The 1969 Cubs Autograph Project

When creating my All-Autograph Team yesterday, I included a couple of Cubs autographs of Fergie Jenkins and Billy Williams for their respected positions. Both cards were autographed originals from 1969 which happened to be an incredible season for the Cubs apart from their collapse towards the end of the year and inability to win the division (something many Cubs fans wouldn't like to be reminded of).

I don't think I've ever really talked about why I had those players autograph the 1969 cards, so I thought I'd tell a bit about this project today. It all began a couple years ago with a simple goal that ended up becoming way bigger than I thought it would be despite not quite being completed.

As I said earlier, Billy Williams and Fergie Jenkins were on my All-Autograph team thanks to the 1969 Topps autos I have of them, but I actually was able to get both these guys to sign TTM. It was actually my dad who, a few years ago, proposed the idea to seek out an autograph of each member of the 1969 Cubs team which was a team he watched actively growing up. I quickly realized that getting one of every player would be way too hard, so I focused on the guys included in the '69 Topps set and decided that they could sign any card, though their '69 original, if available, was preferred. 

So, my dad and I began tracking down the addresses of various Cubs from that 1969 team and started sending cards, notes, and cash (if we read the player's autograph required it) and started seeing results immediately. I remember getting Bill Hands' autograph back as one of the first TTM successes. He passed away a little over a year after getting this card back which really put everything into perspective. I really had to complete this as fast as I could.

Lee Elia retired in 1968 and didn't actually play for the 1969 team which means he's not necessarily part of the project, but I didn't realize that until after sending the card away and eventually getting it back signed. Apparently, he's currently serving as a special assistant to the general manager of the Atlanta Braves. It sure is fun to hear about what athletes are doing years and years after retirement. It's one of the joys of collecting.

My dad and I have sent many cards to Glenn Beckert ever since getting this card back with the #18 inscription just over a week after sending it out (he was, clearly, very fast to return the card). Beckert charges $2 for his autos, but he was one of my dad's favorite Cubs growing up, and since I needed his signature for the project anyway, I think it was well worth it. 

Don Kessinger has 2 things that I really, really like about him. 1. His signature is classy, well-written, and LEGIBLE, something today's players know nothing about. 2. He was a very good player for many years and certainly held his own defensively. He was a 6-time All-Star over the course of his 16-year career and even captured a pair of Gold Gloves in 1969 and 1970. 

Spangler may not have signed in blue sharpie like most do when signing a card, but his immaculate signature looks stunning in pen anyway. Also, did you know that he drove in the first run in Houston Colt .45s history? He hit a triple that scored Bob Aspromonte against his future team, the Chicago Cubs.

Reagan had some very good seasons with the Cubs and Dodgers that even earned him MVP votes in 1966 and again in 1968. He was a relief pitcher for the Cubs in 1969 where he went 12-6 and earned 17 saves while blowing just 3, an 85% save rate.

Ken Holtzman's signature is on a different card since I don't have his 1969 Topps card. He had some fantastic years throughout his career, including throwing 2 no-hitters for the Cubs in 1969 and 1971 respectively. Since the surface on this card is very different from the others, I may have to track down his '69 Topps card and send a new one to get autographed, for I don't want this auto to smudge or fade away.

And the final '69 Cubs players' autograph I have was none other than a defensive phenom. The 3rd baseman, Ron Santo, whose autograph I picked up at a card show around a year ago for a steal at $20 dollars. The card is from the Leaf Cut Signature set and appears to show Santo's signature for some kind of sculpture or Wrigley Field. Since it is cut, I don't know all the details but I don't really need to. It's a key autographed for the project.

Better yet, the card is serial numbered 4 of 10, making it even rarer and worthy of the $20 cost. I couldn't believe how inexpensive it was when I saw the price. Granted, Santo isn't super well known (and he SHOULD be), but he's still a Hall of Famer and the card is numbered to 10 copies. I would've thought at least $40, and I would've paid $40 too.

I realize that I have a ways to go in order to complete this project, including forking over big, big money for something signed by Ernie Banks, but I'm willing to do this. The project doesn't have to be super complicated. I'll just have to send cards out to guys whose addresses I can find and then just wait and see if I can get them back to get closer to obtaining an autograph of every Cub included in the 1969 Topps set. 

Blog Bat Around: The All-Autograph Team

Let me start this post by stating that I am, by no means, a major autograph collector. Sure, I send a few cards out a year for TTM autographs and pick up the occasional autograph at the show. But autographs are far from the highest priority of my collection. I have them, I love them, but I don't constantly seek them, and I certainly am not going to become a prospect chaser and try to know all the big names before overpaying for a box of Bowman.

Despite me not actively seeking out autographs, I knew I wanted to complete my second Blog Bat Around, this one created by Torren' Up Cards. The task was to create a lineup with 9 positions (I'm including a DH and a rotation) showing the best autos of your collection. I chose not to stay limited to cards because I had some other autographed memorabilia that would improve my starting lineup, and I feel very good about every position with the exception of 2B.

And now, I present my All-Autograph team.

Catcher: Johnny Bench

This is why I chose not to limit my All-Autograph team to just baseball cards, because of fabulous pieces like this framed Wrigley Field scorecard from the 70's, signed by legendary catcher Johnny Bench. It was actually my aunt who attended the game that day way back in the mid 70's when the Cubs played the Reds. She got Bench's autograph and sent it to my dad who eventually had it matted and framed many years later. Even all this time after the autograph became part of my collection, I still hold it in high regard as one of my greatest autographs.

First Base: Pete Rose

I actually have 2 autographs of Pete Rose, one being a simple 8x10 picture and the other being this awesome Wheaties box I picked up at the card show a couple years ago for $20. The autograph came with a certificate behind the box, so even know it's wasn't signed in person or included in a card set, I am certain it's a genuine auto. Rose played at first for most of his career despite playing a couple years at second base. This is part of the reason why I chose to put Rose at first base instead of 2B, but my other 1B candidate wasn't too great, so either way, I'd be stuck with one position that was a bit worse than all the others.

Second Base: Jean Segura

Yes, the best autograph of a second baseman I have is Jean Segura and yes, I desperately want to change that. Don't get me wrong, Segura is not a bad player, but I was hoping for a more exciting autograph to be in the same lineup as Pete Rose and Johnny Bench. He's currently playing well in Seattle and has been hitting around .300 for a couple years now. He's pretty good, but he's not great and in this lineup, there's a whole lot of great. Maybe enough to get me to buy a new auto of a star second baseman.

Shortstop: Corey Seager

If Corey Seager can play his whole career like he's played in his first 2 full MLB seasons, he will definitely find himself a spot in Cooperstown. That's really great for me to hear because I have 2 different rookie card autographs of the Dodgers' star shortstop. The first one is from a loose hobby pack of 2016 Panini Donruss that I bought soon after the set was released (takes a mental note that Panini actually has good stuff) while the other is from my 2016 Topps Gypsy Queen hobby box. Both are serial numbered, the Panini out of 199 and the Gypsy Queen out of 99 copies.

Third Base: Brooks Robinson

The photo may be bad quality and logoless, but I could care less about that. This is a certified (with a certificate on the back) autograph of the greatest defensive third baseman to ever live, Brooks Robinson. This card was also bought at the baseball card show, but by my dad over a year ago when he went by himself. He ended up picking up another Robinson auto that I'm struggling to find out how to take out of its case along with a nice number of bat relics of the 16-time Gold Glove winner.

Outfield: Billy Williams, Duke Snider, and Andre Dawson

2 Cubs highlight the outfield that shows off some of the best autographs in my collection. The Billy Williams is an on-card auto that my dad sent TTM a couple years ago. I don't recall him having to pay for it, and we got it back fairly quick. The Duke Snider card is from the 2005 Team Topps that I believe my dad pulled in a pack, though I don't really remember and neither does he. Finally, the Andre Dawson is a recent card show acquisition that's numbered to just 200 copies on the back. The only guy in the outfield I actually have another auto of is Billy Williams which was done by Leaf and purchased at the same card show as the Dawson.

Designated Hitter: Vladimir Guerrero

You must've known I had to find a way to get Vladdy in here, even if it meant adding a DH. I picked up this sticker auto of one of the greatest hitters in recent memory at a card show late last year. It was going for $40, but I ended up getting it for about $30 after everything was added together. But I would've paid $40 for this, hell I would've paid $50 or maybe even more than that. He's one of my favorite players and one of my dad's favorites as well. The only thing that could make this card any better is if he was on the Expos, but I'll have to keep dreaming if I think I'll ever see that card for an affordable price.

Rotation: Nolan Ryan, Fergie Jenkins, Dennis Eckersley, and Rollie Fingers

I went with a 4-man rotation because I wanted to show off 4 autographs of players who are all somewhat equally legendary. And no offense to J.R. Richard, but he's simply not at their level. But back to the autos which you can see are all very different. 

The Nolan Ryan is a plaque commemorating his lengthy and illustrious career on 4 different teams. It's signed towards the bottom of the picture and came to my house via, you guessed it, the card show. The Jenkins card may be miss-cut, but this TTM autograph is one of my favorites in this whole post. It's part of a project my dad and I took on a few years ago to accumulate an autograph from every member of the 1969 Cubs, and I haven't checked recently, but I think we're pretty darn close.

The Dennis Eckersley is my favorite autograph of the whole post because of the fact that I actually pulled this card from my box of 2017 Topps Gypsy Queen back when I didn't mind the product. I remember being so disappointed that Gypsy Queen didn't have relics other than the super rare Autographed Garments cards only to pull one numbered 45/50. Finally, the Rollie Fingers is a photograph bought online that is authorized with a little sticker in the bottom left corner.

I have to say that I had a lot of fun doing this because of how excited this post made me about collecting autographs in the future. It kind of put the fun back into autographs, something that they lacked for many years, probably because of the price.

Same Name, Different Guy

Given that thousands upon thousands of players have played MLB baseball, there's bound to be multiple players who share the same name as other players. For whatever reason, I decided to do a bit of research to see who I could find that shared the name with a famous MLB player or even some lesser players who had the same name as one another. 

By the time I finished looking around online and in my collection for same-name players, I ended up finding 4 to share with you today. But as I type this, I remembered that current Reds player Billy Hamilton shares the same name as Hall of Famer Billy Hamilton who captured 2 Batting Titles over his 14-year career.

The guy at the top of this post is Randy Johnson, undoubtedly one of the greatest pitchers to ever play the game. He captured 5 Cy Young awards over his 22-year career. But did you know there was a Randy Johnson before him who played in the 80's?

Johnson had 1 full season (1982) which was enough to land him a card in the 1983 Topps set. He hit .248 in that season with 10 homers and 33 RBI. Not too bad, especially given the batting average of some of today's players and that Johnson did all this in 234 at-bats. He stayed in the minors for the rest of his career, but he'll forever share the name of one of the most iconic pitchers ever. Sadly, I wasn't able to find any other info besides what he did in his brief major league career.

Speaking of recognizable and legendary pitchers, Pedro Martinez was certainly both of those things when he played from 1992-2009. But just like Randy Johnson, there was another Pedro whose card I acquired and showed on this blog a couple of months ago that has a story attached to it.

I picked this card up at my LCS a couple months ago while looking through the rookie card and insert bin. Most cards in this bin were 50 cents to $2 and they were all of Hall of Famers or current stars. So when I saw this Pedro Martinez card, I had no clue this was anyone other than the guy who spent 7 years with the Red Sox. It was actually Night Owl who pointed out that this was a different Pedro Martinez than the 8-time All-Star. This Pedro played 5 years in the 90's and finished his career 7-4 with a 3.97 ERA and given that he had no saves and only 1 career start, I'm guessing he was a middle reliever.

A middle reliever? That's why I haven't seen any cards of him before or since. Makes sense.

You can probably tell where I'm going with this, but the player who shares the name Joe Morgan isn't actually a player. He was the manager of the Boston Red Sox for 4 years, taking over in mid-1988 after firing their old manager.

You may recognize him because he was in multiple vintage Topps sets from the 1960's. Morgan went 301-262 in his 4 years as manager of the Red Sox, but he never managed again after that. He did manage in the minors before his 4 years with the Red Sox. In fact, he managed the Pawtucket Red Sox (Triple-A affiliate of the Red Sox) during their famous 33 inning game against the Rochester Red Wings. He was apparently really well-liked as well by players such as Roger Clemens and Jim Rice.

The final 2 players who share the same name don't include one who is far more recognizable than the other. In fact, these 2 played at the same time as one another for years before one of them retired last year.

Yep, it's Chris Young and Chris Young, a pitcher and an outfielder who played at the same time from 2006-2017 before the pitcher retired after the 2017 season. I'm far more familiar with the outfielder Chris Young because, as you can see, he played for the Red Sox from 2016-2017. But the pitcher had some pretty good years with the Padres in the mid-2000's. Both were named to an All-Star game in their career, but the fact that neither one of them outplayed the other sets them apart from the others on the list. 

Finally, it's still not too late to enter my 200th post giveaway. Details about how to enter are included on the 200th post giveaway linked directly above. 

Some of the Best Baseball News of the Week

Aside from the historic start that the Red Sox have continued over the last few days, the best news of the week came when I found an informative article on Cardboard Connection about the 2018 Topps Archives set. 

I couldn't have been more pleased to see this a couple days ago since the Topps Archives set info is usually released much earlier than mid-April. I had begun to speculate if Archives would even be released this year, but I maintained faith. I tried telling myself, "would Topps really pass up an opportunity to replicate vintage sets and get away with it?" The answer was no, however, the set being released relieved any worries and guaranteed that my favorite set of 2017 would return this year.

As you can see, there are 3 sets being chosen for this year's Archives as there have been for the past number of years. 1959, 1977, and 1981 have all been selected and personally, I don't think Topps could have done a better job choosing the sets.

1959 is the oldest set chosen for this years' Archives and is also the one I'm most excited to see replicated. One of the most underrated sets ever made, 1959 has not seen much love since being the set in 2008 Topps Heritage 10 years ago. It's very reminiscent of the 50's since it includes a circle with the player in it to go with a colorful yet simple frame that is usually red, orange, yellow, green, or blue. It's a pretty simple set overall, but it happens to be one of my favorites from the 50's and likely top 15 all-time. I'm glad it's finally getting the attention it deserves.

Unlike 1959, 1977 Topps has yet to be included in a Heritage set and won't be until 2026. The closest this set ever came to being replicated was the 1977 Topps Cloth Stickers included in both 2011 Topps Lineage and 2012 Topps Archives, but it hasn't been fully replicated until now. It's similar to '59 in terms of being underrated, which I assume is due to closely following iconic 70's sets like 1975 Topps. It's fairly underappreciated and has some strong details that I'm excited to see replicated once the set is released later this year.

1981 completes the set as well as the theme of this year's Archives as it too hasn't been replicated to a full extent since it's release 37 years ago. 1981 Topps lovers will have to wait until 2030 to see the set in Topps Heritage, but they'll get a glimpse of what that will look like once this years' Archives comes out. I must say that even though many people love 1981 Topps, I just don't see what's so special about it. The photo quality isn't too great and the design is kind of boring. Still, I know Topps has done well with Archives over the last few years, so I truly believe I'll be eating my words when the set comes out.

As soon as I learned which sets would be included, 2018 Topps Archives immediately jumped out at me as one of the finest efforts Topps has done in terms of sets included in Archives in many years. In fact, it reminded me a lot of the sets chosen for 2015 Topp Archives and how much I enjoyed the product, mainly because 2 of the sets chosen are in my top 10 list of favorite Topps Flagship sets.

I guess the reason I like the sets chosen for 2015 and 2018 Topps Archives is because of how each set is from a similar era as the corresponding set from the other year of Archives. 1957 and 1959 Topps are just 2 years apart. 1976 and 1977 are only 1 year. Finally, 1981 and 1983 have just 2 years between them. Each group of sets represents its own era of Topps baseball cards and when put together, that creates a recipe for the perfect Topps Archives set.

Also, it's not too late to enter my 200th post giveaway. You have until next Wednesday, April 25th, at 6 PM to enter. Info. on how to enter is included on the 200th giveway post.