My first Chicago Cubs baseball card was probably from 1989 Topps. That’s the first Cubs baseball card I can remember, at least. I received the complete Cubs team set from 1989 Topps after my mom sent in a certain about of cereal box UPC codes and $5 (or something like that) for shipping and handling.
Those exact Cubs baseball cards are long gone, and the actual chase to collect one million Cubs baseball cards would not begin until December 2017. The first recorded trade as part of the One Million Cubs Project was a swap of White Sox cards for Cubs cards.
In less than three years, the count went from an initial 50,000 to 500,000 cards. The 500,000th Cubs baseball card was registered on October 5, 2020 sent by Brian in Arizona. A 1990 Upper Deck Cubs checklist featuring Andre Dawson.
It was like it was meant to be. A card from my youth of a player I loved as a child. While Ryne Sandberg was the fan favorite on the Cubs teams of the late 80’s and early 90’s for many of my friends, I was always rooting for other guys like Jerome Walton, Shawon Dunston, as well as Dawson.
Brian and I have actually met in person as we arranged a meeting on the back fields of Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona this past spring at Spring Training. We watched the Cubs minor leaguers work out and talked for almost two hours.
Brian reached out to me via Twitter last week and said his package was due to arrive on Monday, but it was probably too late to be the package of Cubs cards that hit the milestone number.
Going into the day my Cubs card count stood at 499,763. Just one or two trade packages should push me to that 500K mark. Two packages arrived in my mailbox. One from Brian, and the other from another multiple time trade partner: Jeffrey in Wisconsin.
Jeffrey sent a 330-count box and it felt full, so I thought this might be the package that pushes me to the number. He included some really cool cards like this Stadium Club Adbert Alzolay rookie that I did not have in my collection.
One of my favorite Cubs cards of all-time (my personal Top 10) is the 1984 Donruss Rated Rookie Joe Carter. It was always a card I wanted growing up, but couldn’t afford. If I were to hoard a single Cubs card this would be the one.
The final count in Jeffrey’s box was 232 which pushed me so close to the 500,000 milestone. After Jeffery’s box was counted the total stood at 499,995. Only FIVE cards needed, and that will arrive in Brian’s package.
After counting out the first four cards from Brian’s package, the next card up was the milestone card. It happed to be a Cubs legend: Andre Dawson. A 1990 Upper Deck checklist with Dawson on the front. A great card to be number 500,000.
The updated Cubs baseball card count now stands at 500,022 with an almost full three months ahead to add to that count heading into a new year. My goal for 2021 is a moving target currently set at 650,000, but already reaching the 500,000 mark that number for next year will likely increase to around 675,000. Stay tuned!
How awesome that the Andre Dawson 1990 Upper Deck Cubs checklist is number 500,000. For reasons you pointed out (the era when you started with baseball cards, the player), but also that it’s a checklist! The checklist counts off cards.