Phiadelphia Sports and Memorablia Show returns September 23rd - 25th

The Fall edition of the Philly Show returns to the Valley Forge Convention Center next weekend - September 23-25th.  Unfortunately events have conspired against Team Phungo this year and I will not be makeing the show.

I am a bit amazed that we are just over a week away from the event and the Philly Show website has not been updated with autograph guest info.  The show is run by Hunt Auctions who one would think would be responsible enough to try and get info out to their site in a timely manner - I would have to think the vendors for the show cannot be happy with Hunt's lack of advertising. 

They did send out post cards via snail mail that have event info though. 

1993 Topps #371 Mariano Duncan (image stolen from Baseball Card Database)

Saturday 9/24 is the Baseball Auto Day featuring HOFs Bill Mazeroski and Pat Gillick.  Phillies Alums scheduled include Mariano Duncan (93 NL Champion Phils), Dickie Thon, Tommy Herr, Tony Taylor, Jay Johnstone, and Ollie Brown.  WBC Heavyweight Champion (1978-83) Larry Holmes and Internation Boxing HoF member Larry Holmes is also scheduled for Saturday. 

Curiosly Sunday is Hoop Day - I say curiosly because there appears to be a chance that a large chunck of the NBA season may be lost.  Scheduled guests include Moses Malone, Bobby Jones, Artis Gilmore and Dr J. 

No Pricing information was given for the autos at the show.  

NOTE - at every recent Philly Show there has been at least one noteworthy autograph cancellation

Show admission is $8/day ($21 for weekend pass).  The cards mailed by Hunt are good for $1 off, typically local papers will have a similar coupon in the Friday and Sunday sports sections the weekend pior and of the show - of course the paper will cost you at least that much to buy.

If you can't make the Philly Show, don't fret, Collectors Showcase will be running a show the weekend of 11/11 in Oaks. 

In my opinion the CSA show is better then the Hunt Auctions show in Valley Forge, Admission is Cheaper, There seems to be a comparable variety of dealers, Autograph guests were decent with better options for the complimentry auto - Plus you can purchase beer at the convention center in Oaks!

One last card show note, the local card show this weekend is at the Concorde Mall in Wilmington Delaware - I don't see squeezing this weekend in, but I may trek down there on Sunday for a look around.

For general card show info click here

Phillies World Series Teams - 1993

As you're well aware, the Phillies will be competing in their first World Series in 15 years. This week I am going to feature posts related to the five previous Phillies teams to compete in the World Series.

1993 Upper Deck Team Stars # 485

The 1993 Phillies simply are one of the most loved teams in Philadelphia History. And this great card sums them up. The 93 team flat out bashed the ball - sure they had Curt Schilling and a bunch of other solid pitchers but they won on their hitting. Thanks to guys like Dykstra and the Krukker they seemed to always have men on base and then Dauton and Hollins would drive them in.

The 1993 Phillies shocked the perennial NL Champion Atlanta Braves in a 6 game NLCS but would ultimately lose in the World Series, also in 6 games, to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Philadelphia fans get a lot of bad pub for how they treat their athletes - oddly, Mitch Williams has had a fairly unexpected post playing career. He has become an incredibly popular figure in Philadelphia. Williams consistently shows up on sports talk shows and with quality information and analysis while also giving his honest opinion. He also spends some time hawking is salsa. I haven't tried the salsa, but I do enjoy having Mitch around. It's a story that took a weird turn and has had a happy ending - A nice story for Mitch for the Phils and for Philadelphia.

If you want to see a great card related retrospective on the 1993 Phils check out this series of posts that was written earlier this year over at Capewood's Collections.

Phillies @ Dodgers Game 4 and 1993 NLCS clincher 15th Anniversary!

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the greatest game I ever saw - October 13th 1993 - NLCS game 6 Atlanta Braves @ Philadelphia Phillies. The Phils had taken a 3-2 series lead by winning two very tight games in Atlanta. They were returning home for game 6, which was one of the games I drew as a season ticket holder.


The Phils took a 4-1 lead in the 5th on a Dave Hollins Homer, Mickey Morandini tripled the following inning to stretch the lead to 6-1. Tommy Greene, who was at the end of his best season of his brief career, gave the Phils seven strong innings and left with a 6-3 lead.

1994 Fleer Flair #412 Tommy Greene
Mitch Williams pitched an improbable 1-2-3 Ninth for the save clinching the 1993 National League crown for the Phils.

Amazingly the pitcher that Tommy Greene out-dueled that night is now, 15 years later, a member of the team the Phils are facing in the 2008 NLCS - Greg Maddux.


1994 Fleer Ultra #446 Greg Maddux

The only proper way to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the greatest game I ever saw would be with another playoff victory. Hopefully the baseball fates agree with me.

Note 1 - You can't tell in the scan, but the price of the Phils NLCS ticket in 1993 was $30 - that was for a ticket in the last row of the old Vet. I am not sure what upper level tickets are going for this year but the lowers carry a face value of $120.

Note 2 - The Tommy Greene card is from 1994 Fleer Flair, one of my favorite sets. The dual photos on the front of these cards are usually very good and there is even a 3rd photo on the back. I particularly like the in action pitching shots like this one. The card stock is also very strong - it really gives you the feeling your holding a premium card.

Go Phils!