A 40 year Project Completed - 1969 Cubs

[darkhorse9]

Okay...I know this isn't baseball cards, but please forgive me on this because I had to share.

I was born in Chicago in 1962 so the 1969 Cubs were my dream team. I adore them still to this day. Many years ago I started collecting autographed photos of some of the greats from that team. Ernie Banks, Williams, Santo, Jenkins etc. Then I started adding more players until I decided to try and get autographs of every single player who played for that team that year.

Some were very tough. Don Young was nowhere to be found for years. Now he's much easier. Jimmie Hall was scarce. The Latin players had left the country. In the end I was able to collect every one except one....Randy Bobb.

Bobb played only a couple games in the majors and died young in 1982. After years of searching I finally got one. Now my collection of 1969 Cubs players is complete. It took me three decades, but now it's done.

[commishbob]

Congrats on finishing a terrific project! I was living in the NY Metro area at the time and got an up close and personal look at that NL race and that whole crazy season. Didn't turn out in your favor (or mine) but it was a fun ride.

[gregr2]

Nicely done, impressive to keep your focus for 30 years and finally complete a project!


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[hammer]

Congrats on the work you put into that, They all look great.

[JollyElm]

Now you need to top off your run by getting a paw print from the infamous black cat.

[mrmopar]

Must feel nice. I am still waiting to find a 1978 Ed Goodson signed card to finish my autographed 78T Dodgers team set. That was the first set I ever purchased from packs and after I got into signed cards, it was a no brainer for a team set.

[Mark70Z]

Hi Mark,

First, let me say from an unauthorized spokesperson for Net54, within the pre-1980 card forum, is that you’re forgiven...

Secondly, I share your same birth year, but was born in Baltimore so my dedication was to the Orioles. I’m still a fan today, but this year so far is tough to watch. Will be a Birds fan till the end. Your dedication to a project is definitely motivation to start and/or complete what you set out to do and your ‘69 Cubbies look great. Congrats on a very cool run of autographs.

Lastly, you need to display those 1969 Cub pictures and let us see the outcome!

[ALR-bishop]

Mark, the OP, congrats on finishing such a labor of love. Even as a lifelong Cardinals fan there were a lot of Cubs on that team that were a credit to the game. It must have been a heartbreaker year for die hard Cub fans

Mark, the unofficial moderator, thanks for not moving this to the memorabilia section

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

. Mark, the unofficial moderator, thanks for not moving this to the memorabilia section

Al,

If you were accustom to the process of being an unconfirmed moderator you would have noticed that it took me a day of unobstructed thought to ultimately make the unofficial decision to keep the thread where it resides I already forgave Mark (what a memorable name by the way) for his recognition of being in the incorrect section, but he “had to share” (so glad he did!)

Mark,

Again AWESOME accomplishment!

[JTysver]

Nice! I'm going after the 73 Mets the same way except I'm not necessarily seeking them on photos.

[mr2686]

Congrats Mark on completing a great and fun project. I am also working on the 69 Cubs, with my main focus on getting as many of their signed 69 topps cards (and some 1970 cards). Of course, that's not possible for some of the players that did not have a card for either year, and some that did are just plain impossible to find.
Also, you are absolutely spot on when you said that some are/were very tough. I ended up with Randy Bobb on a minor league team sheet (your's is so much nicer, but you take what you can get). It doesn't look like you have any of the coaches (except Durocher the manager) but if you every try to get them, Verlon Walker is by far the hardest (just got mine yesterday and is up on the autograph side under May pick ups...there are 2 up on ebay right now, which is a rare occurrence.
One more thing, and something that might look cool with your other photos, would be an 8x10 of the black cat running in front of the dugout. I have that one signed by Santo. Looks really nice.
Good luck on your future projects.

[skil55voy]

Nice job. Congratulations

[Summersolstice1962]

Beautifull memories and keepsake darkhorse. I was born in 62. Grew up in bloomingdale .
Scrapbook full of same players and apollo space programs. Watched most games in b&w
Loved jack brickhouse. Went to wrigley for first time that year and to this day I will never forget the image in my mind of finally seeing everything in TECHNICOLOR.

[baseballfan]

well done!!

way to go not letting it get the best of you

[Volod]

Great determination and job well done, there, Mark. As a college student in Indiana that year, I missed more than a few classes to watch Cubs games during that pennant chase. Getting pushed out by the Mets in the end was especially galling, mishandling of the pitching staff by Durocher, I thought. Even more disappointing for me when the Bruins finally won two years ago, as my allegiance switched back to the Indians in the '70's. Is that last auto by Adolfo Phillips? The pics and sigs are kind of hard to see.

[71buc]

Congrats on the accomplishment. Have you seen the Dan Knoll 1969 Cubs collection featured Stephen Wong's Smithsonian Baseball book?

[CobbSpikedMe]

This is an awesome project. Congrats on completing it.