Floating Cubs Heads!

Or would it be 'Floating Cub Heads'? Or 'The floating heads of Cubs'? Dunno.

But I do know that the 1971 Cubs team card is unique and a lot of fun.

The Cubbies did this for several years between 1971 and the early 1980s. Many have asked why but I'm not sure what it was with the Cubs and their aversion to the standard team photos. Maybe they just liked the look. They certainly were not the first to do this.

And strangely the Cubs had a standard team pic in the '75 set but the White Sox went 'floating head'. This has been discussed on several blogs in the past but with the addition of the '71 card, it's the first time for me to explore it up close.

That Cubs card was part of a COMC stack of about 40 1971s that included a couple of hall of Fame members on really nice cards.

My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)

I've been to Chicago before but not during baseball season so our vacation last week gave us the chance to visit the 'Friendly Confines' and take in a game. The fact that the Astros were in town was just a happy coincidence enjoyed by my Houston-born sons. 

This is a bit off my usual style of post but I'm going to show a few pics from our stay in the Windy City. First stop out of Midway was a great little family-owned hot dog stand in the shadows of Comiskey Park U.S. Cellular Field.

On Sunday our little group took the 'L' to the Addison St. station and watched the Astros put on one of the worst exhibitions of baseball I've seen since my tee-ball coaching days. Below are my twin boys, Brooks Robinson Andrews and James Palmer Andrews (who came in from Lincoln, NE for the fun). 

Brooks' better half Ashley was making her second trip to Wrigley. They had visited last July.

Here is the merry band of Astro fans in our seats in Section 216. Just out of sight are an Orioles fan husband/wife pairing that were sitting in the row in front of us, a lone Oriole cap-wearing fan in the next section and a couple of O's fans sitting a few rows in front of us that we noticed when the crowd thinned late in the game. Sadly the Orioles were getting crushed by the Jays that afternoon so my family had little to cheer about. But we had a great time anyway.

Pregame panorama. I learned how to take those about 10 seconds prior to this attempt.

I loved seeing the rooftop bleachers. They were packed. And it was a beautiful day.

Joe Torre (that's him leaning on the rail) traversed the catwalk behind the suites just above us several times. Every time I saw him it was too late for a good picture. 

We stayed to the bitter end of the Cubs' stomping of the bumbling 'Stros. You really can't leave until they sing that song and raise the "W" flag above the scoreboard.

So much for the travelog. Here is my only souvenir, the game program. Pretty routine as far as programs go. The usual selected player blurbs, previews of opponents coming in on the current homestand and lots of ads.

But contained in the centerfold was a good old fashioned heavy stock scorecard. What was really cool was that the 30-something (and very attractive) gal in front of us was keeping score on hers! I haven't seen anyone keeping score at a ballgame in ages. 

We were in town when Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals was going on at the United Center but we were at a wedding and had to track the game on smartphones during the reception. It was really fun to see the city decked out in Hawks flags. They were all over the place downtown.

We've seen the Blackhawks at the United Center (a great experience!) and when I was growing up the Bruins were my Rangers' major rival (always fighting for 5th/6th places behind the playoff bound Hawks, Wings, Leafs and Habs). Somewhere along the line that animosity seemed to fade a bit but it never left me so, given all that, I was pulling hard for Chicago. I sprung for the $5 to be able to watch the big 6th Game on Monday night's flight out of Midway. Lots of fun. Here is my only card of a current Blackhawk. 

Joe Gordon and Charlie Grimm

Joe Gordon played 11 seasons in the big leagues with the Yankees and Indians. In nine of those seasons he was an All Star. In five of them he was in the top ten in MVP voting and he won the award in 1942. He's a Hall of Famer. 

He was a manager for four AL clubs over six seasons although he managed only two full seasons, with the '59 Indians and the '69 KC Royals. His best finish was a second place with that Indian club. None of that really tells the story of Joe Gordon. Larry Doby, who followed Jackie Robinson into the big leagues and blazed his own trail in the AL, credits Gordon with being a big factor in his career, both as a mentor and as a teammate who befriended him when others wouldn't. Gordon's SABR page is highly recommended. Lots of interesting stories there including the Gordon/Doby friendship, his Steinbrenner/Martin type of relationship with Indian owner Frank Lane, being traded for another manager, his war experiences and much more.

Charley Grimm, known as 'Jolly Cholly', packed a lot of baseball into a professional career that stretched from his debut with the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics through his final season as a coach on the Cub's 'College of Coaches' staff in 1963 and on to a job in the Cubs front office until his death.

Along the way he played first base for 20 seasons and compiled a .290 lifetime average, mostly for the Cubs and Pirates. He managed for 19 seasons, for the Cubs and Braves and had a winning percentage of .547 while winning three pennants. He playing and managing overlapped as he did both for the Cubs from 1932 through 1936.

His managerial jobs came in four different decades and include three separate terms on Chicago's North Side. In between he managed in the minors for Bill Veeck and was a coach in the majors.

Grimm played in two World Series with the Cubs and hit .364 although he didn't win a ring. He homered in Game Four of the 1929 Series to help the Cubs establish and 8-0 lead that disappeared with a 10 run explosion by the Athletics in the home half of the 7th.

A good bio of Charley Grimm can be found here. It discusses many aspects of his career including the uncorroborated charge that he had a say in preventing Buck O'Neill from being a member of the College of Coaches therefore keeping O'Neill from serving as the majors first black manager.

Grimm's association with the Cubs lasted until his death in 1983 and lasted about 50 years. After he died his ashes were spread in Wrigley Field.

1969 Topps Leo Durocher

 

No special reason for this card here today. Other than the fact I'm currently firming up my plans for a trip to visit my daughter in Chicago this summer. As with most things I planned backwards, buying Cubs tickets before even looking at flights or hotels.

I'm excited to be knocking an item off my 'bucket list', seeing a game at Wrigley Field.

Oh, and Leo? I think of him in his days as manager of the Astros. I doubt there has been a much more unpopular guy associated with that team.

This is another of my beat-up vintage gems. Leo sports more creases than an Origami swan.

Tinker to Evers to Chance

 These are the saddest of possible words:

"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,

Tinker and Evers and Chance.

Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,

Making a Giant hit into a double –

Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:

"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

That poem, titled Baseball's Sad Lexicon, was penned by New York Express columnist Franklin Pierce Adams, best known by his initials, "F.P.A." in 1912. 

The three T206 cards were among the first truly vintage cards I ever bought. IIRC I got them from a dealer ad in the old "The Trader Speaks" card newsletter, probably in the late 70s or early 80s. I also bought the 'Three Fingers' Brown and had them all in a nice framed display. 

Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance made up three quarters of the Chicago Cubs infield during their 'glory days' of the first decade and a half of the 20th Century. And Brown was their ace.

The three cards are. as you can see, not in mint condition, but the colors are still strong and there are no creases or major flaws in them. One of these days I'd like to get my hands on the T205 Gold Border cards of this trio. Those are pretty nice as well. The examples below are shown on the Library of Congress' baseball card pages. Kind of a fun, if limited, site.