a third time

For the third time in three years my beautiful daughter is off on an adventure.

Two August's ago she embarked on the Rotary Youth Exchange program and headed to Finland (yes Finland) for ten months. Upon returning home last summer she then went off to start her college life (freshman year) at Flagler College in St Augustine Florida. While both of those experiences were positive (and not so positive) in many ways, my daughter was craving something different . . . again.

Just the other day she left again, for Chicago, our old home town, to attend Columbia College and pursue her creative writing aspirations. I wish her the very best in everything, am so proud of her and look forward to visiting her and taking her to a Cubs game.

Below you will find a song sung by Winnie the Pooh to Piglet that I have now sent my daughter three years in a row. Maybe this year it will inspire her to be "big" !

You can be a guiding star,
If you make the most of Who You Are.
And the sensitivity,
That you are now discovering to see
Can be developed even more,
So you can find the hidden doors
To places no one’s been before.
And the pride you’ll feel inside
Is not the kind that makes you fall -
It’s the kind that recognizes
The bigness found in being Small
as Pooh sings about Piglet in The Te of Piglet pg 51

Cubs three Hall of Famers from 1969

Back in the early days of my collecting I picked up these three cards. Back in the day when I collected cards of the stars I cheered for, back in the day when baseball was played for the shear enjoyment of the game.

Jenkins, Williams and Banks: three names in Chicago Cub history that is synonymous with the potential the Cubs had throughout the sixites. Three players, who are among the greatest players of all time to never, play in a World Series game.

Six years separate each in their major league experience as the 1969 season began. After playing together in 1967 and 1968 the hopes to make it all come together in 1969 were as strong as ever.

Jenkins, coming into his fifth year as a big leaguer, back from two consecutive 20 win seasons (he would end up with six consecutive 20 win seasons pitching in Wrigley field with the Cubs).

Williams the consistent powerful offensive production coming back from his 1968 numbers 30 HR, 98 RBI and a .288 batting average and then there was Banks.

Banks, entering his seventeenth year as a Cub coming off of hitting 32 round trippers in 1968, the most he had had in six previous seasons.

The front of the 1969 cards of these three; the intensity of Jenkins eyes, the power in Williams’ swing and the playful smile on Banks make for the high hopes entering 1969 even more thrilling. The full card photo and white frame with a thin black outline make for a real clean looking card. The orange circle with the players name and position is a nice touch.

Banks’ card has this orange circle right over his shoulder, looking like the sun, setting in the background at Wrigley and for his career.

The backs are no less interesting. Jenkins’ has a drawing of a skinny umpire saying “he wears me out” in recognizing Jenkins’ 260 club record strikeouts in 1968 (he would go on to break his own record in 1969 and then again in 1970) and Williams’ card showcases his Rookie of the Year trophy earned in 1961.


And then there is Bank’s card – no drawing just sixteen years of statistics, all with Chicago N.L. as his team.

Banks, Jenkins and Williams: the heart of the Cubs past, present and future (from 1969 of course); three great players who never played in a World Series; three Chicago Cub Hall of Famers.

Randy Hundley - 1966 All Star Rookie

Randy Hundley is credited with bringing the skill of being a one-handed backstop to the major leagues. The actual credit should be given to Hundleys’ father, who actually taught (or forced Randy to learn) this technique. As of today, every catcher uses the Hundley one-handed method.

Hundley’s major league career actually started with the San Francisco Giants, receiving an $ 110,000 signing bonus right out of high school in 1960. In a trade during the off season in 1965 would give the Cubs a dependable catcher for the next several years, including the “magical” year of 1969.

For the first four years as a Cub (1966 thru the 1969 campaigns), Hundley caught more than 600 games and was one of the most reliable defensive gems behind the plate.

Overworked and injury-plagued Hundley played in only 450 games for the next 8 seasons. Hundley career offensive numbers are weak; so weak that his name is recorded in the baseball archives for having one of the ten lowest career batting averages, .236 (with at least 2500 at bats). Yet for four years, Hundley was the heart and soul of the Cubs behind the plate.

The 1967 card of Hundley, showcasing his election to the Topps 1966 All Star Rookie team and trophy is a good picture of Hundley in “action”. The back of the card is interesting with just completing his first full year in the majors, first full year with the Cubbies and boasting 19 homers along with his .236 batting average. Quite coincidentally that is also Hundleys career batting average after 14 seasons; .236

After his playing days, Hundley “worked” for the Cubs organization as an assistant coach and scout for a few years and then started his Baseball Fantasy Camps in Arizona. Hundley was the first again to start a camp for “wealthy executives” to play side by side with major leaguers. His camps are now copied by many and once again Hundley is credited with changing baseball.

From one-handed catching to developing baseball camps Hundley has impacted the sport greatly.

How I got started

My baseball card collection started in the early sixties as most of us kids back then did. Unfortunately, the gum was as important in those days as the cards and most of those cards were long ago lost, thrown away, destroyed or forgotten about in family moves.

In the early 80’s (prior to marriage I must add) I began to re-“invest” in the cardboard of yester-year and began to acquire cards of players I enjoyed watching as a youth; mostly players of the 60’s and 70’s and the Chicago Cubs. My collection is not large (under 10,000), mostly in very good or excellent condition and each tell a story.

I dabbled into buying sets but lost the interest quickly when, for me, the “fun” is being able to look at the faces, uniforms and the action depicted as well as the backs of each card. I always like the backs of cards; the statistics, the brief stories of players, tidbit trivia, miniature drawings, comics, stories of players and comparing year to year accomplishments. Sounds “nerdy” but the back of the card is where we actually can learn something about each player and uncover surprises (1964 Topps had rub off area) . I have since sold all of those factory sets and cartons and that certainly did help pay for my family to move to Sarasota Florida in the summer of 2002.

As a Chicago Cub fan my whole life (yes since birth as many of you will agree, it is in our blood), one of my first goals was to acquire as many Cub cards as possible. A friend gave me the idea to look for and complete team sets for the Cubs of the years we loved and I was able to do this with little trouble. My collection grew slowly (budget constraints) but I always kept them in plastic holders or page protectors.

In the summer of 1990, another hometown friend of mine and I were rummaging through “garbage” in his attic and came across a gem. An original cloth banner from 1969 stating: Chicago Cubs Eastern Division Champs 1969. As many in my generation and before know the Cubs did not win the pennant that year, more aptly put, they broke our hearts that year. As Rick Tally states in his book titled “The Cubs of ’69”; the Cubs were “The team that should have been”.

That pennant and my cards of the 1969 Cubs (the cards are 1970) is the pillar and motivation behind my collection and memories.

The Cubs of 1969 . . . my favorite team . . . my favorite players . . . my favorite year . . .


So this site is now dedicated to all those Cub fans who cheered in 1969, who remember more from that baseball year than any other year, and to all of us in our late 40’s who collected cards, lost or destroyed them and still reflect back.


I will talk about the cards and players; superstars, HOF’s and the not so popular players of yesterday (mostly from the 60’s and 70’s), share some baseball memories and talk about what is on the back of cards. I may even regress further into childhood and share a story or two not related to baseball cards. I am not a serious collector, nor am I a true hobbyist but what I am is a Cubs Fan and a kid at heart. I hope you enjoy my trip back in time.
Wait ‘til next year . . .