1964 Phillies @ 50 Art Mahaffey

Fifty years ago on Sunday the 1964 Phillies entered the day 6 1/2 games up with 12 to play.

1960 Topps #138 Art Mahaffey

The Philies faced the Reds that day sending Art Mahaffey to the mound. He pitched very well taking a shutout into the 6th inning and then something happened. With 2 outs, Mahaffey faced future Hall of Famer Frank Robinson with a runner on 3rd base. 

Chico Ruiz, the runner at 3rd base, broke for the plate. Mahaffey's pitch went wide and Ruiz scored. It was the only run the Reds scored. Unfortunately for the Phillies they were shutout by John Tsitsouris. It is the game that started the 1964 Phillies famous collapse -The first of 10 consecutive losses the club would endure.

The Phils World Series aspirations evaporated during those two weeks, The St Louis Cardinals took the league by 1 game over the Phillies.    


Sources & Links
1964 Phillies Index
Year of the Blue Snow (Ralph Berger Mel Marmer)
Baseball-ref

2013 12 08 Philly Show - 1963 Fleer #50 Ruben Amaro

1963 Fleer #50 Ruben Amaro

The December version of the PhillyShow was a bit of a mess for a variety of reasons. Shane Victorino was unable to make the show and the promoter failed to update their website.

There are a variety of reasons why cancellations might happen and it is usually excusable. Both local promoter Poppel and regional CSA (who run the Chantilly Show) seems to do a good job of keeping their customers updated.   At the PhillyShow I think there is at least a 50% chance of at least one guest no-show and I have NEVER seen a pre-show announcement by Hunt Auctions or Philly Show regarding a cancellation.  In Fact the Shane Victorino appearance is STILL on the Sports Vault website
(as of 12/17)

Okay enough of that drama. Lets talk about some cards - first up a couple of 1963 Fleer Cards

The Ruben Amaro card above is one of two 1963F Phillies cards that I picked up. The other was #54 Art Mahaffey.

1963 Fleer #54 Art Mahaffey

1963 Fleer is a set that I am fond of and at various times have consider building. The abbreviated set is a mere 66 cards - Due to a legal action from Topps, Fleer was only able to produce a single series. The series is significant for containing the first Maury Wills card.

There are five Philies in the set. The Amaro and Mahaffey cards seen here are the bookends for the 63F Phillies team set which runs from #50-54. The three middle cards are Johnny Callison, Clay Dalrymple and Don Demeter. If you want an easy to build Vintage Phillies team set, this may be the one for you - each of the above cards went for $2.    

For more info on 1963 Fleer please read the Cardboard Connection article by the late Chris Stufflestreet   

Sources
TeamSets4u
Cardboard Connection - Chris Stufflestreet

Sloppy Topps - 2010 Heritage

This may have been discussed elsewhere - but I don't recall seeing it, so I am bringing it up here.


2010 Topps Heritage #368 Placido Polanco
1961 Topps #433 Art Mahaffey

Are friend Placido Polanco is back from earlier in the week to help out with this demonstration. The Polanco card appears pretty close to the 61 Original of Phils Pitcher art Mahaffey. The only real discrepancy between the cards (other then the blatant photoshopping discussed previously) is the Topps Heritage logo. The color scheme for the boxes at the bottom rotate throughout the set and I really have no issue with this. however.....

Take a 1961 original and a 2010 Heritage card.

Now take both cards and flip them over.


2010 Topps Heritage #368 Placido Polanco (b-side)
1961 Topps #433 Art Mahaffey (b-side)

The Card backs are reversed in 2010 Heritage.

This seems to be a pretty hard detail to miss.

Heritage is popular with collectors because it mimics the Topps classic designs well. The one thing that Topps has on the other companies is their history. If Topps does not honor their history properly, they risk making a mockery of an asset.