1982 O-Pee-Chee #137 Fergie Jenkins

As much as I love Fergie Jenkins, he isn't one of my PC guys so only one of the two cards below belongs in my collection. The card on the left is Jenkins' regular 1982 Topps card. The one on the right came out of Topps Traded that year.

And in fact, only one of them is in my collection. Obviously, the Cubs one.

Well they didn't know it at the time, but O-Pee-Chee came along and decided that one day I would want that Texas Rangers Fergie Jenkins card in my collection. So they tweaked it just for me.

While its not a perfect match, it goes into the collection nicely. And very fitting since Jenkins himself is Canadian.

I guess O-Pee-Chee had a later release than the basic Topps set and were able to make changes such as these, while Topps waited for their Traded set.

As far as I know, this completes my "Fergie Jenkins' second stint with the Cubs" collection from the major brands. Now to tackle the vintage! Eventually...

And for those that didn't know or maybe forgot, Fergie Jenkins was also a member of the Harlem Globetrotters!

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!

Keith Moreland

Yesterday, you asked for it. Today you get it! More Moreland! Ok, so you didn't really ask for it. But you're going to get it anyway...

I live outside of the Chicago area so I haven't had much opportunity to listen to Moreland as a Cubs radio announcer. Just a few snippets here and there. So I remember him mostly as a member of the "Chicago Phillies", a group of former Phillies who made their way over to Chicago with Dallas Green in the mid '80s. They wouldn't have had a bench but I'm pretty sure they could have fielded a team.

These cards were signed during the Cubs trip to Seattle back in mid summer. I'm more than happy to knock another ATCRCS off the list and this time, I even sent a few extra "real" cards. I have a half-hearted notion to try to get the Cubs Diamond Kings signed but we'll see how that goes.

And one of my new favorites to the collection is this dual signed Keith Moreland/Fergie Jenkins Batting & Pitching Leaders card from 1984 Topps. Jenkins signed it last year sometime and Moreland was just recently added. The numbers on the card aren't spectacular by any means, but neither were the 1983 Cubs...

First Pitch Friday - Fergie Jenkins

These two cards were courtesy of the same guy that helped me with the two Andre Dawson autographs I showed off earlier this week. I already had an ATCRCS card for Jenkins, in fact, he was one of the first couple I picked up.

This time, I sent in a First Pitch card and one of the A&G/ATCRCS mashups. Jenkins has thrown out a ceremonial first pitch numerous times. This particular occasion happened to be October 2, 2008, Game 2 of the 2008 NLDS and is currently the most recent postseason game at Wrigley Field. The Cubs would go on to get blown out 10-3 and ultimately get swept by the Dodgers in that series but there's not reason to concern ourselves with that. Jenkins continues to be a very gracious signer and I hope to add more of these types of cards to my collection.

The photo behind the card

 As I mentioned, I also sent in one of my newer designs. Notice on the First Pitch card I went with the contemporary logo as that fit the time frame of the occasion. I used the older logo on this card below as it matches the one of his sleeve in the photo.

I thought I had found a unique photo (although he does have a few in similar poses). Unfortunately, a closer inspection brought forth a 2006 Greats of the Game card. Below is a Pewter version:

Whoops, oh well.

Couple of 2013 Topps HOF Inserts

After a little hemming and hawing, I decided to go ahead and track down all of the Cubs inserts. There aren't too many and while I haven't picked them all up yet, here are a couple that have started to trickle in.

Ernie Banks - The Greats (TG-4)

I really like the look of this insert set and wish there were more Cubs in it. Maybe in Series 2 and Update? I missed out on some reasonably priced gold parallels numbered to 99 but I'm keeping an eye out.

Andre Dawson - 1987 Silver Slugger (SS-AD)

This is a pretty sharp looking set too. The 1987 season which this card commemorates was also the year Andre Dawson became the first player to win the league MVP award while playing on a last place team. I feel a little bad for Expos fans looking for a Dawson relic seeing as he won three of these awards while in Montreal compared to the one in Chicago but then I think of him wearing that silly Expos cap in the HOF and get over it. Haha.

The Cubs have only had 8 different players win the Silver Slugger Award since its inception in 1980, although Ryne Sandberg has won it 7 times and Sammy Sosa 6 times. It would be a nice change of pace to see someone like Leon Durham have one of these in a future release.

2013 Fergie Jenkins 1971 Cy Young Award (CY-FJ)

The back of this card boasts of some pretty strong achievements in Fergie Jenkins' pursuit of the Cy Young award in 1971. Three other Cubs aside from Jenkins have brought home the award but I'd like to finally see some cardboard recognition for the Red Baron himself, Rick Sutcliffe. Bruce Sutter has a Cubs jersey card this year and Greg Maddux would likely be featured as a member of the Braves. No offense to the Hall of Famers, but the Cubs have a strong cast of fan favorites that deserve some love from Topps too!

First trade of 2013!

(*Editor’s note: Yesterday’s post with the crazy “shocked” .gif seemed to draw a lot of attention because my hit count was about double what it normally was. I can only guess it was the .gif because nobody mentioned it but I also know you’re probably really tired of me talking about Tony Campana!)

It's been a while since I have worked out a trade here on the blog. I'm in the midst of organizing my non-Cubs cards to make it easier to do my end of deals but its a long slow process. More trades was on my beginning of the year goals list so here we go!

A couple of weeks ago when I caved and picked up a box of 2013 Topps, broke it and posted the spoils, I got a couple of trade offers to help me finish my set and/or help with Cubs parallels and inserts. Within the next couple of days, my almost-5-year-old-laptop started going wonky, as far as internet connection goes. It’s tough to work out trades when your collection and your ability to communicate (via email) aren’t in the same place at the same time. So a couple of trades have stalled out but now that it’s fixed, I plan on going through my emails to catch back up. If you claimed something, or I claimed something of yours and don’t get an email from me by the Friday, please let me know!

One trade that didn’t die out was with Doug from over at Sportscards from the Dollar Store. His blog is new to me but by the timeline on his blog, he popped up on the blogosphere last summer, right around the time I went on a small hiatus. And who knows how long he was lurking before he started posting? Looks like he posts daily and sometimes multiple times as his post count is more than 30 each month he’s been around, so check him out! Now that I’m fully back online, I look forward to going back and reading previous posts.

Are all stereotypes bad? Because Doug is one friendly Canadian! His first contact with me was offering up these Cubs inserts. Sweet! 

(*Editor’s note part 2: I was going to post the Dude, Where’s My Car .gif where they are reading each other’s back tattoos and yelling DUDE! And SWEET! But then I realized they were both shirtless and didn’t want this post to get creepy. But the sentiment is still there, dude these are sweet!)

Also included were a nice even 10 base cards to get me closer to the complete set! Nice!

Not to be greedy but before finalizing the deal, I also checked out his blog and asked for the emerald parallel of Sean Burnett he pulled. Those who have followed me for a while know that I am slowly losing my older son to the hometown Washington Nationals. He stills likes the Cubs, but there’s a lot of bandwagon peer pressure around here. So this one goes into his collection. I probably won’t be adding parallels the likes of Harper or Strasburg but a few other guys won’t hurt.

And on top of all this goodness, Doug threw in a first day cover of Fergie Jenkins! I don’t know much about stamps or first day covers, but I do enjoy Cubs memorabilia of all kinds so adding this to the collection is a plus.

 

This would be a pretty awesome item to get autographed is there wasn’t already a facsimile signature on both sides. The back features a short biography in both English and French. Bonus points for 2 Cubs cards, a Cubs photo on each side and a Cubs uniform on the stamp!

Thanks for the trade Doug! By the time this posts/you read this, your end of the deal should be on its way! For the rest of you, check out Doug's blog if you don't already!

First Pitch Customs - Redesign

First off, I apologize for missing my post yesterday. By the time I realized I didn't hit "Publish" for my scheduled post, I figured it would be easier to just skip a day. I know, I know. That's a slippery slope to not posting for a while. But I have a few post ideas coming up so no worries.

Second, I got an extra day's run on Pimp My Fantasy League post with some additional help from "unclemoe" of the 2008 Topps Set blog. Check him out if you don't already! We're now up to half-full with a few more nibbles that I think will turn into committments once the season gets a little closer and the details are hammered out. Looks like we're leaning towards the $15 Blaster prizes so if you're interested in playing, leave a comment on the original post here.

Now onto the real post.

Last year, in addition to my ATCRCS cards, I debuted a subset of cards featuring various athletes, celebrities, politicians and other personalities that have thrown out a first pitch at Wrigley Field.

I have whittled down my collection to mostly Cubs items so these allow me to branch out a little from Cubs players while still sticking to the theme. The other day when I was cleaning up my computer and external hard drive, I ran across my folder of first pitch photos and noticed they were all in color. Now, one of the reasons I went with the ATCRCS design for the players was that older photos were in black and white and I wanted a uniform look. I figured I could desaturate the newer color photos a lot easier than I could colorize old B&W photos. I don't know why I didn't see it before but once I did, I decided to revamp the First Pitch series. Here are the new counterparts:

And one more for good measure:

 
Not sure about doing backs for these yet. The important information is now already on the front.

While looking for photos to use, I realized there was another Cubs tradition I was overlooking. I'm not if any teams do it as often (or even at all) but the Cubs also have "Guest Conductors" for the 7th Inning Stretch. Sometimes it is the same person who throws out the first pitch, sometimes not. I may look into doing something for those as well!

Let me know what you think!

ATCRCS: First Pitch Friday Edition - Fergie Jenkins

Taking a break from Bears this weekend is Cubs Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins. I'm sure he has thrown out a first pitch for the Cubs (and Rangers) on numerous occasions. This particular time was in October of 2008.

I had intended on actually paying to have this one signed at the Sun-Times show but found a typo after having it printed out. I didn't leave myself enough time to fix it, have it reprinted and still get it in on time so it'll have to wait for next time.

This is a tad lazy of me but I am a little pressed for time this weekend. I already featured a regular card for Jenkins in this set so I'm going to link to that page for more information. Plus it was early on in my blog so it may have been missed by some of you anyway. Enjoy!

2012 Topps Archives Case Break Box 10 - Printing Plate

High Numbered Short Prints (1:4 packs):

Bill Buckner (Cubs), Bill Madlock (Pirates), Jim Abbott (Angels)

Lance Parrish (Tigers), Jose Oquendo (Cardinals), Von Hayes (Phillies)

Deckled Edge (1:12 packs)

Gold Parallel (1:12 packs)

Joe Mauer (Twins), Mike Napoli (Rangers)

Daniel Hudson (D-Backs), Chris Young (D-Backs)

1977 Topps Cloth (1:6 packs)

Johnny Bench (Reds), Giancarlo Stanton (Marlins)

Starlin Castro (Cubs), Willie Stargell (Pirates)

1968 Topps 3D (1:8 packs)

1967 Topps Stickers (1:8 packs)

Al Kaline (Tigers), Mickey Mantle (Yankees), Chase Utley (Phillies)

Mariano Rivera (Yankees), Mark Teixeira (Yankees), Ryan Braun (Brewers)

Reprints (1:4 packs)

Ralph Kiner (Pirates), Willie Mays (Giants), Gary Carter (Expos)

Ferguson Jenkins (Cubs), Joe Morgan (Astros), Jim Hunter (A's)

Autographs (2 per box)

Carney Lansford (A's), Ed Kranepool (Mets)

Now this may be anticlimactic for some of you but let me tell you. After opening 200+ packs, this made the whole thing worth it for me. Finally....the pièce de résistance...after the jump...

ATCRCS - Fergie Jenkins

Like Don Kessinger from yesterday's post, Ferguson "Fergie" Jenkins was a player whose prime was before my time. I caught the very end of his career in his second stint with Chicago and I do remember having some of his baseball cards as a kid in the early 1980's and not wanting his Rangers cards. And of course, later as part of the coaching staff.

Jenkins was also not one of the players I had trouble with when looking to write the blurb. In fact, it was quite the opposite as I had to decide which facts and figures to include. I was able to include most of his major accomplishments and awards but omitted was the fact that he struck out 6 batters over 3 innings in the 1967 All-Star Game, including fellow Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew, Mickey Mantle and  Rod Carew. He was the first pitcher to retire with more than 3000 strikeouts (3192) while allowing less than 1000 walks (997). That feat has since been matched by Greg Maddux, Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez. I could go on and on but without further ado, here are the front and back sides of my custom card.