2(sday) x 3 Heroes Mailday

It seems like every time I get complacent in not blogging, JediJeff of 2x3 Heroes fame manages to lure me back in. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but he's one of the good ones.

Last summer, I noticed that the Cubs were featured on a regional cover of Sports Illustrated. In the good ol' Land of Lincoln, and probably a slightly larger area, fans were treated to this fantastic shot of Kris Bryant's walk off home run.

And don't forget Pedro Strop!

I think in my neck of the woods, we had a Serena Williams (tennis?!) cover.

I couldn't make up the following story if I tried.

The issue date of this magazine was August 31, 2015. The walk off depicted (#12 of last season's incredible 13) was Monday, August 24, 2015. Less than a week later, while this issue was probably still on newsstands, Jake Arrieta no-hit a playoff bound Los Angeles Dodgers team.

When I heard such a regional issue existed, I shot Jeff an email asking if he could procure such a treasure for me if he happened to see one in his area. A few weeks later, I fall off the planet again.

Fast forward to about two weeks ago and all a sudden two copies of this magazine have become a "burden" and possibly a "curse" to his home (despite his Pale Hose also owning a fine start and division lead). A little on the dramatic side if you ask me.

He confirms my address hasn't changed and a week later, they show up in my mailbox. What happens next? That's right. Jake Arrieta promptly throws another no hitter.

Jeff, when the Cubs land the cover again, I think you know what to do....

But JenerousJediJeff doesn't just stop at gifting me an awesome collectible magazine and a pair of no hitters. He throws in a some cards like he's Billy Freakin' Mays.

We've got some great horizontals:

2003 Topps #252 Joe Randa

2012 Topps #461 Victor Martinez

2015 Topps Stadium Club #282 Fred McGriff

2007 Upper Deck #418 Khalil Greene

Is this Khali Greene an Ivy card too? Hmmmm.....

Speaking of Ivy cards, we've got those too:

And even some interleague Ivy cards:

I see you sneaking a South Sider into my collection...

Aaaaaaaand North Siders! My Cubs collection is a bit of a mess right now because of storage situations but I was using Zistle prior to my hiatus. And according to that record, some of these are new and some of them are upgrades.



2006 Topps Chrome #261 Greg Maddux Award Winners



If any body ever figured out how to scan chrome cards nicely while I was gone, let me know.

2012 Bowman Prospects Silver Ice #BP75 Dillon Maples

2013 Panini Pinnacle Looking Back #LB2 Starlin Castro

And pretty much everything 2015 was going to be new to me.

These Cubs were dupes, but I haven't even started looking at the Cubs portion of my horizontal collection so they'll slide over for the time being.

1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #284 Jose Vizcaino



2010 Upper Deck #545 Wrigley Field



And for that extra extra extra bonus, Jeff threw in one of my first 2016 cards. And its a numbered relic to boot!

2016 Topps 100 Years at Wrigley Relic #WRIGR-RP Rafael Palmeiro

With a mailing like that, no wonder I came back just to show it off!

Thanks, Jeff! By the time this posts, there should be something going back your way.

PWE from 2x3 Heroes

I feel like I type that post heading often enough that it should start auto-filling. Later this week, I'll be driving out to Minnesota and back. I was debating on whether or not I should take a break from posts for a few days while I prep for the trip and just post my team set on Saturday and Pro Debut on Sunday.

But thanks to Jenerous JediJeff's most recent PWE, I'm going to squeeze three posts out of it to help bridge that gap. Three posts from six cards in a PWE? Challenge accepted!

1981 Donruss #483 Ivan DeJesus

This Ivan DeJesus card was a collection upgrade. The one I already had was rectangular, but was cropped all cockeyed like. I may have to send that one to Jeff for his mis-cut collection.

1992 Fleer Ultra #477 Hector Villanueva

Hecor Villanueva was one of five Cubs catchers in 1991 and logged more time behind the plate than both Damon Berryhill and Joe Girardi. He had careers highs in batting average (.276), home runs (13) and RBIs (32) that season. Sadly, Cubs fans would probably take those numbers this year from that position.

1992 Topps Gold Winner #509 Doug Dascenzo

I had the base card. And I had the regular Gold card. And now, I have the Winner variation as well. Nice! I'd be surprised if there were many other Cubs Dascenzo cards I didn't have. If he had played in this era, he would probably be a guy I'd chase parallels of on the cheap.

1993 Leaf #224 Ryne Sandberg

This sweet Ryne Sandberg card must have been a duplicate for Jeff's double play collection but I will gladly add it to mine. As of now, my Ryne Sandberg collection has not been integrated as part of my Cubs collection so a lot of my team sets are missing Ryno. I have the cards and I don't know that I need second copies of Sandberg base cards but...is this how hoarders start?

2014 Bowman 1989 Bowman is Back
Silver Diamond Refractor
#89BIB-KB Kris Bryant

Is that really what this card is called? What a mouthful! This is a card I didn't think I would own for quite a while and marks Kris Bryant's entry into my collection. I passed on one at the card show last month because it was in one of those protective cases that cost more than what I was willing to shell out for the card itself, under a glass case surrounded by relics and autographs. It was unmarked but what's the old saying? If you have to ask, you can't afford it. I may have been able to but if I don't see prices, I keep on walking.

One of these cards will show up later week in a Backside Appreciation post. The sixth and final card belongs in the Ivy Collection and will get its own post Friday.

Thanks for the collection injection, Jeff!

More from 2x3 Heroes

Late last week, I mentioned a bubble mailer from Jeff of 2x3 Heroes fame when I broke down one of the ivy cards from the package. Today I have the rest. 

I used to collect pocket schedules back in the day and have a monster box full of them somewhere. I keep meaning to cull them down to just the Cubs and their affiliates but they are out of sight and out of mind. I believe Jeff sent me one or two of these last year, the Cougars' first season as the Cubs Class A affiliate.

Not only did Jeff find the Paul Runge ivy card from last Friday, but he threw in these three as well. The first two should easy to break down as Topps gets their images from Getty but I look forward to trying to find out more about the Hal Morris pop fly card.

But ivy cards weren't the only niche in the package. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these end up on the Horizontal Card Challenge, especially that front Royals card of Jay Bell.

Jeff also tossed in some cards of the newest Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux. There's always room for the Professor in my collection. As the card on the right says, Winner!

I'm not sure about these, but Jeff seems to think I should add the brick wall cards that indicate Wrigley as well. I could probably do that with these older cards but now that Citi Field in New York has brick, it's not always a gimmee that it is Wrigley. There's probably a distinct difference that I'm missing though.

How about a father-son combo? Too bad Jr. plays in the outfield and not second base. Could you imagine a the Dunstons turning two? 

I think one of these Andre Dawsons may be a duplicate. If that turns out to be true, I may go ahead and actually pop these up for display. I grew up in the "cards are investments" era of the late '80s and early '90s so I don't think I ever did that with these cards.

Last but not least, a Chef Boyardee Ryne Sandberg card. This I definitely have in my collection already but I know for a fact that this will be an upgrade to the one I have, despite the horrible crop job.

Thanks, Jeff for another great package!

PWE from 2x3 Heroes

I don't know if it's practiced efficiency or some kind of Jedi mind trick but Jeff from 2x3 Heroes managed to sneak 6 cards into a PWE and past the postal scale with a single forever stamp. Mine always seem to get bumped up to the next ounce. Nice work!

First up, we have a pair of this year's Heritage Cubs cards. Starlin Castro finally gave us Cubs fans something to smile about in Wednesday's game against the Pirates. He seemed to have found his bat from 2011 and Darwin Barney's Gold Glove from 2012 all at the same time. Chris Rusin just missed out on making the Opening Day roster, but he'll be up with the club again before you know it.

Also from 2014, but from the flagship product, Jeff managed to find an Ernie Banks mini for me. Nice! As for Aramis Ramirez, he always seemed to have MVP Potential but never quite got there. He received MVP votes in four different season with the Cubs but only got as high as 10th. Until his first season in Milwaukee where he squeaked up to 9th.

Jeff also managed to find two cards for my new niche collection, cards with Wrigley's ivy in the background. Since they are both pitchers and less likely to have a bunch of games as Wrigley, I thought I'd do a little digging to see if I could find the games.

First up is a 1989 Fleer Dennis Martinez. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Martinez pitched in six games against the Cubs in 1988, three of them at Wrigley.

The first game was in Montreal so we can skip that one. The second one was a dominant 9-1 complete game at Wrigley. But if you look at the game date in the chart above, you'll see the date was April 19th. Now look back at the card and any Cubs fan can tell you that the ivy isn't that green and lush that early in the season.

Two months later, the Expos returned to Wrigley and Martinez got drubbed for 7 runs in only 3.1 innings. His next game against the Cubs is a head scratcher. If you just look at the line above. He pitched 7.2 innings, only gave up two runs, the Expos won 8-4, but Martinez didn't get the win. That must have been some late inning rally for the Expos. But it was in Montreal so it doesn't pertain to the card.

His last game at Wrigley in 1988 came in late September. The Expos fell to the Cubs 5-4 but Martinez escaped without taking the loss. Narrowing the card down to two games (June 19 and September 20), I'm going to guess this photo came from the June game. I don't know what the production process on cards was like back then, but September seems too late in the season to be included. And of course, this is assuming the photo used even came from 1988.

And finally, we have a 1991 Upper Deck Juan Agosto. Look at that perfectly lined up pant striping and stirrup. And that pouty duck face.

Agosto made four appearances against the Cubs in 1990, split evenly between Wrigley and the Astrodome. Unfortunately for Agosto and the 'Stros, the Cubs came away winners every time. Unlike the Martinez card, the full ivy doesn't really help me narrow down the game so it's a tossup between the May 27 and Aug 14 games at Wrigley.

Either way, I'm pretty sure the Cubs were 2-0 on these cards. Bonus!

Thanks for the cards, Jeff!