ANNIVESARY: 2000 May 24 Pat Burrell MLB Debut

May 24th marks the 20th anniversary of Pat Burrell's MLB Debut in a Phillies 9-7 victory versus the Houston Astros.

2008 Topps 50th Anniversary All-Rookie Team #AR81 Pat Burrell

in 2008 to mark the 50th anniversary of Team Phungo's favorite subset, All-Star Rookies, Topps issued and 110 card Insert set. Among the 110 players included was Pat Burrell.

The 2008 card format echoes the seminal 1960 Topps subset. For a look at those cards see our posting on Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.

Flip
2008 Topps 50th Anniversary All-Rookie Team #AR81 Pat Burrell (b-side)

The backs also mirror 1960T including the Season Highlights section bottom left. Notice the first bullet cites Burrell's MLB Debut and mentions a Triple he hit in that game. An oddity for a man who would finish with 16 career. That first Triple tacked on an insurance run in the 9th inning. It came off of Burrell's future teammate Billy Wagner. 

Burrell's originally made the 2000 team that was honored in the 2001 Topps.

2001 Topps #144 Pat Burrell 

Sources and Links
Pat Burrell Index
2001 Topps Rookie Cup Index (2000 honorees)
Baseball-Ref 
Check Out My Cards

Fred Thompson 1942-2015

2008 Topps Campaign #C08-FT Fred Thompson

Today we got word of the death of Politician and Actor Fred Thompson. In 2008 Topps issued a card of Thompson as part of their insert set dedicated to that years Presidential contest.

2008 Topps Campaign #C08-FT Fred Thompson (b-side)

Brief bio on the flip side which doesn't mention Thompson role in "Hunt for Red October" which I had forgotten about until  @moxxjason mentioned it on Twitter.

Campaign 2008
This insert set has been on my mind a little bit since we are in debate season. A couple of names in that set that have come up again this time around: Clinton, Biden, Romney, and Ron Paul (father of Rand) 

Sources and Links 
Cardboard Connection
NY Times

WAR Stories: Phillies 2015+ Jimmy Rollins 2007 NL MVP

Congrats to this years MVP Winners Mike Trout & Clayton Kershaw. Today as part of our Phillies 2015+ Project we turn back the clock 7 years to the 2007 NL MVP Winner, Jimmy Rollins.

2008 Topps #233 Jimmy Rollins MVP

Well we are not really turning back the clock - Phils fans would definitely love to have the 07 version of J-Roll. Unfortunately time marches on and a 36 year old Jimmy Rollins is expected to start for the Phillies in 2015.

2014 was a decent year for Rollins. His batting average down, but OBP was right around his career average. His slugging number down, largely because of a dip in doubles - His 17 Home Runs were right at his 162 game average. Speaking of games Rollins played 138 games in 2014 - His 609 Plate Appearances was the 2nd lowest of his 14 full seasons.

Comps  
All 10 of Jimmy Rollins age 35 Comps played beyond age 35,It is an impressive group of players topped by Joe Morgan and Derek Jeter with Craig Biggio, Ryne Sandberg, Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammel and Robby Alomar all in the list. Five of those players still had 4.0+ WAR left in them - Joe Morgan was tops with +15.5 WAR.  According to Baseball-ref projections Jimmy Rollins should expect to accumulate 3.5 WAR for the rest of his career.

The projections have Jimmy finishing with 2574 career hits.  426 shy of  the arbitrary 3000  that has made any non-PED player an automatic for HoF voters. Jimmy is currently at 2306 hits, which means B-R thinks he had 268 hits remaining - slightly more than double his 2014 production - or another way of looking at it about 2 years worth of hits.

Verdict
The projections sounds about right to me. I see Jimmy playing through the 2016 season and getting slightly less than his 2014 production.  I give him +2.0 WAR for 2015. In our Phillies 2015 running WAR total we are through 3 players and have arrived at 55 Wins. 


2008 Topps

The photography on 08 Topps is worthless. Fortunately They got a decent pix of Jimmy on the MVP Card, The base card photo is HORRIBLE.  

2008 Topps #233 Jimmy Rollins MVP (b-side)


The B-side of the card shows a grab bag of Rollins MVP Qualifications. Curious picks - the BA with RISP (.272) is 24 points lower the BA Overal (.296). The 43 Game Winning RBI cannot be right - that isn't even an official stat anymore - but when it was the league leaders were in the teems if I recall correctly. The Most important stats are at the bottom - Rollins 15 RBI and .346 BA versus the Mets who the Phillies overtook on the last day of the season to win the NL East. This of course was their last win of the year as they were swept by the Colorado Rockies in the NLDS.



Sources & Links
WAR Stories Phillies 2015+ Index
Jimmy Rollins Player Collection Index
Baseball-ref

Has Chase Utley Played in Last All-Star Game: 2008 Topps #UH241

The All-Star Voting tallies will be in soon and Chase Utley likely will win the honors for second base in the NL. Utley has earned the position on merit and deserves the nod.

2008 Topps #UH241 Chase Utley

I have to wonder if Utley will make it to Minnesota for this years festivities.  After a scorching start Utley has cooled significantly, His Batting Average, OBP, and Slugging Percentage have dropped each month this season. In June he batted .240 with 4 extra base hits, compare that with his March/April output of 355 BA and 14 XBH.

Yes Chase Utley was an All-Star in April - There were even mentions of him returning to Hall of Fame form. Unfortunately the injury prone veteran's fall off forces one to think about Utley's health issue  and specifically his chronic keee problems.

Utley started four consecutive All-Star Games between 2006 and 2009 and was a member of the 2010 squad but did not play in the game. I would love to see him return to the mid-summer classic, but I wouldn't be surprised if the 35 year old second baseman give his weary knees the week off.

Sources
Chase Utley Player Collection Index
Baseball-ref

Swag from Play at the Plate: 2014 Topps Blue Blaster

At the end of last year Brian over at Play at the Plate ran a contest to win a blaster of 2014 Topps. It was my kind of contest too, All I had to do was comment on a post. And Team Phungo Won!

2014 Topps Blue #312 Jimmy Rollins

There was only one Phillies player in the blaster, but it was a colorful Walmart parallel. Other than that it was a pretty nice box. I had already hoarded 100+ cards via Hangers and Looseys, and it was a pleasant surprise to find out that the blaster didn't duplicate many of the cards that I had already collected. I have developed a taste for hangers so it has been a while since I have opened a blaster. The number of inserts is mindblowing. Since each 8 card pack contains 2 blue parallels plus an insert, technically 37.5% of the cards are not base. To me parallels count as base, but for the completists out there, well I sympathize for their plight.

Highlights - Base

2014 Topps Leonys Martin 
2014 Topps Brian McCann

Check it out a Ranger and a Play at the Plate card. These should put a smile on faces at PATP HQ.

Inserts

Manupatch of 2008 Kershaw RC

These are a bit odd. the "Border" from the original 2008 design is raised, while the pix is inset.

89T Die Cut Sandy Koufax

The blaster was a bit of Dodger Hot Box. Never been a big fan of Die Cuts. Just harder to take care of. That being said the 89T design is a good one to give the Die Cut treatment.

2014 Topps Power Player Wilmer Flores

Just noting the difference from the PP cards and base here. The RCe logo is gone and the Topps moved from right to left. There is good news here if your hate the chrome print, it appears a bit lighter on the Power Play cards.

2014 Topps Blue Mariano Rivera

This was a bit of an oddity, All of the Blue Parallels in the box were of cards with Landscrape Photos, notice these two of the retiring Rivera and the one of Jimmy above. This is a coalation thing I have noticed from Topps previously. In 2008 I got a Hobby Box of S1 where all the Gold Foil stamped cards were Horizontal.

Bleeders

Night Owl referred this years new Red parallels as bleeding walls or something similar. At some point I hope to have some additional thoughts on these, but will note that all 3 of these like the blue instagrams above are landscapes.

etc   

The reamaining inserts. I like the UpperClass cards but find the Future is Now cards meh. For whatever reason I liked the UC cards of Retired players more than these new cards of current players.

All in all a fun break. Lots of new blue cards for the Phungo collection, a couple of cool inserts including a Rollins Parallel. Thanks to the Brian over at Play at the Plate for running a contest that even Team Phungo can win.

More 2014 Topps Review
2014 Topps First Pack

2008 Topps Stadium Club #108 Evan Longoria RC (First Day Issue Variation)

This Evening the Tampa Bay Rays are facing elimination in game 3 of their ALDS matchup with the Boston Red Sox. Fenway was a disaster for the Rays who return home to the Trop for tonight's game. The Rays have been around the playoff scene since 2008 and one of the guys that has been with them during the entire arc of this period is Evan Longoria.

2008 Topps Stadium Club #108 Evan Longoria RC (First Day Issue Variation) 

Evan Longoria was the 2008 AL Rookie of the Year and led the Rays to an AL Pennant. The 2008 Rays defeated the Red Sox in a 7 game ALCS to win the pennant, if the Rays return to the World Series they will once again need to defeat the Red Sox in another full length series.

In 2008 Topps took the worst photos they can find and put them in their base set, this left some really great shots for the return of Topps Stadium Club. One of the fine photos to find it's way into 2008 TSC was this fine pix of Evan Longoria striking a classic baseball card pose. Unfortunately 08 Stadium Club had a pretty convuluted checklist which contained several variations for 1/3 of the cards. The great, but now defunct, Fielder's Choice Blog explains what all this means in regards to the Evan Longoria card here.

More Rays PostSeason Postings
David Price (2012 Topps Archives)
David DeJesus (2008 Topps Heritage)

Sources
Fielder's Choice
baseball-ref.com

2008 Topps #232 Clay Buchholz (RC)

2008 Topps #232 Clay Buchholz (RC)

This is just one of several 2008 Clay Buchholz cards that reference the No-Hitter he threw in his second major league start.  

One of the things a Photo can do is to tell a story.  This image of Buchholz throwing the No-Hitter early in his career rewards the fan for their baseball knowledge. The moment you pick up the card you know the event it captures.

Tonight Buchholz takes the mound in another Sunday Night Baseball contest featuring the Yankees and Red Sox. There was a bit of a stir when the rivals met last month. This weekend they are back at Fenway and I am sure the fans will be watching for more drama.  

For the Collector
There are a couple of 2008 Cards that celebrate the Clay Buchholz no-hitter.  
2008 Topps Opening Day #211
2008 Topps Trading Card History #TCH5 (1956 Topps Retro)
2008 UD #384  

    

Source

ebay.com
Trading Card Database
baseball-ref.com 

All-Star Game Debriefing - Does Home Field Advantage Matter?

Prior to this week, the last time the All-Star Game was held in New York the NL took the loss 4-3 in a 15 inning epic that ended on a sac fly by Michael Young off of Phillies closer Brad Lidge.

2008 Topps #UH304 Brad Lidge (stolen from Trading Card Database)


Since 2003 the All-Star game has decided home field advantage in the World Series. Lidge couldn't know it at the time, but the NLs loss would cost the Phillies Home Field in the 2008 World Series. Fortunately for him the Phils and their fans like myself, The Phils took one game in Tampa and all 3 of their home games and didn't need HFA to win the 08 series.

Fox was throwing around some stat about how often the World Series was won by the home team. I wanted to look deeper into this and find out if the Home Team won or perhaps it worked out that the Home Team was the better team.  Here is what we found.

Year	Away	G>.500	Home	G>.500	Len	Home W Diff	Home Team Wins	Best Rec Wins	Home + Best Rec	Away + Best Rec	Home Worse Rec	Away +worse Rec
2012	Tigers	14	Giants	26	4	12	1	1	1	0	0	0
2011	Rangers	30	Cardinals	18	7	-12	1		0	0	1	0
2010	Rangers	18	Giants	22	5	4	1	1	1	0	0	0
2009	Phillies	24	Yankees	44	6	20	1	1	1	0	0	0
2008	Phillies	22	Rays	32	6	10	0		0	0	0	1
2007	Rockies	17	Red Sox	30	4	13	1	1	1	0	0	0
2006	Cardinals	5	Tigers	28	5	23	0		0	0	0	1
2005	Astros (NL)	16	White Sox	36	4	20	1	1	1	0	0	0
2004	Cardinals	48	Red Sox	34	4	-14	1		0	0	1	0
2003	Marlins	20	Yankees	40	6	20	0		0	0	0	1
2002	Giants	29	Angels	36	7	7	1	1	1	0	0	0
2001	Yankees	30	Diamond Backs	22	7	-8	1		0	0	1	0
2000	Mets	26	Yankees	23	5	-3	1	1	1	0	0	0
1999	Yankees	34	Braves	44	4	10	1		0	0	1	0
1998	Padres	34	Yankees	56	4	22	1	1	1	0	0	0
1997	Indians	11	Marlins	22	7	11	1	1	1	0	0	0
1996	Braves	30	Yankees	22	6	-8	1		0	0	1	0
1995	Indians	56	Braves	46	6	-10	1		0	0	1	0
1994
1993	Phillies	32	Blue Jays	28	6	-4	1		0	0	1	0
1992	Blue Jays	30	Braves	34	6	4	0		0	0	0	1
1991	Braves	26	Twins	28	7	2	1	1	1	0	0	0
1990	Athletics	44	Reds	20	4	-24	1		0	0	1	0
1989	Giants	22	Athletics	36	4	14	1	1	1	0	0	0
1988	Athletics	46	Dodgers	27	5	-19	1		0	0	1	0
1987	Cardinals	28	Twins	8	7	-20	1		0	0	1	0
1986	Red Sox	29	Mets	54	7	25	1	1	1	0	0	0
1985	Cardinals	40	Royals	20	7	-20	1		0	0	1	0
1984	Tigers	46	Padres	22	5	-24	0	1	0	1	0	0
1983	Phillies	18	Orioles	34	5	16	1	1	1	0	0	0
1982	Brewers (AL)	28	Cardinals	22	7	-6	1		0	0	1	0
1981	Dodgers	16	Yankees	11	6	-5	0	1	0	1	0	0
1980	Royals	22	Phillies	20	6	-2	1		0	0	1	0
1979	Pirates	34	Orioles	45	7	11	0		0	0	0	1
							26	15	13	2	13	5
	Away	G>.500	Home	G>.500		Home Diff	Home	Rec	Home+Rec	Away+Rec	Home-Rec	Away-Rec

The Chart goes back 33 World Series and list the team that ended up being Away and Home for the Series - the team in Green won the series. 7 Game series are noted in yellow.

The G>.500 is the number of games each squad finished above .500.  The Len column is the length of the series. Home Diff is the number of games the Home squad was ahead or behind the away team.  

To the right of the chart a A '1' in a column indicates a win in a certain category. Those catgories and composite records are as follows

Home Team 26-7 
Better Record 15-18

Better Record + Home 13-5
Better Record + Away 2-13
Worse Record + Home  13-2  
Worse Record + Away 5-13 

There are 2 things worth noting here, 33 series is not a huge sample size, but it isn't small.  The second is that the best team doesn't always have the best record.  And indeed it does seem to be the hotter team has been winning Series recently.

I will admit those two issues with the study here, but there are some astounding numbers. 
1) The 2-13 record of teams w/ better records w/ Road Status. Thats abysmal. In fact it is worse than being the Away Squad and having the worse record in the contest (5-13)
2) I went back to 1979 just so I could find a game 7 that was won by the road squad.  There have been 9 Game 7s since then, every single one of them won by the Home team. Assuming both teams are near equal the odds of 9 home consecutive home wins is over 500-1.      

Source
Baseball-ref.com