Category Archives: Uncategorized

In cooperation with MLBPA, Topps began using a special rookie card logo in 2006. One of the purposes of the logo was to wait until a player was actually in the majors to bestow upon him a rookie card. Any cards produced before then would be restricted, ideally, to prospect sets or insert sets. (BecauseContinue reading “The Use and Abuse of the Rookie Card Logo”

Collecting rookie cards of all the significant Chicago Cubs/Orphans/Colts/White Stockings is a hobby of mine, so identifying those members of the hall that have rookie cards is step one. (I have some thoughts on what a rookie card is, if you’re into that kind of thing.) Let’s look at the rookie cards of the ChicagoContinue reading “Collecting the Cubs Hall of Fame”

In 2021, I had some things to say about the makeup of the revamped Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame. That’s part of the fun of any hall of fame, nitpicking about who was put in and who was left out. The most egregious decision, in my opinion, was including Bill Buckner. My ranking has himContinue reading “José Cardenal?”

On December 28, 2021, Ryan Cracknell of Beckett Media tweeted this… …and thus began the Great Rookie Card Debate. Is 2021 Bowman’s Best Wander Franco’s rookie card? I have been collecting the Chicago Cubs for almost 30 years, and rookie card collecting has been a huge part of that. Most collectors, particularly baseball card collectors,Continue reading “A Short History of the Rookie Card, 1887-2022”

The 2021 season is over, and it was one of the strangest seasons in the history of the Cubs. And that’s saying something. If you want to read some great analysis on what happened this year, there are many resources available. I’m not going to do any of that. I want to look specifically atContinue reading “State of the All-Time Greatest Cubs”

In 2015, PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) put together the Mount Rushmore of Cards for each segment of the hobby. The four cards weren’t necessarily the most valuable, but the ones that best represented each sport in the hobby. The four cards they selected for baseball were 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner, 1916 Sporting News Babe Ruth,Continue reading “Mount Rushmore: The Four Pillars of Collecting the Cubs”

See Part 1: Who’s Missing? Some of the names on the Cubs Hall of Fame list immediately cause confusion. It’s hard to distinguish between the MLB Hall of Famers in the Cubs Hall that would be there regardless, and the ones that are there only because they’re in the MLB Hall of Fame. Ernie BanksContinue reading “Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame Part 2: Who Doesn’t Belong?”

This week the Cubs announced a relaunch of the mostly ignored Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame. They began the process of recognizing a Cubs Hall in the 80s, then in the 90s created the Walk of Fame outside Wrigley Field, but the names on these lists, and the 56 names on the current list justContinue reading “Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame Part 1: Who’s Missing?”

As a Cubs fan who acquired my fandom on my own, not having it passed to me by my father or grandfather like so many, my knowledge of Cubs history and culture trickled in slowly and randomly. For me, Cubs history began with Sammy Sosa and Steve Buechele and Jaime Navarro, because these were theContinue reading “Who is the Greatest Cub, Ernie Banks or Cap Anson?”

These rankings are based on four primary factors: WAR (Wins Above Replacement) according to baseball-reference.com, WAR according to fangraphs.com, peak WAR, and Playing Time. Playing Time (plate appearances for hitters and innings pitched for pitchers) is adjusted to match the scale of WAR by dividing career PA by 300 or career IP by 120. IContinue reading “From Banks to Buckner”