TGIF! I'm almost as elated as Alfonso here that the end of the work week has finally arrived.
Today will be just a quick post, as my schedule is really crowded and I'm saving my well-thought out post ideas for the next couple of days, when I'll have much more time to do them justice.
In the meantime, since his emotions nearly match mine, I figured this was as good of a time as any to show off this fantastic Topps Stars piece from 2008. I have plenty of Sori cards in my collection, but when I saw this sitting in a discount box, there was no way I was leaving it there.
First of all, I don't think I've ever seen such pure elation on any baseball card. This shot would have been perfect for the old Emotion brand put out by Fleer in the mid-90's.
Second, it comes from one of my favorite moments in Cubs history - or at least from my era:
Ah - 2007 - one in a long line of "next years" for us Cubs fans. However, it was as I jumped up and down in my living room after this glorious walk-off that I thought that this squad really could come roaring back from 8 games back that May.
And they did. In fact, they had many come from behind victories such as this, as I recall. They called them the Cardiac Cubs.
It felt like destiny. We all know how that eventually turned out; but, nevertheless, it was a great moment in a great season.
Also, let's take a second and appreciate Sori's vertical! If this whole baseball thing hadn't worked out for him, maybe he would have had a future in hoops. Speaking of which, that's a good hint as to what tomorrow's post will be about...
Who is this and what do they have to do with tomorrow's post?
All in all, I had to add this wonderfully shiny piece of pure ecstasy to my CATRC binder to represent Al. I was happy to do so - maybe not as happy as he was at the time though.
I'll close things off with the song from which this post gets it's title.
WAIT! Don't worry, I'll be merciful and not post the original - we all know how terrible that is. However, this version is very much exemplary of the joy of Friday:
You just never know what you're going to find at your LCS.
Especially at mine, anyway. I find something new for my collection pretty much every time I step in the door - no matter how often. They amaze me.
But, sometimes, they mystify and confuse me. In a good way.
A few weeks ago, I was browsing through one of their glass cases of vintage cards and I saw all the usual suspects. Stars of the 50's and 60's on Topps cardboard were staring back at me, but they held no interest to me. It was a stack of cards with this oddity on top that caught my attention:
Hey, we're talking pre-war vintage gold here! Vance Page was a Cub from 1938-41. He was a mediocre pitcher, but he logged some time in the 1938 World Series and how many people can say they pitched for the Cubs in the World Series?
Well, none. They've all since died, but you get my point. That includes Page, who unfortunately died at the far too young age of 35 when he fell off of a barn in 1951.
But, back to the card - what the heck is it??
Odd size (though that's pretty usual for the time), penciled in names, random seam in the middle, no identifying information whatsoever... I was stumped.
There was no more help to be found on the back:
But it sure looks like a trimmed playing card to me. However, the front did not have the texture of a playing card; it felt like a normal square of cardboard.
The shop's purveyor really had no clue either. He bought a collection en masse from a local yocal and found said stack of mystery cards nestled inside. But, he did offer them to me for a buck a piece; anything that old for that cheap and I'm sold!
I did have a sneaking suspicion as to the origin of these cards, but more on that later.
Besides Page, I was able to find a couple more old-time Cubs that I needed for my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection:
That's Ival Goodman on the left and Al, not Paul, Epperly on the right. Goodman appears to be pictured in a Cincinnati Reds uniform and the person behind the penciled in text seems to have confused Al with teammate Paul Erickson, both mounds-men.
Goodman was an All-Star twice over in Cincy during the late 1930's, but was running out of steam by the time the Cubs bought his contract in 1941. His bat was still potent (.298 BA in Chicago) but he couldn't stay on the field ( just 142 games over 2 seasons).
Epperly got a brief trial with the Cubs in 1938, getting into just 9 games before being sent down. Unfortunately for him, Al wasn't to see his name on a big league roster again until he took the mound for 5 games with the 1950 Brooklyn Dodgers. Talk about perseverance!
Since Epperly only had one season with the Cubs, I think we know what year these cards date from!
It was the notch that's predominantly present on the front of Goodman's card that really cemented my theory as to the story behind these cards; that said, it was the back of the same card that absolutely confirmed my theory for me:
It looks like a chopped up entry form for some long-forgotten contest put on by the Reds. So, what does this mean?
It means that these are super-vintage custom cards!
Some kid in the late 30's wanted more baseball cards, so he grabbed an old program/scorecard/advertisement (I'm not sure exactly what publication they came from) with pictures of ballplayers, cut them up and glued them to whatever scrap paper he could find - including playing cards and old ballots.
I guess Goudey wasn't "Goudey-nuff" for him! Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck.
A time-period appropriate reference!
They might not technically be authentic baseball cards, but that just makes them all the more fascinating to me. As a result of their home-spun creation, there's so much more character and child-like wonder behind these customs.
Thus, they will still be entered into my CATRC set until further notice. An authentic release would supplant them from that binder, but not my collection. They are far too unique and special for me to simply get rid of them just because they were created by a kid in his basement rather than a chewing gum company.
Like I said, you just never really know what you're going to find in your LCS. Topps flagship? Definitely. Flashy auto/relic cards? Sure thing. Pre-WWII vintage customs? Apparently it can happen.
I hope everyone has or had a good time celebrating the holiday and, after haring about the drunken debauchery that occurred over the weekend on the side of town that my favorite baseball team calls home, did so responsibly.
Fan fact: In the 140+ years of the franchise, no Cub has ever gone by the name of Patrick. That said, several have gone by Pat; I guess that extra syllable is just too formal.
So, in celebration of St. Pat's Day, I present to you all the Lovable Losers from my Cubs collection who (kinda) share their name with the primary patron saint of Ireland.
*Sorry, this was the best theme I could come up with for today!
"Mr. Clutch" had a nice run in Cleveland, but his biggest contribution to the Cubs franchise was being traded for Steve Trout and Warren Brusstar - two key pieces of the 1984 NL East champions.
What a lucky deal!
Mr. Perry was a middle reliever for another NL East champion Cubs team - the 93-69 Boys of Zimmer in 1989. Talk about a team that came out of nowhere: their 1988 record? 77-85. Their 1990 record? Also 77-85.
They must have gotten their hands on some Leprechaun gold!
Ugly pitching face isn't solely a recent card phenomena, as evidence by this Pat's Diamond Debut piece. The face he's making isn't the only thing ugly thing associated with Mahomes - his career stat line isn't particularly pretty. Though, somehow he managed to have an 11 year career out of the bullpen with a 5.87 ERA.
Hey - that card has some green on it. That's the only Irish connection I've got.
Pat Moran was a key bench piece for the Cubs last World Series champions in 1907 and 1908. Though it might look it, this card isn't that old - unfortunately, it is a reprint of it's 1910 Turkey Red cabinet counterpart.
Cabinet cards were quite large, large enough to decorate a cabinet, but Moran was not. At 5'10" and 180 pounds, he was about the size of a leprechaun!
Well after Ragan's Cub days were over, he was one of the Black Sox players who wasn't on the fix during the 1919 World Series. Was it because he already had a nice pt o'gold tucked away at the end of the rainbow?
More likely, it was because he only actually appeared in one game and that came during the regular season.
Pat Bourque's appearance on this 1973 Rookie First Baseman card might be insignificant at first glance, but there is more than meets the eye.
Bourque was one in a fairly long line of first basemen trotted out by the Cubs to replace Ernie Banks until Bill Buckner showed up. He never solidified a claim on the job and was traded away to the Athletics (green jerseys!) in August of that year.
You might notice that, coincidentally, an Athletic first baseman appears next to Pat on this card. Well, it just so happens that Gonzalo Marquez was the player that came back to Chicago in that transaction.
That bit of trivia is almost as glorious as those sideburns!
Let's wrap things up on a high note.
Malone is the most accomplished of the Pats, though it isn't a particularly high hurdle to clear. He twice led the NL in wins with the Cubs (1929-30) and was part of two pennant winners (1929, 1932).
However, come 1934, Mr. Wrigley must have decided they needed a little more Irish blood, so they traded him to the Cardinals for Ken O'Dea.
So, in conclusion, this is the best way I could come with to celebrate St. Pat's day on Wrigley Roster Jenga. In my defense, I'm rushing so that I can go and get my hands on a Shamrock Shake so that I can be all festive and what not...
Well, really, it's just a justification for me to get some junk food. Shhhhhhhhh.
Here's some quality Irish-tinged rock'n'roll by way of the Southside Irish to close out today's post; play me out boys!
Minor league cards, especially of the team issue variety are often very much lacking in the quality control department. Thin card-stock, out of focus or unusually dark photos, head-scratchingly loud or bland designs (no in-between), etc. permeate the market; but, I absolutely love them just the same.
After all, without these regional issues, how would we remember the forgotten prospects of yesteryear? Their stories are often more interesting than most of those that made the ultimate ascent. This guy here is no exception:
I first saw this card at The Phillies Room and I knew I had to have it; it hails from the 1976 team set of Phillies' AAA affiliate. Even though it looks like it was made on an old Xerox machine, there's always room for an oddball like this in my collection, especially when it depicts a Cub needed for my CATRC.
According to Jim's research,the set was handed out to the first 2,000 fans attending the 89ers' July 26th home game that year. Now, I missed that game by - oh - 13 years, but now I have this rarity.
Outside of a couple TCMA minor league cards, no other cards exist of Manny Seoane. This is unfortunate, as although his big league career was brief, undistinguished and unsuccessful, he was later involved in one of the most bizarre incidents in baseball history.
The Phillies prospect didn't do so hot in Oklahoma City that season, posting an 8-7 record with a 4.77 ERA in 21 starts. The next season was only mildly better, but he was able to get a September call-up with the Phils for 2 games, giving up 4 runs in 6 IP during the playoff chase.
His second appearance came against Chicago and though the Phillies were unimpressed with his work, the Cubs must have thought they saw something. Manny was traded straight up to the Cubs for the aging Jose Cardenal in October of 1977.
At this point, Jose was "robbed" of his abilities by age.
Manny was stashed at AAA Wichita for 1978 and he continued his streak of mediocrity, going 12-9 with a 4.50 ERA in 28 games. But, since the Cubs of the late 70's were the embodiment of mediocrity, Manny got another September call-up.
This time around, he saw a little more action - but not much more. He gave up 5 runs in 8.1 innings across 7 games, one of which was a start. This was to be the end of the line for his MLB career.
But, this is not where his story ends; au contraire, this is where it gets interesting.
Before eventually washing out of the Cubs organization, Manny became associated with the eccentric Mark Lemongello while still with Wichita - another washed up pitcher who had come to the Cubs organization to string along his MLB dreams.
Previously, Lemongello had only been known to the Wrigley faithful for this incident:
Figure out where this story is going yet?
In 1982, while Manny was in the Detroit farm system, he and Mark were arrested for the kidnapping and robbery of Lemongello's cousins Mike Lemongello, a former professional bowler, and Peter Lemongello, an entertainer who had appeared on the Tonight Show among other gigs.
The co-conspirators held the brothers at gun point, forced them into a van, forced them to withdraw $50,000 from a safe deposit box at a bank and left the brothers in a nearby wooded area in Florida.
Gotta get creative when your making minor league money, I guess.
Ultimately, both got off with just 7 years probation, but neither played professional baseball again.
There you have it, the story of one Manuel M. Seoane, who without a half-baked idea and a poorly executed plot would have been entirely forgotten to the annals of baseball history.
Now, thanks to this team-issued, OK City minor league card, he is now immortalized in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.
If any of my cards go missing though, I'll know exactly where to begin my search!
I hope Matt is watching his back today, good thing there is nobody in camp named Brutus.
Seeing as how Matt is now second in the Cactus League to teammate Kris Bryant with 3 home runs and is presenting a strong case to be an extra outfielder, there are plenty of people who might be gunning for him. Or would that be knifing?
Meanwhile, I'll be honoring this infamous date in literary history by trying to figure out how exactly the jumble of letters that is "Szczur" is pronounced as "Caesar."
Watch out though, if not Brutus, Jim Peterik might just be coming for you today as well!
Their Cubs rally song recorded for the 1998 playoff push
An excellent deep track that time has forgotten
The song for which you all knew, but probably forgot the band behind it
No, really, I bet you haven't heard of this obscure baseball player who went by the name of Jack. I wasn't trying to be a smart-ass... this time anyway.
I found this black & white, regional oddity on the eBay for cheap, so I followed my impulses and took the plunge. It's a reprint of the 1955 full-color set of Kansas City Athletics produced by Rodeo Meats. Their motive was to commemorate the first season of the A's playing in Kansas City and, of course, gain some exposure for their business.
In 1976, a company (maybe?) for which I can find no further information on that is referred to as JDM on the back of the card reprinted this set, but without the color. This is the sort of thing that happened all the time as a cash grab during the junk wax boom of the late 80's/early 90's, but this is before cards were seen as an investments. Strange - at least to me.
Though he was an original Kansas City Athletic, he was also later to become a Chicago Cub and, thus, this card has been cataloged into my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.
Jack was a minor league lifer who played from the day he signed with the Red Sox organization in 1948 until he retired from the AAA affiliate of the Milwaukee Braves in 1962. In that time span, he made a few brief cameos at the Major League level.
The shortstop got the proverbial cuppacoffee for the Philadelphia edition of the A's in 1952 and 1954 and followed the organization west to Missouri for his first extended bit of action in 1955. It didn't go particularly well: in 37 games and 76 PA's, he only managed a .200 average with just 1 XBH and 4 walks.
The A's played in Kansas City? It sounded so weird to childhood me
Courtesy of sportslogos.net
One can easily excuse his lack of production that season, as he had to deal with a devastating and life-altering loss; his wife was killed in a car accident the year before and he was left to raise his two young daughters on his own.
Somehow he found the strength to keep playing and ended up in the Cubs organization by 1957 and, unfortunately, things went even worse. He batted .190 in 164 PA's over 61 games with 43 K's. Actually, those numbers fit in quite well with the Cubs of the 50's.
This famous Rockwell scene was published in 1948, but it's close enough to the 50's and is still fitting.
The Cubs told him to hit the road Jack right on back to the PCL and he was never to reemerge from the bushes again. But, as stated earlier, he continued to make a living playing baseball for several more years as a baseball nomad.
Since his time in the majors was so brief, the only cards that seem to exist of Jack are the reprint and the original edition of the card spotlighted here. Therefore, I am rather satisfied having been able to find one of these for a rational price.
That said, I will be keeping my eyes open for a copy of the original beauty; however, being a oddball piece of 50's vintage, it will cost a pretty penny.
In honor of Jack and the Kansas City A's, I leave you with this:
Surely by now everyone on the planet has heard about Will Ferrell's publicity stunt yesterday, playing all 10 different positions (DH as a position is weird to this NL fan) for 10 different teams in the Cactus League to raise money for cancer research. Thankfully for me, one of those teams was the Cubs:
Courtesy of the official MLB Facebook account
MLB has made a few of these card mockups for when players change teams and so they used it to create virtual cardboard for each one of Ron Burgundy's 10 stops. I really wish that MLB would release physical copies of these, even if they were severely small print runs and extremely over-priced.
Obviously, since this was only spring training, I don't need to add MegaMind to my CATRC. They just need to exist in real life; I want to be able to hold this in my hand!
Also - Topps - we know how much you love insert sets. I'm just sayin', this might be good source material for Series 2. We collectors would go absolutely crazy for a set like that.
Take a lesson from Strat-O-Matic - they have their act together. Strats has gone ahead and already produced their own card for Jackie Moon:
Courtesy of the Strat-O-Matic Twitter feed
Your move Topps! Or Panini, I guess, but I'd much rather see these with actual MLB logos.
Regardless, it was an absolute riot watching Buddy play first base, take an at-bat and even coach third base for the North Siders:
I think they might pick up on that Lord Business...
Now, this isn't actually Ricky Bobby's first dalliance with professional baseball. In 2010, Will unofficially took the mound for the Round Rock Express "incognito" as one Rojo Johnson. It was quite the riot:
With the state of the Astro's roster at the time, it's a wonder they didn't try this sort of stunt at the MLB level to try and get butts in the seats.
Now, of course, Minor League Baseball wasn't going to let a gimmick like this go without some memorabilia to peddle; i.e. a bobblehead and this baseball card produced by Multi-Ad:
Courtesy of Beckett Online; I'm not nearly lucky enough to land this slice of awesome
This gem appeared in the their PCL Top Prospect set. Unfortunately, this blue-chipper never got the call and this card is rather rare. I have not seen this card pop up on any of the normal sources.
Nothing about this or yesterday's stunt was normal. That said, it's not unprecedented to have a celebrity make official appearances in spring training games.
Garth Brooks (or was it Chris Gaines?) was a recurring character in training camps, making extended appearances with the Padres, Mets and Royals from 1999 - 2004. Tom Selleck took an at-bat with the Tigers when filming Mr. Baseball in 1991. Kevin Costner played shortstop, went 0-3 and even made an appearance on the mound for the single A affiliate of the Mariners when they played their parent club in 2002, etc. etc..... it's not nearly as rare as one might think.
One of these indulgences was even immortalized on card-stock, a card I was lucky enough to pick up from a local garage sale:
I actually own this one!
On March 13, 2008, the Yankees signed the 60 year old, lifelong Yankee fanatic to a one-day contract and let him lead off a game against the Pirates as the DH. Facing future Cub Paul Maholm, Billy managed to make contact once (a foul ball up the first base line), but eventually struck out on six pitches.
It didn't take a Crystal ball to predict that Billy wouldn't make the team.... Zing!
Thankfully, TriStar realized that something as fun as this needed to have a baseball card and included the above beauty in their 2008 Projections set.
I bet Paul never thought he'd have to face Mitch Robbins at the plate
This is why baseball is so much fun; anyone can play. After all, Will didn't look so bad fielding the ball in the outfield or on the mound. Garth Brooks actually got a legit base-hit or two. Rick Reuschel was actually considered a professional athlete! Ok, that last one might have been a cheap shot on my part.
Plus, regardless of NFL (No Fun League) legend John Madden's opinion, baseball doesn't take itself too seriously. What's the harm of letting personalities on the field for good causes or even just for good entertainment? They've been pulling these sorts of publicity stunts since the days of Eddie Gaedel and Pete Gray.
In summation, here's hoping that Chazz Michael Michaels' exploits raises a truckload of money for cancer research and also gets the attention of the good people at Topps. Such quirks are weaved into the fabric that is America's pastime and should thusly be represented on baseball's unofficial historical records.
