1999 Topps - Sosa HR Parade

In 1998, nearly every baseball fan got caught up in the home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Even though, this period in baseball has been tainted by alleged use of steriods and other performance enhancing drugs, it was a time when nearly everyone knew the status of the HR race.


In 1999, Topps included multiple variations of card #220 and #461. Card #220 featured 70 variations for each of McGwire's HR's and card #461 featured 66 variations of Sosa's 66 HR's. The front of the cards were the same except for the HR number. The back featured a description of each HR including date, location, pitcher and other interesting information.



To collect each different variation is a labor of love, but something that I am committed to completing for Sammy Sosa. Currently, I have 47 of the 66 different variations. Almost all variations are readily available but I don't want to pay $6.00 to $10.00 each. So I will continue to pick up individual cards from EBay, Beckett or Sprotslots as they become available at a reasonable price.

Home Run #66 is interesting to me. Sammy hit his 66th HR off of Jose Lima from Houston. In 2001, the Cubs and Sosa came to Detroit for three inter-league games. I was able to get tickets about four rows from the field along right field. Sammy was always a great ambassador for baseball. In Detroit as every where he went, he interacted with the fans. After he warmed up before each inning, he threw his warm-up ball into the stands. He was happy and just appeared to love to play the game of baseball. In this game, he hit 2 HR's off of Jose Lima, now a pitcher for the Tigers. Lima may have fooled most of the Cubs that day, but certainly not Sosa. Unfortunately for me the Cubs lost that game 9 to 6. Kerry Wood pitched but did not have a stellar game giving up 9 hits and 6 runs in six innings pitched. Sosa has 2 HR's, 4 RBI's and 2 walks.

The cards that I still need to complete this HR Parade sub-set are; 4, 9, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 26, 29, 37, 38, 42, 43, 52, 53, 55 and 61.

Cubs Scorecard Collection

Not long ago, I received another Chicago Cubs scorecard to add to my collection. The newest member of my scorecard collection is from 1948. It is a bit wrinkled and worn, but will fit my needs just fine.
I have been picking up scorecards as the opportunity presents itself for the past year or so. The goal is to collect a Cubs scorecard from every year beginning in 1948 (my birth year) to present. Once these scorecards are framed, I am using them to make a border around my "Baseball" room. I have not done any investigation of the scorecards from other teams, but I can report that the Cubs scorecards up to 1981 have some very neat artwork on the front. The art changed each year (although some is repeated later). As you can see, it makes an interesting and unusual border. To date, I have collected about half of the scorecards that I am looking for. I am still looking for 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954 1955 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1969, 1975, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

If you have an interest in Cubs scorecards there in a great site that has scans of scorecards back to the 1890's. plus other interesting Chicago Cubs information and scans. Check it out if you have the time. www.cubsbythenumbers.com.

1954 Bowman Cubs Team Set - Part 2

The three primary starting pitchers were featured in the 1954 Bowman set – Bob Rush (13 wins and 15 losses), Paul Minner (11 wins and 11 losses) and Johnny Klippstein (4 wins and 11 losses).
The Closer (Hal Jeffcoat - 5 wins, 6 losses and 7 saves) and relief pitcher (Warren Hacker 6 wins, 13 losses and 2 saves) were also featured in this set. Turk Lown (o wins and 2 losses) was also included in the 1954 Bowman set, but did not figure into many Cubs games during the 1954 season. The final player featured in a Cubs uniform was Roy Smalley. After playing SS for the Cubs from 1948 to 1953, Smalley was traded to the Braves in March of 1954 for pitcher Dave Cole. Cole played in 19 games for the Cubs and was traded to the Phillies for the 1955 season. The 1954 Cubs were managed by Stan Hack and finished 7th in the 8 team National League. Their record was 64 wins and 90 losses. They finished 33 games behind the league and World Series champion Giants.

1954 Bowman Cubs Team Set - Part 1

The 1954 Bowman baseball set numbered 224 cards. Card #66 originally featured Ted Williams. However, Bowman discovered that Williams had an exclusive contract with Topps and pulled that card. The revised #66 featured Jimmy Piersall. The short printed #66 featuring Williams has a value of $3500 + in NRMT condition.

The 1954 Bowman set was produced and distributed very quickly in competition with Topps. As a result there are many errors in this set. Many of the errors were corrected which causes the set to contain several variations. The current PSA Registry set has 265 different cards including variations.

I have completed a 1954 Bowman Cubs Team set for my collection. In time, I plan to send this set into PSA for grading. Of the eight position players that started the most games for the 1954 Cubs, only 4 are featured in the 1954 Bowman set. The 1954 Bowman Cubs team set is missing Ernie Banks, Hank Sauer, Bob Talbot and Gene Baker.

The starters that are featured in the 1954 Bowman set are Joe Garagiola, Dee Fondy, Randy Jackson and Ralph Kiner.

Other position players featured in this set are Eddie Miksis (2nd Base), Bill Serena (Infield) and Frank Baumholtz (OF) .

Part 2 of this posting will include the 1954 Bowman cards of the Cubs pitching staff.

Current Stats on My Cubs Team Sets

I thought it might be interesting to present some statistics on my Cubs Team Set collection. My goal is to collect as many different Cubs team sets as possible. Right now I have a total of 4,584 different cards and 137 different completed sets. The oldest card that I have in my collection is from 1948. I have many completed and partial sets from 1948 through 1969 and from 2004 to 2009 that I need to get sorted, cataloged and counted. To date I have sorted a total of 535 team sets from 1970 through 2003. As I get additional cards sorted and cataloged, I will update this count.

There is another blog (Wrigley Wax http://wrigleywax.blogspot.com) that I have found that also focuses on Cubs cards. Check it out if you have a chance.

Reinventing My Collection

For about two years I worked diligently on a PSA graded 1964 Topps set. I posted each new card that I added to my collection in this blog. However, in March of this year, I found that I was enjoying my Cubs collection more than the effort and time that it would take to finish the 1964 set. So in March and April of 2009, I auctioned about 350 PSA graded 1964 Topps cards. I am now spending my time and money collecting a variety of Cubs items including team sets and scorecards from 1948 through 2009. Other items include books, back issues of magazine, pocket schedules, buttons and photos. These items along with other baseball related finds are displayed in my “Cubs” room.

This blog is now officially shifting from a chronicle of my quest to build a 1964 graded Topps set to a log of my efforts to determine if it is possible to collect too many Chicago Cubs items. I think I already know the answer to that question but lets see how it goes.

Upgrade - 1964 Topps #286 Don Landrum - PSA 7 to PSA 8

I was able to upgrade one of my 1964 Cubs cards. I have replaced the PSA 7 Topps #286 Don Landrum with a PSA 8 version of the same card.

Don Landrum was an outfielder who had blazing speed but little in the way of offense. He was originally signed by the Phillies in 1954 and made his MLB debut for the Phillies in late 1957. In 1960, Landrum was traded by the Phillies to the Cardinals. After two years of minimal playing time with the Cardinals, Landrum was traded to the Cubs along with Alex Grammas for Bobby Gene Smith and Daryl Robertson in June of 1962. Landrum played in 309 games for the Cubs from 1962 through 1965. He was the regular centerfielder for the Cubs in 1965 playing in 131 games. However, his lack of offensive ability ultimately hurt as he batted only .226 with 6 HRs and 34 RBIs during 1965.

In December of 1965, Landrum was traded to the Giants along with Lindy McDaniel for Bill Hands and Randy Hundley.

Landrum played MLB for eight seasons but was a part of two different famous error cards. The first was Landrum’s 1963 Topps #113. The photo on card #113 was not that of Landrum but rather Ron Santo. The scan on the left shows the 1963 error card.

The second error card was corrected so there are three different variations. Landrum’s card #43 in the 1966 Topps set is sometimes known as the “Button on the Fly” card. The scan shows the two more common versions of this card. The card on the left is #43A and has a button showing on the fly of Landrum’s pants. The card on the right is 43C and has the button completely airbrushed away. The rarer version of the card is 43B and the button is partially airbrushed away.

Landrum’s final MLB game came on July 21, 1966. Landrum died in 2003.