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Monday, March 21, 2016

Happy Trails Randy Wolf

We got the news that Randy Wolf announced his retirement last week. The southpaw will turn 40 later this summer and had a fine 16 year career. It does bring a bit of sadness to Phungo HQ as he was always a house favorite.

2003 Fleer Tradition #U256 Randy Wolf

Corinne Landrey wrote a terrific tribute to Randy Wolf's career over at Crashburn Alley which can be found here. Wolf's was an important player that bridged the era between the 1993 and 2007 NL Pennant teams but never got to play in the postseason with the Phillies. There are times when I look at those lean years with fondness and think about Scott Rolen, Mike Lieberthal, Bobby Abreu and Randy Wolf - That crew deserved better.  

Randy Wolf has two careers; his first eight seasons all with the Phillies and the other eight which he spent as a journeyman pitching for seven different clubs. And Yes as noted by the above Fleer Tradition card Randy Wolf represented the Phillies at the 2003 All-Star Game in Chicago.

2003 was the final of four consecutive seasons where he recorded double digit wins for the Phillies. He deserved the honor as he was coming off perhaps his best season (2002: 11-9, 3.20 ERA, 210 IP, 172Ks).

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2003 Fleer Tradition #U256 Randy Wolf (b-side)

The back of the card tells the story of Wolf's sole All-Star appearance. The game was a 7-6 AL victory played at US Cellular Field in Chicago.  The strikeouts were recorded against Jorge Posada and Alfonso Soriano. The RBI was ceded on a single to Carlos Delgado who plated Ichiro.

2003 Fleer Tradition
The '03 Fleer Tradition release homages the original 1963 set, I don't think there were all-star cards in that set. These 2003 cards do a decent job of echoing the 60s stylistically, but really don't appear to close to 1963F. The one nod is retaining the card numbering element, a circle backed by crossed bats.

Sources and Links
Corinne Landry - Crashburn Alley 
Baseball Cardpedia
baseball-ref 


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