Two Random Rynos

In this weekly series, I show off two random Ryne Sandberg cards from my 600+ card PC. One will be from his playing days (pre-1998) and one since his retirement (1998-present).

I'm still working my way through the cataloging process of this PC but I passed 600 this week, with quite a few more to go. I should be around the 800 mark when all is said and done. Once I definitively know what I have, I can make that push to 1000.

Playing Days:

This card is from 1986 Fleer League Leaders, a 44-card boxed set exclusive to Walgreen's drug stores. I wish little sets like this would make a comeback. No frills, mostly stars, fair price. Similar to the 17-card NL/AL All-Star Standouts sets by Topps but bigger like this. And put out by different stores.

I wonder what it would cost stores to make some kind of deal with Topps for production and distribution and why more stores don't seek out deals like that.

Post Retirement:

Today's post retirement card was also produced by Fleer, from the 2001 Greats of the Game set. This was a set I loved when it was released. I bought a complete base set and sent out a bunch of TTM requests for autographs. Amazing how much the TTM hobby has changed in that time. I remember balking at Yogi Berra's $10 charge (and eventually sending and receiving back).

I even started adding the certified autographs from the set and at one point, I had over 60 of the 93-card autograph set.

Unfortunately, I gave up on it and sold off everything but the Cubs. That is my biggest hobby regret. It is by far my favorite year from the Greats of the Game run.

Two Random Rynos

I've been spending some time recently with my Ryne Sandberg PC to include scanning, cropping and cataloging. I'm up to almost 400 different logged, which I think puts me a little over half way done. But what good is a collection if you aren't showing it off?

I did a few Sandberg Saturday posts waaaaaaay back in the day but admittedly, this idea is more rooted in being a complete rip-off of Wrigley Wax's long recurring Sunday series, Five Random Cubs Cards. I've tweaked it a little and am starting a new Saturday series called Two Random Rynos.

WW's five card system shows off one card from each of the past four decades with a fifth one from 1979 or earlier. My structure will split my Sandberg PC in half, cards from his playing days (pre-1998) and cards since his retirement (1998-present).

Where I'm at in the cataloging process currently puts me at a nearly 50/50 split, slightly leaning towards his active career. Most of what I have left to log are from then because he was going strong in the junk wax and oddball era so the difference will only increase. I wonder how far in the future it'll be until they are equalized again?

Playing Days:

The first random card from Sandberg's playing days is 1986 O-Pee-Chee #19. The Topps version of this card is an uncorrected error that omitted the Topps logo, so to me, the O-Pee-Chee logo really sticks out. I've always like the Topps version, so I remember being excited when I picked up a run of his O-Pee-Chee cards that included this one. A nice candid photo, well cropped and an underrated design.

Note that Sandberg stole 19 bases in 1984 to tie for the league lead with Juan Samuel. He would later go on to hit 40 home runs in 1990 to lead the league in that category. I believe he is still the last player to have led his league in both of those statistics at least once in his career.

The Topps set contained 792 cards while the O-Pee-Chee set was exactly half that at 396. The Cubs had 28 Topps cards and 15 O-Pee-Chee. I have completed the Topps team set and have about half of the O-Pee-Chee.

Post Retirement:

By 2011, Upper Deck had lost its MLB license so we get cards like the above out of Goodwin Champions. This card has no logos, no uniform, no team name or even a city. And actually, this particular photo used on the card has nothing to do with baseball.

I found the source photo on Getty Images and apparently Sandberg was part of some pre-game festivities when Wrigley Field hosted the NHL Winter Classic, an annual outdoor hockey game. The Chicago Blackhawks hosted the Detroit Red Wings on New Year's Day in 2009.

There are 210 cards in the set, but because there are no teams associated with them, I don't know how many "Cubs" there are. This is the only card I have but could reasonably add King Kelly, Greg Maddux and Cap Anson.