre-season camp.  Going into 2016, Theo Epstein and crew actually swung a trade with Colorado for Brothers as a bullpen lottery ticket.  While the '16 went on to make baseball history, unfortunately for the reliever, he was cut in March, long before the curse-busting began.  So close to earning baseball immortality, yet so far.

2020 camp went much better for Sexy Rexy, as the expanded roster allowed the Cubs to dream on the ridiculous movement his arsenal possesses and officially bring Brothers into the family.  However, his branch seemed to fall off of the family tree pretty quickly, as he only appeared in three games and was absolutely hammered (8.10 ERA) in those contests.  That being said, Rex hasn't been disowned just yet, as he was brought back on another spring invitation for 2021.  Maybe this year will finally be the one where he puts it all together for the formerly lovable, once again losers.

Unlike the other two spring success stories in this post, Rex doesn't appear on a single piece of cardboard from 2020, let alone in a Cubs uniform.  Luckily for me though, I ferreted away this Rockies single way back when Brothers was first brought into the fold in 2016, just in case he made the roster then.  Since I'm a pack rat, I've had it stashed away since - turns out I was playing (and won) the long game.  Must have stored this card near the heating vents though - dig those salty sweat stains on Brothers' hat!

Here's a picture of Rex in a Cubs uniform, just as proof his (so far) brief Cubs tenure actually happened.  The image comes courtesy of the team's official Twitter account.

With that, between this post and last, Wrigley Roster Jenga is now caught up on all of the 2020 offseason roster additions made by the Cubs and my CATRC is that much larger.  Next time out, we'll continue with the first player to ride the shuttle between Chicago and the alternate training camp in South Bend, Indiana.  Cubs fans - do you remember who that was?  I'll give you a hint, he received a vote in the MVP race last year.

In the meantime, I gotta get outta here because a certain someone is feeling cranky and that might have something to do with a dirty diaper.... no, not Tom Ricketts - a different baby.

Total Fliers

In case you missed it, I'm back and playing catch-up.

During my sabbatical, I missed out on covering quite a few new Cubs here on Wrigley Roster Jenga.  Thankfully for my OCD, while I was MIA on the blogosphere, I was still semi-actively collecting and kept my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection (CATRC) up-to-date.  So, since I'm quarantined with COVID, I have nothing better to do that get this cobweb infested webspace all caught up.  I'll be showing off these cards of 2020 roster additions in roughly chronological order, but I'll definitely be taking some creative liberties along the way.  After all, if we learned anything during this chaotic year, linear time is absolutely meaningless.

Today, I'll be featuring a pair of hurlers who were "technically" on the roster when I closed the shudders on this blog back in June.  However, seeing as the active roster had not yet been finalized at the time and these low-risk/high reward, bullpen fliers were far from locks to make the club, I never got around to covering them.  Plus, I didn't have any cards featuring their faces at that point either.  In the end, both guys ended up making the cut, largely thanks to the pandemic-inflated rosters; thus, today they will be getting their due from me.  Anyway, let's kick things off with the first of the pair to be acquired by the Cubs - Daniel Winkler.

Image courtesy of  AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

Dan Winkler is an Illinois-boy, originally hailing from Effingham and attending Parkland College in Champaign, and was even drafted by his home-state club in the 43rd round of the 2010 amateur draft.  Of course, Effingham is located well south of Chicago and is far enough away that the territory is pretty much evenly split with the rival Cardinals.  Perhaps that's why he did not sign with the organization at that time? Maybe he was a fan of the Red Birds?  Doubtful, especially since he grew up listening to Cubs broadcasts with this blue-blooded grandmother on WGN.

Anyway, Dan ended up going to the Rockies in the next year's draft a few rounds earlier.  Eventually, the righty made his way to the Braves via the Rule 5 Draft, where he made his MLB debut in 2015.  After a few seasons yo-yoing back and forth between the Majors and the minors and rehabbing from a broken elbow, Winkler had solidified a spot in the Bravos bullpen by 2018, largely on the strength of his cutter and his fastball which ranks in the 90th percentile in spin.

Winkler doesn't miss a lot of bats and largely pitches to contact and thus got knocked around a bit in 2019, leading to his being traded away by Atlanta to San Francisco, who let him walk as a free agent after the season without appearing in an MLB contest with the team.  The Cubs then scooped him up that December, owing to their perpetually understaffed bullpen and artificially tight purse strings.

The Cubs have actually had a lot of success in identifying relievers who have glided under the radar but have one elite skill and then reshaping them in their "pitch lab."  As such, Winkler ended up as a perfectly useable bullpen arm for them in 2020, appearing in 18 games (18.1 innings) with an ERA under three.

As well as Winkler performed for the Cubbies in 2020, I thought finding a card of him for my CATRC would be a rougher go. After all, relievers hardly get any love from Topps and Panini and Winkler hasn't exactly been a steady presence over the years. However, I was surprised to find that he appeared as a Brave in a few recent Flagship sets and - even better - was an early inclusion in the 2020 edition of the rebooted Topps Total, as a Cub no less. 

To see that Winkler, of all people, already had a Cubs card to his name came as quite a surprise to me. These print-to-order cards are, as you know, quite a different animal from their pack-pulled brethren and finding singles is more of a challenge and harder on the wallet than those in traditional sets; however, I am so glad this set was brought back from the dead, even if the former bargain brand is now a premium. As you'll see in this series of posts catching up on the moves that I missed, Winkler is far from the only player who Total provided for my binder.

In fact, Winkler's card isn't even the sum total of Total cards featured in this blog entry. Let's shift our focus to another offseason flier who made the team out of spring training - Casey Sadler.

Image courtesy of Getty

Casey Sadler was a surprise, late-season contributor out of the bullpen for the powerful Dodgers in 2019.  In 24 games, the hurler claimed four wins, no losses, and posted a sterling 2.33 ERA.  But, since that World Series bound franchise was absolutely stacked going into this year, they traded him to Chicago for a minor leaguer.  Especially once COVID-expanded rosters became a thing, Sadler's spot in the Cubs bullpen was all but assured; however, I held off on talking about his acquisition at that the time, even though the blog was actually active at this point. *Shrug*

In the end, Sadler was unable to duplicate his Dodger days for the Cubs, seeing his ERA balloon to 5.73 in 10 games.  In a bullpen that had to shortage of otherwise useful options, the Cubs ended up designating him for assignment before the season was out.  Sadler was eventually claimed by the Mariners and added to their active roster on the same day as now current Cub waiver claim, Philip Ervin.  Whether or not Ervin remains a Cub through Opening Day 2021 and also joins Sadler in my CATRC remains to be seen.

While his bullpen mate, Daniel Winkler, was surprisingly easy to cross off of my "needs" list, Casey Sadler was quite the opposite.  Despite appearing in parts of five season as a Major League Baseball player, as of halfway through 2020, Sadler had literally NEVER appeared on an official baseball card.  Not even so much as a courtesy Bowman or Prizm Draft Picks single from his prospect days.  By the time he'd been DFA'ed off of the Cubs' roster, the only cardboard options for Sadler that existed were singles from MiLB team-issued sets.  While Winkler proved to be an exception to the rule, this is exactly the sort of hobby situation I expect with relatively unstable MLB relievers.

Then, once again, in stepped Topps Total to the rescue.

Sure, they were late to the party and Sadler was already a Mariner by the time Total's eighth wave made it to market, but I was both surprised and thrilled to see Casey finally get his time in the spotlight.  Someone else must have been too, as this particular single was confusingly difficult to find at a reasonable price on the secondhand market.  As Wrigley Wax theorized, perhaps a member of the Sadler family was just as excited to see Casey finally get a bubblegum card and bought them up with great enthusiasm?  

No offense to the hurler, but I doubt there's a Sadler super collector out there.  But, that's no matter - I finally tracked one down for a couple bucks out of Canada, so all is well in the land of Wrigley Roster Jenga.

It's here that we place in a pin in the great roster move catch-up series, as my infant son is not nearly as interested in blogging as I am at the moment.  Next time out, we'll talk about the non-roster invitees who made the team out of spring training in 2020.  Seeing as, due to the COVID protocols, the rosters were expanded to 30 men from jump, more guys than usual made this leap from the NRI ranks, I'll have plenty of players and cards to showcase.

In the meantime, happy New Year!  Thank goodness this perpetual dumpster fire of a calendar year is finally fucking off.  Let's all chug some Instacart-ordered, bargain brand bubbly and toast to 2021 being the first step back to relative normalcy.  

See ya'll on the other side!

Yu've Got to be Kidding Me

I know I said in my first post back that I'd be covering all the Cubs players who have been added to the roster since I've been away, but I've got to interrupt myself.  Somewhat.

Today's post will involve a guy who was added to the roster since that June sabbatical began; however, we're going to leapfrog seven months and rant... errrr... talk about a transaction that occurred just a couple of days ago.  I'm alluding, of course, to the "blockbuster" trade that occurred between the buckwild Padres and the club who is truly putting the "W" in white flag - the Cubs.  In case you somehow missed the news, GM Jed Hoyer announced his intentions to save the Ricketts family some debt by trading the ace of their already weakened pitching staff, Yu Darvish, to a club who actually seems interested in competing (understatement) in 2020, in exchange for a bunch of teenagers.  As if that wasn't a strong enough signal of their intentions, they also threw in Yu's personal catcher - Victor Caratini - AND paid off some of Darvish's contract, on top of that absolute gift.

All I can say is I'm mad at baseball again.

As a fan-base, we were promised at the onset of the last rebuild that we would never have to suffer through another stretch of baseball as bad as that was.  After all, Chicago is about as major of a market as you can get, the Ricketts had deep pockets, and the new television channel and Wrigleyville renovations were basically going to print money for the franchise.  Of course, now, even after saying at the end of the 2020 season that a total rebuild wasn't going to occur, Tommy Boy is crying poor and auctioning off stars at bargain bin prices.  I understand a change needed to happen, especially with the offense, after a couple of lackluster, but competitive seasons.  However, retooling the roster does not involve swapping your Cy Young caliber ace and high-quality back-up catcher for a bunch of players who might be good in four years.  And now there's rumors of trading Willson Contreras away... excuse me, what?

Now, your offense is exactly the same, the pitching staff is measurably worse, your actively gutting your catchers, and instead of getting young players who could help fill those black holes from one of the best farm systems in the league, you got a handful of lottery tickets that aren't redeemable until the middle of the decade.  All so you can save your "billionaire" owners some money... to which I say, sell the damn team!  But, what else can you expect from the same ownership group that worships at the altar of the ultimate fake billionaire, Donald Trump.  Fuck 'em.

Although, the Cubs did get ONE Major League piece back from the Pads - Zach Davies, aka store brand Kyle Hendricks.  Sure, Davies isn't a bad option to plug into the back of a starting rotation, but Yu Darvish he ain't.  Plus, with Hendricks and Alec Mills being your only other predictable rotation options, the starting staff is now almost exclusively populated by soft-tossers, as Davies' fastball barely averages in the high 80's these days.  Opposing offenses are going to be absolutely teeing up at Wrigley this summer.  maybe the Ricketts are counting on increased souvenirs in the bleachers to bring fans in the gates next year?

Anyway, in a division where the Reds and the Pirates are already tearing themselves down to the studs, the Cubs should be taking advantage at an almost guaranteed playoff spot.  Instead, they seem to be up to the challenge of racing to the bottom.  Jesus, I almost wish that I was a Brewers fan.  Maybe I'll follow Yu and Vic to San Diego?

#CoupleGoals

*Sigh* Well, that was cathartic anyway... I feel a TOUCH better after that rant.  I still won't be spending any money on the Cubs this year.  No Marquee network (even if I could), no game tickets (if we ever get back to that point), no merch, no nada.  I'm sure they'll miss my pittance, but it's the principle of the thing.

That said, I am still a slave to my collection - I still begrudgingly love baseball and will continue to follow my favorite team.  It might be a toxic relationship until the Ricketts are ran out of town on a rail, but if I could jump off of the train, I would have already.  With that in mind, I guess I need to acquire a card of Zach Davies for my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.  Again, he's somehow the only one I'll need after trading away the guy who finished second in the Cy Young voting in 2020.  Those prospects can wait until they've at least graduated A-ball.

In preparing for the arrival of my son - the only good thing to happen in 2020 - I offloaded a the majority of my collection on Nick from Dimeboxes, as you might have seen through his blog.  By collection, I really mean bloat, as it was all the cards that didn't really fit into my ultra-niche collections, including my stores of active players whose cards I held onto just in case they might end up as Cubs one day.  I'm sure there was a Davies in there, as he's a six-year veteran who has exclusively pitched as a regular starter.  However, as with any new addition to the active roster from here on out, I'll have to take it as it comes.  Maybe after I've recovered from COVID, I'll mask up and pop into my local card shop for a spell and calm my nerves. Maybe I'll get impatient during this quarantine and overpay for a single on EBay.  At any rate, Zach's got some options.

As far as Davies' base cards go, I think these are my favorite two options - I guess I'm in a GQ mood lately.

In the end, thanks for sticking with me through this therapeutic rant.  I felt like I had to cover this trade on the blog and that I had to do so before it faded from the spotlight - I've already neglected Wrigley Roster Jenga for long enough.

For the first time since this blog's infancy, here's to another season of rebuilding roster jenga.  I'm sure I'll be busy chasing down cards of random scrubs, AAAA filler, and waiver claims for the first time since this competitive streak began in 2015.  I guess the blog is - begrudgingly - back to living up to the inspiration behind it's name.

If you enjoyed this content - don't worry - I'm sure there'll be more unhinged rants when the team deals away Contreras and Kris Bryant for some Bed Bath & Beyond coupons.

Is This Thing Still On?

 Hey, remember me?

This place sure is dusty and covered in world wide cob webs... how long has been it been?  Jesus - my last post was in June... I missed a whole (ish) season of baseball.  Man, time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister.

Well, I'm left to ask myself, what might have caused such a long absence?  My answer is threefold.  First, a general dissatisfaction with the sport.  Between minor league baseball being nuked, labor strife wreaking havoc on baseball's future, and rooting for a directionless team seemingly ticketed for decline while stuck in a Groundhog Day-like state of mediocrity, it's been hard to feel enthused about my favored sport.  Although, I will say that despite some negative connotations, MLB's long-belated recognition of the Negro Leagues as being officially Major League caliber has perked my enthusiasm up a little bit.

Furthermore, there's the whole chaotic purgatory that is the year 2020.  Between the heated Presidential election, the coup attempt by the world's most sore loser that is somehow still ongoing, and - y'know - the raging pandemic that continues to spread like wildfire across the world, but even more powerfully in the only first world nation that thinks science is for wussies.  While we're on that note, I might as well mention that I just tested positive for COVID-19 and am now quarantined away from the world.  I've been as responsible as possible; however, having to work in four different buildings as part of my current employment has left me extremely exposed.  Thankfully, my symptoms are pretty mild - it mostly feels as though I just have a prolonged head cold.  Although, I have lost my senses of smell and taste, which figures because I have nothing better to do than eat my feelings.  

I suppose I'll have to settle for the next best way to spend my time - blogging about baseball cards.  After all, I've missed covering a bunch of new additions to the Cubs All-Time Roster while I was away, seeing as the 2020 season somehow ended up happening, despite the best efforts of the Marlins and Cardinals.  While I wasn't blogging, I was still passively collecting and I am pretty much up to date at this point.  The expanded rosters created a whole bunch of new Cubs, I might as well take this opportunity to document them.

I think I'll go one by one, in (approximately) the order the players were added to the active roster, starting... tomorrow.

Why drag my feet after all this time already taken off?  That brings me to the third reason Wrigley Roster Jenga has been dormant for so long - my wife and I welcome our first child into the world this summer and, unsurprisingly, he's been a bit of distraction.  Needless to say, 2020 was a stressful year to go through the whole childbirth process; but, at least I can say something wonderful did happen during this year of otherwise unrelenting frustration.  Both Rowan and his mother are doing quite well, though we are all three battling that damn virus, at the moment.

Also - sidebar - Rowan definitely wasn't name AFTER Cubs reliever Rowan Wick; although, I might have discovered that I liked the way the moniker sounded while listening to Cubs' broadcasts during the hurler's Wrigley tenure.  Don't tell mom.

Anyway, I'm going to use the last few minutes of the kid's nap to sort through my binders and get my upcoming posts ready.  See ya'll tomorrow!