2016 Heritage the Originals: 1966 Topps League Leaders

Today our 2016 Heritage Preview takes a look at the 1967 Topps League Leader cards.

1967 Topps #242 NL League Leaders RBI Aaron Clemente Allen

In a better world this card would have Three Hall of Famers on it. Unfortunately we live in the cruel universe where Dick (nee Richie) Allen resides on the edges of the Hall.

Regardless, I LOVE THIS CARD!!! What Phillies fan would not?

Dick Allen with two of the all time great Hall of Famers, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente. Oddly on this card we have two players who were bestowed different names for the early portion of their careers. Roberto Clemente is listed as the Americanized Bob while Dick Allen is listed as Richie.

The 1967T LL cards are pretty vanilla but strong. This format is very similar to the the 1966T LL cards. If I had a quibble with the design it would would be the use N. LEAGUE rather than NL.

The 2016 Heritage version of this card will feature Nelson Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, and Anthony Rizzo. I am pretty comfortable stating the panel on the original will be remembered a lot longer than the upcoming Heritage LL card.

flip

1967 Topps #242 NL League Leaders RBI Aaron Clemente Allen (b-side)

Solid listing of players on the back of the card. Five of the seven players over the 100 RBI threshold are in the Hall, the other two played for the Phillies :(

There are a dozen league leader cards in 1967 Topps, six cards for each league: ERA, Pitching (wins), and Strikeouts for pitchers; Batting (Average), RBI, and Home Runs for Hitters. In addition to appearing on the RBI card, Dick Allen is also the center panel on the HR card between Aaron and Willie Mays (WOW!). Jim Bunning occupies the 2-spot on the NL Strikeouts Leaders card.

I am a little curious if Topps will do anything with NL Wins LL card, Bob Gibson and Gaylord Perry tied for third place in Ws with 21 each in 1966 so they had to split the final spot on the #236 card.

There Will not be any Phillies on the 6 NL Leader cards in 2016 Heritage.

Sources and Index
2016 Heritage/1967 Topps Index
Dick Allen Player Collection Index
Hank Aaron HoF Index
Roberto Clemente HoF Index
baseball-ref

Bobby Abreu to represent Phillies at 2015 Hall of Fame Classic

The Hall of Fame Classic is an Alumni game played at Doubleday Field in downtown Cooperstown.

1998 Topps #351 Bob Abreu

Like the Major League All-Star game the HoF Classic gathers players from each Major League Team to play in the contest. In addition to the Bobby Abreu several other Phillies Alums will be on hand representing other teams including Tony Perez, Bob Dernier, Jim Eisenreich, Aaron Rowand, Roy Oswalt, and David Delluci.

There are six Hall of Famers scheduled to be on hand for the day. The Team Captains are Ozzie Smith and Phil Niekro with Perez, Tom Glavine, Robin Yount and Rollie Fingers acting as coaches.  

For further information on the classic click here.

1998 Topps
This is the first Topps issue Bobby Abreu on a Phillies card. He was known as Bob Abreu to Topps until 2003.

2011 60 Years of Topps #60YOT-47 Bob Abreu (right)

The 1998 Abreu card made the cut for the 60 Years of Topps series.  The name plate on the cards is different. The same style of Phillies logo shows up on both cards but on the 60YoT version on the riht the liberty bell is white, while on the original it is red.

The Flip side of the card mentions Roberto Clemente - I assume the connection is both are Latin American players. But they could have gone with a more direct connection of one of Clemente's countryman like Roberto Alomar, Ivan Rodriguez, or Carlos Delgado.

2011 60 Years of Topps #60YOT-47 Bob Abreu (b-side)

Of course my other less likely thought is that Topps mentions Roberto Clemente here because they used to call him Bob, just like they at one time referred to Bobby Abreu as Bob.

Below we have a picture of the box Top referred to in the text of the 60YoT card. 

1998 Topps Box (image swiped from Baseball Cardpedia)

Sources and Links
Baseball Hall of Fame
baseball cardpedia
Topps Baseball Card Database

Roberto Clemente (1934-1972)

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Roberto Clemente's death in a plane crash off the coast of Puerto Rico.

 2013 Phungo Retired Number #42-SJP21 Roberto Clemente

Clemente died before I had a concept of baseball, life or death. However is legacy is important to both the Latin Americans and to baseball.

I have jumped the gun a bit on the 2013 Phungo card release in order to honor Clemente today. This is his retired number not from Pittsburgh, but from Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan Puerto Rico. I am pretty sure that his number #21 is honored and retired across the entire commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

This is another first for Phungo Cards.  There have been other retired numbers in the series but this is the first one from outside of Major League Baseball.  The Photo was taken during the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Enjoy your New Year's Eve safely and think about Roberto Clemente he spent his last New Year's Eve trying to help needy people after an earthquake in Nicaragua.

Phungo Roberto Clemente HoF Profile

1968 Topps #374

  

Card Show Report 2011 12 03 - Philly Show, Valley Forge PA

The December edition of the Philly Show was a real success for Team Phungo.  I was real happy with results of the vintage bins I checked out.  Here are some of the Highlights: 


1959 Topps

Ernie Banks All-Star $6.00
Al Kaline Baseball Thrills $3.50
Commons Gus Bell 0.50, $1 for the Rest - I did spy a Solly Drake for 50 cents after I had already picked up the one above. 

The quest to complete 1959 Topps set is in the home stretch.  Going into the show I needed 20 cards to finsh the set, knocking out 35% of the cards on my want list in a matter of  a few hours was a complete victory.


 Phillies Vintage Bowmans

 This is a section of the Phungo collection that I plan on taking more seriously.  I have completed the 1948 Bowman Phils Set (all 2 cards of it) and have a lot of the 1955 set. The rest of the years are pretty sparse.  Most of the above cards went for $2-$5 each.  The commons were $1 or $2 while the High Numbers went for $5.  The Highlight in there is the 1955 Del Ennis Card ($2.50).

Other Phils Vintage

1963 Fleer Clay Dalrymple ($2)
1940 Playball Syl Johnson ($5)

The Dalrymple is my first 63 Fleer.  $5 for a card that is older then my parents is a buy. The 1940 Phillies Play Ball Set is likely hard to build, it is 15 cards.  One of the 15 is Chuck Klein, which I would imagine commands a bit of a price tag.


Hall of Famers

1969 Topps Willie McCovey
1969 Topps Phil Niekro 
1970 Topps AL HR League Leaders (Killebrew/F Howard/Reggie)
1970 Topps NL Battling LL (Pete Rose, Clemente, Cleon Jones) 

The first 3 cards were all 3 for a buck - The Rose/Clemente LL card went for a dollar. A stinking Dollar for Pete Rose and Roberto Clemente on a League Leaders card - That is like stealing.

The McCovey Card is in rough condition but the others are pretty decent the 1970 cards are in real good shape.

etc

1965 Topps Masanori Murakami RC (0.50)

This is a card I have always wanted but never was interested in throwing down real money for.  Masanori Murakami is the first Japanese player ever to play for Baseball in the US at the Major League level - 30+ years prior to Ichiro.  Murakami had some success with the Giants in his only season in the Majors but was forced to return to Japan due to a contract squabble involving his Japanese team.

Murakami is still alive at the age of 67.  The Giants honored him with a bobblehead at a game in 2008.  More info on his wiki.

Links
Willie McCovey Index
 

Card Show Report - 2010 05 14 Exton Mall, Exton PA

I mainly scoured cheapo bins in the 2-3 hours I spent at the Exton card Show. I was able to knock out about a dozen cards from my Phillies Want list and another dozen cards from my other want lists.

There were some minor surprises. In one of the dime bins I was perusing I found 3 Chicle cards and picked out all of them. I spent a good deal of time in a nickle bin which actually had a number of 2010 Topps Cards, and 2010 UD - including a good chunk of the Biography set. There were several Bowman Chrome cards in there as well.

My biggest surprise was finding a couple 2007 Topps XFractors in the dime bin.

The Pictures:

2010 Topps National Chicle Lou Brock
Later in the year I may have skipped the other Chicles (Zambrano, Braun). I was a bit of a Brock fan when I was a kid, and I will always at least consider any retro card of his when thumbing through a budget bin.

The Phils


I am pretty sure all of these came from my Phils vendor. I am good for finding a bunch of Phils cards in his bin at every show, I picked up these and a bunch of 2010 Topps Phils Commons all for $5. Someday I will get around to cataloging my haves and wants for the Phils Carlton collection, but I haven't as of today.

Set Building
These cards are all from different sets I am building:

2007 Bowman Heritage
2007 UD Masterpieces
2008 UD Spectrum
2008 Topps All-Star Rookies


The Retro
I am a sucker for this kind of stuff. The Brooksie is from the 2006 Topps Rookie of the Week promotion. I picked up maybe a dozen of these. The Action Packed card is of Roberto Clemente.

Shiny
As always there were lots of Bowman Chrome in the nickel box, not as many Topps, but I did find the above Ibanez card in there.


Other Nickles



There is one woman who often has a nickel box at the show - this week she had a lot of 2010 Topps commons (no phils) and 2010 UD cards including gobs of the Biography cards. She also had the above Soriano card - which was homaged in the 2010 Topps Yo Momma Set. Who needs the reprint when you can get the original for a nickle??

I am not a football guy nor a Giants fan, but I could not let this 08 Masterpieces Football cards sit in the nickle bin.

All told I went through $28.50 at the show in about 3 hours. $5 in Phils card, $7 in the nickle bin, $6 in a dime box, $1.50 on a Grab Bag, and $5 on a six pack off oddball packs to open over at A Pack To Be Named Later.

Would you like to see some New Hero Numbers? 42 and 21

The recent Hall of Fame posts on Roberto Clemente and Jackie Robinson got me to thinking - Are Robinson and Clemente worthy of Hero numbers?

One of the facets of Topps cards that I prefer to Upper Deck is that they have Hero numbers. The numbers were present on the cards I grew up with and I enjoy seeing them on today's cards. Topps has also "retired" the number 7 to be used exclusively for Mickey Mantle.

If a card number can be retired to a specific player for on the field greatness, why not recognize a card number that represents social progress. I propose making card #42, Jackie Robinson's uniform number, a Hero Number. This way it is a living memorial honoring Jackie Robinson and what he represents. This is similar to the way players don uniform number 42 on Jackie Robinson day during the Major League season. Similarly I also think that Robero Clemente's 21 is worthy of the Hero number treatment as an honor to him and the rise of the Latin player.

Each year the cards could be a different player, this would surely generate some free publicity for Topps as the players and their credentials would likely be debated beyond baseball card circles. In the initial years the numbers would go to a Dodger and a Pirate but beyond that I would expand the player pool to all 30 teams. Juan Pierre would be a good pick from the Dodgers for the #42 honor. Perhaps Ian Snell, who represented Puerto Rico in the WBC could be the initial #21 representative.

In a hobby that is short on innovations that are not in reality gimmicks, I think it would be easy to do and would also generate a significant goodwill return for Topps.

It would be more interesting then than having another Corey Hart on card number 42.

2008 topps #42 Corey Hart (Reverse)

What do Phungo Readers think? is this an idea that Topps could run with?

Hall of Fame Thursday - Roberto Clemente

1968 #374 Roberto Clemente (All-Star)

I wanted to get this post out while the WBC was still being played, specifically when Puerto Rico was playing.

The Clemente's story is well documented. At the time of his untimely death the career .317 hitter had just recorded his 3000th hit. He was a 15 time all-star, who won an MVP award. He spent his entire career as a Pirate and was a member of both the 1960 and 1971 World Series Championship teams.

It was very enjoyable to go to Puerto Rico and see the enthusiasm of the fans firsthand. Roberto Clemente is definitely celebrated as a Baseball Hero in Puerto Rico. His number is retired at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, and there is another stadium in Puerto Rico which bears his name.Retired Numbers Hiram Bithorn Stadium #30 Orlando Cepeda, #21 Roberto Clemente (click to enlarge)

Carlos Delgado was a member of the Puerto Rico WBC team and asked the Clemente family to allow him to wear Roberto Clemente's #21 during the Classic.2009 Phungo #21 Carlos Delgado

This the Phungo card for Carlos Delgado. His card number is 21 to match his uniform number which he wears to honor the memory of fellow countryman Roberto Clemente.

A few months back I ran a column on the film "Grand Canyon" and its connection to Roberto Clemente, you can read this entry here. 

Phungo Roberto Clemente HoF Index
1959 Topps #478

1967 Topps #242 LL RBI Aaron Clemente Dick Allen (2016 Heritage Preview) 

2013 Phungo Retired Number #42-SJP21

 

"Grand Canyon" and Roberto Clemente

2008 Allen & Ginter #144 Grand Canyon

1959 Topps #478 Bob Clemente

Recently I had a free HBO weekend and re-watched the 1991 Lawrence Kasdan film " Grand Canyon ". It's an interesting movie to watch again 17 years later. Grand Canyon is a reference to the vast void that exists between people due to differences in race and wealth. This territory has been covered by more recent films such as "Crash" and "Babel" - unfortunately part of this is because race money sexism and all the other -isms will probably always be part of our lives. This is another theme of "Grand Canyon" - Basically the Mack (Danny Glover) character makes an analogy to the Grand Canyon , The rocks are large, old, and timeless - they are just laughing at us mortals - they have been around forever and will outlive us and our issues for eons.

There are also some sports themes that run through the movie. The main character Simon, played by Kevin Kline, is a Pittsburgh Pirates fan - and named his son after Roberto Clemente. The movie opens at an LA Lakers games - Magic Johnson rumbles down the court - The release of the film happened not long after Johnson announced that he had been diagnosed as HIV positive - The game is watched by Simon's Son Roberto in a comfortable suburban home, while Mack's (Glover) Nephew watches the same game from his mother tiny home in a much more dangerous area of Los Angeles. On his way home from the Forum Simon makes a wrong turn and find himself in a bad section of town. Essentially this is how close Simon and Mack are to each other geographically, but because of their racial background there exists a chasm the size of the " Grand Canyon " between their lives.

Some of the films issues are timeless but one thing that has quickly evolved since 1991 involves Simon's venture into the rough neighborhood. His Mobile Phone symbolizes Simon as a man of wealth. Here we are less than two decades later and I recently left a cell phone on a SEPTA train - it ended up being returned to the lost and found.

There are a variety of subplots that keep the movie running at a quick pace and it is definitely worth a new look here in 2008. I also want to mention that the film contains Warren Zevon's classic "Werewolves of London" as well as a beautiful new (at the time) tune "Searching for a Heart".

Phungo Roberto Clemente HoF Profile

1968 Topps #374