Serendipitous Hand Delivery of Vintage Cubs
Serendipitous was the term used when Bill Beck arrived on my doorstep at noon on Thursday August 16.
Bill, from Alabama, hand delivered 55 vintage Chicago Cubs baseball cards that included the likes of Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, and Lou Brock. Many cards that were not already part of my Cubs collection.
A few weeks prior Bill reached out to me on Twitter, and mentioned he had some old Cubs cards he would like to contribute to the project. He would be visiting Madison, Wisconsin for a business trip in mid-August.
In our back and forth through direct message, he said he was staying in downtown Madison, and had a morning business appointment in Verona.
My home address is actually Verona. I call it no man’s land because subdivisions keep popping up in this area. Our mailing address is Verona, in the Madison school district, and a group of eight houses across the street are Middleton. The whole area is gerrymandered.
At any rate, I mentioned this to Bill and asked where his meeting was. When he responded, I about spit out my drink. The company he was visiting is visible from my backyard. Literally!
That’s serendipitous as Bill said when he arrived with a pile of Cubs. My wife answered the door, and gave Bill a “more baseball cards?!” eye roll.
He showed me the cards and I was excited to see several cards that I didn’t have, such as a 1964 Topps Ernie Banks.
This 1966 Topps Ernie Banks is also new to the collection.
Bill and I visited briefly and then I gave him the grand tour of the Cubs Cave and card room. It was great meeting Bill and I appreciate his generosity immensely. Here’s another Ernie Banks from the stack of Cubs vintage.
Billy Williams was also present. This 1963 Topps is a new addition. This set is one of my favorite Topps designs of all time.
Another new card from 1963 Topps is this Ron Santo.
I do have this 1964 Topps Lou Brock, but I always look to scoop up Cubs Brock cards.
How about these 1968 Topps league leaders cards. The Home Run Leaders Card is awesome as Ron Santo is flanked by Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, and Jim Wynn. Fergie Jenkins made the Pitching Leaders (with Mike McCormick, Jim Bunning, and Claude Osteen) and the Strikeout Leaders (with Gaylord Perry and Jim Bunning).
There were four league leaders cards from 1969 Topps. Ernie Banks is on the Home Run Leaders card with Willie McCovey and Richie Allen. The Cubs take up two-thirds of the RBI Leaders with Willie McCovey joining Cubs Ron Santo and Billy Williams. Again, Fergie Jenkins makes a pair of league leaders cards for pitching. The pitching leaders card features quite the trio with Jenkins, Bob Gibson, and Juan Marichal.
Bill, thank you so much! It was great meeting you.
One Million Cubs Project Stats
Thursday's (8/15/2019) Cards: 404
Thursday's (8/15/2019) Packages: 4
January's Cubs Count: 9,343
February's Cubs Count: 8,980
March's Cubs Count: 15,704
April's Cubs Count: 11,651
May's Cubs Count: 7,273
June's Cubs Count: 7,690
July's Cubs Count: 10,803
August's Cubs Count: 9,816
Total Trades/Donations: 211
Trade States of Origin: Arizona (2) Alabama (4)
Arkansas California (17)
Colorado (4) Connecticut (11)
Delaware
Florida (9)
Georgia (3)
Idaho (3) Illinois (18) Indiana (5)
Iowa (2)
Kansas
Kentucky (2)
Louisiana Maryland (8) Massachusetts (6)
Michigan Minnesota (3)
Mississippi
Missouri (2)
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire New Jersey (11)
New Mexico (3) New York (17) North Carolina (5) Ohio (11)
Oregon (3) Pennsylvania (5)
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota Tennessee (6) Texas (6)
Vermont (2)
Virginia (2) Washington (5)
West Virginia (5) Wisconsin (12)
Countries of Origin
Canada (1)
Korea (1)