Happy Birthday, America!

By the time this posts, I'm sure there will at least a half dozen similarly themed posts from around the blogosphere. But there's not much more American than baseball, so after a little digging, I came up with these Albert Almora cards:

The first of these is from the 2010 Upper Deck USA Baseball set. The other two are from 2010 Topps USA Baseball.

I also have a couple of the "International" cards from 2012 Bowman that showcase the American flag in the background. I know there are more from the set but I haven't picked those up yet.

Happy Birthday, America! I hope everybody parties safely!

3 More for the 2013 Custom Team Set

Since I last updated on these, the Cubs have upped their roster total from 36 to 38 players since Opening Day. I only have a card for one of the two newest but I've also gone back and added two more that I missed.

Brian Bogusevic was added to the roster last week when the Cubs designated Carlos Marmol for assignment. This is another card that may ultimately change because of the photo selection. If I could see more of his face, it would have been a keeper. We'll see if a better photo comes along that meets my standards.

He started off well getting two hits in his Cubs debut and getting a hit in 4 of his five games. He did make a blunder in left field that led to the tying run scoring in the opening game of the Seattle Mariners series. Officially, it was a RBI triple for Raul Ibanez but had he played it properly, it would have been first and third with no run scored. Hindsight is always 20/20 though.

I've liked him so far in left field and Alfonso Soriano seemed to do well as the DH. (Hint, hint American League buyers at the trade deadline.)

Speaking of trade bait, Matt Garza is 3-1 in eight starts since coming off the DL with a 3.83 ERA that is just a shade below his career average. I have nothing against Matt Garza but if he can bring another piece or two for the puzzle that's coming together for the near future...

Rafael Dolis pitched five innings over five appearances this season before landing on the DL back in May. I haven't seen any updates to his status.

As for the Cubs as a team, they are 35-45 and 15.5 games back in the NL Central through 80 games. At this point last year they were 30-50 but only 14 games back.

I guess as the Cubs improve, so do the other teams...

Last year, they had scored 293 while giving up 368 through 80 games. As of yesterday's win over the Mariners, the Cubs have scored 330 and given up 340. While the run differential is still negative, they've added almost a half run per game.

These are cards 32, 33 and 34 in the 2013 team set (although they are not officially numbered). There still four unaccounted for but they're coming! You can see the rest of the ones I've posted here.

The Starting Rotation

Perspective is a funny thing. Never would I have thought having a 13-14 record for a calendar month would be a good thing. Alright, maybe not good, but an ok thing. In that 27-game, overall losing record stretch, the Cubs managed to outscore their opponents 129-99. That's right. One game below .500 but with a +30 run differential. It's a step in the right direction.

A lot of the credit goes to the Cubs starting pitchers, but not how you might think. The rotation was only 8-10 for the month but they also managed to drive in a National League-record breaking 19 runs themselves at the plate.

Recently returing to the rotation after a DL stint, Matt Garza hit a two run double in his season debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately, the Cubs squandered the lead, losing 5-4, in a no-decision for Garza. I haven't had a chance to make a card for Garza yet but it's coming.

Edwin Jackson contributed two RBIs with a double to get the ball rolling in an 8-2 blowout against the Washington Nationals (a game that I attended).

Jeff Samardzija broke a 1-1 tie against the Colorado Rockies with a two-run home run, the second of his career. The Cubs held on for a 6-3 victory.

Add up Garza, Jackson and Samardzija's RBI total for May and you'll come up with six, equal to what Scott Feldman drove in himself. Spread out over 4 games, Feldman's four hits included two doubles and a home run.

That brings us to Travis Wood, whose grand slam against the White Sox brought his May (and season) total up to seven RBIs. Additionally, he had a two-run homer earlier in the month.

With that kind of run production, it comes as no surprise that Wood and Feldman are the only Cubs with a winning record. Although, the way Garza has been pitching, he could be joining them soon. Yes, I know he's 1-0, but let's get him a few more starts and we can talk again.

Let's keep it going into June!

2013 Topps Matt Garza Factory Team Set

Now that Matt Garza is off the disabled list, I had hoped to welcome him back with a win. He pitched well enough in his rehab starts, making two starts apiece at Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa with a combined 1.17 ERA and the big league club was on a roll too. The stars were not aligned on Tuesday though. Despite handing the bullpen a 3-0 lead after only giving up one hit and three walk in five scoreless innings of work, the Cubs ultimately fell 5-4 in his return.

 

 

Garza was trade bait last season until he landed on the disabled list right before the trade deadline so it's not wonder Topps didn't include Garza in Series 1. His factory team set card shows him in a throwback uniform from the game against the San Francisco Giants on June 2, 2012. This made the original pretty easy to find when sifting through photos from last year.  They could have done a little bit better job on the cropping, even if it meant zooming out a little bit, to get his left elbow in the frame.

 



Photo by Brad Mangin (courtesy of Getty Images)



While I usually see the appeal in throwback jerseys, I can't say I find this one particularly attractive. Unlike some of the other teams from around the league, I just don't feel nostalgia for this design. Maybe because it preceeds me by a good 65+ years. According to the picture below, these uniforms are from around 1911. Why not go back a couple more years to 1908 when they last won the World Series and maybe try those? Just a thought...

 

 

More from my time though, I wouldn't mind seeing the powder blue "pajama" uniforms of the late '70s/early '80s (not shown above). Or even those 1984 pullovers.

 

Like Tuesday, the Cubs lost the game last year by a run, falling 2-1. See, might as well try a different uniform. Garza pitched 6 innings, gave up both runs, but the Cubs coldn't muster any more runs than a David DeJesus solo home run. On a Tony Campana note that's probably only interesting to me, he was 2-4 in the game with two stolen bases. But when he led off the top of the fourth with a bunt single, he unfortunately was thrown out stealing just before DeJesus's home run. Doh! His second hit of the game and subsequent steals of second and third failed to yield a run.

 

Garza's Career Chase stat is Nolan Ryan's strikeout record. No danger of that record falling here although he did break into the top 10 in his league in strikeouts in 2009 with the Rays and 2011 with the Cubs.

 

With Garza's return to the rotation, Carlos Villanueva got bumped to the bullpen. Rumor has it that he also shaved that sweet villainous mustache too. Double whammy.

 

Another contender?

In addition to some feedback I got about the "pinched border" design, my son told me it looked more like an insert than a set card. And with the red, white and blue border, it should be my opening day lineup insert set. Fair enough.

So I'm dusting off an older design from maybe two seasons ago when I first started making customs and offering it up for critique and/or possibly making it the 2013 team set template. I'm not sure of the original inspiration (there is one, but I can't put my finger on it). Maybe a minor league set I saw somewhere? I usually take something I like as a starting point and tweak it to meet my needs, although I try to keep from copying outright. Hopefully my new tweaks didn't reverse my original tweaks and make this flat out plagiarism!

I went back to a horizontal layout but with this particular design, the photo I use is almost square. This allows me to use just about any photo, which I really like. Like last year's set, the font for the name and jersey number is the same as the one they actually use on the backs of the jersey.

I took that a step further and made the number really look like on the back of the jersey, a red number with white border. Yes, I know that's the color combo on the away jersey, but with the blue backround on the card, that's what looked better.

Here are a couple of other players to see how it works with different photos. Sometimes I build a template around one particular photo only to realize it doesn't translate well. Like the "pinched border" one last week. These particular photos are older (you can make out the Santo patch on Garza's sleeve) so they won't be the final photos used. They're also a bit darker than I'd like, especially if I hope to get them autographed.

And then I took it one step even further and made the name match the number. That seemed like a bit too much red so I adjusted the team name bar to the Cubs fourth color, grey.

I'd love to hear anybody's opinion, good and bad, about anything on the card (except the team, haha). Or even if you prefer the other card to this one.

Another thing to think about. I'd like to fit the position in there as well but can't find a good place. It was too crowded down in the corner by the number. And it can't go above the team name bar because of longer names. Think Samardzija and Schierholtz and Villanueva. When it comes down to it, I prefer number over position because the Cubs have so many utility players.

Thanks!

2013 Heritage Clubhouse Collection Matt Garza Jersey

Earlier this week I posted about a nice pseudo-surprise from 2 by 3 Heroes that contained a Starlin Castro jersey card. I think, aside from that card the only other reasonably priced Cubs relic from 2013 Heritage is the following Matt Garza jersey card.

There is also a low numbered coin card with Billy Williams and apparently autographed relic cards of Williams and Ernie Banks. But unless one happens to magically appear in my mailbox, I doubt I'll be able to add those to my collection anytime soon.

When Garza returns from the disabled list, hopefully soon, he'll begin his third season with the Cubs. One of the things I like about him is that he appears to be involved in every game. He doesn't look too thrilled to be a Cub in the photo used for the card above, but whenever the TV cameras show the Cubs dugout, Garza always seems to be on the steps/along the rail, cheering on the team. The Cubs haven't had too many reasons to celebrate the last couple of years, but the oft-injured Garza seems to make the most of the situation when they do. 

Photo by Jonathan Daniel (courtesy of Getty Images)

On April 8, 2012, Garza gives winning pitcher Jeff Samrdzija a shaving cream pie to the face. Samardzija pitched 8 2/3 innings to give the Cubs their first win of the season in a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals.

Photo by David Banks (courtesy of Getty Images)

On May 30. 2012, Garza give Darwin Barney a Gatorade (water?) bath after Barney's 2-out walkoff home run gives the Cubs a sweep over the San Diego Padres. Another photo in this sequence was used to on Darwin Barney's 2013 Opening Day Ballpark Fun insert card.

Photo by Brian Kersey (courtesy of Getty Images)

On June 26, 2012, Anthony Rizzo had an RBI double to break a 3-3 tie between the Cubs and the New York Mets. The Cubs went on to win 5-3. This wasn't a walkoff hit (it came in the 4th) so I'm not sure that a shaving cream pie to the face was the appropriate response, but in 2012, a win was a win. Then again, it was Rizzo's Cubs debut so there's that too.

And the back for good measure although aside from the name and card "number" change, it is the exact same as the Starlin Castro card.

Mailday Sunday? - Trades

I was going to save this post for the normally scheduled Mailday Monday but I decided to bump it up a day. Why? I got a couple of sweet Father's Day gifts that I'm going to setup and show off tomorrow.

First up was a third package from Marcus over at All the Way to the Backstop. He has been very good about filling in some gaps in my Archives and Bowman sets. And he always throws in a few extra Cubs. Love it! Here's a couple of pictures to show it off:

Starlin Castro (for set)

My favorite bonus old school Cubs card

Willie Mays SP

Archives Needs

Bowman Needs

Next came a package from Robert over a $30 a Week Habit. Robert was one of the first, if not the first to follow my blog. I'm not sure how he found it but I'm glad he did. After the Archives group break, I had Blue Jays cards that nobody had claimed. I offered them up to Robert as the only Blue Jays collector I'd run across. It didn't really matter what I got in return so I threw out my standard line about set needs and/or unwanted Cubs cards. He responded with both! Thanks Robert!

Gypsy Queen Set Needs

More Gypsy Queen Set Needs

Even More Gypsy Queen Set Needs!

Starlin Castro Parallel

Matt Garza Mini Sepia Parallel #73/99

One last plug and a small rant...

Ok, I'm gonna shut down this break at midnight EST. As you can see below I have the three hobby boxes in my possession. As of this posting, half of the teams are still available so check it out and see if yours is one of them.

This will probably be my final group break for a while. Not because of lack of participation, I'm just not real interested in anything that's left. I haven't gotten into Allen & Ginter like most people so I'll probably just pick up the Cubs. I've always been a flagship set kind of collector which is how I ended up with so many holes in my Cubs collection. It was always nice building 25+ card team sets and while my wallet is happy I'm not a Yankees fan with their billions of base and insert cards, it is getting a little tiring seeing the same players for the Cubs. Here are the full base sets for Cubs in the 2012 Opening Day, Archives and Bowman sets:

Yep, three cards in each set and all three the same players. No offense to Castro, Garza and Soto, but c'mon! I know the Cubs are one of the worst teams in baseball record wise but Topps didn't necessarily know the full extent of that when making these sets. Sure Marlon Byrd got traded and I'm pretty sure nobody needs anymore Alfonso Soriano cards but what about Darwin Barney? Jeff Samardzija? Brian LaHair? Tony Campana? Ryan Dempster? Maybe I'm biased, but these guys are putting up decent numbers for as bad as the Cubs record is. These 200+ card sets should average about 6-7 players per team and the Cubs get half that? At least Series 2 has a bunch of these guys that should have been making appearances elsewhere.

This break from new releases will allow me to focus on some more ATCRCS cards. I'll probably also spend the rest of the summer working on my checklists as well as selling and trading excess cards to fund a trip to the National which is being held in Baltimore this year. I hope to knock out some big chunks of different brands and years while I'm there. 

Don't forget to pick up your team in my Topps Series 2 break. I'm sure your team will have more cards than the Cubs!