NL Wild Card: 2015 Topps Heritage #384 Jake Arrieta

Tonight's Wild Card tilt features a great pitching matchup. We lead off our early edition of NL WC postings with the visiting hurler Jake Arrieta

2015 Topps Heritage #384 Jake Arrieta 

Vanilla 2015T Heritage photo. I felt as though there was more variation in the pix this year so I found this shot less annoying than I may have in past seasons.

Jake Arrieta starting emerging into the player that the Orioles hoped he would become last season. Unfortunately by then they had traded him to the Cubs. Now the 29 year old Righty as blossomed into a full blown Ace.

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2015 Topps Heritage #384 Jake Arrieta (b-side)

The game mentioned in the -toon was a 7-0 victory over the Cincinnati. An 8th innings double by Brandon Phillips was the lone blemish on Jake Arrieta's day as he faced one over the minimum recording 13 Ks on 110 pitches.    

1966 Topps 
 
2015 Topps Heritage #384 Jake Arrieta (b-side)

Jake Arrieta numerical partner from 1966T is Al Downing who played for the Yankees at the time. I find no connection between the two players other than the fact that Arrieta's -toon reference a Lo-Hitter while Downing's notes a No-Hitter - albeit a minor league one.

Arrieta of course did graduate to the no-hitter ranks this season and has pitched very well going into tonight's game.

I don't believe that Jake Arrietta made it onto a lot of inserts sets in 2015, something tells me that he will be a staple next year

Sources and Links
2015 Playoff Index
2015 Topps Heritage Index 
USA Today
baseball-ref

Sunday Night Baseball Pirates @ Cardinals: Kolten Wong 2015 Heritage #22

Sunday Night Baseball is in St Louis to catch the Cardinals hosting the division rival Pittsburgh Pirates.

2015 Topps Heritage #22 Kolten Wong

The Cardinals have a great next man up program, It seems like every time they call up a minor leaguer they are ready and it is often somebody that I hadn't heard of. 

Kolten Wong was a bit more known than most of the Cardinals prospects, I had heard of him since at least 2013 when he appeared in the futures game at Citifield.

He may not be All-Star material yet, but Wong has been a productive player at a keystone position and at 24 has plenty of baseball in front of him. Last year He finished 3rd in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Jacob DeGrom (who he may face in the 2015 playoffs) and Speedster Billy Hamilton.

2015 Topps Heritage #22 Kolten Wong (b-side)

Nice to see Shane Victorino get repped on the b-side of Kolten Wong's card. Shane hit his 3 homers during the Phillies 2009 NL Championship campaign.

2015 Heritage
Not sure how Kolten Wong ended up on Card 22 in Heritage. The Original Slot was held down by back up outfielder Joe Nossek. The Cardinals Mid-1960s second baseman was Julian Javier - he lived at #436 in the 1966T set, a spot that Topps awarded to Justin Upton (as a Brave) in 2015.

My other thought was that Topps could have put Kolten Wong on card #195 which was occupied by the Rookie Cup second baseman in the 1966 set, Joe Morgan. Alternatively Topps could have matched that Iconic card with the Astros current stand out Jose Altuve - Of Course they did not - somehow Edinson Volquez got the nod.

Sources and Links
2015 Playoff Contenders Index
2015 Topps Heritage Index
cardboard connection
baseball-ref

2015 Heritage the Originals: Manager Cards 1966T #411 Gene Mauch

Topps elected to include Mangers in 2015 Heritage. I have mixed opinions on this. Heritage only has 500 cards (425 if you don't count SPs). Not sure how many of those are used for Managers. I did a spot check and not all 30 managers are on the checker - I didn't see Joe Maddon or Mike Methany on the list.

1966 Topps #411 Gene Mauch

The Phillies were led by Gene Mauch from 1960 through 1968. Their peak was 1964 when the Phils won 92 games. Mauch went on to manage the Expos Twins and Angels Winning 102 games. Every Manager that has won more games is in the Hall of Fame.

The 1964 Phils are one of three teams that Mauch took to the edge of the World Series. Mauch led two Angels teams in the mid-80s that lost winner take all ALCS games. The 1982 versus the Brewers the Angles took a 2 games to none lead in the then 5 game series. They lost the subsequent 3 games including a 1 run loss in game 5 which they led at the top of the 7th. They then lost game 5 to the Brewers after leading 3-2.

Four years later the 1986 Angels faced Boston in a 7 game ALCS. The Angles were set to clinch with a three run 9th inning lead in a crazy game 5, but things didn't work out.

Don Baylor and Dave Henderson each hit 2 Run homers for the Red Sox. The Angels tied the game in the bottom of the inning sending it to extras. In the top 11th Henderson hit a sac fly for the game winner. The series returned to Boston and the Angels never recovered - losing games 6 and 7 by scores of 10-4 and 8-1. 

2015 Heritage

2015 Topps Heritage #411 Ryne Sandberg

One of the few Phillies cards Topps matched up with the 1966 checker was the Ryne Sandberg manager card. Although they didn't do much to match up the shot. I have always liked the shot of Gene Mauch - not sure if what is in the foreground with the Phillies logo, perhaps a practice jersey stretched over a seat back or a bag. Regardless it is a bit different then your typical manager card of the era.

If you look closely, as the Phillies Room Noted,  Topps neglected to match up the capitalized font on 'Manager'. There is a big 'M' on the original, while Heritage goes with the little 'm'. The non-capitalized position is the format used throughout the set outside of the manager cards.

Ryne Sandberg is about to start his 2nd full season at the helm of the Phillies, No matter how successful he is here, I doubt he gets to manage the squad as long as Mauch's 9 seasons. Times have changed and the Phils just don't appear to have the talent that will get the team turned around soon enough for Sandberg to hold on for a long tenure.

Sources and Links
the Phillies Room
2015 Heritage Originals
1964 Phillies @ 50
Baseball-ref

2015 Heritage the Originals: Teammates Subset?

There are a couple of special cards in the 1966T set that include 2 or 3 teammates.

1966 Topps #52 Power Plus Wes Covington Johnny Callison

At card #52 we have the first of the combo cards which happens to be dedicated to the Phillies. Johnny Callison is a worthy subject for a card titled Power Plus, not so sure about his partner.

Wes Covington was coming off a 1965 season in which he hit 15 homers and tallied 45 RBIs. Which I would consider unremarkable power numbers even in the pitching centric middle 60s. Other candidates for the card could have been Dick Allen (20 HR, 85 RBI) or Dick Stuard (28/95).

In addition it was Covington's last season with the Phillies, he was traded during the off-season and was likely gone by the time this card was issued.

1964 Phillies @ 50
Wes was also the a  member of the 1964 Phillies, as a Left fielder for the club he had similar numbers to 1965 13 HR, 58 RBI, .280 BA 126 OPS+, and 1.4 WAR. Covington's dWAR numbers hurt his total throughout his career.

During the clubs fateful stretch run manager Gene Mauch elected to frequently use a platoon in Left field. Following the teams collapse Covington was very unhappy and he would eventually ask for the aforementioned trade.

One of the more humorous parts of an extremely interesting SABR Bio by Andy Sturgill mentions that Covington had already spent his World Series bonus money. He purchased a rifle which he brought into the clubhouse and declared "This is for the sportswriters"

Fortunately for Wes Covington he was able to make the postseason both prior to and after his Phillies tenure. He won a World Series withe 1957 Milwaukee Braves and returned to the series with the club the following season. He also got a pinch hit appearance in the 1966 Series with the Dodgers who lost to the Orioles. 

1966 Topps Combos
Sorry drifted into our 1964 Phils coverage there, now back to our regularly scheduled post.

You may have noticed I had a Question Mark in the title, that is because I am not really sure one should call this theme a subset.  There are 5 combo cards in 1966 Topps with no apparent rationale for the players or teams. All 5 cards appear in the first couple of series. The four other teams repped are the Pirates, Giants, White Sox and Astros.

Willie Stargell is the only Hall of Famer in the subset with each card containing a player that is somewhat comparable to Johnny Callison.

#99 Bucs Belters - Willie Stargell, Don Clendennon

#156 DP Combo Dick Schofield Hal Lanier 

#199 Chisox Clubbers Bill Skowron, Johnny Romano, Floyd Robinson 

#273 Astros Aces - Bob Aspromante and Rusty Staub

Special Thanks to Jim From Downingtown who's research I stole for this post. He points out that the power outage doesn't occur just on the Phillies card, The Chisox card is dubious and ignoring Roberto Clemente on a Bucs Belters card does sound like a gaffe. 

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1966 Topps #52 Power Plus Wes Covington Johnny Callison (b-side)


There is a fairly detailed write up on the back of each card, although the Wes Covington portion of this one devotes a lot more time to his Braves career than his Phillies tenure.

2015 Heritage Combos
Who will Topps go with for the 2015 Combos?
Will 2015 Heritage have combos? 

I am saying yes to the combos and take a stab at some projections

Phillies Power Plus - egads nobody, I will stick with the standbys of Utley and Howard or Topps could maintain the continuity of the Covington trade by including Jimmy Rollins
Bucs Belters -McCutchen and How about Super Utility guy Josh Harrison filling the Clendennon role.
DP Combo (Giants) - This one is a little complicated. Brandon Crawford is the starting Shortstop for the World Champs, but there was a revolving door at 2nd. I am going with St Johns Alum Joe Panik.
Chisox Clubbers - If we can't go with Jose Abreu 3 times, I will add Konerko and Adam Dunn. I know they are both gone, but it is a deserved nod to their long careers.
Astros Aces - This is great the card is named Aces but has two batters. Going to go with 2 young guys here Altuve and Singleton - just because he came up with the Philllies.

Sources and Links
Willie Stargell HoF index 
1966 Topps Blog
2015 Heritage/1966 Topps Index
1964 Phillies @ 50 Index
SABR Bio by Andy Sturgill
cardboard connection
Topps Database
Baseball-ref

2015 Heritage - 1966 Topps Index

Index related to our 1966 Topps / 2015 Heritage overview

1966 Topps #506 Bo Belinsky 

Base cards #506 Bo Belinsky
Team Combo Cards
League Leader Cards (Ks Sonny Siebert Mystery)
Variations 
Phillies Checker comparison
Manager Cards
Rookie Cup (2015 Heritage Kolten Wong) 
2015 Heritage First Pack 
Retros Hank Aaron (1974 Topps)

1966T Hall of Fame Cards
HoF RC Fergie Jenkins
#110 Ernie Banks
HoF Card and Hero Number #100 Sandy Koufax 
HoF RC Sutton
HoF Luis Aparicio 

Koufax Kershaw Connection and Heritage Card #100

First 00 hero number of 2014 Topps belongs to Clayton Kershaw at #100.

2015 Topps #100 Clayton Kershaw
1966 Topps #100 Sandy Kourax

While doing research for the upcoming Heritage release I noticed that Card #100 in the original 1966T set belongs to the Dodgers Ace of that era, Sandy Koufax.

2015 Topps #100 Clayton Kershaw (b-side)

1966 Topps #100 Sandy Kourax (b-side)


The last four years Koufax and Kershaw have shared the Heritage/Original card numbers (5, 210, 200, 300 From 1962-65/2011-2014). I think it is likely this trend will continue this year.

If this happens Kershaw will occupy #100 in both flagship and Heritage. Curious how often that has happened.

The Koufax Kershaw connection is likely one of the strongest in the Heritage pantheon. For comparison I took a look at the Jeter pairings during his 14 year tenure in the retro set, There is no consistent matching for the Captain. He is paired with Tony Kubek three times, but one of those is an In Action Subbber. Phil Rizzutto is in the list twice and Surprsingly Mickey Mantle only once.

Sources and Links
2015 Heritage Index

Baseball Cardpedia
Trading Card Databse
Topps Heritage Cards
Baseball Almanac
 Baseball-ref