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!

First Pitch Friday - Aimee Garcia

Chicago native Aimee Garcia threw out the first pitch at the Cubs-Reds game on Monday, August 12, 2013. Of course, the Cubs would go on to lose 2-0, but that didn't stop her from being excited about it. I'm not on Twitter much but when I Googled Garcia to find out more, her Twitter account popped up as one of the first couple of results. She tweeted a video replay of her pitch and also a pre-pitch photo with Logan Watkins.

I also learned she participated in Kerry Wood's Wiffle Ball Classic. These are the kind of events that made me wish I lived near enough to attend. They're calling it the first annual, so maybe next year?!?

Garcia currently stars in Dexter. I watched most of the first season before losing access to Showtime and never bothered to get back into it. Maybe I'll see if Netflix has it. But I know her mostly from George Lopez reruns that my kids have been watching on Nick at Nite. Man, when I was a kid, Nick at Nite showed The Monkees. Now its Friends and The Nanny and George Lopez, shows that were on when I was in high school. Getting old...

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.

Fred McGriff

This Fred McGriff ATCRCS card comes courtesy of the same Lake Tahoe Golf Tournament as the Joe Carter from the other day. This is the first in this collection that has been signed in black instead of blue. When you're in a big group of people hustling to get an autograph, sometimes a players sticks with one pen/marker on everything. While it doesn't "match" the rest of my collection, I am happy to add the Crime Dog!

McGriff played for those powerhouse Braves teams in the early to mid 1990's and was a perennial MVP candidate even before that. I have no idea if he's ever been linked to steroids or PEDs and I don't recall the circumstances of his retirement, but he left the game just 7 home runs shy of 500. That probably would have given him a little more clout on the Hall of Fame ballot as he has hovered around 20% in his first four years of eligibility. When your Similarity Score on Baseball-Reference compares you to guys like Willie McCovey, Willie Stargell, Billy Williams and Eddie Mathews, you might deserve a seat at the table...

He came to the Cubs in the middle of the 2001 season and was one of several stopgap first basemen between the departure of Mark Grace and the arrival of Derrek Lee. Although that's probably not fair to him. How many stopgaps have given a team 30 home runs and 100+ RBIs like McGriff did for the Cubs in 2002? As a kid, that was All-Star material and even MVP consideration, neither of which McGriff earned that season.

2012 Revisited - Coaches

In addition to a bunch of ATCRCS cards returned recently, I've also been trying to add more signed cards to my 2012 Cubs team set. It is not as easy as it sounds when you have a team record 53 players that have more or less scattered in the wind here in 2013.

Something that did carry over, surprisingly to some after a dismal 2012, was the coaching staff. I made 8 cards of coaches in last year's set and until recently, only had Dave McKay's autographed. Thanks to SCN user vinniemiller, I have added four more to the collection. He is also the one that got me many of the forthcoming ATCRCS cards.

Some eagle-eyed readers may notice I changed out the Dale Sveum card. I really liked the previous card (which can still be seen on the set page here) but when printed, the background was too dark for a signature. He would have had to sign across his face. 

I can't remember if I relayed this story about my 'graphing attempt in DC earlier this year but as the players were walking back to the dugout after warmouts, I called out to pitching coach Chris Bosio. There wasn't anybody else around and as he started walking towards me, I got my card and Sharpie ready. When he got close, I asked him if he would please sign my card. He reached out...put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Sorry son, I have to go. Games about to start."

I respect the answer much more so than being ignored which is usually what happens, but with the amount of time it took to deviate from his path to the dugout to come tell me that, he could have just signed it...

I didn't have any opportunities with James Rowson or Lester Strode when they were in town so I'm happy to have these taken care of as well.

That just leaves Jamie Quirk, Rudy Jaramillo and Pat Listach from the coaches subset and I think puts me just under over the halfway mark in terms of completing the entire set.

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.

A Quartet of Pitchers

I'm trying to keep up with the amount of players the Cubs are using this season. These four pitchers have been around a couple of weeks now so it was about time I got to showing them off. 

This Blake Parker photo is from a game back in June against the Seattle Mariners. The Cubs won 5-3 in extra innings with Parker pitching the bottom of the 11th to get his first (and so far only) Save for the season. The throwback uniform makes it a little cooler, if I do say so myself.

Henry Rodriguez wore #63 with both of his previous teams, the A's and Nationals. But coming to Chicago he had to settle for#62, as closer Kevin Gregg wears#63. The photo comes from the June 23rd, 14-6 whooping of the Houston Astros. Rodriguez is currently on the disabled list with the Iowa Cubs after being DFAd in mid-July.

Chris Rusin started and got the win in the Cubs first shutout in St. Louis since 1997 this past Friday night. There was also something about him being the first lefty to throw 6+ shutout innings in St. Louis for the Cubs since sometime in the late 70's. As in, probably just the second in my lifetime. Crazy. I can't remember the year but the last one to do it was Ken Holtzman.

And although he didn't end up with the win, he also blanked the Giants over 7 innings in a 1-0 victory. Not too shabby when you do that to the defending World Series champs (Giants) and your #1 rival (Cardinals). That said, this photo is from his season debut in which the Cubs lost 8-7 to the A's. To be fair though, Rusin only gave up 3 of the runs and thus, did not get the loss.

Pedro Strop came over to the Cubs with Jake Arrieta in the deal that sent Steve Clevenger and Scott Feldman to the Orioles. This photo is from his Cubs debut, a scoreless 8th inning on July 4th in a 1-0 loss to the A's. Note the special hat.

Strop has made 18 appearances so far for the Cubs, 17 of them scoreless. Unfortunately for him, his ERA rose significantly because of a 5-run third of an inning against the Brewers. 

These are cards 37-40 in the 2013 team set. Still have 9 more to go!