I am so embarassed!!!

A while ago, I put out a call for readers to take my team lots. I was reorganizing, running out of room and just needed to get rid of stuff. I had sold some things on eBay at the time too because I was in a cleaning mood. I must have watched a Hoarders marathon or something!

Anyway, my wife, ever so helpful when it comes to me clearing out my stuff, offered to make a post office run for me while she was out running her other errands. I took her up on the offer and loaded up two of those reusable grocery bags into the trunk of her car and off she went.

Fast forward a week or so and I start receiving feedback through eBay. All is good. Then I realized I hadn't seen any writeups yet on the other blogs. Not every one I sent to has their own blog, so I chalked it up to those who did were as behind as I was. I had one person from eBay say they hadn't gotten their item yet. I apologized and sent a refund. It was a $2 card, no big deal.

A few days later, I saw a blog post. Whew. After that it was out of sight, out of mind. Until yesterday. As I mentioned Monday, we are preparing to leave on a trip and I went out to my wife's car to make sure the trunk had sufficient room for our luggage.

And there it was. The second reusable grocery bag, partially covered by the emergency blanket. Uh-oh. Sure enough, it was full of packages. Evidently, I did not clearly communicate that there were two bags, not just one. To those waiting, I sincerely apologize. I will really try to make a post office run before the trip but if not, they will be the first order of business when I return.

Ugh.

2013 Topps Brett Jackson Factory Team Set & Series 2

I sorta, kinda took the weekend off from posting but it was for the greater good. And by sorta, kinda, I mean I wrote out a bunch of postings, but for the future. At the end of this week, I am going on a 2-week, European vacation with the family, so I will be incommunicado. Cue the Clark Griswold references! I didn't quite come up with enough to fill the whole time I'm gone just yet, but I still have a few days. If not, there may be a random day off here and there.

Like my last couple of these, Brett Jackson has the same card in both the team factory set and Topps Series 2. It's a nice action shot, almost more suitable for a horizontal card. In fact, if it was somebody a little more popular, or Jackson had lived up to the hype a little bit better last year, it could have been one of the Series 2 Chase it Down inserts. He probably would have had to be closer to the ball for that to happen though. Speaking of which, did he make the play?

The caption claims that Jackson "makes a diving catch against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the game at Wrigley Field on September 14, 2012" so it must be true. No reference to the batter or inning so I had to go to the boxscore on baseball-reference.com. The only fly ball out to Brett Jackson came off the bat of Pedro Alvarez in the top of the 8th inning.

The photographer took a flurry of shots and Getty posted two more shots:

This one would have made for a nice horizontal card, as he gets ready for full extension.

And the moment just before the catch. If the umpire hadn't cut right in front of the photographer, that would have been a pretty good Chase it Down card.

The Cubs beat the Pirates 7-4 that day. The play wasn't a game changer/saver, but a nice catch is a nice catch.

First Pitch Friday - Patrick Sharp

The Cubs have had a slew of Chicago Blackhawks throwing out first pitches lately. I don't follow hockey as much, is there some kind of tie in? I kid, of course.

While cards for those players will show up eventually, I do have one today from an appearance by a Blackhawk last season, Patrick Sharp.

I was kidding about not knowing about the Stanley Cub victory but only a little bit about not watching hockey. Where I live, the talk is all Caps, Caps, Caps and Ovie so I don't know much about the Blackhawks aside from two recent titles. I recognize names like Sharp and Kane and Coach Q and probably others if I heard them, but couldn't tell you why Sharp played almost as many playoff games as regular season games this past season. Injury? How many games did they lose to the strike or lockout, whatever it was?

Either way, Patrick Sharp threw out the first pitch on September 2, 2012 in a game between the Cubs and the San Francisco Giants.The Cubs lost to the Giants 7-5 with, not surprisingly, Carlos Marmol taking the loss after giving up two runs in the 9th.

Davey Lopes

As I mentioned the other day when I showed off the Ted Lilly ATCRCS card, I managed to snag another Dodger. Although this particular Dodger is currently a coach, first base coach to be exact. Davey Lopes, like Lilly, managed to sign over his name on the card, so while you can kind of make it out in the scan, in person, you can't.

On of the things I liked about the photo I found and used for the card is the "hat under the helmet" technique Lopes is using from before everybody had perfectly fitting helmets (and earflaps). This was also the method I employed growing up.

Almost all of the career achievements Lopes earned were from his pre-Chicago days, although he did notably manage to steal 47 bases for the Cubs during the 1985 campaign, most of them after turning 40. Primarily known as a second baseman, once Lopes came to Chicago, he spent most of his time in the outfield. They Cubs had some other second baseman...future Hall of Famer, Ryne Sandberg. In fact, Lopes played a grand total of 1 inning of his 174 game stint with the Cubs at second base.

This ATCRCS card is the 62nd one I've received signed since I started at the beginning of 2012. The Cubs have used more roster spots than that since I've started this task so I need to pick up the pace!

2013 Topps Scott Baker Factory Team Set & Series 2

Scott Baker missed all of the 2012 season following Tommy John surgery. He signed with the Cubs as a free agent this past off season but suffered a setback that has kept him on the DL since Spring Training. Topps apparently has high hopes for him with the Cubs though, because not only did he sneak into the Heritage set with a photoshopped card, they doctored another photo and put him into the Cubs Factory Team set. And then reused the card for Series 2, even though he has yet to play.

I tend not to mock Photoshop jobs because this is much better than I could ever do. So with that aside, the crop is a little too tight for my liking. Was there really a need to cut off his left elbow? At least they got his new number right as he is assigned #32 if/when he does make an appearance with the Cubs. The #30 that he wore with the Twins is worn by future potentital battery mate, Dioner Navarro.

Photo by Leon Halip (courtesy of Getty Images)

Topps had to go in the way back machine, all the way to 2011 to pull the photo they used for the card. June 1, 2011 to be exact. Baker and the Twins lost to the Tigers that day 4-2 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Miguel Cabrera hit a 3-run homer from which the Twins couldn't recover. How many other pitchers have suffered that fate? The caption from the Getty website narrows the pitch down to the third inning (when Cabrera hit the home run) but nothing more specific than that. It could be any one of the 36 pitches Baker threw that inning.

Spring Training estimates had Baker's return at June but nothing yet. The latest news I could find has Baker throwing simulated games at the Cubs Spring Training facility. Barring any further setbacks, he should find his way into the lineup by the end of the year.

Cubs Roster Moves

Since I last posted any of these customs from my 2013 team set (just a few days ago!), the Cubs have made several roster moves resulting in one season debut (Chris Rusin, who made his Cubs debut last year) and two new Cubs debuts (Pedro Strop & Matt Guerrier). Unfortunately, I haven't come across any usable (resolution wise) photos of them in their new uniforms.

In the meantime, here is one from my "Missing List" from earlier in the season, Hisanori Takahashi.

Takahashi signed as free agent prior to the season and was traded to the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named later on June 22. He was in Triple-A Iowa at the time after pitching just 3 innings in 3 appearances for the Cubs in early April. Takahashi remains at the AAA level, pitching for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox and even stayed in the same league (Pacific Coast) as Iowa.

Surprisingly, other former Cubs currently donning the Sky Sox uniform include Justin Berg, Chris Volstad, Xavier Nady and manager Glenallen Hill. Tyler Colvin, Manny Corpas  and DJ LeMahieu also started the season there but have since been called up.

As I note on the 2013 Cubs Custom Team Set page, the Cubs have now used 41 different players since Opening Day. Last year's team record of 53 is well within reach, especially with the Cubs being sellers at the deadline.And the fact that it is not even the All-Star break yet and there will still be a smattering of September call-ups.

Ted Lilly

This Ted Lilly ATCRCS card  has been sitting in my "draft" folder for a little while now. It was in a batch of cards that came back in May so they all have that off yellow coloring from the scanner.Now that my organizing is wrapping up, I should have some time to go back and rescan some of these.

Ted Lilly signed with the Cubs prior to the 2007 season and stayed with them until he was traded to the Dodgers along with Ryan Theriot in 2010. He went 15-8 in '07, 17-9 in '08 and was the Cubs lone All-Star representative in '09. Despite using eight pitchers in a 4-3 loss to the AL, NL skipper Charlie Manuel did not use Lilly. Luckily for Lilly, he was able to get into the game and pitch a scoreless relief inning during first All-Star selection while with the Blue Jays in 2003. 

While the signature is decent, I'm a little bummed about the placement. This is a case where the scan looks better than the card in person (aside from the coloring. In person, you can't read the pre-printed Ted Lilly name underneath the signature. It almost looks like he started to trace the "Ted" and then went into an upward slant with the "Lilly" part. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers, right? Unfortunately I ran into the same problem with the other Dodger I sent in. That'll be the next card in a few days.