Cup of Coffee: 2001 Topps Hugh Alexander

Cup of Coffee: 2001 Topps Hugh Alexander

Earlier this month Major League Baseball honored the film "Field of Dreams" by playing a game in Dyersville Iowa near the films shooting location. 

August 24th marks the 20th anniversary of significantly less noteworthy baseball film "Summer Catch" 

I have never watched the film but have seen bits and pieces. From what I gather Catch was basically a love story set during the Cape Cod League. 

Of interest to us at Phungo HQ is that one of the characters in the film was based on Cup of Coffee player, Hugh Alexander. The character is a Phillies scout in the film played by John C McGinley (Perry Cox on Scrubs).

John C McGinley (right) as Hugh Alexander, the other guy is some dude named Hank Aaron. 

At the age of 19 Hugh Alexander got into 7 games with the 1937 Cleveland Indians. Unfortunately during the off-season Alexander was involved in an accident while working on an oil well, the accident cost him his hand. His brief baseball career was over as well. 

The Indians stepped up and hired Alexander as a scout. Alexander would excel as a scout discovering several players including Don Sutton, Allie Reynolds, Davey Lopes, Steve Garvey, and Dale Mitchell.

Canvas

I went with the year of the "Summer Catch" release for the cup design, 2001 Topps. There are very few card issues for Alexander's playing year, 1937. The circled numbers below the card represent the five players mentioned above, 6 - Garvey, 21 - Reynolds, 15 - Lopes, 20 - Sutton, 3 - Mitchell. Alexander's glove is show extending out of frame to symbolize the hand he lost. 

Series 2

This is the 9th and final card of Series 2, we will be taking a few weeks off and returning with Series 3 in the fall. If you have an idea for a future Cup of Coffee subject please let us know. 

Sources and Links

Cup of Coffee Index

imdb

baseball-ref

ANNIVESARY: 2000 May 24 Pat Burrell MLB Debut

May 24th marks the 20th anniversary of Pat Burrell's MLB Debut in a Phillies 9-7 victory versus the Houston Astros.

2008 Topps 50th Anniversary All-Rookie Team #AR81 Pat Burrell

in 2008 to mark the 50th anniversary of Team Phungo's favorite subset, All-Star Rookies, Topps issued and 110 card Insert set. Among the 110 players included was Pat Burrell.

The 2008 card format echoes the seminal 1960 Topps subset. For a look at those cards see our posting on Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.

Flip
2008 Topps 50th Anniversary All-Rookie Team #AR81 Pat Burrell (b-side)

The backs also mirror 1960T including the Season Highlights section bottom left. Notice the first bullet cites Burrell's MLB Debut and mentions a Triple he hit in that game. An oddity for a man who would finish with 16 career. That first Triple tacked on an insurance run in the 9th inning. It came off of Burrell's future teammate Billy Wagner. 

Burrell's originally made the 2000 team that was honored in the 2001 Topps.

2001 Topps #144 Pat Burrell 

Sources and Links
Pat Burrell Index
2001 Topps Rookie Cup Index (2000 honorees)
Baseball-Ref 
Check Out My Cards

2000 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team (2001 Topps Set)

This is an index to postings related to the 2000 Topps All-Star Rookie Team which was honored with cards in the 2001 Topps set. The Set includes 2008 World Champ Pat Burrell.

2001 Topps #144 Pat Burrell 

91    2001 TOPPS MIKE LAMB
144    PAT BURRELL
271    BENGIE MOLINA
278    TERRENCE LONG
293    JAY PAYTON
319    RAFAEL FURCAL
514    ADAM KENNEDY
653    MARK REDMAN
720    KAZUHIRO SASAKI
721    MARK QUINN

2008 Topps TASR 50th Anniversary #AR81 Pat Burrell

Phillies Wall of Fame Inductee Pat Burrell

Tonight the Phillies will add Pat Burrell to their Wall of Fame

2001 Topps #144 Pat Burrell (r-Cup)

To mark the occasion we are going to take a look at Burrell's 2001 Topps Card which features a rookie cup flair. The then 23 year old outfielder earned the honor by leading all rookies in RBI with 79 and finish second to Lance Berkman in Home Runs (18 vs 21)

 2001 Topps #144 Pat Burrell (b-side)

Good summary of the drafting of Burrell and his Rookie season. 2001 Topps B-sides are pretty decent with a 2nd photo plus a ghost of the a-side.


More Rookie Cup

2008 Topps #AR81 Pat Burrell

Topps marked the 50th anniversary of the All-Star Rookie team with this insert set done in the design of the 1960T Rookie Cup Subset.

 2008 Topps #AR81 Pat Burrell (b-side)

The back of the 1960T cards have bullet points of season highlights. Cool feature when looking back at a players rookie season.

2005 Topps Rookie Cup #118 Pat Burrell (Orange #d 397/399)

2008 was not the first time that Topps leveraged their Rookie Cup cache. In 2005 they released an entire set dedicated to the Rookie Cup. While the design of the 150 card set is rather bland I do like this card of Burrell blowing a chewing gum bubble while presuming playing first base - his position early in his career. Also note that he is wearing the 2000 era #33 rather than his more familiar #5. 

2005 Topps Rookie Cup #118 Pat Burrell (b-side )

All three cards mention Burrel'sl Debut Game on 2000 05 24. The first two cards discuss his early success while the latter two mention Pat's numbers with the bases loaded.

For a more detailed look at Pat Burrell cards check the In Search of Pat the Bat blog.

Sources and Links
Phillies Wall of Fame
Baseball-ref
Baseball Cardpedia

2015 Hall of Fame Candidate Paul Byrd 2001 Topps #656

Today our 2015 HoF Candidates series takes a look at journeyman pitcher Paul Byrd.

2001 Topps #656 Paul Byrd

Byrd spent 14 years in the Majors, but never more than four with any one club. The two teams he spent the most time with were the the Phillies and their current opponent the Atlanta Braves.

During those 14 seasons Byrd racked up 109 wins and represented Phillies on the 1999 Al-Star team. Byrd got into postseason play with four different clubs. The closest he got to the World Series was as a member of the 2007 Indians who pushed the Red Sox to seven games in the ALCS. Earlier in the 07 Postseason Byrd got the W while eliminating the Yankees in the ALDS.

Scribe  
In addition to being a pitcher Paul Byrd is also an author. Following his big Postseason with the Indians Byrd published "Free Byrd", an account of his Faith in God and the temptations associated with Major League Baseball. You can pick up the book for $4

Phungo Verdict
An eon ago, probably about the same time the above card was produced, I was going over pitchers in a Fantasy Baseball magazine. The Magazine had a buzz synopsis along with each players projected stat line. The comment associated with Rick Reed, a replacement player in the Mets organization, was "A Poor Man's Greg Maddux". Further down the roster Paul Byrd was listed as "A Poor Man's Rick Reed". So there you have it Paul Byrd was 2 degrees in talent removed from the Hall of Fame.   

Sources and Links
2015 Topps HoF Candidates
Baseball-refAmazon.com
San Francisco Chronicle/SF Gate
Baseball Almanac

Sunday Night Baseball: 2015 Hall of Fame Candidate Pedro Martinez - 2001 Topps Chrome #45

Tonight we take over our intermittent Sunday Night Baseball postings with our Hall of Fame ballot feature. In 2014 we made it through 10 candidates - This year we are starting a bit sooner, hopefully we hit more of the ballot.

With the Red Sox hosting the Yankees yet again on the big E, it seems like a very appropriate time to look at Pedro Martinez.

2001 Topps Chrome #45 Pedro Martinez

Pedro took the mound for five different teams in his career, including a dozen starts with the 2009 Phillies but to me he will always be a member of the Boston Red Sox.

The HoF resume for Martinez is pretty solid, Curse busting World Series Ring, 3 Cy Young Awards, Eight time All-Star, A W/L record 100+ games over .500. He won 5 ERA titles and his 3154 Strikeouts are 13th all-time. For the cool kids Martinez 86.0 career WAR ranks 17th all time. Everyone ahead of him is Either in the Hall or on the ballot.

Phungo Verdict
Despite the fact he lost the Game 6 of the 2009 World Series. Pedro remains one of my favorite players. He was the rare player who wanted the ball, believed he would deliver and then would - the notable exception was of course his last couple of starts with the Phillies.

I found him to be pure theater on and off the mound from much of his career and he gets a Thumbs Up on the Phungo HoF ballot.  

2001 Topps Chrome
It is likely coincidence but in 2001T Chrome Pedro Martinez occupies Card #45 which is his uniform number. Last year there was a mini kerfuffle due to Topps moving away from their traditional hero numbers system. I didn't get the folks that were disappointed with the change. I thought it was kine of neat, but hey if you need something to get upset about, I suppose that's fine. 45 was not Pedro's card number in base - instead in 2001 Topps went with the semi-hero #60

Sources And Links 
Pedro Martinez HoF Index

Baseball-ref
2015 HoF Candidates