New Cubs Oddballs and Run-Ins with the 1984 Cubs

It's been a slow week of updates to the blog, and now I'm a couple days behind. There were no Cubs maildays on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday I was busy with a work happy hour followed by trivia night, and I used Thursday night to catch up on trades and eBay sales.

The alarm was set for 5 a.m Friday morning so I could tackle the large flat rate box of Cubs baseball cards that arrived on Wednesday from David in College Station, Texas. I shipped out a large flat rate of various Topps cards for sets he is building.

In the end 3,945 more Cubs were added to the collection including some new oddballs that were needed. It was highlighted by a bunch of 1984 7up cards. I have some from the 1985 set, and may have a few of these from 1984, but they appear new to me. I've been fortunate to meet several Cubs from the 1984 team that broke our hearts. This is a great action shot of Bob Dernier sliding into a base. Last year I sat with Bob and his wife for over an hour talking all things but baseball. Mostly they shared tips about Italy, as my wife and I were in the early stages of planning the trip we took last month. Dernier also let me try on both his World Series rings (1983 Phillies and 2016 Cubs). I once shared an elevator with Jody Davis and his daughter. We just made small talk. Scott Sanderson was one of my favorites from this team. He was standing next to me at Kerry Wood's fundraiser, and we talked for about ten minutes. I think he was impressed that I recognized him. It's surprising how many people walk by old Cubs not even knowing who they are. Finally, Steve Trout hosted a mini pizza party for a couple friends and I. They were in his autograph line at the Cubs Convention, which was very short. Trout said he would buy pizza for everyone in his line if they met him in the hotel bar. I was extended an invitation and "Rainbow" came through with an extra large pizza for the four of us.

Another few Oddballs is from the Cubs All-Century team sponsored by Old Style. I believe this was a Wrigley Field giveaway. These are the first of these cards in my collection.

Baseball Cards magazine inserted baseball cards into each issue in the late 1980's and early 1990's. This Ryne Sandberg/Ozzie Smith combo card is new. I'm missing at least one card from Baseball Cards magazine. It's a Lance Dickson from 1991.