1975 Topps #494 - Pete LaCock

Last week, I added a new card to my 1975 PSA Graded Topps baseball set. I purchased a PSA 8 copy of #494 - Pete LaCock through an EBay auction.

Pete LaCock had a fairly unspectactular 9 year career in MLB. He was drafted in 1970 by the Cubs and made his MLB debut in September 1972. In all he played during 5 seasons as a Cubs. As a Cubs he appeared in 263 games while compiling a batting average of .221 with 15 home runs and 73 RBI's.

In December of 1976, LaCock was part of a three team (Cubs, Mets and Royals) trade that sent him to the Royals. He was granted free agency in 1980 but never played again in the majors.

LaCock's non-baseball claim to fame is that he is the son of Peter Marshall (Hollywood Squares) and actress, Joanne Dru.

1975 Topps #436 - Ken Frailing

I recently have added a PSA 8 copy of 1975 Topps card #436 - Ken Frailing. While Frailing was only a minor part of the Cubs in 1975, this card is somewhat difficult and expensive to obtain. There are just 101 versions of this card that are graded PSA 8 or higher.

Frailing came to the Cubs along with Steve Stone and Steve Swisher in the December 1973 trade with the White Sox that sent Ron Santo to the southsiders. Frailing had a three year Cubs career with an overall record of 9 wins and 16 losses. Frailing got himself in to trouble by allowing a lot of baserunners. As a Cub, he pitched in 197 innings but gave up 231 hits and 74 walks. This translates to 13.8 hits and walks per 9 innings.

Frailing's hits plus walks ratio per 9 innings (13.8) was higher than Oscar Zamora's (12.6). See the January 6 posting that talks about the song Cubs fans made up about Zamora and his tendency to allow baserunners.

Nu-Card Scopps #410 - Don Cardwell's 1960 No-Hitter

A couple of weeks ago (2/6/10) Wrigley Wax (http://wrigleywax.blogspot.com) which is another blog that talks about Cubs baseball cards, had a several part post that focused on the 1960 Topps Cubs cards. Don Cardwell was card #384 in the 1960 Topps set. He was featured as a Phillie on that card, but was traded to the Cubs on May 13, 1960. Two days later, he pitched a no-hitter in his first game as a Cub.

The Wrigley Wax post made me think of a card that I recently purchased. The card that I thought of was from the 1961 Nu-Card Baseball Scoops set. This 80 card set features a mock newspaper on the front and commemorates great moments in various player's careers.

Card #410 of this set features Cardwell's 1960 no-hitter. If you are counting, only two other cards in this set feature the Chicago Cubs. #417 highlights Fred Merkle's 1908 Boner and #420 features Ernie Banks hitting 47 home runs and winning the MVP in 1958. Of course, Merkle was actually a Giant but made his famous base running "boner" against the Cubs.

1975 Topps #566 - Ray Burris

I have been able to add a PSA 9 version of 1975 Topps #566 - Ray Burris to my collection. The 1975 Topps set is new enough that a PSA 9 is not uncommon. In the case of this card there are 52 PSA 9's with a total of 4 cards that have been graded higher than PSA 9.

Ray Burris played 7 seasons with the Cubs and was the ace of the staff for a couple of years. He completed his career with the Cubs with a record of 55 wins and 58 losses. In 1975 he compiled a 15 and 10 record and followed that in 1976 with a record of 15 wins and 13 losses. As a Cubs, Burris appeared in 237 games with an overall ERA of 4.27.

Burris was traded to the Yankees in May 1979 for Dick Tidrow. He played for a total of seven teams over his 16 season career.

Break is Over!!! Sandberg/Williams Swatch Card

OK, break is over!!! I have taken about two weeks off now with no good reason except that I just did not seem to get around to updating the blog.

So let me start with a card that is just fun to have. It is not numbered or really unique......but for me there are two of my favorite Cubs on this card. The card is from the 2009 Sweet Spot set. It is a dual swatch card featuring Ryne Sandberg and Billy Williams. The Williams swatch does have a pinstripe included, but beyond that these are readily availble on Ebay at a reasonable price.

1980 Cubs Scorecard - Cubs vs Braves - A Battle of 5th Place Teams

Here is a scorecard from the Cubs 1980 season. This scorecard is for the game played on Friday the 13th (June 13). The opponent for the day was Atlanta. Neither team was setting the world on fire. Atlanta had a record of 23 wins and 31 losses while the Cubs stood at 23 wins and 30 losses. Both teams were in 5th place in their division.

Bobby Cox was in his third year as the manager of the Braves. The Braves would ultimately end up with a winning record for the year at 81 wins and 80 losses. Preston Gomez would not fare as well with the Cubs. He managed the Cubs to a 38 and 52 record. He was replaced by Joey Amalfitano on July 29th. Amalfitano finished the season with 26 wins and 46 losses. Apparently, the Cubs needed more than a managerial change.

This particular game featured pitchers Doyle Alexander (Braves) versus Lynn McGlothen (Cubs). The Cubs raised the fans hopes in the 1st by scoring 4 runs. However, McGlothen gave up 7 runs over 6 1/3 innings and the Cubs lost 7 to 6. Dale Murphy was the hitting star with a single, a double, a home run and 2 RBI’s. For the Cubs Lenny Randle went 3 for 3 with a stolen base and Jerry Martin hit a three run homer.

The one good thing was that a day at Wrigley was reasonably inexpensive. A General Admission ticket along with a hotdog, fries and a large coke cost $5.35

Upgrade - 1975 Topps #39 Andy Thornton - From PSA 8 to PSA 9

I have been able to upgrade one card in my 1975 Topps PSA Graded Cubs set. Recently, I purchased a PSA 9 copy of card #39 - Andy Thornton. This card replaces the PSA 8 version that I had. The PSA 8 version of this card was posted on December 2, 2009.

This also is a good time to undate the current status of the 1975 Topps Cubs - PSA Registry set. My set is currently #7 on the current finest list at the PSA Registry. My set is 77.42% complete with a weighted grade of 8.22.

1975 Topps #196 1958 MVP's - Ernie Banks and Jackie Jensen

This card is another in the MVP sub-set that was part of the 1975 Topps Baseball set. The 1958 National League MVP in 1958 was Ernie Banks. This was the first of twp MVP Awards that Ernie would receive. The second came in 1959 and the card was shown in a previous post.

1975 Topps #617 Rookie Infielders - Manny Trillo

This card is one of the 11 card sub-set of Rookies in the 1975 Topps baseball set. The Cub featured on card #617 is Manny Trillo. Trillo had minimal MLB experience with the A's in 1973 and 1974 (38 games with 45 AB). In October 1974, Trillo along with Bob Locker and Darold Knowles were traded to the Cubs for Billy Williams.

In all, Trillo played 7 seasons as a Cubs during two different stints (1975 -1978 and 1986 - 1988). As a Cub, Trillo played in 881 games. During his Cubs career he scored 265 runs and drove in 300 runs. His Cubs batting average was .261. As a Cub, he was an All-Star in 1977.

Manny Trillo was also a member of the 1980 World Champion Phillies.