Cards and My Take on the Astros

Marc, author of Remember the Astrodome, dropped a yellow mailer on me the other day. Marc is my favorite blogger to drop Astros cards on and he always seems to send excellent Cubs packages my way. And no, this package was not accompanied by a loud banging sound. Sorry, couldn't resist!

In regards to the alleged cheating scandal: I don't have any proof, but I have to figure every MLB team is trying to gain an advantage whenever and wherever they can. Some are just probably more brazen about it than others. Regardless, this isn't something new, and cheating and sign stealing has been a part of the sport for generations. Either way, I'd much rather read articles about "cheating in baseball" than click-bait articles of where Gerrit Cole is going to sign during the next four months. Last year's onslaught of off-season rumors surrounding Machado and Harper put me in a deep slumber.

Enough rambling. On to the cards!

Adjacent to the above stack of cards was a Kerry Wood "Action Flats" from Topps. This one went straight into the display case.

1991 Fleer. This design gets such a bad rap, but I would bet that 95% of collectors could name the brand and date of this set from twenty feet away. To me, that makes it a winner.

 I'd much rather it be this way than '98 and '99 Topps, which I always confuse because they're borders are the same color. Actually, I just discovered these are not '91 Fleer. They're '91 Fleer Update.

Ever since the Cubs won the World Series I haven't been following the Cubs' prospects as closely.

I used to know who was at what level and how their season was progressing. I liked what I saw out of Hoerner this fall, and Amaya is supposedly one of the top catching prospects in the game. Keegan Thompson was not on my radar. Then again, after checking baseballreference.com I found Thompson only pitched in three games during the regular season. Maybe I'm not as far out of touch as I thought.

Woo-Hoo!  A young Kieschnick! 

I'm getting closer to completing my Cubs Topps Fire team set.

 This one is my first insert from the brand. David Bote is insert worthy?

 Huh, David Bote was second overall in average exit velocity in 2018. I had no idea.  And neither did you until a couple of seconds ago.

Topps Stickers. Very cool.

 More stickers! These are from 1991 Panini and are small. I prefer my stickers to be normal card size.

The Schwarber card is from this year's Archives and is so brightly colored that no one would ever confuse it for a card from 1958

A Jose Quintana insert? There's something I didn't know I needed!

The 2019 Panini Leather and Lumber product is way out of my price range, but I'm loving the Maple & Ash insert!  This is one is my 937th different Sandberg card in my collection. I've been thinking about going to a second binder for my Sandberg cards . . . for the last year or so. I'll pull that trigger eventually. 

Sammy is on cardboard again?

 Zobrist is the type of player who definitely belongs in an old-timey set like A&G. Very nice.

Horizontal Cubs cards, and some beautiful ones at that!

Three of the four present us with unique photos. Only the Hendricks, a refractor from Topps Chrome, is a "common" photo selection. I was never a horizontal cardboard fan, but it's growing on me.

Thanks for the Cubs cards, Marc. I especially appreciate the ones from 2019 as I haven't purchased much new product this year.  A return package is on its way.  All the best!