Sunday’s are a great day for reflection and today is perfect timing for a trade review built upon inspiration in this hobby.

The One Million Cubs Project was not some idea that popped in my head while sorting cards one morning. It was born through multiple ideas and bloggers. I’ve always stashed Cubs cards aside when buying collections and boxes. At times I’ve conducted bulk team trades. The Cubs collection was never organized and until recently I didn’t seek out to add to my collection.

Enjoying the hobby began to dissipate in 2017. I started buying cases in an attempt to flip and make profit to buy more cards. It turned into more business than pleasure as the race against time was on trying to rip through 12 or 24 Hobby boxes trying to get cards listed to maximize profit. My first couple cases were fun, but the fun was sucked out more with each case I bought. I love baseball cards, but my focus needed to shift elsewhere to bring the fun back.

I love blogging, and had a few failed attempts at baseball card blogging over the years because I just didn’t have focus. There are a few blogs that I read and started to inspire this project. Tony Burbs collects a card of every Cub on their all time roster. Wrigley Wax blogs each and every day spotlighting a player, Cubs team set, and new products. And 29 Collector is trying to collect every Tim Wallach card ever printed. These three blogs all had an inspiration to the One Million Cubs Project.

With my collection surpassing one million cards last year, why not trade them for cards I want in my collection: Cubs cards.

And my Project has even inspired another collector. South Indy Cards is attempting to collect one million Dodgers cards, and we are in the midst of our second Cubs-for-Dodgers trade.

His box of 260 Cubs cards included some really nice cards and several new ones to the collection. I haven’t put them all together, but pretty sure I now have the Kris Bryant 2018 Topps highlights 30-card set. This package added 16 more of them.

And there were some green bordered Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo 2018 Donruss cards.

Bryzzo continued with a 2018 Topps 1983 35th anniverary Kris Bryant…

And a 2018 Donruss Diamond Kings Anthony Rizzo 354/487.

This package has some cards of Bryzzo that I will be paying it forward. A high school classmate of mine reached out via Facebook this weekend saying her son has been inspired by this quest to start a collection goal of his own. I’ll be sending out some Bryant and Rizzo cards to get him kickstarted tomorrow.

There were even more 2018 Cubs in this box. A couple Opening Day cards. Opening Day is a product I’m hoping to gain cards through trade as it’s not a product I buy.

Going back to the 1970’s is a 1977 Renata Galasso Hank Sauer Oddball. Renata Galasso had some great Oddball sets in the 70’s.

Here’s a new “Big Z” for the collection. 2010 Bowman Expectations Insert. Andrew Cashner is on the other side.

The son of Wayne Gretzky. Trevor Gretzky didn’t spend much time in the Cubs minor leagues as he was dealt to the Angels while he was in Low-A.

This is the first 2010 Bowman Starlin Castro rookie card I recall having, though I may have one or five somewhere in my collection.

And a couple more 2018 Cubs. This Jason Heyward Gypsy Queen Blue Parallel is numbered 205/250.

Kyle Schwarber jersey Relic! Very nice. And it had a blue pinstripe. This is a really sweet card. It would be great if Donruss and Topps could both have licenses. Donruss makes some very nice cards that would look really good with team logos.

Thanks for the trade, Brad. I’m gonna have to work hard to put together a Dodgers package to match this one.

Earlier this week I reviewed the 1990 Marathon Oil Chicago Cubs set. It was part of two sets that I purchased on eBay. After submitting a best offer, I was countered by the seller giving me a small discount and saying it was the lowest he could go on the multiple sets. I was unaware it was for ALL the sets pictured in the listings. Score! The 1989 listing had two sets. All six sets were still sealed. I opened one of each and will keep the other sets sealed.

The 1990 set just screamed 90’s as I posted about in the blog post for that set. And the 1989 set design screams 1980’s. It’s amazing that in one year, at least in my eyes, the two sets each define its own decade.

At first glance I didn’t like the smaller pictures. However, taking the entire card in I came to appreciate it with the diamond as a backdrop. The white border and Chicago logo at top was a 1980’s Cubs staple. In fact, by design only I wouldn’t be able to tell if this design was for 1984 or 1989.

Ryne Sandberg is shown fielding at second base at Wrigley Field.

It’s nice the pitchers are fully framed and don’t have their arms chopped off like the 1990 set.

Shawon Dunston looks to turn a double play against the Philadelphia Phillies. Those baby blue and maroon Phillies uniforms were great.

Mark Grace watches his hit at Wrigley.

Wrigley Field ivy is the backdrop for a fielding Domingo Ramos.

A swinging Dwight Smith during his Rookie of the Year runner up campaign.

Curt Wilkerson looking to reach base.

Steve Wilson on the mound.

Rick Sutcliffe fires a pitch.

Vance Law was one of my favorites of the late 1980’s. He was a National League All Star in 1988 and also has one of baseball’s nicest signatures.

A young Joe Girardi.

Scott Sanderson was another favorite of mine. If asked who my favorite Cubs of my childhood I would say Sanderson and Law before Sandberg and Grace.

The National League Rookie of the Year in 1989…Jerome Walton.

Paul Kilgus tosses a pitch.

Famous reliever Mitch Williams.

Always loved saying the name Calvin Schiraldi.

Great front shot of Les Lancaster.

Mitch Webster joined the Cubs in 1988 after a trade from the Montreal Expos.

Lloyd McClendon watches a hit.

Damon Berryhill awaits a pitch.

Swinging Andre Dawson.

Jeff Pico in the windup.

Mike Bielecki also has a sweet autograph.

And the coaches get a card: Larry Cox, Joe Altobelli, Chuck Cottier, Jose Martinez, and Dick Pole.

A recent tweet showed off some 1991 Vineline Cubs cards. Unfortunately, they were not for trade so I sought out eBay for sets. Thinking I’d surely find some, it was a fruitless effort.

However, I did come across some other oddball Cubs sets from this era that were missing from my collection. One seller had both the 1989 and 1990 Marathon Oil sets. I put in a couple offers and received a counter. Little did I know it wasn’t just one of each set. The 1989 listing was for two sets, and the 1990 set was for four sets. Bonus! I clicked accept faster than a Rick Sutcliffe fastball.

Of course Ryne Sandberg is here.

Here’s Don Zimmer sporting a jersey with the 1990 All Star Game patch.

Coaches cards are great. They rarely get trading card love. This set includes them: Joe Altobelli, Chuck Cottier, Jose Martinez, Dick Pole, and Phil Roof.

Les Lancaster split the 1989 season between triple-A Iowa and Chicago. Lancaster went 4-2 for Chicago as a reliever and notched eight saves.

Bill Long came over to the north side from the south side where he played with the White Sox from 1985-1990.

Mike Bielecki gets his arms chopped off on this card. How 90’s are these anyway? The neon green and orange with the names vertically down the side ripped from the image. And that Chicago logo is among my favorites.

Hector Villanueva was a stud! Fans who were watching the Cubs at this time still talk about him.

Didn’t think Joe Girardi would follow up his playing career by being one of the most sought after managers.

Shawn Boskie was another young promising pitcher.

I was eight years old, so I enjoyed saying Paul Assenmacher’s name with an emphasis on the first three letters of his last name.

Steve Wilson came to Chicago via trade with the Texas Rangers that sent Jamie Moyer and Rafael Palmeiro to Arlington.

They were able to get the Baseball and half of Jeff Pico’s glove into this shot.

The Hawk! One of my favorites: Andre Dawson. Had the chance to interview Dawson during my radio career.

Another former Cub that would go on to manage in Major League Baseball. Here’s Lloyd McClendon.

Luis Salazar had a long baseball career, but a fairly short stint with the Cubs.

My favorite memories of watching Cubs baseball during this time was looking for the Shawon-O-Meter.

Here’s a sweet in action shot of Domingo Ramos, another player with a short Cubs stint.

Mark Grace was another fan favorite. I rooted for Dawson and Sandberg ahead of Grace.

Rookie sensation Dwight Smith. He took runner up Rookie of the Year honors in 1989 behind…

Jerome Walton. The 1989 National League Rookie of the Year.

Love the ivy behind Curtis Wilkerson in this shot.

Mike Harkey was a future star in 1989 Topps. He had a nice career, and has spent several years as a coach in the big leagues.

Marvell Wynne came to the Cubs after spending four seasons with the San Diego Padres.

Wild Thing! Mitch Williams was a blast to watch.

Doug Daszenco also went into coaching. He spent some time as a manager for Fort Wayne in the Midwest League.

Great batting image of Dave Clark.

Finally Greg Maddux. If only the Cubs could have had him during his prime.

One week from today 2018 Bowman is released. Shoheil Ohtani mania is pricing many collectors out of this product, myself included. In years past, I have trouble spending $75-80 for a hobby box. This year, hobby boxes are running close to $170. That is just insane. I’ll be stalking Target and Wal-Mart for some blaster boxes. No way am I paying hobby prices.

Since we are a week out, Topps has released its checklist for 2018 Bowman. Surprisingly, the Cubs only have three cards in the 100-card base checklist. The base checklist includes the top two players in Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. The third player is a rookie card of Jen Ho Tseng.

There are four Cubs among the 150-card prospect checklist. Those four players are: Thomas Hatch, Oscar De La Cruz, Alex Lange, and Adbert Alzolay. I am excited about Alzolay as he is typically the top prospect in the Cubs organization on many lists and had a limited numeber of cards.

Since the Cubs have traded many prospects recently, there are not too many minor leaguers in the Top 100 list. Two Cubs farmhands did make the list for the Bowman Scouts Top 100. Players making this insert set are Victor Caratini (83) and Alzolay (86).

Kyle Schwarber made the Bowman Birthdays insert set. Each team has a Talent Pipeline card with three players featured. The Cubs pipeline has Mark Zagunis, Jose Albertos, and Alzolay.

Bowman Sterling Continuity is in hobby only. Kris Bryant is among the 20 cards in the set. On the retail side, there is a Big League Breakthrough set that has 40 cards, none of them are Cubs. Two are former Cubs prospects in Eloy Jimenez and Gleyber Torres, now with the White Sox and Yankees, respectively.

For autographs, there is an Adbert Alzolay in the Top 100 insert set. Alzolay also has an autographed Chrome Prospect card, as does Thomas Hatch.

Kris Bryant has a Bowman Sterling Continuity Autograph card (hobby only).

What I am excited about, especially since I am going to be a retail buyer is the paper prospect autograph set that only appears in retail product. Charcer Burks, David Bote, and Erich Uelman are included in this set. I am a big Bote fan, so I’ll be seeking this card as well as the Burks.

Overall, it’s an average checklist for the Cubs. I would grade it a B-. The retail paper autographs boost the checklist grade for me, otherwise it would be in the C range for me.

Rob in New Jersey sent a box of Cubs that arrived on Monday. This is my second trade with Rob. Just like the first deal, he sent a nice mix of cards that included many new Cubs to add to my collection.

Kerry Wood is an all-time fan favorite. I’ve mentioned a few times recently the goal to put together some player binders and “Kid K” will definitely have his own. Wood’s 20 strikeout game occurred in April 1998 right about the same time I had returned to baseball fandom and later in the summer would begin my Cubs super collecting by raiding the dime boxes at a local card shop.

Tops on a list of Cubs all-time fan favorites would be Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks. Not sure if this 2012 Topps Heritage Baseball Flashbacks is new to the collection or not, but something on the back did stick out. Below a comic strip reads, “In 1963, a personal camera sold for $15.95.” Not bad, though today a camera comes free with the purchase of a $1,000 iPhone.

Pre-dating Banks was Rogers Hornsby, who played with the Cubs from 1929 to 1932. Most of his career was spent with the St. Louis Cardinals, but we can ignore that ugly fact. Both of these Hornsby’s came out in 2011.

Jae-Hoon Ha was an outfielder signed out of South Korea. Ha climbed the Cubs farm system from 2009 to 2012 with stops in short season Boise, low-A Peoria, high-A Daytona, double-A Tennessee, and finally triple-A Iowa by 2013. He played 70 games over two seasons for the Iowa Cubs, but never tasted the big leagues.

You know how I love my Cubs prospects that never reached Chicago. Jeff Antigua was another one that played in the minor leagues the same time as Ha. The pitcher from Dominican Republic reached triple-A by 2014 playing two seasons in Des Moines.

D.J. LeMahieu also played in the Cubs farm system during the Ha and Antigua era. LeMahieu did make a brief appearance with the big league Cubs playing 37 games in 2011. He hit .250 with two doubles and four RBI. The infield was traded by the Cubs with Tyler Colvin in December 2011 to the Colorado Rockies for Ian Stewart and Casey Weathers. Wish we could have a re-do on that one. LeMahieu did get some Cubs Topps love with a rookie card in 2011 Update.

March 31, 2008. Wrigley Field. Season opener. Cubs vs. Brewers. Bottom of the 9th inning. Newly signed Kosuke Fukudome steps to the plate with his Cubs trailing 3-0 and facing Brewers closer Eric Gagne. In one swing Fukudome went into Cubs lore with a home run to tie the game. I had taken a half day at work to watch the game and have a few beers with my friend, Sean. Both of us diehard Cubs fans jumped from our seats with the colossal game-tying hit by Fukudome. The moment ended in a hug. Once our celebration was over we looked at each other and in a moment similar to that of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly said without a beat, “did we just hug?”

By the 2000’s Upper Deck had lost me. Long gone was the aura of the inaugural set featuring the iconic Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card and packs priced beyond my seven-year old allowance. There are very few Upper Deck cards by the mid-2000’s that actually capture my eye. In 2010, Upper Deck featured cards of stadiums. In all of the collections and purchases I’ve made in the eight years since the set was released, I’ve never seen the Wrigley Field card. Now I have one. It’s a beauty.

Thanks for another trade, Rob!

Recently I laid out an organizational plan for the One Million Cubs Project. My wife was in Florida all last week giving me ample baseball card time. After dozens of trades I had fallen a bit behind on sorting and was running low on a handful of teams.

After several days of sorting I am finally to a good spot for all baseball teams to hold me over for several trades.

The next step was to consolidate my Cubs cards acquired via trade. Initially, I will just put them all unsorted into 5,000 count monster boxes. Then, I’ll begin cataloging and player and set sorting. After cleaning up my floor and packing team boxes away I was able to get many monster boxes filled with Cubs cards.

One part of the process was left off my first list, and that’s to find a place for my Cubs collection. I have three shelves in my card room where there is a narrow space. I use the shelves in this space for packaging supplies, binders, and miscellaneous stuff.

Now, I’ll clean it up and use the space for the Cubs monster boxes. Eventually, I’d like to get a nice cabinet to put in the corner of my main basement area once the collection goes into binders.

Currently, I’m in the cleaning up phase of placing the collection in its interim home. As you can see I still have a lot of sorting and organizing to go…

And I haven’t even touched this room…

I think I have plenty of sorting and organizing yet to go!

Paul recently reached out via email with a small lot of Cubs to trade. The package arrived today as part of a triple Mailday. Quite an impressive package.

I was happy before I even reached the Cubs cards. Paul had a plastic case of Cubs cards protected by a can coozie. I love can coozies and typically carry one with me or have one close by during the summer months. Cubs coozies, Bears coozies, wedding coozies, and even an Arizona Cardinals coozie are in my “collection.” Now an Uplift desk coozie will probably keep a beer cold this summer.

What a mix of cards here. A nice 6-card Kris Bryant lot.

All the way to a T206 Joe Tinker. A T206 Joe Tinker?!? Wow! Sweet!!! The back of the card is missing with the exception of a small portion at the bottom. It appears to be authentic by my untrained eye. Someone had glued this card into an album of some sort.

Back to the new. A super thick 2017 Topps Ernie Banks MVP coin.

Back to the 50’s with a 1959 Topps Dolan Nichols.

I’m really excited about the Cubs first two picks from the 2017 MLB Draft: Alex Lange and Brendon Little. This is a 2017 Bowman Draft Lange blue Refractor 206/399.

Another vintage card new to my collection is a 1963 Post Andre Rodgers. Vintage oddballs are great.

I have most Cubs cards from Topps from about 1958 on, but for some reason I lack several 1965 Topps Cubs cards. I can scratch Billy Cowan from that want list.

1972 Topps is a great set. Some decent pitchers on this card. Cubs are represented by Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins.

Another new Ryne Sandberg to the collection with this 2017 Topps All Time All Star.

I’m gonna have to put together a nice return package for Paul. And maybe even pull a coozie from my collection to send along.