Tom Seaver (1977) Andy Warhol: 1977 July 20 - A Tale of Two Caps

1983 Topps #581 Super Veteran Tom Seaver

One of the reasons Richard Weisman picked Tom Seaver for Andy Warhol's Athlete's Series is that he was the ballplayers proximity to New York would make it easy to set up a portrait sitting at the artists studio in Manhattan.

Unfortunately things happen...


NYT 1977 Jun 16

On June 15th of 1977 the Mets traded Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds. I am not going to go into the ugly details that led up to the trade, I will only note that the Mets-Seaver relationship did not end on friendly terms.

As we noted earlier despite the trade Seaver was able to sit for the Warhol portrait when he retuned to New York for the All-Star Game. Within the Warhol Diaries there is an interesting anecdote about the Seaver and the Mets.

The first passage discusses how much Andy Warhol appreciated Seaver and Athletes in general, The 2nd and 3rd portion get to our "Tale of Two Caps"

This is a mere month after Seaver was traded by the Mets and he was still angry with the club. What Andy relates here...

"He hates the Mets now. He'd just bought a new house in Connecticut and everything when they traded him"

Is so brutally honest. It isn't really new information. Anyone familiar with the Mets or Seaver knows the details, but it is interesting seeing it from a non-baseball perspective.

The wound was still raw for Seaver and clearly his feelings towards the Mets left an impression on Warhol. It is the kind of thing a perceptive artist who only sat with his subject for an hour may find out that a reporter with a microphone may not.  

Thanks to photographer Rene Perez we have some interesting documentation of "A Tale of Two Caps"


AP Image / Rene Perez

We have Andy photographing Tom wearing a Reds cap, but then we can look down and THERE IT IS! The Mets Cap that Tom Seaver refused to wear for this portrait sitting.

Fortunately for Tom Seaver and the Mets, they have resolved their differences. Tom Seaver's #41 is retired by the club and can be seen on the walls at Citifield

To read more about the Tom Seaver Portrait sitting click here.

Sources and Links
Andy Warhol Tom Seaver Index
Andy Warhol Index
The Warhol Diaries
1977 JUL 20: Tom Seaver Portrait Sitting  with Andy Warhol
New York Times
Rene Perez
AP Images

2015 ASG: Rickey Henderson?? 1983 Topps #391

Rickey Henderson played for nine different teams during his 25 year career, but he is most synonymous with one. The Oakland A's. They are the club he collected 867 of his Major League Record 1406 Stolen Bases with, They are the club he won his 1990 MVP award with and the are also the club with whom he won the first of two World Series titles. Unfortunately his other Ring came as a member of the 1993 Blue Jays and we all know who they beat.

 1983 Topps #391 Rickey Henderson All-Star

So what does all of these Hall of Fame Accomplishments of a guy who hasn't played in over a decade have to do with next weeks All-Star Game?

Nothing, Except for his 1983T AS Card.

 1983 Topps #391 Rickey Henderson All-Star (b-side)

 In 1983 Topps did something interesting on the back of the All-Stars. Each of the 22 cards in the subset features an All-Star Game from the past. There is a synopsis followed by a line score and along with a list of Winning and Losing pitchers and Home Runs.

It is an interesting use of the All-Star cards that I don't believe Topps has done before or since.

The #391 Card occupied by Rickey Henderson also happens to be the card that discusses the 1938 All-Star Game which was held in Cincinnati.

It was the first All-Star Game hosted by the Reds. The NL won 4-1. This game had to be one of the greats in All-Star history - Johnny Vander Meer got to start the game for the NL in front of his home crowd just weeks after his back to back no-hitter - That is Awesome.

Vander Meer and Cubs Pitcher Bill Lee (not Spaceman Lee) were the starts of the game. For six shutout innings they held the formidable AL line up to two hits. There were no offensive standouts on either side, 3 of the NLs four runs were unearned as the AL Squad had four Hall of Famers commit errors.

The Phillies sole representative in the 1938 All-Star Game was Hersch Martin. It was the only All-Star squad that Martin ever made, and he didn't even get to play in the game. 

1983 Topps/OPC #391 Rickey Henderson (AS)

Just presenting the OPC version of this card which is basically the same up front with the added French Text and a different logo.

but boy look at the back:

1983 OPC/Topps #391 Rickey Henderson AS  ( b-side)

OPC really squished up the font to get all the information on there. 

One final note. During the 1938 All-Star Game Leo Durocher hit what is referred to as a "Bunt Home Run" on the above Topps Card(s). During the recent SABR 45 in Chicago Chuck Hildebrandt gave an excellent (and funny) presentation on what he referred to as "Little League Home Run". To read more about Little League Homers click here.   

Sources and Links
Phungo 2015 ASG Coverage
baseball-ref
SABR

Sunday Night Baseball Cardinals HoF Whitey Herzog 1983 Topps #186

With Sunday Night Baseball in St Louis for the evening we take a look at Cardinals Hall of Fame Manager Whitey Herzog

1984 Topps #186 Whitey Herzog

Whitey Herzog led the Cardinals to three NL Pennants and a World Championship during 11 seasons as the clubs manager. His 822 wins with the Cardinals rank 3rd in team history behind fellow Hall of Famers Tony LaRussa and Red Schoendienst.

Flip

1983 Topps #186 Whitey Herzog (b-side)

This 1983 Topps card captures Herzog fresh off the Cardinals World Series victory. Note that the final line of the card tells us his 1982 Cardinals squad finished in first place in the East with a 92-70 record, but it does not mention the teams World Championship.

Herzog's additional HoF Qualifications  1985 Manager of the Year, 1281 career victories, 26 Post Season Ws, 6 division Wins, and two 100 win seasons.

Above in Whitey Herzog's playing stats one sees that his career lasted eight seasons with four clubs. He was primarily a backup outfielder who never started more than 100 games. In 1959 he had an impressive .446 OBP in 157 plate appearance, the following year he had career highs in HR (8) , RBI (38)  and Runs Scored (43).

1983 Topps Manager Cards
This non-sequential Managers subset of the 1983 flagship contains some interesting names, HoFs Herzog, LaRussa (White Sox), Frank Robinson (Giants), Joe Torre (Braves), Tommy LaSorda, Dick Williams (Padres), Earl Weaver, Bobby Cox (Blue Jays), and Sparky Anderson (Tigers). The Phillies manager in the set is Pat Corralles.

Whitey Herzog HoF Index 
1958 Topps (forthcoming)
1960 Topps #92 (HoF Election)

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref

The Johnny Callison - Dale Murphy Connection

Strange confluence of events led to this post.

Last night I was bindering some cards, one of which was this Dale Murphy card.

1983 Topps #401 Dale Murphy All-Star

The flip side of each 1983T AS card has the summary of an all-star game. Dale Murphy's card features the 1964 All-Star Game

1983 Topps #401 Dale Murphy All-Star (b-side)

There is a lot of copy here - The 1964 All Star Game will always be the Johnny Callison Game to me. Topps does finally get around to mentioning the Phillies Outfielder in the third sentence. Regardless I am happy to see the game noted in the 1983T All-Star set.

This morning @MallonDan noted via twtter that Johnny Callison was born on this date in 1939 and mentioned the 1964 All-Star game. I noted this and thought, "I just read about that game on a Baseball Card last night"

Later in the day Andy at @HighHeatStats mentioned it that the all-time leader for Home Runs among players born on March 12 was Dale Murphy.

That's when I thought Hey I was just looking at the card that connects both of these players that share a birth date.

etc
I am adding this post to our 1964 Phillies series.

Sources and Links
@MallonDan
@HighHeatStats
1964 Phillies @ 50
Baseball-ref

1983 Topps #498 Wade Boggs (RC)

On Friday we ran the clean up on the 1983 Wheeze Kids series, today we finish looking at the 1983 Topps RC set - A 3 post feature, which I was to lazy to finish.

1983 Topps #498 Wade Boggs  


3000 Hits, a World Championship, 5 batting titles, and a 12 time All-Star.  Wade Boggs was also the 1986 and 1988 O-WAR champ. In 1986 Boggs finish 7th in the MVP voting which was taken by teammate Roger Clemens, Fellow Red Sox player Jim Rice also polled better than Boggs. The 1988 award was taken by 40/40 man Jose Canseco. Once again in '88 Boggs(6th) was outvoted by a teammate - Mike Greenwell 

For The Collector
There are only several million 1983T complete sets out there, consequently the sets HoF RCs are pretty affordable.A check of recent auctions revealed the following:

$3.19 - Low Auction
$5 - At least a dozen sales were completed for $5 or less
$383 - The High for the card (PSA - GEM MT 10)

1983 Topps HoF RCs
Tony Gwynn
Ryne Sandberg

Sources

Old Cardboard - Hall of Fame Rookie Cards

ebay.com
baseball-ref.com

1983 NL Champions: Pat Corralles Topps #637

Just some quick 2013 Clean up here.  Last year we honored the Phillies Wheeze Kids who took the 1983 NL pennant.  Over the next couple of days I want to knock out a couple of folks I didn't get to during 2013 proper. 

 

1983 NL Champions: Pat Corralles Topps #637  

Corrales was the Phillies manager for the first half of the 1983, He was fired 85 games into the season.  The Phillies were tied with the Cardinals for first place, the day Pat Corrales was fired (albeit only a game above .500)

1983 was only the 2nd year for Corrales at the helm of the Phillies after replacing Dallas Green.  Taking over for the man who had won the teams only World Championship is a tough task. This makes me nervous for Ryne Sandberg tyring to replace Charlie Manuel - that and the fact that the average age of this years squad will be about Pat Corrales age today.

Corrales had one more managerial stint after leaving Philadelphia - He led the Indians for 5 seasons, never finishing better than 5th.      

Currently Corrales(age 72) is working in the Dodgers organization as a Special Assistant to the GM.

Sources & Links

1983 NL Champions Series   

1983 NL Champions Marty Bystrom 1983 Topps #199 - Headed to the SHOW (Philly Show that is)

Today our 1983 Champs series takes a quick look at Right Handed Starter Marty Bystrom

1983 Topps #199 Marty Bystrom 

Marty had a tough 1983 season as a bottom starter in the Phillies rotation. So poor that Bystrom didn't get a start in the postseason. His sole inning was versus the Orioles in the final game of the World Series.  In 1983 the 24 year old Marty Bystrom was already on his way out of baseball. His 119+ innings in '83 were the most he would pitch in a season, by June of 1984 he was on his way to the Yankees in a deal that would return Shane Rawley. Bystrom got 15 more starts with the Yankees over two seasons then was done at the Major league level. 

Philly Show
I doubt Marty would have made the cut for our Wheeze Kids series, but he is one of several Phillies in town to sign autographs at the Philly Show in Valley Forge this weekend. The show runs Friday 12/6 - Sunday 12/8 at the Valley Forge Casino. Admission is $8 - There may be a $1 off coupon in local papers.

Show Guests:

Shane Victorino (CANCELLED - No notification by Hunt Auctions, PhillyShow, Sports Vault or WIP Radio)
It is not uncommon for The PhillyShow to have autograph cancellations and not keep their website updated.  

Dave Parker

HoF Steve Carlton

Pete Rose

Charlie Hayes

Dale Murphy

Matt Stairs
For more info on signing pricing and times check in with Sports Vault   

Cardboard Bystrom
1982 Topps #416

1983 NL Champions Series   
Darren Daulton
Bo Diaz  
John Denny
Ivan DeJesus
Garry Maddox  
Gary Matthews (with John Denny)
Joe Morgan
Tony Perez
Pete Rose

Steve Carlton Passes Walter Johnson (Strikeouts) Steve Carlton 300 Wins
 
Sources  
Baseball-ref.com

Post Updated 2013 12 07 11am

1983 NL Champions: 1983 Topps #101 Super Veterans Pete Rose

Last week there was a bit of buzz revolving around Ichiro getting 4000 hits. This led to discussions about including career hits from different leagues. These discussions included folks like Derek Jeter Minnie Minoso and of course Pete Rose.

1983 Topps #101 Super Veterans Pete Rose

Man, Baseball-ref has everything. Even Minor League stats from 1962.  Pete Rose had 3 Minor League Seasons collecting 427 hits.  Add that to his 4256 in the Majors and you get 4683. But wait Rose also had 86 postseason hits this brings hist total to 4769 - Turns out that Rose is the All-Time combined league hit king as well as the traditional hit king. For a further look into Rose and the other players that were found to collect 4000 hits check this SABR article by Scott Simkus 

1983 Phillies
By 1983 Pete Rose was 42 and his abilities were slipping.  He posted the worst batting average of his career (.245). His OPS+ was an anemic 69. Game 5 of the 83 Series was Rose's final World Series game. He played Right Field in that game.  Between 1971 and 1983 Rose had played 3 innings of RF, The Phils patchwork wheeze kids line up put him there 34 times that season.    

1983 Super Veterans
Terrific set, that I had ignored until 30 Year Old Cardboard dedicated a series of postings to it.

Other Voices
 Found two other card postings on the Rose Super Vet.
30-Year Old Cardboard

1983 Topps Blog

1983 NL Champions Series
Darren Daulton
Bo Diaz 
John Denny
Garry Maddox
Tony Perez

Steve Carlton Passes Walter Johnson



Sources
Baseball-Reference.com
wikipedia.org
SABR.org

1983 Topps #83 Ryne Sandberg

This week the Phillies host the Cubs and Ryne Sandberg will be in the dugout opposite the Cubs for the first time since leaving the Chicago organization a few seasons ago.  Well for the first time at the Major League level anyway - Sandberg managed the Phillies AAA Lehigh Valley affiliate prior to 2013 and possibly faced a lower level Cubs affiliate. 

The trade of Ryne Sandberg by the Phillies to the Cubs in 1982 is often mentioned when the Phillies worst trade converstions arise. He was part of a deal that brought Ivan DeJesus to Philadelphia, DeJesus was part of the 1983 National League Champions. In my opinion any deal that garners a League Championship cannot be looked upon totally unfavorably.

Hall of Fame

Ryno of course went on to have a Hall of Fame career.  His 16 MLB seasons included 10 all-star appearances, 9 Gold Gloves ,and 7 Silver Sluggers all at second base. Sandberg finished his career with 282 home runs. 277 of those were as a second baseman, good enough for the position record at the time of his 1997 retirement (a number surpassed by Jeff Kent in 2004). In addtion to being a threat at the plate and on defensive Sandberg was also adept on the basebaths with 344 career SBs including 54 in 1985.    .

The Cubs reached the postseason twice during Sandberg's career in 1984 and 1989. Those two season are of course both part of the Cubs long World Series drought. 

1983 Topps #83 Ryne Sandberg RC

There are a number of non-mainstream Ryne Sandberg cards issued prior to 1983. These include his 1980 TCMA Reading Phillies card.  1983 featured cards from Donruss Fleer and Topps.   

In off condition I found the Topps Sandberg RC for under $3.  Not sure if that is a good deal for a card that can also be found in decent condition at reasonable prices. There are a dozen auctions of this card that ended under $5.  

Graded Card Pricing  

Grade	$Price	Pop
PSA 7 NM	$7.25	1
PSA 8 NM-MT	$7.55	1
PSA 8 NM-MT	$8.25	1
PSA 8 NM-MT	< $10.06	15
PSA 10 MINT	$303	1

Ryne Sandberg HoF Index
1991 Score #815
1997 Topps Chrome (Card Show Dimers)
2005 UD Classics #125 managerial debut
2013 Topps Archives #48 (1972 Topps retro/blaster break)
2014 Heritage #57
2015 Heritage #411 - Rhyming card with 1966T Gene Mauch 
 

Sources

Old Cardboard - Hall of Fame Rookie Cards

baseball-ref.com

ebay.com

wikipedia.com

Reading the Competition: 1983 Topps #482 Tony Gwynn RC

A quick Question, What Jersey Number is Tony Gwynn wearing on this Topps Rookie Card? I did a quick search and found nothing. Does anyone have an early 80s Padres media guide that may has a 40 man roster listing Gwynn? I am a little surprised that with all the information out there, that this remains a mystery.

---
 
This week the Phillies are on the Road in Southern California, facing the Padres during the week followed by the Dodgers over the weekend. To mark the first part of the road trip we are very happy to examine the Tony Gwynn Rookie card(s)

1983 Topps #482 Tony Gwynn

2013 marks the 30th anniversary of one of my favorite Topps Sets, 1983. I Iike the design and the dual photos. Another bonus is the impressive checklist that includes 3 HoF RCs - Gwynn, Ryne Sandberg, and Wade Boggs.

1983 is near the outset of the MLB awarding multiple trading card licenses and there are actually at least three Gwynn RCs.  Plus there is a 1982 TCMA card and the 1983 OPC Gwynn. For me I am a Topps guy and the 1983 #482 card above is the Gwynn Rookie Card.

HoF Career  
We have covered the career of the first ballot Hall of Famer previously. His career accomplishments are worth reiterating 3141 Hits, 1300+ Runs, 1100+ RBI, 300 SB, 7 batting titles, 15 time all-star. He was also a member of both of the Padres World Series teams, 1984 and 1998.

According to Wikipedia Tony Gwynn has been battling various health issues (some weight related) but he remains active as the coach of the San Diego State Aztecs. The biggest name that Gwynn coached with the Aztecs is likely Stephen Strasburg. In 2013 Tony Gwynn's son Tony Gwynn Jr remains in professional baseball, playing at the AAA level of the Dodgers system in Albuquerque (batting .321/ .400 OBP at press time)

For the Collector

This makes me sick. Tony Gwynn is a first ballot Hall of Famer, His Topps Rookie Card is 30 years old and had recent auctions close as low as $2.10 Shipped! Hell, a year ago Cardboard Connection selected the card as one of the 10 most valuable RCs of the 1980s.

Why the hell would anyone buy a pack of 2013 Topps S2 when for the same price you could have Tony Gwynn's Rookie Card?  At least two other auctions ended under $3.

The 1983 Donruss #598 came in as low as $3.48 while the 1983 Fleer #360 came in at $3.50 - A graded (PSA 5 EX) version of the Fleer card went for $3.99.  

All 3 cards could be found multiple times for under $5 and All 3 cards are each currently available BIN under $10. 

On the other end of the spectrum graded version of the cards sold as follows:

Topps #482 Tony Gwynn PSA GEM MT 10: $454 
Fleer #360 Tony Gwynn PSA GEM MT 10: $75
Donruss #598 BGS GEM MT 9.5: $53 

HoF Index
2005 Topps Pristine #105 (#d/999)
2012T A&G What's in a Name
2011 Topps Tier One
2002 UD World Series Heroes #57  (Memorials and Tributes)

Sources
30 Year Old Cardboard
Cardboard Connection
Old Cardboard
ebay.com
Baseball-Ref.com
San Diego State Baseball
Wikipedia

1983 NL Champions: Garry Maddox 1978 Topps #610

Garry Maddox was edging into the twilight of his career in 1983. The "Secretary of Defense" played 97 games for the 1983 Phillies.

1978 Topps #610 Garry Maddox

Between 1975 and 1983 Maddox was the starting Center fielder for the Phladelphia Phillies. He was involved in 29 playoff games for 6 different Phillies squads over that time period. He won gold gloves each of his first eight seasons with the Phils - every eligible player with 9 or more outfield gold gloves is in the Hall of Fame.  Maddox's best year was likely 1976 when he hit .330 and finished 5th in the MVP voting behind 3 members of the Big Red Machine (Morgan, Rose, George Foster) and Mike Schmidt.   

1983 World Series
Maddox hit the deciding Home Run in the only game the Phillies won during the 83 Series.  By 1983 Maddox wasn't an everyday player for the Phillies and he only started 3 of the 5 games during the Series.

Garry Maddox 2013
Maddox, age 63,  remains involved with the Phillies and hosts an annual BBQ cookout for charity at the stadium.  He also worked as a Phils broadcaster for the now defunct PRISM network. His Son Garry Maddox II also played 7 years of professional baseball reaching as high as AAA for several organizations including the Philllies Scranton Wilkes-Barre affiliate in 2003.  

For the Collector

The Topps Rookie Card of Garry Maddox is 1973 #322.  His first Phillies card is 1976 #38 his last Card was issued in 1986 #585. The card above is from the 1978 set and is pretty rough.  That is likely an easy dime box upgrade.     

Garry Maddox Index
1973 Topps #322 (1980 Phillies Retrospective/Rookie Cup)

References
1983 NL Champion Phillies Index
Baseball-Reference.com
Wikipedia.com

Updates
2019 0904 made this posting the Garry Maddox Index changed

1983 NL Champions: John Denny 1983 Topps #211

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 1983 Phillies Wheeze Kids team that won the NL Pennant and faced the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.

Throughout the season I plan on taking a look back at some of the members of this special team.

1983 Topps #211 John Denny
John Denny was a good pitcher that had one great season which occurred in 1983. Denny went 19-6 for the year with a 2.37 ERA and won the Cy Young Award.  It was a significant spike in a 13 year career and the only time that John Denny ever received a Cy Young vote.  His 1983 WAR of 7.6 also led the league for all players, not just pitchers.

It was also the only season Denny reached the post season. He got the W in the game 1 of the World Series, giving up only 1 run over 7 2/3 inning. Unfortunately it was the only game the Phillies were able to take in the series.

1983 was John Denny's first full season with the Phillies. He stayed through 1985 compiling a 37-29 record with the team. He retired following the 1986 season which he spent with the Reds.

He worked with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the early 2000s but appears to currently be away from baseball. I did find this interesting interview over at Baseball Analysts

 Airbrush Classics 

The 1983 Topps John Denny Card recently made the Top Ten Terrible Airbrush Jobs  over at Hall of Very Good.  

The Great Rod Carew Degumming Experiment

Last week I opened a 27 year old pack of O-Pee-Chee baseball Cards over at A Packed to be Named Later. As you would imagine the stale gum was affixed to one of the cards, which happened to be a Rod Carew All-Star card.

There were a couple of comments on ways to remove the gum. One was to put the card in the freezer overnight. This is how we remove excess wax from a candle encased in a glass, so the approach seemed reasonable.

Rod Carew in Plastic Baggy - excuse the shadow - once again I would have failed Photography 101.

Rod Carew in Freezer sharing a shelf with a frozen water bottle, which will be needed while attending a 100 degree humidyfest game later this week.


The Results.....


Voila - minimal scarring. The gum remained affixed but less so I think. I left the card in the freezer for a week, mainly because I forgot about it. It was still pretty well stuck - I then hit it with the wave for about 15 seconds. That loosened it a little further.

In the end I stuck a knife under the gum and pried it off. The card looks better than the scan, it isn't mint, but it is acceptable.

Sources and Links
Phungo Rod Carew HoF Index

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.