Saturday August 11 was National Baseball Card Day. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have time to make it to my local card shop to celebrate. My mom was in town and we headed down to the University of Wisconsin union for a couple beers.

Two packages arrived Saturday totaling almost 1,300 cards. A flat rate box arrived from an ebayer that bought a card off me a few weeks ago. He noticed my One Million Cubs Project stamp and reached out saying he would like to donate to the cause.donate he did to the tune of 778 cards. He’s working on the 2018 Allen & Ginter set, so I’ll be sending him several cards from his want list.

This morning as I was doing a usual Cubs twitter search I noticed one of my favorite short term Cubs of my childhood, Vance Law, is on twitter. I found 20 Vance Law cards in my two Saturday packages.

The other package came from T.J. in Schaumburg, Illinois. This is our second or third trade. He sent 514 Cubs cards with a note saying he hoped there were a few I needed.

There were actually several Cubs that I didn’t previously have in my collection, including a stack of 1987 Iowa Cubs. There are quite a few players in this set that went on to the big leagues: Jay Baller, Mike Capel, Drew Hall, Damon Berryhill, Phil Stephenson, Mike Brumley, Paul Noce, Darrin Jackson, Gary Varsho, Luis Quinones, and the most famous of the bunch, Rafael Palmeiro.

Another minor league card that stood out was also an Iowa Cubs card. It’s Mark Grace from the 1988 CMC set.

When Topps started stamping old buybacks with “Rediscover Topps,” I was not a big fan. As my Cubs team collecting intensified I am now more attracted to these and have sought out some players. This 2006 Topps Mark Prior is a new one for me.

This 2002 Diamond Kings Sammy Sosa is also a new add. It’s numbered 971/1000.

I am working on a return package for T.J. from his want list.

One Million Cubs Project Stats

Saturday’s (8/11/2018) cards: 1,292

Saturday’s (8/11/2018) packages: 2

Weekly count: 3,249

Total count: 148,157

Three small packages came in the mail Friday. One bubble mailer arrived that I had to do some digging before realizing who sent it.

The package arrived from Fred via twitter trade. I’ll be sending him a bunch of needs from his Allen & Ginter want lists.

It’s a nice mix including an Erich Uelman autograph, Addison Russell Insert /299, Kyle Schwarber Optic /99, and several Allen & Ginter minis.

One envelope I overlooked (my wife found it and said, “you have more cards you missed”), had a 1984 Donruss Joe Carter rated rookie. I picked this off an eBay auction for $1.58 shipped. This one spurred my search for more 1984 Donruss Joe Carter’s, which is how I found the slabbed autograph.

Finally, I saw a post on a Facebook group for someone looking for a Topps Throwback Thursday Javier Baez All Star. It’s in the design of 1989 Topps (the set that sucked me into the hobby). So, I had to go in search. There are not many out there. The print run is only 793. Fortunately, there are a few on eBay and I was able to snag one for $6.49 shipped.

One Million Cubs Project Stats

Friday’s (8/10/2018) cards: 21

Friday’s (8/10/2018) packages: 3

Weekly count: 1,957

Total count: 146,865

One package arrived in my mailbox on Tuesday. It was from John in New Jersey, and was the second package in our current trade. I’ll be working on a return package this weekend.

As I tore into the BCW 400-count box, it was a potpourri of Cubs cards as far back as the 1970’s all the way up to 2018. There are a few products each year I only dabble in buying a blaster here and there. And fortunately, three of those products were included here. Panini isn’t one of my favorite brands, but of course I collect the Cubs. Kiki Cuyler, Gabby Hartnett, and Victor Caratini were new additions.

This is my first Caratini Stadium Club rookie card.

And from Topps Big League there are a few new Cubs for my collection including base versions of Ben Zobrist and Willson Contreras. A blue bordered Addison Russell and gold bordered Russell and Jason Heyward.

Gotta pull all the Javy Baez cards! This package included five Baez cards.

This is my first Allen & Ginter 10th Anniversary stamped card. Derrek Lee was one of my favorite Cubs in the late 2000’s.

My favorite Cub of the 90’s, like most every other Cubs fan, was Ryne Sandberg. Here’s a new one: 1994 Stadium Club Fantastic Finishers.

A Greg Maddux 1987 Topps Traded rookie. Nice!

Sweet! A 1974 Topps Ron Santo.

Love the unlicensed cards from the late 80’s and early 90’s. I haven’t seen this 1989 Superstar Photos Mark Grace before.

Another card I didn’t realize existed is this 1998 Flair Showcase Wave of the Future Pat Cline Insert.

Three new stickers. I’ve seen the cap stickers from Fleer, and really like them. I love the sticker on the far right with the field as a background and the previous year stats on top. These are from 1982.

A total of 14 Kris Bryant cards for the player collection.

Anthony Rizzo, who celebrated a birthday on Wednesday (August 8), is in here with 18 cards.

One Million Cubs Project Stats

Tuesday (8/7/2018) cards: 396

Tuesday (8/7/2018) packages: 1

Weekly count: 1,935

Total count: 144,511

Thirty years. Hard to believe it’s already been thirty years since the first night game at Wrigley Field. It was memorialized in the 1989 Score set with this beauty of a card.

Just a couple months after my sixth birthday, I was a young Cubs “fan.” While I rooted for the Cubs, my sporting interests at this young age primarily centered football and the Chicago Bears.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any memories of 8-8-88, or the events leading up to it. The initial night game did not even count as it was rained out. The rainout wiped out the official first home run by Phil Bradley. While it was unofficial, I actually had to Google who hit the first official home run under the lights at Wrigley Field (Lenny Dykstra of the Mets off Mike Bielecki in the 5th inning on 8/9/88).

Back to Bradley. I lived in his hometown of Macomb, Illinois for 11 years. The Macomb High School baseball field is named after him. After a standout athletic career at MHS, he went to the University of Missouri and played baseball and was quarterback on the football team. He went on to have a great MLB career. Bradley went back to Missouri, and was an assistant softball coach for his alma mater. I had a chance to spend several minutes with him before a Western Illinois University/Missouri softball game that I broadcasted for Mediacom TV.

One other note about 8-8-88. About two years ago at one of my local card shops (LCS), Jim’s Card Korner, he had a framed piece that included several 8-8-88 items. There was a t-shirt from the night, ticket stubs, program, and some other items from the game. It was on consignment and the owner wanted $200 for it. If it were a nice frame job, I would have jumped. However, it was in a cheap and ugly 30-year frame that I would have immediately tossed in the garbage. So, at that price I wasn’t even willing to negotiate. At some point maybe I’ll seek out some stuff online commemorating the game.

Mailday Monday saw two Cubs packages. One bubble mailer featured a Carl Edwards Jr. Gypsy Queen autograph that I was high bidder on eBay. It used the last couple eBay bucks I had left in my account.

The other package was a medium flat rate box from Travis in San Diego, California. We worked out a Twitter trade, and I’ll be returning a flat rate box of Padres this week.

His Cubs box was filled with a little bit of everything including plenty of Sammy Sosa and Ryne Sandberg for my player collections. These 2002 Fleer EX will look nice in the Sosa and Kerry Wood collections. Moises Alou was also here. Beautiful set these were.

I’ve contemplated on making a Hee Seop Choi binder. This era of Cubs prospects was when I was really getting into minor league baseball and prospects. Choi, Corey Patterson, and Juan Cruz were my favorites.

While on the subject of minor leagues, here are a couple new cards for the collection. From the same era as Choi and Patterson these are 1999 Team Best of Will Ohman and Aaron Sams with the Williamsport Cubs. Ohman had a decent MLB career.

A 2010 Topps Chrome Orange Refractor Geovany Soto is a new add.

The next three cards appear new to me, but I may have them in a box already. The images really stuck out to me. This 2000 Skybox Dominion of Micah Bowie really pops with his image in color and the background sepia. Great view of the Budweiser roof beyond the left field bleachers and of course the centerfield scoreboard at Wrigley Field.

2006 Flair Showcase is very colorful and shiny. Ronny Cedeno had some good games with the Cubs.

Dual images of Rondell White on the 2000 SPX. Excellent centered view of White in the outfield with the Wrigley ivy in the background.

One Million Cubs Project Stats

Monday’s (8/6/2018) count: 1,539

Monday’s (8/6/2018) packages: 2

Weekly count: 1,539

Total count: 144,115

As I juggle a few different hobby tasks, there has been one package (actually two – same purchase) that I’ve been sitting on because I need to do a blog. A simple blog post or two wouldn’t do the package justice and would be image overload.

So, taking a page from Bean’s Ballcard Blog, who has released videos opening the flat rate box of hockey cards I sent him (only $20 per medium flat rate box, and I have plenty). That’s what I’ll do for this package of Cubs I purchased from the Blowout Cards Forums.

A poster in the buy/sell/trade forum had an enormous lot of Cubs he was selling. The initial price was a bit more than I wanted to pay, but I paid close attention to the thread, and day after day it was being bumped and he was lowering the price. He also had a flat rate box full of Cubs commons he was asking a low price for. Eventually, he hit the rock bottom price he would take for the collection, and that’s when I pounced. I asked if he would throw in the common flat rate box at the same price, and he was nice enough to oblige.

The two flat rate boxes arrived about two weeks ago, and it came during a fairly busy time. I would get around to opening the package that contained the hits (video below), and flipped through a couple of the BCW boxes containing many stars and parallels. The flat rate box of commons remains unopened.

Here’s my box break video featuring the hits that I purchased. All in all, this was an awesome deal because many of these cards I would pay a couple bucks for, and in total there are over 2,000 cards altogether including the commons.

Prospecting is a giant gamble, and it often doesn’t pay off. Three years ago I took a chance and chose a young Cubs prospect to collect and try my hand at the prospecting game.

Dylan Cease was a sixth round draft pick of the Cubs in 2014 and had some injury issues which is why he slipped. So, I began hoarding Cease cards. His cards were fairly cheap and my thought was if he didn’t pan out, they are Cubs cards so all won’t be lost.

And then the trade happened. While I was excited the Cubs surprisingly acquired Jose Quintana from the White Sox, it came at the expense of Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease. I was devastated by the loss of Cease.

So I ceased collecting Cease. Since I’m invested in his cards I still keep up with his pitching, and now I’m even more devastated. Instead of lighting up the Southern League on the mound for the Tennessee Smokies, he’s turning heads in a Birmingham Barons uniform.

Last night, Cease twirled another gem throwing six innings of one-hit ball, and struck out nine while walking zero. His last three starts look like this: 19 innings, 0 runs, 7 hits, 28K/3BB. Wow!

Seems like a good time to show off my Dylan Cease collection. My favorite card is the 2014 Bowman Chrome Draft gold Auto /50.

At one time I was a big fan of printing plates. I still seek out plates of Javier Baez and Dylan Cease. I found this 2014 Bowman Draft yellow plate at a low price a couple years ago.

This 2014 Leaf Trinity Auto is super thick.

Also have this 2014 Leaf Draft autograph.

These Under Armour cards are nice.

I have base. Lots and lots of base. At least 369 of the 2014 Bowman Draft are accounted for. I’m sure there is another stack inside my other boxes of Cubs.

I have 145 of the 2014 Bowman Draft Chrome.

And 16 from the 2014 Bowman Draft Asia.

The 2014 Bowman Draft Chrome Orange Refractor is /25.

The blue Refractor is /399.

Some colorful ice parallels.

After selling a few of the 2014 Bowman Draft Chrome, I am down to seven copies.

The green Auto is /99.

And I have three copies of the Refractor autos.

Additionally, there are a few others in the collection such as the Elite Extra Edition Auto, and several copies of Heritage Minors cards. It’s great to see Cease having so much success, but it is a kick in the gut watching him do so in another uniform.

Topps Chrome is a product that I don’t get too excited about. I’ll pick up a couple blasters and that’s about it. This year I didn’t plan on buying any, but reached out on twitter asking thoughts on this year’s retail.

An overwhelming positive response had me excited to grab a few blasters this weekend. So, after work Friday I stopped at Target, and the distributor must have just been there. The card section was fully stocked and faced beautifully.

There were several boxes and packs of Chrome and I bought five blasters. Being a Friday, I hopped across the street to my favorite liquor store to buy a six pack.

Rewind six years ago and I was working in the Athletics department at Western Illinois University. I travelled with football and men’s basketball so I would get to try various craft beers in many states.

One such trip brought the Leathernecks to Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama. The hotel bar had a delicious sounding stout on tap called Moo-Hoo by Terrapin Brewing based out of Georgia. It was an amazing beer, and something to this day six years later I still speak fondly about.

The glass of Moo-Hoo set me back $10.50, wiping out my entire $10 per diem for the day. Perusing the Terrapin website I was disappointed to find Tennessee was the nearest state it distributed. For the next five years I would check occasionally to see if distribution had reached any closer. Alas, it was still cornered in the southeast and I gave up hope.

Here’s a description of the Moo-Hoo chocolate milk stout from the Terrapin website:

CHOCOLATE MILK STOUT
About the Beer: Dark brown to black in color. Aromas of dark chocolate. Dark roasted malt flavor with hints of caramel and chocolate, rounded out by a sweet, creamy finish.

And then! Already beaming with blasters of Topps Chrome in the car, there was a brewery handing out samples at my favorite Steve’s Liquor location. Each Friday afternoon, they host a craft brewery with samples. Could it be? Was that a turtle on this guy’s shirt? A Terrapin???

It was! Terrapin is now in Wisconsin! I chatted with the Terrapin rep for about 10 minutes and tried a sample of each of the five beers on hand. Unfortunately, they were either IPA’s or sours. Neither of which I enjoy. He did say Moo-Hoo would be released in September. The Hopsecutioner was the least hoppy of what I tried, so I had to give Terrapin my business.

Now to the cards. Out of the five blasters I did pull two autographs. Tyler Austin and a J.D. Davis Refractor. I like those odds!

Also, 13 Cubs were pulled including a few inserts and Refractors. Willson Contreras appeared in base and refractor form.

Kris Bryant!

Jose Quintana

Addison Russell

Anthony Rizzo

Kyle Schwarber

And rookie Jen-Ho Tseng rounded out the base.

Ian Happ gets the Future Stars treatment.

Really like these 1983 inserts. So sweet!

However, I’m not a fan of the sepia Refractors. At least I pulled two Cubs here with Addison Russell and Jon Lester.

One Million Cubs Project Stats

Friday’s (8/3/2018) count: 13

Friday’s (8/3/2018) packages: 1

Weekly Count: 1,578

Total Count: 142,366

The mailbox was empty on Friday, which allows me to catch up on the By the Numbers segment. Don’t worry, I won’t be completely shutout of new Cubs cards. A post-work visit to Target found me buying five blaster boxes of 2018 Topps Chrome that was released this week.

So today’s update was what was actually in the mail on Thursday. Two boxes were on my door step. The first, was a pair of Bobbleheads I purchased off a Facebook group. Only $25 shipped for two South Bend Cubs Eloy Jimenez bobbleheads? That’s a steal!

The second package contained a box of Cubs from John in Florida . This is our second trade. I’ll be returning him a, potpourri if you will, of cards he collects. Not often do I open trade packages and find THREE Ryne Sandberg cards needed for my collection. This one did. I knew of the 1984 All Star (produced in 1985), but had never seen the 1993 Duracell nor the 1993 Leaf Heading for the Hall insert.

And I love receiving Javy Baez cards. I only have a couple of the 2017 Allen & Ginter What a Day! inserts.

Another Allen & Ginter in the form of a mini A&G back of Anthony Rizzo.

A new Kerry Wood. Love the green border on this 1999 Collectors Choice Starquest.

While I may have these minor league cards from 1994 Classic, they look new to me. I’m a sucker for minor league cards.

Here’s a 1976 Topps Ray Burris.

I met Ray in January, and he’s a super nice guy and a great story teller.

Topps used the floating heads for the Cubs team cards in the 1970’s. In that run, this 1972 team card is my favorite.

One Million Cubs Project Stats

Thursday’s (8/2/2018) count: 399

Thursday’s (8/2/2018) packages: 2

Weekly count: 1,565

Total count: 142,353