Where are they Now - Ben Davis

1995 Topps Traded #74T Ben Davis Draft Pick

I wanted to reference a recent article in our paper about former Padres catcher Ben Davis. Davis is from the Philadelphia area and was the 2nd overall pick in the 1995 draft. He spent parts of 7 seasons in the Majors with he Padres, Mariners, and White Sox.

Ben is still playing professionally but not at the Major League level - and not as a Catcher. Ben is trying to get back to the Majors as a Pitcher for the Camden Riversharks of the independent Atantic League.

One of Davis' Riversharks starts was even mentioned in Paul's Random Stuff.

The Ben Davis card above is his rookie card from the 1995 Topps Traded set which is an odd set due to the strike that ended the 1994 season. In addition to the many draft picks and other prospects in the set there is a solid group of veterans that changed clubs due to being unsigned during the strike.

1995 Topps Traded #74T Ben Davis Draft Pick (b-side)

It is interesting to get a look at the flip side of the Davis card. It features his high school batting numbers. Due to playing here in the northeast there is an incredibly small sample size of at-bats. I am sure that Davis played on many a travel team while learning his craft.

Best of Luck to Ben Davis. He was never a Phillie, but he is a local guy and this is a fun story to follow.

Phungo 5 with Night Owl Cards

The Phils are in the middle of a 7 game West Coast swing which find them in LA to visit the Dodgers this week. Dodgers means checking in with Greg from Night Owl Cards.

1) What current Dodger player is the most overlooked by Topps?

It'd have to be Vicente Padilla. He isn't on a Topps or Heritage card this year. Just about all the other Dodgers are covered.

2009 Topps #208 James McDonald

2) Explain the Octavio Dotel move to me.

I don't think I can. Even if I could explain it in the most logical way possible, you would say it wouldn't make sense. The Dodgers traded two prospects that they once thought quite highly of -- James McDonald and Andrew Lambo -- for a set-up reliever. This is a move you make when you're one game out of the lead, not 8 out with three teams ahead of you. Even then I don't think you make the move. How has Dotel helped the Dodgers? Their bullpen is even more of a disaster. McDonald had issues but I was willing to work through them, he's young. Losing Lambo hurts. He's already hitting well in the Pittsburgh organization.

3) What is the Most annoying non-Sports Sports story 2010?

A-Rod 600
Ben Rotliesberger

Brett Favre

LeBron

Michael Vick

Tiger

Far and away Brett Favre. The story won't die. Unlike the others, it reappears every year. And it produces more stories about absolutely nothing than the other candidates combined. It has wasted hours at work since I'm forced to read these stories. I don't even like that I'm writing about him right now. If there are any aliens out there reading this, I am pleading with you to land in Hattiesburg, Miss., and take Brett Favre away so you can perform whatever examinations you must to figure out why this guy is like this. But please don't return him to us.

4)Am I correct in noting that there are no actual Night cards in the Night Owl banner??

Yup, no night cards. When I designed the banner, I just grabbed some cards I knew I liked. There wasn't any other thought that went into it. I'd change it, but it's too much of a process.

5) I love this one - and Night Owl will probably be sorry he ever turned me on to the concept, Give me 3 candidates for Blobs in the Dodgers Phils series.
Even though the Phillies will probably sweep, I can't predict a sweep.

Game 1: Brad Ausmus

Game 2: Jayson Werth

Game 3: Casey Blake

Phungo Box Score
4 out of 4 with a couple of Blobs pending.

NOC and I first swapped emails for this interview maybe two weeks ago when things weren't going well for the Dodgers. I think in there they had a mini-surge - More recently they have sunk back to the middle of the pack and cast off Manny Ramirez. It is looking like their chances to get back into the WildCard hunt are diminishing.

For a look back at a previous Phungo 5 on the Mets featuring Paul's Random Stuff click here.

If you want to see the Phungo Chat with Night Owl from 2009 click here.

Also related today's Manny Trade news, I would like to link to a posting I did on Ramirez in May of 2009. My attitudes towards Manny and steroids remain similar. Any time I got to see him play he had the potential to do something exciting - and that's part of why I go to the yard.

Pull of the Month - August 2010

I open as much retail in the past four weeks as I have in any month in recent memory. They put in a brand new Target next to where I work and I have been finding excuses to jump over there whenever I can.


2010 Allen & Ginter World's Wordsmiths #WGS1 Homer

How can you beat a mini of a dude named Homer. Betcha he would have a blog if he was kicking today.

Homer wins this months Pull of the Month, but I did get one other fine insert this month - this was from Topps Series 2. Overall I think Peak Performance is a little Meh, but it is always good to get one from your squad especially when it is of Hall of Fame Third Baseman Mike Schmidt.

2010 Topps Peak Performance #PP-60 Mike Schmidt

Junk of the Month
2010 Topps NFL Football #286 Kellen Winslow

Damaged card - probably a pack searcher check the 2nd "L" in "KELLEN".

Past Pull and Junk of the Month entries"

2010 July
2010 June
2010 May
2010 April
2010 March

2010 February

2010 January

More Strasburg Propaganda

Ok back to baseball card posting



Sports Propaganda Stephen Strasburg Limited Edition Screen-Print

Here we have another "Cards that Never Were". MLB is selling limited edition Screen Prints of the 2009 U&H Topps Propaganda cards. The Screen-Prints and are printed on Archival Paper. The price is in $67 ($132 framed) plus any other hidden fees not mentioned on the site.

This is the link for Strasburg.

The Phillies Page

Which actually includes a pitcher that is on an active roster in Roy Halladay

There are also Posters of the Prints that run for $24.

Propaganda main page

2010 Topps NFL Football - Inserts & Highlights

I picked up three Retail Packs and one Rack Pack (36 cards for $4.98) and I think this provided a pretty good variety of the cards offered by this years Topps Release.


A nice Superbowl Card. The back provides the final score and the Saints half of the statistical box score. A nice looking Manning card, with an ugly-ass All-Pro logo. I don't know how about adding some Red White and Blue like the uniforms they where in the Pro Bowl.



Lineage cards - I don't get the Marshall/Thomas card - This is the B-Side of the Elway/Tebow card - The Front of the card is featured over at A Pack to be Named Later.


More stuff we saw in Topps Baseball - between the 4 packs I pulled two of the Gridiron Giveaway cards. Good to see Gale Sayers get some love.

The Tom Brady Card is a Yo Momma Card reprinted from 2002 Topps - This one happens to be with the original back, not sure if Football is doing both backs or not. In the middle is a Demaryius Thomas 52 Bowman insert. This a pretty sharp looking card and considered #4 of his 5 rookie cards in 2010 Topps. Finally a 75th anniversary Draft card of Ben Tate - Drafted in the 2nd round 58th overall by the Texans.


Enlarge these and you can see the B-side of the rookie card for CJ Spiller. I put a big Red Dot next to the line indicating this is Rookie Card 1 of 5 for Spiller. Like 2010 MLB Baseball, Football had Team Cards. Here I have the A-side of the Packers card and the B-side of the Redskins Card. I am not sure if Franchise History is part of the football set - between the 4 packs I picked up there were 70 cards and no Franchise History to be found - that's a shame because I liked those cards in 2010 Topps Baseball.

Various Star players - and local heroes. 2010 Topps Football has mostly action shots on the base cards. And I think the Photography is pretty strong.

It was also nice to see Topps figured out that the foil stamping around the player name looks much better if the name is in a white font rather than black.



I close with the Darelle Revis collection. Out of 70 cards I came out with three Revis cards. I don't know how many times the Jets wore the throwbacks, but most of the Jets cards that came out of the 4 packs had them in the throwback unis.

The Classic Matchup Revis/Moss card is a checklist.

The W store also had blasters on sale that contained 81 cards - I forget the exact configuration probably 7x10 plus one "bonus" pack of cards. the 81st "card" is a manufactured patch card I think.

Ok sometime this weekend I will try and get back to baseball posts.

For a look at the first pack of Topps NFL football opened by Team Phungo click here.

For a look at the pack opened at APTBNL click here.

2010 Topps NFL Football - First Pack

No time to Talk just wanted to mention I was at a big box store yesterday and picked up some 2010 Topps Football Cards. The cards come 12 to a pack and went for $2.10 w/ PA Sales Tax included.

First Football Card of the Year
2010 Topps NFL Football #67 Joey Porter


The Rest

I liked pretty much every card I got in the pack - click to enlarge this one and you will get a peak at a B-side of Matt Ryan. The Gridiron Giveaway is the football version of Baseball's Million Card Giveaway.


Got two Vikings - sort of. The first is a Peterson Attax card.

The Last 3 cards in the pack were all Rookie Cards. The Last Card is of Jahvid Best, he was the highest pick among the 3 cards featured here (#30 overall). On the back of the card it specifies:

"This is 1 of 5 Jahvid Best Rookie Cards in 2010 Topps Football"

Sounds Like some parallel insanity or rookie inserts galore for The newest edition of Topps Football.

I will have a more formal review later - I am just posting these for images right now. Perhaps I will have a more thorough post at aPTBNL if nobody else has posted one by this evening.

Swag from Night Owl Cards

Last week the incoming mail included some great cards from Greg of the Prolific Night Owl Cards. So many of the bloggers blow me away not only with their frequency of posts, but also with so many ideas that are both interesting and funny. As you all are aware Night Owl is one of the best at coming up with so many of these gems.


Swag


2007 Bowman's Best #14 Chase Utley
1981 Topps #40 Tug McGraw
1992 Classic Best #395 Checklist
2010 Topps #89 JA Happ

The Bowman's Best Utley card is real nice. On top of being nice and shiny the card has some real weight and sturdiness. Any card of the Tugger Rocks - I like the artwork on the front of the checklist - Finally just wanted to post JA Happ and mention that the fan favorite is returning to Philadelphia this week after being traded last month in the deal for Roy Oswalt.


1995 Score #26 Tommy Greene
2009 Topps Chrome #62 Chase Utley
2009 Uppder Deck Gold #813 Ryan Howard

Tommy Greene with some Chrome and Gold.

A sad note, Tommy Greene's young wife just passed away after battling cancer I think. He was in town for the Alumni weekend a few weeks back. I was always a fan of his and hope that he is able to deal with this real life loss.

And There's More

If you take a close look you may notice a Non-Phils card in there. At some point I hope to put up a posting regarding this card that should be a significant help in completing a special Phungo Set.

2010 Phungo Cards - Rich Harden

2010 Phungo #40 Rich Harden

I understand that there are several complicating factors but it is really tough seeing a guy get pulled while pitching a no-hitter. Maybe Neftali Feliz and the rest of the Rangers Bullpen can help Harden make history.

Update
Of course, Team Phungo jinxed the Rangers. Neftali Feliz gave up a single to Joe Mauer in the 9th inning. Feliz did manage to hold onto the Shutout and the Rangers won the match-up between division leaders 4-0.

Phungo Game Report - 2010 08 21 Texas Rangers @ Baltimore Orioles

Sometimes you go to the ballpark expecting to see a favorite Ace dominate and instead you end up seeing a Rookie Prospect have the best day of his young career.

That was the case in Saturday's Game when Orioles Rookie third baseman Josh Bell clubbed two homers off of Rangers Ace and Former Phil Cliff Lee. The Homers were the first two for Bell as a Major Leaguer. Bell Collected 5 RBIs and scored 3 runs for the day as the Orioles won 8-6.

Bell was not the only Oriole to go deep yesterday as Ty Wigginton and Luke Scott also Homered off Lee who gave up a career high 4 dingers including 3 in the 4th inning.

Brad Bergesen got the win for the Orioles - he had given up 3 runs over the first 6 innings, before giving up a 2 run shot to Josh Hamilton in the 7th. The O's may have found a spot for Koji Uehara as the Japanese Righty notched his first career save.

According to an ESPN report I heard that Josh Bell was the first Oriole to hit 2 Homers out of the 9 spot in the order since the 1920s. Bell has been pretty mediocre for the Orioles since his call up, glad to see him have a big day.

Snapshots (click to enlarge)

Sorry O's Fans, I just got carried away with finding Rangers to Photo and didn't get any decent pics of Orioles. I did get one interesting O's related photo.


Orioles Retired Numbers (click to enlarge)

I am not sure how long these have been up on the Upper Deck facade. The O's have always had the numbers outside the stadium. I believe the numbers are posted in Chronological order. Jackie Robinson's is in Blue on the far Right. next to the O's most recent retired #8 of Cal Ripken.


Cliff Lee

This is how Lee looks warming up, prior to getting lit up like a Christmas Tree. Bullpen access at Camden Yards is pretty good, It is recommended that you check it out if you can get to the Ballpark early.



Rangers Outfield

That is Josh Hamilton with David Murphy to the right screening Julio Borbon.

Is there a More Appropriate Card than This?

1992 U.S. Playing Card Aces - Joker - Roger Clemens

Phungo Game Report - 2010 08 17 Giants @ Phillies

Great night to be at the Ballpark - The Confluence of several events made for a great evening.

1) Going into the game the Phillies and Giants were both playoff contenders locked in a virtual tie for the wild card spot in the NL playoff race.

2) Pat Burrell also returned to Philadelphia, playing left field for the Giants.

3) The game was the 2nd home start for recent acquisition Roy Oswalt.

4) There was one final bit of spice that added to the electricity of the evening - Phils All-Star 2nd Basemen Chase Utley returned to the lineup after several weeks on the DL.

I must also add that it was a rare perfect night for baseball, in what has been an extremely hot and steamy summer here in the Northeast.

SnapShots

Cards That Never Were

Roy Oswalt - notice that the 2009 Topps Style card specifies Oswalt as RHP rather then just P for pitcher.

Mike Sweeney - the new Number 5

The Old Number 5

Pat Burrell was given a short ovation when he batted and cheered positively when lineups were announced. He got booed a lot more after he hit a line drive 2-run homer in his first at bat.

Good Guy Awards

Tim Lincecum was doing his thing signing many autographs and interacting with fans. I also saw Buster Posey sign a couple of autos and Giants First Base Coach Roberto Kelly signed an item for a fan.

Game Notes

Roy Oswalt pitched 7 good Innings. He gave up 3 runs off 2 homers, Burrell's 2 run dinger, and a solo shot by Jose Guillen. Barry Zito kept the Phils off balance for the first 4 innings but ran into some trouble in the 5th and could not get an out in the 6th. Zito Left the game down 4-2 giving up 4 earned on 8 hits and 1 walk over 5+ innings.

The Phils would eventually put up a 5 spot on the Giants Bullpen in the 8th to turn a tight game into a blowout. A controversial bulk call, in which Jimmy Rollins would have gotten picked off otherwise, extended the inning - likely contributing to the Phils final 2 runs.

The Phils did something they have not done well all season. They got hits in key situations. It is a rare night when you will see the Phils score 9 Runs without aid of a Homer. Placido Polanco was key in that effort collecting 4 hits in 5 ABs. Rollins, Carlos Ruiz and Shane Victorino all had hits that plated multiple runners. Utley was the only Phils position player to not record a hit or score a run. He did reach once on an error and hit one flly ball pretty well to center.

For a Look back at a previous Game Report Click Here to read about the Team Phungo trip to see some A-Ball between the Salem Red Sox and Wilmington Blue Rocks.

The last Phillies Phungo Game Report was on a July game vs the Braves.

The most recent Phungo Game Report featuring the San Fransisco Giants was last September.

for the NBA fans - 2010+ Rookie Card Photos

I don't know much about Basketball cards, but yesterday the NBA and Panini had their Rookie Photo Shoot here are a couple of the shots from NBA.com. I would believe these are the photos that will be used on this years rookie cards, as they look pretty similar to ones I have seen on previous years cards.


#2 Overall Pick Evan Turner


It's a story not worth getting into now, but I follow the lowly Sixers because of where I live, but I am actually a fan of their chief Rival the Boston Celtics.


Luke Harangody

For a look at some of the other pictures in the group click here for the NBA.com photo gallery.

Howie Fox Guest Appearance

1953 Topps #22 Howie Fox

Jump over to A Pack to be Named Later and Find out why Howie Fox is making a Guest Appearance.

Phungo Game Report - 2010 08 14 Salem Red Sox @ Wilmington Blue Rocks

To take advantage of a rare beautiful night in August, Team Phungo made the jaunt to Wilmington to catch the Blue Rocks hosting the Salem Red Sox. Both teams are members of the Class Hi-A Carolina League. The Blue Rocks are affiliated with the Kansas City Royals, while Salem's Parent club is the Boston Red Sox.

It was Judy Johnson Night at the ballpark - Johnson was a negro league player from Delaware and the Blue Rocks play on a field that bears his name. The Blue Rocks do a good job of honoring Johnson and the Negro Leagues, bringing in the several players and their living relatives. A rather large silent auction listing dozens of items was held during the game. Autographed photos of players past and present were up for bid.

The Game ended up being an early blowout. The Blue Rocks led 8-0 in the third and would prevail 11-0.

Snapshots (For most pix you can click to enlarge)

Wilmington Blue Rocks - Kansas City Monarchs

For the Judy Johnson celebration both teams donned the uniforms of Negro League teams. Wilmington wore the uniform of the Kansas City Monarchs.

Salem Red Sox - Homestead Grays

The Salem Red Sox wore the uniforms of the Homestead Grays. The Grays were one of the teams that Judy Johnson played for as well as Josh Gibson.

Blue Rocks LHP Will Smith

Will Smith is with his 4th team this year, He was involved in a trade that sent Major League infielder Alberto Collaspo to the Angels. Smith has struggled at higher levels this year but returning to Class-A ball may have helped him as he shut out the Red Sox for 7 innings on yielding just 3 hits and one walk. Prior to this season Smith was the Angels #15 prospect according to Baseball America.

Wil Myers

The Blue Rocks DH was Will Myers who Hit his first Home Run as a Blue Rock. Myers was promoted to the Blue Rocks mid-season and was ranked as the Royals #3 prospect by Baseball America prior to the 2010 season. the 20-year old is currently batting .323 (.435 OBP) with 11 dingers between Wilmington and Burlington.

Christian Colon

Kansas City's first pick this year was Christian Colon. He was picked 4th overall and as far as I know he is currently the highest ranked pick from the 2010 draft to sign. Colon is batting .258(.309 OBP) through 163 ABs for the Royals.

Oscar Tejeda

I couldn't find many BoSox prospects in this game. Tejeda was Boston's #12 BA Prospect prior to a pedestrian 2009. Tejeda is in the middle of a bounce back year batting .312 (.349 obp) with 10 homers.

Blue Rocks Retired #33 Mike Sweeney

One of the Blue Rocks Retired Numbers is #33 which was worn by the Phils latest Addition Mike Sweeney.

I seem to always enjoy Wilmington and should get down there more often. For less than the price of parking at a Phils game I got nice a nice night out of baseball, took some fun pictures, and learned a little history of the game as well.

Awful Word Verifications

I just couldn't leave a comment after this.

Phungo Philm Club - Kurosawa's "Rashomon"

The Japanese movie that team Phungo took in this week was "Rashomon" which was directed by Akiri Kurosawa (note: It has a Samurai)

A few years ago the Bryn Mawr Film Institute (BMFI) was created to revive a run down theater in the community. BMFI generally runs contemporary indie, art films, and foreign films - IFC type stuff. They supplement these movies with Classic Older Films or Series during the week. This month they are doing a retrospective of Kurosawa.

I had a 100 level film class in school and for a while had a significant interest in film as a leisure hobby. I had always wanted to see a Kurosawa film based on the opinions of my friends, and the directors influence and notoriety.

Basically "Rashomon" tells the story of the rape of a young woman and the murder of her husband - a notorious bandit is involved in the crime, but exactly what happened is unknown. What makes "Rashomon" significant is that the 1950 film is the first to tell the same story from several different Points of View.

This brings us to "Jackie Brown". You may remember the critical "heist" scene at the end of the movie is shown from the vantage point of 3 different characters. There are a few other examples of films doing this, but "Jackie Brown" is probably the most accessible for today's film aficionados.

I appreciate that "Rashomon" was a groundbreaking film for how it's narrative was arranged, and also noted some film techniques that I was surprised to see in a 1950 film, but overall I leff the film and thought it was a good/above average but not great film.

If your a fan of the Tarantino films or perhaps Christopher Nolan (Memento), I would recommend the movie strictly to see an early example of a movie told in this out of sequence fashion. I also think it is a good movie to introduce one to Japanese cinema - it is a film of significance without much dialogue so there not a lot of reading involved.

It is hard to place a film into it's era knowing everything that came after it. Someone who Saw "Star Wars" when it debuted is certainly going to have a different opinion of someone seeing it for the first time. now. The story will always remain good. The the visual and sound effects that made the movie which remain incredible can not help but be diminished a bit from being recycled for a generation.

For a detailed review of "Rashomon" and the films place in history check out this very interesting review/essay by Roger Ebert.

1976 Topps #316 Jackie Brown

Phungo Challenge

As far as the Challenge goes, Dayf was headed down the right path, but took one step to far. I have been wanting to post a Jackie Brown baseball card and reference the 1997 Tarantino film of the same name for a while.

Community Gum stopped at Jackie Brown and looked up the Rashomon connection.

Community Gum also adds himself to the list of Phungo Challenge Winners.

PatSeacher from In Search of Pat the Bat
Rod from Padrographs
NicoLax from NR-MT
BA Benny from BABenny Baseball Card Buffet
zMan40 from Autograph Cards
Community Gum from Community Gum

One final note - Jackie Brown the baseball player happens to be the uncle of Daren Brown who was just named manager of the Seattle Mariners.

Phungo Challenge - Film Buff Edition

First off, if you have been paying attention this week, I would like to let you know that the 1977 Hostess Twinkies Uncut Sheet will be Framed! - not sure when I will get to this, but it is officially on the To Do List.


Now back to the Phungo Challenge:


1975 Topps ### ?????? ?????

On Tuesday Night I went out to see a vintage Japanese Film. To be honest I am not sure what makes a film Vintage, but I will tell you that the movie is older than I.

Your mission is to figure out what film I saw. The above card is your hint.

Winners of previous Phungo Challenge offerings and Pop Quizzes so far in 2010 have been

PatSeacher from In Search of Pat the Bat
Rod from Padrographs
NicoLax from NR-MT
BA Benny from BABenny Baseball Card Buffet
zMan40 from Autograph Cards

What Would You Do With This? - 1977 Hostess Twinkies Uncut Sheet

You can click any image in this post to enlarge the photo.


1977 Hostess Twinkies Uncut Sheet

More and more of my friends have found out that I have been collecting baseball cards as a pretty serious hobby(or obsession) recently. As a result I have inherited some cards or other memorabilia from different folks.

A few weeks ago our friend Susan donated the above item to the Phungo Museum.

You may have seen some of these cards cut or on a 3 Card Panel. They were issued with Hostess Twinkies. This is a Full Sheet of 90 cards.

At the top of the Photo, I placed some Topps Gold Cards from the last few years for a size comparison. The Hostess Sheet cards would measure 2.5 x 3.5 if cut evenly. Each individual "card' has a smaller dotted line that could be used to cut a smaller card.

Also at the top of the sheet you can see the Color Marks that are probably used as part of the printing process to insure color processing quality.

The 90 players on the sheet represent 60% of the 150 card set.

There are some great names in the collection featuring several major stars and Hall of Famers from the 70s.

Here is a couple of the cards that sit next to Mike Schmidt.


Yep those are Hall of Famers Gary Carter, Jim Rice, and Dave Winfield in addition to the Mike Schmidt card.

The Steve Carlton card is also in a pretty nice neighborhood.

According to the Stardard Catalog of Baseball Cards the six cards above make up panels 38 and 39. Cards 112-115 (Richard's Row) and cards 116-118 (Hernandez/Nettles/Lefty)

The sheet is in good condition at best and I doubt that it would generate a lucrative offer if I were to sell it. I would guess $20, perhaps $40 to the right buyer.

However, there is one remarkable aspect to the sheet:


Pardon the display angle of the cards - for some reason some of my photos are rotating when I edit them and upload them to blogger.

At any rate for whatever reason there are two cards on the sheet that are swapped. The Rod Carew card above is Typically #9 in the 77 Hostess Set. while....


Reggie Jackson is usually #3.

The Standard Catalog mentions this and notes that the #3 Carew and #9 Jackson cards are Unissued Proofs. Which I imagine explains why this is an entire sheet - it was a proof.

The fact that we are dealing with a "rare"/short printed Reggie Jackson item here, may influence the value of the card sheet, but I doubt it would significantly.

Unless somebody out there absolutely has to have the sheet, I believe I will look into framing the cards. I haven't measured it, but given the size and number of cards. I would estimate the size at roughly 26x42 inches - including about 4-5 inches of clear spaces at the top of the sheet.

I think it would make a great conversation piece in the center of my man cave/card collection room when I have one.

What would you do - Frame it, Sell it, Cut it and sell the Reggie?

Sources and Links
Phungo Rod Carew HoF Index
Reggie Jackson HoF Index