Who would ever collect these weird, mostly unknown cubs memorabilia? Well, I do, and if you do, then you're a hard-core Cubs collector.
The all-time favorite Cubs player must be Ernie Bank.
When autograph and relic cards were originally released, there were a number of strange sets available, and Banks was a part of most of them.
His first Auto card was 1992 Front Row you can read about it
here
Despite having a 1969 set named Nabisco Team Flakes that included the late great hall of famer Ron Santo, Nabisco entered the baseball card business in 1992. An autographed color action shot of Ernie Banks was featured. If you mail in two proofs of purchase from specially marked Nabisco packets and $5, you'll get this card if it survived the mail.
This oddball was issued by Canadian Club Whiskey in 1996
a few years later 1999 Hillshire Farms Home Run Heroes. Banks' standard-size card, which are available through a Hillshire Meats wrapper redemption offer, feature his autographs and a certificate of authenticity.
All the strange and unusual autograph cards are fairly easy to collect and somewhat cheap. Remember to always get a professional grader from a reputable company so you don't get a fake piece of history. The value of graded cards is much better down the road.
