2015 HoF Ballot Tony Clark: 1997 Donruss Signature Series

Tony Clark was a switch hitting first baseman who spent the first half of his career with the Detroit Tigers and the remainder as a journeyman with 5 other clubs.

1997 Donruss Signature Series Tony Clark Autograph (#d 488/900)

During His 15 year career Clark's teams made Postseason Appearances: 2004 Yankees - he was the 1B tasked with holding on Dave Roberts in Game 4 of the ALCS  and 2007 Diamondbacks. Other career Highlights include tallying 251 Career Homers, representing the Tigers at the 2001 All-Star Game and finishing 3rd in the 1996 AL RoY voting which was won by Derek Jeter.
 

1997 Donruss Signature Series

1997 Donruss Signature Series Tony Clark Autograph (#d 448/900 b-side)

Ran into something interesting here, An autograph card featuring a photo of the player yes signing an autograph. It isn't that complicated to put this card together, but I am not sure I have ever seen it done elsewhere. Is there a -graph collector out there that has any insight on this?

In 1997 the Donruss Signature Series came in 3 parallels: Red which were the commons, Green shown here - typically numbered to 1000 although Clark is serialed to 900, and finally Blue which are numbered to 100.

Phungo HOF Verdict
YES - a surprise Yes vote team Phungo. Last December Tony Clark became the head of the MLB players association (MLBPA), He is the first former player to lead the union. Clark is the fourth person to lead the MLBPA, a position that was originated by Marvin Miller.

My Tony Clark YES HoF vote is a protest vote against the various folks that have rejected Marvin Miller over the years. Miller may have never played on the field but his leadership changed how players in all sports are compensated, All one has to do is look at the salaries players are earning to realize what Miller has meant to the sprot.    

Sources & Links
2015 HoF Ballot
MLBPA
Baseball-Ref 
Bob Lemke's Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards    

2015 HoF Ballot Marlon Anderson: 1998 Bowman #436

Today's look at 2015 HoF candidates focuses on one time Phillies Second Baseman Marlon Anderson.

1998 Bowman #436 Marlon Anderson

Anderson spent five seasons with the Phillies before the club gave up on him following the 2002 season. The balance of his 12 year was spent with five other ball clubs and was highlighted by 2 postseason bids: 2004 with the Cardinals who won the NL Pennant but then got swept by the Pirates and 2006 with the Dodgers who were eliminated in the NLDS by the Mets.

The '06 campaign was probably Anderson's best. He started the season with the Nats before being traded to the Dodgers. Between the two clubs Anderson hit a career high 12 homers and batted .297. His OPS+ for the season was also a career best 123. Outside of 2006 and Anderson's 2001 campaign with the Phillies (+2.9 WAR, 11 Homers) it was a pretty pedestrian career 1100+ games .265 career BA, 63 Homers.


The Verdict
nope

1998 Bowman
Series 1 of 98 Bowman features the Jimmy Rollins RC and an early Roy Halladay card. Marlon Anderson at #436 doesn't appear until Series 2 which contains Rooke Cards of Carlos Lee, Kevin Millar, Milton Bradley, Jake Westbrook, Reading Native Wade Miller, and Phillies southpaw Randy Wolf.


Marlon Anderson 2014
The Phillies brought in Marlon to try out in a couple of broadcasting duties this past season. He was ok for pre-/post-game but I felt he struggled with color analysis. I have not heard if the Phils will be bring back Anderson for a broader role in 2015.

Sources & Links
2015 HoF Ballot
Baseball Cardpedia
Baseball-ref

2015 Hall of Fame Ballot Brandon Webb: 2007 Topps #319 Cy Young Award

Tonight we found out the 2014 Cy Young Award winners Clayton Kershaw and Corey Kluber. Eight years ago those honors went to Johan Santana and Brandon Webb.

2007 Topps #319 Cy Young Award Brandon Webb

As part of our survey of 2015 Hall candidates I want to discuss a non-candidate. Pitching is tough on the arm and Brandon Webb is just another exhibit A of careers cut short. During a 3 year span from 2006-2008 Webb finished first or second in the NL Cy Young vote. Great stuff unfortunately Webb only pitched in 4 other season.

That adds up to seven campaigns which is three years short of the HoF ballot minimum service requirement.

Therefore Branon Webb will not be on the 2015 HoF Ballot, but I thought the magnitude of his breif career warranted a mention in our HoF survey.

The Verdict 
In addition to the 3 Cy Young top two finishes mentioned above Brandon Webb's career highlights include a 3rd place Rookie of the Year finish in 2003. That season he led all candidates in WAR, but the award went to Dontrelle Willis. In 2007 he got his only postseason in game 1 of the NLDS.

Regardless of all the accomplishments the vote is NO for Webb. His half of a Hall career isn't good enough. Had Webb pitched until today he would likely be on the 2020 ballot, but things didn't work out that way.  

2007 Topps

2007 Topps #319 Cy Young Award Brandon Webb (b-side)

The flip side of the 2007T Cy Young Award card specifies Webb's '06 credentials. To be honest the only really good number here is the 2.82 ERA vs Playoff teams. The rest of the numbers seem to hurt Webb's cause. Although checking advance metrics we find that in 2006 Webb did lead the NL in pitching WAR. It is his only career top 10 finish.

Links and Sources
Baseball-ref
2015 HoF Ballot

2015 HoF Ballot Gary Sheffield 1989 Baseball Cards Magazine #14

With Sunday Night Football in Nearby Green Bay We will take a look at a Milwaukee Brewer Alum that is on the 2015 HoF Ballot. 

1989 Baseball Cards Magazine #14 Gary Sheffield

The Brew Crew took Sheffield out of high school with the 6th overall pick in the 1986 draft. Two years and a few months later He was with the big club. It was the beginning of a 22 year career that saw the nine time all-star Win a World Series (1997 Marlins), and post 509 Home Runs (25th all time) , 1676 RBI (26th), and score 1636 Runs (38th) all on the way to five Silver Slugger Awards. He never won an MVP award, but he did finish 2nd or 3rd three times. Sheffield finished 2nd in oWar twice, both times he was bested by Barry Bonds.

Hall of Fame
We have established that Gary Sheffield accumulated ridiculously good numbers during an offense heavy era of tbe game. What does it all mean? Well the good folks at fangraphs and baseball-ref have designed the WAR stat to be independent of era. According to BR Sheffield Ranks 18th in career WAR for the position, Jay Jaffe's JAWS rating which combines WAR with Peak War ranks Sheff 23rd.  RF is also the most populated position in the hall with a lot of candidates similar to Sheffield lurking (Ichiro, Vlad, Bobby Abreu, and the surprisingly strong candidate Larry Walker) 

My Verdict is a YES. His numbers are on the good side of the borderline, He has a World Series Ring, but No MVPS - however he was on a bunch of All-Star teams and has a couple of silver slugger bats laying around. If ti wasn't for Barry Bonds he would have 2 oWAR titles and he may have won an MVP.

1989  Baseball Cards Magazine
30 years after the initial release of 1959 Topps, Baseball Cards Magazine homaged the set with a set of their own. The set was issued as 6 card sheets inserted into the magazine throughout the year. They were even thorough enough to create a template for the 1959T Rookie Stars subset.

The card isn't in error on Sheffield's position, he came up as a shortstop. His career didn't really take off until 1992 when he was traded to San Diego where he became a third baseman. The following season he was moved to the Marlins where he finally found his home in the outfield - which is where most of us place Gary Sheffield.

Sources & Links
2015 HoF Candidates
Baseball-ref

2015 Hall of Fame Candidate Scott Eyre 2009 Upper Deck #811

Scott Eyre made a nice career out of being a Left Handed relief pitcher. He spent 13 years in the majors, the last two with the Phillies. He was a member of 3 different Pennant Winners including the Phillies 2008 World Championship team as well as the 2009 Phils squad – his final major league action was in Game 6 versus the Yankees. His 24 postseasom appearances is pretty impressive and includes Games 3 and 4 of the 2008 Series, both of which were won by the Phillies. 

2009 Upper Deck #811 Scott Eyre 

Eyre was never a closer (only 4 career saves) but his career took off once he became a reliever full time at age 31. Prior to 2002 His Career ERA was 5.25 (ERA+ 88), from 2003 forward he had a 3.34 ERA (132 ERA+). His career WAR was 7.3, he only exceeded a 2.0 WAR once – 2.3 in 2005, which is also the only year he received an MVP vote, a single 10^th place vote.

2002 Giants

Since we are In the middle of a World Series involving the San Francisco Giants, we must note Eyre’s tenure with the Giants which ran from 2002-2005. That 3 year window was the pivot point for his career. He went from being a mediocre swing man to a lefty specialist.

As a member of the 2002 World Series Team and did pitch to a single batter in the 7^th inning of the Series’ fateful game 6. The Giants had a 5 run lead with 9 outs to go to Win that series, but It wasn’t going to happen. The Giants gave up 3 runs in the 6^th and 3 more in the 7^th and lost the game 6-5. Eyre pitched in the 7^th and while his batter didn’t plate a run or score himself by failing to retire Adam Kennedy, Eyre may have thrown the bullpen off center for the balance of the game.  

2009 Upper Deck
Like this card because it shows Eyre wearing a 2008 World Series Cap. Eyre is wearing a home jersey, therefore the photo was taken during either game 3 or game 4 of the 08 Series. Which means it was taken 6 years ago on this Upcoming Sunday(25th) or Monday (26th).    

One minor note on 2009 UD, I am not sure why but nobody ever complains about Upper Decks use of foil. Perhaps it is executed better, but I am not sure that is true. The above photo is actually more readable than the scan.  

Phungo HoF Verdict

YES – Member of the 2008 Phillies World Champions, It’s My Vote so I will vote for whomever I want.

Sources and Links 
2015 Hall of Fame Canididates 
2014 Playoff Teams

Baseball-ref

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 John Smoltz - 2003 Topps #556

For tonight's Sunday Night Baseball feature we are posting the 2nd installment of our 2015 HoF candidates. With the Braves hosting the Nats we turn to John Smoltz.

2003 Topps #556 John Smoltz

The HoF case for John Smoltz is interesting.  Due to a career arc that moved him to the closer role Smoltz is pretty unique in the history of the game.  Despite only starting five games over a 5 year period (2000-2004) Smoltz still found time to win 213 games. In addition to that big number Smoltz won a World Series (1995) and collected a Cy Young award. He was a member of 8 All-Star teams and started the 1996 game that was hosted by the Phillies.

Smoltz Advanced stats numbers give him a little trouble. The four years he spent closing likely hurt Smoltz career WAR numbers. His 69.5 WAR number is a few ticks below the Average for HoF candidates. That number puts Smoltz above Jim Palmer, Don Sutton, Juan Marichal and Don Drysdale. It also puts him below Non-Haller Rick Reuschel.

There is a significant third aspect to Smoltz's HoF resume - His Postseason numbers. The man was 15-4 in 209 playoff innings. His ERA in those game was a very solid 2.67. 

Phungo Verdict
HoF - This is a pretty easy one for me. Even with the baseball world turning towards SABRmetrics I think the BBWAA will agree and put John Smoltz in the Hall on Ballot One.  The overall career numbers coupled with the World Series Ring and Smoltz's dominant postseason numbers make for  a pretty strong case. In addition I think the BBWAA will look favorably upon Smoltz for being able to accept any role to help the team.

2003 Topps

I love this card. In general I think 2003 Topps is underrated. The rich colors throughout the set work and I like the profile pix in the lower corner which echoes 1983 Topps, another Phungo favorite. Beyond that I am a fan of cards with the throwback unis. The Braves Hank Aaron era throwback meshes well with the set color scheme.  HoF card for a HoF player.

Pix
The photo on this card was taken in the 9th inning of a Braves 5-3 victory over the Phillies on July 27, 2002. There are couple of Phillies and Braves cards in 2003 Topps that have the throwbacks, not all of these can be attached to the July 27th game as the teams wore the unis for all 3 games of the weekend series. The 7/27 and 7/28 games were both day games while Friday 7/26 was played at night. We were able to pin down the Smoltz card as the middle game on Saturday as it was the only time he pitched in the series.

John Smoltz HOF Index

1991 Score #208 (Year of the No-Hitter)

2002 Topps #145 (1996 ASG w/ Eddie Mathews Memorial Patch)

Sources and Links
Phungo HoF Index

Game Date Cards Index
The Throwback Report 
2015 Topps HoF Candidates
Baseball-ref

Update
20017 0727: The Pix paragraph was added, Sources and Links reconfigured.

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

2015 Hall of Fame Candidates Index

Paul Bako
David Dellucci
Adam Eaton
Eric Milton
Marlon Anderson Veto
Scott Eyre HoF
Paul Byrd Veto
Pedro Martinez HoF
Tom Gordon HoF


Sidney Ponson
Kevin Millar
Chad Bradford
Aaron Boone
Jason Schmidt
Troy Percival
Nomar Garciaparra
Tony Clark HoF
Cliff Floyd
Carlos Delgado
John Smoltz  HoF 
Gary Sheffield HOF
Rich Aurilia 
Jermaine Dye
Alan Embree
Darin Erstad
Kelvim Escobar
Brian Giles
Eddie Guardado
Randy Johnson
Mark Loretta
Doug Mientkiewicz
B J Ryan
Jarrod Washburn
Less than 10 MLB Seasons
So Taguchi
Tim Redding
Brandon Webb Veto


2015 Golden Era HoF Candidates
Dick Allen Veto
Billy Pierce Veto


Links & Sources
Phungo HoF Page
Baseball Hall of Fame