Team Issued Sets, Completed!

One of the goals for 2010 I set for myself was to add the Cubs team issued sets to my collection. I got a good head start over Christmas break, and since then I've been adding them as I've been able to find them on Ebay. I was also fortunate to have a generous reader send me a couple of the sets....thanks Michael!

Well, with the exception of one stinkin' card that's been impossible to find (1992 Old Style Ernie Banks...any one got an extra laying around??!!), I'm done! I've come up with a total of 470 cards from 19 different sets, starting in 1982 and going up to 1999. The Cubs did issue cards some of the seasons after that, but usually it was one card per game. I didn't consider that a team set, so I didn't chase those cards.

I did make an exception for two different single card give-aways. On the day in 2003 when Ron Santo's #10 was retired, the Cubs gave away a card. They did the same thing two years later when Ryne Sandberg's number was retired. I got both of those cards.





I've tried to figure out how many cards from each give-away were available. Some years, the Cubs would say "to the first 15,000 fans." That would be a pretty solid number. Other years, it was to all fans, so I would look at the attendance of the game. But all in all, there are not huge numbers of these around, making them much more scarce than something from Topps or Upper Deck.

But what I liked most about the team-issued cards is how current they were. Several sets contained the first major league card (or Cub card) of a player, such as the '82 Sandberg. the '87 Dawson or the '87 Maddux.

And where else could you find a Cubs card of Steve Christmas?



Below is an updated list of Cubs team issued sets. The give away number is either from what the Cubs said, or the attendance from the game.

Year	Game Date	Card Sponsor	Give away amount
1982	August 20	Red Lobster	18,110
1983	September 2 & 3	Thorn Apple Valley	15,000
1984	August 8	7Up	37,392
1985	August 14	7 Up	30,055
1986	July 17	Gatorade	30,598
1987	July 29	David Berg	37,019
1988	August 24	David Berg	35,065
1989	August 10	Marathon	36,745
1990	August 17	Marathon	29,893
1991	August 14	Marathon	34,817
1992	July 10	Marathon	35,067
1992	August 28	Old Style	20,000
1993	July 28	Marathon	15,000
1993	August 17	Old Style Billy Williams	15,000
1993	September 24	Rolaids Relief Pitchers	15,000
1995	August 24	Gatorade	10,000
1996	August 18	Gatorade	10,000
1997	August 7	Gatorade	10,000
1999	May 15, June 26, Aug. 3	Old Style All Century	20,000
2003	September 28	Ron Santo Jersey	39,940
2005	August 28	Ryne Sandberg Jersey	38,763