2016 World Series

I will be rooting for the Indians this year. However I like both squads.

2004 UD USA Baseball #USA-60 Terry Francona

One of the reasons that I will be cheering for Cleveland is that their manager led some very bad Phillies teams in the late 1990s. In my opinion he took a little to much heat here for that lack of success of those teams. 

Prediction
However....I believe the Indians are way overmatched, I predict the Cubs in a quick four games. MVP goes to Ben Zobrist.

For more information on this card an 2004 UD USA Baseball see our original posting on this card which is here


Sources and Links
baseball-ref

Happy Independence Day

For our Fourth of July posting we present short Dave Stewart who briefly pitched for the Phillies in the middle 80s.

 2004 UD USA Baseball #USA-173

We recently featured Stewart as part of our 1990 No-Hitter Series. His card here is devoted to Stewart's 2003 stint as pitching coach of team USA.

 2004 UD USA Baseball #USA-173 (b-side)

The flip of the card mentions Stewart's 1989 World Series MVP award and Team USA's performance during the 2003 qualifier.

For more on Stewart's 1990 no-hitter click here.

Sources and Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index

2004 UD USA Baseball #GU-DS Dave Stewart

For Patriot Day 2014 we are posting a USA Baseball Card.

2004 UD USA Baseball #GU-DS Dave Stewart

This is part of my USA baseball album, but could be part of my Phillies collection. Yes Dave Stewart did spend about 15 minutes playing for the Phillies in the middle 80s. This was in the era just prior to Dave Stewart becoming a perennial Cy Young candidate and dominant postseason pitcher.

During the 9 month period that Stewart played with the Phillies he pitched 12 games all in relief and sccrued a 6.48 ERA. For obvious reasons the Phillies released Dave Stewart.

Stewart was signed by the Oakland A's and his career changed. Between 1987 and 1991 he was a top 4 finisher in the Cy Young voting. In 1987 he led the league in Wins, twice during the aforementioned four year period he led the league in Innings and Complete Games. 

In 1988 He was named the World Series MVP in the Earthquake Series. It was one of 3 World Series Ring Dave Stewart would win. The first was as a relief pitcher for the 1981 Dodgers, the other was versus hte Phillies in 1993. In addition to the WS MVP Stewart also collected postseason honors in 1990 and 1993 when he was named MVP of each of those ALCS. Overall Dave Stewart was 10-6 with a 2.77 ERA pitching 133 innings across 6 postseason runs.

Patriot Day
Patriot day is also known as a Day of Service and Remembrance conceived to help honor and remember lost love ones and those who were affected by that loss.

Dave Stewart had some missteps off the field early in his career, but in retirement has become an important contributor to his community. He is a strong supporter of the Oakland Boys and Girls Club and other Youth oriented organizations in the bay area. Each year the Oakland A's present a team member with a Community Service Award that is named for Dave Stewart. Reliever Sean Doolittle won the award in 2013, Doolittle is active with Veteran's Afffairs offices in Palo Alto and nationwide. I found no record of a 2014 award recipient.

Sources  & Links
The White House
Oakland A's
baseball-ref

2004 UD USA Baseball #USA-60 Terry Francona

Tonight is the last of 3 consecutive nights of Winner or Go Home MLB games, featuring Monday Nights winner the Tampa Bay Rays v the Cleveland Indians who have come to be known as the "Fighting Francona's" 

2004 UD USA Baseball #USA-60 Terry Francona


Lots of folks know that in addition to managing the Indians Terry Francona has also managed both the Phillies and of course the Red Sox (2004 and 2007 World Champions), however they may not know that he was the manager of the 2001 USA Baseball team.  The USA squad took the silver medal in the 2001Baseball World Cup (not affiliated with the WBC) hosted by Tapei Taiwan. The Gold Medal game was versus Cuba who took the gold with a 5-3 victory. 

2004 UD USA Baseball  
 
The USA Baseball set gets around (2013=Panini, 2010=Topps)  The 2004 Set by Upper Deck consists of 200 cards and recognizes the 25th anniversary of USA Baseball.  The checklist contains some superstars: McGwire, Oswalt, Mussina, Brian Roberts, Jack McDowell, Varitek, and Mauer as well as lesser known players.  In addition to the full 200 cards the factory sets include a relic plus 3 autographs. RA Dickey is a notable auto from the set. 

Factory sets are available on Amazon for $34. 

Sources
USA Baseball
Dave and Adam's Card World
wikipedia.com
Amazon.com