"It's a beautiful day for a ball game . . .

. . . lets play two". That is only one of so many "happy" quotes from Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks.

Today is April 1st (no pranks planned) and marks the 101st day of my blog. I do know 101 days is nothing to "shout about" in the world of the blogsophere but 101 is an important number (this year) for Cub-dome.

So I thought I would revert back to the reasons why I started this blog and do a post on a Chicago Cub of my youth, the one and only Ernie Banks.

This 1964 card, # 55 has several things I like about it. First, the 1964 set is appealing to me; the traditional white border and large team name offset by the usual portrait (or posed) photo of the day. This thoughtful head shot of Banks makes me think "what is he thinking about" ? Could it be that he is staring out to the horizon as he just completed his tenth year in the majors and saying to himself "awards mean a lot, but they don't say it all. The people in baseball mean more to me than statistics" (yes another quote from Banks himself).

The back of this card is that unusual orange (this scan does not do it justice, sorry) with a clever rub off question / answer panel. This card asks "Who was the last AL man to pinch hit 2 consecutive HR's ?" A rather odd question for the two-time NL MVP (1958, 59) and "super star" but . . . the answer is Johnny Blanchard of the Yankees in 1961 (as an aside, Blanchard recently passed away on March 25th, 2009 at the age of 76).
I also like the back of this 1964 card of Banks for this reason; he just completed his tenth full year in the majors and the stats are easy to calculate his career year-to-year averages (just divide by ten or drop the last number, you can do the math): 1500 games, 1617 hits, 250 doubles, 353 HR' and 1026 RBI's. Not too bad for the first ten years of his career.

While Banks would keep this pace up until age and injuries hit him during the 1970 and 1971 campaigns, his career numbers are pretty impressive; 2528 games, 2583 hits, 407 doubles, 512 HR's and 1636 RBI's.

Banks ranks fourth all-time for most homeruns hit for one team and playing for one team only. Only Mike Schmidt (548), Mickey Mantle (536) and Ted Williams (521) who spent their entire careers with only one team and hit more homeruns.

It is only natural to end this post with another quote from Banks himself: "Work ? I never worked a day in my life. I always loved what I was doing, had a passion for it."

"Brock for Broglio"

Ernie Broglio was on the wrong end of the “most lopsided” trade in major league baseball. That is the end of the story, because in June of 1964, the three for three trade was originally deemed in favor of the Cubs.

Broglio was a fixture in the St. Louis rotation for five plus years, posting 18 victories in 1963 and in 1960 had his career year with a 21-9 record and 2.74 ERA, finishing third in the Cy Young voting. After his slow start in the 1964 campaign, winning only 3 and losing 5 games for the Cardinals, he was traded along with Doug Clemens and Bobby Shantz for Jack Spring, Paul Toth and . . . Lou Brock.

Brock had been a disappointment for the Cubs, the Cubs had lost patience with this speedy outfielder and Broglio was a top-flight pitcher.

In two and half years in Chicago Broglio posted a record of 7 and 19 and Brock went on to bat .348 for the remainder of the 1964 season, help the Cardinals win the World Series that year, “star” in 2 more series’ (67 and 68) and play for 15 more years. Brock set the career mark for stolen bases at 938 (since broken by newly elected HOF Ricky Henderson). Lou Brock was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985 and Broglio stormed out of Wrigley Field in 1966, burned his uniform and never returned to Major League Baseball

I highlight this 1966 Broglio card for a couple of reasons. First and for most he is in a Cubs uniform. Secondly, as is my usual theme for “vintage” cards, the back is more interesting. The top right cartoon indicates Broglio led the league with 21 victories in 1960 (the year of my birth by the way) and describes the June15th 1964 trade in detail.

In my opinion, Ernie Broglio does not deserve the lifetime tagline of “Brock for Broglio – the most lopsided trade in baseball history”, no one’s deserves that.

44HR for #44

In another entry in my tribute to Roberto Clemente and his remarkable career, a statisical coincidence which appears on other baseball cards (if you recall Clemente's 1973 last card indicates exactly 3000 hits achieved) as I call a "Clemente-ism"

So I present the 1963 National League Homerun Leaders (card is the Topps 1964 # 9).

This card displays awesome power led by Henry Aaron and three members of the San Francisco Giants; McCovey, Mays and Cepeda. The Giants team of 1963 hit an amazing 197 homeruns that year with five players over 20 HR's (those three and Bailey and Felipe Alou).

For comparison, the Cubs hit 127 and the "powerful" New York Yankees hit only 188 (I know Mantle and Maris had injuries). For the Chicago Cubs perspective; Santo and Williams tied for the club honors, each hitting 25.

This card becomes rather unique from the quirkyness found on the back. Aaron and McCovey tied for the League Lead with 44 round trippers . . . they each wore uniform #44 !

More Good Mail Arrived Today

My mail-person (a real nice lady) must like me, as opposed to Night Owls mail person who holds out on him. I received another great package today, from Chris at Project 1962 , and once again has made my Wednesday much more enjoyable. Here is a good sample of why today was a good day.

Chris sent me many cards from my want list including three 1987 Topps All Star Rookies; Snyder, Tartabull and Incaviglia and this 1962 Jake Wood. While the condition is not pristine, it is still I card I greatly appreciate and needed (as an aside, I am in the camp that for "vintage" cards, condition is secondary to the story of the players).

Woods Rookie Year, 1961, was his best of his career with 170 hits, 14 triples playing in every 162 games. His career never got any better and had a short and fast stay with the Tigers.
I like these cards with the little gold trophies on them (hint hint for future trades).

Chris also sent a Cubbie from the sixties (1964 Don Elston) and the seventies (1970 Paul Popovich) Pictured here is the 1964 Don Elston, in a typical face shot of the time. Elston spent the better part of nine seasons with the Cubs, appearing in 450 career games (all but one as a Cub) and amassing a record of 49-54. Elston was elected to one All Star Game (1959) and was the workhorse for the Cubs, leading the National League in games played in 1958 and 1959.

Also in this envelope were two UD Masterpieces; Derek Lee and this Carlos Zambrano. And if that was not enough an assortment of Chicago Cub "greats" were included:

Thank you to Chris who made my Wednesday . . . can this week get any better ? The mail-lady will be the judge of that.

The Cubs of 1963 - a "team"

My new friend, blogger and fellow Cub fan, Paul, Wrigley Wax has inspired me to look at my Chicago Cub team photo cards. I like these too and he has presented a very interesting “floating head” commentary. If you have not already, I encourage you to visit his blog.


First, the 1963 Cubs had a winning record, their first over .500 mark since 1946, fighting hard to an 82 – 80 record. The prior year, 1962, the Cubs managed only 59 wins – now that is a one year turn-around of 23 games and in today’s standards would still be remarkable. (Even though the Tampa Bay Rays improved by 31 games from 2007 to 2008 in the “year of the Rays”)

Second, attendance at Wrigley was the most since 1952 with over 979,551 entering the gates. Interesting to note is that the 1927 season was the first year over 1 million Cub fans attended and not until 1984 division championship year did they exceed 2 million, and just 20 years later in 2004 the Cubs hit that elusive 3 million attendance mark.

Ron Santo led the team in all the major offensive statistics; batting average, .297, RBI’s 99, hits 187 and tied for the team lead in HR’s with Billy Williams clubbing 25 a piece. Santo played in all 162 games that season (for the second straight year) and Williams only missed one game. Ernie Banks only played in 130 and had an injury plagued sub-par year.

As for pitching, Dick Ellsworth led the team with a 22-10 record, 290 innings pitched, 19 complete games and 185 strikeouts. All were career bests for Ellsworth.

And finally, 1963 was the first year that P.K. Wrigley had one “head coach”. Yes that is what he called Bob Kenendy, “head coach”. The three years prior, Wrigley instituted what he deemed a “group of coaches” and not being happy with the results. Wrigley’s thought was the owner was the “boss” and the manager was “just a worker” and a part of the puzzle. It was not until the hiring of Leo Durocher in 1966, who demanded to be called manager, that Wrigley agreed to use the term “manager”.

So, I salute the 1963 Cubs; Santo, Williams and Ellsworth and the entire team, certainly not the best but one of the most improved and worthy of mention, even though it was 46 years ago and I was only 3 years old.