Mr. Gibson's (elfstones) blog

Illinois Baseball as of April 29, 2019 Vol 1 I 2 2019 Note: WHIP is not tracked for University Teams. Bloomington Titans / Illinois Wesleyan | W Record 18-15 .545 Leaders H 43 Shea, Garrett H 43 Fletcher, Dalton R 33 Ranneklev, Evan HR 6 Shea, Garrett RBI 29 Shea, Garrett AVG .416 Figus, NicK OBP .496 Figus, NicK ERA 1.61 Houghton, Jacob Wins 5 Brune, Nick Wins 5 Gudaitis, Quinn SO 57 Brune, Nick Chicago Cubs / MLB - National League C Record 14-12 .538 Leaders H 35 Baez, Javier R 23 Baez, Javier HR 9 Baez, Javier RBI 22 Baez, Javier AVG .315 Baez, Javier OBP .433 Heyward, Jason ERA 3.16 Hamels, Cole Wins 3 Hamels, Cold Wins 3 Quintana, José WHIP 0.99 Hamels, Cole SO 38 Quintana, José Chicago White Sox / MLB - American League SOX Record 12-14 .462 Leaders H 36

I had previously posted about my 1961 Cubs cards. https://elfstones69.blogspot.com/2018/02/1961-topps-cubs-cards.html I have since have added two new additions: My complete 1961 Cubs set is now: Frank Thomas Topps Chi Cubs 1961 Standard 382 Glen Hobbie Topps Chi Cubs 1961 Standard 264 Jim Brewer Topps Chi Cubs 1961 Standard 317 Sammy Taylor Topps Chi Cubs 1961 Standard 253 Moe Thacker Topps Chi Cubs 1961 Standard 012 Danny Murphy Topps Chi Cubs 1961 Standard 214 Ron Santo Topps Chi Cubs 1961 Standard 035 Billy Williams Topps Chi Cubs 1961 Standard 141 That is four Rookie cards I have for that year. Still missing Ernie Banks.

As promised, I was going to do a progress check on the Cubs at 21 games. For the most part, the Cubs have come together. There are problems that have been there from the beginning, KB....YD.... and although most players have stepped up the the plate, Baez and Heyward should not be carrying the team on offense. Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP 1 Baez, J 21 89 19 28 6 1 7 18 5 27 .315 .351 2 Heyward, J 19 59 14 20 1 0 4 11 14 9 .339 .461 3 Contreras, W 20 59 14 19 5 0 6 16 12 19 .322 .467 4 Bryant, K 20 77 13 17 7 0 1 8 11 19 .221 .341 5 Descalso, D 18 55 9 17 5 0 1 10 7 13 .309 .387 6 Rizzo, A 21 75 15 15 2 1 4 13 14 16 .200 .362 7 Zobrist, B 18 60 7 15 0 0 0 5 9 9 .250 .343 8 Bote, D 19 44 7 13 4 0 1 9 5 10 .295 .380 9 Schwarber, K 18 66 8 13 1 0 3 6 6 21 .197 .264 10 Almora Jr., A 20 52 4 10

Illinois Baseball as of April 22, 2019 Bloomington Titans / Illinois Wesleyan 14-15 .483 H Figus, Nick 38 HR Shea, Garrett 6 SO Brune, Nick 52 Chicago Cubs / MLB - National League 10-10 .500 H Baez, Javier 26 HR Baez, Javier 6 HR Contreras, Wilson 6 SO Quintana, Jose 29 Chicago White Sox / MLB - American League 9-12 .429 H Anderson, Tim 29 HR Moncada, Yoan 6 SO Rodon, Carlos 35 Crestwood Windy City ThunderBolts / Frontier League 0-0 .000 Danville Dans / Prospect League 0-0 .000 Decatur Big Blue / Millikin University 15-15 .500 H Walters, Jon 34 HR Bryan, Frank 5 SO Gross, Connor 53 Evanston WildCats / NorthWestern University 16-20 .444 Joliet Slammers / Frontier League 0-0 .000 Marion Miner

Best hitters in Chicago as of April 20th 2019 [in order]: Player Team Pos G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP Anderson, T CWS SS 16 64 14 27 3 0 4 12 1 12 .422 .439 Moncada, Y CWS 2B 19 78 17 25 6 0 6 18 5 20 .321 .361 Baez, J CHC 2B 19 83 16 24 5 0 6 16 3 27 .289 .314 Garcia, L CWS LF 17 76 13 21 5 0 1 9 4 22 .276 .313 Heyward, J CHC RF 17 56 14 20 1 0 4 11 12 7 .357 .465 Contreras, W CHC C 18 53 13 18 4 0 6 13 11 16 .340 .478 Jimenez, E CWS LF 19 74 6 18 2 0 3 8 5 23 .243 .300 Bryant, K CHC 3B 18 71 12 17 7 0 1 8 9 18 .239 .349 Descalso, D CHC 2B 16 51 9 16 4 0 1 9 6 12 .314 .386 Abreu, J CWS 1B 19 74

The best players of the MLB for the first 20 games of the season. Looking like Spring will be ruled by the Brewers in NL Central. Player Team Pos G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS Bellinger, C LAD 1B 18 67 22 29 4 1 9 23 10 9 .433 .513 .925 1.438 Santana, D SEA RF 20 82 12 28 4 0 4 24 10 22 .341 .413 .537 .950 Andrus, E TEX SS 16 67 9 27 4 1 3 13 2 14 .403 .420 .627 1.047 Peralta, D ARI LF 17 70 11 26 9 0 2 10 4 11 .371 .413 .586 .999 Semien, M OAK SS 20 77 16 25 6 0 3 10 9 11 .325 .391 .519 .910 Yelich, C MIL LF 18 70 18 25 4 0 9 25 11 13 .357 .446 .800 1.246 Anderson, T CWS SS 14 57 11 24 3 0 3 10 1 12 .421 .431 .632 1.063 Mancini, T BAL LF 18 71 18 24 6 0 6 12 7 17 .338 .392 .676 1.068 Haniger, M SEA RF 20 85 19 23 9 1 5 15 3 26 .271 .312 .576 .888 Martinez, J BO

Trying to keep my word, here is what the Cubs look like at 14 games into the season, and it is not good. Below are the fielding players sorted hits. Team Leader Second best on team Player Pos G AB R H 2B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP Baez, J 2B 14 61 9 16 4 4 12 3 21 .262 .297 Heyward, J RF 12 40 12 15 1 4 10 8 4 .375 .460 Bryant, K 3B 13 52 8 12 4 1 6 7 15 .231 .333 Contreras, W C 13 38 10 12 2 5 9 7 13 .316 .435 Descalso, D 2B 12 38 8 12 2 1 5 3 9 .316 .366 Zobrist, B 2B 12 39 5 12 0 0 4 9 5 .308 .438 Almora Jr., A CF 14 41 4 10 0 0 4 2 9 .244 .279 Rizzo, A 1B 14 52 12 10 1 3 10 10 13 .192 .344 Schwarber, K LF 14 52 7 10 1 3 6 5 17 .192 .263 Caratini, V

Every season I do three check point evaluations of the Cubs. First week, end of July, and the end of the season. This is the worst first week for the Cubs I have seen in quite a while. Actually can't remember when the cubs went 1 win and 6 losses. The Cubs pitching is not pretty RK Player Team Pos G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP 1 Baez, J CHC 2B 7 31 6 8 0 0 3 7 1 11 2 0 .258 .281 1 Bryant, K CHC 3B 7 30 5 8 3 0 1 5 4 7 0 0 .267 .353 1 Descalso, D CHC 2B 6 16 4 8 1 0 1 4 1 3 0 0 .500 .529 4 Contreras, W CHC C 7 18 6 7 2 0 2 5 6 5 0 1 .389 .560 4 Heyward, J CHC RF 6 24 4 7 0 0 1 5 1 3 0 0 .292 .308 4 Rizzo, A CHC 1B 7 25 6 7 0 0 2 5 6 4 0 0 .280 .455 4 Schwarber, K CHC LF 7 25 4 7 1 0 2 4 3 7 0 1 .280 .357 8 Almora Jr., A CHC CF 7 25 3 6 0 0 0 3 1 5 0 0 .240 .269 8 Zobrist, B CHC 2B 6 23 3 6 0 0 0 2 5 4 0 0 .261 .393 10 Bote, D CHC 3B 6 14