1982 Headline: Cubs Obtain Phillies’ Sandberg

On this day in 1982, Ryne Sandberg became a Chicago Cub.

The Cubs sent Ivan DeJesus to the Phillies for Sandberg and Larry Bowa.  Prior to the trade, Sandberg played in 21 games for the Phillies and made 6 plate appearances.  For the record he has 1 hit as a Phillie and a batting average of .167.

What the Cubs got over the next 15 major league seasons was brilliance.  Sandberg immediately filled a void at second base and quickly became the star and leader of the team.  With excellent defense, superb base running, and skill at the plate, Sandberg’s talents made #23 a fan favorite very quickly.

During his time in Chicago Ryne Sandberg was a 10-time All-star, 9-time Gold Glove winner, and a 7-time winner of the Silver Slugger trophy.  He also won the National League MVP award in 1984 due to his .314 batting average, 200 hits, 114 runs scored, 19 triples, 19 home runs, 84 RBI, and 32 stolen bases. 

Sandberg was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.  His #23 waves proudly in the air above Wrigley Field!!!

Thank you Philadelphia!!!

 

A ’30-YOC’ Reader Dontaes A Greg Maddux Rookie Card To The Collection!!!

As the blog enters its 17th month, I still have a nice handful of loyal readers that have been with me and ’30-YOC’ since the start.

Reader Gerad is among them.  Gerad and I have shared several emails over the last year and he is a frequent commenter on the site.

And now he is a contributor as well.  He sent me my most coveted Greg Maddux card of my collection…

… the 1987 Topps Traded rookie card!!!

I have wanted to add this card to my Maddux collection for quite some time.  And each time I found one, it was either ridiculously priced or not in tip-top condition.  Well, Gerad solved that problem for me as this one is a gem!!!

Thank you Gerad!!!  I owe you one!!!

**on a side note, don’t the 1987 Topps Cubs cards look awesome?  I know I am biased, but the Red,White, and Blue looks great with that wood paneling!!!

TTM Success: JohnTudor

8 short days was all that it took for former Cardinals and Dodgers pitcher John Tudor to return these 2 baseball cards back to me.

Beautifully signed in Blue Sharpie, Tudor’s delivery of these 2 great autographs were almost as fast as his delivery to the plate.

I have vivid memories of collecting John Tudor cards as a kid.  Actually, let me correct that.  I was collecting the 1985 Topps set and the Tudor base card was the last one I needed to finish it off.  The card eluded me for a while, but I was a determined 10-year old and I eventually prevailed!!! Since that day, when I hear the name John Tudor, it brings back great memories…

Thank you Mr. Tudor!!!

**On a related note, I ended up working with Todur’s niece in the late 1990′s.  We became friendly and I eventually told her my story involving her very famous uncle.  Kinda cool!!!

1989 Donruss Darryl Strawberry

1989 Donruss Darryl Strawberry

A very nice looking card that could have been made just a bit better by doing any of the following…

1. Show Darryl’s famous leg-kick
2. Give me the rest of the bat
3. Show me both of his hands

I don’t ask for a whole lot do I?  I love baseball cards and I have my preferences; is that so wrong??  1 of my main preferences is a superb picture.  And while I know that cannot occur each time, I will certainly offer my honest critique on what we could have been given to enhance the final product.

I love how ‘zoomed-in’ this photo is.  But I cannot help but be a little disappointed too.  Disappointed in the fact that Darryl had one of the most talked about and popular batting stances in the game during his playing days.  SHOW US THAT!!!  Whoops, sorry.

Anyways, this is a very nice addition to my rapidly growing Darryl Strawberry collection – YES!!!

Did You Know…

Ricky Bones, middle reliever for the Florida Marlins in 2000, had to be placed on the disabled list after he injured himself changing channels on the clubhouse television.

**factoid courtesy of ‘Armchair Reader – Grand Slam Baseball’

My take – In the ‘real world’ imagine calling in with that excuse…  WHOA!!!

Wicked Ortega Continues To Deliver The Goods!!!

My buddy Alfredo did it again!  He completed another of our many trades with each other – and again, he amazed me with the stuff he sent over.

There is no doubt in my mind as to why he was named ’2009 Trader Of The Year’!!!

On to the cards…

Two modern classics featuring my favorite played and newly elected Hall of Famer, Andre Dawson!!  The Diamond King reminds me of old-school Donruss.  And that Timelines card is absolutely brilliant!!!

A 2003 Upper Deck ‘Play Ball’ card featuring Mr. Cub – Ernie Banks!  I love the modern cards that throw a vintage feel into the design.  If it weren’t for the 4 perfectly sharp corners and rigid cardboard, this card could pass for one issued 55 years ago.

Oh, man.  Oddball cards of my 2 favorite Orioles players of All-time – Eddie Murray & Jim Palmer!!  Excellent additions to my growing player collections of each superstar and Hall of Famer!!!

And saving the best for last, a BEAU-TI-FUL game-used jersey card of Eddie Murray.  I love this design!!  The card’s look and feel has a sense of royalty to it – and the fact that it contains a swatch of jersey from one of the greatest offensive players in the game’s history is just perfect!!

Thank you Alfredo.  It’s not too often that I get to trade cards, but each time I do I am rewarded!!!

‘Same Card, Different Paths’ – Card #36

‘Same Card, Different Paths’ – Card #36

1986 Fleer - Card # – AKA – ‘The Paul O’Neill Rookie Card’

Kal Daniels – Lasting just 7 years in the big leagues, Daniels had some incredible success.  Batting .320 and .334 in his first 2 seasons, Daniels was on par with the other top rookies of the Class of 1986.  Tallying 104 career home runs and 87 stolen bases, he was also a power hitter that had the speed to swipe bases as well. 

Paul O’Neill – A 5-time All-star, O’Neill was wildly popular during his playing days.  A solid hitter that was able to deliver the long ball as well as run the bases well, O’Neill’s offensive talents were great compliments to the teams he played for.  The member of 5 World Series championship teams, O’Neill found himself on some amazing baseball rosters.  In 85 post-season games, he hit .285 while collecting 85 hits, scoring 39 runs, crushing 11 home runs, and driving in 39.

1980 Topps – ’1979 Highlights’ – Card #6

I was able to pick up this subset for a very low price.  It’s a 6-card set and it highlights some amazing accomplishments that occurred during the 1979 baseball season.

1980 Topps – ’1979 Highlights’ – Card #6

Headline – ‘Del Unser’s 3rd Consecutive Pinch Homer Sets New Big League Standard’

Text on the back – Philadelphia, July 10, 1979 – Phillies’ Del Unser belted a game-winning pinch-homer in the 9th inning tonight as Phillies beat the Padres, 6-5.  It was Unser’s 3rd straight homer as pinch-hitter, a new big league mark for batsmen.

Donruss Really Liked This Picture, Huh…

I am a collector.  And I happen to collect baseball cards.  But once I add new cards to my collection, I don’t just throw them into a plastic sleeve or top-loader and put them away.  While I keep them extremely neat and organized, I like to go through the cards and enjoy them.

With my Andre Dawson collection, I tend to go back to the vintage stuff quite a bit as  they bring back a ton of memories of my childhood collecting days(imagine if I still had all of those cards – WoW).

But lately I have been spending time checking out the new stuff as well.  And although it was never a collecting goal of mine to get all of Dawson’s modern-era cards, it has become a great extension to my collection and I look forward to adding more and more in the future.

As I look as these newer issues, I really enjoy the creativity that the card companies display with their releases.  And with all the subsets being pushed out each and every year, I find it amazing that so many cards still are appealing.  These companies have some very talented artists on board and they should be thankful that more releases are not hybrids of old stuff which would certainly turn off the collecting world.

With all of that being said, I cannot understand why card companies would spend so much time and effort on designing new and interesting product while recycling old photos time and time again.  Heck, there have to be thousands of pictures of Andre Dawson playing baseball for the Expos, Cubs, Red Sox, and Marlins – he played 21 years!!

My example:

This is a smattering of modern-day cards that I own of ‘The Hawk’.  I enjoy all of them, and I admire their uniqueness from one to the next.  But you know what would make them stand out even more???  Unique photos!!!

I have no doubt that there are more cards out there with this exact photo of Andre being used.  And as I work to build up my Andre Dawson collection if I find them, I will certainly want to add them to my collection.  I just find it very odd that these companies would continue to re-hash the same pictures year after year…

Are you feeling me???

1992 Topps Greg Maddux – Base & Gold Winners

1992 Topps Greg Maddux – Base & Gold Winners

I have no idea when the ‘paralell’ era started, but I like what Topps did with their 1992 issues.  And for a player collector, it gives us a nice little set of cards with slight variances to hunt down.  Way before serial numbering came into play, card companies still limited their runs of these ‘bonus’ cards which made finding them even that more thrilling.

These 2 cards come from the 1992 Topps set.  There are 3 versions in total, and I will eventually find and add number 3 to this trio.  I have the base version of the card along with the Gold Award Winner version as well.  All I need is the Gold version and this 3-headed monster will be complete!!

2 great additions to my Greg Maddux player collection!!!  YES!!!