1992 Topps #78 Ivan Rodriguez

In recognition of the Phillies Interleague matchup with the Texas Rangers this week we are going to take a look at 2017 Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez

1992 Topps #78 Ivan Rodriguez (rookie cup)

Twenty-Five Years ago Ivan Rodriguez made the 199 Topps All-Star Rookie Team. In 88 Games he batted .264 with three Home Runs. The numbers were good enough to rank 4th in the AL Rookie of the Year voting which was won by Chuck Knoblauch.  

Pudge spent the bulk of his 21 year career with the Texas and he will be the first player enshrined in the Hall of Fame with his primary team listed as the Rangers. He is also the Franchises first rep, as all the Senators inducted are from the DC->Minnesota squad.

Rodriguez was selected for the Hall in his first year of eligibility, although his 76% tally was just one point above the 75% Hall of Fame threshold. Regardless it puts Ivan Rodriguez in the inner circle of Hall of Famers. Of the 15 Catchers in the Hall, I think he and Johnny Bench are the only two to get in on the first ballot.  

 

Catchers are surprisingly under-represented in the Hall. The are 15 Backstops enshrined, which is the lowest of any Batting position other than 3rd Base. 

Flip

1992 Topps #78 Ivan Rodriguez (rookie cup)

I was to lazy to look up a Box for the FSL All-Star game referenced, perhaps I will add it to this posting in the future. I like the fronts of 1992 Topps, but I am not a fan of the wasted space on the back. Do we really need the same picture of the stadium for every player on the team? It is a pretty dumb concept when you think about it, I mean how do you capture a stadium in basically a landscaped thumbnail.

Ivan Rodriguez Index

2010 Phungo #7
2011 Phungo #21
2015 Topps Stadium Club (Blaster Break)

Sources and Links
1992 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index
Baseball-Ref

1992 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index (1991 Award 1992 Card)

This is an Index to our postings related to the 1991 Topps Rookie All-Star Team. The award is for the 1991 season with the cards issued in the 1992 set.

 1992 Topps #78 Ivan Rodriguez (Rookie Cup)

#	Pos	Player	Team
12	OF	Luis Gonzalez	Houston Astros
23	2B	Chuck Knoblauch	Minnesota Twins
78	C	Ivan Rodriguez	Texas Rangers
84	3B	Leo Gomez	Baltimore Orioles
288	SS	Andujar Cedeno	Houston Astros
292	OF	Ray Lankford	St. Louis Cardinals
520	1B	Jeff Bagwell	Houston Astros
522	OF	Milt Cuyler	Detroit Tigers
537	RHP	Mark Leiter	Detroit Tigers
614	LHP	Al Osuna	Houston Astros

  

Sources and Links

Topps All-Star Rookie Master Index

B-R Bullpen

Sunday Night Baseball: Baltimore Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken

Last week when we published a posting on the Anniversary of Cal Ripken's streak breaking game I realized that I had yet to create an HoF Index for the Iron Man.

Tonight with the Orioles hosting the Royals on Sunday Night Baseball we correct that oversight.

1992 Topps #40 Cal Ripken

When Cal Ripken posed for the above shot he was likely still four years from passing Lou Gehrig for the consecutive games record. Apparently he had no fear of jinxing the streak by alluding to hit in the photo.

To me this is one of the great shots in the history of Topps. Cardboard Connection put together a top 10 list of Ripken cards, the 1992T card didn't make the cut, but it did get an honorable mention. The Article's Author Ryan Cracknall sums up the card beautifully:

So it's not the most valuable card, but do they all have to be? 1992 Topps Baseball has a beautiful shot of Ripken sitting next to the Lou Gehrig monument in Yankee Stadium, looking as classy as ever. The horizontal layout and slightly raised angle take it to another level.

There is nothing further I can add to that fitting description. The card is a member of the ubiquitous 1992 set and can be found anywhere for nothing. I likely found mine in a dime box.

The O's are five games below .500, but that hasn't stopped Baseball-ref from publishing the teams progress (regress?) in the playoff standings - and accordingly I will add this card to our 2015 Playoff contenders index as well. The Royals are also repped in Playoff Contenders (Lorenzo Cain, Alex Gordon, and Salvador Perez)

Also as noted above this card will function as our Cal Ripken HoF index

Cal Ripken HoF Index
2001 UD Cal Ripken Commemorative set #4 (2008 - 10h Anniversary of ending the streak)
2001 UD Cal Ripken Commemorative set #4 (2015 - 20h Anniversary of breaking Lou Gehrig's Record)
2011 Phungo #8

Throws out First Pitch on 15th Anniversary of Breaking Record (2010)
Cal Ripken Statue at Camden Yards (2012 Photo)

Sources and Links
2015 Playoff Contenders (O's include Adam Jones, Hardy, Chris Tillman) 
Cardboard Connection - Ryan Cracknell

And with the 10th pick the PHILLIES Select......

Tyler Green

1992 Topps #764 Major League Draft Pick Tyler Green

At least that is who they selected back in1991 the last time they had the 10th overall pick. The Phillies will pick in the same spot in the upcoming 2015 draft and with that in mind today we are going to take a look at the history of the MLB #10 pick.

Despite the fact that Tyler Green was an All-Star for the Phillies in 1995 the pick has to be considered a disappointment.

At the all-star break in 1995 Green was 8-4 with a 2.81 ERA, unfortunately he would not win another game that season. He finished at 8-9 with a 5.31 ERA. Three years later Green pitched his final game at the age of 28.

His final career was a -0.5 (32nd among draftees that made the majors) and below replacement level.

WAR stories
Of the 47 players drafted #10 between 1965 and 2011 thirty-nine made the majors (83%), Tyler Green is among that 83%, however he is not one of the 25 players (53%) who had a positive career WAR. 16 of the players have had Career WAR of 8 or above (34%). Eleven Players hit 20 or above (23%).

The Best career WAR among #10 Picks belongs to Mark McGwire (62.0), There is no #10 pick in the Hall of Fame however arguments could be made for  Robin Ventura (55.9) and Ted Simmons (50.1) who are both current Hall of Stats members.

If we were too look at Tyler Green positionally in the draft, There were 14 Pitchers taken #10,  only 4 broke the +8.0 WAR barrier (28%), but the Nationals Drew Storen is lurking at +5.3

Notable active players from the #10 club include Giants Pitchers Tim Lincecum (22.5 WAR) and Madison Bumgarner (17.6). The most significant position players among actives are Cameron Maybin and Jason Castro.

1991 Draft
Among first rounders the Big name that the Phils missed out on by Drafting Tyler Green was Manny Ramirez (Drafted 13th). There were six pitchers in the 1991 draft that all achieved 20+ WAR in their careers, All were picked after Green, Brad Radke (45.5 WAR drafted by the Mariners, pick 206) topped that group which included former Phillie Jon Lieber (24.3, Mariners, 241)

It also should be noted that this is the draft that the Yankees picked Brien Taylor #1 overall. Taylor never played in a major league game. 

Phillies 2015
So what does this all mean?

Well first off the Phillies need to do better with their 2015 pick than Tyler Green. He may have been an All-Star, but his contributions beyond that were negligible.

Baseball-Ref defines +2.0 WAR as a starter and +5.0 as an all-star.

The +8.0 at #10 is an interesting barometer. 1/3 of the players break that plane and it also equates to four seasons as a starter. That isn't All-Star caliber but the player could be a useful piece on a playoff team. The 20 WAR mark could be looked at as a dozen years of starting or a couple of all-star seasons flanked by 3 or 4 years of steady work. The Phillies have roughly a 1 in 4 chance of finding that player.
 
Draft Mania
We are in the middles of the NFL draft mania, an annual event that generates significant Off-Season buzz for the league. The MLB draft doesn't do as well for a variety of reasons, it is in-season, The Collegiate exposure of draftees is minimal at best, Picks are not tradeable, and the players are too far away from the majors.  MLB also does little to promote the event. Why not have at a public venue and invite fans to the festivities with Baseball Alums and autograph opportunities. Seems like a promotional no-brainer.

Sources and Links
baseball-ref
Hall of Stats

The day Nolan Ryan was yanked from a possible record setting No-Hitter

Twenty Five Years ago Nolan Ryan who had already tossed a Major League Record FIVE no-hitters was working on his sixth.

It was an Opening Day Game for the Texas Rangers who were hosting the Toronto Blue Jays.

Unfortunately Bobby Valentine had to remove the future Hall of Famer after just 5 innings and only 91 pitches. 

1992 Topps #1 Nolan Ryan

One may ask how could anyone like Nolan Ryan who still advocates lots of throwing (as opposed to limiting innings) could let himself get taken out after recording just 15 outs.

There really was no other decision for Bobby Valentine.

1989 Topps #314 Bobby Valentine

It was opening day of the 1990 season which had an abbreviated Spring Training due to a player lockout. Prior to his opening day start Ryan had only pitched seven Spring Training innings total and Valentine didn't want to risk an injury to his most valued pitcher.

1990 Year of the No Hitter
This is just an Appetizer for this years planned subset series "1991 Score No-Hit Club".  A card set that commemorated the nine no-hitters pitched the previous season. 2015 marks the 25th anniversary of that season.

In addition to taking a look at each of the nine cards in the subset, we will check in on near no-hitters and other related events.

Nolan Ryan's Opening Day start didn't make the final No-No list - Reliever Mike Jeffcoat retired the first two batters of the 6th inning before giving up a double to Blue Jays Third Baseman Kelly Gruber. The Rangers held on to win 4-2, giving up 3 hits. 

Phungo Nolan Ryan HoF Index
1975 Topps #7 No-Hitter 3: September 28 1974
1977 Topps #650
1984 Topps #4 - 1983 Highlights
1990 Topps #4 - The 1990s - The Astros Years - 4000Ks
1991 Score #417 (300th Win)
1991 Score #701 No-Hit Club (No-Hitter #6 - contains links to several other cards related to Ryan's 6th no-hitter)
2015 Topps Baseball History #14B 4000Ks/Live Aid

Sources & Links
Phungo 1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index 
Topps #1 Club
New York Daily News (Bill Madden)
baseball-ref
Baseball Library
baseball cardpedia
Baseball Card Database
 

1992 Topps #491 Candlestick Park (and Jeff Brantley)

Tonight the San Francisco 49ers host the Atlanta Falcons in an NFL game that could be the last professional sports contest at Candlestick Park. The Stick was also home for the San Francisco Giants for 40 seasons.

Two years after the Giants abandoned New York for the Bay they moved into Candlestick where they remained for 40 years through the 1999 campaign.     

1992 Topps #491 Candlestick Park (or Jeff Brantley b-side - swiped from baseball card database)

Tonight to honor the last game at Candlestick we post a card from 1992 Topps, which placed a small picture of the players home park across the bottom of each cards b-side.  The pix are small and it is pretty hard to distinguish one stadium from another, but it was an interesting idea. 

Team Phungo made it out to Candlestick once, the game didn't go well for the Phillies. It did go pretty well for Kevin Mitchell (3-4, HR, 2B, 4RBI)

1992 Topps #491 Jeff Brantley (also swiped from baseball card database)

I figure since it's his card we will knock out a couple of quick words on the player on the card front. Jeff Brantley spent a couple of years at the end of his career with the Phillies including a 23 save season in 2000.

All told Brantley spent 14 years in the majors, The first half of which he spent with the Giants. Career highlights include postseasons appearances in 1989 with the Giants and 1995 with the Reds. He represented the Giants at the all-star game in 1990 and with the Reds in 1996 he led the NL with 44 saves.  .    


Phun Phact



Candlestick Park hosted No-Hitters on consecutive days in 1968. On September 17th, Hall of Famers Gaylord Perry and Bob Gibson squared off with Perry getting the 1-0 victory for the Giants.  The following day the Cardinals returned the favor behind Ray Washburn who blanked the Giants 2-0.  


Sources
Pro-Football-Reference.com
baseball-ref.com
baseball card database
wikipedia.com
Baseball Almanac

PHUNGO CHALLENGE: Topps Jim Leyland 1992 and 2009 - Fungo on Phungo

Took a look at some of Jim Leyland's cards on the Baseball Card Database and noticed something interesting.  

1992 Topps #141 Jim Leyland (pix stolen from baseball card database)


 Above we have a Topps card of Jim Leyland likely hitting a Fungo as the Pirates manager. 

2009 Topps #339 Jim Leyland (again swiped from baseball card database)

And here we have Leyland with the Tigers 17 years later once again hitting a Fungo.

Most manager cards are profile shots, rarely these sort of "action" shots.  Which brings me to the....

Phungo Challenge
Is there another manager that can be found batting on 2 different cards.   Has to be a manager card, a pair of Ryne Sandberg cards of him batting for the Chicago Cubs doesn't count. 

Jim Leyland
I don't think that Leyland is done managing.  I think he and Detroit may have had enough of each other.  I know 68 seems old enough to retire, but some folks don't appear to be built for Retirement and I think Leyland is one of them. 

Philly Show in Valley Forge Friday Through Sunday

The PhillyShow returs to Valley Forge this weekend. Team Phungo is a bit under the weather so I am not sure I will be attending. Game time decision for Saturday. Tix for the show are $8. Some local papers have a $1 off coupon in the Friday Sports sections.

1992 Topps #754 Charlie Hayes
Among the autograph guests this weekend are HoF and Politician Jim Bunning, Steve Bedrosian, Charlie Hayes, Eagles RB Brian Westbrook, Ravens and Rutgers RB and recent SuperBowl Champ Ray Rice and Wrestler Ric Flair.

On Saturday Sixers Alum and ambassador Darryl "Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins is scheduled for complimentry autographs.

For a synopsis of the PhillyShow in December click here.

The Phungo Card Show info Post is here.