2014 Topps #US-280 Cole Gillespie: Error Card?

Anybody run into this in this years Topps Update?

2014 Topps #US-280 Cole Gillespie

 Perfectly fine card of journeyman outfielder Cole Gillespie with a Seattle Mariners jersey and logo on the card. but then flip the card over:

 

2014 Topps #US-280 Cole Gillespie  (b-side)

Also a fine 2nd side to the card. but check out the top left corner. It lists Gillespie with the Toronto Blue Jays. This is actually correct - Gillespie did finish the season with the Blue Jays after being waived by the Mariners as is mentioned on the cards b-sidel.

Is this basically an Uncorrected Error. Gillespie isn't a prominent player, so can't imagine a corrected version with his photo as a Blue Jay on the front being released

Or has anyone found other cards in 2014 Topps that have the traded to team on one side with the former club repped on the front?


This card reminds me of the 60s variations that would be the same card but some of them would have a Waiver or Trade statement if the player got moved during the off-season.



Sources/Links
Baseball-ref

2015 HoF Ballot Gary Sheffield 1989 Baseball Cards Magazine #14

With Sunday Night Football in Nearby Green Bay We will take a look at a Milwaukee Brewer Alum that is on the 2015 HoF Ballot. 

1989 Baseball Cards Magazine #14 Gary Sheffield

The Brew Crew took Sheffield out of high school with the 6th overall pick in the 1986 draft. Two years and a few months later He was with the big club. It was the beginning of a 22 year career that saw the nine time all-star Win a World Series (1997 Marlins), and post 509 Home Runs (25th all time) , 1676 RBI (26th), and score 1636 Runs (38th) all on the way to five Silver Slugger Awards. He never won an MVP award, but he did finish 2nd or 3rd three times. Sheffield finished 2nd in oWar twice, both times he was bested by Barry Bonds.

Hall of Fame
We have established that Gary Sheffield accumulated ridiculously good numbers during an offense heavy era of tbe game. What does it all mean? Well the good folks at fangraphs and baseball-ref have designed the WAR stat to be independent of era. According to BR Sheffield Ranks 18th in career WAR for the position, Jay Jaffe's JAWS rating which combines WAR with Peak War ranks Sheff 23rd.  RF is also the most populated position in the hall with a lot of candidates similar to Sheffield lurking (Ichiro, Vlad, Bobby Abreu, and the surprisingly strong candidate Larry Walker) 

My Verdict is a YES. His numbers are on the good side of the borderline, He has a World Series Ring, but No MVPS - however he was on a bunch of All-Star teams and has a couple of silver slugger bats laying around. If ti wasn't for Barry Bonds he would have 2 oWAR titles and he may have won an MVP.

1989  Baseball Cards Magazine
30 years after the initial release of 1959 Topps, Baseball Cards Magazine homaged the set with a set of their own. The set was issued as 6 card sheets inserted into the magazine throughout the year. They were even thorough enough to create a template for the 1959T Rookie Stars subset.

The card isn't in error on Sheffield's position, he came up as a shortstop. His career didn't really take off until 1992 when he was traded to San Diego where he became a third baseman. The following season he was moved to the Marlins where he finally found his home in the outfield - which is where most of us place Gary Sheffield.

Sources & Links
2015 HoF Candidates
Baseball-ref

Golden Era HoF Ballot Dick Allen 1967 Topps #450

The most prominent Phillies player on the Golden Era Ballot is Dick Allen. Today I would like to take a look at his chances of getting selected.

1967 Topps #450 Richie Allen
1967 Topps #450 Dick Allen

Rather than going into detail about Dick Allen's on the field credentials or his complex off the field issues I would like to dissect his chances by analyzing the Golden Era Committee.

The GEC consists of 16 members, 12 Yes Votes (75%) gets you into the Hall

There are seven Hall of Fame Players on the committee
Jim Bunning - YES: Curmudgeon but was a former teammate
Rod Carew - YES
Fergie Jenkins - YES: Former Teammate
Al Kaline - YES
Joe Morgan - no: According to his ESPN B-cast nobody was as good as Joe
Ozze Smith - YES
Don Sutton - no: Allen wasn't particulary successful vs Sutton BA=.257 1 HR in 41 AB

Five Executives
Pat Gillick - YES: Gillick back with Phillies, Undertands what it would mean to Organization
Jim Frey - no: I was too lazy to figure out which Jim Frey this was so penciled him as a no
David Glass - no: Royals Owner is former CEO of Walmart. The man is into cost-cutting = minimalist

Roland Hemond - YES: As GM of  White Sox Hemond acquired Dick Allen
Bob Watson - YES: former player repping exec branch.

Four Media Members
Steve Hirdt - YES: Stats Guy - he will surely see Dick Allen's numbers
Dick Kaegel - YES: Covers Royals, probably in good mood.
Phil Pepe - no: in 2008 Pepe didn't see Andre Dawson as HoF and the Hawk has similar credentials to Dick Allen
Tracy Ringolsby - no: President of the BBWAA in 1986 when Allen appeared on less than 10% of ballot 

The Verdict
YES = 10 votes, No = 6 Votes. Dick Allen gets passed over. Pains me to say it but I am thinking my very unscientific survey will end up being pretty close to the actual results.

1967 Topps #450
1967 is the first time that Dick Allen has his position listed as an outfielder - well partially anyway. Perhaps if Allen had spent his entire career at third base he would garner more serious consideration for the Hall. I think some voters view him as more of a first baseman or outfielder even if his most prolific years were at third.

Sources & Links
2015 HoF Ballot Index
Dick Allen Player Collection Index 
Philadelphia Inquirer
Baseball-ref
SABR
Royals Review
Yes Network
Hall of Fame

1959 Topps Baseball Thrills #466 Billy Pierce

The 2015 Verteran's Committee, er umm Golden Era Committee has been given their Hall of Fame Ballot for 2015. Among the ten nominees on the ballot is Southpaw Billy Pierce.

1959 Topps Baseball Thrills #466 Billy Pierce

During his career Billy Pierce pitched 18 years in the majors 13 of which were with Chicago White Sox. The seven time All-Star was a member of two pennant winners - the '59 White Sox, and the '62 Giants. Additional personal accomplishments include 211 career victories, ERA (1.97 in 1955), strikeout (186 in 1953)  and victory (20 in 1957).

Slightly less than half of Pierce's career occurred prior to the creation of the Cy Young Award. In two of those pre-CY seasons Pierce led the league in pitching WAR. That DOES NOT necessarily automatically translate into Cy Young Awards. In neither of the two seasons (1953, 1955) did Pierce Lead pitchers in MVP voting. Oddly in the 1956 season when he finished 4th in pitching WAR, He led all AL pitchers in the MVP voting. There was only 1 MVP award at the time (shared by both leagues) curiously Pierce did not get any Cy Young Votes - However Another AL pitcher whom Pierce finished in front of in the MVP vote did get CY votes - Hall of Famer Whitey Ford. 

Baseball Thrills

1959 Topps Baseball Thrills #466 Billy Pierce (b-side)

Billy Pierce was awarded a BT card based on his All-Star Game prowess - some additional notes on those 3 starts here: 

1953 - He matched up equally with Phillies HoF pitcher Robin Roberts 3 IP, 1 single, no walks. The HoF batters he retired that day included PeeWee Reese(twice), Red Schoendienst, Roy Campanella, Eddie Mathews, Enos Slaughter, Ralph Kiner (Strikeout).

1955 - 3ip, 1 hit erased on CS, faced minimum 9 batters. HoFs retired Duke Snider(K), Eddie Mathews, Ernie Banks(K)

1956 - 3ip, 2 singles, 1 run, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, One HoF retired Frank Robinson but he got in twice both times on strikeouts.

The Card doesn't mention Billy Pierce's 1957 appearance where he got knocked around a bit.

There is a modest discussion of this card at the 1959 Topps blog here. 

Phungo HoF Verdict
Even assuming 2 or possibly 3 Cy Young Awards for Billy Pierce, I don't think it is enough to put him in the Hall of Fame. His career WAR of 53.2 ranks 90th all-time - among contemporary pitchers that ranks between CC Sabathia and Johan Santana and just below David Wells(88th) and Dwight Gooden(89th). Both Wells & Gooden are great pitchers that rank above Pierce in Career WAR and both (unlike Pierce) have World Series Rings. However Wells & Gooden are not Hall of Famers and neither is Billy Pierce.

For more info on Pierce's career credentials check this Jay Jaffe article which is in agreement with our Hall of Very Good summation.

Sources & Links
1959 Topps Baseball Thrills
2015 Hall of Fame Candidates
AP/Philadelphia Inquirer
baseball-ref
jay jaffe- SI

1970 Topps #403 Jim Bunning says Vote

Tomorrow is election day. It isn't a Presidential election but there are various other local and statewide positions that are being contested. Back in 1979 Phillies Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning won one of those elections - for Kentucky State Senate.

1970 Topps #403 Jim Bunning

Eventually Bunning was elected to the US House of Representatives and in 1998 he arrived in the US Senate. A position he held until 2010.

I am not sure how other states work but in PA one advantage to voting in the mid-term election is that it registers you to vote for the next 2 years which guarantees you won't have to re-register for the 2016 Presidential elections.

Regardless all those political ads that you were annoyed by during the playoffs and World Series should come to an end tomorrow. 

HoF Golden Era Committee
I am sure as a good citizen Jim Bunning will cast his vote on Tuesday, In addition to the mid-term election Bunning is also in the process of filling out a ballot for the MLBs Golden Era Committee. Bunning is one of a dozen voters who will examine 10 candidates on the Golden Era Ballot including his 1964 Phillies teammate Dick Allen.  

For the Collector
Picked this card up at a show for $1 in 2011.

For more Jim Bunning check:
Phungo Jim Bunning HoF Index

Sources & Links
SABR Bio by Ralph Berger
Philadelphia Inquirer Philly.com

2014 Topps Stadium Club Group Break Swag from Nachos Grande

Couple of cards from a recent Nachos Grande group break. Unfortunately, Topps came up a little short on coallation and there were some duplicate autographs/hits in the break. Regardless 2014TSC has some quality photography and some fun shots.

2014 Topps Stadium Club #167 Domonic Brown

One of the blogs I miss most is Dinged Corners. I bring this up here because they had a collection of players smiling cards. If they are still collecting the above Dom Brown card surely would be a candidate.

When I first saw this card I also noticed that Brown is being interviewed by CSNPhilly broadcaster Gregg Murphy. I asked Mr Murphy about this via Twitter (@GMurphCSN) He noted "My Best side for sure"
 
Flip It

2014 Topps Stadium Club #165 Cole Hamels (A&B sides)

As mentioned above the collation among the boxes in the break wasn't great. A product of this was getting two Cole Hamels cards, which makes it easy to display the front & back of 2014 TSC in a single photo.  

Nice Pix, kind of a Meh back. basically a 6 year old blurb, minimalist demographic info and stats. I would think TSC would be better suited for more SABRmetric stats than WHIP.

Parallels

2014 Topps Stadium Club Gold Parallel #170 Ryan Howard

According to Cardboard Connection gold foil parallels appear one per master box. The card is running at a BIN of $3 on ebay


Bonus Cards

2010 UD Pure Heat #PH-13 Ryan Howard

Nacho's Grande being the good Group Breaker that he is threw in some bonus box breaks and cards. This is a nice Ryan Howard Die Cut by 2010 UD.  This was an unlicensed product and we don't see the Phillies nickname on the front, however it is on the text of the cards b-side.

Pure Heat is a 15 card insert set of 2010 UD. Among the 15 cards are 2 Phillies - Howard and #PH-4 Cole Hamels.

1989 Donruss #549 Darren Daulton

The 1989 Darrren Daulton Donruss Card is noteworthy for featuring the Phils Catcher posing in a right-handed batting stance. Earliest this year The Phillies Collector Blog asked Daulton about the card/pix and got the scoop from the subject himself. Happy to get this card as a bonus in the Group Break.

Sources & Links
Cardboard Connection
ebay 
Baseball Cardpedia
Phillies Collector

2014 Phungo #29 Nik Wallenda

Tonight at 7p ET Aerialist Nik Wallenda will be taking his high-wire act to Chicago and the rest of the world via the Discovery channel.

2014 Phungo #29 Nik Wallenda

Apparently Wallenda will be attempting two different walks between 3 Chicago Skyscrapers one of which will be blindfolded. This probably won't draw my attention away from football but I am sure some folks will check in.

Nik Wallenda did a public appearance during the Phillie Phanatic's 5th inning wildcard sketch at a game in 2012. I think they laid out a rope on the field and both Nik and the Phanatic walked across. 

The above card is one of the non-baseball cards from the 2014 Phungo set. During the playoffs and World Series I have been working on 2015 Phungo. I am about half way through the base set. In the recent past sets we have had some distribution issues. I hope to get more Phungo Cards sent out this year and in more timely fashion. 

Sources & Links
Discovery