"Big Z" reaches 100

Carlos Alberto Zambrano of the Chicago Cubs reached victory 100 last night ! Now I know that his 100 wins is over shadowed by Randy Johnson reaching 300 wins earlier this week but the Cubs and Zambrano should celebrate just a little bit.

Zambrano becomes only the fourth Chicago Cub pitcher in the last fifty years to reach that plateau with the club; thats right he is now in the company of HOF'r Ferguson Jenkins, soon to be HOF'r Greg Maddux and the powerful Rick Reuschel as the only Cub pitchers in the modern era to garner 100 wins wearing Cubbie Blue.

Zambrano also hit his franchise record 18th career homerun to help the Cubs win 2 - 1 while allowing only 2 hits through 6 2 /3 innings. He celebrated his 28th birthday last week; comes off his suspension, hits a homerun, pitches a gem and then announces he "wants to retire when his current contract expires" in 2012.

It bothers me that after a strong performance on the mound (and at the plate), reaching a minor milestone (100 wins is minor in the overall scheme of things) this three time all-star and two time silver slugger awardee is bombarded with questions concerning reaching 300 wins. I guess that is the state of the game these days - the constant comparison and pressure to achieve stratosphere status. Zambrano makes $ 16 million this year, will make upwards of $ 50 million more by the time his contract runs out . . . why should he even contemplate pitching after he turns 32 ? ! He is the state of the game - play hard, play to win, play with emotion and energy, get paid buckets of money and "retire" !

I like to celebrate "little" things like; a beautiful Florida sunset, an unsolicited hug or "I love you" from my daughter, finding an extra $ 20 in my pocket, receiving a bubble mailer with baseball cards from the mail box, and a Chicago Cub pitcher reaching 100 wins !

Congratulations "Big Z", this Cubs fan wants you to pitch strong, hard and win as many more games as you can. Never mind personal milestones, lets get the World Series Ring . . . then you can "retire".

my Bad(Wax) Luck

in honor of a quarter million hits, BadWax held a rather random contest a few weeks back. Anyone could leave a comment and had to indicate the exact hit number we were at the time of our comment and share our most favorite post. In shear luck and randomness I won.

My luck and a most generous award was sent to me; the entire base set of the 2008 Allen & Ginter's includng SP's (350 cards) as well as the 50 state cards. Naturally I was and still am shocked yet very pleased.
This first picture showcases 11 inches of A & G (I was going to title this post "the 11 inch gift" but opted not to). These cards for those who are not familiar are an extra thick off-white card stock depicting artwork of every player.

A few of my favorite horizontal cards are the "Babe Ruth HR point" of Jim Thome, "leading off" of Ryan Braun, the "bat behind the back stretch" of Justin Morneau and the "airborne catch" of Eric Byrnes.

Most of the cards are actually the vertical style like "why are my eyes glancing to the left" from Greg Maddux, "in full gear" Jason Varitek and a nice "look over my shoulder" Edwin Encarnacion.

This set is extra special for a number of reasons and one of those are the non-baseball cards within the set. Such as top row of: Pablo Picaso, Jeff King (of Iditarod fame), Benjamin Franklin
and the bottom row of Billy Mitchell (Pac-Man champion), Joey Chestnut (hot dog eating champ) and Frank Morris (Rubik Cube fame).

A & G also had several sub-sets and one of the most popular are the state cards of which BadWax included. These cards are of even a heavier card stock than the base set and boast of a player from each state.
Three of special note are: Illinois - Curtis Granderson (I lived in Illinois for 42 years); Florida - Lastings Milledge (currently live in Florida) and Alaska - Curt Shilling (I never knew Alaska even had baseball).

This set is now going into a special binder, centered in my binder shelf and will be forever treasured as a most special set from a most generous "quarter million" blogger. Thank you BadWax !

Today is a special day

for several reasons but most importantly for Chicago Cubs fans. Today at Wrigley Field is when uniform # 31 will officially be retired honoring pitching greats Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux.

Jenkins, already a HOF'r (1991 inductee) will be joined by Maddux in a few years (probably a first ballot inductee in 2013). A look at their careers provides us some insight into two of the greatest pitchers of their, or any, era.

Jenkins: 19 year career, 4500 innings pitched, 3192 strikeouts / 997 walks issued, 284 wins, 267 complete games and pitched over 300 innings five times (four consecutive from 1968 - 1971). Won his first Cy Young in 1971 as a Chicago Cub !

Maddux: 23 year career, 5008 innings pitched, 3371 strikeouts / 999 walks, 355 wins, 109 complete games won 15 or more games in seventeen consecutive years. Won his first Cy Young in 1992 as a Chicago Cub !

Some other noteworthy milestones / dates:
Ferguson Jenkins: hit 13 career homeruns; on May 7, 1969 pitched a 12 inning complete game (finally losing 4 -2 to the L.A. Dodgers); on June 4, 1971 earned his 100th win (an 11 - 0 shutout of the Atlanta Braves); threw 24 complete games in a 28 game stretch from July 21, 1970 to May 23 1971 and on May 25, 1982 became the seventh pitcher to record 3000 strikeouts; striking out Gerry Templeton.

Greg Maddux: hit five career homeruns; on Sept 13, 1988 became the first Chicago Cub pitcher since Jenkins in 1971 to beat every NL team in one season, beating the Phillies 9 - 2; on Aug 7, 2004 notched his 300th victory, leading the Cubs to a 8 - 4 win over the San Fransisco Giants; and on July 26, 2005: became the 13th pitcher to record 3000 strikeouts fanning Omar Vizquel.

So, today, Congratulations are in order for Jenkins and Maddux, the Chicago Cub organization for finally getting # 31 to hang from the foul pole, all Cubs fans and any other basbeall fan of solid control style pitching.

Today also marks my first post in over a week. I have just been rather busy with "life" and have had a lack of time to write "intelligently" (though I have read many many, and transacted a few trades). I will try to get back to my normal writing groove this week - I am sure I was not missed. In a future post I will explain in more detail what I have been up to instead.

Today is also a birthday of a friend of mine who is turning 49. We were college roommates and share many memories. He is "celebrating" his last year of his first half centrury . . . Happy Birthday Steve (yes we also share first names).

Today is a special day . . .

Ted Lilly . . . the next Greg Maddux ?

Don't even get me started . . . the answer is a resounding NO !

To be be fair, there may never be another Greg Maddux (355 wins, 8x all-star, better than a 3 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio, 4 Cy Young awards, 18 x gold glove and 17 consecutive years with 15 + wins, future first ballot HOF'er) but . . . I just read an article, published by a "reputable" resource (to remain un-named for their safety) that compared Lilly to Maddux in this regard.

Yesterday's spring training game against the Indians (Cubs lost 7-5) where Lilly gave up two home runs to DeRosa (almost had a third if not for that tall wall) it was mentioned that Lilly was "setting up" DeRosa for later on in the season as Maddux had done throughout his career to perfection.

May I just suggest that Lilly is NO GREG MADDUX. Lilly might have been rusty, having pitched only 3 + innings in the WBC and DeRosa is a solid power hitter but Greg Maddux, is one of the greatest students of the game and in the top tier of smartest pitchers of this or any generation.

So to those "reputable" journalists out there . . . Dont insult Maddux . . . and don't put unrealistic expectations on any pitcher.

For the record, Ted Lilly is a solid pitcher; has three consecutive years of 15 + wins, hopefully will win # 100 this year, has a $ 10,000,000 contract and wears uniform # 30 (close to Maddux's #31) . . . but is NO GREG MADDUX !

A Goliath package from David

Yes it has taken me a little bit (too long and I apologize for that) to THANK YOU David from Indian Baseball Cards and then some . . . for the most generous of shipments I received last week.

Somehow he heard of my "want" of Cubs cards and satisfied that "want" with a load (over 100 cards spanning 47 years !)

Some of my favorites are:

Top Row: a 1962 Topps Jim Brewer # 191 (upper left corner); a great pose by Mitch Williams (top center) and my first Razor: Andrew Cashner.

Middle Row: three Alfonso Soriano's; 2007 Turkey Red, 2008 UD in black and white and 2008 UD Timeline. I hope you can notice the great eyeliner Soriano has.

Bottom Row: a 1991 Fleer Greg Maddux bunting and the 1993 Fleer League Leader with the Maddux powerful face pre-release, to my first O-Pee-Chee, 1991, of George Bell watching a lazy fly ball reach the Wrigley basket (or at least I think so).

Also included in the package were several Studio 1992's, Donruss 1992's, Donruss 1987's, several Topps Stadium cards of various years and many other cards including this 1985 Father-Son card of Dizzy and Steve Trout (got to love that hair !)

I will be posting another entry with more of my favorites from David, including some Tampa Bay Rays (Devil Rays) he sent along (living in Sarasota one must cheer for the Rays, sometimes).

Thank you David !

my "31" cents worth

For us Chicago Cubs fans, May 3rd, 2009, will be a day for the history books. The Cubs are finally retiring uniform # 31. Though worn by several in Cubs lore, two pitchers who will now be forever remembered with this uniform are HOF'er Ferguson Jenkins and (soon to be HOF) 300 game winner Greg Maddux. Both boast over 3000 K's and fewer than 1000 walks !

This has been a long time waiting for Jenkins but having these two super stars in Cubs history share this honor is fitting. The # 31 will now fly proudly on the outfield pole along side; #10, #14, # 23 and # 26 !

Most would only pay a penny for my thoughts but I just gave you my "$ .31 cents worth".

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 !

A Cubs Cornucopia

As you may remember, I attended my first card show in over 17 years yesterday, and to my surprise I was able to find some real bargains. About the tenth table I visited, I noticed a sign that read "20 cards for $ 1.00" and it caught my eye. What was most interesting is that the cards were sorted by TEAM. I naturally looked through the CUBS stack, found 40 cards and walked away incredible happy. Here are some of my finds in this bargain find:

Maddux bunting ('91 UD), Dawson ('92 Leaf) eyeing to throw someone out and a Jenkins ('83 Fleer) ready to take the mound. If that was not enough I also found:

more "modern" players with some great photography in sets I hardly knew existed. I really like the Brooks Kieschnick, top row right ('96 Topps Gallery), with his right leg cocked to stride and left cheek full of chew and the Kerry Wood, bottom row right (2000 SP Authentic). Derek May, Carlos Zambrano, Moises Alou and Aramis Ramirez were also great additions to my find. But that is not all . . . I also found this "vintage '63 Fleer of Mark Grace.

The 1963 Fleer set is one of my all-time favorites (see my wants list) and to find a Mark Grace is nice bonus. One other nice discovery is this 1979 Dave Rader.Rader spent only one year in a Chicago Cub uniform (1978) and was runner-up to Jon Matlack for ROY honors in 1972. A fine defensive catcher, spent 10 years in the majors and had a lifetime BA of .257 with 30 homeruns. A one year Cubbie and now he is in my collection.

My favorite card I found in this bargain bin is this 1995 Flair of Sammy Sosa (I know, steroids, steroids, steroids) but this is a card I had never known about before yesterdays show and I really like it. The Flair could appear on my trade lists very soon (hint hint).

So that is just a small sample of what I found in this team bargain box. Next month I will hit this dealer first and stock up with more Chicago Cubs cards and continue adding to my cornucopia.

Who will wear # 9 in 2009 ?

I have been on a uniform number “kick” in a couple of previous posts so I thought I would continue my discussion and ask this question. Who will wear uniform # 9 in 2009 ? To begin with I must confess I have no cards of “proof” for what I am going to tell you though my official source of very reliable information is Cubs by the Numbers

The answer for the 2009 Chicago Cubs will be Reed Johnson, who will proudly wear uniform # 9 in 2009.

From the historical perspective, the Cubs did not have uniform numbers until the 1932 campaign and over the last 77 years only 22 players or coaches ( 29%) have worn the uniform number of the year on the calendar.

So here goes in uniform number order:
Uniform # 1: Augie Ojeda year 2001
Uniform # 2: Sandy Alomar Sr. (coach) year 2002
Uniform #3: Wendall Kim (coach) year 2003
Uniform # 4: Jason DuBois year 2004
Uniform # 5: Nomar Garciaparra year 2005
Uniform # 6: Sonny Jackson (coach) year 2006
Uniform # 7: Mark DeRosa year 2007
Uniform # 8: Mike Quade (coach) year 2008
Uniform # 9: Reed Johnson year 2009
Uniform # 34: Stan Hack year 1934
Uniform # 39: Bob Garback year 1939
Uniform # 41: Vance Page year 1941
Uniform # 43: Bill Nicholson year 1943
Uniform # 44: Phil Cavarretta year 1944
Uniform # 45: Ed Saver year 1945
Uniform # 46: Dom Dallessandro year 1946
Uniform # 47: Peanuts Lowery year 1947
Uniform # 48: Andy Pafko year 1948
Uniform # 53: Johnny Schmitz year 1953
Uniform # 55: El Tappe year 1955
Uniform # 57: Vito Valentinetti year 1957
Uniform # 64: Joe Macko (coach) year 1964

Not a star-studded collection, though any list with Cavarretta and Pafko is not half bad. Even though the 1940’s dominated this list, it is interesting (at least to me) that as of the turn of this century almost every team should have a player wearing the number of the calendar year (aside for those clubs that have retired numbers and of course no one will wear # 42 in the year 1942 or ever).

For those of you and curious about next year already, 2010, no Cubbie will wear uniform #10, it is proudly retired by the Cubs in honor of Ron Santo, along with Banks #14, Sandberg #23 and Williams #26. Maybe in the next few years we will see 1931 (Greg Maddux’s and as I was corrected Ferguson Jenkins uniform #31) eliminated from contention also.

So who will wear uniform # 9 in 2009 for your favorite team ?