Philly Show returns to Valley Forge this weekend.

The Philly Show is back in Valley Forge this weekend. Busy times at HQ right now, Not sure if team Phungo will be able to make the trek.

1971 Topps #49 Don Money

I hope I get there as both of my favorite dealers are scheduled to be at the show. If anyone else is going let me know and I will keep an eye open for you.

There are always autograph guests at the Philly Show, this edition of the show is largely football based, but there is one baseball player scheduled to appear, Don Money.

1971 Topps #49 Don Money (b-side)

1971T finds Money at the peak of the five seasons he spent with Philadelphia. As can seen on his back stats he compiled 14 Homers along with a .295 average - In today's modern stats that would be a very healthy 123 OPS+ and a 3.5 WAR. 

Other Autographs
There are a number of football guests at the show including Hall of Famers Jack Lambert, Lenny Moore (age 83!), Gino Marchetti (89!), and Herb Adderley. Famous Notre Dame alum Rudy will be there as well.

The show runs December 2-4 and admission is $8. For more information on the show click here.

Sources and Links
PhillyShow
baseball-ref

1972 Ticketron Phillies Don Money

Brewers @ Phillies Weekend continues and so does Don Money Weekend.

A few weeks ago I got a great package of cards from the Phillies Room. In addition to some terrific ToppsNow cards that Jim sent over he also included a bunch of oddball Phillies.

1972 Ticketron Phillies Don Money

I had never seen these cards before, and was really happy to add a oddball Don Money card to the collection. When I first received the card I knew that I might put together some sort of 1976 ASG column for Money and wanted to have a fun card to present the infielder with the Phillies. The Ticketron card fits those specifications perfectly.

Don Money had a cup of coffee with the Phillies in 1968 and then came up permanently the following season. He started out his Major League career as a Shortstop moving to 3rd Base to make room for Larry Bowa, which would precipitate Money's move to Milwaukee to make room for Mike Schmidt.

During his tenure with the Phillies Money found himself on the NL defensive leaderboards. His two top-10 dWAR years were highlighted by his 1972 campaign in which he led Third Baseman in Fielding Pct, Double Plays and Putouts. His total Zone Runs (whatever that is) was also tops at 3B in 1972.

Money was decent with the bat as well and led the Phillies in WAR among position players (1970, 1972).  However, his +1.9 WAR for the Phillies dreadful 1972 squad is barely noteworthy. That is the team that was led by Cy Young Winner Steve Carlton (+12.5 WAR, 27 Wins for a 59 win team)  

1972 Ticketron
This set consisted of 10 roughly postcard size cards. They were an schedule/advertising vehicle for the Phillies Ticket seller Ticketron. Other Notables on the checker include the aforementioned Carlton and Bowa as well as Greg Luzinski, Willie Montanez and Tim McCarver.

I

1972 Ticketron Phillies Don Money (b-side)

In addition to touting the benefits of Ticketron along with their contact info the backs contained the Phillies schedule including promotions. This card must have been issued after the season started as it only contains dates from June forward. Not many nutty promos - looks like they were big on Batting Helmet's for the 4th of July weekend and that they were still referring to Alumni festivities as the Old-Timers Game. 

Sources and Links
1976 ASG +40 Don Money
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards - Bob Lemke  
Baseball-ref

1976 ASG +40: Don Money 1979 Topps #265

The Phillies hosting the Brewers for a four game set this weekend gives us the chance to discuss a 1976 All-Star with ties to both clubs.

1979 Topps #265 Don Money (AS)

1976 marked the second time that Don Money made the All-Star Team but it was the first time that he got to play in the game.

Money came into the 1976 ASG in the 6th inning replacing George Brett at Third Base. He would later bat in the 9th popping out versus Astros Pitcher Ken Forsch. Looking back today the AB is a bit of an oddity as at the time, Money was repping the AL as a Brewer and Forsch the NL as an Astro, Since then the two teams have flipped leagues.

1979 Topps
I selected 1979T card for our Don Money posting because it is the one time that he received the All-Star flair from Topps. This does cause a bit of a discrepancy...

Notice that we specified that Money played Third in the 1976 ASG, however are cover card lists second base as the position. To accommodate the Brewers Free Agent Signing of Sal Bando the Brewers moved Don Money to 2nd Base prior to the 1977 season.

The move worked out for Don as he would eventually get his only starting assignment as an All-Star in 1978. Money went 0-2 in the game including going down on strikes versus Vida Blue. The 1978 ASG was played in San Diego which will be also be the home of the 2016 Mid-Summer classic.

Flip

1979 Topps #265 Don Money (AS - bSide)

Not sure how accurate it is but despite

The game referenced in the text at the bottom of the card was a 7-1 Brewers victory over the expansion Seattle Mariners.  The Pitcher who induced all those ground balls was rookie Larry Sorensen who pitched a complete game in only his 4th career start. 

Don Money was the 5th player to achieve the feat. Since 1977 five other second baseman have recorded a dozen assists in a game including the Phillies own Juan Samuel in 1985 and Former Phillies Manager and Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg (1983).

Stray Observation: Larry Sorensen made his only All-Star Appearance in the 1978 game that Don Money started. Sorensen pitched 3 shutout innings for the AL squad which was the strongest outing among the squads six pitchers.

Baseball Dates
A fun nuance of 1979 Topps is the Baseball Dates feature on each player card. Jim Umbarger recorded the unusual unassisted Pitcher DP while pitching for the Texas Rangers in a 2-1 Win over the Cleveland Indians. I could not find any additional footage or Info on the DP beyond the Box. It did occur with the bases loaded pop up. I can only assume that it was a Hit and Run or a freak play where the Infield Fly Rule was invoked and a runner got caught off a bag.

The Double Play occurred in the 2nd inning and was a big help towards giving Umbarger the W in the game.  According to the b-ref Win Expectancy chart for the game, prior to the play the Rangers had a 45% chance of victory. The double play increased that number by 17 points to 62%, the greatest impact of any single AB in the game.

The Indians batter was Catcher Alan Ashby, B-ref does not indicate the runner but the 3 men on base at the time were Rico Carty, Charlie Spikes and Buddy Bell.

Jim Umbarger was only involved in 5 other Double Plays in the remaineder of his 4 year 133 game career.

WAR Stories
Don Money put up much better career numbers that I realized. Among Third Baseman his career 36.3 WAR ranks just above Hall of Famer Pie Traynor (36.2). Among notable contemporary players he ranks somewhere between Troy Glaus (37.9) and Ryan Zimmerman (35.1)

More Money
1972 Ticketron Phillies

Sources and Links
1976 All-Star Game Index 
Baseball-ref
Baseball Almanac (1978 ASG)
Baseball Almanac (Assist Record)