ANNIVERSARY: Phillies First World Championship - 1981 Topps #404

Another year has passed and once again I have pretty much failed in my goal of putting together my annual single subject series.

This year my target was the 1980 Phillies world championship team.

looks like I managed to add a grand total of four postings related to the 1980 Phillies – all in the middle of the field: Manny Trillo, Larry Bowa, Garry Maddox, and Dick Ruthven.

Today marks the 40^th anniversary of the Phillies cinching their 1980 championship.

 

1981 Topps #404 Phillies Win First World Series

Topps honored the Phillies Victory on card #404 of their 1981 set. The featured player is Tug McGraw.

Today the demise of starting pitching is frequently discussed, However even 40 years ago McGraw registered the 3^rd most outs of any Phillies pitcher for the series. His 7 1/3 innings ranking behind only Steve Carlton and Ruthven.

Even more importantly were the outs that Tug McGraw registered. Baseball-Ref has a new to me stat cWPA – Championship Win Probability Added. Basically the concept is how much each plate appearance affects the probability of winning a championship.

Tug McGraw led all pitchers in the Series with a cWPA of 18.05% (100% represents a single Win). For comparison Steve Carlton who Won 2 games in the series had a cWPA of 2.67%.

Among Phillies batters only Mike Schmidt (19.48) and..... Del Unser! (26.11) who had a couple of big pinch hits off Dan Quisenberry outpaced McGraw.

Perhaps I will dig deeper on this series in the future but for now we are likely on pause with the 1980 Phillies.

Sources & Links

1980 Phillies World Champs Index

Tug McGraw Index

Baseball-ref

ANNIVERSARY: Roy Halladay

Today marks the 10th Anniversary of Roy Halladay's NLDS no-hitter. I have discussed this game a number of times in the past. Today I will just simply state it was one of the greatest games I ever attended. 

Our original account of the no-hitter  can be found here.

2017 Topps Untouchables #U-18 Roy Halladay

This card is not specifically dedicated to that game, but it is definitely in the neighborhood. "Untouchables"  could be seen as a synonym for no-hitter, an that is the case here:

Flip

2017 Topps Untouchables #U-18 Roy Halladay (b-side)

On the backside of the card we see the top bullets are dedicated to his 2010 no-hitter pair - The regular season perfect game and the NLDS no-hitter.   

Untouchables

Untouchables is a 30 card insert found in 2017 Topps Update.  Halladay has two cards in the set, He reps the Blue Jays on the other card. The checklist contains one other Phillies pitcher, Steve Carlton.. 

Sources and Links

Roy Halladay HOF index

No-Hitters Index

Game Dated Cards

Cardboard Connection

ANNIVERSARY - Jim Palmer: 1971 Topps #197 ALCS Game 3

October 5th marks the 50th anniversary of the Orioles clinching American League pennant sweeping the  Minnesota Twins in 3 games. 

1971 Topps #197 (image swiped from comc.com)

I would normally dissetc this card and discuss the game box for the Orioles 6-1 victory, but last week I broke my arm and typing is a pain with one hand. 

The busted humerus did not stop me from finishing up my O's Orange version of this card.

1971T Jim Palmer Mows em Down

i changed the classic 1971T Black Border to the Orioles other team color,  added  Palmer's dominating pitching line, and tagged the game date.  Other modifications include making the baseball prominent and emphasizing Palmer's #22.

Box

ok I peeked at the box and Palmer's strikeout victims included future HoFs Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew. Other notables were Tony Oliva and Phillies World Series manager Charlie Manuel. 

sources and links

Jim Palmer HoF index

Phungo Originals

baseball-ref

 

 

 

ANNIVERSARY - Ryan Howard: 2011 Topps Heritage Baseball Highlight Sketches #BHS-10

Ten years ago Ryan Howard became the quickest player to reach 250 Home Runs. On September 8th 2010 playing in his 855th game Howard homered to deep left field. 

Topps commemorated the event with an insert in the 2011 Heritage set. 

2011 Topps Heritage Baseball Highlight Sketches #BHS-10 Ryan Howard 

Highlight Sketches was a 25 card insert set with artwork by Southern California based artist Dave Hobrecht. The set also includes a card dedicated to Roy Halladay's 2011 No-Hitter. 

Howard's Home Runs was part of a 10-6 Phillies victory over the Florida Marlns. It was the 28th of 31 Home Runs that Howard would hit in 2010 - good enough for 8th in the league. 

Flip

2011 Topps Heritage Baseball Highlight Sketches #BHS-10 Ryan Howard  (b-side)

The caption details Howard's Home Run pace and also mentions the record holder Ralph Kiner. 

Kiner's 250th Home Run occurred in 1951 during a Pirates 5-4 loss versus the Boston Braves. 

2010 Ryan Howard at the Crossroads

In 2010 was basically mid-career - the 7th of 13 seasons. He had 855 games in the books and 717 remaining. Unfortunately the bottom half of his career did not match the promise of Howard's start. After averaging 46 Home Runs a season from 2006-2010, Howard would hit 33 in 2011 and then never post more than 25 again. The downward turn due to a combination of a devastating injury that occurred at the end of 2011 NLDS and the rigors of age. 

Ryan Howard's final 717 games would yield 132 Home Runs - Not terrible, but roughly half the pace of those record setting first 250 Home Runs.

Sources and Links

Ryan Howard Index

Game Dated Cards

Baseball-Ref

Dave Hobrecht

Beckett

Sports Card Radio

1974 Topps #80 Tom Seaver (1944-2020)

I learned a lot about Tom Seaver while researching “The Andy Warhol Triple Play”. My focus was Warhol but I learned a lot about his subjects, one of which was Tom Seaver.

The more you learn about Seaver the more interesting he becomes. He was more than a ballplayer, He was a devoted family man, a vintner, and a connoisseur of the arts.

One of his many interests popped up recently when I saw the cartoon on the back of Tom Seaver’s 1974 Topps card. 

1974 Topps #80 Tom Seaver (b-side)

Tom Enjoys Playing Bridge. Mildly interesting… Then last night while re-reading my notes from the Warhol Project I came across an enjoyable blog posting written by Phillip Richter, a schoolmate of Tom and Nancy’s daughter Sarah. An excerpt from the column read:

While walking and talking and tending to the vineyards, Tom made the comment that pitching is like playing bridge. To be a really successful pitcher you have to get inside the mind of the batter. Is he having a good day? Will he wait for a fat pitch or just aggressively strike at anything served to him? What are his goals? How consistent a player is he? Your goal as a pitcher is to control the outcome. Tom said that it was his job to control where the ball was going to go should the batter connect with the ball and make a hit.  I know next to nothing about baseball but Tom’s complex and astute thesis was logical and so well articulated. It made all the sense in the world. I would never have seen parallels between the game of bridge and the art of throwing a baseball at high speed. Tom knows that I’m not a crazed baseball fanatic but I have always had huge admiration and respect for his many incredible accomplishments. Back in the day I was around for a lot of his career highlights–like when he got his 300th win in 1985. 

Tom Seaver just doesn’t play bridge, he plays bridge the way he pitches or pitches the way he plays cards. The article was written in 2016, Seaver would have been 71 years of age – 30 years removed from his final pitch, yet here he is making parallels between two games he loves. 

1974 Topps

1974 Topps #80 Tom Seaver

I have always loved this card, great action shot of an absolute legend - good use of the landscape format in the mainly portrait style 1974T set. 

The card re-drew my attention earlier this summer as part of a Project2020 inspired activity spearheaded by @_gritz_ of Project 62.  Gritz posted a randomish page of 9 noteworthy trading cards. Similar to Project2020 the assignment to the world of amateur artists was to redesign the card – Project2020 for the common folks.

One of the cards posted was the 1974T Seaver. 1974 has the best -toons and I had to flip the card over. That is where I spotted the comic. Once I saw it I knew that was the route I was going:

 Phungo Original: 1974T Tom Seaver

In creating my own Tom Seaver card I kept the 1974T design – in a simplified format. The original comic is more portrait – I have changed it to Landscape format which necessitated moving the copy. I added a touch of color to the lines – keeping the Mets 1974T flavors. My biggest remaining modification was identifying the card being pitched by Seaver as the Ace of Diamonds – which he truly is.   

It was a fun card to do and I think of Tom Seaver as a happy individual who was able to pass that joy on to those around him, I hope this Phungo Original captures that vibe.

In Memoriam

Links to other folks that have Tom Seaver Memorial Postings:

1960s Baseball (1968T)

Cards that Never Were (1968T Seaver LHP w/ Bob Gibson LHP)

Starting Nine (41 Scans for #41)

Sources and Links

Andy Warhol: Tom Seaver

Phungo Tom Seaver HOF Index

Turtle Garage

@_Gritz_

Project 62

 

 

Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe: T201 Mecca Double Folder

Recently my sketches have been focused on the players of the Negro Leagues. Today we featured Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe who got his nickname from pitching one end of a double header followed by catching the other.  

 I was interested in a way to capture this idea on a baseball card. 

1911 T201 Mecca Double Folder Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe

The T201 Double Folder was the perfect solution. Unfolded/Open features Radcliffe pitching, while the folder version shows him catching. 

While the video is fun, I kind of think it is easier to see the images in stills.

1911 T201 Mecca Double Folder Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe (pitching)

 For the pitching image I put in Radcliffe in pinstripes and on a basically clear field.

1911 T201 Mecca Double Folder Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe (catching)

As a catcher I made Radcliffe a catcher for the Birmingham Black Barons. whom he played for from 1942-46. I went with an industrial background here - typical of many Negro League stadium. 

Time

The card is a bit of an anachronism. Radcliffe's career spanned 1928-50 so 1911 predates that period a bit, but the double folder was to good an idea to pass up.

Sources and Links

Phungo Originals

Phungo Negro Leagues

Seamheads

Negro League Baseball eMuseum 

Cardboard Connection

1964T Phil Linz Phungo Variation

Thursday August 20th is an important Anniversary of one of the most significant events in the Storied History of the New York Yankees.

It is the 56th Anniversary of the Harmonica Incident. 

If you are not familiar with the Harmonica Incident click the link above for a more detailed account, for our purposes the important facts are that Yankees Infielder Phil Linz was playing Harmonica on the team bus following a loss. This upset manager Yogi Berra, yelled "Shove that harmonica up your..." towards the back of the bus. Here is where it gets interesting...

Linz did not hear Yogi and asked Mickey Mantle what he said and Mickey said:

"PLAY IT LOUDER"

Which Phil Linz proceeded to do. This let to a confrontation between Berra and Linz including the harmonica being used as a projectile.

I original heard the story years ago when I first read "Ball Four" and was reminded of it reading Mitch Nathanson's outstanding biography "Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original" 

This got the crew at Phungo HQ thinking, this story needs a baseball card.

 Phungo Variation

1964T Phil Linz Phungo Variation

I went with 1964T as the canvas as that was the year the incident occurred. To capture the humor of the event I went with the comic approach. The comic is not really original - I stole it from the back of Ed Sadowski's 1960 Topps Card

1960 Topps #403 Ed Sadowski (b-side)

Pretty happy with the reproduction of the -toon on my part. I love to envision Phil Linz being in as care free a mood as this comic right before being yelled at by Yogi Berra. 

I sort of kept the colors and lettering from the original 1960 comic. I went with an orange interior border to reflect the creamsicle backs of 1964 Topps.  To match the original Phil Linz card the comic extends out of frame into the team name area which matches the Red/Orange color from 1964T. I did change the player position from INF-OF to SS-3B to better reflect Phil Linz 1964 playing time.

Ed Sadowski was a backup catcher who spent the bulk of his 5 year career with the LA Angels. I did some minor digging and was unable to find more info on Sadowski's musical talents. Regardless his cartoon was good enough for me. 

In a sad note Ed Sadowski's bio revealed that he died in 1993 from Lou Gehrig's Disease. 

Sources and Links

Phungo Original Index

Bob Nightengale USA TODAY

Mitch Nathanson - Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original

Topps Baseball Card DB

Baseball-Reference

Ed Sadowski SABR Bio -  Clayton Trutor