Phungo Challenge: 2014 Heritage the Originals - 1965 Topps Embossed

Do you have any idea who this is?

1965 Topps Embossed ????

Yes I have blurred out the player name and team. This is to demonstrate just how weak Topps Embossed was. The only way to differentiate the players is by reading the text.

Did baseball caps really look like that in 1965??? 

Tonight we will discuss this card further and it's relationship to 2014 Heritage.

PHUNGO CHALLENGE: Topps Jim Leyland 1992 and 2009 - Fungo on Phungo

Took a look at some of Jim Leyland's cards on the Baseball Card Database and noticed something interesting.  

1992 Topps #141 Jim Leyland (pix stolen from baseball card database)


 Above we have a Topps card of Jim Leyland likely hitting a Fungo as the Pirates manager. 

2009 Topps #339 Jim Leyland (again swiped from baseball card database)

And here we have Leyland with the Tigers 17 years later once again hitting a Fungo.

Most manager cards are profile shots, rarely these sort of "action" shots.  Which brings me to the....

Phungo Challenge
Is there another manager that can be found batting on 2 different cards.   Has to be a manager card, a pair of Ryne Sandberg cards of him batting for the Chicago Cubs doesn't count. 

Jim Leyland
I don't think that Leyland is done managing.  I think he and Detroit may have had enough of each other.  I know 68 seems old enough to retire, but some folks don't appear to be built for Retirement and I think Leyland is one of them. 

Phungo Challenge - 2012 First Homers

New Phungo Challenge for May.  Who on this list will be the first to Hit a Homer in 2012.  And how many hit homers before Albert Pujols?

Jimmy Rollins

Bryce Harper

Shin Soo Choo
Starlin Castro
Luis Pujols

Johnny Damon

Omar Vizquel

Vlad Guerrero

Bobby Abreu

Ryan Howard

Carlos Zambrano

CC Sabathia
Jamie Moyer
Andy Pettite

Jason Varitek

Gorman Thomas
Tony Plush

Tyler Moore (MLB Debut w/ Nats day after B Harper)

Mary Tyler Moore

Dominic Brown

Charlie Brown

The Chick on DWTS who was trending yesterday. 
Cute barista at my starbucks. 

The Squirrel on Skip Shumakers Topps Card.   

Phun Cards 1994 Topps #180 George Brett - Work of Art?? and a PHUNGO CHALLENGE!!!

When I first got back into collecting, I (and many others) read Ben Henry's The Baseball Card Blog.  He introduced me to the concept of Baseball Cards as more than just Cards, but as "Tiny Works of Art".  

This 1994 Topps Card of Hall of Famer George Brett falls into the Work of Art category for me. 

1994 Topps #180 George Brett

The 1994 Topps Set is rarely discussed.  I am sure there are several reasons for this.  1994 is the year of the big baseball strike and the 2 time reigning World Champions were a foreign team, the Toronto Blue Jays.  

Looking at it today it is a solid design.  There is a subtle Home Plate frame to the photo which likely appears no more perfectly on any card then on this one.  It proportions at a perfect angles to the giant Kauffman Stadium scoreboard. 

I generally dislike pictures from behind the player, but the scorebard and the HoF starpower of George Brett make this on and interesting shot.  George Brett, The Scoreboard, and a complimentry design put this card in the Work of Art category for me.

Phungo Challenge

There is so much information it is almost too easy for a Phungo Challenge but I will put it out there for all you Baseball-Reference freaks - What game is the photo from?  My scan is a bit blurry - you may want to check the Baseball Card Database image.  

For The Collector

I am pretty sure this 1994 Topps Card can be found in a Dime Box.  Not bad for a work of art.  Brett's Topps Rookie Card is from the 1975 set.  The Low recent ebay auction for the card closed at $9.50 shipped - decent condition although a very dinged up corner.  There were about a half dozen auctions for the card that ended at $15 and under.  A BVG Gem Mint 9.5 card came in at a whopping $2530.25.  Dozens of Good and Up Slabs sold for between $100 and $200. 

The lowest price card auto I found for Brett was $26.55 for a sticker auto 2004 SP Prospects (#d/50).  That was the lone auto produced by a major manufacturer that was going for under $40.  It was a bit disappointing to see that none of the George Brett Auto Cards that I saw were particularly nice looking. 

Links & Sources
Phungo George Brett HoF Index
ebay
 

Mantle Phungo Challenge Solved

This challenge didn't take long.  Our friends over at the Phillies Room knocked it out in 10 minutes. It took me a little longer.  On the card Mantle has a distinctive patch on his left shoulder that is shaped like a shield.

I eventually found this photo:

 1951 Photo DiMaggio and Mantle

I found this picture attached to an review of Jane Leavy's Mantle book, "The Last Boy" on Cleveland.com.

If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can make out American League on the patch.  From their I googled stuff like "American League Patch" and found this:

And there you have it Golden Anniversary patch worn by all American League players in 1951.  And even More GOLD for 2012 Topps. 

 
Looking Back

February - Dawgbones
January - Cards That Never Were

Phun Cards Phungo Challenge - 2012 Chrome Mickey Mantle

We have a Phungo Challenge for this rather crummy looking Saturday here in the North East.

2012 Topps Bonus Chrome #MBC1 Mickey Mantle

Featured this card several times this week, so I am sure you have seen it plenty - at least those of  you that are reading Phungo when you should be working.

Your Phungo Challenge is to figure out what year the Photo on the above card was taken.

Hint:  Believe it or notl this is another example more gold in 2012 Topps. 

You can play even if your not in the gloomy northeast.  Winner gets added to the 2012 Phungo Challenge Wall of Fame and the complete reverence of the Phungo Readers.   


Oh and Go Flyers! will be watching hockey while being lazy this afternoon.

Look what is in the budget bins at Target and a Phungo Challenge

Who Needs the Topps Diamond Giveaway to get Vintage Cards? 

Recently Team Phungo found this in the $1.59 clearance pack at our local big box.

If you look to the left you will notice this 2006 Topps Rack Pack contains 3 Vintage Cards - it is sort of like an instant version of the Topps Diamond Giveaway.

Phungo Challenge

The Phungo Challenge question related to this post is what year do you think the oldest "Vintage" card will be in this rack pack? 

I will try and  posts results on Monday or Tuesday Night  - see how things go at Phungo HQ. 

Phungo Challenge Resolved: Pat Burrell and Andruw Jones 2000-06-19

Uncle John's Band who publishes the entertaining Cards that Never Were blog was the only person to submit an entry for our Phungo Challenge on a Pat Burrell card roughly a month ago.

 

 

2001 Topps Stadium Club Pat Burrell

 

For this card UJB went with June 19th 2000.  I think he got the right series but I am leaning towards a game that was played the previous day Sunday 6/18. 

 

The series is pretty easy to drill down,  Burrell's rookie season is the only one he played at first base.  6/16-6/19 was the only Phils home series hosting the Braves that featured a Burrell appearance.  The Guest Star on the card is obviously Andruw Jones - pretty strong guest appearance there.  Surprisingly not many of Jones' ABs during those 4 games match up with the evidence in this Photo.

 

I pretty much brought it down to a few plate appearances in the games on June 18th and June 19th.  In the end, I am pretty sure this is a day game and that is why I went with 6/18.  It is true that there is significant daylight early in a night game in June, but the AB for Jones would not have taken place until at least the 3rd inning on 6/19 which would have been likely after 8p.  I can't see there being that much light at that time of day.  The other half of that theory is that I think Topps and their photographers generally use day games, because of the better lighting. 

 

I also worked under the theory that Jones could have been safe on the play.  And indeed on Sunday June 18th in the fourth inning Jones did have an infield single.  There were other possible outcomes - obviously the ground out, which happened on 6/19 and back end of a fielders choice which may have happened on 6/19.  

There is a chance that Uncle John's Band is correct and he hti the correct series so UJB you are the winner of the first Phungo Challenge of 2012!

Sources & Links

Game Dated Cards Index

Andruw Jones Index

Phungo Challenge - Card Show Edition

I will be off to the Philly Sports Cards Show shortly where I will be spending this beautiful Saturday.

Your challenge is to guess the earliest card Team Phungo will come home with. If you have been following along here for a while you should have a feel for what I collect and be able to make an educated guess. First one in with the correct answer wins the challenge - duplicate answers will be tossed to the bit bucket.

guessing ends when I get a card posted up here later 2nite - or maybe tomorrow depending how burnt out I am.

Previous Phungo Challenge Winners

PatSeacher from In Search of Pat the Bat

Rod from Padrographs
NicoLax from NR-MT
BA Benny from BABenny Baseball Card Buffet
zMan40 from Autograph Cards
Community Gum from Community Gum

Phungo Philm Club - Kurosawa's "Rashomon"

The Japanese movie that team Phungo took in this week was "Rashomon" which was directed by Akiri Kurosawa (note: It has a Samurai)

A few years ago the Bryn Mawr Film Institute (BMFI) was created to revive a run down theater in the community. BMFI generally runs contemporary indie, art films, and foreign films - IFC type stuff. They supplement these movies with Classic Older Films or Series during the week. This month they are doing a retrospective of Kurosawa.

I had a 100 level film class in school and for a while had a significant interest in film as a leisure hobby. I had always wanted to see a Kurosawa film based on the opinions of my friends, and the directors influence and notoriety.

Basically "Rashomon" tells the story of the rape of a young woman and the murder of her husband - a notorious bandit is involved in the crime, but exactly what happened is unknown. What makes "Rashomon" significant is that the 1950 film is the first to tell the same story from several different Points of View.

This brings us to "Jackie Brown". You may remember the critical "heist" scene at the end of the movie is shown from the vantage point of 3 different characters. There are a few other examples of films doing this, but "Jackie Brown" is probably the most accessible for today's film aficionados.

I appreciate that "Rashomon" was a groundbreaking film for how it's narrative was arranged, and also noted some film techniques that I was surprised to see in a 1950 film, but overall I leff the film and thought it was a good/above average but not great film.

If your a fan of the Tarantino films or perhaps Christopher Nolan (Memento), I would recommend the movie strictly to see an early example of a movie told in this out of sequence fashion. I also think it is a good movie to introduce one to Japanese cinema - it is a film of significance without much dialogue so there not a lot of reading involved.

It is hard to place a film into it's era knowing everything that came after it. Someone who Saw "Star Wars" when it debuted is certainly going to have a different opinion of someone seeing it for the first time. now. The story will always remain good. The the visual and sound effects that made the movie which remain incredible can not help but be diminished a bit from being recycled for a generation.

For a detailed review of "Rashomon" and the films place in history check out this very interesting review/essay by Roger Ebert.

1976 Topps #316 Jackie Brown

Phungo Challenge

As far as the Challenge goes, Dayf was headed down the right path, but took one step to far. I have been wanting to post a Jackie Brown baseball card and reference the 1997 Tarantino film of the same name for a while.

Community Gum stopped at Jackie Brown and looked up the Rashomon connection.

Community Gum also adds himself to the list of Phungo Challenge Winners.

PatSeacher from In Search of Pat the Bat
Rod from Padrographs
NicoLax from NR-MT
BA Benny from BABenny Baseball Card Buffet
zMan40 from Autograph Cards
Community Gum from Community Gum

One final note - Jackie Brown the baseball player happens to be the uncle of Daren Brown who was just named manager of the Seattle Mariners.

Phungo Challenge - Film Buff Edition

First off, if you have been paying attention this week, I would like to let you know that the 1977 Hostess Twinkies Uncut Sheet will be Framed! - not sure when I will get to this, but it is officially on the To Do List.


Now back to the Phungo Challenge:


1975 Topps ### ?????? ?????

On Tuesday Night I went out to see a vintage Japanese Film. To be honest I am not sure what makes a film Vintage, but I will tell you that the movie is older than I.

Your mission is to figure out what film I saw. The above card is your hint.

Winners of previous Phungo Challenge offerings and Pop Quizzes so far in 2010 have been

PatSeacher from In Search of Pat the Bat
Rod from Padrographs
NicoLax from NR-MT
BA Benny from BABenny Baseball Card Buffet
zMan40 from Autograph Cards

Cards One Historic Vintage Collection 3 pack break.

These are pretty much a sister pack of the Cards One Trading Investment Series cards Madding featured a few days ago at A Pack to be Named Later.

You be the Judge, do any of these cards fall under the category of Historic, Vintage, or Collectible?

I scanned these in the order they came out of the pack except each row is reversed - If it is important to you, start on the right and read backwards to get the sequence.


1988 Score #508 Jose DeLeon
1993 Score Select #186 Rob Deer
1994 UD #482 Kevin Young


1988 Score #201 Sam Horn
1988 Donruss #127 Jack Morris
1988 Topps #729 Toronto Blue Jays Team Leaders

1991 Topps #508 Mike York
1992 Topps #673 Todd Hundley
1989 Pacific #105 Mike Sirotka


2004 UD #USA-124 Jack McDowell
1988 Fleer #417 Bob Dernier
1988 Donruss #403 Carmen Castillo

1990 Score #274 Rich Yett
1990 Score #213 Daryl Boston
1984 Topps #775 Dave Parker

The other Packs:

I opened two other packs of these and the make up of the three packs was almost identical. All the packs began with a score card and ended with an 84 Topps card. There were several Score cards throughout. There was an Upper Deck 2004 USA card in each pack, however each of the other cards was a significantly lesser player than Jack McDowell. There were several duplicates between the three Packs. The 84 Parker card showed up in the last pack Jose DeLeon would make a reappearance.

The Pick of the Packs:
1984 Topps #750 Jim Palmer

Card of interest

1994 UD #469 Jack Armstrong

Can someone tell me what is going on with that Gold Patch on Armstrong's Pitching arm? Is it some sort of All-Star or inaugural season patch?

I didn't expect much from the 3 packs so I wasn't disappointed, except that there were several dupes among the 45 cards and that there were no Phillies cards.


Phungo Challenge
The Most Vintage was 84 Topps - Autograph Cards was closest 81.
The Superstar was Jim Palmer - A pretty Quality Player. BABenny went with Steve Garvey will give him credit on this one, although Palmer is a big time Hall of Famer.

Phungo Challenge: What Kind of Garbage will we find in this Pack?

Found this at the local 5 below recently:


They are from Cards One and I imagine are really similar to a pack opened recently on A Pack to be Named Later.

Here are the Odds (click to enlarge):


Sounds pretty similar to the Topps Cards Your Mom Threw Out giveaway. Although each pack will contain a "Historic Star Card". For those of you that can't read the small print there is 1:5 for 20+ Year Old Card, 1:10 for 30 and 1:100 for 40. For those of you actually interested in this product the cost is $1.06 (incl PA tax). Packs contain 15 cards.

I have 3 packs of this stuff and I am entertaining guesses on the Most Historic, Most Vintage, and Most Collectible cards I pull from "Historic Vintage Collection".

You have 24 hours to get your guesses in - or 48 or 60 hours - basically till I get around to posting the packs.

Best guesses will be honored in the Phungo Challenge Hall of Fame.

Winners of previous Phungo Challenges and Pop Quizzzes so far in 2010 have been

PatSeacher from In Search of Pat the Bat
Rod from Padrographs
NicoLax from NR-MT

oh and if you want some actual useful information - stop reading this and go and watch "Modern Family".

Phungo Roman Numeral Challenge Wrap Up

Phenomenal Superbowl. Anytime the underdog puts up a fight and your not rooting for the favorite it's a good game for me. Drew Brees was just about perfect - The Saints D came up big when it had to and the Colts made just a few mistakes and that was the difference.

OK recapping results of the The Challenge - There were a total of 9 cards posted 7 of which were solved:

Jimmie Foxx - nickname "Double X" or XX = 20 - Play at the Plate
David Eckstein - nickname "X" = 10 - Padrographs

Jimmy Rollins - Uniform Number 11 looks like II = 2 - PatSearcher
Chase Utley - From Upper Deck X = 10 - PlayAt the Plate(2)

Mike Ivie - Last Name is "IV" = 4 - PatSearcher(2)
Kaz Ishii - Last Name has 3 Is or III = 3 - The Phillies Room

YSL Thurmun Munson - by Rod over at Padrographs (2)

Rod got it for a different reason then I intended. The clue for this one was Baseball-Reference which refers to the Yankee Stadium that the YSL set celebrates as Yankee Stadium II - so that is how I arrived at the 2.



That Leaves Nolan Ryan and Earle Combs. In Hindsight Combs was likely a poor choice.

So here are your clues for these two. I will give you till Noon tomorrow.

The Ryan Answer has something to do with Family Feud and a Career record he holds.

The Combs Answer has historical signficance - Earle is believed to have been involved in a historic baseball first.

Phungo Roman Numeral Challenge IV

If you would like more background on this Phungo Challenge click here.

Time for the 4th Quarter. This is the NL West former NY teams edition of the challenge.

Each Card below represents a different roman number, your goal is to figure out what the number is. Both of these are pretty tough.


Couple of Clues on these two cards

Baseball-Reference
Family Feud

Which card belongs to which card is for you to figure out.

OK recapping results from the first 3 quarters:

Jimmie Foxx - nickname "Double X" or XX = 20 - Play at the Plate
David Eckstein - nickname "X" = 10 - Padrographs

Jimmy Rollins - Uniform Number 11 looks like II = 2 - PatSearcher
Earle Combs - unsolved
Chase Utley - From Upper Deck X = 10 - PlayAt the Plate(2)

Mike Ivie - Last Name is "IV" = 4 - PatSearcher(2)
Kaz Ishii - Last Name has 3 Is or III = 3 - The Phillies Room

Phungo Roman Numeral Challenge II

If you would like more background on this Phungo Challenge click here.

Time for the 2nd Quarter. We have an All Phils 2nd Quarter with three cards. Each Card below represents a different roman number, your goal is to figure out what the number is. The top two are pretty hard, the last one should be a little easier.

Phungo Roman Numeral Challenge I

In honor of the Super Bowl today we will be running a day long Phungo Challenge.

Today Super Bowl XLIV wil be played by the Saints and Colts. In recognition of this we are going to be running a challenge having to do with the NFLs continuing insistence to use Roman Numerals in the Name of the Superbowl.

Throughout the day I will be posting cards which represent different Roman Numerals. Your Goal is to figure out what the Roman Number is and give me the Arabic (traditional english) Number.

The connection could have to do with the Subjects Names, Numbers, Card Numbers, and probably some really odd connections that would only happen in my brain.

First Person to get each card gets a point, most points at the end of the day wins the challenge. The Prize for this Challenge is bragging rights in the Card Blogoshpere - Trying using that at your SuperBowl party tonight.

I have broken the Challenge into 4 quarters. This is the first Quarter and here are the first two cards. I think these are pretty easy.


I will try and get the 2nd 3rd and 4th quarters up at 12, 2, and 4 eastern today.

Winners of previous Phungo Challenges and Pop Quizzzes so far in 2010 have been

Rod from Padrographs
NicoLax from NR-MT

Happy Trails Randy Johnson Game Revealed

I stole this picture off an ebay listing - This card is on my non-Phils want list, and I just haven't found it yet. NicoLax24 made a compelling argument for this being a Cardinals game but I am pretty sure it is an Orioles game.

The game that NicoLax24 Referenced was a Playoff game that occurred on October 24th 2001 between the Diamondbacks and Cardinals. Unfortunately the game was played in Arizona not St Louis. This photo was taken at a Diamondbacks away game - check the D-Backs unis at dressed to the nines.

I am pretty sure this game occurred on June 8th 2004. The Diamondbacks blew out the Orioles 8-1 in a game that I attended. I have been to Camden Yards several times and there is an area in the Right Field power alley that serves as a dugout for some sort of stadium personnel. Those folks in there are wearing Orioles Orange, not Cardinals Red. There is also a sign that marks the OF depth as 373 feet there, and you can see part of that sign behind Mr Johnson.

The Unit pitched 11 games at Camden Yards, but only one of those was as a Diamondback and that game was on June 8 2004.

Since this game is among the Phungo Games that I have attended this card is also on my want list for Phungo Games.

Randy Johnson HoF Index
1991 Score #700 (No-Hit Club 1992 0602 No-Hitter)
2000 Skybox Dominion #7 (ERA League Leaders w/ Pedro Martinez
2005 Topps Bazooka Stamp Quad (w/ Schilling, Pettitte & Hudson)

Sources and Links
Dressed to the Nines
Baseball-ref

The Happy Trails Randy Johnson Phungo Challenge

(click to enlarge)

Ok in honor of the Big Unit retiring (300 Wins, nearly 5000 Ks, and 5 Cy Young Awards) Team Phungo invites all you internet Baseball-Reference research junkies to play Name the Game!

This is a quad sticker that was offered in a Topps Bazooka product. In the SouthEast corner you can see Randy Johnson tossing a pitch. Can you guess the date of the game Johnson is pitching in?

No Prizes - Just the Honor of Winning the First Phungo Challenge of the new Decade.