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

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

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

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

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

1971T Jim Palmer Mows em Down

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

Box

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

sources and links

Jim Palmer HoF index

Phungo Originals

baseball-ref

 

 

 

1980 World Champions: Larry Bowa 1971T #233

We have turned over into a new year (and decade) so we can officially celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1980 Phillies.

1971 Topps #233 Larry Bowa (b-side)

This is not Larry Bowa's rookie card, he shared 1970T #539 with fellow middle infielder Denny Doyle.

However this is Bowa's first solo card and it is a fine card. To start with we have one of the most iconic designs in the Topps canon, 1971. Secondly the photo captures Bowa in a defensive posture, which was his most dominant skill during a long career. Finally this card is part of one of Team Phungo's favorite collections: All-Star Rookie Cards.

The cup was awarded to Larry Bowa for his 1970 campaign that saw him finish 3rd in the Rookie Of the Year voting (Carl Morton, Bernie Carbo).

I would also like to give a shout out to Paterson New Jersey's Johnny Briggs who appears in the background of this shot. Briggs spent the second half of the 1960s on the Phillies roster but was only teammates with Larry Bowa for one year as he was traded early in 1971 season.

1971 Topps #233 Larry Bowa (b-side)

Lots of fodder on the back of Larry Bowa's 1971T card. TOPPS goes all selfie and mentions the award they have given to Bowa. The most noteworthy portion of the text is Topps use of the term '"On-Base" average' which I imagine is one of the earliest on card uses of the term.

Unfortunately Topps use of the word "fine" to describe Bowa's OBA is questionable. At .277 he ranked 53rd among the 56 NL players who qualified. The League Average was .329, Bowa's 21 walks ranked 110th.

The final sentence in the bio refers to Paul Bowa, his baseball-ref page can be found here. 

Not sure where the front image was taken, could be spring training or possibly Shea stadium, but this back photo sure looks like the Vet - Even in b&w.

1970 RoY voting
As mentioned above Bowa finished 3rd in the NL Rookie of the Year voting:

Carl Morton or Bernie Carbo deserved to be 1-2 by both 1970 standards and modern analytics. To be honest I am surprised the BBWAA went with Morton (18-11, 3.60 ERA 154K) over Carbo (.310, 21 HR).

Among the 5 players receiving votes he was clearly the least deserving. However, other than Cedeno he is probably the player to have the most career success. He is also the only player among the lot to win a World Series.

Phungo Originals

This is one of the cards that made the cut for the Phungo Sketch Challenge

Phungo Original 1971T Larry Bowa

I swapped out the Rookie Cup for a World Series Trophy and went with a simplified background. I think Larry looks more like John Vukovich - oh well, my art career is a Work In Progress - perhaps I can say I have a "fine On-Base Average"

Larry Bowa Index
1972 Topps #520 (2008 NLCS)
1975 Topps #420 (1976 All-Star Team +40)
1975 Topps #420 (Larry Bowa Bobblehead night 2015)
1976 ASG Program (1976 ASG +40)
1981 Fleer #645 (1980 Phillies Reunion/Card Show w/ Pete Rose & Mike Schmidt)
1981 Fleer #645 (1980 Phillies +30)
1984 Topps #704 (1983 NL Champs w/ Joe Morgan & Cedeno)

Peanut Gallery (Other columns on this card)
Topps Baseball 1971 (Night Owl Cards)

Sources and Links
1980 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies
1971 Topps All-Star Rookies
Phungo Artwork
1971 Topps Blog (Night Owl Cards)
baseball-ref
SABR Bio Larry Bowa Rich D'Ambrosio 
SABR Bio Johnny Briggs (John Saccoman) 

1970 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team (1971 Topps Set)

1971 Topps #233 Larry Bowa

C Thurman Munson New York Yankees
1B John Ellis New York Yankees
2B Dave Cash Pittsburgh Pirates
3B Al Gallagher San Francisco Giants
SS Larry Bowa Philadelphia Phillies
OF Bernie Carbo Cincinnati Reds
        Billy Conigliaro Boston Red Sox
        Roy Foster Cleveland Indians
RHP Carl Morton Montreal Expos
LHP Les Cain Detroit Tigers


1971 All-Star Rookie Set Proofs (SABR Basseball Cards Tim Jenkins)


Sources & Links
Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Master Index
Baseball-Ref

Philly Show returns to Valley Forge this weekend.

The Philly Show is back in Valley Forge this weekend. Busy times at HQ right now, Not sure if team Phungo will be able to make the trek.

1971 Topps #49 Don Money

I hope I get there as both of my favorite dealers are scheduled to be at the show. If anyone else is going let me know and I will keep an eye open for you.

There are always autograph guests at the Philly Show, this edition of the show is largely football based, but there is one baseball player scheduled to appear, Don Money.

1971 Topps #49 Don Money (b-side)

1971T finds Money at the peak of the five seasons he spent with Philadelphia. As can seen on his back stats he compiled 14 Homers along with a .295 average - In today's modern stats that would be a very healthy 123 OPS+ and a 3.5 WAR. 

Other Autographs
There are a number of football guests at the show including Hall of Famers Jack Lambert, Lenny Moore (age 83!), Gino Marchetti (89!), and Herb Adderley. Famous Notre Dame alum Rudy will be there as well.

The show runs December 2-4 and admission is $8. For more information on the show click here.

Sources and Links
PhillyShow
baseball-ref

Happy 45th Birthday Bobby Higginson - 1991 Phillies Draftee

Why is a marginal player like Bobby Higginson showing up in a Phillies blog.

Well the man has a couple of Philadlephia connections. He was born in the City of Brotherly love and went to school locally at Frankford High and Temple U.

In addition to all that he was selected by the Phillies in the 18th round of the 1991 draft. Unfortunately the Phillies were unable to sign Higginson.

2002 UD Vintage #94 Bobby Higginson

The Phillies planned to move Higginson from the Outfield to second base. Since Higginson was not comfortable with the approach he asked for a signing bonus of $20,000 which was 14k more than the Phillies offered. The draftee wanted the bonus to insure that the Phillies would not give up on him too quickly if his play at second didn't go well initially.

The Phillies never countered the 20K number. A year later Higginson was picked in the 12th round of the Tigers who signed him as an Outfielder for 10 grand, plus an additional 10 thousand college provision.

It turned out to be a good move for the Tigers. Bobby Higginson had an 11 year career spent entirely in Detroit.

War and the Draft - 1991
At the top of this article I dismissed Bobby Higginson as a marginal player, well this is simply not true. He had a career WAR of 23.0. This ranks #1 among all players the Phillies Selected in 1991. 2nd Round pick Kevin Stocker ranks #2 at 5.9. #10 overall pick Tyler Green pitched 70 games for the big club but yielded a negative WAR (-0.5)

Among all outfielder picked in 1991 Higginson ranks #3 Behind Mike Cameron (46.5) and Shawn Green (34.5). Fourth and fifth place on the list are held by Phillies Alums Raul Ibanez (20.1) and Doug Glanville (10.9).

Among all #473 Picks in the history of the Draft Higginson ranks #1 in WAR. Glenn Hubbard (19.1) and Phils Alum Dick Ruthven (18.6) are the only other players drafted at that position to have positive WAR numbers.  Bobby Higginson also achieved the standard for his selection in the 1992 draft - He outpaced Rick Honeycutt (22.3) and five other players that made the majors including Orioles Outfielder David Lough who remains active. 

Higginson's 23.0 career WAR is in the top 100 among Left Fielders, this ranks him in front of Bernard Gilkey, Carlos Gonzalez (Active), Hideki Matsui, 1987 AL MVP George Bell, 1962 Hit, Batting and RBI Champ Tommy Davis, the aforementioned Raul Ibanez, and this years Phillies Wall of Fame inductee Pat Burrell.

 1971 Topps #94 Don Hahn

2002 UD vintage stole their design from 1971 Topps. The Card occupied by Higginson was originally the residensce of Montreal Expos outfielder Don Hahn.

Don Hahn played a few games for the Phillies at the tail end of his career. As far as I know he was never issued a Phil, but apparently he did make it into the teams photocard set.

2002 UD Vintage #94 Bobby Higginson (b-side)
1971 Topps #94 Don Hahn (b-side)

UD changed the color of the flip sides just to show they weren't totally pilfering the original Topps design. Interesting that UD moved around the stats, and opted to drop Total Bases - actually giving LESS info on the updated card.

Four Consecutive HR Club
Didn't want to leave this article without mentioning that Bobby Higginson once hit four Home Runs in four consecutive At Bats. It wasn't four in one game or Four Plate Appearances in a row - there were some walks mixed in there, but it was four Homers in four official ABs. It is a fairly rare accomplishment - I think most recently by Carlos Gonzalez (2012). Phillies Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt hit four in a row during an 18-16 victory over the Cubs on April 17 1976.

Sources and Links
the Phillies Room
WAR and the Draft Index
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sam Carchidi
baseball-ref
MLB
History Channel 

OSCARS: "The Grand Budhapest Hotel" - Al Hrabosky

I saw two of the 2015 Best Picture Oscar Nominees. One of those was "the Grand Budhapest Hotel" 

As a Wes Anderson fan I try and see most of his films. Budapest delivers a lot of what Anderson fans want, strange characters, unique camera angles, and favorite actors - like Bill Murry.

It is a good movie and a fun ride but not up to Rushmore or Tenenbaums status. The film doesn't have a pop soundtrack in the way that my favorite Wes Anderson films do, the music is good, just not my style.

If the film receives the Oscar I believe it is more for Wes Anderson's body of work than this specific film.

Cardboard Budapest Hotel

2001 Topps Archive Autograph #TAA128 Al Hrabosky

How does one come up with a card to represent a non-baseball, non-sports movie?

You get creative

Budapest is the capital of Hungary which directed me to one of the more colorful ballplayers of my youth, the Mad Hungarian - Al Hrabosky.

Hrabosky pitched 13 MLB seasons, most of which were with the St Louis Cardinals. He tallied 97 career saves including a leading the league with a whopping 22 in 1975. His lone playoff year was 1978 when he was the closer for the Royals who lost to the Yankees in four games.

Today Al Hrabosky works the broadcast booth for the St Louis Cardinals. He has been a color commentator on TV for the team since 1985. Hrabosky is an active member of the St Louis community and is involved with several local charities. 

2001 Topps Archives

2001 Topps Archive Autograph #TAA128 Al Hrabosky (b-side)

Topps Archive featured reprints of popular MLB alums on their rookie and final cards. With Hrabosky we have a bit of a curiosity. His first card was a rookie stars triple photo. For Archives Topps elected to place only Hrabosky's photo on the front, while maintaining the integrity of the back.

One of the drawbacks of going with the full photo on the front of the card is that apparently the negative for the picture was not detailed enough to fill the frame. While the photo on the original 1971T Card looks ok, it is a bit blurry on the 2001 Archives reprint.

Sources and Links
2015 Phungo Oscars coverage
IMDB
St Louis Cardinals
topps card database
Baseball-ref
Google Maps
Budapest Travel and Tourism Guide
Baseball Cardpedia

Philly Show 2014 09 28 - Dime Box

As Promised Monday night we our now featuring our VF show Dime Box posting. I love the cheap bins, The shear disorganization fits my personality and I always find stuff that I had either forgotten about or never knew existed.

Since the onslaught of playoff postings has featured so many other teams, we will lead off with a Phillies Card.

2013 Topps Chrome Refractor #90 Ben Revere

Refractor for a dime, much better than the 15 base card "Value Pack" I just shelled out $5 for at Target.

Allen Ginter Inserts

Various A&G Inserts

Any time I see A&G inserts in a dime box, I pick em up. I am sure somebody needs anything I don't want to keep.

Sketch Cards

A&G Sketchers

These are staying in the Phungo Collection. I wasn't building this set but when one can pick up over half of the 24 card set in one day, it becomes part of the dime box search list. 

Vintage Dimes
1971 Topps Dimers 

I  knocked out 23 cards from my 1971 Topps Checker. A couple of the highlights are in the fan, the rest are even more common. The Manny Sanguillen card is a favorite among the lot.

Dime Box Card All-Stars
A couple of cards from this dime box were distinguished enough to get there own features at Phungo:
1981 Topps Record Breakers #206 Mike Schmidt
2013 Topps #WBC-5 Hanley Ramirez 
2003 Bowman Draft #BDP137 JJ Hardy  

Source & Links
Philly Show 2014 09 28 Index
Baseball Cardpedia

Lou Brock Hall of Fame Index

This is an index of our posts related to Lou Brock.

1971 Topps#625  Lou Brock

In 1971 Topps featured a Stolen Base column on their cards for the first time. Additional Information on this card can be found on my SABR posting.

Phungo Lou Brock HoF Index

1964 Topps #29 (w/ Cubs)

1968 Topps #372 All-Stars

1971 Topps #625 (First Topps Year with Stolen Bases)
1974 Topps #64 (First Topps Stole Base Leaders Card)

2013 Topps Hanger Pack Match Race - Target Red v Vanilla

Earlier this week we took a look at a regular Hanger pack of 2013 Topps Update. Today we are looking at the Target Red version. 

2013 Topps Update #US58 Kevin Fandsen

Kevin Frandsen is the lone Phillies player in the pack. Countwise thats a push between the two packs, but Kevin Frandsen was a higher contributor as a bench player than Mike Adams was as a dinged up reliever. ADVANTAGE: Target.

The Vanilla

Andrew McCutchen and the Pirates were in the playoffs, nice to see him get some national recognition. This years Postseason Hero David Ortiz on a checker card. Got a bunch of Rookie Cards in this pack including Anthony Rendon and Jose Fernandez.

Among the Vanilla cards in the regular Hanger Pack was a Mariano Rivera SP - ADVANTAGE: Vanilla

Inserts

Target came up with a pair of Hall of Famers in Koufax and Reggie plus the 71 Topps Mariano Rivera mini. The Vanilla pack had Jim Palmer.  ADVANTAGE: Target
 
Between the two packs I had a bunch of Twins inserts. This pack was Dodgers heavy - so this Hanger Pack Match race turned out to be a celebration of the 1965 World Series. 

The Red

I like the Red Cards, Henry Urrutia is another quality RC.  Unless your set building the colored parallels are always a bonus to me ADVANTAGE: Target.

Hey Wait that is only 4 Red Parallels

Shelby Miller RC was also amongst the Red Cards. The Target pack also contained a couple noteworthy Rookie Debut Cards Jurickson Profar and Hyun-Jin Ryu.


Rookie Card Bonanza - ADVANTAGE: Target

Analysis
It is so easy when you break it down by the numbers Target wins 4-1. Although one could easily argue the magnitude of the Mariano SP offsets anything that was in the Target pack.

The five Red Cards turned out to be the only real difference in the packs. 


Check My Math - the two packs by the numbers:

2013 Topps - Looking Back

2013 Topps S1 First Pack (Retail)

2013 Topps S2 Hobby Packs

2013 Topps Update Hanger Pack 

2013 Topps S1 & S2 Phillies Checkers

2013 Topps Chrome Value Pack

2013 Topps Opening Day 1/2 Price

2012 Topps Hanger Pack

Sources

Baseball-ref.com

Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Greg Luzinski: 1971 Topps #439

Tonight Greg Luzinski is being inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame

1971 Topps #439 Greg Luzinski/Scott Reid (RC)

Not only was Luzinski a great slugger for the Phillies in the late 70s and a member of the 1980 World Championship squad - He also remains active in the community and is a team ambassador. 
 
It is great to see him get inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. This is the 10th induction class for the PSHoF and they still don't have a home, but it is good to know that enough interests remains and that they continue to host annual inductions and dinners.

This years baseball honorees include 1930s Phillies pitcher Bucky Walters and Umpire Shag Crawford. Other notable inductees from across the world of sports include Eddie George, John LeClair, The Eagles Bob Brown, and Andrew Toney.  For more information about this years class check out the PSHoF site here.   

For the Collector
The split Greg Luzinski Rookie Card above is regarded a tad above a common. I picked this off condition card out of a pretty decent buck bin at a show in 2009. In recent ebay auctions the card has finished as low as $2.96. On the high end the card finished at $5.91 ungraded - There was a $76 Lot with a graded Luzinski RC, but the anchor of that lot was a 62 Topps Clemente (graded EX).       

More Luzinski
2003 Fleer Ultra All Veterans Stadium Team #7 of 12 Greg Luzinski

2008 Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Inductees 
Mickey Vernon with Links to additional postings
someday I will get around to returning to posting on the other classes.

Sources
Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame
ebay.com
baseball-ref.com
  

2013 Topps Update Hanger Pack Match Race - Target Red vs Vanilla

Really this isn’t a competition. Either you like the red parallels or you don’t but I wanted to take a few minutes to examine the contents of a Hanger Pack of each.

Today we open our Hanger Pack analysis with the vanilla non-red Parallel version.

2013 Topps Update #US30 Mike Adams

This is the one Phillies card I picked up in the 72 cards pack.  Low-level card , the Phils needed Adams to sure up their shaky bullpen. - Unfortunately Mike Adams spent most of 2013 on the DL . He is on a 2 year stretch, hopefully his 2014 campaign will be more productive.  I believe this is my first card of Adams in Phillies pinstripes.

The Adams card was one of 66 Base Cards I picked up in the Hanger. The base cards also included both Zach Wheeler RCs

2013 Topps Update #US220 Zach Wheeler (rc  Rookie Debut)

2013 Topps Update #US50 Zach Wheeler (rc)

I assume the rookie debut cards are part of the base set as they are in the regular checker.  The b-side of the cards give the players line for the game and have a related caption. I like that the Rookie Debut note on the front of the card is a stamp - even if it is Chrome.   

More Vanilla

Among the highlights of the Base Cards were The nice shot of Mariano Rivera entering his final All-Star game. Phungo Favorite Wil Myers RC.  Reliever Brian Wilson has his signature look, with a new ballclub. The Drake Britton RC nicely displays the Boston Strong logo.

Inserts

71 Topps Mini of Clayton Kershaw and the Chasing History of Jim Palmer highlight this set of inserts 

Making their Mark

I believe The Make their Mark cards are an insert that notes a big game for a player early in their career.  The Kyle Gibson card is from his Debut.  Marcell Ozuna's card is from his first HR which occurred a few days after his debut - unfortunately the HR was in a game versus the Phillies :(

That is it for our first Hanger Pack.  Tomorrow we will take a look at the Target Hanger.

2013 Topps - Looking Back

2013 Topps S1 First Pack (Retail)

2013 Topps S2 Hobby Packs

2013 Topps S1 & S2 Phillies Checkers

2013 Topps Chrome Value Pack

2013 Topps Opening Day 1/2 Price

2012 Topps Hanger Pack

Sources

Baseball-ref.com

Card Show Report 2012 04 21 - Neshaminy Mall

1967 Topps #460 Harmon Killebrew

1967 Topps #480 Willie McCovey

1967 Topps #500 Juan Marichal

On Saturday I hit the local card show at the Neshaminy Mall.  It surprisingly turned out to be one of the better Mall shows I have been to here.  This show had a bunch of things I liked.  at least a dozen, maybe 20 dealers.  Several of them brought Vintage - so many had bargain vintage that I barely glanced at the dime Boxes. 

Faux Blaster

Instead of picking up a a Blaster of Gypsy Queen or Heritage at some big Corporate Big Box store here is what I put my $20 directly back into the economy by passing it on to a bunch of crumudgeons selling cards at the show...Ok they aren't all crumudgeons - but...well you've been to card shows before.

.

Base Cards

Big old Stack of 1971 Topps

I have been sort of working on this set in the back of my head.  But this haul should bring actively building the set more to the fore.  These are mostly commons, over 100 mostly in the lower series' but at 12/$1 they could not be passed up.  Couiple of semi-stars Dock Ellis, Messersmith, Rico Carty, Ken Brett and a few Semi-Hi numbers.  Those went for $11.  

Inserts

 

In addition to the 1967 Hall of Famers at the top of the post, I found 3 other HoF cards from various years.  

1963 Topps #43 Veteran Masters Casey Stengel & Gene Woodling

1957 Topps #59 Dick Williams

1957 Topps #85 Larry Doby

The three cards above came out of 2 separate $1 bins.  The 1967 Topps HoF cards also went for a buck.  Not only are Killebrew, Stretch, and Marichal Hall of Famers, but those cards are in a Semi-High Series.  Pulling those cards in at a buck each is like stealing.

1957 Topps #374 Don Cardwell

1963 Topps #551 Billy Klaus

1966 Topps #506 Bo Belinsky

The Three Phils are all Hi or Semi-Hi numbers.  Bo Belinsky is sort of a semi-star Hi number. 

There you have it for the same price as a Blaster, I picked up over a hundred 1971 Topps cards PLUS 9 Vintage Hits all featuring Hall of Famers or High Numbers. 

Definitely a Good Show! 

Links
Willie McCovey Index