Snapshots: 2015 05 23 Cooperstown Classic

Couple of Pictures from the Cooperstown Classic which was played just down the street from the Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday May 23rd 2015.

Team Knucksie: Yount, Fingers, Niekro, Baldelli, Trammell, A Soriano, Pudge, B Molina

The teams were broken down loosely into AL and NL squads although the AL Captain was Braves Rep Phil Niekro.

For the Alan Trammell supporters here we have a pix of the Tigers Shortstop at the Hall of Fame.

The Wizards: Smith, Glavine, Steve Woodard, Jack Wilson, E Taubansee, Kerry Robinson, Mark Loretta, John Franco, David Delucci, Ron Cey, Vinny Castilla, Bobby Abreu - Tony Perez Foreground, Baldelli and Trammell background

Apologies to Night Owl, but Ron Cey is shielded here. The Phillies had at least six alums in the game including Abreu, David Delucci and Perez.

Roy Oswalt vs Rick Ankiel

As you can see it was a Beautiful day for a game. Short time Phillies Pitcher Roy Oswalt represented the Astros.

Jim Eisenreich & Bobby Abreu

A pair of Phillies Outfielders at First Base.

Ozzie Smith and Rick Ankiel

 NL Captain Ozzie Smith taking care of some third base coaching duties

Jeff Idelson with Phil Niekro 

HoF Prez Jeff Idelson and Phil Niekro likely discussing Pete Rose's reinstatement prospects

Vinny Castilla 

Prior to the game there was a Home Run contest which was won by Colorado Rockies Thirdbaseman Vinny Castilla

Aaron Rowand

The Bob Feller award for Game MVP was given to Aaron Rowand who Homered off Steve Avery. For the HOF game Rowand who played a couple of seasons with the Phillies Represented the Chicago White Sox. 

Bob Dernier

Good Guy Award goes to Bob Dernier, although it may not be just because he is fan friendly. Bobby D was the RF ball boy and happened to be next to the stands and signed dozen of autographs between innings.

Quick Notes
--I have never seen a steal of Home in a real Game but saw one at the Classic, Brady Anderson the back end of a double steal.
--Saw two players lose bats into the stands (Ankiel, Homer Bush). That probably should not happen in an exhibition game of this type.
--I am pretty sure Brian Holman's career ended due to injury and I can see why. It took everything the man had to push the ball 60 ft 6 inches.
--Greg Cadaret who I am not at all familiar with was awful. In a game where the only job for a pitcher is to get the ball over the plate and every pitch is a strike Cadaret could not throw one.
--The Baseball Hall of Fame Jersey is Ugly (see Robin Yount in Pix 1 or Ozzie in pix 2 above)
--
Sources and Links
Baseball Hall of Fame
Baseball-ref

Phillies 2009 Alumni Night

First off I want to let everyone know that there is still time to get involved in the

John Hughes Memorial Trading Card Trivia Contest!

It's looking like a crummy weather day here in the Northeast, I'm sure there are some 80s trivia buffs out there who could waste 20 minutes on the net finding the answers, and someone has to challenge Dayf.

Moving on to the present post:

Alumni Night was a bit of a bummer for several reasons. The Phils lost for the 2nd game in a row v the 2nd place Marlins. The Phils appeared to have a favorable pitching matchup (Cole Hamels v Sean West). The Alumni accessibility was not as good as expected. And finally we got caught up in a traffic jam on the way home.

Within the game itself the Marlins were terribly sloppy but the Phils let the Fish off the hook several times by going about 2 for 20 with runners on base. The Marlins won 6-4. Dingers were hit for the bad guys by Chris Coghlan (member of Phungo Fantasy Squad at least) and Cody Ross. Former Phil Brian Sanches got the W in relief, Cole Hamels was unimpressive in yet another loss and failed to go 6 innings. On a positive note Ryan Howard looked good without hitting a homer - a rare event. He has not been hitting well recently, hopefully his 4-4 night gets him out of his slump.

Despite the frustrating loss, I did have a good time and I am glad I went. I was able to pick up a couple of autos and got a couple of decent pictures.

Here are some of the hilights (all pix can be clicked to enlarge):

Harry Kalas was this years inductee to the Phillies Wall of Fame, this is his brand new plaque.


Phils New Addition:
Anybody notice anything odd about the above picture?



Mickey Morandini


Jim Eisenreich



National Anthem with Phillies Alumni and Current Phillies on the field

Close Up of Alums including all four Phils living HOFs

And I got some shots of the bad guys.



This is what Chris Coghlan looks like right before he hits a homer to center field

and Marlins Pitcher Sean West:


I met West's Aunt and Uncle at a local restaurant last year and have been following him a bit since then. He is young and has had mixed starts this year. Last night he was fair at best, he was able to get out of a few jams, but lasted less than 5 innings. The Marlins bullpen did a great job of holding the Phils in check and along with Chris Coghlan were the stars of the game.

Game 3 Phillies @ Brewers

1993 Upper Deck #800 Jim Eisenreich
1995 Fleer Ultra #203 Lenny Dykstra

Yesterday I never got around to putting up a post for game three of the NLDS and the Baseball Fates frowned upon the Phillies. My Bad.

The Phillies simply have not been hitting in the series and largely have capitalized on Brewer errors and a bad CC Sabathia inning. To help out with the Phils hitting woes, I am drawing on some of the 93 Phils lefthanded hitters. Eisy was a Phan Phavorite who never seemed to have a bad at-bat while the Dude Lenny Dykstra was an offensive spark plug getting one clutch hit after another. Phils needs some big hits out of current left-handers Chase Utley and Ryan Howard so they can come on home and get ready to face the NL West Champion LA Dodgers.

Philadelphia Phillies @ Milwaukee Brewers: Miller Park, Milwaukee WI Sunday October 5th 1:07 PM Eastern.

GO PHILS!

20080830 - Exton Mall Card Show, Exton PA

Almost every week there is a card show at some mall in my area. Whenever I have a free weekend and the show is at a convenient location I try and stop in and check out what is a available. This week I was mostly perusing the cheap dime and nickel boxes. Here are some of the highlights.

In the 3 cards for a dime box:2004 Bowman Chrome #147 Rickie Weeks
2007 Allen & Ginter's #146 Carlos Quentin
1986 Topps #717 Dave Winfield All-Star/1985 AL Leaders Runs
1991 Donruss #28 Tino Martinez

I fear this guy may not be returning to the Exton show. He always has bunches of Bowman Chrome in a 3 for a dime box. This week he had a whole bunch of 07 Allen & Ginter, I came home with 28 of those including the Carlos Quentin above. The Winfield card falls under my Hall-of-Fame clause. Whenever I am picking up a stack of cards I try and make sure I get at least one HOF player in the bunch.

In a mix of some nickel and dime boxes I found bunches of Phillies and former Phils:

1996 Pinnacle Zenith #105 Bob Abreu
2007 UD Goudey #3 Aaron Rowand
1993 Leaf #507 Jim Eisenreich

The pre-Bobby Bob Abreu card is a nice find - not as a nice as a Pre-Roberto Bob Clemente card, but a nice addition to the collection. I picked up lots of retro-cards at the show; Some Heritage, some of the Topps T205 and T206 cards from a few years ago, UD Play Ball and some Goudey like the 07 of Phillies Fan favorite Aaron Rowand. I like this leaf set with another fan favorite Jim Eisenreich, The b-side of the card features the player in front of a local landmark. In the case of this Eisy card he is superimposed upon Philadelphia's city hall. Other Phillies cards in this set have the Liberty Bell for a backdrop.

Fun cards in other dime boxes:

1993 Topps # 529 Shortstop Prospects including Chipper Jones
2008 Allen Ginter #282 Jeanette Lee

It's not his true rookie, but it is an early Chipper Jones card - so early that he is a Shortstop prospect. And of course the beautiful and talented Jeanette Lee. I was a little surprised to see the 08 Allen Ginter commons in the dime box and probably should of devoured some more of these, but only had time to pick out a few.

I also picked up a couple of packs of 08 Goudey and will be opening those up through the upcoming weeks.

There was a whole stack of 08 A&G Game used at one booth for $3 a card, which I didn't bother sifting through.

The Damages:
3 for a dime box , 113 cards (A&G, BowChro, NFL Bow Chro, Phils, Orioles, Vikings) 3.00
miscellaneous singles, 7 cards (Chipper, Heritage) 1.00
nickel box, 62 cards (Phils, Orioles, Yount's, Retro/Heritage) 3.00
Dime Box, 30 cards (Phils, Retro, 08 A&G) 3.00
Grab Bag, 50 cards -25 decent (Griffey, David Wells, Hudson, Glavine, Helton) 1.00
08 Goudey - 3 packs 12.00
Total 23.00

well worth it for A fun day at the show.