Checklist 2012 Phungo

This is the Checklist for 2012 Phungo

 2012 Phungo #1 Harry Kalas

 

(checklist upcoming someday) 

Tommy Hanson 1986-2015

Earlier today I woke up to the sad news that Tommy Hanson Had died.

2012 Phungo #21 Tommy Hanson

This picture was taking during BP On July 7th 2010. The Braves defeated the Phillies 7-5, Hanson did not play in the game. My enthusiastic game report can be found here. If I recall correctly the retiring Tim Hudson was working closely with the young Hanson that night.

Tommy Hanson earned one other blog mention - As a notable Braves prospect he made it into the 15 card Rookie Performers insert set of 2009 Heritage High Numbers.

Card Memorials
Cardboard Icons (Bowmand Chrome Auto)

Sources and Links
ToppsHeritage.com

First Ballot Hall of Famer???: 2012 Phungo Cards #30 Mariano Rivera

2012 Phungo Cards #30 Mariano Rivera

After Tuesday's night's Mariano LoveFest at Citifield and some discussion on Twitter today, we are taking a look at the Career of the games most prolific closers. It is basically considered a given that Mariano Rivera and his 638 Saves are destined for Cooperstown.

I won't argue that - but I want to look into a superlative aspect of that question.

Is Mariano Rivera a First Ballot Hall of Famer?   

	Career Saves	Led League	Ballot	1st Ballot PCT	World Series	Cy Young Award	MVP	All-Star	WAR	HoF Sims
Mariano Rivera	638	3	???	???	5 (7)	2nd (2005)	9th (04,05)	13	55.4	Sutter
Dennis Eckersley	390	2	1st	83.2%	1 (3)	1992	1992	6	62.5	Gossage, Wilhelm, Fingers
Rollie Fingers	341	3	2nd	65.7%	3 (3)	1981	1981	7	25	Gossage
Rich Gossage	310	3	9th	33.3%	1 (3)	3rd (1980)	3rd (1980)	9	41.8	Fingers, Wilhelm
Bruce Sutter	300	5	13th	23.9%	1 (1)	1979	5th (1982)	6	24.5	none
Hoyt Wilhelm	227	0	8th	41.7%	1 (1)	none	4th (1952)	8x 5 yrs	50.1	Gossage, Fingers
Notable Recent	SV	LL	Ballot	1ST PCT	WS	CYA?	MVP?	ALL ***	WAR	HOF Sims
Lee Smith	478	4	???	42.3%	0	2nd (1991)	8th (1991)	7	29.4	Fingers, Sutter
John Franco	424	3	0	4.6%	0 (1)	7th (1994)	12th (1988)	4	23.7	Fingers
Jeff Reardon	367	1	0	4.8%	1 (2)	7th (1985)	11th (1987)	4	19.1	Sutter
Notable Distant	SV	LL	Ballot	1ST PCT	WS	CYA?	MVP?	ALL ***	WAR	HOF Sims
Lindy McDaniel	172	3	0	0.2%	0	3rd (1960)	5th (1960)	1	28.7	Wilhelm, Gossage
Elroy Face	193	3	0	5.9%	1 (1)	none	7th (1957)	6x 3yrs	21.3	none
Firpo Marberry	101	5	0	0.4%	1 (3)	none	13th (1931)	na	31.7	none

*Stats as of 2013-07-17

There are by my count only 5 HoF closers.  They are the first set below Super Mariano.  Among those 5 there is exactly 1 First Ballot Qualifier, Dennis Eckersley. Of course Eck had 2 careers, 1 as a starter and a 2nd as a closer.

As the only first ballot qualifier, Eckersley is probably the most important comp in this discussion.

How does Mo Stack up?  On the minus side Eckersley has his tremendous 1992 season in which he won both the MVP and  Cy Young Awards.  Rivera's best finishes are 9th and 2nd respectively for the two awards. In 2005 the Cy Young Award went to Bartolo Colon - depending on how you feel about PED use one could default the award to Rivera. The 2nd minus is in the career WAR column.  Rivera is 7 WAR wins behind. This is a conundrum in that the bulk(73%) of Eck's career WAR happened as a starter, yet it is accepted that he was elected to the Hall as a closer.

The Plusses are less debatable - granted the era's have changed but Rivera is almost 250 saves in front of Eckersley in career saves and counting. Finally there are the 5 World Championships.  Mariano Rivera has always been in a class of his own and this is the one number that truly separates him.

The Cy Young/MVP award is the only category that separates Rollie Fingers from Rivera.

Rivera outranks Goose Gossage in almost every category charted. Bruce Sutter perhaps the weakest of the candidates does have his 5 save titles v Mariano's 3 and a Cy Young Award.

Hoyt Wilhelm is close in WAR, but is somewhat in a different category as well.  It is also worth noting that Wilhelm was a 2nd place finisher for 1952 Rookie of the Year and lost 3 season to the service during the early part of his career.    

Lee Smith, John Franco and Jeff Reardon
All good closers, none in Rivera's class.  Franco probably was dismissed from the ballot a bit early.

Out of the Past
During my research a couple of names came up that I felt as though were worth charting. Lindy McDaniel was a 1950s "bonus baby" who showed up on a number of comps. It appears that this resulted in a career WAR comparable to Sutter and Fingers.  Elroy Face was the career saves leader for a few years prior to Wilhelm taking over the category in 1964. Face also had his notable 1959 season when he posted an 18-1 record as a reliever.  Firpo Marberry held the saves record from 1926-1945. He was a member of the 1924 Washington Senators squad that won the franchises only World Series in DC  

Phungo Card

The Photo on Today's Phungo card is a bit of an oddity in that it is from a game in which Rivera blew a save in an April 24th 2011 game v the Baltimore Orioles. Brian Roberts hit a game tying single with 2 out in the 9th. 

In the end the Yankees picked up the victory with a 3 run 11th.

Voices in the Crowd
Cardboard Connection - Top 10 Mariano Rivera Cards

Source

Baseball-ref.com

Dr J Documentry "The Doctor" Premiers tonight on NBA TV

The Sixers have been pretty mediocre lately but they will always have Julius Erving in their History.  Tonight(2013/06/10) NBA TV will feature a documentry on the Hall of Famer.  The program airs at 9p and 10:30p. For more information click here.  

2012 Phungo #6 Julius Erving
The Dr J statue used to be outside the old Spectrum.  I am not sure where it is now.  Creating a card from this photo presented a bit of a problem.  To show the entire statue would leave a lot of dead space on each side of the card. I eventually decided to create a split card.  There isa close up of Erving's upper Torso on the left. On the right one can see the full height of Dr J. I also shortened up the nameplate - thankfully Juilius Erving's nickname fits smaller area.

For a look back at a more traditional 2012 Phungo Card check out the Harry Kalas card.