Back in June, I wrote a blog entry about the 1982 Chicago Cubs. The interesting thing with collecting that team was that there was a regional set issued to help fill out our checklist beyond the Topps/Donruss/Fleer cards. The existence of this set was tipped off to me by an excellent blog devoted to cards of the Chicago Cubs called Wrigley Wax. It was produced by the Chicago Cubs and sponsored by Red Lobster. Unlike most of these regional sets, we got more than the third string catcher on our checklist filled out, but a true rookie card of a hall-of-famer that predates his rookie card from one of the major national manufacturers. I am of course talking about the "real" rookie card of Ryne Sandberg.
Well, the other day I received an interesting email from someone that recently came across that entry. It turns out that his dad, who was the Cubs Promotions Director back in 1982 was the photographer for the Sandberg card. He gave me a little more information about his father and this set. To check out more about Buck Peden, the photographer of this card...click on this link.
As for the Red Lobster set, here is some information that was passed on to me:
- There were 15,000 sets made and they were passed out to children only at the stadium;
- Finally seeing the back of the Sandberg card for the first time (pictured above), they were numbered by uniform number only;
- Have a Red Lobster logo, so they were definitely sponsored by them;
- Here is the complete checklist (all cards with an asterisk would help toward the ultimate set checklist for 1982):
RED LOBSTER
__ 1982 CHICAGO CUBS TEAM PHOTO CARD*
INDIVIDUAL CARDS
__ Ryne Sandberg, IF*
__ Junior Kennedy, IF
__ Keith Moreland, OF
__ Randy Martz, RHP
__ Bob Molinaro, OF*
__ Ken Kravec, LHP
__ Jay Johnstone, OF
__ Bill Buckner, IF
__ Bump Wills, IF
__ Al Ripley, RHP
__ Jody Davis, C
__ Gary Woods, OF
__ Steve Henderson, OF
__ Larry Bowa, IF
__ Doug Bird, RHP
__ Lee Smith, RHP
__ Dickie Noles, RHP
__ Fergie Jenkins, RHP
__ Mike Proly, RHP
__ Willie Hernandez, LHP
__ Jerry Morales, OF
__ Leon Durham, OF
__ Scot Thompson, OF*
__ Bill Campbell, RHP
__ Lee Elia, MGR*
Coaching Staff
__ John Vuckovich, Gordy McKenzie, Billy Williams, Billy Connors, Tom Harmon*
Awesome, Kevin! I checked my media guides and Buck Peden was listed from 1976-1982. It's actually surprising that he was still with the team in 1982. When the Tribune and Dallas Green took over in 1981, they canned a lot of the long-time Wrigley front office staff. Peden lasted one year longer than many. And don't forget the other rarity about the Sandberg card...its his only big league card where he is playing third base. And one more tidbit about all of the Cubs issued sets: they were always numbered by uniform number (if they were numbered at all).
ReplyDeleteThe guy who sent the email's last name was Peden (not sure if he wants me to post his first name, so for now I will leave it at that), so this must've definitely been his dad.
ReplyDeleteSo there were other Cubs sets...I typed in Cubs Red Lobster into the google search engine and 1982 was the only year that turned up. Maybe they went with a different sponsor in future years?
Yea, they had lots of other sponsors, 7Up, Gatorade, Marathon gas, and David Berg Hot dogs. Here is a master list
ReplyDeletehttp://wrigleywax.blogspot.com/2010/03/team-issued-sets-completed.html
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteEmail me your mailing address. I have some things you'll like.
Bob.Peden @mathistire.com (without the space)