Cards that never were - 1955 Topps Richie Ashburn

I wanted to put up a quick post to direct your attention to Bob Lemke's Blog where he creates custom cards.

His latest project is Phillies Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn and the 1955 Topps Card that never existed. In 1955 Bowman and Topps were both fighting over the rights to produce cards of different players. Bowman had the rights to Ashburn in 1955 so there was no Topps Card.

Bob Lemke has remedied this situation. And has done very well - Giving careful attention to many minute details.

Bob goes into great detail as to the process involved in creating the card. It is an interesting read regardless if your a Phils fan or not and I am glad that Bob was good enough to share the card.

A look back at the Originals - 1961 Topps Phillies

It is Topps Heritage Week all over the across the TradingCardBlogs (TCB) and I thought we would take a look back at the original vinage 1961 set. I am sure that somebody else will have a more comprehensive look at the set - Here I will focus on some Phils cards from the 1961 set.


1961 Topps #20 Robin Roberts

Robin Roberts is the only member of the 1961 Topps Phillies that would eventually enter the Hall of Fame. I am not particularly fond of the 1961 set, but the minimalist design has grown on me recently. The bulk of the 61 Phils cards in the Phungo collection have the same blue and yellow color scheme within the name and team sections as the Roberts card above. Some of the cards have the colors reversed (yellow player name/ blue team), while others are Yellow Green and Yellow Red.

Landscape

#491 Philadelphia Phillies Team (click to enlarge) #259 Dallas Green (b-side) (click to enlarge)

I do like the team cards in 1961 Topps. Posting the flip side of Dallas Green's card - I severely doubt that the Fightin' Blue Hens getting any props in the 2010 Heritage set.


Rookie Cards

#202 Al Neiger #144 Jim Coker

This is what the rookie cards look like sans annoying new MLB rookie card logo.

Special Cards
#479 Jim Konstanty MVP #219 Gene Mauch

1961 Topps has quite a few special cards sprinkled throughout the set.

In 1961 Topps issued a subset of the last 10 MVP winners from each league. From what I have seen Heritage augments this concept a little by including Post Season Series MVPs in this years set. This is probably a good idea, or else Topps ran the risk of producing a subset dedicated to steroid use (Bonds, A-Rod, Giambi, Tejada)

Gene Mauch is featured on one of the Manager cards which have their own design. Other subsets included World Series Cards, All-Stars, League Leader Cards and a highlights series similar to "Baseball Thrills" from the 1959 Topps set.

etc...
#522 Dick Farrell

In his review of 2010 Topps Heritage, Dave over at Fielder's Choice has come out with the most positive endorsement of photoshop on baseball cards. Personally I find it phony but do enjoy spotting the continuity errors that crop up when cards are modified.

With the advent of Photoshop gems like this Dick Farrell card, which is about 99% Phillies card with a smidgeon of Dodger influence accenting a bottom corner could be "a thing of the past".

2010 Topps - The Inserts

I got plenty of inserts in the five retail packs, In addition to the cards below there were Five Toppstown and a Topps Attax card.

The Retros
2010 Topps Inserts George Sisler, Josh Beckett, Steve Carlton, Frank Robinson

Of course I was happy with the Carlton card, even if it is Cardinals rather than a Phils and you cannot go wrong with good old Frank Robinson. My only issue with the Mom cards is that the Carlton card seems so fake compared to the 1970 cards of my youth. The first pack I opened also had the Soriano Mom card.

The New York Inserts



2010 Topps Legendary Lineage LL-3 Babe Ruth Alex Rodriquez







2010 Topps Tales of the Game #TOG11 1969 Mets

As I had stated in an earlier post, I like the ToG inserts and may build the set, even if I have to start with a stinkin Mets card.

my final insert was a Million Card Giveaway redemption which will get its own post.

Links
Phungo HoF index Frank Robinson

Sloppy Topps - Mis-Stamped foil Edition

In both my earlier posts regarding 2010 Topps I have mentioned the mis-stamping of the foil printing on the cards. The last two or three cards in four of the packs (all of the base cards after the inserts) had the "bad foiling".

Previously I have featured the sloppy cards of Erik Bedard, Kevin Millwood, and Brandon Phillips. These are the remaining mis-stamped cards:

(click to enlarge)

If there is someone out there that is expressly interested in these "variations" or would like me to hold a favorite player or team for trade, let me know. I will probably keep a couple but I don't really need all of them.

Troll Swag

Interrupting the parade of 2010 Topps articles for this Trade Posting. Collective Troll and I had a relic swap and added some other cards to the mix.

Captain Bacon was good enough to send over a bunch of 2008 Heritage:


2008 Topps Heritage #380 Ryan Howard
2008 Topps Heritage #300 Chase Utley

Thanks to Collective Troll as well as several other contributors I have been able to knock down my 2008 Heritage Want List significantly since delving into this only 3 months ago. I am building the set through #425 and currently only need 29 more cards (93%).

There were also several Phillies star cards in the Troll package including many from different Heritage/Retro sets.

2007 Topps Wal Mart #WM11 Ryan Howard
2008 Topps Heritage t205 mini #HTCP10 Ryan Howard


2002 Topps Heritage #179 Pat Burrell
2003 Topps Heritage #11 Pat Burrell

Now that he is no longer a Phils player, it feels like all of the Burrell cards are Retro Cards in some way.

And finally the Relics.

2009 Topps All Star Event Worn Jersey Relic #AST-17 Shane Victorino (#d 9/50)
2001 UD Decade 1970s #B-GM Garry Maddox Bat Relic

I like the design of the Victorino Relic. I have no idea what the St Louis Skyline looks like but I think this is a decent idea for an all-star card - even if on the flip side it states the card is "Event Worn"

I have started a Garry Maddox player collection, which I have yet to cover on this blog, but will at some point. Finding Autos and Relics of players like Maddox who played pre-1990s and were very good but not Hall of Famers is a task. This is one of the few, possibly only Garry Maddox card that contains a relic.

Phungo's Two Cents - 2010 Topps Base Cards

In all I picked up 5 packs of Topps and had mixed results. Here are my thoughts on the five packs. I have posted a full break of the first pack previously.

Foul = Dearth of Phils Cards

My Biggest complaint is I had to get all the way down to pack #5 before getting a Phillies card. 2010 Topps Joe Blanton

Generally I think it is a plus to get the ball in an action shot, but I think there is to much wasted space in this shot. Regardless it is good to get the first Phil of the year. It appears Blanton will be the Phils 3rd/4th starter for the next few years and he seems like a good player for the role.


It's a Hit = Photography
2010 Topps Chris Iannetta
2010 Topps Zack Greinke Cy Young Award

Despite my above complaint on the Blanton Photo, I think overall the quality of the Topps photos is good and there are many interesting shots, including this pair. The Greinke shot is worthy of a Cy Young award winner.

It's a Hit = Landscape Cards
2010 Topps Jose Valverde
2010 Topps Daniel Hudson

I usually prefer the portrait cards - but for this years edition the Topps design works well for the landscape variety. I am not a fan of Jose Valverde - he is a bit to demonstrative on the mound for my taste or else I would consider this the best photo of the lot.

The swoosh on the side of the Hudson card flows right into his pitching motion and makes for a cool looking shot.

Foul = New Rookie Card Logo

2010 Topps Netali Feliz
2010 Topps Buster Posey

I am not a big fan of the new rookie logo. I think the Red/White/Blue color scheme clashes with that of many of the teams. I am not sure why Buster Posey qualifies for the logo, while Neftali Perez does not - and the Perez card would actually handle the RC logo pretty well. Placing the Rookie logo at the same spot on every card is also a mistake.

Going forward I think the Rookie Card Logo is going to clash with a lot of designs. I am definitely thinking it will not look good on Heritage.

One last note, I ended up with five or six Rangers between the 5 packs.

Rain Outs = Cincinnati Reds Cards and Mis-Stamped Foil

2010 Topps Brandon Phillips
2010 Topps Joey Votto

I think both of these Reds cards were photographed on the same dreary day in what appears to be Wrigley Field. I would like to hear an opinion from Nahcos Grande, but if all of the teams shots appear like this, I think I would be a little disappointed. Everything is just to dark. The Brandon Phillips card has the added problem of the mis-stamped foiling.

Between the five packs I picked up 11 base cards had the problem with the foil. I expect to have a future post detailing that further.

2010 Topps First Pack

This is no longer news for the rest of you, but it is for me. I finally got my hands on My First Pack of 2010 Topps yesterday. I bought five packs, this is pack number 1. It is a retail pack that I picked up at the local bargain chain store Five Below (everything is $5 and under) The Pack went for $2.11 including PA sales tax.

The first 2010 Topps card of the year is:

2010 Topps #148 Cody Ross

Sort of anti-climatic. Outfielder for a Phils rival. One time journeymen who has found a home with the Marlins, especially now that they have finally given up on Jeremy Hermida.

Since everyone has seen these already I will to a quick blow by blow of the pack.
2010 Topps #273 Pat Neshek
Blogosphere favorite who I didn't realize pitched last year.


2010 Topps #15 Bobby Abreu (click to enlarge)
Former Phil - with the back of the card. 2100 Hits at the age of 36...


2010 Topps #40 Josh Johnson
2010 Topps #56 Andy Pettitte

Among Phils Rivals Johnson is a Phungo Favorite. He was the ace of the team Phungo Fantasy Squad pitching staff that took the 2009 title.

Good Photo of Pettitte, but he Beat Phils in final game of 2010 Series >:| Getting past that - one wonders - Does Pettitte have HOF credentials?


2010 Topps #5 Texas Rangers
2010 Topps #72 Franchise History Milwaukee Brewers

The above two cards came up back to back. Having both versions of team cards in the base set is confusing. I am not sure the regular team card is necessary - I would have preferred another middle reliever be thrown in there. I do like the Franchise History cards and may collect them as as a faux set. Although what is with Topps placing a Beer Ad smack dab in the middle of a Baseball card?? (click to enlarge and see alcohol ad)

2010 Topps mom 2004 Topps #600 Alfonso Soriano
2010 ToppsTown #TTT16 Kevin Youkilis

Pretty sure this is a Photoshop Special with Soriano in a Home Jersey AND the Yankees in the dugout also wearing the home duds. This card is of the SP back variety.

2010 Topps #HOTG17 History of the Game - 1957 Dodgers and Giants Move to California (click to enlarge)

This insert set is likely on the to do list.

2010 Topps #62 Kevin Millwood
2010 Topps #91 Erik Bedard

Ranger heavy pack. As a Brave Millwood is 29 games over .500, the Rest of his career he is +5.
He has not reached the Postseason since being traded to the Phils after the 2002 Season.

Notice both the Millwood and Bedard Cards were fed through the foil stamper incorrectly. The Players name (in black) is now in an ugly mess below the foil. Curiously the names are more readable when fed through a scanner - they are not when viewing the card for real. The Topps logo glances off the top border of the card and the players postition is also raised. nice job Topps.

Two Cents from Phungo

I picked up a total of 5 packs on Friday and will be back throughout the weekend with additional thoughts.

I have very little new thoughts to add to what has already been stated elsewhere. I am happy with the look of the cards. The borrowed design does not bother me. The team logo is a bit large but not to much so. I could do without the foil. Solid Photography and Interesting inserts.

For those of you that keep track of such things, the cards are listed in the order in which they came out of the pack. To keep the pix face center, I may have flipped some of the card pairs in the scans.

Pull of the Pack

I am going with Josh Johnson here, Had the Yankees not just beaten the Phils in the Playoffs, I would likely go with Pettitte. I have always like Bobby Abreu, but everyone knows fielding isn't Bobby's strength. Soriano Mom SP is likely a favorite for many collectors

Meh of the Pack

Erik Bedard easily. The Mis-foiling of the card plus Bedard's rep as a soft pitcher when he was in Baltimore all add up to a Meh card.

2010 Phungo Cards - Thomas Jefferson and Upcoming Card Show Information!!

2010 Phungo Thomas Jefferson

For the second year in a row there is a Phungo Card of Thomas Jefferson. This statue is on the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville. This is a real nice card to recognize the Presidents day holiday if you are off. Unfortunately I had to work, but it was likely a good thing as I had not been into the office since last Tuesday.

The Card is #3 to denote Jefferson as the third President and is accented with an orange border to give it a Virginia Cavaliers look. I took the picture while vacationing at UVA last December. Charlottesville is a short drive from Philadelphia and the surrounding area offers many historical tourist opportunities as well as several wineries - TJs presence is noted throughout the area. I would like to thank Pat Searcher for pointing us towards some cool things to do while we were visiting UVA.

Card Show News

BC Collectibles is entering the Card Show arena and will be hosting a show at their Manoa Shopping Center location. The show is Fri - Sun Feb 19, 20 and 21. The show will feature Cards, as well as other items including memorabilia and Jerseys.

Hunt Auctions Philly Show has also started posting the autograph list for their March 12-14 show. At this time the hopeful signers include Jim Palmer, Cal Ripken, Ron Jaworski, Bobby Shantz and Von Hayes. The Free Sunday autograph is Eagles Safety Macho Harris. No complimentary autograph has been announced for Saturday.

Check out MLBs 2010 Fantasy Preview.....

and if you are fond of Topps 1987 card design you may find your favorite players on those cards.

For each player profile the MLB Fantasy Preview site displays a card of the player on card with the classic 1987 Topps Design.



Not sure if it has anything to do with Topps as their logo which is fairly prominent on the originals is not present here.

This may be Roy Halladay's first "Card" in a Phils Uni.

There are also cards of Prospects like Domonic Brown and Nats Pitcher Stephen Strasburg:

Happy New Year - Year of the Tiger!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese Zodiac.

2010 is The Year of the Tiger as well as the past years 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962, 1950 ,1938 and beyond at 12 year intervals.

We at team Phungo will celebrate by posting a few cards of some Tigers.

1962 2009 Topps Allen & Ginters #68 Jamie Moyer

Hard to believe that Jamie is starting his 5th cycle of the zodiac and has a chance to be a pitcher this season. He has been a great player and member of the community and I hope he can return for one more season.

Looking ahead a year, if Moyer were to be issued a 2011 Topps Heritage card, he would probably be the first active player to have a Heritage card from his birth year. Not sure if Julio Franco hung on that long or not.

1938
1965 Topps #220 Billy Williams
1990 Donruss #716 Bart Giamatti

A Hall of Famer and a major league president that faced the task of disciplining a player that had a Hall of Fame career.

1950

1978 Topps #420 Greg Luzinski
2007 UD SPXcitement SPX-29 Julius Erving

Two Philadelphia Giants.


1974

2008 UD Nationals Baseball Card Day #UD10 Derek Jeter
2000 Topps #38 Bobby Abreu

A pair of former teammates. 4800 Hits, 480 Homers and 650 Stolen Bases between them. Alanis Morissette, who is featured on a 2010 Phungo Card is also a 1974 Tiger.

1986
2008 Topps Trading Card History #TCH75 Felix Hernandez
2009 UD Goudey #152 Lou Marson

Felix Hernandez is on a card featuring the design from his birth year, which is pretty cool. Not many players can say that - unless they are a member of the Chicago White Sox or perhaps next year Jamie Moyer.

1980 Phillies 30th Anniversary

1981 Fleer #645 Triple Threat Schmidt, Rose, Bowa

One of the things I failed to mention during the State of the Blog post is that I am also plan on marking the 30th anniversary of the 1980 Phillies World Champioinship.

Ideally a couple of players from the team will be featured each month throughout 2010. I figure if I average 2 or 3 a month I should be done by the time the 2010 World Series rolls around. Of course I completely missed January and am I already a month behind.
I would like to try and to feature as many different card editions as possibly. As you are likely aware I am basically a Topps guy so you are going to see the Topps run from 75 to 85 plus a dozen other cards or so.

As part of the retrospective I will also be looking at the 1950 National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies who are marking their 60th anniversary this season.

Phungo Roman Numeral Challenge

I also wanted to note that PatSearcher has been named as the winner of the Phungo Roman Numeral Challenge. He picked out three of the cards while Padrographs and Play at the Plate each figure out 2.

So far in 2010 Challenges and Pop Quizzes we have had 3 different Winners
PatSearcher - Roman Numerals
Padrographs - Joe Jackson/JD Salinger
Nr-Mt - Randy Johnson Retirement

Sources and Links
Larry Bowa Index

Phungo Roman Numeral Challenge Wrap Up

Phenomenal Superbowl. Anytime the underdog puts up a fight and your not rooting for the favorite it's a good game for me. Drew Brees was just about perfect - The Saints D came up big when it had to and the Colts made just a few mistakes and that was the difference.

OK recapping results of the The Challenge - There were a total of 9 cards posted 7 of which were solved:

Jimmie Foxx - nickname "Double X" or XX = 20 - Play at the Plate
David Eckstein - nickname "X" = 10 - Padrographs

Jimmy Rollins - Uniform Number 11 looks like II = 2 - PatSearcher
Chase Utley - From Upper Deck X = 10 - PlayAt the Plate(2)

Mike Ivie - Last Name is "IV" = 4 - PatSearcher(2)
Kaz Ishii - Last Name has 3 Is or III = 3 - The Phillies Room

YSL Thurmun Munson - by Rod over at Padrographs (2)

Rod got it for a different reason then I intended. The clue for this one was Baseball-Reference which refers to the Yankee Stadium that the YSL set celebrates as Yankee Stadium II - so that is how I arrived at the 2.



That Leaves Nolan Ryan and Earle Combs. In Hindsight Combs was likely a poor choice.

So here are your clues for these two. I will give you till Noon tomorrow.

The Ryan Answer has something to do with Family Feud and a Career record he holds.

The Combs Answer has historical signficance - Earle is believed to have been involved in a historic baseball first.

Phungo Roman Numeral Challenge IV

If you would like more background on this Phungo Challenge click here.

Time for the 4th Quarter. This is the NL West former NY teams edition of the challenge.

Each Card below represents a different roman number, your goal is to figure out what the number is. Both of these are pretty tough.


Couple of Clues on these two cards

Baseball-Reference
Family Feud

Which card belongs to which card is for you to figure out.

OK recapping results from the first 3 quarters:

Jimmie Foxx - nickname "Double X" or XX = 20 - Play at the Plate
David Eckstein - nickname "X" = 10 - Padrographs

Jimmy Rollins - Uniform Number 11 looks like II = 2 - PatSearcher
Earle Combs - unsolved
Chase Utley - From Upper Deck X = 10 - PlayAt the Plate(2)

Mike Ivie - Last Name is "IV" = 4 - PatSearcher(2)
Kaz Ishii - Last Name has 3 Is or III = 3 - The Phillies Room

Phungo Roman Numeral Challenge III

If you would like more background on this Phungo Challenge click here.

Time for the 3nd Quarter. This is the NL West former NY teams edition of the challenge.

Each Card below represents a different roman number, your goal is to figure out what the number is. I think one of these is easy the other is a little out of the box.




A posting for the the Fourth and Final Quarter of the Challenge will be posted at 4pm eastern

Phungo Roman Numeral Challenge II

If you would like more background on this Phungo Challenge click here.

Time for the 2nd Quarter. We have an All Phils 2nd Quarter with three cards. Each Card below represents a different roman number, your goal is to figure out what the number is. The top two are pretty hard, the last one should be a little easier.

Phungo Roman Numeral Challenge I

In honor of the Super Bowl today we will be running a day long Phungo Challenge.

Today Super Bowl XLIV wil be played by the Saints and Colts. In recognition of this we are going to be running a challenge having to do with the NFLs continuing insistence to use Roman Numerals in the Name of the Superbowl.

Throughout the day I will be posting cards which represent different Roman Numerals. Your Goal is to figure out what the Roman Number is and give me the Arabic (traditional english) Number.

The connection could have to do with the Subjects Names, Numbers, Card Numbers, and probably some really odd connections that would only happen in my brain.

First Person to get each card gets a point, most points at the end of the day wins the challenge. The Prize for this Challenge is bragging rights in the Card Blogoshpere - Trying using that at your SuperBowl party tonight.

I have broken the Challenge into 4 quarters. This is the first Quarter and here are the first two cards. I think these are pretty easy.


I will try and get the 2nd 3rd and 4th quarters up at 12, 2, and 4 eastern today.

Winners of previous Phungo Challenges and Pop Quizzzes so far in 2010 have been

Rod from Padrographs
NicoLax from NR-MT

Replacement Player Debate

2008 Topps #68 Kevin Millar

Earlier this week I posted a link to a story asking forgiveness be granted be to replacement players so that their images could be used in Video games.

Keith Olbermann posted a rather strong and interesting rebuttal to the initial post and I am passing it along here.

I found both stories via Deadspin

Sloppy Topps - 2008 Heritage Michael Bourn

This is another one of those great cards I received recently from White Sox Cards. The card here looks vaguely familiar, yet something seems amiss...

2008 Topps Heritage #244 Michael Bourn

Where the heck was this picture taken?? - Maybe it is all this recent talk about logos, but I think I have spotted a familiar looking one:



2008 Topps Heritage #244 Michael Bourn (enlarged)

Yep Topps has Photoslopped an Astros Uni on a recycled image, that we have seen before and.... before.

2007 Topps 52 Rookies #25 Michael Bourn
2007 Topps 52 Rookies #DD4 Dyanic Duos - Kyle Kendrick & Michael Bourn

More Swag from White Sox Cards

Steve also sent over some UD Documentary cards.

2008 UD Documentary #PHI108 Chase Utley
2008 UD Documentary #WAS108 Austin Kearns


I am the only person on earth collecting UD-Doc. But I am only collecting the two dozen or so cards that are related to games I saw during the 2008 season. Since this set is so large, finding individual cards is the equivalent of finding needles in a haystack. As you know each card is related to a specific game during the 2008 season - Of course each game features two teams, therefore each contest also has two cards.

I do have a dealer that is a regular at my mall card shows that will often have a couple of the Phils versions of UD-Doc. But he understandably doesn't carry the cards that feature the team the Phils faced during a given game.

Special Thanks to Steve who was able to find a couple of the cards from the opposing teams including the Nats one above.

These cards represent a game from July 31st 2008. Often we plan a baseball related activity for my Birthday which happens to be on July 31st. In 08 the Phils were at the Nats new Stadium in DC which provided a great opportunity to catch a Phils road game with relatively little travel.

The Phils won the game and the series easily. Several pictures for the 2009 and 2010 Phungo Card set were taken during this birthday trip to Washington. Like many of these Birthday Baseball Trips it was hot and muggy but it was very enjoyable.

back to the cards...

Never mind the fact that the Card represent a Nats home game, but the card pictures the Nats playing an away game at the Metrodome. The Utley card is in deed an away game for the Phils and could possibly be in Washington, could also be Cincinnati or a variety of other venues I am sure. For both teams the game is #108. The backs do seem to mesh up. UD got some information on the Washington card wrong (on the right). Orr played Shortstop for the Nats that day. Nice job Upper Dreck.


2008 UD Documentary #PHI108 Chase Utley (b-side)
2008 UD Documentary #WAS108 Austin Kearns (b-side)

Local Card Show Write Up

The News Journal out of Wilmington, DE had the following article on a local card show.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100201/NEWS/2010326

I have never been to the Aetna Show. They charge a $2 admission, which was enough to scare me away. A few months ago Stale Gum tried to Video the show, but was turned down.

Swag from White Sox Cards featuring Shannon Stewart!

First up Steve has 2010 Upper Deck Cards Go check his blog now!

2008 Topps Heritage #350 Jimmy Rollins

And He also recently sent me a bunch of Topps Heritage cards. I just started really working on the 2008 Heritage set as a companion collection to the original 1959 set that I am building and Steve was good enough to send over 50 count-em 50 cards that I needed.

That is an AMAZING dent into my want list.

One of the cards that came over was the above Jimmy Rollins that I needed and another was this quality Shannon Stewart Card.

2008 Topps Heritage #264 Shannon Stewart

Of course it isn't as much fun as somebody else Shannon Stewart postings.