1993 Phillies @ 25: Dave Hollins - 1993 UD #458 Peter Gammons Inside the Numbers

For our second installment on the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies we take a look at one of the anchors of Macho Row, Dave Hollins.

1993 UD #458 Peter Gammons Dave Hollins

Hollins made his lone all-star team in 1993 posting 18 Home Runs with 93 RBIs. He batted cleanup for the Phillies in all 143 of his starts. His big blow in the postseason was a 2 Run Homer off of Greg Maddux in the Phillies 6-3 NLCS clinching victory over Atlanta.

1993 UD Gammons
Today we have another subset that I loved at first sight. Back in the pre-internet pre-MLB Network days Baseball Tonight was something I checked in on whenever possible. One of the many fine baseball folks that I discovered there was Peter Gammons. He had a way of getting to the important issues without hyperbole, He was honest firm but never said anything unnecessary.

The 1993 UD Peter Gammons Inside the Numbers set is 21 cards that run from #450-470, They directly follow the Derek Jeter RC which resides at #449. As of now the subber contains 3 Hall of Famers with Mike Mussina lurking.

The card fronts are minimal with a photo on top and player name. The Peter Gammons logo is out of the way at the bottom of the card. Gammons facsimile sig on the front of the card give the set the illusion that the players were handpicked and adds some authenticity to the text on the back.

Speaking of backs lets see what Mr Gammons had to say about today's hero.  

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1993 UD #458 Peter Gammons Dave Hollins (b-side)

No pressure as Gammons mentions a comparative with Pete Rose while quoting Larry Bowa. I am not sure of exactly what he means but I am pretty sure I like Gammons describing the 1993 Phillies as the "Slapshot of baseball".

Checker

1993 UD #458 Peter Gammons Checklist (b-side)

This subset is part of the Phungo Collection and lifetime permitting I may get to covering all of these cards someday. This posting will serve as an index to those columns.

450 CL Ivan Rodriguez, David McCarty
451 Jim Abbott
452 Jeff Bagwell
453 Jason Bere
454 Delino DeShields
455 Travis Fryman
456 Alex Gonzalez
457 Phil Hiatt
458 Dave Hollins
459 Chipper Jones
460 David Justice
461 Ray Lankford
462 David McCarty
463 Mike Mussina (2014 HoF Ballot)
464 Jose Offerman
465 Dean Palmer
466 Geronimo Pena
467 Eduardo Perez
468 Ivan Rodriguez
469 Reggie Sanders
470 Bernie Williams

David "Bubba" Hollins
Dave's son David is also a Professional Baseball Player. Last year he signed with the Miami Marlins out of St Bonaventure. He got into a dozen games with the Batavia Muckdogs batting .214 across 42 ABs. Like his father David is a Third Baseman and he appears to also have his fathers batting eye. His offensive numbers were modest but he did draw 8 walks in those 12 games.

Apparently David (the younger) goes by "Bubba" which is a nickname that he shares with Dave (the elder) Hollins Macho Row teammate Darren Daulton.  
 

David "Bubba" Hollins (image from the Daily News)
David is sporting #34, a number that his father never wore during his major league career


Dave Hollins Index
1993 UD Team Stars #485 1993 Phillies (2008 Retrospective of Phillies World Series Teams)

Sources and Links 
1993 Phillies @ 25 Index
1993 NLCS Game 6 Index
St Bonaventure Bonnies
The Daily News (Nate Rider)
Phillies '93: An Incredible Season - Rich Westcott
youtube (1993 NLCS Game 6)
Cardboard Connection
Deadspin 

1976 ASG +40: Dave Cash

Things been busy here at Phungo HQ and I sort of abandoned our 1976 All-Star Game series around the time of the games Anniversary in July. I wanted to get to all the HoFs and Philllies in the game this year and will do my best to clean up the rest of the profiles in the coming weeks - although I may mail in some of the offerings.

Today we are discussing Phillies second baseman Dave Cash. 1976 was the third and final appearance in the mid-summer classic for Cash, in each of his three appearance he was the back-up behind future hall of famer Joe Morgan. Cash was the only Phillie to get a hit for the Home fans in 1976, He singled off Frank Tanana to lead off the eighth inning and later came around to score on a Ken Griffey base hit. 

1993 Upper Deck BAT  Tri-Fold #26 Dave Cash

Since he was never a starter Cash never got a Topps card with an All-Star flair. I chose a 1993 Retro card from UD to represent Cash. Nice to see a semi-star like Cash get the retro treatment.

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1993 Upper Deck BAT  Tri-Fold #26 Dave Cash (b-side)

You may need to click on the above images to expand the the cards (and the text) to view them more clearly.

Although Cash is featured in his Phillies threads on the front of the card, the first panel discusses his exploits with the Pirates in the 1971 ALCS. UD finally gets to the Phillies on the middle panel. Interesting tidbit here is that the Cash's All-Star 1976 season is mentioned along with his low Strikeout (13) total. In the "Things have Changed" department, last year among players that had a similar K total or less only two had over 100 ABs Yulieski Gurriel (130 AB) and Mike Moustakas (104 AB). Cash totaled 666 ABs for his 13 Ks.

The final Panel reference BAT (Baseball Assistance Team) an organization that helps current in former players in need of Assistance. The organization is still functioning today and a number of testimonials can be found on their website.

A few weeks ago Paul Hagen posted an article on Dave Cash at MLB.com. It sounds like the Phillies former second baseman who is now 68 years old is enjoying a relaxing retirement.

Sources and Links
1976 ASG Index
MLB Paul Hagen
Baseball-ref
MLB Community/BAT

2014 Hall of Fame Candidate Mike Mussina 1993 UD Inside the Numbers #463

Tonight in our HoF ballot series we take a look at my favorite borderline candidate.
 

 

1993 UD Inside the Numbers #463 Mike Mussina

There are flaws in his resume, but for me Mike Mussina is a strong Hall of Fame candidate.  Notable career numbers include his 270 wins vs 153 Ls (117 above .500) and 2813 career Ks (19th all time). 

The Vote No on Mussina argument falls into 3 areas 1) No dominant season (no Cy Young Award), 2) His stats are largely Accumulators, 3) No Championships - an omission that is further exacerbated by the fact that he spent 8 seasons with the Yankees who bookended Mussina's tenure w/ World Series Wins on each end. 

However...

-He may have never won a Cy Young Award, but he did lead the league in Pitching WAR in 2001.

-Mussina's Black Ink scores are very soft but his Gray Ink Test is quite strong. While not pointing to a dominant season, this does tell us that Mussina was in the top 10 of pitching categories often.  I think the accumulators argument falls flat largely based off of the gray ink. 

-Finally in 2001 had the "Greatest Closer Ever" not blown a save, Mussina would have a World Series  Ring.

 1993 UD Inside the Numbers Subset - Peter Gammons

1993 UD Inside the Numbers #463 Mike Mussina (b-side)

Inside the Numbers is a 21 card subset in 1993 UD (#450 - #470) with each card featuring a short writeup by HoF baseball journalist Peter Gammons. Clear back in 1993 Gammons referred to Mussina as having Game Seven Make-up. 

The Phillies are represented by Dave Hollins, other players getting the Gammons treatment include Chipper Jones, Jeff Bagwell, Dave Justice, Bernie Williams, and Pudge Rodriguez.

More Moose
2004 Upper Deck USA USA-134 Mike Mussina 

Phungo Verdict: HoF - Full Disclosure, I met Mike Mussina in 2001. An acquaintance of mine is related to Mussina's wife. We didn't talk much but he was a real decent and polite guy. I am glad I met him and I was really happy to find out that he was good guy. So yes this may influence my opinion a bit, but I am happy to say that I think the numbers look HoF worthy on there own.

2014 HoF Candidates
Todd Jones
Mike Piazza (2013 Profile)
Curt Schilling (2013 Profile)
Mike Timlin
Larry Walker (phungo vote = HoF)
 .
2013 HoF Rejects (no longer on ballot)

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Sources & Links
1993 UD Peter Gammons Inside the Number subset
baseball-ref.com
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards (2006 ed)