Frank Robinson 1934-2019

I have covered Frank Robinson a few times on this blog but not nearly enough. While I never got to see him play, I did get to see an historic game in which he was involved.

2005 Topps Update Nationals Inaugural Lineup #NI-TEAM

The April 2005 game was so historic that Topps honored it with a trading card - It was the first game in the history of the Nationals.

Robinson appears prominently on the card twice. First in the top photo he is at the center to the left of home plate, while the Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel guards the other. The inset photo on the bottom left features Frank Robinson even more prominently. The two images are clearly from different games - note that the smaller picture features the Nats in their Home uniforms at RFK.

The Phillies won the game 8-4 you can read more about the game at the SABR Baseball Game project.

I go into this card more in depth here, but at the time I didn't mention Frank Robinson. 

Tributes
SABR BB Card Blog
1960s Baseball Card Blog 
Fresh Air - Terry Gross Terrific interview (13 mins audio & text) includes Robinson's views on integration/segregation.

Links and Sources
Frank Robinson HOF Index
2005 0404 Nationals inaugural game at Phillies
SABR games project
Baseball-ref

#tbt 2008 October 31: a Phillies Parade

There is a big parade happening in Philadelphia today. A decade ago Team Phungo got to attend a parade similar celebration.

In 2008 the Phillies Parade ended at the Stadium, On our way there we crossed the parking lot that is located where Veterans Stadium once stood. There are markers for each of the bases there, This is team Phungo at Home Plate. Pretty cool to have that pix taken the date the Phillies celebrated their World Championship.

Within the Ballpark the Phillies road around the ballpark in convertible and later spoke. This is Charlie Manuel. I blew this up a bit and used it for an early Phungo Card.

The Celebration concluded with the Phillies raising the 2008 Banner next to the American Flag.

Beutiful Day for a great celebration. I hope that the fans at the Eagles parade get to enjoy the day as much as I enjoyed the Phillies party 10 years ago.

The Winningest Manager in Phillies History

Team Phungo will miss you.

2007 Topps Heritage #368 Charlie's Young Sluggers

Links

Chase Utley Player Collection Index

The 17 other coaches in Philadelphia during the Andy Reid era

Andy Reid was hired as coach of the Philadelpiha Eagles in January of 1999.  During the span the other three major sports teams in town have had 17 Head Coaches.  The Eagles have, of course, had one. 

2012 Phungo #8 Charlie Manuel (Led 2008 World Series Champs)

Each of the 4 franchises has Lost a championship in that time frame.  Additionally the Phillies Won a Championship.  Two of the fired coaches won Championships subsequent to their firing in Phialdelphia (Terry Francona Boston 2004,2007; Larry Brown Detroit 2004).  Former Flyers head coach John Stevens was also involved in the LA Kings 2012 Stanley Cup effort. 

Eagles
Andy Reid	1999-	NFC Champion 2004
Phillies
Terry Francona	1997-2001	WSC Red Sox 2004, 2007
Larry Bowa	2001-2004
Charlie Manuel	2005-	WSC 2008, NLCS 2009
Flyers
Roger Neilson	1998-2000
Craig Ramsey	2000-2001
Bill Barber	2001-2002
Ken Hitchcock	2002-2006
John Stevens	2006-2010	Interim and Asst Coach for LA Kings Stanely Cup Champions 2012
Peter Laviolette	2010-	EC Champs 2010
76ers
Larry Brown	1997-2003	NBA Champion w/ Detroit 2004, EC Champion 76ers 2001
Randy Ayers	2003-2004
Chris Ford	2004-
Jim O'Brien	2004-2005
Maurice Cheeks	2005-2008
Tony DiLeo	2008-2009
Eddie Jordan	2009-2010
Doug Collins	2010-

Snapshots 2012 06 10 - Phillies 4 @ Orioles 5

Team Phungo took a road trip to see the Phillies play at Camden Yards on Sunday.  Unfortunatley the good guys lost 5-4 in extra innings on a hot afternoon.

 

 

We got to see up close what we have been seeing out of the Phils much of the year.  Trouble hitting with men on base, letting  a struggling pitcher of the hook.  The loss guaranteed it will be mid-june at the earliest before Cliff Lee records a Victory. 

 

It was another series loss for the Phils, Their shortcomings as a team are showing up daily at this point.  Total lack of relief pitching to get to Papelbon, no power hitting, poor clutch hitting, and good 2nd tier players, however they clearly aren't the type of guys that should be starting 120 games for a championship caliber team.

 

Snapshots (click on any pix to enlarge) 

 

Carlos Ruiz Matt Weiters

Not a great shot, with both palyers turned away, but graphically I think the above photo shows the difference between the Phillies and the Orioles.  Both players play the same position, but Weiters looks like an absolute giant compared to Chooch. 

Weiters was the hero of the day for the O's picking up the game winning RBI double in the 10th. 

Steven Tolleson 
The Orioles other O's hitting hero - Tolleson had a 3 run game tying home Run in the 4th inning. 

Hunter Pence

I am no batting expert, but it certainly appears to me that there is a lot going on in that swing.  No surprise that Pence may experience some peaks and slumps at the plate.

Adam Jones 
Jones had a walk off Homer for the Orioles on Sunday.  Fine action shot here.   

Charlie Manuel and Jim Thome

 

Back together again.

 

Not a great day or weekend for the Phillies, but Camden Yards is always an enjoyable trip for team Phungo.  The O's are hosting the cross state Pirates this week - debating hitting one of those games.

 

 

Phun Cards - 2007 vs Now - Charlie's Not So "Young" Sluggers

At this moment this card would really be filed under Not so Phun Cards. 

2007 Topps Heritage #368 Charlie's Young Sluggers

After he Phils 1-0 Loss to the Giants late Wednesday Night they found thenselves in LAST PLACE.  It has been 5 years since the Phils had a stranglehold on the bottom spot in the NL East.  Much of the poor start is due to their rather punchless offense. 

This brings us to the 2007 Heritage Card above, which was released, yes 5 years ago.  Featured on the card are the Phillies two YOUNG sluggers.  Well, half a decade passes quickly in a baseball career - here in 2012 Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are no longer young.  They are both on the DL and nobody seems to know when they will return....  

2012 04 09 Noteworthy Snapshot: Ozzie Guillen & Charlie Manuel - Phillies Home Opener

Ozzie Guillen is all over the news today.

Here is a snapshot of Guillen w/ Phillies Manger Charlie Manuel prior to Monday's Phillies Home Opener.

2012 04 09 Ozzie Guillen and Charlie Manuel 

Looks like it Ozzie will not be part of the remaining two games of the series as he has been suspended by the Marlins.

2011 Phungo Cards - Placido Polanco

The All-Star Rosters are out.  The sole Phillies player to be voted onto the team is Third Baseman Placido Polanco.  This years marks Placido's 2nd All-Star appearance, both at different positions.  His previous All-Star start was as a second baseman representing the Tigers for his then manager Jim Leyland in 2007.

2011 Phungo #27 Placido Polanco, Jimmy Rollins, Charlie Manuel

Polanco was new to the Phils in 2010 and for the 2011 Phungo Set I wanted to produce a card of the fan favorite.   I didn't have many very good shots of Placido and went with this Photo from the 2010 opener.  Charlie Manuel is also on the card which is noteworthy going into the All-Star Break as he is the manager that finally led the NL to a victory in the Mid-Summer Classic for the first time in over a decade.  The 2010 NL victory was the first one since the NL won the game in Philadelphia (at the Vet) in 1996. 

Swag from Night Owl Cards and......

You guessed it - A Bipping!
Bipped by an Angel! Jim Abbot Bipping. 1989 Pacific Baseball Best #4 Jim Abbott (Bippage)


Night Owl was also good enough to throw in a couple dozen Phillies - many of which filled in some embarrassing gaps in the Phungo collection.



2009 Allen Ginter National Pride #NP47 Ryan Howard
2009 Allen Ginter mini #165 Chase Utley

I like the Allen Ginter cards, but did not actively collect them last year. I did participate in a group break held by Dave over at Tribe Cards that netted me several of the Phils - Both of these inserts were new though.


2006 Topps Rookie of the Week #17 of 25 Mike Schmidt
1971 Topps #92 Fred Wenz

Night Owl also sent a couple of vintage cards like the Fred Wenz card above, as well as some retro cards like the Mike Schmidt card. The Schmidt Card is based off of his 1973 Rookie Card, which Dave from Fielder's Choice wrote about here back in November of 2008.

2005 Topps Gold #UH87 Charlie Manuel (#d 430/2005)

I will close with the Phils current Manager Charlie Manuel, who was once a Dodger.

These cards were just a small sampling of the great bunch of cards from Night Owl. I am sure several of them will show up in other postings in the future.

2008 World Series Champion Manager Charlie Manuel

Charlie Manuel Bobble Head

Sports Card Info recently ran a contest and you didn't even have to do anything crazy like ID a scribbled autograph to win. You just had be lucky enough to be picked at random and I was!

Big thanks to Andrew over at SCI for running the contest. I have a small collection of bobble heads. I believe I only have 2 from the 2008 World Champs. Manuel and Brad Lidge - No Utley No Howard. They are not impossible to get but I generally only pick them up at games that I go to, but most bobble head nights are sold out well in advance these days.

2005 Topps #UH87 Charlie Manuel

Like many bobble heads I am not sure I could identify this one without a hint. Charlie Manuel as slimmed down a good bit from the photo above but even the slimmer version of Charlie doesn't quite match the bobble head. Perhaps it's because Manuel frequently looks a little bewildered out there, while the bobble head looks like the Charlie that just won a World Championship and he is wearing a genuinely happy smile.

Thanks SCI and Go Phils - less than a month till Pitchers and Catchers!

Phungo Cards - Charlie Manuel

2009 Phungo #41 Charlie Manuel

Tonight is Charlie Manuel Bobble Head Night at Citizen's Bank Ballpark.

Winning changes everything.

Manuel offered up the following quote when he was told that there would be bobblehead for him "If somebody would have told me when I first took this job that I'd have a bobblehead, I would have told you at the time that I'd be headless".

Winning does change everything.

In years past nearly every spring Manuel was on the edge of getting run out of Philadelphia. He had to replace a legend in Larry Bowa - to his credit Charlie never complained, blamed anyone else, or ducked the criticism. He just got his teams prepared and put his players in situations where they could succeed - And they did. Now he has a World Series Ring and a Bobblehead to prove it.

The Phungo card above is number 41 in the Phungo Set, which matches Charlie's uniform number. The Photo was take on October 31st of 08 during the Phillies World Championship Parade. It was one beautiful and glorious day but....... well, Charlie sure looked uncomfortable in that suit.

Click here for a Phungo profile on Charlie and if you want to know more about Phungo Cards click here.

Charlie Manuel - Sportsmen of the Year - and New STS! Standings

2007 Allen & Ginter's #94 Charlie Manuel

It has been a while since we have featured a Phil on Phungo and I also have not yet properly honored the man who led the team to its first World Championship in 28 years, Charlie Manuel.

This week Sports Illustrated awarded Michael Phelps as their 2008 Sportsman of the Year. The honor is much deserved, however, there are many great people in sports that will go unrecognized for their performances, SI scribe Tom Verducci is aware of this and has written a SI column to honor Charlie Manuel.

Verducci’s complimentary article stresses how Manuel has stayed involved in baseball simply for the love of the game and for that reason he is a baseball lifer. He is not a celebrity manager nor does he want to be one. He spent 18 years mentoring players in the minors before getting a shot to manage the Cleveland Indians in 2000.

Charlie Manuel had a short unremarkable career in Major League Baseball in the States but
became a star in Japan where he earned the nickname “Aka-Oni“ (the Red Devil) for his red hair and tenacious style of play. During his six-year Japanese career Manuel won an MVP award and set the league record homers hit by an American. While in Japan Charlie learned to speak the language and now he uses that skill when communicating with his Japanese players.

He has managed in Philadelphia since 2005, leading the Phillies to the division crown each of the last two years. He led the Cleveland Indians to an AL Central crown in 2001. Oh and by the way he will now and forever be known as the Skipper of the 2008 World Champion Phillies.

During the off-season I am going to attempt to feature a posting for each of the members of the Phillies 2008 World Series Squad. This is the first of the World Series Postings.

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We now move on to other business and the Spot the Sig! game status after round 3 in which a Player To Be Named Later PTBNL has joined the game with a double by Identifying J R Towles Autograph. PTBNL then stretched the double to a triple by getting the bonus question for an extra base. The final two answers to the bonus question regarding catchers for the Phungo Fantasy squad were Miguel Montero and Chris Coste. Tough break for Night Owl whos suspected it might be a Phil and Kudos to Cardboard Addiction who guessed the catcher I wanted in the draft Geovany Soto. If I had him maybe I would not have finished 6th out of 10 teams. Okay enough babbling here are the standings.

Cardboard Junkie - Braves - 1 Run in - Man on First
PTBNL - I think repsresentin the Phillies - Jimmy Rollins on Third with a stretch Triple.
Stats on the Back - Stinkin Mets - Man on 2nd
Cardboard Addiction - Bosox - Man on First
Night Owl - Dodgers - Man on First

For further information regarding the Phungo Spot the Sig! contest click here and join the party - you just may find yourself with a stack of cards come spring training!