2002 Pice of History Insert Set - 500 HR Club

The 2002 Upper Deck Piece of History set had several insert sets that are quite interesting. Each of the insert sets followed along with the historical theme. The first insert set that I want to talk about is the 500 Home Run Club set. The front of the cards in this insert set showed an picture of the player. 8 of the nine pictures showed the player‘s home run swing. The only exception is the picture of Jimmie Foxx. The back of each card featured a short home run history of each player. This set featured 9 of the 16 members of the 500 Home Run club as of 2002.

Of course, I am always looking for Cubs cards for my collection. The 500 Home Run Club set featured one Chicago Cubs – Ernie Banks.


The other players in this insert set were Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews, Harmon Killebrew, Jimmie Foxx, Mark McGwire, Willie McCovey, Reggie Jackson and Mel Ott. Other members of the 500 Home Run Club that were not included in this insert set were Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds and Eddie Murray.

1975 Topps Cubs Set Upgrade

I just added a PSA 9 1975 Topps #197 - MVP's to my collection. This was just an upgrade from PSA 8 to PSA 9. This upgrade raised to overall set grade from 8.22 to 8.27. From now on the progress with this set will be slow. Other than the two cards that I am missing evrything else will be upgrades.

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.

1970 Milton Bradley Cubs Team Set

Today as a break in presenting the 1975 Topps PSA Graded Cubs, I will present a complete Cubs team set. This team set is very small and in some collector's eyes may not qualify as a team set. This set comes from the 1970 Milton Bradley Baseball board game. The 1970 Milton Bradley Baseball board game had only 28 different players. Many teams had only one player represented. While other teams did not have any players represented. The Cubs had two players - Ernie Banks and Ron Santo (There could have been three Cubs when you consider that Billy Williams was also playing at the time. This game is sometimes on EBay as a complete game but if in reasonably good condition, will go for a fairly high price ($75 to $200). The picture that I have added shows a complete game that was auctioned on EBay. If you are only looking for a single player like I was, you then have to hope that the particular player is in gradable condition. Otherwise, you must wait until someone puts up a single card of your player.

Sport magazine - September 1969

I have just recently received an issue of Sport Magazine. This one came from an EBay auction and was the September 1969 issue featuring Leo Durocher, Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and Billy Williams on the cover. At the time this issue was put together, it looked like the Cubs might be playing in the World Series. Unfortunately, shortly after this issue of Sport magazine hit the news stands, the Cubs went into a losing streak that ended up throwing them into 2nd place behind the Mets.

Sport magazine went out of business in 2000 but I remember the magazine as part of my youth. My father bought each issue at Hook’s Drugstore or Kroger’s Grocery store when it came out. I had to wait until he was done with it before it was my turn. I spent time reading about my heroes in baseball each month.

This 1969 issue is probably one that I never saw when I was younger. My father had died and I was newly married and away at Indiana University. It was the Vietnam War that was the hot topic on the IU campus. Serious students did not have time for such trivial things as pennant races. The General would arrive at IU after the 1971 season.

The report in Sport focused on Durocher’s managerial style. He questioned player’s abilities and commitment to create tension. Durocher believed that such an approach would either make a player better or show that he did not belong on Leo’s team. Whether one believes in Durocher’s approach or not it did seem to work. When he took over the reins of the team in 1966, the Cubs were a last place team with a record of 59 wins and 103 losses. By 1969, Durocher had the team in first place bringing hopes of a World Series to Cubs fans. From 1967 through 1972, the Cubs won 515 while losing only 449. This was a winning percentage of .534.

The article has a number of great stories about the 1969 Cubs and how Durocher’s firm hand was guiding the team. There are also a few great pictures like this one of Durocher in the Cubs dugout.

Three Cubs HOFers - Game Used Card

Around the end of November, the new names elgible for the Hall of Fame were announced. This made me remember a game used card that I won in an EBay auction earlier this fall. The card from the 2008 Upper Deck Premier set featured three Cubs HOF's. The serial numbered card (24/50) featured a Sandberg Bat, a Banks uniform and a Williams uniform. Although the green uniform piece from Williams makes me think it came from an Oakland A's uniform instead of a Cubs uniform.

Another Scorecard Joins My Collection

I was able to add another Cubs Scorecard to my collection. This time the scorecard was from 1957. This scorecard features some more of the great baseball art that appeared on Cubs scorecards through the years.

The 1957 Cubs under first year manager, Bob Scheffing compiled a record of 62 wins and 92 losses. With that record, the Cubs tied for last place in the National League.

Ernie Banks was in his fourth full season as the Cubs shortstop. Ernie played in 156 games in 1957. He batted .285 with 43 home runs and 102 RBI's.

The primary starters during 1957 were:

Catcher - Cal Neeman

1st Base - Dale Long

2nd Base - Bobby Morgan

Shortstop - Ernie Banks

3rd Base - Bobby Adams

Left Field - Lee Walls

Centerfield - Bob Speake

Right Field - Walt Moryn

The starting rotation included Moe Drabowsky, Dick Drott, Bob Rush and Don Kaiser. The closer was Turk Lown.

This particular scorecard was for the game played Friday, August 2. The opponent for the day was Pittsburgh. The Pirates was the team that the Cubs would tie for last place in the National League.

The August 2 game was number 102 for the Cubs. It was a notable game for 1957 as this game was the first win in what would be the Cubs longest winning streak of the year (6). This game would also feature three future Hall of Fame members. Ernie Banks, Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski. Banks and Clemente would both go hitless during the game while Mazeroski would collect one hit. The game winning hit for the Cubs would be a three run homer by Cal Neeman. That HR allowed the Cubs to win 6 to 4.

The Greatest Team That Didn’t Win – The 1969 Cubs

1969 is a memorable year. A man walked on the moon. The Vietnam War was consuming and dividing the nation. And the Cubs fielded arguably one of their best teams ever. Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, Ken Holtzman, Randy Hundley, Ron Santo and Don Kessinger were led by their unforgettable manager, Leo Durocher. The Cubs finished April 1969 in first place and held that position through August. Then they lost 8 in a row, dropped out of first place and finally lost the pennant to the “Miracle Mets”.

As difficult as it is to read about the 1969 season, this is a rich part of Chicago Cubs history. I have recently added two books about the 1969 Cubs to my collection.

The first book is “The Cubs of “69” by Rick Talley. Talley is a noted former sports columnist who contributed to the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Today and the Los Angeles Daily News. This is a well written book containing stories and recollections about the 1969 Cubs.
The second book is called “Durocher’s Cubs – The Greatest Team That Didn’t Win” by David Claerbaut. Claerbaut is a lifelong Cubs fan who works as a consultant in Chicago. This book covers the 1967 through 1972 Cubs seasons with a focus on the 1969 season.
Both of these books are well written and would be enjoyed by nearly any baseball fan. Of course they are particularly interesting for a Cubs fan. Regardless of the outcome of the 1969 season, the stories about Ernie, Fergie, Billy, Ron and the others are great reading for the Cub fan.

My Two Favorite Shortstops

I won a great photograph on EBay earlier this month. I think I like this photo because it represents the greater part of my personal baseball history. If only Rico Petrocelli were standing between Aparicio and Banks, it would be complete. It would also be very unusual to find Rico Petrocelli in this picture that was most likely taken around 1960. Petrocelli only became a fulltime player for the Red Sox in 1965.

When I was 9 or 10 living in central Indiana, I began to follow the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox had many heroes on the roster - Early Wynn, Jim Landis, Nellie Fox, Sherm Lollar and Billy Pierce. But my favorite player was Luis Aparicio. When I saw my first major league game at Cominsky Park around 1960, Aparicio hit a home run to win the game. I am not certain which game was my first major league experience, although it is much easier to narrow this down as Aparicio only hit 83 home runs during his 18 year career. I have most of his cards during the White Sox years plus a couple of autographs in my collection.

As a high school student, I switched my allegiance to the Red Sox. Yaz, Rico and Sparky became my favorites. This lasted for a few years until I met the love of my life and married in 1969. My wife's father was a die hard Cubs fan. I attended a number of Cubs games during the mid to late 1970's. Unfortunately, I never did get to see Ernie Banks play ball in person. I soon switched my allegiance a final time. I have followed the Cubs since the 1970's. "Its a beautiful day for a ballgame, lets play two" not only represents everything that is great about baseball but just is a great attitude to carry with you every day of your life.

So as you can see, this photo depicts Luis Aparicio which is the beginning of my love of baseball. Ernie Banks is the other end as I now follow the Cubs avidly. This photo will take a place of honor on the walls of my office.

1970 Milton Bradley Ernie Banks - PSA 8

Today I am going to take you down a little rabbit trail. This blog generally is about graded 1964 Topps baseball cards that I am adding to my PSA Registry set. But I guess if I talk about something else that interests me, you just have to live with it.

One of my other interests is a Graded Ernie Banks Master set. I have just started this set and have quite a way to go. I currently have 5 of the 93 cards that make up this PSA Registry set.

I have just been able to add a PSA 8 copy of the 1970 Milton Bradley Ernie Banks card. The thing that is challenging about some of these PSA Master Set is that some of the cards that are included are rather obscure and difficult to obtain in high quality condition. This 1970 Milton Bradley Ernie Banks card comes from a 1970 Milton Bradley Baseball board game. This game is sometimes on EBay as a complete game but if in reasonably good condition, will go for a fairly high price. The picture that I have added shows a complete game that was auctioned on EBay. If you are only looking for a single player like I was, you then have to hope that the particular player is in gradable condition. Otherwise, you must wait until someone puts up a single card of your player.

A total of 88 1970 Milton Bradley Ernie Banks cards have been graded by PSA. Of these 75% have either been graded as a PSA 9 or 10. So my copy is not particularly great, but since this card has a relatively low weight in the master set, I will watch for a better deal but not dwell on obtaining it.

Two Great Old Ernie Banks Cards

Periodically, you may find that I discuss something different than the 1964 Topps Baseball set. I did check my rules for this blog and found that it is OK to digress from time to time.

One other set that I am building in an Ernie Banks PSA Master set. This set covers various cards that were issued during Ernie's playing career (1954 through 1971.). There are a total of 94 different items required to complete this tough set. I use the term items because some of the required items are coins issued in various years. If you interested, this link will take you to the PSA web page that details the Ernie Banks Master Set http://www.psacard.com/SetRegistry/SetComposition.aspx?c=1545

I sent two Ernie Banks cards to PSA for grading recently. Both came back with high grades for card of their age.

1956 Topps #15 Ernie Banks PSA 8.5


The first card that I sent in was from the 1956 Topps set. Card #15 in the 1956 set featured Ernie in his 3rd year. This card is a whiteback and a double print. To date PSA has graded 1374 of this particular card. Of those cards that have been graded by PSA only three have recieved an 8.5 and 12 have recieved a grade of 9. The Sports Market Report lists the value of a PSA 8 at $315.00 and the value of a PSA 9 at $2500.00. The ultimate value of a PSA 8.5 will probably be closer to that of a PSA 8 than a PSA 9.

1958 Topps #482 Ernie Banks - All Star PSA 8


The second Ernie Banks card that I got back from PSA was from the 1958 Topps set. This card featured Ernie Banks as an All Star. PSA has graded 788 examples of this card with 162 receiving a PSA 8. There have only been 12 graded higher than PSA 8. The SMC value of a PSA 8 of this card is $115.00.

1964 Topps Baseball #55 Ernie Banks

The first player card for the Chicago Cubs that I have in my 1964 collection is #55 Ernie Banks. This is also one of the first graded 1964 cards that I picked up. As one might expect, the Banks card is one of the most expensive 1964 Cubs to collect. This PSA 6 card carries a book value of about $35.00. A PSA 8 Banks card has a book value of $110.00. I plan to upgrade my Banks card to at least a PSA 8 some time in the future.

By 1964, at age 33, Ernie had been moved to 1st base. Ernie's last game as shortstop was in 1961. Other than a few games in the outfield and at third base after 1961, Ernie played 1st base until he retired after the 1971 season. Ernie's offensive capabilities remained strong , but he also showed that he was a very capable 1st baseman. Ernie played over 1200 games at 1st base with a fielding percentage of .994. In 1964, Ernie batted .264 with 23 home runs and 95 RBIs.

Building Graded Cubs Sets

I mentioned earlier that I got back into collecting baseball cards when I put together Chicago Cubs sets for my son. At the same time, I was also collecting Cubs sets for myself. I have partial and complete Cubs sets as far back as 1948. However, as my interest has turned to graded cards, I am also building some graded Cubs sets. Right now I have focused on 1964, 1966, 1967 and 1968. I will start more as time and money permits.

As you might expect, my 1964 graded Cubs set is the most complete of the Cubs sets. My 1964 graded Cubs set is about 82% complete. I have 23 of the 28 cards that are required to complete this set.

The 1964 Chicago Cubs were not very good. They finished with a record of 76 Wins and 86 Losses. However, this team had three of the Cubs all-time favorites playing that year.......Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and Billy Williams. In the next few postings I will present the 1964 Cubs as depicted by the Topps Baseball card from that year.