Bucket or Chuck-It; 2016 Topps Throw Back Thursday Set

Ahh time to return to a feature that we haven't had in a while Bucket or Chuck-It. Bucket is good as in add it to your bucket list. Chuck-It is bad as in Toss it out like a pair of worn sneakers.

2016 Topps TBT #37 Mike Piazza '96 ASG MVP

All seaon Jim from the Phillies Room has been picking up Phillies related Topps Now cards in bulk and passing along cards to other Phils collectors. I find the cards unique and as a fan of game dated cards the concept appeals to me, especially when someone like Jim is dedicated to do all the work of submitting the requests to Topps. There have been at least 6 Phillies Topps Now cards and I would like to get to those and a More dedicated thank you to Jim in a future post.

I myself  hadn't picked up anything directly from Topps until recently when I saw in celebration of the Hall of Fame weekend they issued a "bundle" related to this year's inductees Ken Griffey Jr and Mike Piazza.

The six card set is inspired by the 1962T Babe Ruth Subset with 3 cards dedicated to each of the new Hallers.  The second card of the set features a photo of Mike Piazza receiving an the 1996 All-Star Game award.

This card was appealing to me as a Piazza fan and it is a nice add to my local players collection, but the real draw is that the 1996 ASG is a Phungo Game and This is a card I can add to the Phungo Games collection.

Despite the fact that the image on the card makes Piazza appear as if he had a few to many at the family picnic, I do like the front of this card.

However.....

2016 Topps TBT (b-sides)

Topps mailed it in on the b-sides for the text. The backs of all six cards have identical text. The only thing that differentiates each card is the number and the player name.

 It's a shame, if these are such big events in each players career how about paying a writer and a copy editor (or even an intern) for a couple of days work to come up with a paragraph. This is a $20 set of six cards, that can be produced months in advanced - it's not like they woke up on Wednesday and said "Hey we need to put out a Throw Back Thursday set tomorrow" or maybe they did.

Compare

2016 Topps TBT #37 Mike Piazza '96 ASG MVP (b-side)
1962 Topps #138 Babe Ruth Special (b-side)

Check out this example of an original 1962 Babe Ruth Special. We have a pretty detailed summary of Ruth's rough 1925 season. On the New Piazza card all you get "Hey look at us, we have been making cards for 50 years and Mike shares this documentation with Ken Griffey Jr"


Flip

2016 Topps TBT Ken Griffey Jr 1995 ALDS
1962 Topps #138 Babe Ruth Special

Just for comparison we present the front of one of the other TBT specials with Babe's original.  I think Topps did a decent job on the fronts, just wish they would have carried through to the back.

Verdict
Very disappointed, Great Concept, I think Topps picked a great subset to use for these cards, but the execution of the backs is insulting, especially for a set that runs $20.

Sources and Links
1996 All-Star Game Index
Phungo Mike Piazza HoF Index
Phungo Ken Griffey Jr HoF Index
Phungo Babe Ruth HoF Index
Topps TBT
Baseball-Ref

Welcome to the HoF Ken Griffey Jr

Welcome to the Hall Ken Griffey Jr!

1994 Topps #388 All-Star Outfielders Len Dykstra & Ken Griffey Jr
Nice of Junior to climb into the Hall, give some respectability to the above card.

If you want a card that says both Hall of Shame (Dykstra) and Hall of Fame, Griffey of course, this is the one.

For more thoughts on the above card see our posting from last month.

Sources and Links
BBWAA

2016 Hall of Fame Ballot

It isn't as exciting as the postseason or even the regular season but Awards Season is upon us. This will all culminate with the Hall of Fame Voting in January. 

There are 15 new names on this years Ballot, none bigger than Ken Griffey Jr.

1994 Topps #388 All-Star Outfielders Len Dykstra & Ken Griffey Jr

We will all likely see a lot of cards of Junior over the next couple of weeks. This is a fun one that also happens to feature the Phillies centerfielder of the era Len Dykstra. Something tells me that Griffey's HoF ballot count will be significantly better then Dykstra's sole appearance - the 2002 ballot. 

Lenny received a single HoF vote, which is more than he deserved. 

I did a few searches but was unable to find the BBWAA that voted for Dykstra. It is almost comical to think of he and Junior getting equal billing on a card. For the most part I think Griffey is one of the most well regarded professional athletes while Lenny is pretty much viewed as a cretin.

flip

1994 Topps #388 All-Star Outfielders Len Dykstra & Ken Griffey Jr (b-side)

Kind of a cool idea for an All-Star card with the pre- and post- break stats. Both Griffey and Dykstra had impressive OBP for the entirety of 1993, I am a little surprised the stat made it onto a 1994 card. Dykstra had a bit of a dropoff in the 2nd half, but his numbers remained impressive.

Dykstra finished 2nd to Barry Bonds in the 1993 NL MVP Voting, while Griffey came in 5th in the junior circuit - despite having the 2nd best WAR (8.7) which led AL position players. 

RookiesThe 15 new comers on this years ballot are listed below

Garret Anderson
Brad Ausmus
Luis Castillo
David Eckstein
Jim Edmonds
 
Troy Glaus
Ken Griffey Jr
Mark Grudzielanek 
Mike Hampton
Trevor Hoffman
 
Jason Kendall
Mike Lowell,
Mike Sweeney
Billy Wagner
Randy Winn

I am going to try and cover a couple of these players prior to the HoF announcement in January.  At a minimum I expect to put together columns on Billy Wagner, Hoffman, and Ballot Snub Chan Ho Park.

There are 17 holdovers from the 2015 ballot giving us a total of 32 candidates. Some of those folks got mentioned in our 2015 HoF Ballot coverage which is can be found here.


Sources and Links
2016 HoF Candidates Index
CNN/SI - Jay Jaffe
Baseball Hall of Fame
baseball-ref

Fan Authentics Card Show 2015 1030-1031 Oaks PA

I was in a crazy mood for this years Fan Authentics show. I picked up lots of stuff but wasn't looking for anything special. Most of my time was spent in Dime Boxes but I also dedicated a fair chunk of my trip to BuyBacks - which I think were mostly from 2015T Update.

Here are some highlights, If time permits I may come back at a later time and give some of these cards more analysis.

1958 Topps Pancho Herrera

Buybacks made up a big part of my day1 finds. I handn't picked up many Phillies Buy Backs and I believe this Pancho Herrera is my earliest. This card went for 50 cents or a Dollar.

Collecting goal may be to pick up a Phillies BuyBack from each year of Topps.

1974 Topps Steve Carlton BuyBack
1978 Topps World Series Highlight Reggie Jackson

Even found Buybacks of Hall of Famers. Each of the above 70s era cards went for $2.


1959 Topps Buybacks Walt Moryn, Morrie Martin, Murray Wall

Found 3 buybacks from one of my favorite early sets. 50 cents or a Dollar on each.

1975 Topps Jim Kaat

Found lots of 1975T buybacks. Most are destined for Night Owl territory, but Kaat is likely staying in the Phungo collection.

 

1975 Topps Buybacks

These are the 1975T BuyBacks, Twitchell will stay local, the rest are destined to travel.

1974 Topps Fred Kendall Buyback

I bypassed the Padres Kendall initially, until I saw the one with the Phillies flags. Will definitely return to this one at a future date. (.50 each)

Vintage

1958 Topps Kluszewski/Williams

Picked up the Ted's card for $9.

1967 Topps Checker w/ Jim Kaat

Focusing a bit on 1967T a bit getting ready for 2016 Heritage. Curious if the Checklists which have been left out of recent editions of Heritage will return in the upcoming release. The presents of a player on the card may factor in Topps decision.

1973 Topps Dick Allen

This is a Stamp Card as well, but it is of the 75th anniversary variety. ($1)


World Series

1973 Topps World Series Highlights Johnny Bench

And there were buybacks of WS HL cards that included Hall of Famers. ($1-$2)

1967 Topps WS HL Brooks Robinson

More 1967 Topps, This is the Vanilla no stamp variety.  ($1)

 

Special Collections

2010 Topps Ring of Honor Brad Lidge

Another more modern WS Highlight Card. This is one that reps a game that Team Phungo was very happy to have attended. (Dime Box)

Nolan Ryan No-Hitter Number Six

Added to my Nolan Ryan No-Hitter Collection with this one. Will probably be a future posting on this one at some point. (dimebox)

Len Dykstra, Ken Griffey Jr

As part of Our 2016 HoF Ballot feature we discuss this card (DimeBox)

Dom Brown RC Auto

I am not sure that I was supposed to get this but, they were handing out free autographed Dom Brown RCs when I entered the Show on Friday.



 

ANNIVERSARY: August 31 1990 Griffey & Griffey Jr Join same lineup

25 Years ago on August 31 1990 Major League Baseball saw the first Father Son Game as Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr were both in the same lineup for the first time.

1991 Score #841 the Griffeys

Baseball is often called the game of Fathers and Sons. The above black n white Score card captures that sentiment well - the two legends are a portrait of happiness. 

1991 Score #841 the Griffeys (b-side)

The back of the card has what appears to be a sketch and text mentioning the game on August 31st which was a 5-2 victory by the Mariners over the Royals.  The card goes on to mention a game two weeks later when the Griffey's hit back to back Home Runs off Angels Pitcher Kirk McCaskill in Anaheim. Despite giving up the Homers The Angels prevailed in the latter game 7-5.

Box Notes 
The Mariners Starting pitcher for the first Griffey/Griffey game was 2015 HoF Inductee Randy Johnson and boderline HoF Edgar Martinez was in the lineup PLAYING THIRD BASE. The Away Royals featured former Phillie Steve Jeltz and Future 1993 NL Champion Phillie Jim Eisenreich. The starting Center Fielder for the Royals that day was Brian McRae, son of Hal McRae.

The latter game once again featured Edgar at 3rd for the Ms. The Angels had a number of interesting names in their lineup none bigger than Dave Winfield. Others are Dick Schofield, another second generation player who shares a name with his father. Dick the elder his the Grandfather of Jayson Werth, while the younger is Werth's uncle. Bryan Harvey got the Save for the Angels and will likely be the father of a major leaguer some day, his Son Hunter is in the Orioles system.  Phils connected players in the Angels lineup include Catcher Lance Parrish and First Baseman Rick Schu. The Winning Pitcher for the Angels that day was current Phillies Pitching coach Bob McClure

Sources and Links
Baltimore Sun
Baseball-ref

Blaster Break 2015 Topps Stadium Club

Some highlights from a recent Blaster purchase of 2015T Stadium Club. I think I may have picked up a single loosey as well, can't remember.

The Sole Phillie in the 40 card bounty was or retired centerfielder - convicted criminal Lenny Dykstra.

As with most Stadium Club cards we have a nice shot - full bleed. The TSC design is minimal - showing of the photo more, but unremarkable. Dykstra is bundled up here, wonder if this is from a road opener somewhere. I am a fan of the Liberty Bell flair whenever it shows up on Phillies attire on a card - you can see it here on Dykstra's turtleneck.

Blaster All-Stars

I like to post Breaks in the form of an all-star team of the cards drawn. Sometimes it is the best players, but often it is the most interesting photo or card design/shot combo

Battery

David Cone
Tim Hudson
Hisashi Iwakuma
Ivan Rodriguez

I think we were pitching light which is how Iwakuma got the nod, but the rest of these shots are great.  I may return to the Cone card as part of our Year of the No-Hitter Series. The Pudge card needs to rank among the best in the set - I want this shot on a Carlos Ruiz card.


Infield

Chipper Jones
Orlado Cepeda
Hanley Ramirez
Bip Roberts

I like the Ramirez card as it is a nice nod to both his changing teams and changing positions. It is a card that pays off on the viewers baseball knowledge. Note I moved Hanley back to Shortstop for this posting as the position was left vacant by our 40 card blaster.

Including a handful of Black n White hots is a nice touch in the set. The entirety of Orlando Cepeda's career was probably in the color photography era, but it is nice to see the B/W shot here.



 Outfield

Bo Jackson
Joe DiMaggio
Deion Sanders
Dusty Baker

Lots of stuff going on here, The Bo Jackson card gives us an interesting candid shot -
Something that is hard to capture. I typically dislike any shot from behind the player but the Deion Sanders card is ok, there is action and it is with one of the premier basestealers of the era. Dusty Baker is getting a lead from 2nd or 3rd, which you don't see on many cards - also it is hard to pick up but this is a Gold insert.

The Joe DiMaggio B/W is apparently noting his reach 45 games in his hit streak. At the time this tied Wee Willie Keeler for the major league record - this is another card I would like to return to at some point.


The Bench (Inserts)

Ken Griffey/Ken Griffey Jr
Contact Sheet Miguel Cabrera
Luminous Trumvirate Starling Marte

The Griffeys card is a fun one, will probably see this one a lot in the next year especially come Father's day. Here I have presented the base and Gold for side/side comparison.

The two bottom cards are inserts that I don't understand.

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref
Baseball Almanac
Ken Griffey Jr HoF Index
Orlando Cepeda HoF Index
Joe DiMaggio HoF Index
Ivan Rodriguez HoF Index

The Kid is on Deck

The Hall of Fame inductions for the Class of 2015 are in the books.

Today we look ahead to next year's ceremony.

Which brings us to one of the most iconic baseball cards.

1989 Upper Deck #1 Ken Griffey Jr

Something tells me we will be seeing a lot of this card in the next year. Today, In the weeks leading up to the HoF Balloting in January and finally next July.

The 2016 Hof Induction will be a celebration. Junior's induction will be a respite from the PED talk. He is the "clean" champion from the steroid era.   All 630 Homers all 2781 Hits.

With so many Villains in the Steroid Story, it will be good to see one of the good guys win. And I hope the Arc remains that way.

Sources & Links
2016 Hof Candidates Index
Baseball-ref

2016 Hall of Fame Candidates Index

This is an index of players who will likely be on the 2016 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot.

First Time Candidates

Ken Griffey Ken Griffey pt 2

Jim Edmonds

Jason Kendall

Troy Glaus

Mike Hampton

Luis Castillo

Randy Winn

Garret Anderson

Mike Lowell

Billy Wagner Veto

Trevor Hoffman

Mark Grudzielanek

Mike Sweeney

Chan Ho Park HOF

David Eckstein

Jeff Weaver

Brad Ausmus

Russ Ortiz

Gary Matthews

Cristian Guzman

Jose Guillen

Bob Howry

Bengie Molina

Fernando Tatis

Russ Springer

Returning to the Ballot

Mike Piazza

Jeff Bagwell

Tim Raines

Curt Schilling

Roger Clemens

Barry Bonds

Lee Smith

Edgar Martinez

Alan Trammell HOF (final Ballot)

Mike Mussina

Jeff Kent

Fred McGriff

Larry Walker

Gary Sheffield

Mark McGwire (final Ballot - VETO)

Sammy Sosa

Nomar Garciaparra

Source and Links
2015 HoF Candidates

Baseball-ref

Happy Trails Ken Griffey Jr

1989 Sports Collectors Daily #3 Ken Griffey

This is one of those cards inserted into magazines as a sheet during the late 80s. In 1989 SCD chose to use the 1964 design as their template. There are a number of reasons I love this card, the retro design, the kid when he was "the Kid" and then there is the back. You may have to click on this to enlarge it, but check out the underlined text. Glad to see the "experts" at SCD were on the ball.

For the Collector

1989 Sports Collectors Daily #3 Ken Griffey (b-side/click to enlarge)

For the record the 1989 UD Griffey card is holding steady at near it's typical $20.00 price. Recent sales of the 1989 Fleer and Donruss Griffey cards on the Bay have been for under $2.

I have some mixed emotions about Junior. One of my baseball buddies and I both came up with an inside-ism that "Griffey hates Philadelphia". He blew off the 1996 All-Star game which we attended. Griffey would have been one of the premier attractions in those pre-interleague play days. There was also the night Jim Thome would hit milestone Home Run #400. It was in Philadelphia versus the Reds. At the time Griffey at 499 Homers and was staring at his own milestone, but once again he elected not to play.

I did get to see Griffey play a few times. All after 2004, He was rather poor 1-17 in the games I saw without any of his 630 homers. In the games I attended Griffey and the Reds were 1 and 4, with the only win being on April 12 2004, the Day the Phillies opened Citizen's Bank Park.

Now that Griffey is officially retired Jim Thome is the Active Career Home Run Leader among Left Handed Batters.

Here is a link to a great article in the Slate about the 1989 Upper Deck #1 Ken Griffey Jr Card.

2008 11 02 - Card Show @ Concord Mall, Wilmington DE

To celebrate the Phillies World Series victory I hit the card show at the Concorde Mall outside of Wilmington Delaware last weekend. I perused several dime boxes, here are some of the Highlights.

2008 Topps UH Gold #UH220 Geoff Jenkins #0033/2008
1983 O-Pee-Chee #350 Robin Yount

I picked up bunches of Phillies and some cards of Hall Of Fames like Robin Yount. The Jenkins card was a particular surprise as it was out of the recently released Updates and Highlights.

I also got some some good looking star inserts of players like Vlad, and Griffey.

2000 UD Ultimate Victory #86 Ken Griffey
2002 Topps Gallery Heritage #GH10 Vladimir Guerrero

The Griffey Foil doesn't look good on the scan but is a sharp card. I really like the Gallery Heritage cards and will keep my eyes open for more of these.

I picked up a half dozen cards from last years Wal-Mart Trading Card History. This is a set I keep looking for on ebay and was happy to find a couple at the show. As usual I picked up some Heritage cards of various Stars like Bernie Williams from several different sets Bowman, Topps and UD Vintage.

2007 Topps Wal-Mart #WM6 Greg Maddux
2002 Bowman Heritage #278 Bernie Williams

The best for me was finding thirty 08 Topps inserts in a dime bin including 20+ All-Star Rookie Inserts like the Strawman. I also picked up a couple of Fleer Flair from different years - Always a favorite of mine.

1993 Flee Flair #154 Mike Mussina
2008 Topps All-Star Rookie #AR1 Darryl Strawberry

Obviously I was pleased with all my nickel and dime box finds. Filling out the 08 inserts was pretty awesome. I have also been working on the 1959 Topps base set and was able to find 5 commons pretty cheap.

There were maybe 20 or 25 tables with a wide array of items. The dealers had apparently had a good weekend, business likely bumped by the recent Phillies triumph, and certainly did not complain as much as they do at a typical show.

Damages:

$3 - Nickel Box several Hall of Famers, Oddballs, Sporting News All-Stars, Football, AI
$2 - five 1959 Topps Commons
$5 – 31 Phillies commons, 13 Phils Heritage/Retro , plus 02 Donruss Originals Jimmy Rollins, Geoff Jenkins Topps Gold
$10 – Dime Box 08 Topps Inserts, Walmart 07 TCH, Chrome, Allen Ginter, various Vikings, 2004 Team USA
$5 - Top Loaders

$25 for a fun day at the card show, very worthwhile!