Cubs Leaders from 1986 ?

An unexpected benefit of collecting baseball cards and this new world of blogging, one gets the opportunity to look back and report on history. Though most of my collection is "stuck in the sixties and seventies" I have recently discovered a new appreciation for the "modern" cards as well.

So I was looking at my Cubs cards from that overproduced wood grain border set of 1987 (I know that set does not constitute "vintage" or "modern" but nonetheless it is "history").

One card popped out like a sore thumb to me: the Cubs Leaders card # 581. For the record the Cubs were lousy in 1986, posting a 70-90 record and coming in fifth in the NL East.

While this card displays the back of Ron Cey and Steve Trout (two nice guys), makes me stop ad wonder what they were actually talking about but in either case neither of them were team leaders in any major category. The back of this card lists all the leaders in various categories and no mention of Cey or Trout anywhere.

In doing some extra research I did find this:

Cey led the team in games played at third base with 77

Trout led the team in "intentional base on balls" with 13

So that's it . . . two players who contributed nicely for the 1984 NL East Division Championship team; with Cey leading the team in HR's and RBI's and Trout going 13-7 (yes that 1984 team)but team leaders from 1986 . . . not !

A CUBS extravaganza

Thanks to A Cardboard Problem my Cubs collection took a big boost today. Once again the generosity of fellow bloggers make me smile. The offer to send "free cards" of my favorite team was too hard to pass up and I just received a small box of 117 cards -all Chicago Cubs. Here is a picture of about half of them.

Yes, many of them are the over-produced mid 1980's cards but for his Cub fan one can not have enough duplicates of these (great for putting in team sets, team binders and year binders). Thank you ! An added note of interest to those who care; there were three Ryne Sandbergs, four Andre Dawsons, two Mark Grace and three Greg Maddux's.

There was also two 1981 Cubbies: Lenny Randle and Larry Biittner.

A small collection of Frank DiPino - a twelve year, 5 team journeyman who spent the middle of his career (2 1/2 years; 1986-87-88) as a Cub. DiPino's highlight was in 1989 going 9 - 0 for the St Louis Cardinals.

Two 1998 Fleer Ultra, my first cards of this set and nice cards they are.

And one cannot forget to mention two of the happiest Cubs ever, always smiling, always playing hard; Manny Trillo and Bob Dernier.

Thank Card Bandits and A Cardboard Problem . . .you have given this Cubs Fan much to smile about !

New "irregular special feature" beginning now

For some reason I feel compelled to start a new "irregular special feature" on my blog and I give all the credit (or blame) to my wife. Prior to marriage her initials were K.K. (now they are K.P.) so she is my unofficial inspiration to baseball players that have the same first and last initial, {right now many of you are saying I know someone who has that but so what}.

Just something to think about . . . since there are three teams that also fit this category; Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and of course the Chicago Cubs !

Today I start with A.A. - Andy Allanson.

A.A. (Allanson) was a Topps All-Star Rookie selection in 1987 (probably his kiss of death), played for 8 years and five different teams, mostly for the Cleveland Indians. He never lived up to his status given out by Topps by hitting only 16 career HR's driving in 140 runs and having a lifetime BA of .240.

But nonetheless, A.A. is my first entry in my new "irregular special feature" that I will be calling . . . drum roll please . . . "Duplicate Initials". If I can submit an entry weekly, that means this task will be done in 26 weeks (or less if I can not find Q.Q. or a Z.Z.).

Just wait until next week . . .I know your brains are working already trying to figure out who will be my B.B. or C.C. or D.D . . . ? ! Please tune in again next week . . .