The Original 1961 Topps - All Star Cards

Similar to the new Topps Heritage cards, the All-Star cards for 1961 Topps were found among the High Numbers. Consequently they hard pretty hard to find. In my opinion they are more scarce then the cards issued in the previous three sets (58-60).

There is only one Phillies cards among the 1961 All-Star set and that is card #569 of Frank Herrera. Unfortunately I do not have that card in the Phungo Collection. However, I do have this very nice 1961 All-Star card:



1961 Topps #579 Willie Mays All-Star


The 2010 Heritage cards mimic the 61 design well:
2010 Topps Heritage #498 Johan Santana

The cutout is the same right down to the headlines on the paper. "The Sporting News" has been replaced by "Topps News"


2010 Topps Heritage #498 Johan Santana (b-side)
1961 Topps #579 Willie Mays All-Star(b-side)
click to enlarge

The Flip sides of the 1961 and 2010 Heritage All-Star cards are similar and feature a good paragraph on the featured player. I am particularly impressed with the Heritage cards as most of today's cards are relatively short on copy. One note on the Heritage cards, the All-Star cards have the backs reversed - similar to the base cards which were mentioned previously.

Clones
1970 Topps #461 Carl Yastrzemski All-Star

Topps re-used the paper shredding design for their 1970 All-Star Cards. It is a design I like and I wouldn't mind seeing them bring it back every 10 years or so.

For a look back at some previous Phungo articles on the original 1961 Topps check out these links:

The Phillies
Topps Inserts

Sloppy Topps - 2010 Heritage

This may have been discussed elsewhere - but I don't recall seeing it, so I am bringing it up here.


2010 Topps Heritage #368 Placido Polanco
1961 Topps #433 Art Mahaffey

Are friend Placido Polanco is back from earlier in the week to help out with this demonstration. The Polanco card appears pretty close to the 61 Original of Phils Pitcher art Mahaffey. The only real discrepancy between the cards (other then the blatant photoshopping discussed previously) is the Topps Heritage logo. The color scheme for the boxes at the bottom rotate throughout the set and I really have no issue with this. however.....

Take a 1961 original and a 2010 Heritage card.

Now take both cards and flip them over.


2010 Topps Heritage #368 Placido Polanco (b-side)
1961 Topps #433 Art Mahaffey (b-side)

The Card backs are reversed in 2010 Heritage.

This seems to be a pretty hard detail to miss.

Heritage is popular with collectors because it mimics the Topps classic designs well. The one thing that Topps has on the other companies is their history. If Topps does not honor their history properly, they risk making a mockery of an asset.

Phungo 5 with a Giant Blog

The Phils are out on the west coast for a couple of late night games with the San Francisco Giants, and we visit with Matt who hosts A Giant Blog, as well as a few other blogs that follow the 1976 season.

Your a Giants Fan in Arizona, do you get to see the Giants play in Phoenix often?
I try to get down to Phoenix to see the Giants at least once a year. I live about 180 miles northeast of Phoenix so it's kind of hard to see more than 1-2 games a year. When I grew up in the Phoenix area I saw the Giants' AAA team (Phoenix Giants/Firebirds) about 5-10 times a year. The Giants also train in Arizona so I was able to see a few of their spring training games

One of your blog projects covers the 1976 Baseball Season via Strat-o-Matic. Have you been disappointed by the Giants performance? and how the heck are the Mets 5 games in front of the Phils as you near the end of July?
Right now the Giants are a game ahead of their actual pace in my strat replay so far (I'm in late July right now). I didn't expect much out of the Giants in this replay. They were about five games below pace in mid-May but they've been playing better lately. The mid-1970s were the low point for the Giants in San Francisco. It seems like every year they were rumored to be moving to Toronto or St. Petersburg or something like that. They got rid of so many good outfielders -- Bobby Bonds, Gary Matthews, Garry Maddox, George Foster, even Dave Kingman.

The Mets are doing it with great pitching. Jon Matlack is pitching so well that he may end up taking the Cy Young Award away from Tom Seaver. Jerry Koosman is being overshadowed by the other two, but he's pitching great too. Right now the Mets are 8 games ahead of their actual pace and the Phillies are 4 games behind their actual pace. I keep waiting for the Mets to drop but so far they've hung in there. The closest the Phillies have come is 2 games behind in late June.

3) What are the top 3 reasons the Giants have not won a World Series since moving to the Bay area?
The Giants really should have won at least one WS in the sixties, but they always seemed to be one or two players away. They had middle infielders who didn't hit much and they didn't have very good on-base guys at the top of the order.

They had a great shot in 1987 but fell short (&*%#!! Jim Lindeman!).

I never lived in the area, but I have to think that the coming of the Oakland A's in the late sixties had to have been a detriment to the Giants' fortunes. I'm not convinced that the Bay Area can support two teams.

The Giants got overdependent on Barry Bonds and his departure left a huge hole in their offense.

What number should the Giants Retired that has not been?
Monte Irvin #20
Will Clark #22

1992 Donruss Leaf Spirit of the Game #SG8 Will Clark


As a history fan, Do you have a favorite History related card or insert set?
There are a lot of history-related inserts that I like. I like the Conlon sets, but I wish they would have changed up the design from year to year. Topps did some great subsets like the MVP subset in 1975 and the Sporting News All Star subset in 1976. I would like to see Topps do a team history 132-card set every year. They could do some cards about the history of the franchise, some cards depicting the all-time best players on the team, and some cards that show the most interesting / best cards that Topps made of each team over the years.

Phungo 5 Box Score

Thanks to Matt for helping us out with the Giants. I am a bit shocked that Monte Irvin's number is not retired by the Giants. Granted he played for them in New York rather than San Francisco - but he is a member of the Hall of Fame, and was also on the Giants 1954 World Championship team.

I am going to give a 5 out of 5 here, Nice Call on both Irvin and the Thrill, Also good to see the 1975 MVP set get some love. However, I may have to withdraw one of those points if the Mets beat out the Phils for that 1976 division title.

Looking Back

If you want to look back at a prior Phungo 5 with Cardboard Junkie click here.

Sloppy Topps - 2010 Heritage Placido Polanco

2010 Topps Heritage #368 Placido Polanco

In general this is one of the poorer jobs of photoshopping done in the 2010 Topps products. In A lot of the cards I have seen the uniforms look pretty close and flow with the picture quite well. This one of Polanco looks like classic 70s airbrushing. The colors are a mess. This is supposed to be the Phils Home Day game uniform, I think, which are really a cream color not this bleached white they have dressed Placido in.

But what really caught my attention was the knob on the bat handle. While this card will surely not get as much attention as another bat knob, it does contain a rather irksome error.

If you look closer you can see that the handle contains a number.




It is a little hard to make out, but the number is #14. Once again the good folks in the Topps Art department have made it look like a current player is wearing a retired number. Yep #14 is retired, but not for the player you may think it is. It is retired for Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning, not Pete Rose. Rose is banned from the sport and I suppose this keeps his number from being officially retired.




As can be seen from his Baseball-Reference page Polanco wore #14 with the Tigers. Since returning to the Phils, he has reclaimed the #27 which he wore in his previous sting with the Phils.

Robin Roberts is at APTBNL

1989 Topps Baseball Talk Collection #40 Robin Roberts

In one of my earlier Granite Run Card Show posts, I alluded to some Giant cards. To find out more check out the latest Phungo entry over at A Pack to be Name Later.

Phungo 5 with Cardboard Junkie

Today we have the always enjoyable DayF of Cardboard Junkie at the plate to discuss all things Braves and beyond.

DayF, Comissioner of the 2010 Heritage Blaster Fantasy League, has once again provided us with a variety of insights and reminds us of why he is one of the more informative and funny card bloggers out there.

1) Jason Heyward, 21 Homers - Over or Under?
Twenty-one sounds about right, actually. He can get three and a half a month I think. I don't even care if he doesn't break twenty, he can do what he's doing right now and I'll be happy. I'll I'm really looking for from J-Hey this season is to be patient, draw walks, get on base and to get through the inevitable rookie slumps he's going to hit once pitchers start adjusting. He already had one with his streak of strikeouts including a Golden Sombrero against the Giants. He bounced back, made adjustments, started being more patient and now he's a legend again. The dude isn't old enough to legally drink, he's not going devastate the league quite yet. He's a hell of a lot better than the slabs of rotting meat that the Braves threw out there last April,that's for damn sure.One reason why I have absolutely no doubts that Heyward is the next big star in the league is because I got to see Jason play first hand in a Triple-A game at Gwinnett last year. Jason had played maybe one or two games in Triple-A after his call up and he already owned the place. He had a booming hit, made a great catch and throw in right field, was patient at the plate, stole a base and generally looked like he needed to be called up to the Show right then and there. The most ridiculous thing I saw was when he scored from second on a ground ball out! I know pretty much the entire country is completely sick of J-Hey-Hype but trust me when I say that Jason is the best prospect to come up since Pujols. I'm wishing I hoarded every Heyward card I could find instead of just being happy with finding one of each now.I never answered the question, did I? I'll be optimistic. He'll hit 22. I take the over.



2) Should Sandy Koufax cards be more expensive then the cards of Warren Spahn?
Should James Dean movies be more expensive than Humphrey Bogart movies? They're both leading men, they both have a sexy, dangerous edge to them, the main difference is that James burned brightly for a short period of time while Humphrey was rock solid for decades.They're both good, they're both legends and if people want to buy up all the copies of Rebel Without a Cause for $50 a pop and leave The Maltese Falcon in the $10 bin for me, I don't really mind all that much.The fact is there are a a lot more Dodger collectors out there than Braves collectors, and Koufax also has the true star quality going for him. Spahn is the best Lefty ever, but he was more workman about it. I certainly don't mind picking up vintage Spahnnies for under 10 bucks.

3) Topps has now released 10 years of Heritage - looking back are there any inserts/subsets they have dropped you would like to see return and are there any inserts that you believe need replaced.
Topps has remained very consistent with their Heritage insert sets.The Chrome Parallels, Then and Now, New Age Performers, Real One Autographs and Clubhouse Performers inserts have been in every single set if I'm not mistaken. They had an insert called Classic Renditions with modern players in classic unis in 2001 and 2002, but in 2003 they're placed it with Flashbacks which is still in the 2010 set. There have been some weird stuff like a Mantle Home Run countdown in 2008 and2010's Ruth Chase and the somewhat useless News Flashbacks, but other than that the set is the same as it's always been.Something I'd like to see return are the variation cards that fall at the same rate as the short prints. I hate the super short prints with a passion mainly because I used to be able to get a Rafael Furcal card with a night background or a Johan Santana card with a Washington hat variation as easily as anything else. That has sort of come back this year with the 1:72 Dice Back variation. They are tough, but I've already pulled two and it's a real cool concept. Something that can go away is the news flashbacks. there's maybe one good one a year (space monkey!) and they are mostly a bummer to pull. One thing I'd like to see in 2011 Heritage is a one per pack "Baseball Bucks" insert set. Topps inserted paper play money with players' pictures on them in 1962and it would be nice to have that set be easy to collect unlike the cool but scarce Stamps from this year.

4) who is your Favorite Jones not named Chipper

MY FIVE FAVORITE JONESESES AFTER CHIPPAH(and no, Andruw ain't one of 'em)

#5 Cyrano Jones - Tribbles! Old School Trek, baybee!

#4 Spike Jones - Beautiful music, just like momma used to make.

#3 John Paul Jones - I got the Led Zep box set back when it first came out.

#2 Carolyn Jones - Tish! You spoke French!!

AND THE GREATEEST JONES OTHER THAN CHIPPAH IS:

#1 Terry Jones - Terry might actually beat Larry to be honest.

Lenny's Diner Clearwater FL 2002ish?

5) As Commissioner of the 2010 Heritage Blaster Baseball League, I ask you to Defend Grits.
Defend grits? As in the southern type breakfast mush that you get with your eggs, bacon and scattered covered and smothered at the Waffle House? Those kind of grits? Well, I don't see them as being any weirder than any other sort of odd regional delicacy like lutefisk in Minnesota, or fried brain sandwiches in Indiana, or poutine up in the Frozen north or *ahem* scrapple... It's just redneck polenta, nothing more, nothing less.It's a porridge like oatmeal or cream of wheat, really, just made out of corn. While oatmeal is hearty, and cream of wheat is smooth, grits are just sort of gritty, hence the name. They're good though and while oatmeal and cream of wheat are good with sweet stuff like syrup and cinnamon and fruit and cream, grits are good with more savory flavors.I love mine with any combination of butter, cheese, bacon bits or black pepper. If you're ever on the South Carolina coast find a place that has real low country shrimp and grits with fresh local shrimp,slow cooked grits and a spicy tomato sauce... pure heaven.If you're talking about gritz76, the guy who runs Project '62, well, I can't. There's no way I can defend a Cubs fan.


Phungo 5 Box Score

Cardboard Junkie Goes 4 for 4 with the J-Hey Question remaining open. And despite what Heyward did to the Phils last night we will toss in an extra point for going the extra mile and hooking us up with the Morticia video. Cardboard Junkie 5 points with one pending.

Looking Back

To check out a previous Phungo 5 with Brian from 30-Year old Cardboard click here

Card Show Report - 2010 04 18 Look who is hanging out in the Dollar Bin

1964 Topps #460 Bob Gibson

This card is in not in anywhere near perfect condition. It generally looks good, the corners are soft and it is dimpled throughout, but there aren't any real creases, and it is not written on. The color is tsill go and it is a fine looking card of Bob Gibson.

So why the hell is it in the dollar bin? I have no clue - I can think of a bunch of reason it has to be rescued from that squalid neighborhood.

#1) It's Bob Gibson!
#2) 1964 Topps - 45+ years old card of a Hall of Famer
#3) It's a Semi-High Number in the '64 High Series
#4) Try and find this baby for under $5 on an auction site.
#5) I have to say it again - It's Bob Gibson!



1964 Topps #280 Juan Marichal

Another 64 HoF for a dollar.
1965 Topps #399 Ray Herbert

Typically I wouldn't pick a 1965 card out of the dollar bin, but the Herbert card is a High Number and those are a bit scarcer in the topps 65 set. I think I crossed 3 Phils off my Topps Want lists over the weekend. The other two were 80s cards out of a dime box.

1962 Topps #575 Red Shoendienst
1989 Topps #81 Frank Viola

One more Hi-Number Vintage HoF - unfortunately poor Red has been sent to the bargain bin for having his position shifted from 2b to Manager. This may be Shoendienst's last card as a player.

And what the heck is with this Giant Frank Viola Card? Stay tuned for more info later in the week.

Card Show Report - 2010 04 18 Granite Run Mall, Media PA - DIme Box

For my tastes I would give the Poppel.Com show at Granite Run Mall in Media a fair rating. I didn't count the tables, but I think the 50 estimate was way high, but there were several tables featuring everything but baseball cards. I only found two dealer peddling anything that I was interested in. Of course that was still good enough for me to blow $25+ on cards and close to 3 hours on a Saturday afternoon.

Today I will feature some Highlights out of the Dime Box where I threw down $10 bor roughly 100 cards.

80s HOFs

1983 Topps #370 Gary Carter
1980 Topps #335 Willie McCovey

Nice looking card of McCovey - Sick stats on the back of this card. McCovey was a Four Decade man and would only hit one more homer after this 1980 Topps card was produced. As usual the Dime Box was loaded with early 80s cards of HoF players.

Retro Cards


2003 UD Vintage # 107 Edgar Martinez
2008 UD Goudey (mini) #90 Kelvim Escobar
2006 Topps Allen & Ginter #68 Rickie Weeks
2006 Topps Allen & Ginter #311 Andy Irons

I picked up about 20 Retro/Heritage cards. Quite a few of these were from the 2006 A&G set, which are starting to show up in dime boxes finally.

Inserts



2009 Topps Heritage #NF4 News Flashbacks Dwight Eisenhower Signs Civil Rights Acts
2002 Topps T206 #206 Magglio Ordonez (mini)

I was a little surprised to find a 2009 Heritage Insert in the dime box - more proof on the lack of demand for the non-baseball cards. I picked up a handful of minis for the 02 T206 set - and finally broke down a picked up a box of sheets for the minis - now I will need to collect them more seriously. The Escobar Mini above would also be considered a mini.

Links
Willie McCovey Index

Phungo 5 with 30-Year Old Cardboard

Today we are visiting with 30-Year Old Cardboard and talking Marlins.

1) When the Marlins move in 2012?, will there be anything you will miss at Dolphin/Blockbuster/Landshark Stadium?
When the Marlins move even further South, I will miss the 30-minute drive to the ballpark the most. And with their move to a new stadium, I will also miss the relatively cheap parking price of $10. I am guessing that the new ballpark will charge between $20-$25. YEAH!! The current stadium is set up for football, but I think it happens to be a great place to watch baseball as well. Hopefully the new stadium will be even better.

2) Are there any parameters on "Same Card Different Paths?"
'Same Card, Different Paths' was a fun series to add to '30-YOC'. Originally, the idea came to me from the idea of how it must feel to be a player or team collector that had problems securing a high-profile card due to the 'other' guy. Just ask Night Owl how it feels to have one of his favorite players featured on what is known by 99.9% of collectors as Mike Schmidt's rookie card.

2010 Phungo #50 Chris Coghlan

3) How surprising was Chris Coghlin's rookie season?

Coghlan's rookie campaign was incredible. At the start of the year, my eyes were firmly affixed on Cameron Maybin, but Coghlan came out of nowhere and made great strides as the Marlins' lead-off hitter. Had it not been for Maybin's demotion to AA ball, Coghlan may not have received the playing time he got with 'The Fish'. I firmly believe that the lead-off hitter has more pressure on him than any other hitter - and his tremendous success as a rookie was fun to enjoy each and every night. It felt very similar to what Jerome Walton did for the Cubs in '89.

4) How do you feel about the Marlins playing a Home Series vs the Mets in San Juan?
I'm ok with it. But if I were a season ticket owner, and I got billed for three games that were not at 'home' I may have another opinion. I do know that the team is working with any fans that want to make the trip to see the games...

5) Is the Cuban the best regional sandwhich?
Ask most South Floridians and they will say yes. My honest opinion is that you guys in Philadelphia own that title(amongst many others)!!!

Phungo 5 Box Score

Brian has come up with some interesting insights on the Marlins for us and Kudos for bringing the Philly Cheesesteak into the conversation. A well done 5 for 5 for 30-Year Old Cardboard. There are many fine and fun features over at 30-YoC, whether they are chronicling the efforts in collecting the 75 Reds or the exploits of Hall of Famers.

Thanks for helping out with this division rival version of Phungo 5.

Looking Back

For a look back at a previous Phungo 5 Click Here to see our Washington Nationals Q&A with 25 Years of Baseball.

An Insert Set I would like to see

Yesterday, April 15th, Was Jackie Robinson Day across Major League Baseball. Each of the teams honored the Baseball Pioneer by wearing Robinson's #42 which is retired across the sport.

I think a simple yet unique subset of cards could be put together of players wearing the #42 on Jackie Robinson Day. I would like the set to consist of 30 cards, one player from each team. I think each team could come up with one player worthy of the honor of the card. It is a set I would collect each year. It would be great to see which players would get the card each season. Perhaps you could expand the set out to 42 cards with 12 extra cards featuring Jackie Robinson or other baseball Icons.

So Topps, Why Not Create a Players Wearing Jackie Robinson's Number Insert Set. The idea blends the history of the game with today's players, I think it would be popular with many a collector.

2010 UD #372 Brett Anderson

I am aware that we would get the backs of lots of players like in the 2010 UD set, but many teams have the player numbers on the front of the jersey or the sleeves. I am not sure Brett Anderson would make the cut for the Jackie Robinson 42 set, but the photo is an example for the set.

Philly area Card Show this Weekend

Poppel.com will be hosting a card show at The Granite Run Mall in Media PA this weekend.

I have never gone to any of their shows, and really don't know anything about the operation. The link advertises 50 dealer tables, however, I have noticed these estimates tend to be high. It appears that Poppel is concentrating more on the Autograph end.

Who would you want to get an auto from out of their list:

Autograph Prices:

Ashby: $10.00 per item/any item(SATURDAY)

Daulton: $15.00 per item/any item(SATURDAY)

Quick $20.00 per item/any item (SATURDAY)

LeMaster $12.00 per item/any item (SATURDAY)

Carmichael: $20.00 per item/any item(SATURDAY)

Douglas: $20.00 per item/any item (SATURDAY)

Papale: $25.00 per item/any item(SATURDAY)

Virgil: $15.00 per item/any item(SUNDAY)

Amaro Sr.: $15.00 per item/any item(SUNDAY)

Eisenreich: $16.00 per item/any item (SUNDAY)

I am going to try and make the Saturday show. I doubt I will lay down the cash for an autograph, but if I did it would probably be Darren Daulton.

For general Card Show information click here. Or you can check the Card Show Information Link in the "Around the Horn" section of the side bar.

Phungo 5 with 25 Years of Baseball

The Phillies hosted the Washington Nationals on Monday for their home opener. This year for the first time we have found a Nats fan to helps us out with Phungo 5. 25 Years of Baseball is in the process of reviewing the last 25 years of Topps Releases and is also a follower of the leagues newest team, the Washington Nationals.

1) You are busy opening packs of cards from the last 25 years of topps after returning to collecting - what set from your missing years (years you were not collecting) are the most interesting to you?

When I stopped collecting in the early 90's, the Topps designs were getting pretty dull compared to those of their main competitors Fleer, Donruss, and Upper Deck. The set that impressed me the most was 2001 Topps because it was the first truly bold and interesting design they produced since the 80's. Also, Ichiro's rookie card is in the set. It was Ichiro who got me interested in baseball again.

2001 Topps Traded #T172 Josh Hamilton (Sorry No 2001 Ichiro in the Phungo Collection)

2) Is there a baseball card that best connects the Nats and Expos?

2005 Upper Deck First Pitch #122 Livan Hernandez. 2005 Upper Deck cards showed Nationals players still in their Expos uniforms. Livan Hernandez best connects the Nats and Expos because he is the only player to have been selected as an All-Star for both teams. He is also one of only two players on the current Nationals roster who has played for the Expos (Miguel Batista is the other).

3) Can the Nats have the most improved record in Major League Baseball?

After two straight seasons as the worst team in baseball, it's kind of hard NOT to have the most improved record. With a new manager, a revamped roster, and a certain phenom pitcher getting ready to join the starting rotation, fans in the D.C. area are very hopeful for the 2010 season.

4) Will Stephen Strasburg get his first Major League start before or after June 8th?

That largely depends on how well the Nats' current starting rotation holds up. Strasburg has already proven that he can do well against major league hitting, but at the same time, the management doesn't want to push their 15 million dollar investment too hard too early. If the current starting rotation holds up well, the Nats will probably give Strasburg more time to develop some professional experience. However, with all the anticipation around here about Strasburg and the fear he might get injured before ever reaching the major leagues, my gut instinct is that he will be called up before June 8 after three minor league starts.

2009 Phungo #16 Abraham Lincoln

5) Who do you root for in the Presidents Race at the Nats Park?

Being a Nationals fan is a lesson in humility and always appreciating the underdog. While Abe is pretty badass with his chin-strap beard and all, deep down inside I think everyone is hoping to see Teddy get his first win. Rooting for the underdog just makes victory that much more sweet when they finally do win. I'm going with Teddy.

Phungo 5 Box Score
2001 Topps will get a check from me, As does Teddy. 25YoB came up with some honest and interesting information on the Nationals and os optimistic on the Nats prospects for the coming season.

I think the Strasburg guess is a bit early, but we will see.

We will award 3 of 3 on the questions answered and leave the Nats season and Strasburg questions open for now - I am hoping for a 5 of 5 here, but both predictions are pretty bold.

Thanks to 25 Years of Baseball for contributing to this edition of Phungo 5.

Looking Back
For a look back at a previous Phungo 5 Click Here to see our interview with Cliff from Capewood's Collections.

Introducing the 2010 Heritage Blaster Edition of Team Phungo

oh crap everything is reversed - why do I always forget how the scanner works. I am not rescanning just run the bases backwards. Oh and I have some roster questions in Red

The Starters


The Bench and the Pitching Staff


Ok if I have any roster errors let me know but here they are:
C Mike Napoli
1b Texiera
2b Kinsler
ss Tulowitki - what was the ruling on Chrome Cards? let me know, I will have to put in a scrub if Chromes are not allowed.
3b Figgins
OF Ethier
OF Melky Cabrera
OF Will Venable

SP Roy Halladay - half card - I think this is permissable, only get half his stats right?

other pitchers
Happ
Beckett
Floyd
Vazquez
Burnett
Zambrano (can I get rid of that gm where he got lit up by the Braves)

Bench

C Laird
1b Miguel Cabrera
2b Aaron Hill
OF Drew STubbs
DH Hidecki Matsui

Go Team Phungo - If Placido Polanco continues to have a banging year I am sure I will be kicking myself.

Old School Phillies Variations - 1963 Topps

There have been a lot of blog talk regarding the 2010 Topps variations with the Yankees Parallel versions, and the Lincoln Cards.

As you know Topps has had variations for ages, but back in the 60s these were more often honest mistakes corrected during subsequent print runs.

This all brings us to the Phungo Vintage Phillies Collection. Every once in a while happy accidents occur. I am in the process of collecting the entire Topps Run of Phillies cards through 1980. Most of my focus has been on the 1952-1974 cards so far. Until recently one of the card that I did not have was the 1963 #29 Rookie Stars card.

Then in roughly the same week, due to a bookkeeping snafu, I ended up with a duplicate of this card. One from a trade with Rhubarb_Runner and one via auction. For a second I was a little dismayed about the mix-up, but then I quickly realized that I had both ends of a variation!

1963 Topps #29 1962 Rookie Stars Ellis/Culp/Gonder/Boozer
1963 Topps #29 1963 Rookie Stars Ellis/Culp/Gonder/Boozer

Near as I can tell the cards match except for the year. The 1962 card is the "error" as the rest of the Rookie Quads in the 1963 set all specify 1963 rather than 1962.



1963 Topps #29 1962 Rookie Stars Ellis/Culp/Gonder/Boozer (b-side)
1963 Topps #29 1963 Rookie Stars Ellis/Culp/Gonder/Boozer (b-side)

The erroneous "1962" carries over to the flip-side of the card. Other than the title line the cards are identical.

I believe this is the first year that Topps featured the multi-player rookie cards. And this is the first of the card type in the set making this Topps first ever muli-player rookie card. Card #54 in the set is also a rookie card and also has the 1962/1963 variation.

For whatever reason the higher numbered multi-RCs are titled "1963 Rookie Stars" on the back rather than "1963 Rookie Parade". One of these cards is the #537 Pete Rose Rookie, which is on the heavy hitters of forged cards.

Phungo 5 Returns with Capewood's Collections

I am very happy to debut the 2010 season of Phungo 5 with our favorite Phillies/Astros fan Cliff from Capewood Collections. The Phils are currently in the middle of an early season three game set with the struggling Astros.

These must be interesting times for Cliff as a baseball fans - the Astros are starting to look like Phillies West with tons of former Phightins' on the club. We Cover a lot of ground here - Books Music and of course Baseball Cards.


1) Do you have any Baseball Books on your upcoming "to read" list?

I usually read at least one baseball book a summer but I haven't really started looking for anything yet this year. However I am planning to read "Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession" by Dave Jamieson. I've seen some good reviews on it on other blogs. I wouldn't say that I was obsessed with baseball cards although my wife and children might disagree.

2008 Phungo #39 Brett Myers v Paul LoDuca

2) What former Phil are you most anxious to see perform for the Astros? And what is with Pedro Feliz wearing #77?

I'd like to see Brett Myers do well. I always like him as a Phillie even though he seems to be an erratic talent. And I'd like to see Michael Bourn have a really breakout season. I have no clue as to why Feliz is sporting #77. He got the first hit of the season for the Astros this year.

3) You are currently doing a retrospective on the different 1998 card sets. Do any stand out as a fun set/subset/inser to collect on a budget?

There were a lot of cards issued in 1998. As near as I can tell almost any of them are available pretty cheaply on eBay. At least base cards and most inserts. A lot of sets were including numbered inserts and parallels which are pretty pricey today if you can even find them. I was real partial to Upper Deck Collector's Choice. They utilized a number of different styles in the sets, and had some interesting subsets and inserts.

4) Can you get a Texas Tommy in Texas?

I was pretty sure that a Texas Tommy is a hot dog but I had to look it up on-line to be sure. I've never heard of a hot dog referred to as a Texas Tommy down here so I don't suppose you can get one, at least not in Houston. Maybe up in Dallas where they do things a bit differently. According to Wikipedia, a Texas Tommy is also some sort of dance that originated in San Francisco around 1910.

5) Why "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere"?

I imagine you're referring to the Neil Young album cover in my blog banner. I call my blog Capewood's Collections because I try to feature other things that I'm interested in other than just baseball cards. Music is one of those things. Over the years I've acquired a fair amount of music (enough to power my Song of the Week feature pretty much forever). Neil Young has always been one of my favorite artists and probably the musical artist I've consistently followed the longest. I was a fan of Buffalo Springfield in the late 1960s (where he got his start), a fan of his solo career and a fan of his collaborations with Crosby, Stills & Nash. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere was his second solo album and the first of his I bought. I own just about everything he has released.

Phungo 5 Box Score

Thanks Cliff - Awesome way to start out Phungo 5 in 2010. I have very mixed emotions about Brett Myers - but will give the point here - despite all the on and off the field troubles he has had, I still root for Myers. Buffalo Springfield's "Retrospective" is among my first albums, and I still have it today. Bonus Points to Team Capewood for bringing back some great memories. And for my money "Down by the River" is as good as any song ever recorded - among my friends we refer to it as the "Shot her Dead" song.

Final Score: 6 out 5 with a Bonus added for the Buffalo Springfield reference!

Thanks Cliff, keep up the good work and Go Phils!

Team Phungo Fantasy Blaster

No time to comment much, just that I think I will do pretty darn good in the starting pitching categories. Click on each of the two scans to enlarge.

Four of the Packs


Another Four Packs


The cards are loosely grouped by packs. I pulled out some of the landscape style cards and moved them if necessary. And in general I picked out a favorite or "best" card and put it on top of the stack, with rest of the cards in the order they came out of the pack.

The Tulowitzki is a Chrome Card and was the hit of the box. there were at least 3 SPs (The Santana and Tex All-stars, and Miguel Montero). Only 2 Phils JA Happ and Placido Polanco - the Polanco card will be getting a photoshop fail post at some point. Inserts included Halladay/Whitey Ford, Ty Cobb FB. And there were 2 World Series cards from game the Pils lost >:(

Hopefully at some point this weekend I will get a roster put together.

Thanks to Dayf for suggesting this idea, I am lookin fwd to putting together Team Phungo!

Cards that never were - 2009 Topps Placido Polanco

Faux 2009 Topps Placido Polanco

I have noted the baseball lineup cards featured at Phils games several times in this space. This year the Phils have retained the card design from 2009 Topps. This means for players that did not have a card last year, a new card had to be created. This is the one for Placido Polanco, who of course did have a 2009 Topps Card but it was with the Tigers.

These lineup cards were on display during the Phils on-deck series this weekend. We went down for the Saturday game of the series. The game did not count in the regular season standings, but it was a beautiful day and a great opportunity to get down to the ballpark. If I can get some real life stuff done this week, I will try and put together a game report.

Yesterday during the Phils Home Opener Polanco had a fine Phillies Re-Debut which included a Grand Slam and 6 RBIs.

For a look a custom Polanco card check out 2010 Chachi #2 over at The Phillies Room.

Pull of the Month - March 2010 - An Opening Day Card!

I picked up maybe a half dozen packs this month but was fortunate enough to get a numbered insert card of a Phil.

2010 Topps Opening Day #13 Shane Victorino (#d 0782/2010)

Today is April 5 2010 and this is an Topps Opening Day Card. The card actually specifies the Phils opening day as April 5, 2010. Definitely looks like it will be a beautiful day for baseball in DC. Go Phils!!

For another collector the Roger Maris HR Chase card featured on 3/22 would likely be the winner.

2010 Topps Heritage #61RM-13 Maris Chase '61 13th Homer

For the Collector
These cards have come down to more reasonable prices on ebay. Just two weeks ago we reported the low sale on ebay as $7, now they are going for under $3, with one sale at $1.49.

The Meh of the Month would definitely be Mr Met.

2010 Topps Opening Day #M15 Mr Met

For a look pack at previous Pulls of the Month click the links Below:

2010 February

2010 January

Cards One Historic Vintage Collection 3 pack break.

These are pretty much a sister pack of the Cards One Trading Investment Series cards Madding featured a few days ago at A Pack to be Named Later.

You be the Judge, do any of these cards fall under the category of Historic, Vintage, or Collectible?

I scanned these in the order they came out of the pack except each row is reversed - If it is important to you, start on the right and read backwards to get the sequence.


1988 Score #508 Jose DeLeon
1993 Score Select #186 Rob Deer
1994 UD #482 Kevin Young


1988 Score #201 Sam Horn
1988 Donruss #127 Jack Morris
1988 Topps #729 Toronto Blue Jays Team Leaders

1991 Topps #508 Mike York
1992 Topps #673 Todd Hundley
1989 Pacific #105 Mike Sirotka


2004 UD #USA-124 Jack McDowell
1988 Fleer #417 Bob Dernier
1988 Donruss #403 Carmen Castillo

1990 Score #274 Rich Yett
1990 Score #213 Daryl Boston
1984 Topps #775 Dave Parker

The other Packs:

I opened two other packs of these and the make up of the three packs was almost identical. All the packs began with a score card and ended with an 84 Topps card. There were several Score cards throughout. There was an Upper Deck 2004 USA card in each pack, however each of the other cards was a significantly lesser player than Jack McDowell. There were several duplicates between the three Packs. The 84 Parker card showed up in the last pack Jose DeLeon would make a reappearance.

The Pick of the Packs:
1984 Topps #750 Jim Palmer

Card of interest

1994 UD #469 Jack Armstrong

Can someone tell me what is going on with that Gold Patch on Armstrong's Pitching arm? Is it some sort of All-Star or inaugural season patch?

I didn't expect much from the 3 packs so I wasn't disappointed, except that there were several dupes among the 45 cards and that there were no Phillies cards.


Phungo Challenge
The Most Vintage was 84 Topps - Autograph Cards was closest 81.
The Superstar was Jim Palmer - A pretty Quality Player. BABenny went with Steve Garvey will give him credit on this one, although Palmer is a big time Hall of Famer.