You're an All-Star, Get Your Game On, Go Play

Just a quick post today.

I need a tie breaker vote over on the "Mets - June 2014" post on my Horizontal Card Challenge blog. The sooner the better, thanks!

And good luck to Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo who are representing the Cubs and the National League tonight in the All-Star game. This is Castro's third selection and Rizzo's first.

If I can get a photo of Jeff Samardzija in his All-Star gear, I might make something up for him too. For those living under a rock, Samardzija made the All-Star team based on his work with the Cubs. But after being traded to the A's right before the break, he is ineligible to play. *Sad trombone*

Let Our Powers Combine!

What do these three cards have in common?

No, they didn't summon Captain Planet.

Instead, along with a quick image search, they combined to create the super duper short print missing from the 2014 Opening Day Mascots set.

The border and logos come from the Darwin Barney card. The Orioles Bird contributed the position (mascot) designation. And Nick Franklin is an anagram for "Clark Knifinn" but I just used the letters to spell Clark.

The photo was borrowed from Clark's Twitter feed (@ClarktheCub) when he posed with Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks at the Cubs Convention back in January.

Love him or hate him, Clark will be around for at least this year and that means probable inclusion in the 2015 set. In the meantime, the Cubs are now not shut out of the Opening Day insert sets.

Starting from scratch...

In yesterday's post, I mentioned I was starting from scratch with my customs after losing all of my templates. While fiddling around trying to find something to inspire me for a 2014 Cubs team set, I remembered one of my first attempts.

I kind of laughed when I saw some of my first attempts using this design and and it showed me how far I've come just from tinkering around in Photoshop and watching tutorials. I had one of my old cards to base it off but I started it from scratch tweaked it a little to come up with this:

I wanted to do something with the new Wrigley Field centennial logo and this vintage-esque design is a good pairing. I don't know that it'll be a the final team set template but with the season right around the corner, it's probably a good idea to get the creative juices flowing again.

I usually look for good action photos to use but I think this one looks good with an almost posed shot. More like Heritage. Let me know what you think!

Signature Saturday - Darwin Barney x4

When I noticed that the Cubs would be heading out to Seattle this season, I was very excited. One of my longtime autograph helpers from SCN, vinniemiller, has the Mariners as his home team and often gets me some former Cubs autographs. It was great to know I'd now have some help in getting some current Cubs knocked off my lists as well!

I ended up sending 50+ cards for various current Cubs that included mostly customs but a few "real" ones too. One of the tougher decisions I had to make was which cards to send for Darwin Barney. In the few chances I've personally had to get Cubs autographs over the past 2-3 years, I've yet to get him, though someone sent me a 2011 Heritage card signed at Spring Training last year. That means in addition to any and all "real" Barney cards, I also had an ATCRCS card, a 2012 custom team set card, a 2012 Gold Glove custom card and a 2013 custom team set card. I ended up sending 7 cards, hoped for 1-2, but expected 0. If you read the title, you can probably guess that vinniemiller was quite successful and sent me four cards signed by Barney.



His signature isn't what I would call legible, but it is fairly consistent.



Having two of my customs taken care of is a big relief. This one (the 2013 custom team set card) isn't nearly as dark as it scanned. I probably should have adjusted it before I posted it, but ain't nobody got time for that.

The two customs I sent that did not get signed were from the 2012 custom team set, the base card and the special edition Gold Glove one I made. I'll see if anybody is offering help in September and if not, I'll try again in Spring Training.

Of the three "real" cards I sent, two were Heritage cards. As I mentioned, someone sent me his 2011 rookie card signed last year so I thought, why not try to knock off 2012 and 2013 as well? It seems to be a theme, but the 2012 got skipped (just like my 2012 customs). I'm really not complaining, just pointing it out because I just noticed that while I was writing this up.



And the final card I sent in for Barney was the newest to my collection at the time.



This Archives card is from the first set of cards given away earlier this season at Wrigley Field. With a good range of fan favorites in the set, it might be something I consider chasing.

With my certified signed Barney cards, I think this brings my total up to 7-8. More from this batch of current Cubs will show up here soon!

Jake Fox

This Jake Fox signed ATCRCS card, like Mitch Atkins from the other day, came courtesy of some help from someone on SCN who regularly gets autographs from the independent Atlantic League teams. Also like Atkins, Fox started the season with the Somerset Patriots but was able to sign a contract with an affiliated club. He just recently signed on as a free agent with the Arizona Diamondbacks Triple A affiliate, Reno Aces.

Fox was originally selected by the Cubs in the third round of the 2003 draft. He worked his way up the system before finally making his debut in a midseason callup in 2007. He made 7 appearances with the club before being sent back to Iowa. He spent 2008 between Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A but was called up again in 2009 for a significant portion of the season.

Following that year, the Cubs traded him to Oakland, who turned around a few months later and traded him to Baltimore.

Mitch Atkins

 

I've gotten so many of these ATCRCS cards back in the past few weeks, it is hard to decide who to write about next. Alphabetical sounds good for now so I'll go with Mitch Atkins. The Cubs drafted him in the 7th round of the 2004 draft. He hit all the stops along the way, Boise, Peoria, Daytona, Tennessee and Iowa before making his MLB (and Cubs) debut on July 29, 2009. He pitched a perfect inning in a 12-0 blowout of the Houston Astros to finish the game. The next day, he gave up one hit but still pitched a scoreless inning in another Astros blowout, this time 12-3. And that was his season...

I don't remember the details behind a roster move but he spent the rest of the season in Triple A Iowa. The following season, he pitched ten innings over a span of five midseason games. He gave up at least a run in four of the five appearances, so not as well as his debut.

He was granted free agency at the end of the season and signed with the Baltimore Orioles. He didn't really catch on there either, pitching 10.2 innings over three games in 2011. Again a free agent, he spent all of the 2012 season with the Washington Nationals Triple A affiliate, the Syracuse Chiefs.

Atkins started the 2013 season with the Somerset Patriots, a team in the independent Atlantic League. This card was signed with a little help from a member on SCN who regularly 'graphs that league. Atkins has since signed with the Atlanta Braves and is currently with their Double A team, the Mississippi Braves. He is 4-1 in 10 starts since signing in June.

Joe Carter

How many of you instantly think about the Cubs when Joe Carter is mentioned? Probably not too many of you. He got some MVP votes in Cleveland as well as his one year stinit in San Diego. But he didn't really become a star until heading up north to Toronto. As a Blue Jay, he won two Silver Slugger, was selected to 5 All-Star Games and continued to garner MVP votes. His crowning achievement is probably that World Series winning, walk-off home run off another former Cub, Mitch Williams. And oddly, enough, that's what I remember about that moment. Two former Cubs squaring off. Hard to believe that was 20 years ago this year.

Almost exactly two months ago, I did a pre-draft look at the previous players picked #2 overall by the Cubs. Joe Carter was one of those profiled and as luck would have it, shortly after I made the card, the opportunity to get it signed presented itself.

Carter was playing at the Lake Tahoe Celebrity Golf Tournament in July and a member of SCN was helping out. When I returned from my trip, I had this one waiting for me. Nice!

This card marks #65 in the ATCRCS collection. 

First Pitch Friday - Dutchie Caray

On July 13, 2013, Dutchie Caray threw out the first pitch at a Cubs game against the St. Louis Cardinals. This isn't the first time she has thrown out the first pitch but it is the first and only one I've been able to find a picture of to use for the custom. The Cubs would go on to win this one 6-4.

Also of note that day, and probably the reason she was invited, was that the Cubs were giving away a Harry Caray replica statue to the first 10,000 fans. I "borrowed" the photo below from an ebay auction. They are going for a pretty penny right now so I'll have to wait until the bidding frenzy dies down a bit or live without. 

Candy Maldonado

While I wasn't thrilled with this photo initially, it is kind of growing on me. If I remember correctly, the background was very cluttered, a batting practice backstop and some other people. But there isn't a plethora of Candy Maldonado images in a Cubs uniform floating around. It is a little badass though.

Andre Dawson was granted free agency and signed with the Red Sox in December of 1992. Two days later, the Cubs signed Maldonado. However, in 1993 Sammy Sosa made the transition from center field to right field, limiting Maldonado to just 70 games in both left and right before being traded to the Cleveland Indians for Glenallen Hill.

Former Blue Jays third baseman, Kelly Gruber runs a baseball camp in various places up in Canada and Maldonado is one of the guest instructors/coaches. A member from SCN mentioned they would be attending the camp and offered help getting autographs. Obviously, I took him up on the offer and got this card back in the mail within a couple of weeks. Not bad considering international mail both ways can be a little frustrating.

This card is brings the total number of ATCRCS cards showcased here to 64. I've recently had a large package returned that brings me much closer to 100 (!) but am still a long way from my end of year goal of 200. Time to get cracking!

Matt Guerrier

Matt Guerrier recently came to the Cubs from the Dodgers in the Carlos Marmol deal. I haven't had the opportunity to watch him pitch much, maybe once or twice, but his stat line looks decent. He's currently 2-1 with a 2.19 ERA since joining the Cubs.

While with the Twins, Guerrier tied for the American League lead in pitching appearances with 76 in 2008 and followed it up with a league leading 79 in 2009.

Upon joining the Cubs, he took over the jersey number 51 from former Cubs catcher Steve Clevenger.

Unfortunately, I don't have much else to say about him yet, but for a middle reliever, that's probably a good thing. More times than not, if you start hearing about a middle reliever, its because they're blowing games. His one loss was a 1-0 defeat to the A's in his Cubs debut. And he is credited with a blown save against the Cardinals (that might be DFA worthy!) but he also has 5 Holds and picked up 2 Wins. So, keep flying under the radar please!

This is the 36th card I've made for the 2013 Cubs Team set. As of last night's game, and with another Cubs debut, 49 players have played in a game this season for the Cubs. Last year was a team record when Sveum & Co. used 53 different players. I might have to make record breaker card with floating heads!

Andre Dawson

These aren't the first Andre Dawson autographs I've added to my collection but they're definitely my new favorites. When a private signing was posted on Sportscollectors.net, I jumped at the chance to add a third Hall of Famer to my ATCRCS collection. I've been waiting on these for a while now but only because I was too cheap to pay for separate return shipping on other signings the promoter was running. Yes, that means I have other players to show off as well!

Dawson was the right fielder I grew up with and has not yet been supplanted in my mind, not even by the once beloved Sammy Sosa. I know Sammy helped save baseball and saw the Cubs to a couple of playoff runs. But it just so happens that was smack dab in the middle of a couple-season-baseball-hiatus. Not because of the strike like most people, but because I was getting married, having kids, etc.

I also sent in the above custom card. Dawson has such a clear, fine signature that showed up fantastically on these cards. I may have to keep these display rather than tuck them away in a binder. At least for a little while. These are definitely going in to the digital photo frame that hasn't been updated in a while!

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.

5 More for 2013

I knocked out the creation of 5 more custom cards for the 2013 team set. Four of the five are not currently with the big league club.

Wrigley Wax did a nice writeup on Alex Burnett's short stint the other day. He was designated for assignment but cleared waivers so he is currently with the Cubs Triple-A affiliate in Iowa.

Steve Clevenger, normally a catcher, started the season in the rotation at third with Luis Valbuena but got hurt early on. He is rehabbing with Iowa right now.

Brent Lillibridge was designated for assignment once Darwin Barney was activated from the disabled list. He also cleared waivers and is in Iowa.

Shortly thereafter, Alberto Gonzalez was also DFA'd. With the return on Barney and the pickup of outfielder Julio Borbon, the Cubs needed more room. He cleared waivers, was sent to Iowa and then traded to the New York Yankees for a player to named later or cash a couple of weeks later.

Ryan Sweeney is the only player in the group currently on the roster. He started the season in Iowa and swapped places with outfielder Dave Sappelt who got off to a poor start in Chicago.

This brings me to 31/36 of the 2013 Cubs roster done with more on the way. You can see the rest here.

More Luis Salazar...

Well, as I figured would happen, my weekend turned out much too busy to make the big semi-annual local card show. I helped someone move on Friday. All day Saturday was taken up by my sons' Little League Opening Day parade and a game for each of them. Both won their games and each had a clutch hit. Nice!

The Cubs were beating the Braves but I got home just in time to watch the bullpen unravel and the Upton brothers destroy our closer on WGN. Not nice!

Sunday was the day I thought I'd be able to sneak away for a bit and snag some good deals from dealers who didn't want to lug as much stuff home with them but it was not meant to be. We had some out of town company over (not that it wasn't great to see them, it was) and they weren't the type to hang out at a card show. Later in the afternoon though, I did manage to catch the tail end of Potomac National/Lynchburg Hillcats game. The Nationals were leading but gave up 7 late inning runs to fall 11-6.

Some of you may have been following this blog long enough to remember, I had pretty good success getting some autographs from former Cub Luis Salazar since he has been the manager of the Hillcats. For those who haven't, I recapped it some here and here.

Since I missed the beginning of the game, my older son and I decided to wait after the game. It was a getaway day so all the players filed out of the locker room and into the awaiting bus. Of course, the manager was the last one out but he signed a quick one each and then he and we were on our separate ways.

The first card was one of my new ATCRCS/A&G hybrids. I had found a nice color picture to use a while back (but after I had already gotten the regular ATCRCS card signed) so I put it to use. I haven't whipped up a back for it yet but will soon.

The second card was a 1987 Topps Traded. The guy who has been helping me at the Sun Times shows in Chicago is working on getting the entire 1987 Topps and Topps Traded set signed so I thought it was time to repay the favor. I checked his list and this Salazar card was on it.

I do need to add Salazar to the Boys of Zimmer poster I just showed off but I didn't have time to get it printed yet. Hopefully next time he's in town!

Some More New Customs

I've been working on a new design that takes some of what I like from a couple of different places. For starters, I really like my ATCRCS design. I think it looks good with some of the older player photos which a more modern design can't handle well. Unfortunately, not every logo looks as good behind the player as the good ol' Cubbie C.

I kept the player photo in color. I moved some things around and put the logo in the bottom corner. Well, now the background looks a little bare so I threw in a little A&G paint splotch. I know what you're thinking.

"Matt, you don't even like A&G!"

And you're right...kind of. I like the vintage feel to it. I don't even mind the other sports/non sports people thrown in every once in a while. But I don't particularly care for the ornate borders or any of the inanimate object or animal inserts. So I'll just stick to the Cubs from the A&G set.

But when I make my own, I can pick who I want to make. Most of these following players will be at a sports card show in Chicago this upcoming weekend and I made some cards for another collector. They're an ATCRCS/A&G hybrid. Its kind of late for feedback because these are already printed and shipped, but if you have any, I'd be happy to listen for future renditions.

Let's start with some Cubs.

I took out the stats block and made the font bigger on the biography portion. While these aren't team cards, I only mentioned events or awards won while on the team pictured. That doesn't affect someone like Banks, but would with some of the later players. I won't show all the backs but the only big difference are team colors/logos and I used an MLB Debut date rather than Cubs Debut date.

 A couple of White Sox:

Some Hall of Famers:

Some football prospects:

Some Royals (and a former Cub):

And a Ranger:

Thoughts? Could use some help with a set name too. ATCRCS/A&G hybrid is a mouthful.

Before he was a Cub...

It's amazing what your find when you clean up your hard drive. Or external hard drive in this case. A few years ago I had some computer issues so I bought a 1 TB external hard drive. I haven't been very good about backing up stuff lately because I had basically filled up the hard drive with my music, home videos of the kids' athletic endeavors, etc.

But I knew I had duplicates copied over as I tend to just drag a whole folder onto the hard drive so I've started to go through folder by folder, rename a few things and delete others. I once mentioned that part of my agreement with my wife about getting back into collecting was that I would be more organized. Well that means digitally too.

Among the various photo files, I came across a whole slew of custom cards. Some good first attempts but some cringeworthy ones too. I was using player photos that were too small. The resolution wasn't good enough. My Photoshop skills (if I can call them that) themselves were brand spanking new.

I can't pinpoint exactly when I became a fan of Tony Campana but apparently, it was at least several years ago when he was with the Double-A Tennessee Smokies. Here is one of my early designs, probably 2nd or 3rd. Pretty sure I followed some step-by-step instructions to make this while tweaking some things along the way but the source is long forgotten.

Knowing what I know now, I can say that this card, as is, will print out much too dark. I'd probably make a few other changes too but overall, I still kind of like the vintage-y look to it. An updated version of this might make my 2013 team set shortlist.

But wait, there's more!

No sooner had I declared I was closing out the 2012 Team Set, I found some usable photos for former hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo and bullpen coach Lester Strode.

The Rudy Jaramillo card is like the Len & Bob card I featured the other day, not from 2012. You can tell by the Ron Santo patch on his left sleeve. But it's not like the "real" card companies stick to that so I'm letting myself of the hook. Here he is giving some instruction to Starlin Castro.

This Lester Strode photo isn't of the highest resolution but desperate times call for desperate measures, right? 

 

Plus I like to imagine this photo was taken together with the Dale Sveum card from the same series, which works out nice alphabetically as well.

Anyhow, this really does conclude the 2012 Team Set for quite a while. I plan on going to a couple of Cubs games this season so maybe I can take a usable photo myself of the elusive Andrew Lane, bullpen catcher.

Final tally?

53 Player cards
 8 Coaches cards
 1 All-Star card
 1 Gold Glove card
 1 Len & Bob Announcer card
-----------------------------------
64 cards!!!

Now that the calendar has officially turned over, I can't wait to get started on the 2013 set!

Closing Out the 2012 Team Set

With 2013 coming up quickly, I figured I would go ahead and finish off the 2012 Team Set. Once the season ended, motivation on getting these done slowed to a halt. I've been fiddling around with some designs for the 2013 versions but nothing is set in stone yet.

James Rowson, Interim Hitting Coach

James Rowson was named the Interim Hitting Coach following the the dismissal of Rudy Jaramillo in June. The interim tag was removed in October making Rowson the official Hitting Coach heading into 2013. Does this photo scream, "What have I gotten myself into?!?" to anybody else?

Alex Hinshaw

Alex Hinshaw was the last remaining player I need to complete the set. Thus, every player who made an appearance in a game for the Cubs has a card made. All franchise record 53 of them. The Cubs claimed him off waivers from the San Diego Padres in late August. In his first appearance, he induced a fielder's choice that allowed a run to score. In his second appearance, he started the 9th inning with a walk, a single and back-to-back-to-back home runs before being pulled. So his two appearances netted 1/3 of an inning and 5 runs on 4 hits.

Hinshaw was promptly DFA'd, cleared waivers and was a free agent at the end of the season. He has since been picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays. This photo was the least horrible of my options and I will probably have to reuse it when I get around to making the ATCRCS version of his card. That will need some serious spinning for the blurb. According to the caption, this is his reaction after giving up the 3rd consecutive home run.

Last, but not least, we have the Len Kasper & Bob Brenly card. Seeing as they've been together since 2004, this was a surprisingly tough card to find a photo for. This is the only card from the set not to feature a photo taken in 2012. Oh well.

I've heard mixed reviews about this duo over the years but I, for one, enjoyed them. I just wish they would go back to showing more games on WGN so I can watch them down here in Virginia. I've also heard good things about Jim Deshaies (Brenly's replacement for next season) so bring on 2013!

I am still in search of usable photos for former hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, bullpen coach Lester Strode and bullpen catcher Andrew Lane. I have the posed Photo Day photos for Jaramillo and Strode but they're vertical rather than horizontal and that's almost cheating anyway.

I hoped you enjoyed seeing this set progress as much as I enjoyed making them.