Josh Vitters

Josh Vitters was the Cubs first round pick (3^rd overall) in the 2007 draft and was a Baseball America Top 100 Prospect for the next couple of years. He worked his way up the ranks and even cracked the Majors in an August call up in 2012 after making the Pacific coast League (AAA) All-Star team.

Unfortunately, he had at least three different stints on the disabled list in 2013 and only got into 28 games all season. It seems that this season, while Vitters has played parts or all of 18 games at third base, the Cubs are transitioning Vitters to the outfield where he has played 43 games in left field. With Kris Bryant slugging his way through the minors, that is probably a smart move for Vitters.

This card was signed in Spring Training this year.

Logan Watkins

I finally went back and updated the ATCRCS page so that it currently shows every ATCRCS card I've gotten signed so far, with the exception of the two or three left in my draft folder. I've neglected this set for a while. Every time I do one of these posts it gets me motivated to make more cards but for one reason or another I get distracted. Life, amiright?

Logan Watkins has been steadily making his way through the Cubs minor league system since being drafted in the 21st round of the 2008 draft.

I don't know how it's supposed to work but jumping up a level every year seems like a good progression. But I also think if you're doing a good job, you might see an end of season bump up to the next level, which Watkins didn't see until reaching the Bigs in an August call up last season. I guess if you're going to get that late season bump, AAA to the Majors is the time to do it!

Watkins got into 27 games last year, most of them as a pinch hitter but did get 5 complete games under his belt. Unfortunately for him, he plays second base which was locked up by reigning Gold Glove Award winner Darwin Barney last year. Fast forward to this year and the position is a little more interchangeable with Barney, Emilio Bonifacio and Luis Valbuena.

I don't know what this says about his future with the organization but it appears they are trying to find a spot for him in Iowa. With Arismendy Alcantara taking the bulk of the innings at second this season, Watkins has moved around quite a bit, especially in the outfield.

The column in the chart above reflects the number of games played at the position in the column before. He's tried everything but pitching and catching.

This ATCRCS card was signed with some help from an SCN member during Spring Training this year and brings the total to 107.

Kameron Loe

I really intended to hit this past Spring Training hard with my ATCRCS collection. I was going to do some TTM requestys as well as solicit a little help from SCN members who tend to offer their services for both Florida and Arizona locations. But if you recall, I ran into some issues with my laptop, losing all of my customs including the templates. That put some serious brakes on that plan.

I made this Kameron Loe card shortly after his cup of coffee with the Cubs last year. The Cubs selected Loe off waivers from the Seattle Mariners in early April and he proceeded to pitch 8.1 innings over seven appearances with no record and a 5.40 ERA. On May 6, 2013, the Cubs made several roster moves including designating Loe for assignment. He cleared waivers, the Cubs sent him to Iowa but Loe elected free agency instead.

He then split the rest of 2013 with the Braves and their Triple A affiliate in Gwinnett.

I made the card in hopes of snagging him when he came through DC with the Braves but I never made that trip. Loe signed with the Giants for this season and since I already had it printed and laying around, I included it with a small package I sent out to someone helping with Arizona autographs this spring. He didn't make the Giants out of Spring Training but did get picked up by the Royals, where he spent the first six weeks of this season with their Triple A affiliate in Omaha.

He was released last week but was quickly picked up by the Braves again and is currently assigned again to Gwinnett.

I haven't updated my ATCRCS page in a couple of weeks but with a couple of other Spring Training posts coming up, I'll get on that soon.

Hisanori Takahashi

Hisanori Takahashi received a Spring Training invite from the Cubs going into the 2013 season and ended up on the Opening Day roster. After just three innings over three appearances, he was designated for assignment on April 16, 2013.

He cleared waivers/wasn’t traded or released and reported to the Triple A Iowa Cubs. There, he made 20 relief appearances where he earned a 1-0 record with a 1.98 ERA. On June 22, the Cubs traded Takahashi to the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named later or cash. 

As it turns out, there doesn’t appear to be another player involved. Baseball-reference.com has his status listed as “purchased by the Colorado Rockies” but I didn’t see anything that says when the transaction was completed. When does a team decide that the player to be named later isn’t going to materialize and settle for cash? I guess that’s why there are lawyers and contracts and what not.

Anywho, this card was sent to a helper who attended a Colorado Springs Sky Sox game last season. Takahashi has since returned to Japan to play in the NPB so I’m glad I was able to get this short-timer knocked out while he was still stateside.

Edwin Jackson

I finally got everything from Cubs Lot #2 scanned and cropped but ran out of steam to do any kind of write up about them. Instead, I'm falling back on some autographed cards from my draft folder.

Edwin Jackson came to the Cubs as a big free agent signing following a disastrous 101-loss season in 2012. Despite doing slightly better as a team in 2013, Jackson managed to lead the Major Leagues in Losses with 18. While losses aren't the be all, end all they used to be with pitchers on bad teams, having a nearly 5.00 ERA doesn't bode well either. The Cubs just haven't been able to match that offense.

This season, Jackson has a 1-2 record while the team is 1-4 in his starts. But the run differential is just -3. Scoring four runs is a decent total that'll win you some ballgames. You just can't give up five! 

These three Edwin Jackson cards were autographed last season with a little help from an SCN member. His signature is not much more than EJ but I'm glad to knock the two customs cards off my list.

This 2013 Topps card is actually form the factory team set and is Photoshopped. Jackson's Series 1 card still showed him in a Nationals uniform and didn't show up as a Cub until the Update Series where they used a different photo.

Hector Rondon

While I'm scanning a bunch of cards from my recent lot pickups, I'm dipping into my draft folder. 

Hector Rondon was selected by the Cubs away from the Cleveland Indians in the 2012 Rule V draft. He made his Cubs/MLB debut on April 3, 2013 with a shutout inning of work against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Despite a 9-36 team record in 45 appearances last season, Rondon himself was 2-1 with a pair of holds.

This season, the Cubs are 4-4 in Rondon's appearances in which he has not yet earned a decision. However, he has a 0.93 ERA and a Save in 9.2 innings of work.

These cards were signed last season with a little help from a member on SCN.

ATCRCS Reborn

I’ve been torn recently between saving money to have the hard drive recovered on my laptop and picking up new cards. As you may have guessed, after going to a card show, buying a repack and offering a case break, the cards are winning that battle.

The main reason is this:

Losing the template to my ATCRCS set was the most painful part of losing the hard drive. But by piecing together parts of finished cards in Photoshop, I have managed to create a Franken-ATCRCS template. The texture matches up and the shading is only off a little. Because I would get them printed at different places, none of my originals necessarily came out the same shade either. I can live with that.

These are a mix and match of some originals and some Franken-ATCRCS. Not much difference, right?

And yes, I have not only saved this template file in 3 different places, I emailed it to myself as well!

Calvin Schiraldi

It's been a while since I posted one of these. Mostly because I'm still mad at myself for losing my template on these. But I do have a couple more autographed in the draft folder that I have yet to post.

Calvin Schiraldi joined the Cubs following the 1987 season when he came over from the Boston Red Sox along with Al Nipper in exchange for Lee Smith. While he worked out of the bullpen in Boston, the Cubs converted Schiraldi to the starting rotation in 1988 where he went 9-13 with a 4.38 ERA. He moved back to the bullpen for the 1989 season where he earned 4 Saves despite finishing 29 games. In August of that year, he was traded to the Padres with Darrin Jackson for Luis Salazar and Marvell Wynne.

I'm not thrilled with the photo I used for the card but options were limited and there was a time crunch to get this card made, printed and out in the mail for a private signing. In person, its also not as bright/light as it appears in the scan.

Corey Patterson

Corey Patterson was selected by the Cubs with the #3 overall pick in the 1998 draft. His time with the Cubs organization was during a period where I was not following baseball or the Cubs as closely as I had in the past or do now. But I do remember him being hyped. Every time I pick up a mixed lot of Cubs from the late 90’s/early 00’s, there seems to be a bunch of inserts for him.

I didn’t even realize that Corey Patterson was still active until unclemoe of  My 2008 Topps Set Blog let me know he had signed a minor league deal with the Seattle Mariners and was at extended Spring Training nearby. He offered help in getting the ATCRCS card signed for me but while the card was in the mail, Patterson had moved on to the Tacoma Rainiers, the Triple A affiliate. Thanks for the heads up and offer to help anyway!

Once there, I contacted the guy who helped get a bunch of Cubs when they came through Seattle as he also goes to Rainiers games when he gets a chance. He was able to get this done shortly before Patterson was released.

Patterson signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in June and played 53 games for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. He is currently a free agent.

Mark Grace

I don't know why Blogger isn't posting these right away. This was supposed to post yesterday and by the time I noticed, I decided to just save it for today. Maybe it was user error, wouldn't the first time. Anyway...

The other day when I showed off my Leon Durham additions, I alluded to his heir at first base. So today I have the Cubs second baseman from 1988-2000, Mark Grace.

I don't know where they rank in the grand scheme of things but my favorite double play combo of all time has to be Shawon Dunston-Ryne Sandberg-Mark Grace. They played together from the mid/late 1980s-early 1990s and were Boys of Zimmer teammates. It doesn't hurt that Grace led the league in hits for the entire decade of the 90's. 

I was disappointed when Gracie moved on to Arizona in 2001, but couldn't have been happier when he got his World Series ring later that year. The ATCRCS card above is from his younger days, while the color version below represents his more veteran status. 

These cards were signed with a little help from an SCN member during the Arizona Fall League where Grace was helping out.

The ATCRCS card was the 100th I received but is the 100th I've shown off. This puts me somewhere about 10-12% of living former/current Cubs. 

Leon Durham

As promised yesterday, here are a few more Leon Durham autographs.

I have about two dozen Leon Durham cards in my collection so it may or may not surprise you that I went with two customs and a shared card in addition to yesterday's record instead of a more mainstream Topps/Donruss/Fleer issue.

But until I have one, the obvious choice for me to start will always be an ATCRCS card.

Surprisingly, there weren't a lot of great pictures of Durham to choose from when making this card. But the chain, the hair and the glasses are the epitome of a Leon Durham card from the 80's.

Next up is a color photo I found. Again, not necessarily the best photo but for 30 year old color photos, I'll take what I can get. And the effect I gave the type of custom gives him a creepy stare. Oh well, I still love it!

And not but not least, the shared card. This has to be one of my favorite cards (that I didn't make) in my collection now. 

The Jenkins autograph was obtained almost 2 years ago and I was waiting for a Durham signing to come up. Not only do the autographs look pretty good, but the card itself is in great shape for 32 year old cardboard. I would like to see Topps do something like this again, rather than the league leaders.

The ATCRCS card puts me at 99 shown of here on the blog. Number 100 will be a pretty big fan favorite and Durham's heir to first base!

Chris Volstad

First off, I'd like to thank everybody for the support I've received, both in the loss of my beloved dog, Hope and in my newest endeavor, the 2014 Topps Blog. Although I've never met any of you, this is a wonderful community.

I've got about 30 signed ATCRCS cards from 2013 that didn't end up getting a post so I'm going to try to catch up with these without boring you guys to death.

Chris Volstad is a former first round draft pick (2005) of the Florida Marlins. He was traded to the Cubs for Carlos Zambrano, who had worn out his welcome in Chicago, prior to the 2012 season. He started 21 games for the Cubs that year and had numbers consistent with the teams horrible record. He went 3-12 with a 6.30 ERA. In fact, the Cubs lost his first 9 decisions and Volstad didn't pick up a win until his 14 start. In his 12 losses, the Cubs was were shutout once and held to one run six times. Tough to get the win with that kind of run support, no matter who you are.

Volstad was claimed off waivers following the season by the Kansas City Royals but DFA'd the next month. He then signed on with the Rockies for 2013, where he spent most of the season with their Triple A affiliate, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. With a little help from an SCN member, I was able to knock out another Cubs short timer on both the ATCRCS card above and the 2012 custom card set below.

He signed a minor league deal with the Angels in November but is currently listed as a pitcher with the Doosan Bears of the Korean Baseball Organization.

Glenallen Hill

Glenallen Hill had two stints with the Cubs back in the 1990's. His first began late in 1993 after the Cleveland Indians traded him for Candy Maldonado. He spent 1994 as the fourth outfielder behind Derrick May, Tuffy Rhodes and Sammy Sosa.

The highlight of that tenure was a 2-3 performance in 5 plate appearances on June 18, 1994. Hill hit a three run home run in the top of the first inning to jumpstart the the Cubs offense against the San Francisco Giants. He would walk twice before coming up in the top of the 9th with the score tied 4-4. Hill's two run double gave the Cubs the lead and the win as Randy Myers came on in the bottom half to get the save.

Although, you may be able to argue that just 11 days later when Hill hit a walk-off bases loaded double with the Cubs down 5-4 against the Pittsburgh Pirates would be a bigger highlight.

He was granted free agency following the season and spent some time in San Francisco and Seattle before rejoining the Cubs midway through the 1998 season. Again, in this stint, Hill was a fourth outfielder. In the Cubs losing effort against the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS that season, Hill went 1-3 with a stolen base and walk.

Hill has been coaching in the Colorado Rockies system since 2003 and is currently the manager of their Triple-A affiliate, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. The ATCRCS card above was signed when the Sky Sox traveled to Tacoma to play the Rainiers this past summer.

Jason Marquis

The Cubs signed Jason Marquis as a free agent following the 2006 season. He was coming off a season where he led the National League is Losses (16) and Home Runs Allowed (35). He also led the Majors in Earned Runs Allowed (130). Oddly enough, he did that for the World Series Champion (gag) Cardinals.

League leader and World Series champ? Sounded good enough on paper for the Cubs brass!

Luckily for the Cubs, Marquis would right his ship (at least a little) and go 23-18 during his two seasons in Chicago as well as lowering his ERA about a run and a half from his 2006 numbers.

He didn't make an appearance during the 2007 NLDS that the Cubs were swept out of by the Diamondbacks. And he made a one inning relief appearance in the 2008 NLDS in a game that was already out of hand in another three game sweep, this time by the Dodgers.

Marquis did hit three home runs during his time with the Cubs, including a grand slam on September 22, 2008 against the Mets. He had 14 RBIs with the Cubs in 143 plate appearances. I don't have any statistics to back it up but it seems fairly decent for a pitcher to have an RBI in every tenth plate appearance or so. It obviously depends on the game but I would think a lot of situations would call for a pinch hitter. Maybe I just have low expectations of pitchers hitting.

Marquis spent 2013 with the San Diego Padres and this card was signed with a little help from an SCN member when the Friars came through their home stadium.

This brings me up to 96 ATCRCS cards shown off here on the blog.

Cody Ransom

The Cubs selected Cody Ransom off waivers from the San Diego Padres in mid-April of this year, replacing Brent Lillibridge on the roster. Just two weeks later, when the Cubs came to DC to play the Nationals, I was able to knock out my 2013 custom team set card in person. Those cards were easier to make than the ATCRCS cards, plus there weren't many usable photos of Ransom as a Cub yet. The one I ended up using for the team set went better with that set. The Cubs are coming to town over the 4th of July weekend next year so I'll have more time to get put together cards than I did with their early season visit this year.

Ransom isn't much of a power hitter, but my clearest memory of him playing this year was a three run homer on June 9th that broke a 1-1 tie against the Pirates. I had to go to Baseball Reference to verify the date but I remember the hit. Even with the Cubs showing fewer games on WGN, I could still count on Sunday games as an out of market fan and it was definitely one of those lazy Sunday afternoon games. When I eventually make the back for the ATCRCS card, I'm sure that will be the highlight of the blurb.

Unfortunately for Ransom, he was designated for assignment in early September and ultimately released on September 16th. This card was sent out to a fellow collector in Seattle that was a big help during the Mariners-Cubs series in late June.

As a refresher, here is one of the two team set cards I got signed back in May:

Ransom did have two previous stints with the Iowa Cubs (Triple-A affiliate) back in 2005. He signed with the Cubs in January 2005, was purchased by the Texas Rangers in March, released in May and re-signed by the Cubs two days later. He played 65 games in Iowa before being granted free agency at the end of the season. He was part of the 2005 Iowa Cubs team set but as far as I know, he didn't have any "real" 2013 cards and certainly no other Cubs cards.

Dioner Navarro

I'm about to show you how much I pay attention to the rest of the league outside of the Cubs. Before he came to Chicago as a free agent last off season, I had never heard of Dioner Navarro. Yes, the same Dioner Navarro whose debut season with the Cubs was his 10th in the Major Leagues. He was even an All-Star in 2008 for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays where he batted 4 times after entering the game in the 7th as a pinch hitter. What?!? Oh yeah, that's the game that went 15 innings because we couldn't have another tie game debacle.

So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he played a more than capable backup catcher role for the Cubs in 2013. He finished batting an even .300, one of just two Cubs to reach that mark in 2013 regardless of at bats. Out of a team record 56 players on the roster. Yikes. He also threw out 26% of base stealers, just below the league average of 28%.

One of his most notable game with the Cubs came on May 29, 2013, when he went 3-3 with a a walk. And oh, his three hits all happened to be home runs, including two from the right side of the plate and one from the left. His six RBIs helped the Cubs defeat the crosstown White Sox 9-3.

Navarro is currently a free agent as of about two weeks ago. Starting catcher Welington Castillo just underwent knee surgery, so who knows where the Cubs stand at catcher in 2014.

The ATCRCS card above was signed during that Seattle series in mid-summer along with a bunch of others I've already posted. Not only that, but here's a signed 2013 team set card, something I haven't shown off in a while either.

With the offseason here, I'm going to have to sit down and figure out who I have and who I still need for both the 2012 and 2013 sets. Then maybe I can knock out some more during Spring Training.

Jeff Stevens

The Cubs traded Mark DeRosa to the Cleveland Indians for Jeff Stevens, Chris Archer and Jon Gaub following the 2008 season. With a couple of seasons in the minor league systems of the Indians and Cincinnati Reds, Stevens made his Major League debut the next year as a member of the Cubs. He spent the next three season between the Cubs and their minor league affiliates.

Used as middle relief out of the bullpen, Stevens has Major League record of 1-0 in 33 appearances. However, the Cubs were 6-27 in those games. It has to be one of the toughest roles in baseball, to come into a game already out of hand. Although his lone victory came from a game where Stevens entered with a 4-1 lead. After giving up a game tying home run in the top of the fifth inning, the Cubs scored the eventual game winning run in the bottom half of the inning to secure the win for Stevens. I guess since the starting pitcher didn't go 5 innings, the win would have gone to Stevens anyway...

He was granted free agency following the 2011 season and spent 2012 with in the Mets minor league system. He signed with the Reds again for the 2013 season but was released during Spring Training so he ended up in the independent Atlantic League with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. 

Some of you may remember earlier this year when I had some help with former Cubs from that league and this ATCRCS card is the last one from that batch. He wore/wears #17 with the Blue Crabs so I'm happy he added #44 (his Cubs jersey number).

Terry Mulholland

Quick! Which team do you associate Terry Mulholland with? You have a pretty good chance of getting it right as he played on 11 different teams over the course of his 20 season career. This doesn't even account for multiple stints with the Giants, Cubs and Phillies.

I do remember his time with the Cubs but only vaguely and because of weird circumstances. Mulholland signed with the Cubs as a free agent for the 1997 season. He went 6-12 with a 4.07 ERA in 25 starts before being placed on waivers and picked up for his third stint with the Giants. He finished the season in San Fran and then the Cubs signed him again as a free agent for the 1998 season.

Huh?

Some Cubs fans have heard the rumors that this was going to happen with Ryan Dempster when he was traded away and with David DeJesus again this season, yet neither happened.

It was a little different story in 1998 as the Cubs moved Mulholland to the bullpen. He only made 6 starts in 70 appearances but significantly lowered his ERA to 2.89 with a 6-5 record.

In 1999, Mulholland moved back and forth between the starting rotation and the bullpen, starting 16 of his 26 appearances, but while his record remained relatively the same at 6-6, he ERA skyrocketed again to 5.15. In July, the Cubs sent him and Jose Hernandez to the first place Atlanta Braves for a couple of guys you (and many Cubs fans) wouldn't have heard of.

By then, he was in his mid-30's so a complete bullpen conversion extended his career another seven seasons.

According to sportscollectors.net, Mulholland was a pretty good signer TTM during his playing days but nobody on the site has had a success since 2006, when he retired. So when I saw the opportunity to participate in a private signing over the summer, I jumped in and got this ATCRCS cards signed.

Domingo Ramos

When I first added the tab at the top of the page showing off my ATCRCS cards, I put up everything I had at that point.  I still have about twenty or so not on the tabbed page, but there were probably another 20 or so that were put up but never written about either. That's not really fair so every once in a while I'll figure out who never got a write-up and remedy the situation.

Domingo Ramos is one such case that came to my attention because I recently picked up his 1991 Topps Desert Shield card for my team set.

Collecting the Desert Shield team set wasn't even a thought in my mind when I got my ATCRCS card signed, which is a shame because I knocked out his two Cubs Topps cards at the same time.

In fact, once I started collecting the Desert Shield set, I had it somewhere in the back of my mind that I already had the Ramos card because of the signed card from the regular set above. Oh well.

The two cards above and the ATCRCS below were signed when Ramos made an appearance at a Yankees reunion show almost two years ago now. This was one of the first ATCRCS cards I made and if/when I have the chance to get the Desert Shield card signed, I'll try to replace this one too. The signature itself is fine, but the cutting job I did on it was very amateur. I also might even change the photo if I can find another one because it is so similar to the one used on his 1991 Topps card. 

As for his story, Ramos came to the Cubs as a free agent following the 1988 season. His finished his career with two years playing for the Cubs (which means he is one of the Boys of Zimmer) after nine seasons in the American League. He was a utility infielder, mainly used at shortstop behind Shawon Dunston and third base behind Vance Law.  He had two career triples, both while with the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Ramos was only 32 when he retired and I can't find any record of him coaching. I did find one story from several years ago that said he worked for Scott Boras in his home country, the Dominican Republic. No information on what he does/did. I'm guessing some kind of scout.

Scott Hairston

Scott Hairston became the fifth of baseball playing Hairstons to play for a Chicago team when he signed with the Cubs as a free agent in February and made the team out of Spring Training. He joins his brother, Jerry Jr and uncle, John as North Siders, while father, Jerry Sr. and grandfather Sam were South Siders. Amongst them, they played for 14 different teams. Or you know, one more than Octavio Dotel did by himself.

Scott played the role of fourth outfielder for the Cubs, starting about half of his 52 games played, while coming off the bench the other half. He was one of sixteen players on the Cubs that played in more than 50 games. I haven't compared that with other teams but even with a team record 56 players used over the course of the season, that seems crazy high.

He was traded to the Washington Nationals in early July for a minor league pitcher and a player to be named later. The minor league pitcher was Ivan Pineyro, who went 3-1 with a 3.40 ERA in 8 starts for the Daytona Cubs (High Single-A) after the trade. As far as I can tell, the player to be named later hasn't been named.

Just like I knew you wanted more Keith Moreland last week, come back tomorrow as I have a followup on Hairston!

This card was signed as part of the large group that I sent out to Seattle when the Cubs visited the Mariners in late June. Had I known he would come play for the local MLB team, I probably would have held on to it and tried to get it done myself. He was more than accomodating when the Cubs came through DC to play the Nats in May and I got my 2013 team set card signed.