Father's Day: Curt Schilling 1998 Fleer SI Then & Now

There are a couple of Father and Son/Daughter cards out there, this is one of my favorites.

1998 Fleer SI Legends of Today #130 Curt Schilling

Understandably the card a favorite of Curt Schilling. Last month he posted this via his Twitter account.

Twitter by @Gehrig38

Curt is pitching to his eldest son Gehrig in the photo (the @Gehrig28 referred to in the Curt Schilling's tweet).

This Past Friday Gehrig and his sister Gabby were featured in an SI.com article discussing bullying and internet bullying.    
 
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1998 Fleer SI Legends of Today #130 Curt Schilling (b-side)

The reverse of the Schilling card contains some comparisons to a few pitching legends. This is before the three World Championships and he is being held up to the standards of a Legend like Bob Gibson. The presence of reliever Rollie Fingers in the graphic seems odd, however the walk rates for him and Schilling appear to be somewhat similar. 

Sources and Links
baseball cardpedia
Sports Illustrated - Jeff Bradley
Gehrig Schilling
Curt Schilling

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)
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Sources and Links
Baseball Hall of Fame
Baseball-ref

Phungo Cards - Rollie Fingers

Today on Phungo Cards we bring you the very first Phungo Card from a team outside of the Phillies. And I also want to send a shout out to a Phungo reader TasteLikeDirt who has some very good news of his own. TLD was the first in with comments regarding the Phungo cards and I decided to post the only Athletic from the Phungo set for him. TLD has also posted some helpful photography info that I will try and take to the park with me this season. TasteLikeDirt features some great pictures of both the Oakland A's and Rock Concerts. It's always worth a look.


2008 Phungo #43 Rollie Fingers

Rollie Fingers does represent the Athletics, who were the other team that once did play in Philadelphia before migrating first to Kansas City and then Oakland. Fingers was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992. His career spanned 17 seasons during which he saved 341 games. He was the closer for the A's three World Championship teams 1972-74.

I took this picture at a celebrity softball game played after the 2008 Futures game in New York. The first thing one will notice is that I have given this card a green inset border color to match the Oakland A's colors. I chose number 43 for Fingers, which is the reverse of his A's number '34'. I also have added the 'CL' for the position of Closer. Major League baseball has been tracking saves for what 50 years now, an abbreviation for Closer seems to be in order. The date on the card 2008 07 13 is the date of All-Star Sunday. In retrospect I probably should have worked in the HOF and induction year, similar to the Richie Ashburn card.

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Hall of Fame Game Altered

The fact that this card comes from a Baseball Old-Timers/Celebrity game gives me an 0pportunity to discuss the Baseball Hall Of Fame game.

I originally covered this in one of the very first Phungo Posts back in June. The annual Baseball Hall of Fame game no longer exists as it once did. Two major league teams used to meet at the intimate Doubleday field (capacity 10-12,000) in Cooperstown NY each summer to play an exhibition game. Major League Baseball has determined that it is no longer "feasible" to play this game.

I have never been to the Hall of Fame game, but it is a tradition that sounds appealing to me. I understand there are a lot of logistical issues with bringing two teams to Cooperstown, but I am of the opinion that the Hall of Fame game is not only important to the fans but to the players. Yes the baseball season is long and contains few off days and the players have all sorts of burdens regarding travel and road trips. They are also getting paid millions of dollars to play a game that doesn't exists without it's fans. I think it is important that each player respects the both the fans and the history of the game. For those reasons alone I think it is in their best interest to continue the Hall of Fame game tradtion.

This year MLB plans on having a Hall of Fame game featuring retired players. This to me is not a horrible compromise, but I don't live in Cooperstown. Kristian Connolly is leading a campaign to bring the Hall of Fame game back to Cooperstown. The website Save the Hall of Fame Game has several valid arguments to bring back the game. If you're interested in affairs at the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Hall of Fame game please check out the site.

I am interested in the opinions of Phungo readers. Is the Hall of Fame game a tradition worth continuing or is it to much of a burden to teams and players. What do you think of the alternative of the Old-Timers game. I think it would be nice to pair it with a Minor League all-star game. How about having the Futures Game in Cooperstown?