Cubs Lot #4

This is another smaller lot but one that I plan on spreading out over about 150 posts.

What?!

Don't worry, I'll explain in a bit.

I actually won several auctions from one seller who seemed to be doing a purge of his unwanted Cubs cards. Lucky me! I probably wouldn't have normally picked these up for the $0.99 I paid individually, but with combined shipping and the lot (you'll see at the end) that I won, I definitely feel I got my money's worth.

Now, most of these guys you'd probably have to be a pretty big Cubs fan to have heard of since just two made the big leagues. But I'm still happy to add these guys to the collection.

Brandon Sing made it as high as Triple A Iowa but spent the past couple of years in independent leagues. This blue refractor is limited to just 150 copies.

Elvin Puello topped out with six games in Single A Peoria in 2005 before going back down to low A Boise in 2006, his last year.

Chris Walker played for the Cubs organization from 2002 to 2007, rising up to Triple A Iowa. He's been bouncing around the minors and independent baseball since, spending 2013 in the Mexican League.

Kevin Collins played High A ball for the Cubs and Cardinals but hasn't played since 2006.

Ronald Perry "Bear" Bay didn't make it above A ball with the Cubs but played at the Triple A level for the Indians, Angels and Padres as recently as 2012.

Buck Coats had Major League time with the Cubs in 2006, the Reds in 2007 and the Blue Jays in 2008.

Matt Creighton bounced around quite a bit while in the Cubs organization, playing at multiple levels each season. But he couldn't quite break into the bigs. These are a nice pair of autographs to add to the collection though.

Bobby Brownlie is a former first round draft  pick for the Cubs and although he played Triple A for the Cubs, Nationals and Braves, he too, never broke through to the Majors.

Grant Johnson is a former 2nd round draft pick out of Notre Dame that topped out at Double A Tennessee.

Finally for the single cards, we have to most successful of the group, Tyler Colvin. A first round pick in 2006, Colvin made his Cubs debut in 2009. He was traded to the Rockies with DJ LeMahieu for Ian Stewart and Casey Weathers following the 2011 season. He bounced bewteen the Rockies and their Triple A affiliate for the next two seasons and is currently with the Giants Triple A team in Fresno.

However, the large part of this purchase was this lot below:

Nearly two hundred Mark Prior cards, all different. Considering my collection consisted of a meager 50-ish Prior cards before, this is a big boost. There weren't any autographs of relics, but there were a couple of serial numbered card. As I mentioned at the top of this post, I intend to get many posts out of this lot. There are so many different inserts that I missed out on in the early to mid 2000s that I think it will be fun to visit each (or most) individually. I'm thinking "Mark Prior Mondays" might be a thing although I may just use them when I get stuck for a post.

All of the cards in this post set me back $20.47 shipped, which works out to less than a dime per card. All of the minor league cards were new to me and I'm guessing at least 150 of the Priors will be new once I get them all scanned and cataloged. There weren't too many base cards which is what I mostly had. Not too shabby.

I will have to double check when everything is sorted out, but this may bump Prior up to my second biggest player collection (unofficial) behind Ryne Sandberg.

Cubs Lot #2, Part 2: The Autographs

Last week's first Cubs lot was a pretty manageable 217 cards. So much so, I was able to fit the scans and breakdown into one post. My second lot was nearly six times that size at about 1300 cards. But don't worry I'm only going to split it into four posts. Relics. Autographs. Serial Numbered. Everything else and the breakdown.

Yesterday’s post on Cubs Lot #2 covered the two relics that were included. Next up are the autographs, coming in at a whopping 8 count. Some of these would have counted for the next part of the lot breakdown as they are serial numbered as well.

Like the Hee-Seop Choi relics, I doubt any of these would have been picked up individually unless they were relegated to a dollar bin. But none of them existed in my collection until now. That means I’m 10 for 10 with new additions to the collection in these first two posts!

Here they are alphabetically, without really a star in the bunch, with minimal comment.

Bobby 'Breu's Baby Brother, Denny Abreu played in the Cubs minor league system from 1996 until 2002 and topped out at Triple A Iowa in four games in 2001. This cards marks his introduction to my collection even though I'm pretty sure he has a regular base card from this set too.

Arguably the biggest name in the bunch is Sam Fuld, although he's had more success outside of Chicago. He made two postseason appearances in three seasons in Tampa Bay and currently is tied for the American League lead with two triples with the A's this season. In case you missed it, this card is numbered out of 400.

Nic Jackson is a guy I was rooting for since I first saw his cards in the early 2000's. He's a Virginia guy and even though I don't have any particular ties to the commonwealth as a military brat, its where I call home now. He was still playing independent ball as recently as last year and I'm sure once that season gets started, he'll find a place. Like Abreu, he topped out at Triple A with the Cubs.

Scott Moore is a former first round pick (8th overall) in 2002. He made a few appearances at first and third for the 2006-2007 Cubs but was mostly used in a pinch hitter role. What I remember most about him though was that he was sent to Baltimore in a trade that brought Steve Trachsel back to the Cubs.

P-Town Tom might be one of the few Cubs fan to to know of Mark Pawelek as he never made it past Single A Peoria. If I hadn't heard of him (only because I have a Bowman card of him, too) I would have thought this was a Mets card with all that orange and blue. This one is slightly scarcer than the Fuld with only 399 issued.

Felix Pie will give Fuld a run for his money for biggest name of this group. He's definitely the most represented in my collection. Not only do I have about 20 Pie cards, but this isn't even my first Pie hit. I also have another autograph card and a jersey card.

Maybe a Marlins fan knows of Renyel Pinto but I've barely heard of him. He never got passed Iowa but played in parts of five seasons for the Marlins after the Cubs traded him and two others for Juan Pierre.

Carlos Vazquez spent four seasons in the Cubs minor league system and got as high as Double A, although he did make Triple A appearances while with the White Sox and Marlins affiliates later in his career. This card is numbered to 675 copies.

While there weren't any steals here in the autograph department, I'm almost happier to get these obscure guys that I wouldn't normally have picked up if not for the lot. I don't know if I'll get to the serial numbered cards tomorrow but they will be the next part of this lot breakdown. I may need a filler post while I continue to scan and crop.

Unocal - Cubs Gold Glove Winners

A few days ago I posted an old Unocal print of Ernie Banks that I had gotten signed. Since I had them out, I scanned a few more to show off. 

Early on in this blog, I posted this Cubs Gold Glove Winners print when it had just Bobby Dernier on it.

Shortly after that, I added a couple more signatures before it got lost in the shuffle again. Ernie Banks was obtained at the same time as the other print, through a private signing. I sent this piece to Glenn Beckert through the mail after Dernier but before Banks. Once I had Ernie Banks on it, I was a little less willing to lose it by sending it out again.

But now that I see it again, I may move it to a front burner for Ryne Sandberg, Randy Hundley and Don Kessinger. Ron Santo passed away right after I started working on it which is another reason it got tucked away. But it never would have been complete anyway since Ken Hubbs and Larry Jackson (not an actual Gold Glove Winner) passed away before this print was even made.

The backside has a pretty long blurb highlighting each of the winners on the front. The thing that struck me though was the mention of Larry Jackson winning the Gold Glove in 1964.

The actual winner of the Gold Glove for a pitcher in the National League that season was Bobby Shantz, who split the season between the Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals. This award was his 8th and final win.

Since this piece was generated, the Cubs have added 6 more players and a total of 23 additional awards. Ryne Sandberg leads the way with seven more after the first two mentioned on the back. Joining Sandberg in 1986 was catcher Jody Davis. Andre Dawson added to his hardware count with outfield Gold Gloves in 1987 and 1988. Greg Maddux three-peated twice from 1990-1992 and again after rejoining the team from 2004-2006. He may have won a few in between with another team but baseball history is fuzzy on that.

Not only did Mark Grace lead the league in hits in the 1990's, but he also racked up four Gold Gloves ('92, '93, '95 & '96). He paid the price for playing for the Cubs. If this guy was a Yankee, he'd be immortalized. Derrek Lee had some success filling those shoes with a pair of Gold Gloves (and a batting title).

And last but not least, Darwin Barney picked up a Gold Glove in 2012, becoming the fourth Cubs second sacker to win the award.

If I had any artistic ability as far as drawing/painting goes, I would semi-seriously consider updating this myself.

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!

Dwight Smith Part 2

Earlier this year I sent my Dwight Smith ATCRCS card to a Sportscollectors.net member who was going to see Dwight Smith during Spring Training. I had also sent the 1991 Topps Desert Shield card but he only had the opportunity to get one signed and I made it clear the ATCRCS was a priority.

Then, a couple of weeks ago another member posted that Smith would be making a free appearance at one of the Atlanta Braves Alumni Sundays. I offered a small amount for the helper's time and effort and I recently received the following back:

There are 32 Cubs cards in the 1991 Topps Desert Shield set. Man, those were the days for team set collectors. Variety meant different players not a dozen parallels. I have 18 of the cards and this marks the 6th one I've had signed. I'm a bit behind on my beginning of the year goal to have the set owned by the end of the year but am now ahead of my goal of getting 5 signed. Win some, lose some.

And it feels like it has been a while since I added a new ice cream helmet to the collection. Many of you probably don't think of Dwight Smith when thinking of top Cubs, but as the 1989 NL ROY runner-up and of course, a member of my favorite team growing up, the Boys of Zimmer, I couldn't help but add him. I did a post very early on in the blog showing a bunch of my helmets but I might have to pull them all together into a tab at the top.

The only downside is that while he signed #18 on the Desert Shield card (his # with the Cubs), he signed #7 on the helmet (his # with the Braves). Again, win some, lose some. Guess that's what I get for sending Cubs items to a Braves Alumni signing...

Miscellaneous Mariners

In an effort to avoid ATCRCS overload for you readers, I'm going to change things up a bit here and show off a few things I didn't think I'd add to my collection.

I've been working with a great member from over on SCN, justgreg, getting some of my various Cubs customs signed. He was full of positive feedback and always passes along any comments from the players themselves, which I enjoy. It keeps me motivated, especially when I get into a creative slump.

Since he lives outside of Seattle and pretty regularly gets autographs from the Seattle Mariners and their Triple-A affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers, I decided to send him a couple cards for those teams. I sent him a few extras to give to the players, just in case too.

These first two, Bobby LaFromboise and Brandon Bantz started the year in Tacoma and made their Major League debuts later in the season. I thought these would be good to start with since at any given time they could be in Tacoma or Seattle so he would have a pretty good chance to get them signed. And I don't think either of them have any cards aside from Minor League team sets. No Bowman or Pro Debut or Heritage Minors that I know of anyway. You may recognize the template as my 2012 Cubs team set, with a few tweaks to make it more Mariners friendly.

I also made a Michael Morse because at the time it was one of the first Mariners images that showed up in a Google search that met the size and layout requirements I need in a photo for this custom template. It didn't hurt that he was one of my son's favorites during his time with the Nationals.



And finally, I have one of the newest Seattle Mariners with Taijuan Walker. He recently started 3 games for the Mariners before being shut down for the season. In his MLB debut, he pitched 5 innings of 2-hit baseball. Not too shabby. At the time I made these, he hadn't made his debut yet so I didn't have a horizontal photo to use for the design above. With a Spring Training Photo Day picture I found, I put together one of my PASS customs. It didn't quite get signed in the right spot but that's ok. Maybe he didn't want to sign over the Mariners logo.



As I mentioned, when I made these, the intention wasn't for me to get any signed for myself. I was just trying to extend a courtesy to a fellow collector who has helped me out a lot. Once I got a couple of positive reviews from the players themselves, I became more interested in getting one to keep for myself as a souvenir. I mean, hey, if they're a fan of my work, I can be a fan of theirs too, right? If there are any Seahawks fans out there, be on the lookout for a couple of football cards to show up in a post in the future.

I made a few football customs last year but only printed out a couple and I don't think I ever sent out any TTM like I had planned. I have very few non-Cubs items left in my collection but I think a new binder is about to be started...

Where Are They Now? 2010 Pro Debut Part 5

This is part five (of eight planned) of this running series where I take a look back at the future Cubs represented in the 2010 Pro Debut. You can view previous posts here:

Part One - Ryan Flaherty and Brett Jackson 

Part Two - DJ LeMahieu and Brooks Raley

Part Three - Chris Archer and Hak-Ju Lee

Part Four - Rebel Ridling and Trey McNutt

Looking back at who I've shown off so far and ahead to those yet to come, I'd have to say that Welington Castillo has been the most successful so far. It helps that he's been with the Cubs organization since 2006 and on the card he is shown on the Iowa Cubs, the Cubs Triple-A affiliate. That kind of gave him a head-start over some of the other guys featured.

In fact, shortly after this card was released, Castillo made his MLB debut. A third catcher behind Geovany Soto and Koyie Hill, Castillo played in 7 games in 2010 and 4 in 2011. But with the release of Hill after 2011 and the trade of Soto to the Rangers in 2012, Castillo saw his playing time increase and has been the starting catcher for most of the past season and a half.

This season, his .271 batting average and .350 on base percentage (unfortunately) leads the team.

Also shown with the Iowa Cubs is pitcher Jay Jackson. Even though he'd been with the Cubs organization since 2008 and with the Iowa Cubs from 2009-2012, he never got the call to the bigs. He performed well in the low levels but struggle in Triple-A. A Top 100 prospect just a few years ago, the Cubs released him prior to Opening Day this year.

The Miami Marlins signed him shortly after and he's spent time with both their Double-A (Jacksonville Suns) and Triple-A (New Orleans Zephyrs) affiliates. 

Both of these cards were signed with a little help from an SCN member with access to the Iowa Cubs a couple of years ago.

Some 2013 Allen & Ginter Cubs Hits

I don't know what keeps me from jumping on the A&G bandwagon but I can't bring my self to get on board. By all accounts, I should like the product but as a whole, I just don't care. Maybe because I wasn't in the hobby when it came out and therefore not an early adopter. Maybe it's the price point. More than likely, its the checklist. Too much randomness.

But that won't keep me from picking up some Cubbies every now and then if the price is right. I still haven't picked up a base card team set yet but I added on some reasonably priced relics and autographs to other recent purchases.

 

You're not seeing double. As I mentioned last week, Brett Jackson cards aren't exactly lighting eBay on fire. One I added to an order I was already making with combined shipping. And as luck would have it, the other showed up in a different lot I picked up later in the week.

I was shipping out some Kerry Wood cards out to Tom of Waiting 'Til Next Year so I threw the extra one in his envelope. Problem solved!

These next two were purchased together. I didn't notice in the listing but when I got them it stuck out like a sore thumb. Hopefully, you can tell from the scan. Look at the two swatches. Are they from different parts of the jersey or different kinds of jerseys? Did the Cubs switch types of jerseys from one year to the next? Is one a gamer and the other BP or something? Darwin Barney has only been a Cub, but maybe the David DeJesus is from his Royals days? I have questions!

Funny what you notice sometimes.

I still have a few to pick up, but this was a good start.