Congratulations Jamie Moyer

2008 Topps #173 Jamie Moyer

Jamie Moyer earned his 250th career win today. Moyer has been a key player for the Phillies since arriving here late in 2006 and I am very happy to see Moyer reach the milestone. Some analysts may see the accomplishment as merely the accrual of wins over a long career. I choose to see it as the product of a smart and tenacious pitcher diligently working hard so that he can succeed every time he pitches.

If 250 wins isn't remarkable to you, check the Baseball-Reference list of active pitchers with the most career wins. Jamie is currently 2nd or 3rd depending on the status of Tom Glavine, and has a chance of being the active pitcher with most career wins if Randy Johnson retires prior to Moyer. Also notice that if admitted steroid abuser Andy Pettitte does not reach 250, the next pitcher to reach the milestone may be Tim Hudson and he still needs over 100 wins to get there.

To symbolize the 250 victories I have shrunk the Moyer card above and dupicated it 250 times.


If you click on the above and then imagine it six times as big that would be roughly the size of 250 Jamie Moyer Cards.

Faux Blaster - 2009 Topps Heritage

I have been on vacation for the past week and have taken a much needed break from all Net related activities. Thanks for your patience while I sort through some stuff and figure out what I was working on pre-vaca. Today I will open by posting a Faux Blaster. Basically my Faux blasters consist of $20 worth of Hobby Packs of a particular product.

This entry will focus on 2009 Topps Heritage. For my $20 I was able to pick up 6 packs of Heritage Hobby at a recent card show (ok it was a couple of months back - but who's counting).

Here are some of the highlights:


2009 Topps Heritage # BF1 Mickey Mantle Flashback (643 Foot Homer @ Tiger Stadium)
2009 Topps Heritage # 218 Ozzie Guillen
2009 Topps Heritage # 73 David Price Rookie Star
2009 Topps Heritage # 387 2008 World Series Game #3 (Carlos Ruiz)


2009 Topps Heritage # 319 Mike Aviles Topps All-Star Rookie
2009 Topps Heritage # 449 Nick Swisher (SP)
2009 Topps Heritage # 163 Johnny Damon
2009 Topps Heritage # 397 Chicago Cubs / Checklist

I am particularly fond of the Carlos Ruiz card of course and also the Johnny Damon base card. and here is why:
2009 Topps Heritage #163 Johnny Damon (B-side)
2008 Seattle Mariners @ New York Yankees game ticket 2008-05-03
(click to enlarge)

Check out the first season highlight on Damon's card. It occurred at the final Major League game I attended at Yankee Stadium last year. Pretty cool and I get to add it to my Phungo Games collection.

Overall the faux blaster was okay, I came out with a couple of stars but was a little short on inserts and was not lucky enough to pull any big hits - The Swisher card was my sole short print. I did get the vendor to throw in a 70 card grab bag box that contained some good stuff including a few Phillies and a couple of 08 Topps Finest.

And I also cheated just a bit on my Faux Blaster by picking up this buyback card that I spotted.

1960 Topps #47 Don Zimmer (2009 Topps Heritage Buy Back)

The Zimmer card went for $3 and was in a sheet of other buybacks of lesser known players. The card is in pretty good shape and for $3 I consider it a steal. Don Zimmer is not a Hall of Famer but surely doesn't deserve to be slumming with a bunch of commons.

So there you have it for $23.10 (includes a single of Ronny Paulino as a Phil out of a dime box also) I have picked 50 2009 Topps Heritage cards. The only Phil I recieved other than the Paulino was the WS Highlight of Ruiz. Including tax, a 2009 topps Heritage retail Blaster would typically run $21.59. For hobby I consider these 6 packs a little disappointing simply for being short on Phillies and running below expected on the insert ratios, but finding the Zimmer card makes up for any issues with the rest of the content.

I will be catching up on things the next week or so (and maybe sneaking out to a card show today) but should be back with a Phungo 5 sometime next week.

Phungo 5 with A Cardboard Problem

The Phils open interleague play as the first National League team to play in brand new Yankee Stadium. This also means the Phils are the first team to play in both new New York Ballparks. I was only at the original Yankee Stadium three times but was pretty excited to go there each time. This series should be an exciting one packed with star power and I am looking forward to it.

To represent the Yankees we have called upon Sooz, one of the lovely ladies who contributes to the blog "A Cardboard Problem". Sooz is also an award winning columnist for a New Jersey newspaper who is familiar with both the Phils and the Yanks.

1) If I am heading to Yankee Stadium what is my best way of getting a reasonably priced ticket?

Well, I'm lucky in the sense that I know a lot of people with season tickets, including Marie. So when I need a ticket I just hit up one of my buds and see if anyone can get me a ticket. I've never been shutout of a game before because of it. However, I hear the secondary market has been pretty decent. Although, as of right now (wednesday), Yankees have won five in a row, so the prices might be going up.

2) How has covering a baseball teamed influenced your collecting habits.

There are certain players I have met that have a bad attitude. It makes me never want to even look at their card. I had to talk myself into going to talk to Kouz when San Diego was in Philadelphia because if he was a jerk to me, I was going to look at my collection and cry all over it. Then, try to sell it.

More than that, I try not to let my personal life entire with my business life. I collect cards for fun. I work to make money (even though that's fun too).

3) How often do you tell Marie that she's crazy for trying to collect the entire Yankee Stadium Legacy set?

Hmm. I actually don't know if I ever called her crazy for that. I call her crazy for lots of other things though. Probably about twice a day.

4) That short RF seems to be custom made for the Phils power hitters - Over Under for Homers between the Yanks and Phils this wkend I set at 10.5. Do the two teams go over or under that? .

For three games? Over. I was just having this conversation yesterday. Ryan Howard might break the over/under by himself. Man, with him and Ibanez, who is red-hot right now, there could be a lot of homers in this series.

5) Does your life have anything in common with PJ Franklin other than your profession?

When the show My Boys first started, I had to watch my back to make sure someone wasn't following me. Our lives are amazingly similar, it's weird. I love sports, cover baseball (most of the time), play poker and have mostly male friends. I'm very casual and have a sailor's mouth (just as I suspect she would if the show wasn't on TBS). I am PJ. PJ is me.

I probably should award a 5 out of 5 right away, because the more I read the more I realize how much 10.5 is an underestimate for the number of homers in this series. But I will take the safe route and give Sooz a 4 of 4 pending the HR outcome of the series.

It is good to hear that Sooz has a PJ like lifestyle and I would love to hear some o the things that she calls Marie crazy for, but I guess we will have to catch that over at A Cardboard Problem. I would like to thanks Sooz for playing Phungo 5 and look forward to seeing all those Howard and Ibanez bombs this weekend.

For a look back at a previous Phungo 5 with Nachos Grande click here.

Harvey Haddix 12 perfect innings but no Perfect game - 50th anniversary

1965 Topps #67 Harvey Haddix

I just wanted to point out an interesting article I came across on the SABR website. The Clark County Historical Society in Springfield Ohio is marking the 50th anniversary of Harvey Haddix's near perfect 12 inning game which he ended up LOSING. The Historical Society event will have baseball themed concessions and feature several former baseball players including Bill Virdon and short time Phils Rick White.

On May 26th, 1959 Haddix pitched 12 perfect innings for the Pirates while facing the Milwaukee Braves. But Lew Burdette while giving up 12 hits did not allow any runs. In the 13th Burdetted pitched another scoreless inning. Unfortunately for Haddix an error a bunt and a double would cost him the perfect game, the shut out and the game.

Blog Bat Around: Why Blog - Because I am a Phanatic!

2009 Phungo #64 Phillie Phanatic

I really enjoy spectator sports especially baseball. Discussing Baseball, the Phillies, Great Games, and Great (or not so great) players is just an extension of ones love of the game. Collecting Cards similarly allows one to recapture the excitement of a carreer, game, great play, big Strikeout or Home Run.

Blogging about cards merges both activities - the colllecting cards and the talkin baseball. The Show and Tell aspect is weirdly awesome - I mean not many folks in my day to day life are going to give much thought to the coolness of a 1971 Topps card, an Autograph from a one time all-star like Gorman Thomas , or the novelty of a Chase Utley Jersey card. But if your a cardblogger you get it. You really enjoy finding them, finding out about them or seeing that somebody in the cardblog community adds another hit to their player collection. I enjoy reading about the cards and the tie-ins with baseball history.

As far as composing posts my favorite's are the Hall of Fame Thursday posts, I enjoy doing the research and finding out about players I knew little or nothing about. I would love to collect a card of every HOF player from their playing days, but realize this is well beyond a person in my budget range, but for the Honus Wagner's of the world there are plenty of interesting retro-cards. The Phungo HOF Thursday feature gives me the chance to focus this collection. It also allows me to exameine who these players were and reflect on their accomplishments both on and off the field.

The recent Phungo 5 feature has given me the chance to interact with Card Bloggers directly, and find out what is going on in their world. I really enjoy when we get involved in something completely off-topic - a faovrite band or an odd nuance. There is also a lot of fruitful discusions about the teams, prospects, Hype, and flameouts.

Running Spot the Sig! was a lot of fun and I was happy to see it get some modest support this winter. I think it is a good feature to keep folks in touch with baseball during the off-season and I expect to run a new STS! in the fall.

And Finally there is the card trading. This is one of the reasons I wanted to start blogging originally, but all my disorganization issues have kept me from trading as much as I would like. Ideally I would like to send out at least 1 package a month both to help build my collection and to meet other collectors. This by far has been the most fun part of my Phungo experience.

My favorite post is from a prior Blog Bat Around and is about my favorite baseball glove.

Phungo 5 with Nachos Grande and Joey Votto

This week the Phils are in Cincinnati for the middle series of a 3 city road trip. We checked in with Nachos Grande to gets some info on the latest edition of the Big Red Machine. While the Reds have struggled the last few years, if you've been paying attention you will have certainly noticed they have some promising young talent. The Reds enter the Phils Series 3 games over .500 and hopefully the Phils will not take this upstart team lightly.

Nachos Grande fills us in on the Reds young talent and discusses a recently retired star as well as some other subjects during this edition of the Phungo 5.

Is Joey Votto a batting champion?

I think Votto has the potential to be one of the great players - but I'm a little worried about his health currently. He missed a bunch of games because of the flu and he's been taken out of at least two games complaining of dizziness. The Reds certainly cannot afford to be without his bat in the lineup for extended periods!

Should I jump on a Homer Bailey auto if I find one cheap or is he destined for a career of setup relief?

Homer Bailey is, as they say, an enigma wrapped in a mystery. He pitches games where he is absolutely brilliant and then he'll go out and throw a game where little leaguers could hit home runs off him. I believe that it would be a good idea to pick up his auto on the cheap and then hope that Bailey gets traded to another team. I don't believe he'll amount to much with the Reds, but I think that a change of scenery (and a wake up call) would do him a world of good.

As a Mathematician do you have a favorite baseball stat - especially amongst all these new SABRmatic stats? and is there a statistic that you think is totally overrated??

Great question! I don't know that I have a favorite or least favorite statistic, but rather, I have a particular problem with the way certain statistics are portrayed by announcers and their ilk. For example, quality starts. Many people spout nonsense when talking about quality starts, heck, even the name is misleading. While giving up 3 runs or less is decent, it isn't always "quality". For instance, if you are going against Roy Halladay and he is throwing a 1 hitter through 7 innings and you've thrown 7 innings of ball while giving up three runs, well, that's not quality! On the flip side, if you are going against a pitcher like Eric Milton who has given up 7 runs in the first two innings and another 2 or three runs since then and you've only given up 4 runs in 7 innings, well, that's quality. Quality starts do not equal wins - nor do the really even tell the story of any particular game...

On the hitting side, I've never really understood the fascination with the "runs" statistic. It stands to reason that those who have high run totals probably have a high OPS, but even so, it's more of a team measure than it is an individual measure (much like wins and losses for a pitcher).

If you could retire one Cincinnati Red number that is not retired (other than 14) what would it be?

From the players of my era, the obvious answer is #11 Barry Larkin. I'm a huge fan of Larkin, and since he was one of the keys to the Reds last World Series appearance (and win), he deserves to have his number retired officially (it is unofficially retired already, no one on the roster is ever given #11).

Favorite WKRP Character?

You got me here - I never watched much of WKRP...instead I'll have to give a plug to "The Big Bang Theory" which is a show about a bunch of physicists (close to mathematicians) and a blonde girl next door...

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Thanks to Nachos Grande for this weeks Phungo 5. let me see here Votto - good but injury questions check, Bailey Change of Scenery good check, Quality Starts and Runs ayyy - hmm I actually like both those stats a little have to think on that one, Barry Larkin Check, Big Bang Theory Blonde? yep Check. While as much as I do have a bit of a liking for the Run Scored and Quality Starts stats, I do undertstand Nachos' having an issue with those stats - And hey I have to give credit anytime someobdy comments "Great Question" so 5 out 5 for Nachos' Grande

If you would like to check a previous Phungo 5 with Night Owl Cards click here.

Topps Coverboys

For years we have talked about the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx and the Madden Curse. What the heck should be the name for Topps' uncanny ability to pick the next steroid popper?

2008 Topps Series 1 Wrapper Manny Ramirez
2009 Topps Series 1 Wrapper Alex Rodriquez

They have nailed it each of the last two years. In 2007 there was Updates and Highlights and prior to that there was 2006 Series 1 and all the other Topps-Bonds products.

This phenomenon was previously reported a few years back by Stale Gum I think. I did a little searching but was unable to find the post. With the recent revelations about Manny and A-Rod, I felt the subject was worth revisiting.

I see Ryan Howard is on the cover of the upcoming 2009Topps Series 2. Hopefully he is not next to be found cheating. I am now just waiting for J C Romero to get his cover shot.

Phungo Cards - Manny Ramirez

On Monday, amazingly Night Owl Cards and I got through the Phungo 5 interview without mentioning Manny Ramirez. In Fact on Sunday and Monday Phungo featured back to back posts on the Dodgers without menitioning Manny. I am quite proud of that, but all good things must come to an end.

2009 Phungo #10 Manny Ramirez

This is actually one of my favorite Phungo cards. I have seen Manny play many times, and I am sure that he has been quite a hassle for Phils and Orioles pitching in many of those games. But I have always enjoy watching him play. I have seen him homer in big spots and smash dingers as hard as anyone including Ryan Howard. He is likely the only non-Phil I have ever seen homer for 3 different teams. I have seen him hit a playoff homer, He is in the Phungo grand slam club, and on a Friday night back in 2001, I distinctly remember a Randy Wolf offering that he absolutely smashed the cover off. It appeared to me that the ball was still rising when it cleared the Monster. Simply amazing.

And to be honest, I don't really feel cheated.

I don't feel cheated by Bonds, Manny, McGwire or Clemens or lesser lights like Ryan Franklin and David Bell. The moments were great the memories are good and really the steroid news both expected and unexpected doesn't really shake me.

As an adult I have never been a competitive athlete in any organized sport above a club level, so I really cannot speak from that angle. I have friends and acquaintences who have engaged in sports at a collegiate level and those are the people that I believe are qualified to have the biggest complaint. They don't know, and doubtful they will ever know, if the people and teams they competed against were ever playing fairly. One can follow that line of logic to asking if they could have played at a higher level had the playing field been even. That can be a huge unanswered question for someone who has devoted a lifetime of effort in pursuit of athletic excellence.

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Moving on, the Manny card is #10 in the Phungo series, which I assigned as a hero number. His Dodger number is 99, which is well above the series high card (#64). I have the specific position of LF for Left Field and the Photo was taken on August 23rd of 2008, Game 2 of a 4 game sweep of the Dodgers by the Phillies.

I cropped the photo to fit the card better, for a larger (also cropped) shot and an early Phungo write up on this game click here.

Phungo 5 with Night Owl Cards - Guest Card Matt Kemp

This week the Phils face the Dodgers for the first time since the 2008 NLCS. To find out whats going on with the Dodgers we called upone the wisdom of Night Owl Cards. NOC covers a wide range of topics but centers around two areas, Cards photographed during night games and the Dodgers. I also enjoy the early 70s vintage on Night Owl's site. Night Owl was also an active participant and runner-up in the Spot The Sig! competition. Team Phungo thanks the NOC crew for their participation and would like to let everyone know that we are in the preliminary stages of putting together some interesting stuff for Spot The Sig! series 2 in the fall.

Here is Night Owl Cards Phungo 5.

1) Night Owl Cards features many in depth posts - on many varied subjects. Which takes longer finding the right cards for the post or writing up the copy?

Oh, probably writing up the copy. Since I’m an editor by profession, I’m particular about the way things are written, and I get paranoid that people who know I am an editor will see grammatical issues and call me on it. So I have to go over what I’ve written a few times. Plus, I like to give readers something to think about, so it takes some time to decide how to write something. As for finding the cards, I have a lot scanned and on file. But when something comes up unexpected, and I have to dig up a bunch of cards, that can be a royal pain in the bum.

2) There is a lot of talk about the Mets new stadium homaging Ebbets field - as a Dodgers fan on the east coast does this pique your interest in visiting the stadium?

It’s a little unsettling to me that the Mets are paying homage to Ebbets Field/the Brooklyn Dodgers. I’ve come across a lot of Mets fans. I don’t know many who are Dodgers fans. A bunch of them hate the Dodgers. I know back when the Mets first began that a lot of Brooklyn Dodgers fans became Mets fans. But that’s not so much the case anymore. So, nah, it wouldn’t make more interested than going to any other new stadium.

3) The Dodgers have a mess of quality young hitters (Kemp, Ethier, Loney) who do you think will ultimately emerge as the best of this group.

Oh, geez, it’s Matt Kemp. When he puts it all together – and I hope that’s “when” and not “if,” he’ll be a flat-out star. You’re already seeing what he can do a bit more this year.

2007 Upper Deck Rookie Sensations #RS-MK Matt Kemp

4) Who will be the Dodger players of the game for each of the three games in the Series - and give me one Blob - Phillie or Dodger.

For Tuesday, let’s say Randy Wolf. He’s gonna have a little extra motivation going back to Phillie. For Wednesday, I’d like to say Kershaw, but I don’t know how that’s going to go. I’ll say, Andre Ethier. For Thursday, I’m going with Juan Pierre. It’s JuanPierreWood now!

For the blob, Tuesday, it’ll be Matt Stairs, because I hold a grudge. Wednesday, it’ll be Russell Martin ‘cause I think the Phillies will win that. Thursday, I’ll go with Pedro Feliz. He’s an ex-Giant.

5) Are you a believer in the Tommy LaSorda Slim Fast Diet?

Have you seen Tommy the last few years? I don’t think it’s been working for awhile now.

Another fun and informative Phungo 5. Kudos for bringing up Randy Wolf. He is a Phungo house favorite and we are looking forward to seeing him back in town. I will award a 4 out 4 to Night Owl Cards for this one with the point for question 4 pending the blob predictions - I personally like Ethier he is a bit steadier for my tastes, but Night Owl is correct, Matt Kemp definitely looks like an every year All-Star in the making. The Dodgers should be a competitive club for several years and I am happy the Phils took advantage of their opportunity in 2008.

Thanks to Night Owl Cards for this weeks Phungo 5. If you want to look at a past Phungo 5 click here and you can find out what Waxaholic had to say about the Braves.

Roy Campanella Night

This past Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of Roy Campanella night. A car accident left Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella paralyzed. In support of Campanella and his family the LA Dodgers and New York Yankees played an exhibition game on May 9th 1959. 93,000 fans attended the game.

The anniversary is being marked by a program on MLB Network on Monday Night May 11th.

I could not find anything on the MLB Network's woefully underwritten site, but found several blog postings on the show including this one one by Tom Hoffarth of the LA Daily News.

1959 Topps #550 Roy Campanella Symbol of Courage (with b-side: click to enlarge)

Topps also recognized Roy Campanella in the 1959 high numbered series. As far as I know it was the first time Topps had created a baseball card that marked a baseball related tragedy. Since then Topps has issued several cards of players that died during there playing careers. One recent example was of former Phil Cory Lidle who perished in a plane crash in 2006.

For the Collectors

In my opinion this is a great card to have in any novice vintage collection. In a recent ebay auctions a couple of these ungraded cards in fair condition (about same as card pictured) have sold for $6.75 and $11.22. Higher quality graded cards have sold for $37 - $50.

As always the Phungo quoted prices include shipping and handling charges.

Phungo 5 with Waxaholic guest appearance by Chipper Jones, Terry Pendleton

The Phils are hosting the Atlanta Braves for the 2nd time this year and for the second time Phungo Travels north to check in with one of our Canadian friends, Waxaholic. He may be in hockey country but Waxaholic is a big Braves fan who is also fond of the OPC version of one of my favorite Topps sets, 1971. It is interesting to hear the trials our Canuck friends go through to enjoy baseball, a sport and card hobby that for all of our complaints is much more available in most parts of the states.

1) You're a Braves fan living in Calgary, I remember once reading that the Braves have more fans watching them in Alaska then in Fulton County Stadium. Is this how you first became a Braves fan - and now that TBS is no longer carrying the Braves Is MLB Extra innings or On-line MLB.TV a viable option for a Braves fan in Canada.

Absolutely! I grew up in northern British Columbia where my hometown had one tv channel. After my Dad put in a satellite dish when I was 13, I had access to all of the Cubs games on WGN and Braves games on WTBS. It's because of my liking Skip Carey and Pete Van Wieren over Harry Carey and Steve Stone that I am a Braves fan today. God I miss those guys.

It's tough now, being so used to be able to see my team all the time to now. I find it odd, that now, in today's technological world that I rarely see my Braves, compared to the late '80's when I could watch every game.

MLB Extra Innings is not available where I am, and the on-line MLBTV isn't really worth it to me. For me to shell out $150 to see the Braves games that aren't on Peachtree or Fox doesn't seem worth it to me. If I could get the Blue Jays as well, I would consider it, but the Canadian government insists on blackouts for all 162 Blue Jay games. So they're not available to any Canadian subscriber.

2) How is the 71 O- Pee-Chee collection coming. are any of the OPCs unexpectedly harder to find/more expensive then the Topps counterparts?

My '71 OPC set is coming along, although slowly. It's tough trying to find any baseball at any dealer/show in Canada. And when you do, they're overpriced. I just bought a lot off of the 'bay, but when I received them, they had been trimmed. And Jim from GCRL sent me a half dozen the other day, but they had been trimmed as well. Good fillers for now though.

1998 Skybox Dugout Axcess #4 Chipper Jones (B-side)


3) Chipper Jones biggest Homer Victim is the Phillies - Does Chipper come out over or Under 1.5 for this weekend series.

Chipper will unfortunately fall under. I think the Cardinals started it, and the Mets and Phillies have hopped on board of pitching around Chipper with McCann not hitting behind him. I'v never seen Chipper walked so many times in one series than the last Cardinals one.

4) Who's scores the most goals in the Pens v Caps Series?

Caps will roll over the Penguins. They've got it together this year, and they have better goaltending than the Pens. Caps in 6.

5) I will give you the same question I gave Trader Crack's - the McKenzie Brothers or Kids in the Hall?

Oh god, Bob and Doug McKenzie hands down. In fact, the whole SCTV clan in a landslide. Kids in the Hall are like the Tragically Hip. Really, as a whole, only people outside of Canada like them. (oh, what did I start?)

So give the nod to Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Harold Ramis and Catherine Martin over those other guys any day.

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This is the first Phungo 5 where I have asked for prognostications and I must leave Waxaholic's score open, and I fear I am going to have to ding him for disparaging the Hip. Here I thought I was all with it for knowing about this great band out of Canada that nobody knew about - turns out I am just another dumb American suckered into faux-trendy.

Waxaholic 2 out of 3 pending the Caps and Chipper.

Thanks Waxaholic - A good dose of information, humor, and pop culture always makes for a good Phungo 5 and we very much appreciate it.

For a look back at a previous Phungo 5 with Cards on Cards click here. Or here for a Braves related 5 with Cardboard Junkie.

Next week we are looking forward to a Phungo 5 with the Mannyless Night Owl Cards.

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just a quick note on the card - I like this one it is the Braves current third baseman, with an inset photo of their previous 3b, Terry Pendleton during Pendleton's 5 minutes with the Kansas City Royals. And you get a positive quote from the guy being replaced about his replacement - That's pretty cool.

Terry Pendleton was one of the guys in the running for the Phillies manager job when Charlie Manuel took over. The Phils acknowledged that Pendleton interviewed very well felt he was on the cusp of getting a managing job in the near future. That was over 3 years ago and as far as I know Pendleton is still a coach with the Braves. I liked Pendleton the player and would like to see him get the opportunite to lead a team.

Hall of Fame Thursdsay - Dick Williams

1960 Topps #188 Dick Williams

On Today May 7th we honor Hall of Fame Manager Dick Williams on his 80th birthday.

This is a card from Dick Williams' playing days be he is in the Hall of Fame because of his managerial success. Williams took 4 different franchise to the playoffs and led the 1972 and 73 Oakland A's to World Series titles. His teams accumulated 1571 career wins and were over 100 games above .500 during his tenure. Williams was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans committee in 2008.

Williams also had a fairly legitimat playing career putting together 13 season - He was mainly a utility guy who played 6 different positions. His best years were 1959 and 1960 with the KC A's where he hit 16 and 12 homers respectively with a combined 140 RBIs over the two seasons. According to Baseball-Reference among todays plays his carreer is similar to Gabe Kaplers.

For the Collectors:

There were no completed auctions of Dick Williams Topps Rookie Card - 1952 #396. The cheapest Buy It Now is listed at over a $100 for a pretty poor looking card. His 2nd year card - Topps 1953 #125 has recently sold for $2.99 including shipping. The only recently completed auction for a Dick Williams Auto was for his 1999 SI Greats of the Game card which went for $14.60 - which is actually ABOVE the book value listed in the 2006 Standard Catalog.

Pretty Cool Mailing - Holliday Peavy Pujols and a newsboy

Has anybody ever received cards from an ebay seller in an envelope this cool???



I mean check it out - First off you've got baseball stamps of Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, Jake Peavy and some guy on the DL - side note: the Children of Malawi are a charity of Cole Hamels and wife Heidi. There is Ethel Merman, Walt Disney, and Henry David Thoreau - The thing looks like this years Allen & Ginter checklist. But wait it gets better - check out the B-side.


Thats the Pope, Michael Jack, and Garry Maddox - all used to seal the envelope. I mean where the heck are you ever going to find a sticker of Paul Owens??? And this wasn't even for an auction of Phillies cards.

Phungo 5 with Cards on Cards

The Phils are on the road for a couple of short series this week, the first of which features the Red Hot St Louis Cardinals. For Phungo 5 we are checking in with Cards on Cards. ConC is based out of Portland Oregon and also covers the upstart Portland Trail Blazers and was also good enough to send me a great lot of Phillies Minor League cards earliar this year. We cover a good bit of ground here including some Cards past and future and the quirky band "They May Be Giants"

1) St Louis is hosting the All-Star Game this year, Do you know of any interesting events the Cards are planning to give it a St Louis Flavor? Anything special you would like to see the Cardinals do? and Do you think they will bring back Mark McGwire for the weekend?

I’m not sure of all of the details, but I know that many former players have strong connections to the team still and they are often brought back for smaller events. I could see a huge group of former Cardinals on hand for the festivities. I know that Pujols is going to be at the center of a lot of what they’re doing. I don’t know about McGwire coming back. If he’s involved, I’m sure it will be very low-key. I find it interesting that you asked that because I was just reading a discussion the other day about how McGwire was a player who seemed to be a lot more popular with casual baseball fans around the country than he was with the St. Louis fanbase itself. I have a lot of mixed feelings about the guy as I’m sure many Cards fans do. I do know that he does seem to be a pretty nice guy, all things aside.

Phungo: This is interesting - I had not known that there was such a ambivalent reaction to McGwire in St Louis. Oddly this is just the opposite of the opinion on Barry Bonds, who is still fairly popular in San Francisco, and generally disliked outside of his home city. Perhaps because the Cardinals won a world Series without McGwire (and a more notable first baseman) St Louis fans have moved on.

2) I have Brett Wallace on my Fantasy squad - is he the real deal and just blocked? Are there any other Cardinal prospects that you woud consider their Autos a good investment.

Brett Wallace is a big-time hitter. I think he’ll find his way onto a team somewhere and at some position, too. I don’t think you’ll see him before September call-ups because the organization likes to work players in slowly, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t see any big league time at all this season even with Troy Glaus’s season a big question mark at this point. I’m sure it’s far too late in the prospecting game to get in on Colby Rasmus. Watch out for Daryl Jones, especially if Rick Ankiel doesn’t stick around.

3) Is there anything going on with the Portland Beavers that we need to know about?? I saw that Kyle Blanks swinging the bat in spring trainging looks like a real monster.

The Beavers seem to be in this sad state of being the split squad San Diego Padres these last couple of seasons. So many of their players seem to float up and down because the Padres have just been atrocious going back to the beginning of last season. I know they’re pretty big on Blanks. They had an even larger guy a few years back named Walter Young, but I would hope that Blanks will turn out more useful than he was.

4) From your profile, I see that you are a "They Might Be Giants" Fan. what song would you pick for their "request a cover" segment?

I think it would be fun to see them do a Queen song or just some really bombastic arena rock. Basically anything but Bohemian Rhapsody.

5) Favorite Molina?

There’s only one true answer to that. As a Phillies fan, I think you should be a Yadier Molina fan by proxy, with what he did to the Mets in the 2006 NLCS.

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Yep - always good to work in a dig on the Mets - 5 out of 5 for Cards on Cards, Thanks for another batch of terrific answers. Good to hear the optimism on Brett Wallace, Queen was a great choice for TMBG I wonder what they would do with Bicycle Race?

For a look back at a previous Phungo 5 Click here to find out whats going on with Sports Locker.

And we are looking forward to a future Phungo 5 with Waxaholic.

Swag from Padrographs - Carlos Carrasco

Rod from Padrographs ( a recent Phungo 5 participant) was good enough to send me over some extra Phillies he had in his collection. Among the cards was a giant card of Padres and Phils favorite John Kruk, several Sportsflics cards, retro cards of Phillies past like Robin Roberts and Richie Ashburn, some 2008 and 09 cards and a couple of 2000 Topps which I am extremely short on and real glad to have received.

2008 Donruss Threads #85 Carlos Carrasco

I love this card, 1 Carrasco is pretty decent Phils prospect and 2 I have a fair chunk of this set and am considering collecting it. That being said, this card has always intrigued me, if your Donruss and you don't have a lisence why do they screw up the things that they can control? Carlos Carrasco is probably the highest ranking PITCHING prospect in the Phils system - yet they show him bunting. That is weak. I think Threads is only a 100 card set - lets put some effort in guys.

2008 Documentary #2902, PHI92 July 9th Cardinals 2 @ Phillies 4
2009 Topps #12 Andrew Carpenter

Rod also sent bunches of new cards. I don't believe that I have any Documentary cards, but I would like to collect cards of all the Phils games I was at during the 08 season. Unfortunately game 92 wasn't one of them. Game 92 played on July 9th 2008 was a 4-2 victory for the Phils. Chase Utley, pictured, did play in the game and went 1-3 with a walk and a single. Of course UD could have featured Ryan Howard or Pedro Feliz who both homered in the 8th inning.

A few weeks ago I busted open a blasters worth of Hobby Packs of 09 Topps and came up with very few Phils so the Drew Carpenter card is a welcome addition.


2000 Topps #63 Chad Ogea
1992 Classic Best #100 Mike Schmidt (Reverse)

The 2000 Topps set is likely the modern Topps set I have the least amount of Phillies from and I was very happy to see that this Padrographs lot included several of these. The other card is from 1992 Classic Best, I have included the reverse of the card because it features a box score. I am always a fan of cards that feature game stats and it is pretty cool to have a document of the game in which Mike Schmidt hit his 500th Homer.

Big Thanks to the Padrographs crew for sending out this bundle of cards!

Phungo 5 with Sports Locker

2009 05 01 Mets @ Phillies Daniel Murphy Batting v Chan Ho Park (4th inning ?)

This weekend the Phils are hosting the New York Mets for the first time in the 09 season. Our Card blog representin the Stinkin Mets is Sports Locker. Sports Locker covers a lot of sports Memorabilia not just Baseball cards, especially autographed items. SL has collected many an item and auto from the two Mets World Championship teams and the rather successful Dallas Cowboys franchise. I have also enjoyed the book reviews and autograph event info presented at Sports Locker.

Here is the Phungo 5 for Sports Locker:

Would you like to know how good a beer tastes when drunk out of a Commemorative World Series Cup?

ok I didn't really ask this one, but I will just say it tastes good.

1) You have lots of autos and other memorabilia, what is your favorite item featuring an item most folks would not consider a star?
My favorite non sports star autograph is from Billy Mays (yes, the infomercial guy). I did some research, found his address in Florida and sent him a letter and a baseball to sign. I find the whole TV Marketing product world so interesting and he's the biggest star on it.

2) You go out and get a lot of your autos on your own, Do you use official MLB Baseballs? I use official MLB baseballs - I think the autograph doesn't bleed and fade as much if any. When I buy them, I buy in bulk from Anaconda Sports. They are a ton cheaper than buying them one at a time.

3) How long does Oliver Perez stay in that rotation?
Great question! I was twittering with the NY Post sports writer Sunday night about that. We both believe the situation is looking more like the SF Giants situation with Barry Zito a year ago. Ollie needs to skip a start, head to the pen and work things out.

4) Is F-Mart the Real Deal or the next Lastings Milledge?
My Mets have this long history of over-hyping a prospect (sans Reyes and Wright). To me, FMart seems like Alex Escobar, over hyped and injury prone. I hope that's not the case though. I think the Mets have other OF prospects ranked higher than FMart now, but he's off to a hot start in AAA.

5) Citi Field Logo Thumbs up or down?
The logo sucks. If the Wilpons weren't too busy trying to rebuild the Ebbets Field legacy, perhaps they could find a way to build their own.

Great Phungo 5 for Sports Locker, but we can only give you 4 out 5 - I have elected to ding SL for using the word "twittering" and now I'm corrupting my blog with the term. I barely know how to use a cell phone. plus lets face it, he's a Mets fan and should be happy with 4 out of 5.

Seriously Sports Locker is on my frequent reading list and it was good to get the info on the Phils Rival.

For a look back at the last Phungo 5 featuring Texas Rangers Cards click here. Next week we are planning on featuring Cards on Cards.

Richie Ashburn article on Wrigley Wax

I just wanted to point out this article over at Chicago Cubs Blog Wrigley Wax which features Phils Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn. Ashburn spent the bulk of his Hall of Fame career with the Phils before being traded to the Cubs in 1960. He was then drafted by the New York Mets for their inagural season and retired following the 1962 season.

To see the Phungo Card featuring Richie Ashburn click here.