Phungo 5 with Beardy's Baseball Blog

2009 06 19 Rich Hill v John Mayberry Jr (click to enlarge)

The Phils conclude the home portion of their Interleague schedule with the fresh faced Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore is only about 90 minutes down the road and I have several fans who have been suffering through the last couple of years as O's fans. To help us out with this weekends Phungo 5 I have called upon the Bearded one of Beardy's Baseball Blog to fill us in on whats happening in Birdland.

The O's have a rich history and Beardy is focusing in on Markakis and Adam Jones cards as well as legends like Cal Ripken and Brooks Robinson.

Here is Beardy's incredible Phungo 5 - perhaps its my familiarity with the O's but this is a record setting Phungo 5:

1) Whos is the Best Orioles prospect not named Wieters?
Wieters is the best prospect in the history of time. Hmmm... it would have to be one of the young arms Andy MacPhail has stashed away in the minors. I'll go with Chris Tillman, who will probably be up with the club at the end of this season. He's 6'5" with a mid 90's fastball, and what's supposed to be a good curve. I say that with no disrespect intended to Jake Arrieta, or Brian Matusz, who are also highly-touted prospects in the Orioles system. Matt Wieters is God.

2) Do the O's deserve to draw better than 13000 per game on weeknights?

Yes, and no. The actual players deserve a sellout every game, but ownership deserves even less than the 13,000 that attend now. Peter Angelos is a horrible owner who refuses to spend the money necessary to be competitive in the AL East. Year after year free agents are not signed, and big trades are not made. Mark Teixeira anyone? But the players deserve all the credit in the world. Every guy on this year's squad gives their all on the field, and it shows (despite the terrible record).

(2 Points - Beardy is right on both counts, Angelos is an idiot but there is some exciting young talent there that is definitely worth watching)

3) Who will represent the Orioles in St Louis for the All-Star game and who should represent them?

Adam Jones should be an All-Star for sure. He's having a breakout season, and has carried the offense at times this year. It wouldn't surprise me if he hit 30 homers and drove in 100 runs on the season. I'd also like to see Markakis there, but he needs t bust out of his recent slump. The man has a cannon for an arm, and was off to a fine start before slowing down over the past month. We all know none of the O's pitchers are making it, unless Brad Bergesen keeps throwing like he has been, but that's a long shot.

4) Do you miss the Phils and O's being Interleague rivals or do you prefer facing the Nats?

The Phils and O's were interleague rivals? I knew that, but have always thought it was sort of weak. I'm not really a big fan of interleague at all. The best part about it to me, is getting to be featured in the Phungo 5. The Nats make much more sense, especially since they battle over airtime on the same local sports network (MASN). Besides, the Orioles actually have a legitimate chance of beating the Nationals.

(2 Points - "The best part about it to me, is getting to be featured in the Phungo 5" blantant sucking up or not this must be awarded!)

5) If one was to have an adult beverage prior to or following a game in the Camden Yards neighborhood where would you recomend?

Well, I prefer to have an adult beverage before and after a game at Camden Yards. There's a spot on the corner of Pratt & Howard streets, right across the street from the stadium, that sells 2 beers for $5 before each day game. When you take mass transit to the ballpark, it lets you off practically right in front of the place. I like to chug 2 Yuenglings, and then walk to the Yard. After the game, nothing beats Pratt Street Ale House. It was better as it's previous incarnation, "The Wharf Rat", but even now it's still pretty great. They have their own little brewery inside, and some of their beers are pretty decent. I recommend the Ironman Pale Ale.... and a burger. The Oliver ESB (Extra Special Bitter) is also a tasty oat soda, and has garnered some impressive praise from beer critics.

(2 Points - Drinks before AND after the game - as it should be. Props for using mass transit and I used to love the Wharf Rat (both inner harbor and Fells Point) not sure I have been in the new place but will put it on the list)

Ok I will have to break out my Abacus, correct on Qs 1 and 3 and DOUBLE points on 2 4 and 5. EIGHT out of 5 for Beardy!!!! new World Phungo 5 Record.

Seriously I would love to see the O's become competitive. I think they have a pretty faithful fanbase and a lot of tradition and there are several good player there who deserve increased recognition. They do play in a brutal division but there have also been many missteps in that past that have led to repeated poor finishes. The O's ships seems to have turned around a bit now though and is hopefully headed in the right direction.

Regardless Camden Yards is a great place to see a ball game and Inner Harbor is a great vacation spot. Tickets are easy to get for all but the Bosox and Yanks so if you get the chance to see your favorite player or team in Baltimore I recommend you take the time.

Thanks to Beardy for this very entertaining Phungo 5, I am catching a couple of the games this weekend and hope to get a report up at some point. If you would like to look at a previoius Phungo 5 click here to see our interview with Blue Jays Cards.

Beardy's Blog and Building 1959 Topps

When I returned to baseball cards I made the decision to attempt building a Vintage Topps Set. The set I picked was the 1959 Topps Set. At the time it was the upcoming Topps Heritage Set, I like the looks of them - It was the last set to contain Richie Ashburn as a Phillie, and it was from the '50s which has a bit more cache then saying "I am collecting the 1960 set".

I recently reached the half way point and have just received contributions from two different bloggers. About a week ago I posted about a card sent in a package from Night Owl Cards. And this week I was very happy to find another nice group of cards from the Orioles centered Beardy's Baseball Blog.

Up until now almost all of the cards I have built the set with have been via eBay and Card Shows. I like the cards I get via trades twice as much though. I am sure not to many folks have extra 1959s around but if you do I am definitely willing to trade for them. I have lots of duplicates from the sets, and if anybody is interested in those I will also entertain trade offers.

I noticed about a month ago in a post that Beardy had picked up an eBay lot of 1959 Orioles. The batch contained some duplicates. We made a trade where I sent him one of the O's High-Numbered All-Stars, Gus Triandos, along with a few Markakii (hope I got that right) and he sent back a bunch of his '59 dupes which also included a few Red Sox cards.



1959 Topps #219 George Zuvenick
1959 Topps #500 Vic Wertz

I love the Zuvenick card and a couple of other O's cards in this set because they have the classic Orioles uni with "Baltimore" written across the front. This season the O's have gone backto wearing these uniforms when on the road.

I am chronicling my quest to build the 1959 topps set on my Trade List Page in this posting. As of today (2009 06 14) I have 344 of the 572 cards or about 60% of the set. If anybody has any 1959s that I could use please let me know and we can make a deal. I also have a list of my 1959 doubles but that list needs to be updated as several of these have been sent out over the last couple of months. I have several other lists of sets that I have started or am in the process of building throughout the SetQuest page if you see anything that you have to offer let me know and perhaps we can work a deal.

Thanks to Beardy's Baseball Blog for helping out with building the 1959 Topps Set, it is much appreciated - oh and Beardy, The Phils are hosting the O's next weekend, I think there is a good chance of seeing a Phungo 5 questionairre in your email soon.