Cup of Coffee: 1963 Topps John Paciorek

The column has been quiet because I have been spending my free time with a sketchbook. 

This does not mean I have given up on baseball or card collecting, most of the sketches are of baseball cards. 

One of the projects that I have been working on is a series of "Cup of Coffee" players drawn on, yes, Coffee Cups. 

The first subject of the Series was John Paciorek who at the age of 18 had a perfect batting day during a Houston Colts 13-4 victory over the New York Mets.  Paciorek started in Right Field went 3-3 with a pair of walks and scoring four times. 

 

                Phungo Original: 1963T John Paciorek

That game was played on September 29 1963, John Paciorek would not play another Major League Game. 

He already had a bad back that would only get worse the following spring. He eventually had spinal fusion surgery which helped his back but hurt is game. In 1968 he retired from professional baseball. 

John Paciorek was never issued a baseball card during his career however he was immortalized in a comic:

1980 Topps #481 Tom Paciorek (b-side)

John's brother Tom also made it to the majors, he was fortunate enough to have an 18 year career. The comic on the back of Tom's 1980 Topps card features a nod to John's game with the 1963 Colts.  

Canvas

Since John did not have a baseball card, i needed to create one for the cup. Going with 1963 Topps was an obvious design choice, for the cards image I used a photo that was on the cover of John's biography. 

That's right, there is a biography of John Paciorek, a Cup of Coffee player who appeared in a single major league game. 

Perfect - Steven K Wagner

Beyond that I wanted to add the phrase "Cup of Coffee" to each Cup and the date of the players game. For John Paciorek I put the date on the lid. 

To date we have put together 16 Cups featuring 18 subjects which I have been releasing periodically on Twitter. I hope to also post the cups here to create a more permanent record of the players and their accomplishments. 

If you have an idea for a Cup of Coffee player, please let us know and we will put them on the roster. Thanks Team Phungo.  

Sources & Links

Cup of Coffee Index

Basenall-ref

MLB

Kronozio

Goodreads

Nobel Prize Winner: Bob Dylan?

First the Nobel prize folks give Bob Dylan an award, now the committee is upset that the iconic troubadour won't return their calls.

Well I think the Nobel folks shouldn't be to upset, I have been trying to get a hold of Bob Dylan for 20 years and he still hasn't gotten back to me....

The Nobel news got me curious about Bob Dylan trading cards which led me to this interesting find.

Bob Dylan (Topps 1963 / 2003 design)

Here in Philadelphia there is a venerable shed called the Mann Music center which hosts a summer concert series. The last couple of years the Mann has commissioned illustrator Alex Fine to design baseball card inspired artwork for their shows. 

The above card of Bob Dylan bears a resemblance to 2003 Topps right down to the Baseball field in the lower corner. However the Mann card has the icon in the lower right rather than lower left. I do like that Fine used the Phillies Red White Blue color scheme, and chose the liberty bell as a logo. The red background running the full width of the card is from 1963 Topps as is presenting the Surname in larger font then the first name.

The many acts for which Mann cards have been created include Robert Plant, Phish, the Monkees, John Fogerty, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Ray LaMontagne, Norah Jones, Steely Dan, Bare Naked Ladies, Weird Al Yankovic, Faith No More and several others.

The Nobel Prize
I am no experts on the fine arts, and know significantly less about literature than I do about how Baseball-Ref calculates WAR. Regardless I did find it odd that Dylan was given the honor.

The Nobel's I am most familiar with are Peace and the Science oriented ones which I have always assumed were given to folks connected to contemporary events and solving problems of the present era.

Near as I could tell Dylan's recent catalog was not any more significant than any recent era - and definitely not as significant as say his 60s output.

However I did some digging. Turns out I know very few Nobel-Lit winners.  It appears the Nobel Lit is a bit of a lifetime achievement award.  The most recent winner that I had heard of was Alice Munro (2013). There are several other winners over the last few decades who I knew by name but not by product: Doris Lessing (2007), Harold Pinter (2005), Toni Morrison (1993), Saul Bellow (1976), Pablo Neruda (1971).  You have to go clear back to 1962 to find someone who wrote something that I actually read, John Steinbeck - and the book I read was NOT "The Grapes of Wrath" - It was "the Pearl" which I read over 30 years ago in either High or Middle School. The selection was solely based on the fact that it was the shortest book on the reading list we were given.

Sources and Links 
Vittles Pop
In Search of Lost Cards
Alex Fine
Nobel Prize
The Mann Center

Topps Ignores All Named HUDSON and Swag from Thorzul Will Rule:

Was in a recent Multi-Sport Group Break run by Thorzul Will Rule.

2012 Topps Chrome #HP94 NL Pitching Leaders

This is a nice one for us Phillies fans as we begin the 2015 season with so much dread. The card serves as a reminder of the good old days way back in 2011 when the Phillies had a rotation so stacked that Cole Hamels was relegated to #3 starter behind Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee.

Topps packed this League Leaders card with SIX bobbing heads to match the design of the original 1963 Topps #7 NL Pitching Leaders Card. The trouble is that the NL had a 3 way tie for 6th plays in Wins in 2011. Zack Geinke, Daniel and Tim Hudson all had 16 Wins.

Topps decided to go with six heads rather than stopping at 5. Greinke got the floating head and the Hudson's got snubbed.

An oddity in all this is that the Original 1963 Topps League Leaders cards each had 5 players with the exception of ties: The aforementioned card #7 and Card #4 AL Home Runs leaders.  For Heritage Topps had to decide to either A) Echo the original six heads and snub two players or B) go with the default 5 head design and ignore the oddity of the original set.

I think the wrong decision was made. I would have gone with 5 rather than put myself in the position to pick and choose which player gets on the card.

Another observation is that on the original 1963 LL cards, the player in the center was the overall Leader. On this card Topps either elected to or accidentally place the pitchers in order from top left to bottom right. Ian Kennedy led the league in Ws, while our hero Roy Halladay finished 3rd.

Flip

2012 Topps Chrome #HP94 NL Pitching Leaders (b-side)

There's your proof of the double Hudson Snub. Both players sit there at 16 Wins with Zack Greinke on the back of the card. 


Hoop and HandEgg
This was a four sport break, I had the Vikings and Celtics in the break. I think my Hockey team may have been the Flyers, but it doesn't matter here as like the 2014-15 Flyers we came up emtpy on the ice. 

2002 Donruss Gridiron Kings #GK-8 Daunte Culpepper

I have seen a handful of Vikings games, I am pretty sure Culpepper is the QB I have seen most.

Bigtime violation on Donruss' part here as the Kings part of the Gridiron Kings flair overlays the artists' signature.I did some hunting around to identify the snubbed artist but was unsuccessful.

2008 Topps Baskeball #160 Chrome Kendrick Perkins (#d 61/288)

2008 Topps baseball was a disaster for a variety of reasons. The shame of it is that there is  a distinct design with the carnival letters however  there were at least two big missteps. 1) The photography for the set was abysmal and 2) The Topps logo being placed Top Center made for ridiculous cropping issues.

By the time the Basketball set was issued Topps had corrected the logo issue by moving it to the lower right. Additionally the Hoop Photography is an improvement over baseball.

Fleer Game Time Michael Bennett (#d 712/2001)

I have a minor college cards collection which this Michael Benntte card will fit into nicely. The design on this Fleer card looks like somebody tried to modernize 1956 Topps and failed miserably.

Sources and Links
Trading Card Database

WAR Stories Phillies 2015+ Domonic Brown

Today our Phillies 2015 WAR series takes a look at corner outfielder Domonic Brown.

1963 Topps #32 Domonic Brown

The Phillies demise over the last couple of season has happened for a number of reasons. Diminished production from veterans is the cause most often given, but the inability to develop new talent has also played a role. The flip side of the above Dom Brown card has a cartoon that summarizes the Phillies shortcomings at the lower levels.

1963 Topps #32 Domonic Brown (b-side)

The Phillies 2010 minor league player of the year has generated a 3.0 career WAR in 430 games.

Aside from a great month that made Brown an all-star in 2013 he has been a fairly pedestrian player. His offensive numbers have been mediocre at best, couple that with no other mentionable skill beyond his sporadic hitting and you have the quagmire that is Domonic Brown.

I will put down Brown for 1 good month in 2014 plus some improved defense resulting in a +1.5 WAR.
2012 Topps Heritage
I am a fan of 1963 Topps, it is a set I didn't really see until I returned to collecting as an adult. It is an inspiration for 1983T which is one of my all-time favorite sets.

Once the excitement over 2015 Topps dies down a bit we will start looking 2015 Heritage and it's inspiration 1966 Topps. 

Sources n Links
Phillies 2015 WAR Index
baseball-ref
Cardboard Connection 

1964 Phillies @ 50: Bobby Wine 1963 Topps #71

During the 1964 season the Phillies carried two Gold Glove Shortstops. There was Ruben Amaro who took home the hardware following the season and Bobby Wine who won the award in 1963.

1963 Topps #71 Bobby Wine

Amaro may have collected the 1964 Gold Glove, but it was Wine who started the majority of games at the position in Gene Mauch’s platoon heavy lineup. The 25 year old Wine batted .212 over 126 games during the ’64 season. In addition to playing short he also spelled Dick Allen at third base. Bobby Wine never hit much above those numbers for his career, however His glovework kept him around the Major Leagues for 12 years. He played 1100+ games with 3000 ABs despite being a career .215 hitter.

Bobby Wine stayed with the Phillies through 1968 season and ending up being the Phillies primary Shortstop for the decade. In 1969 Wine served as the Shortstop on the inaugural Montreal Expos club, which like the 1964 Phillies was helmed by Gene Mauch. In 1970, Wine set the single season Double Play record for shortstops with 137. The record still stands for the NL today.

Folks who (like me) are in their middle 40s will likely remember Bobby Wine the Phillies Coach who served with the organization in a variety roles throughout the 70s and 80s. One of those roles was as Dallas Green’s bench coach for the Phillies 1980 World Championship squad. In 1985 he also served as the Manager of the Braves on an interim basis for 41 games.

Bobby's son Robbie also played major league baseball getting into 23 games as a catcher for the 1986 and 87 Astros. Following his playing career Robbie Wine went into coaching. He served as the Penn State Head coach for nine season before resigning this past June.  

1964 Philies Series
Dick Allen 
Johnny Callison
Tony Gonzalez
John Herrnstein 
Chris Short
Tony Taylor
Frank Thomas
Bobby Wine 

Sources
baseball-ref
Year of the Blue Snow
Go PSU Sports

 

Sloppy Topps: 2012 Topps Cole Hamels Retros - seeing double?

One of the problems with producing both Archives and Heritage is that Topps is cannibalizing their designs at such a rate that a new release of any retro product gets a yawn.

To make matters worse, Topps will occasionally mail in their effort. 

2012 Topps Archives #7 Cole Hamels
2012 Topps Heritage #132 Cole Hamels

I didn't build either of the 2012 Topps Selfies sets - yes I said Selfies, lets face it Archives and Heritage are at some small level a by-product of Topps narcissism - regardless, I didn't notice this bit of Topps sloppiness until recently.

Ok the Archives card looks a bit airbrushed, but I am pretty sure we are talking the same picture here.


Yes Neither Archives nor Heritage are high end products, but both sets run at over 30 cents/card retail. With those kinds of numbers, I would like to see at least a little bit of work. 2012 Topps Archives including the 41 card All-Time Fan Favorites short prints runs only 241 cards - how much work is it for Topps to get pix on those 241 cards that are unique?


Sources
Urban Dictionary
Baseball Cardpedia

 

At least one 2012 Topps Heritage Variation Has a Precedent

I doubt there will be any discussion, sarcasm, or vitrol regarding the 2012 Topps Heritage Variations...

But at least one of the variations does have precedent:



1963 Topps #29 1962 Rookie Stars
1963 Topps #29 1963 Rookie Stars


For more information regarding these cards click here

For more information on the 2012 Topps Heritage variations/errors/SPs check Cardboard Connection.

Hall of Fame Thursday - Rickey Henderson and Topps 1983 homage to Topps 1963

1983 Topps #180 Rickey Henderson
1963 Topps #434 Johnny Callison

No, I am not drawing a comparison between recent Hall of Fame inductee Rickey Henderson and Johnny Callison. There is little linking Henderson and Callison other than in the years that each of these cards were produced both players were 24 years old.

I really wanted to take this opportunity to present an 83 Topps card paired with a 1963 card. As you can tell the cards are definitely siblings. With the Round mini-photo at the bottom right side of the card and player team and postion on the bottom left. It is a good design - I prefer the framing on the small photo in the 1983 design. The 1963 mini photo sort of ends abrubtly - sort of has a clip art feel to it. Regardless it is a worthy older brother of the 1983 topps.

Henderson is an easy choice this week. Yes I am sort of mailing this one in. I don't know if I need to run much of a profile on Henderson, there are plenty of other sources for that this week. I will note that I was a Lou Brock fan when I was a kid so I didn't much care for Henderson showboating when he broke Brock's stolen base record. Other than that it doesn't bother me if Henderson or anybody ever gets in with 100% of the HOF vote. It is something for everyone to talk about, and makes for interesting arguments. My opinion comes down to if Babe Ruth wasn't unanimous, it certainly should not bother anybody else to not be unanimous.

Some pieces of personal trivia from the Phungo annals and Baseball-Reference. I can now add Henderson to the list of Hall of Famers that I have seen play. And he is one of only two Hall of Fame players I have seen play in a World Series game (Paul Molitor). Henderson stole 1406 bases, I was present for stolen base number 1336. I don't really remember that game other than thinking at the time, the guy is still a threat to get on base and steal bases even if he can't hit the Mendoza line. He was also a bit of a liability in left field by then. Had no arm left by that point in his career as I remember.