Thursday, July 30, 2020

ANNIVESARY: 1980 Topps #270 Mike Schmidt - Hall of Fame Induction

25 years ago today (July 30 1995) Five baseball legends were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Among them were Richie Ashburn, Leon Day, Vic Willis and 19th century Executive William Hulbert.

The fifth inductee is the one we will discuss tonight. The only one to have played his entire career with the Philadelphia Phillies.

1980 Topps #270 Mike Schmidt

This is the first Mike Schmidt card tagged with an All-Star flair, honoring his first ever start for the NL squad in the mid-summer classic.

If your curious as to how well Mike fared in that game all you need to do is flip over the card.

1980 Topps #270 Mike Schmidt (b-side)

The Triple was in the first inning off of another Haller Nolan Ryan.  The hit plated Steve Garvey for the NLs first run in a 7-6 victory.

Schmidt made 12 All-Star teams and was named a starter 7 times.

1980 World Champions 
It is obvious I am not going to dedicate as much ink to the 1980 Phillies as I would like, but I am still trying to highlight as many players as possible.  For more of these postings see the link below.

Sources and Links
1980 World Series Champions Index 
Mike Schmidt Index
Baseball Card Database
Baseball-Ref
Baseball Hall of Fame

Saturday, July 25, 2020

ANNIVERSARY: 2015 JULY 25 - Cole Hamels No-Hits Cubs

Don't worry I am not really returning to blogging, I just wanted to make sure that Cole Hamels 2015 No-Hitter versus the Chicago Cubs didn't not go unnoticed.

2016 Topps Wrigley Celebrates 100 Years WRIG-21 

How cool is it to be featured in an insert set that is dedicated to another team.

Cole Hamels 5-0 no-hit victory versus the Cubs was a bittersweet moment.  On the one hand you have the excitement of the monumental accomplishment of one of the franchises most important players, however on the other hand it would be Hamels last appearance in a Phillies uniform.

A week later Hamels was traded to the Texas Rangers along with reliever Jake Diekman. The return was a bunch of ballplayers that have had varied degrees of major league time. The big chip so far has been Jorge Alfaro who the Phillies flipped for JT Realmuto.

Since leaving Philadelphia Hamels has pitched well and made the postseason with both the Rangers (2015-16) and oddly enough the Cubs in 2018.

Unfortunately he is now with the Phillies division rival Braves - however he is currenlty on the 45 day IL

5 Years Ago
For our original posting on the No-Hitter click here.

Sources and Links
NoHitter Index
Baseball-Ref
Amazon
mlbTradeRumors

a thousand words

a thousand words
2008 World Champions