1983 Chicago Cubs

Here is a team full of young stars that will make their mark on the game over the next decade, which may explain why the Cubs will improve greatly in 1984. Meanwhile, in 1983, the Cubs were having another 90+ loss season.

This may be remembered as the final season of hall-of-famer Fergie Jenkins career. Although he wasn't on the Cubs for his entire career, it is here where he made his mark, winning 20 games each year between 1967-1972 for the Cubs. He only had one other 20 win season with another team (1974 Rangers).

Best Player: Keith Moreland...led team in batting average, 2nd in OBP, and in top 4 for home runs and RBIs.

Best Pitcher: Lee Smith...not a good win/loss percentage, but led team in ERA, Saves, and WHIP.

All-Stars: Leon Durham, Lee Smith

Hall-of-Famers: Fergie Jenkins, Ryne Sandberg

Rookie Card of the Year: Joe Carter...you might think we would say Sandberg here, but he had a card in a regional set issued in 1982. Check the archives of this blog as I had an email exchange with the a relative of the person who took Sandberg's picture. Anyway, Joe Carter, although not quite a hall-of-famer, had a solid career with his high point coming in the 1993 World Series hitting a walk off home run in the final game of the World Series for the Blue Jays. The Cubs had a regional set out in 1983 as well, this time sponsored by Thorn Apple Valley (the Cubs sure knew how to pick partnerships for their cards, also thanks to Wrigley Wax for pointing this out to me). Joe Carter's first card is in this set, predating Donruss by a year and Topps by two years.

Other rookies: Tom Filer, Mel Hall, Steve Lake, Craig Lefferts, Ryne Sandberg (OK I will list him for people just wanting main stream sets)

First Cub card: Thad Bosley, Warren Brusstar, Ron Cey, Wayne Nordhagen (although this is in an OPC issue, not showing him in a Cubs uniform), Chuck Rainey, Dick Ruthven, Steve Trout, Tom Veryzer

Most interesting non-Topps card: Joe Carter, read what I wrote under rookie card of the year section...there were 7 cards to get out of that set that weren't in any other sets (noted below with CV in the checklist)...Joe Carter, Steve Lake, Warren Brusstar, Craig Lefferts. Thad Bosley, the team card and the coaches card...outside of that set, the only player on a Cubs card not in the Topps set is Pat Tabler in the Fleer and Donruss sets, he will be listed in the Indians checklist, as he played for them in '83.

Starters

__	TO	542	C	Jody Davis	CHC
__	TO	250	1B	Bill Buckner	CHC
__	TO	83	2B	Ryne Sandberg	CHC
__	TO	305	SS	Larry Bowa	CHC
__	TT	19	3B	Ron Cey	CHC
__	TO	125	LF	Leon Durham	CHC
__	TT	39	CF	Mel Hall	CHC
__	TO	619	RF	Keith Moreland	CHC

Starting Pitchers

__	TT	92	SP	Chuck Rainey	CHC
__	TT	117	SP	Steve Trout	CHC
__	TO	230	SP	Fergie Jenkins	CHC
__	TT	98	SP	Dick Ruthven	CHC
__	TO	99	SP	Dickie Noles	CHC

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	699	CL	Lee Smith	CHC
__	CV	41	RP	Warren Brusstar	CHC
__	TO	436	RP	Bill Campbell	CHC
__	CV	32	RP	Craig Lefferts	CHC
__	TO	597	RP	Mike Proly	CHC

Other Players

__	TO	356	OF	Gary Woods	CHC
__	TO	152	LF	Jay Johnstone	CHC
__	TO	729	OF	Jerry Morales	CHC
__			1B	Carmelo Martinez
__	TT	121	SS	Tom Veryzer	CHC
__	TO	481	LF	Scot Thompson	CHC
__	CV	16	C	Steve Lake	CHC
__	CV	20	OF	Thad Bosley	CHC
__	CV	33	OF	Joe Carter	CHC
__	TO	714	LF	Wayne Nordhagen	TOR
__	OP	47	LF	Wayne Nordhagen	CHC
__			MI	Dan Rohn
__			IF	Dave Owen
__	TO	204	IF	Junior Kennedy	CHC
__			OF	Tom Grant
__			3B	Fritzie Connally
__			C	Mike Diaz
__			PH	Jay Loviglio
__			SP	Paul Moskau
__			RP	Rich Bordi
__			SP	Rick Reuschel
__	TO	568	RP	Willie Hernandez	CHC
__			RP	Reggie Patterson
__			SP	Don Schulze
__			RP	Bill Johnson
__			RP	Alan Hargesheimer

Minor Leagues

__

TO

508

MN

Tom Filer

CHC

Manager/Coaches

__	TO	456	MG	Lee Elia	CHC
__			MG	Charlie Fox
__	CV	0	CO	Cubs Manager/Coaches (Lee Elia, Ruben Amaro, Bily Connors, Duffy Dyer, Fred Koenig, John Vuckovich)	CHC
__	CV	0	TM	Chicago Cubs	CHC

1982 Chicago Cubs Red Lobster

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*

1982 Chicago Cubs

Thanks to a tip from Wrigley Wax, I am adding a regional set to help fill out this Cubs checklist. In 1982, the Cubs in conjunction with Red Lobster produced a 28 card team set. Nothing goes better together than baseball cards and Red Lobster. The cards are slightly thinner than standard issue cards, but the height is the same, so they won't fit poorly in your box, like sets such as the 1988 Topps Big and 1989 Bowman sets. There are 6 cards in the set that will help fill out the ultimate checklist for the 1982 Cubs, which are all noted in the checklist below with CR.

MVP
Leon Durham led the team in home runs and RBIs and all the new age average stats (OBP, SLG, OPS), so he will get the award...consideration could go to Bill Buckner and Ryne Sandberg.

Cy Young
Lee Smith was the closer for this team and racked up 17 saves to go with his 2.69 ERA. On most teams, his card would get the award for Rookie Card of the Year, but...

Rookie Card of the Year
In the above mentioned Red Lobster set, one of the 6 players there were cards of that help us fill out the checklist is a card of hall-of-famer Ryne Sandberg. This card actually pre-dates his Topps, Fleer and Donruss rookie cards, which all came out in the 1983 sets. As mentioned previously in this blog, Sandberg made his debut in 1981 with the Phillies, but 1982 was his first season with the Cubs.

Most Interesting Non-Topps Card
This team was loaded with solid rookie cards in 1982, and one that gets lost behind Ryne Sandberg and Lee Smith is the rookie card of Pat Tabler in the 1982 Donruss set. Tabler was a high average hitting first baseman making a name for himself with the Indians through the 1980s. He wrapped up his career with the Royals, Mets, and Blue Jays, finally retiring after the 1992 season. 1982 was his last season with the Cubs before he was traded to the crosstown White Sox and then on to the Indians during the offseason of 1982-1983.

Note: Bob Molinaro has a card in the 1982 Topps set showing him as a member of the White Sox. He also has a card in the Cubs Red Lobster set showing him as a Cub. He played with the Cubs and Phillies in 1982. He had 72 plate appearances with the Cubs, 17 for the Phillies, so I am placing his 1982 Topps card on the Cubs checklist, simply because the Red Lobster card is probably rare. If I ever get that card, I will place the 1982 Topps Molinaro card with the Phillies.

Starters

__	TO	508	C	Jody Davis	CHC
__	TO	760	1B	Bill Buckner	CHC
__	TT	129	2B	Bump Wills	CHC
__	CR	23	3B	Ryne Sandberg	CHC
__	TT	10	SS	Larry Bowa	CHC
__	TO	89	LF	Steve Henderson	CHC
__	TT	130	CF	Gary Woods	CHC
__	TO	607	RF	Leon Durham	CHC
__	TT	76	UT	Keith Moreland	CHC
__	TT	52	OF	Jay Johnstone	CHC
__	TT	55	MI	Junior Kennedy	CHC

Starting Pitchers

__	TT	49	SP	Fergie Jenkins	CHC
__	TO	273	SP	Doug Bird	CHC
__	TT	82	SP	Dickie Noles	CHC
__	TO	188	SP	Randy Martz	CHC
__	TT	99	SP	Allen Ripley	CHC

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	452	CL	Lee Smith	CHC
__	TO	699	RP	Dick Tidrow	CHC
__	TT	92	RP	Mike Proly	CHC
__	TO	23	RP	Willie Hernandez	CHC
__	TT	16	RP	Bill Campbell	CHC

Other Players

__	TO	33	CF	Jerry Morales	CHC
__	DO	529	3B	Pat Tabler	CHC
__			CF	Mel Hall
__	CR	18	OF	Scot Thompson	CHC
__	TO	363	LF	Bob Molinaro	CHW
__	CR	29	LF	Bob Molinaro	CHC
__	TT	11	UT	Dan Briggs	CHC
__	DO	554	SS	Scott Fletcher	CHC
__	FL	607	UT	Ty Waller	CHC
__	TO	663	OF	Hector Cruz	CHC
__			C	Butch Benton
__			C	Larry Cox
__			SP	Tom Filer
__			SP	Dan Larson
__	TO	639	RP	Ken Kravec	CHC
__			RP	Randy Stein
__			RP	Herman Segelke

Managers/Coaches

__	CR	4	MG	Lee Elia				CHC
__	CR	0	CO	Cubs Coaches (John Vukovich, Gordy MacKenzie, Billy Williams, Billy Connors, Tom Harmon)				CHC
__	CR	0	TM	Chicago Cubs				CHC

1981 Chicago Cubs

Was Mike Schmidt not available?
In 1981, the Cubs were the worst team in the National League recordwise. Just three years later in 1984, they would have the best record. Here are the players on the '81 Cubs roster who would contribute to the 1984 Cubs team:
Jody Davis
Leon Durham
Lee Smith
Mel Hall (played a partial season in 1984 for the Cubs, though traded for Rick Sutcliffe that year)

Here were the 1984 Cubs playing for the Phillies in 1981:
Gary Matthews
Larry Bowa
Keith Moreland
Ryne Sandberg
Bob Dernier
Dick Ruthven
Warren Brusstar
Dickie Noles (played part of 1984 with the Cubs)

So you have to look at the 1981 Phillies to see how the Cubs turned their team around in 3 quick years. Maybe a Cub or Phillie fan can let me know, what was the connection between these teams?

Unfortunately in 1981, many of the Cubs that would turn the team around (Sandberg, Lee Smith, Jody Davis) didn't have cards out in 1981.

Links
Here is my link to a Chicago Cubs collector....Wrigley Wax.

Adding after the original post...Jim from the Phillies Room answers the question, which I should've known by looking at the GMs for the teams. Dallas Green was manager of the Phillies in 1981 and later became GM of the Cubs in 1984. I also know that he was manager of the Yankees when they were lousy in the early 1990s, so his luck must've run out by then.

Starters

__			C	Jody Davis
__	TO	625	1B	Bill Buckner	CHC
__			2B	Pat Tabler
__	TT	820	3B	Ken Reitz	CHC
__	TO	54	SS	Ivan de Jesus	CHC
__	TT	769	LF	Steve Henderson	CHC
__	TT	805	CF	Jerry Morales	CHC
__	TT	756	RF	Leon Durham	CHC
__	TT	740	CF	Bobby Bonds	CHC
__	TO	553	C	Tim Blackwell	CHC

Starting Pitchers

__	TO	176	SP	Mike Krukow	CHC
__	TO	645	SP	Rick Reuschel	CHC
__	TT	737	SP	Doug Bird	CHC
__	TT	783	SP	Ken Kravec	CHC

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	352	CL	Dick Tidrow	CHC
__	FL	300	RP	Randy Martz	CHC
__			RP	Lee Smith
__	TO	136	RP	Doug Capilla	CHC
__			RP	Rawly Eastwick
__	TO	483	SP	Mike Griffin	NYY
__	TO	609	RP	Lynn McGlothen	CHC
__	TO	574	RP	Bill Caudill	CHC

Other Players

__	TO	395	CF	Scot Thompson	CHC
__	TT	750	UT	Hector Cruz	CHC
__	TO	78	2B	Steve Dillard	CHC
__	TO	294	2B	Mike Tyson	CHC
__	TT	837	2B	Joe Strain	CHC
__			3B	Ty Waller
__	FL	308	OF	Jim Tracy (or DO 520)	CHC
__	TT	795	UT	Mike Lum	CHC
__			2B	Scott Fletcher
__	TO	492	C	Barry Foote	CHC
__	FL	307	OF	Carlos Lezcano (or DO 521)	CHC
__			OF	Mel Hall
__			PH	Gene Krug
__			C	Bill Hayes
__			RP	Jay Howell
__			RP	Dave Geisel
__	TO	238	RP	Guillermo Hernandez	CHC

Manager/Coaches

__

DO

522

MG

Joey Amalfitano

CHC