What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been

 

Early last summer, I came to the blog to vent about a case of mistaken identity.  In short, I thought that I had tracked down a great deal on a super vintage card of a random, long forgotten player for my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection binder.  As it turned out, both the Ebay vendor and I were confused as to the true identity of the player depicted on this rare beauty, as it only featured the man's surname on the front and back sides of the pasteboard.  Unfortunately for me, the player on the card in question played around the same time as the guy that I was actually looking for and he shared the same last name (without relation).  As you can see, it was a pretty easy mistake for the pair of us to each make and I didn't blame the vendor at all for the mix-up; however, that didn't make plopping down some of my hard earned money in a splurge not often made by my cheap ass any less frustrating at the time. Granted, I only lost about $20 on the deal; but, like I said, major cheap ass.

 

Now, it wasn't the Pete Kilduff card that you see above... at least, it wasn't at the time.  Confused?  Why is this card leading off the post?  Please, allow me to explain.  There is a method behind my madness.

You see the card that I actually whiffed on was a 1912 Imperial Tobacco (C46) single and the player that it depicted was James, aka "Not Arthur," Pehlan:

John "Jimmy" Phelan was an outfielder who never made the ultimate ascent, but had a long playing career in the bush leagues, from 1905-14, with several different clubs.  Unfortunately, none of them were the Cubs.  Meanwhile, Art Phelan was an infielder with a five-year Big League tenure, playing at first for the Reds in 1910 and 1912, then with the Cubbies from 1913-15 in the near aftermath of their dynastic period.

At any rate, these guys were not the same person.  What a shame too, as I've always liked the look of the Imperials and was truly excited about finding one that fit into my budget and my most treasured collection.  That's the way the cookie crumbles I guess... or the cigarette rolls, perhaps?

However, I didn't let this confusion keep me down for long.  I took solace in the fact that such a card would definitely have some trade value, which I was truly counting on when I took to Wrigley Roster Jenga to discuss my switcheroo.  Additionally, I also shared my post on Twitter to maximize the exposure I could get in hopes of a trade offer.  Luckily, my hunch was correct and the immensely knowledgeable and respectful Mark Hoyle was more than happy to given Jimmy a good home.  In exchange, the SABR heavyweight offered me card that was a much better fit in my collection:

That's right, you're eyes do not deceive you - that's an authentic 1935 Goudey 4-in-1 and it's the first one I have ever held in person.  Plus, if you're keeping score at home, that's four Cubs in exchange (three of which reside in Cooperstown) for one non-Cub.  Hot damn, that's one helluva deal!  

You should totally give Mr. Hoyle a follow too - the Red Sox oddballs that he shares @Markhoyle4 are fascinating to baseball fans of any team.  I've learned about so many off-the-beaten path products from his Tweets that I've lost count.

Despite the card getting lost in the mail for about a month (hey, thanks orange goblin for ruining the post office on top of the laundry list of crap you've caused), the only thing on my mind was which player should this card be used to represent in my CATRC?  Which, if I'm being honest, is a pretty strong reason why I tend to avoid acquiring multiplayer cards for said binder unless absolutely necessary.  But, no matter what, a Pre-War Cubs card is something that I am absolutely never going to turn down, especially in exchange for something I didn't even really want!

But Tony, you might be saying to yourself, "what the heck does any of this trade have to do with the Kilduff card that you showed at the beginning of this blog entry?"  "You're rambling!"  To that I say, patience, young padawan, everything will make sense in the end and, yea, I have a strong tendency to be long-winded.

Anyway, like I said, I loved my new Goudey; but, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was while it did fit into my collection, it was an imperfect fit.  That being said, I was still perfectly happy to have it in my possession.  But, a few weeks later, another excellent Twitter account - @Grandcards - was doing the same thing I did with my impostor Phelan.  Here's the deal, this guy is always tweeting out great deals on pre-war stock and I had noticed a lot of caramel cards that was of particular interest.  Rather, I should say that the lot contained a single card that was of particular interest to me.  Can you guess what it was?

You guessed it, we've finally reached the branch of the trade tree that includes our ol' buddy Pete here, a 1921-23 E220 National Caramel treat.  While it's definitely trimmed, has a crease and some paper loss, this is not a card or a set that pops up very often in my price range.  In fact, I had never seen Kilduff's entry on the checklist.  Dig that awesome (albeit staged) fielding photograph!

Luckily for me, the Grand Man was interested in trades as well as sales, especially for other pre-war cards in return.  Generally, the Motor City fan generally prefers Tigers when it comes to exchanges; nevertheless, he was still interested in adding my newly acquired Goudey 4-in-1 to his stash, as he only had one other example from the set.

I realize that trading a card of my favorite team that featured three vintage Hall of Famers for this nobody seems like a terrible, Darvish for Davies level deal.  But, rest assured that it was absolutely worth it to me.  You see, Pete Kilduff doesn't have much of a cardboard footprint; in fact, it's so faint that it's barely there.  According to the Trading Card Database, the only cards he does have come from the 1921-23 time period and they are ALL rare, regional, food issues.  I guess that's what happens when your not a star or even a regular starter in an era post-tobacco cards and pre-Topps.  At any rate, this situation is not exactly conducive to my low budget collecting ways.  When such an opportunity knocks, I feel obliged to answer the door.

No matter what, I get more enjoyment out of my Kilduff card than I do the pasteboard that came before it, though I'm no less grateful for Mark Hoyle's initial rescue!

Kilduff during his tenure with the Cubs (Sporting News Collection Hologram/MEARS Photo LOA)

Anyway, we've done a lot of leading to and talking about the card itself, but said very little about the player which it pictures.  Pete Kilduff played in the Major Leagues from 1917 through 1921 for the Giants, Cubs, and Robins (aka the Dodgers), though he continued on in the minors until 1928.  The infielder usually came off of the bench, only twice topping 100 games during his time in the Bigs and was a fairly usable piece when he did, with a .270/.338/.364 career slash.  Of course he lacked power, but so did everyone back then.

Unfortunately, the two things this serviceable ballplayer are best remembered are not exactly great things.  First, while Pete did get to play in a World Series during his time with Brooklyn, he was one of the three men caught up in Bill Wambsganss' famed unassisted triple play.  Secondly, shortly after he permanently hung up his spikes as player, Pete was announced to manage one of his former clubs - the Shreveport Sports of the A-level Texas League - going into the 1930 season.  Tragically, the transition wasn't to be, as Kilduff died suddenly, before he even had the chance to hand in a lineup card.  He was only 36 years old when he passed.

In a bizarre bit of symmetry, the manager whom Kilduff was succeeding in Shreveport was none other than Art Phelan, the man who started this whole cardboard journey.  Huh....

What a tangled web we weave, eh?

Before I start thinking too hard about that odd coincidence, I want to ask you all, have you ever completed such a long, drawn out trade such as this one?  Was it worth the whole process in the end?  Furthermore, have you ever made a deal that - on it's surface - seemed like it was not beneficial towards your goals, like three vintage HOF Cubs for a scrub?  This hobby isn't truly about value after all, despite what all these new cardboard stock traders might make it seem, it's about enjoyment and finding things that bring you joy.  I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below!

Once again, my eternal thanks go out to Mark Hoyle and Grand Cards for making these trades with me - I truly do appreciate your generosity and I hope that you enjoyed your ends of the deals as much as I did mine.  

Welcome to the CATRC, Pete Kilduff.  What a long, strange trip it's been.

Getting Wise

So... ummmmmmm.... yeaaaaaa.... baseball cards???

I must admit, I'm pretty well shocked and horrified by the world around us right now.  I guess while I always felt that yesterday's actual, bonafide, no two ways about it coup attempt was the logical conclusion for this presidency, it was no less painful and shocking to watch as it played out live.  Dear god, hopefully those in Washington finally got a taste of the hatred and misinformation they've been letting stew for the past four years and actually do something to make this a conclusion.  Invoking the 25th would be a wise move, as who knows how much more damage this bruised demagogue will try to cause before January 20th.  The man is an egomaniacal and the cult that he's built is bound and ready to act out his every self-serving plan.

Sorry for getting political here on Wrigley Roster Jenga... except, no I am not.  What's going on around us is not something that we can simply ignore or "stick to sports."  This affects every single one of us, whether we want to admit it or not.  Yesterday's coup was one of the darkest moments in this country's history and we cannot simply pretend it didn't happen and move on like nothing's different, like we seem to do with every impeachable offense perpetrated by the deluded reality show host in charge.  How our country handles this moment could very well define our generation and the future of democracy in the United States.

This rant has gone on a little longer than expected; but, I simply had to speak my piece.  With that out of the way I guess I can now throw in some baseball card content, even though such trivialities seem even more insignificant in the grand scheme of things.  However, perhaps some normalcy will do me and my mental health some good.  With that in mind, let's get to the post that I originally had in mind for today.

Head East, Young Man

Colin Rea is packing his bags and heading east... waaaaaaaaayyyyyyy east.

Yesterday morning, it was announced that now former Cubs swingman, Colin Rea, had been released from his contract with the the franchise.  This came as a bit of a surprise for a couple of reasons.  First, there's the fact that the moundsman had just agreed to a new, pre-arbitration deal to say in Chicago for a second season.  Second, the Cubs have made it no secret that they aren't going to be shopping for brand names at the free-agent stop n' shop this offseason and they have a bunch of holes in both the starting rotation and the bullpen.  All in all, despite the frustration the front office and ownership have caused the Cubs faithful this winter, the North Side of Chicago seems like the optimal destination for a guy like Rea to try and make a ball club.

As it turns out, like most instances where such a release occurs, Colin will be taking his talents to Asia - specifically, Japan - where such thirty-year old, "tweeners" generally make a significant greater sum of money in the Nippon League than they would riding the shuttle between AAA and the Majors.  Not to mention, they're usually going to receive a much larger share of playing time, as well.  I mean, we've seen this time and time again, where a guy's career has somewhat stalled out, so they travel eastward to make some coin while they still can ; you can only play professional baseball for so long, after all.  Plus, there's the beneficial side effect where the player in question can  rebuild their stock for a later, potential stateside return, a la fellow former Cub, Rafael Dolis, Miles Mikolas, Merrill Kelly, etc.

All in all, you can't blame the guy for doing what's best for himself, his family, and his career.  However, I'm a little disappointed, as a selfish Cubs fan, to see a perfectly good pitching option - with a modest price tag - fly away to greener pastures. 

In my last post detailing roster moves made during the Wrigley Roster Jenga blackout, we talked about the first player added to the 30-man after the regular season began.  In a bit of kismet, it just so happens that the second person called up from the alternate training site is in the news.  *Pssst, that person was Colin Rea*  Yay - I'm accidentally being timely and relevant!

Colin Rea was actually brought in on a minor league deal with a NRI going into the 2019 season; however, he did not make the club.  At the time, I just so happened to pull the above 2017 Topps Flagship single from a random pack and properly stored in away, just in case Colin made the club.  Spoiler alert, he did not - instead, he went to AAA and pitched out of the Iowa Cubs rotation, where he had a heckuva career resuscitation twirling superballs in the Pacific Coast League.  In a video game-esque offensive environment, the former top prospect posted a sterling 14-4 record to go along with a 3.95 ERA.  Remember, this is a league where league batters popped an astounding 1,215 more homers than they had a year before.  That ball was JUICED!

For his admirable performance, Colin was named the PCL Pitcher of the Year and his career was once again trending upward.  I'm sure this was a great relief to the man; after all, it had been awhile since Rea's name was attached to a positive story.

Mr. Rea truly kicked but in Des Moines - image courtesy of the Iowa Cubs Facebook page.

Prior to his comeback in the PCL, Rea's name was last widely discussed in the baseball rags for his inclusion in a high profile trade deadline deal, made between the Marlins and the Padres back in 2016.  Does that wave any red flags for you?  Remember how the Pads were nailed for falsifying injury information about players in order to swing better trades for themselves that summer?  Well, Rea was the guy that they traded to Miami, watched him get hurt in his first and only appearance as a fish, and then the league forced them to bring back in a separate deal, owing to their dirty dealing.  Oof.

Before this attempted swindle, Rea had been a highly-regard prospect in the Padres chain, after having been selected in the 12th round of the 2011 draft and he had made 25 appearances from 2015-16 in his first taste of Major League action.  After the bad faith trade and his lone game with Miami, Rea became injured goods, missed the entirety of the 2017 season, and unable to make it back to the Bigs until last year.

Like I said, I'm sure he was over the moon about the trajectory change his career made after that Iowa Cubs performance.

Colin Rea pitching at Wrigley Field in 2020.  Image courtesy of the Chicago Tribune.

Rea came back to the Cubs organization that offseason and was rewarded with a ticket back to the Show.  On July 30th, after Dillon Maples once again proved that he had less control than a wireless marionette.  The once again Big Leaguer started out hot, striving to make good on his second chance; his velocity spiked pitching out of the bullpen without sacrificing the movement on his breaking pitches.  In relief duty, Rea only gave up two runs in 8.2 frames 7 K's - that's definitely a useable arm.  However, a pair of clunker emergency starts severely depressed his overall stat line, leading to an ERA over five in his 14 total IP.  

That being said, with the Cubs shedding salary like a shaggy dog, with Craig Kimbrel and Rowan Wick being the only two locks in the bullpen (for now), and with Rea being brought back via arbitration, it sure seemed like the dude was a good bet to soak up innings for the team in 2021.  Still, a guaranteed job and some stable money definitely trumps "a good bet."  

Once again, selfishly, I'm a bit sad that - with his sudden departure - Rea probably won't end up with a proper Cubs card now.  He did not show up in Update or Heritage High Numbers - he would have made a much better inclusion than Jharel Cotton, who will go down as a Cub that never was.  So, no true Cubs card, unless Topps decides to throw him in 2021 Series One for some reason and, honestly, that wouldn't be the weirdest thing they've ever done.  I guess that Padres pasteboard will just have to do, even though now all I can think of when I see brown and yellow Yu Darvish being sold up the river for some Kohl's Cash.  Still, it's better than nothing.  Or, I could chase after his team-issued Iowa Cubs single and call it close enough.  I'll have to keep an eye out.

Image courtesy of Go Sports Cards.

If anyone has a stash of broken down, Minor League team sets, just know that I'm ALWAYS looking for Iowa Cubs and other Chicago-affiliates.  Let's talk trade!

Here's hoping that Colin got himself a good deal and absolutely carves up the Nippon League!  There's been no official word on which team Colin will be signing with or what the details of his new contract will be.  Personally, I'm hoping that he'll be plying his trade with the Yokohama DeNA Bay Stars, which has been my Japanese team of choice since I randomly found one of their t-shirts in a suburban Chicago Goodwill a few years back.  It would be poetic - me finding their merch in the Windy City and them finding a potential new ace in the Windy City.

Good luck in the land of the rising sun, Colin.  Thank you for your admirable performance in both an Iowa and Chicago Cubs uniform and an extremely belated welcome to the CATRC binder.

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.