Wax Museum Ernie

1998 Upper Deck Retro #16

Is this really Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, or a wax replica set out on some anonymous ball field?  It's hard to tell!

The card is from a 1998 Upper Deck set that was issued by way of 24 pack, six card per pack, metal lunchboxes.  There were six different ones each featuring  a star player of the day, Ripken, Griffey, Nomar, Chipper, McGuire, and Travis Lee.  The base set had 129 cards of mixed current and former players with the last 30 being a subset called Futurama.  There were also some cool looking inserts and on-card autos of 31 players, including a nice group of current and future Hall of Famer's.

I think the Ernie Banks is the only card of the set I own.  It might be fun to pick up a few more sometime.

Bob Brenly Reads Us the Sunday Funnies

Bob Brenly described this comic strip on yesterday's Cub's-Cardinal's broadcast on WGN:
It was in Sunday's Chicago Tribune so I thought I'd share it.

(Click to Enlarge)

Card of the Day -- Ted Lilly

2007 Allen & Ginter's #288

Could all of the pundits be wrong?  It seems that all of the analysts were downplaying Ted Lilly's worth to a contender as the trade deadline approached.  Well genius's, so far TR is 3-0 in 3 starts since being traded to the Dodgers.  He's allowed just four runs in 19 innings while striking out 15 and walking 2.  Way to go, Ted!

Time For Steve Goodman

The Cubs have lost eight of their last ten, they're in fifth place,  seventeen games out of first, Lou's retiring... Time for the late, great,  Steve Goodman.

Joined at the Hip

The trivia question on last night's Cubs-Giants games was, which double play combination played the most games together?
The answer is below:

1918 games in 19 seasons

Check Out My COMC Cards #11

This is the 11th installment of my series of cards from my first Check Out My Cards purchase.  I added cards for six months before requesting shipment so it's only right that this should go on for a while.  Being a fan of interesting names and nicknames I was happy to come across this card:

1959 Topps #436 

Paid $2.18

Granny's full name was Granville (hence Granny) Wilbur Hamner.  His older brother, Garvin played for part of the 1945 season with Granny's Philadelphia Phillies but that was his only stint in the majors during an 11 year professional career.  

Granny was born in Richmond, Virginia and may be related to Earl Hamner Jr. who was born in the nearby town of Schuyler about four years earlier,  in 1923.

Earl Hamner is best known for creating The Waltons.

NO, NO, NO!!

These Waltons!

Santo Saturdays -- #10 Flag

Ron Santo is still not in the Baseball Hall of Fame but on September 28, 2003 the Cubs honored him by retiring his uniform #10.  I can't find the exact quote but I recall Ron saying that this meant even more to him than Cooperstown.  The flag that honors Ron flies on the left field flag pole at Wrigley Field, now between long time friends and teammates Ernie Banks and #31 Fergie Jenkins.  

This replica flag doesn't quite fly but hangs proudly in a bedroom in my apartment.  Made out of nylon, it's 

24" x "36 and the signature is about 8" long.

Other than bats, balls and cards what pieces of memorabilia of your favorite player to you treasure?

1992 UD Mark Carreon Question

I found this card in a stack of random junk wax and it stood out because I had seen a post of players holding cups.  Looking closer I noticed something that looked odd.  Mark is wearing a Tigers uniform on both the front and back of the card but the cap doesn't look right.  It appears that the Detroit logo is superimposed on a blue cap.  Anyone have an answer to this?

Some Freaky Ass Cards

I guess these cards were one pack in some sort of Fairfield Repack box.  Like Mick Jagger,  they're so weird looking I like them.  My favorite is the Nomar.  He looks like he's doing the Can-Can!

Check Out My COMC Cards #10 -- Bowman Football

I haven't really been much of a football card collector but I love these 1955 Bowman's.  The colors are fun and the "glow" effect makes the players jump off the card.

Bobby is the Packers all-time leader in interceptions with 59.  He did this in just nine seasons and with only one working eye.

1955 Bowman #122 

Paid $4.75

I love seeing the Cardinals in Chicago.  Les only played for two years.  His name is misspelled.  It should be Goble.

1955 Bowman #50

Paid $1.49

Bucko Kilroy!

Bucko was a two time NFL Champion (1948-49) and was the GM of the New England Patriots who lost to my Bears 46-10 in Super Bowl XX.

19554 Bowman #29

Paid $2.43