1968 Topps #83 John Stephenson

John Stephenson spent parts of 10 seasons with four different teams including the Cubs. He was primarily a back-up catcher and pinch hitter. Stephenson’s busiest season occurred in 1971 for the California Angels. During that season, he played in 98 games and 308 plate appearances.

Stephenson came to the Cubs in a deal with the Mets. In June 1967 Stephenson and Rob Gardener came from the Mets for Bob Hendley. Stephenson played in 20 games for the Cubs in 1967 and 1968. He was released by the Cubs in April 1968 after playing in 2 games.

Even though Stephenson barely played for the Cubs in 1968, he was pictured on card #83 in the 1968 Topps baseball set. The copy that I have for my graded Cubs set is a PSA 8.

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 #129 - Rick Monday

Rick Monday was the first player ever taken in the amateur draft in 1965. This distinction led to very lofty expectations for Monday. However, Rick Monday had a solid 19 year career but never became the superstar that many thought he would.

Monday led Arizona State to the 1965 College World Series championship on a team that included freshman Reggie Jackson. Monday was the 1965 College Player of the Year before becoming the #1 draft pick by the Kansas City Athletics.

On November 29, 1971, Monday was traded to the Cubs for Ken Holtzman. Monday was a solid outfielder during his 5 year stay with the Cubs. In 702 games, he hit 106 home runs with 293 RBI’s. During this period his batting average was .270. Monday may be best known for his action during the April 25, 1976 game in Dodger Stadium. Two protesters run on to the field during the game with an American flag. As they tried to set the flag on fire, Monday raced over a grabbed the flag. After Monday handed the flag to Dodger pitcher Doug Rau, the police arrested the protesters. Monday received a standing ovation from the crowd when he came to bat in the next inning.

On January 11, 1977, Monday was traded by the Cubs to the Dodgers for Ivan DeJesus and Bill Buckner. As a Dodger, Monday was part of the 1981 World Series champions.

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.