Oscar Gamble (1949-2018)

Earlier this week we got the sad news that baseball card icon Oscar Gamble died. I was a little surprised to find out that I had never posted anything on Gamble or his cards. Today we rectify that situation.

Oscar Gamble falls into that category of players that played when I was a kid and I knew about but I never knew spent time with the Phillies. There are a couple of these guys out there, Fergie Jenkins is pretty notable as are Larry Hisle and Ken Brett. 

When I returned to collecting as an adult I was pleasantly to see Oscar Gamble show up in the early 1970s issues bearing Phillies pinstripes.

1972 Topps #423 Oscar Gamble

All of the bright colors of 1972 Topps with "PHILLIES" jumping off the top of the card fit Oscar Gamble perfectly. I also like the photo that appears to have been taken at the Phillies Spring Training facility in Clearwater Florida. As I look at Gamble posing for the shot with the follow through on a swing I wonder if the lean figure in the background with the beige jacket is Paul Owens.

This is one of three cards Topps issued of Gamble with the Phillies. He has a shared Rookie Card in 1970 and has a great action shot in 1971.  Nice cards all, but I chose his last Phillies card not for the front but for a fun fact I knew at one time but have likely forgotten multiple times.

1972 Topps #423 Oscar Gamble (b-side)

First off I am not referring to the vocabulary lesson in the cartoon - a good one I suppose, a phrase I never use, but it really doesn't need much explanation.

The Phun Phact I like on this card discusses the last game a Connie Mack Stadium. On October 1st 1970 the Phillies defeated the Expos 2-1 in extra innings. And as described in the excerpt on the above Oscar Gamble singled off Howie Reed plating Tim McCarver. It was the last hit and RBI ever recorded at the venerable building

The Inning in Baseball-Ref appears as follows

For a more old school look here is the box score that appeared in the Sporting News

The Sporting News 1970 Oct 1

In addition to Gamble looks like Tim McCarver had a nice day while scoring the stadiums final run. Larry Bowa is the only player in the box that would eventually play during the Phillies late 70s glory years. The big name for Les Expos is Rusty Staub, however twitter star @JohnnyBateman7 is also present.
 

Other Oscar Gamble Tributes
Night Owl Cards - tremendous posts where with a great discussion about card backs.
Baseball Happenings - 1976T Traded and great photos from 2012 DiMaggio Legends game @ Ft Lauderdale
Baseball Card Breakdown - American Pastime Autograph, Printing Plate of 1979T, 1979 OPC
Starting Nine - 9up page featuring 1976T Traded in the center
MLB 1960s - 1972 Topps
80s Baseball Collector - 1979 Topps
 
NY Daily News obituary

Chicago Sun-Times obituary

Sources and Links
Game Dated Cards
Baseball-Ref
COMC
Baseball Card Database
The Sporting News
NY Daily News
Chicago Sun Times

Swag from Night Owl Cards

Recently I received a nice package of cards from Night Owl Cards, Here are some of the Highlights:

1972 Topps #453 Barry Lersch
1970 Topps #324 Tony Taylor

NOC was able to knock a couple of cards off my vintage checker. I don't really have a current list posted but I do have a checklist that I do take to shows. Both of these early 70s cards are in great condition and are welcome additions to the collection.

Night Owl recently his best vintage discover of 2015 was the Bat Rack photos scattered throughout 1970 Topps. The Tony Taylor card is one of four cards that NOC featured in this post - you have to scroll down pretty far to get to the relevant text, but as always the remainder of the column is pretty interesting.

2011 Topps #219 Carlos Ruiz (Cognac Parallel)

There was a team bag full of cards which consisted of many recent Phillies, however so many players have been traded recently many of those players are no longer with the club. Among the players remaining on the current roster Chooch and Ryan Howard were the biggest names.

In 2011 Topps celebrated their Diamond Anniversary (60th) and had a couple of Diamond Parallels. The Cognacs are a variation on the Diamonds, they sort of look like they took a Diamond card and dipped it in Coca Cola. 

2010 Topps #MTOG Tales of the Game Roy Halladay

This card notes a series where the Phillies at Blue Jays series was moved to Philadelphia. Roy Halladay pitched game 1 of the series. I love cards that can be tied to specific games and we may take a longer look at this one in the future.

Chase

2009 UD O-Pee-Chee #OPC-10 Chase Utley

Yes I have a Chase Utley Player Collection. I have no formal "Have/Need" list for the collection - I am guessing it is less than a hundred cards.  This UD 1975 Topps knock off is a fine addition to the collection.

2015 Topps Stadium Club #99 Chase Utley


The more I see of 2015 Stadium Club the more I am impressed. Love this shot and glad to add it to the Phungo Collection.

Sources and Links
Night Owl Cards

Baseball-ref

1964 Phillies @ 50: Rick Wise 1972 Topps #44 IA

The weekend of September 26-28 The PhillyShow returns to the Valley Forge Convention Center (and now casino) for one their tri-annual visits. As time marches on the card show is becoming more of an autograph show which I have some quibbles with, but I won't let that keep me from mentioning a few guests.

This edition of the autograph portion of the show features a no-hitter theme.  Roy Halladay, Tommy Greene, and Terry Mulholland are all scheduled to appear - For a mere $3000 you can get special VIP access to a private autograph session with five of the Phillies No-Hit pitchers.

1972 Topps #44 Rick Wise IA

One of the guests included in the No-Hit Quintuplet is Rick Wise. I was a bit surprised to find out that Wise made his debut with the 1964 Phillies. He and Jim Bunning are both members of the crossover between the handful of 1964 Phillies and No-Hit pitchers that will be at the show.

Rick Wise and Jim Bunning bare a connection in no-hitter history. As a rookie in 1964 Rick Wise made his second career start in the latter game of the Double-header in which Jim Bunning pitched his perfect game.

A mere two days past the 7th anniversary of the Bunning Perfecto, Rick Wise would throw his own No-Hitter, and it was done in spectacular fashion.  Most importantly, Wise shut down a star laden Reds line-up that featured 2 future Hall of Famers (Johnny Bench & Tony Perez) and MLBs all-time hits leader Pete Rose. Wise also hit not one but two Home Runs that day. He accounted for 3 of the Phils 4 runs in the 4-3 victory.  

Wise did get to the World Series but not for the Phillies. As most folks know he was traded to the St Louis Cardinals for Steve Carlton - he was later traded to the Boston Red Sox. As a member of the Bosox Wise got the W versus the A's in the deciding game of the 1975 ALCS. In the ensuing World Series Wise was awarded the Win as a reliever for game 6 - The legendary Carlton Fisk game.

Following his playing career Wise stayed in baseball holding various coaching positions in the A's organization. He also coached in the Independent Atlantic league for the nearby Lancaster Barnstormer.  Wise retired from coaching in 2008.
 
Phun Phact
Rick Wise was traded for two Hall of Famers. In addition to Carlton Wise was also involved in a trade for Dennis Eckersley just prior to the 1978 season


1972 Topps In Action
The In Action Sub/Insert Set consisted of 24 cards in 1972 Topps that Paralleled a base card of the subject. In 2011 the late Chris Stufflestreet authored this post that summarizes the card backs associated with the 1972T IA cards. 


Sources & Links
1964 Phillies Index
Sports Vault
Baseball-ref
the Vintage Sportscards Blog
The Year of the Blue Snow - The 1964 Phillies  Bill Nowlin

Bucket or Chuck-It 2013 Topps Chrome Value Pack

The break in the 2013 PostSeason gives us the chance to clear out some old stuff from the Draft Folder.  Today we add to our Bucket or Chuck-it with a "Value Pack" of 2013 Topps Chrome.

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2013 Topps Chrome #208 Cliff Lee

I have admitted it before, parallels are lame and rarely show creativity, but boy am I a sucker for them. Not to the point where I would pick up a hobby box, but I typically pick up a couple of packs each year.  

Opening a pack is generally fun, even if most of the cards are ones that I have seen previously.  The Cliff Lee card above is the base chrome. It is the same photo featured on his series 1 card

Highlights 

 1972 Topps Retros appear once again.  Yu Darvish is probably one of the better players in the set.

As with 2011 Value packs contain 3 Orange parallel cards.  This is the best card I picked up among the bonus cards.  I don't see Gerrit Cole on the S1 or S2 checker for 2013 Topps, so this may be what the Cole card will look like in 2013 U&H.

 Refractors are the lowest level parallel in Chrome. I picked up one player from each of the FLA franchises as the two parallels.

 

Selected foursome of the base cards, Mike Nunino and Alex Colome RC. Former Phil Hunter Pence, in what I believe is a photoshopper.  Victor Martinez here to fill out the quartet. 

 The Last 2 orange cards were Wainwright and Nick Maronde RC.

Topps Chrome Curse?

Topps Chrome comes out and finally puts an Oriole on the cover, 5 minutes later Manny Machado rolled his knee.

Bucket or Chuck-it Verdict

I got a pretty good pack, but the $9.50 price point for 15 cards takes some of the fun out of busting packs - Verdict = Chuck-it. 

And what makes this a value pack.  The Target I was at didn't sell individual packs at all, so there were only 2 ways I could pick up Topps Chrome - Value Packs and Blasters (32 cards/ $20). Shenanigans.