CTB: 1993 Topps #703 Jeff Kent

Jeff Kent was recently voted into the Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Era Committee making him the 35th All-Star Rookie Cup winner to also be honored in the Hall (Carlos Betlran & Andruw Jones bring us to 37)

1993 Topps #703 Jeff Kent (image stolen from  Lifetime Topps Project)

Jeff Kent earned the 1993 TASR for second base by posting 11 Home Runs and 50 RBI in 102 Games. His Batting Average was only .239 but it should be noted Kent had enough Walks and Power to post a 105 OPS+.

Toronto Blue Jays

However the bulk of Jeff Kent's 1992 season was played with a team that is not on the card, the Blue Jays. After debuting with Toronto April 12th Jeff played 65 games before being dealt to the Mets for David Cone. 

The deal worked for the Blue Jays who won their first Word Championship and for Cone who earned the first of his FIVE Rings. 

Andy Stankiewicz

Across Town the Yankees had their own rookie Second Baseman, Andy Stankewicz who like Jeff Kent had a decent if unspectacular rookie year: .268 AVG, 2.7 WAR. TASR authority hiflew who covers cards for Cards from the Quarry make an argument for Andy Stankewicz to win the award over Jeff Kent - check the details here. 

Of course in the end Kent had a better career than Stankiewicz whose 7 marginal seasons were not Hall worthy. 

Flip

1993 Topps #703 Jeff Kent (image stolen from TCDB)

Dave Blume is still in scouting, he is currently with the Orioles organization. Thirty years after signing Jeff Kent still cites the HOF second baseman among his highlights. 

Jeff Kent HOF Index

1993 Topps #703 (Rookie Cup)

2010 Phungo #37: 2012 Survivor Phillippines

Sources and Link
1993 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index

LifeTime Topps Project

Cards from the Quarry

National Baseball Hall of Fame

Baseball-Ref

TCDB

Baltimore Orioles

Golden Mountain California Media

Welcome to the HoF Eric Lindros!

Tonight Eric Lindros is being inducted into the Hall of Fame. This gives us another chance to post this fun card.

1990 Score Traded #100T Eric Lindros

I remember Lindros quite fondly. He is probably the number one reason I developed any interesting in Hockey. One of my favorite playoff games was a 1996 Conference Semi-Final contest versus the Panthers. The Flyers won the game 3-2, Lindros scored a goal and recorded a pair of assists. At the end of the game he basically kept the puck away from the Panthers for a good 10 seconds.  Greatest single player performance I ever saw live.

Sources and Links
Phungo Eric Lindros Index
Hockey HoF
Hockey-Ref

ALDS: 2013 Bowman #34 Ben Revere - Georgia Flag Variation

With the Toronto Blue Jays facing elimination tonight we post a card of their Left Fielder Ben Revere who started the season with the Phillies.

 2013 Bowman #34 Ben Revere - Georgia Flag Variation

An interesting parallel contained in 2013 Bowman were the State Flag Variation. Although Ben Revere went to High School in Kentucky he was born in Atlanta. Topps elected to go with the players birthplace rather than home state for representin'

I like how there is a wave built into the image of the flag, gives a bit of flavor to the card.

 2013 Bowman #34 Ben Revere - Georgia Flag Variation and Base

Here we have the Parallel contrasted with the base card, only quibble here is that the variation loses the Hooters ad.

 Flip

 2013 Bowman #34 Ben Revere (b-side)

The back side of the variation is basically identical to the base except for the serial number

Sources and Links
2015 Postseason Cards 
Cardboard Connection
50 States

 

ALDS: 1990 Score #100T Eric Lindros

Tonight the Philadelphia Flyers open their 2015-16 campaign on the same day that the Toronto Blue Jays play their first Postseason game since Joe Carter hit his home run off of Mitch Williams.

Lot of good and bad in that first sentence but I am posting a card that always puts a smile on my face.

 1990 Score Traded #100T Eric Lindros

Apparently Eric Lindros tryout with the Blue Jays didn't get very far as a quick search of his name in Baseball-ref turned nothing.

Regardless among commons it is a Phungo Favorite. In addtion to the subject there are other fun elements to the card: The 'L' in Lindros is reverse italic and shadowed, giving it the appearance of a hockey stick and  Score's Orange borders foreshadow Lindros' 1992 Acquisition by the Flyers.

1990 Score Traded #100T Eric Lindros (b-side)

Boy do I miss the days when cards had significant copy. In addition to a paragraph mentioning the 2 sport baseball players of the era (Bo Jackson, Deion as well as Hockey/Baseball cross-over Kirk McCaskill)  Score also documents Eric Lindros Pre-NHL draft exploits. Pretty impressive set of numbers on his  Junior/OHL resume.

Go Flyers

Sources & Links
2015 Playoffs
Baseball-ref
Hockey-ref

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - September 2 Dave Stieb

On September 2^nd of 1990 Dave Stieb’s quest for a no-hitter finally ended.

1990 Score #707 No-Hit Club Dave Stieb  

Stieb and his Blue Jays teammates defeated the Cleveland Indians 3-0. Stieb Struck out 9 while issuing 4 bases on balls. However he pitched to 2 over the minimum thanks to his batterymate Pat Borders throwing out a a pair of runners on attempted steals.

Box Notes

1990 Score #707 No-Hit Club Dave Stieb (b-side)

Not a lot of big names in the unit that Dave Stieb recorded his milestone game against. Two parts of the Indians lineup versus Stieb arrived from San Diego in a Trade for Joe Carter (Boo!) Carlos Baerga and Chris James. The Padres originally received James in a trade that sent John Kruk to the Phillies. 

Seifeld favorite Ken Phelps makes his 3rd appearance in our Year of the No-Hitter Series. He busted up Brian Holman's perfect game on April 20th and was struck out in a pinch hitting appearance versus Nolan Ryan on June 11th. Phelps went 0 for 2 versus Stieb but did reach base via one of the four walks.

Borders, Mookie Wilson and Fred "Crime Dog" McGriff are the Notables that backed up Dave Stieb in his outing. The Center Fielder for Toronto was future White Sox GM Ken Williams who we previously saw on the wrong side of a no-hitter pitched by Randy Johnson (June 2)

Tomorrow I'll be Perfect 
Notice above I state Stieb’s quest “Finally Ended” well I have no real way of knowing if this was really a quest for the Blue Jays Ace. But I do know that he came awful close to tossing no-hitters several times.

September 24^th 1988 - with 2 outs in the 9th inning also against the Indians Stieb gave up a bad hop single to Julio Franco

September 30^th 1988 - Versus the Orioles Pinch Hitter Jim Traber singled

August 4^th 1989 – Stieb was perfect for 8 2/3 innings versus the Yankees prior to giving up a double to Roberto Kelly 

Dave Stieb’s autobiography titled “Tomorrow I’ll be Perfect” was released in 1986, two years prior to his No-Hitter string. The reference to Tossing a Perfect Game, which never happened but hopefully the No-Hitter he got on September 2 1990 was close enough.

Like Dave Stieb finally getting his No-Hitter, we have finally finished are year of the No-Hitter series. I enjoyed writing the series and find it fitting that it occurred in another heavy no-hitter year. While our coverage of the 1990 No-Hitters has ended, I see the series continuing by checking in on a smattering of the remaining 280+ No-Hitters and related trading cards

SABR Games
The SABR Games summary of this game was authored by Adrian Fung and can be found  here.
 
Sources and Links

Year of the No-Hitter Index
LA Times
Amazon 

baseball-ref

SABR Games (added 2015 1104)

Welcome to the Baseball Hall of Fame Matt Stairs: 2007 Topps #UH119

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame that is.

2007 Topps #UH119  (#d57/2007)

On Wednesday it was announced that Matt Stairs had been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Not only was Stairs born in Canada, but he came up with the Expos and played for the Blue Jays.

And he was also a member of the 2008 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Last year Stairs joined the Phillies TV broadcast team and is expected to return for 2015. It is not unusual for him to mention his Canadian roots and talk a little hockey.

Congrats to a Phungo Favorite.

HoF Index
I am thinking of using this post for an Index to my Hockey HoF cards :)




Sources and Links 
HoF Index
Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
Baseball-ref

2014 Topps #US-280 Cole Gillespie: Error Card?

Anybody run into this in this years Topps Update?

2014 Topps #US-280 Cole Gillespie

 Perfectly fine card of journeyman outfielder Cole Gillespie with a Seattle Mariners jersey and logo on the card. but then flip the card over:

 

2014 Topps #US-280 Cole Gillespie  (b-side)

Also a fine 2nd side to the card. but check out the top left corner. It lists Gillespie with the Toronto Blue Jays. This is actually correct - Gillespie did finish the season with the Blue Jays after being waived by the Mariners as is mentioned on the cards b-sidel.

Is this basically an Uncorrected Error. Gillespie isn't a prominent player, so can't imagine a corrected version with his photo as a Blue Jay on the front being released

Or has anyone found other cards in 2014 Topps that have the traded to team on one side with the former club repped on the front?


This card reminds me of the 60s variations that would be the same card but some of them would have a Waiver or Trade statement if the player got moved during the off-season.



Sources/Links
Baseball-ref

Bucket or Chuck-It: 2013 Topps Opening Day 1/2 Price!

Target stores in the area are offering packs at 1/2 Price through August 3rd I think. I had decided to bypass Opening Day this year, but at .49/pack it was worth a look.  Here are some highlights from 3 packs

Picked up on Phillies card in the 3 packs, but it was a good one - Cole Hamels.  His OD card is shown here with his base card. The Opening Day card actually came out first since the Base card was part of Series 2.

 Insets Bucket or Chuck-It?

 Mascots - A staple of OD. The Blue Jay on a blue background makes for a lame photo - Chuck-It.

Blue Parallels - A bit of chrominess, darker colors - looks good on Braves card. As I have noted before the added color on 2013 Topps really helps the design. Also like that they didn't totally blue-out the background beyond the player -  Bucket!

Opening Day Stars - some sort of 3D front honoring a couple of stars. They look decent.  but it's a Met - Chuck-It.

Opening Day Play Hard -  decent shot, bursting through the card, great name/theme. I will give this one a Bucket!

Moving Rookie Cup - once again the Rookie Cup on Topps Opening Day is hovering in a different spot then on base.  At least it has returned to it's gold/yellow state.  This is a Chuck-It.  Too many icons on one card. 

Overall - Bucket, I picked up 3 packs, for me they yeilded $1.50 of entertainment. 

Bucket or Chuck-It: 2013 Topps Archives

Easy one Chuck-It.

I could finish the review there but I will post some pix and thoughts. The following cards are from a rack pack of cards purchased at a local big box.  $5.99/pack plus local sales Tax (6% in PA) for an 18 card pack.  

My biggest issue is 2013 Topps Archives is largely comprised of 3 designs I am not fond of, and a fourth that I find to be about average. Then there is the issue of Topps Canabalizing their old sets, and finally the whole lottery aspect of opening Archive for the more interesting whacky inserts - I do like the whacky inserts, but they won't tempt me enough to pick up a box. 

I even dislike the wrapper which got favorable reviews from a couple of sources including The Shlabotnik Report which has a fine column on the derivation of the wrapper.

2013 Topps Archives #55 CC Sabathia (1982 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #44 Chris Davis (1972 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #101 Andrew McCutchen (1985 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #186 Brett Lawrie (1990 Topps)

These are the four basic Topps Designs in 2013 Archives.  Right off the bat there are too many from the same era - 1985 and 1990 are pretty firnly in the junk wax era and 1982 is pretty close. And 1990 is my least favorite of the Topps canon.  

Finally, I am in the minority on this one, but 1972 Topps really doesn't do it for me.

Another Chuck-it for the rack is that there were no Phillies in the 18 cards :(

The hockey stick set (1982 Topps) is my favorite of this years four mains. CC is near the top of my list of favorite Yankees, Chris Davis is putting together a 2nd consecutive fine year for the Orioles - Kudos to O's fans for having 3 Orioles leading the early All-Star voting (Davis, Adam Jones, and .... JJ Hardy). Always good to get a McCutchen card - he is one of the good guys in baseball and a fine player.  Brett Lawrie has been on the shelf for a disappointing Jays team and unable to repeat is fine 2012 campaign


4 More low-lights

2013 Topps Archives #48 Ryne Sandberg (1972 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #214 Fred McGriff SP (1989 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #134 Wei-Yen Chen (1985 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #153 David Ortiz (1990 Topps)

Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg is one of the hilights of the pack.  The McGriff is a 1:4 Pack short print from the 45 card Fan Favorites hi-number series.  Chen has been on the DL for about a month, but was a nice find for the Orioles in 2012, He was a big help to the club to reach the playoffs.  David Ortiz is just keeps on chugging looks like he may e adding another fine season to his career.

There you have it - 18 cards, no Phillies, 1 short print. this is likely the only pack of 2013 Archives I will likely pick up. Chuck-It

2013 Topps Archives Other Views
Nacho's Grande (Group Break - 3 Hobby Boxes - Multiple Postings)
Arpspmith's Sportscard Obsession (2 Hobby Boxes - McGriff, DeShields, and Orosco Autos)
30 Year Old Cardboard (Two Blasters)
Capewood Collections (Blaster+ 1972 Schmidt, 1990 Chooch, Ryan Howard Relic)
Night Owl Cards (Blaster)
Play at the Plate (Blaster)
Things are Funner Here (Rack Pack w/ 72 Ryan Howard)
Paul's Random Stuff (Mets)

ReWind
Phungo Review of  2012 Topps Archives.  FYI - Despite the 3 Phils I think I passed on getting any future Archives last summer and didn't go for the Hobby Box. Also liked the set selected for 2012 archives much more then 2013.

 
References

Schlabotnik Report
Baseball-cardpedia
MLB Trade Rumors
Baseball-ref.com

2013 03 08 Exton Mall Card Show Nickel Box

I never expect much from a Nickel Box.  Those low expectations actually improve the experience.  There are no worries about getting a good deal for a card or its condition.  The card is stinking nickle - The only issue it adds to my hoarding habit. 

2013 Topps Vance Worley

Yes there were 2013 Topps Phillies in the nickle bin, albeit only former Phillies.  X-Phil or not, I am a fan of the retro-uni cards.  With relatively little effort my 2013 Topps Phillies collectiion is off to a good start.  I think I have four of the cards so far, and that is from just one each of a  Hanger and single pack and the Worley above.

Note: according to the Current Twins Depth Chart, Worley is Minnesota's Opening Day starter.  I think the Twinkies may be in for a long year.

2009 Bowman First Card #BDPP2 Billy Hamilton RC

If your a prospector you have likely heard of Billy Hamilton - he stole something like 400 bases last year at  various stops in the Reds system. I have seen him ranked 11th among prospects in one of the polls.

Speed is always exciting especially with young players. Hamilton will also have the advantage of playing with a pretty good ballclub whne he reachees the major league level. 

There is a minor dinged corner on the caxrd, but still finding a prospect card in a nickle bin is a thrill. Especially when it appears he is on the verge of making some noise at the major league level.

2013 Topps Heritage Joe Blanton and Anthony Gose

There were also just released Heritage Cards commons in the nickle bin - lots of them. No Current Phillies but a couple of Formers.

Note: Again with the Depth Charts - The Angels Depth Chart has Joe Blanton penciled in at #3.  Makes it a little tough  for me to take them seriously as a contender. 

2013 Topps Heritage #300 Jason Heyward

There was at least one star in the Heritage nickel bin and on a Hero Number as well. This card shares its number with the 1964 Topps Hank Aaron card. I wonder how many heritage cards had their Heritage number shared between Hank Aaron and Chipper Jones. Dudes didn't play the same postion, but they were definitely the stars of their respective squads. 

For a look at the team Phungo 1964 Topps retrospective start here 

  

Shut Up Stats: H&A Splits Josh Johnson & Mark Buehrle

2006 Fleer #191 Josh Johnson

The potential Blue Jays Marlins trade appears pretty lopsided for the immediate future - but maybe not.  Check out the Home and Away splits for the Marlins top 2 pitchers.

Josh Johnson 2012	Home	Away
ERA	2.96	4.94
BAA	0.239	0.27
HR	5	9
IP	109.1	82
WHIP	1.162	1.439
Mark Buehrle 2012	Home	Away
ERA	3.13	4.45
BAA	0.246	0.272
HR	10	16
IP	109.1	93
WHIP	1.079	1.28

Also worth Noting that Josh Johsnon had declining pitching WAR numbers the last 2 seasons after posting 6+ WAR in 2009 and 2010.  Buehrle has had Declining WAR last 3 seasons and declining IPs last four seasons. 

Hero Numbers Part II: Can they Mean More?

2012 Topps #100 Jose Bautista
 As an adult I now realize Hero is a term that is more appropriate when applied to my local EMT making snap decisions under difficult circumstances then a Millionaire Ballplayer throwing and hitting a little white ball.  In that way I suppose we should use the term Glamor Number, but Hero Number is what I grew up with and I am sticking to it.


This line of thinking let me down a strange path ...Lets look at this years Heroes.  


100 Jose Bautista 
200 Miguel Cabrera
300 Josh Hamilton


I quickly noted that the latter 2 in the group have had various issues with alcohol and substance abuse. 

Should Hamilton and Cabrera get Hero Numbers?

I wanted to find out how much this is noted by fans of the players.  

Regarding Miguel Cabrera 
Too Many Verlanders: 
When he got in trouble again for drinking and driving, I definitely got very frustrated, as I get every time some knuckleheaded gazillionaire athlete, who could easily afford 10 different limo drivers every night, pulls that crap.  He's more frustrating than most for me because he plays for a team I root for, and more importantly he obviously has so much more talent than almost every Major Leaguer that I would hate to see him throw that away.


Then TVL went on to add an interesting comment
....while what Cabrera did (multiple times) was very reprehensible, and probably should have resulted in more severe punishment either by the local authorities, MLB or both, I find people criticizing Cabrera and fawning over Josh Hamilton frustratingly hypocritical.
 
When I asked the questions Too Many Verlanders was unaware that one of the other Hero Number Mates was Hamiton. 


Regarding Hamilton 
Play at the Plate

We would all hope the people our kids look up to would be solid citizens who don’t make mistakes.  In reality, many athletes aren’t good role models.  It could be for any variety of on or off field behavior, but it’s true nonetheless.  The thing I like about Josh Hamilton is that he stood up and faced the media, and thus his fans, when he could have just tried to ignore or cover up his recent relapse.  All of us make mistakes, but most of us don’t face the scrutiny someone like Hamilton faces.

interesting comments all.   And I am glad I asked the question. 

Granted at the time of publication Topps didn't know that Hamilton would tarnish his refurbished image.  Regardless It's obvious that Topps didn't really note off the field activities when awarding the numbers.


And I ask Why Not? 


Would you consider it a gimmick if Topps awarded the Hero Numbers to star players who are also solid citizens??? 

Check the Right Hand Side - Topps sort of owns the concept of Hero Numbers so why not capitalize on it.   

Award Numbers 100 200 and 300 to star players who are also part of the community and generally on the good behavior side.  

Hero Numbers could be a topic of instant conversation every year and not just another lame gimmick.

On Deck
Hero Numbers Pt III - Two more Hero numbers I want to see 


Replay - Previous Post on Hero Numbers Plus
Are Hero Numbers Significant 
A comprehensive List of Topps Hero Numbers (1952-2012) compliments of Night Owl Cards  big THANKS 


Thanks also to Too Many Verlanders and Play at the Plate for some insights into two of the games biggest stars. 

Hero Numbers Pt I: Why Don't We Talk about Hero Numbers?

When I collected cards as a kid I had a certain fascination with Hero Numbers and to some extent I still do.  Each year I enjoy seeing which players have been awarded hero numbers - and with heritage it is interesting to see what players get paired with stars of yesteryear on those numbers.  

2012 Topps #100 Jose Bautista (b-Side)


Recently it occurred to me with literrally hundreds of blogs discussing every topic in the world related to cards we rarely hear any discusiion about Hero Numbers.  Heroes are an aspect of Topps Cards that date all the way back to their classic sets of the 1950s. 

This got me thinking, am I the only person that gives a damn about hero numbers?  Am I just numbers obsessed with numbers while the typical collector views them as fluff.

This led me to ask around for some outside opinions. 

One of the folks I thought of turning to was our resident Mathamatician, Reds Fan, and Super BoxBreaker Chris from Nacho's Grande.  I was interested on his take on numbers and our perception of them.

Nachos Grande: 

Although mathematicians don't think of numbers in terms of "hero" numbers much - they do think in terms of different bases.  For most of us, we are used to counting by tens (base 10) so numbers like 10, 100, and 1000 DO hold a special place in a mathematicians heart.  Computer scientists are used to base 2 (1s and 0s) so the powers of 2 are their form of "hero" numbers (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc.).

Ahh - of course - we have 10 fingers and that is the basis for a lot of our numbers thinking - can you imagine if we were all Simpsons - Our hero Numbers would be 80, 160, and 240 - actually they would still be 100 200 and 300, but they woudl occur every 80th card.  The 660 card set woudl contain 8 heroes rather than 6. 

For the record The Computer Scientists Hero Numbers in 2012 Series 1 would yield: 

2  Trevor Cahill

4  Jeremy Guthrie

8  Mike Adams

16  Desmond Jennings 

32   Detroit Tigers Post Season highlights

64 Michael Martinez

128  Lucas Duda

256  Mat Latos

of course all your Hero Numbers would be in S1 - Series two would only yield 512.  Interesting list there - Lets face it only in the Comp Sci world of Binary Numbers is Michael Martinez a Hero Number.  I think Desmond Jennings is a prospect - maybe he is a future HN candidate.

Next up I spoke with Greg from Night Owl Cards.  The Night Owl is one of the stronger Topps enthusiasts among card bloggers and is always good for fresh insight on every aspect of collecting.

Night Owl Cards: 

I've read hero numbers in the past from older blogs, like The Baseball Card Blog. I thought it was something that had been addressed pretty completely already so that's why I've never mentioned it on my blog.

As for what I think: I grew up with the hero number system, so it makes sense to me. At some point in the '90s, Topps got away from it. Now it addresses it -- sort of. It seems to be that it uses an appropriate hero number whenever it feels like it -- which is basically Topps' philosophy in everything now. "If I feel like it."

Personally, I'd like Topps to do what Fleer used to do -- group each team together by card number. Maybe it wouldn't look as great in a binder, but it sure makes it easy for collectors in other ways.

Interesting take here - Has Topps devalued the Hero Number by ignoring them?  Recently Topps Series 1 and 2 have at least given the idea a nod.  The Updates and Highlights sets have been sporadic.  Heritage only recognizes Hero Numbers to pair active players with their historically significant teammates. 

I was a little dismayed about all this.  Maybe I am the only person that cares about Hero Numbers and that is why they do not get talked about.  Perhaps they are too inherently obvious and posting about them is just restating the obvious.  

The last paragraph from Night Owl also bummed me out.  I have never been partial to the Fleer/UD thing of bunching teams together - I like the cards spread out through a set and seeing a binder page with a variety of players - that's just personal preference.  I appreciate the convenience of having all of a teams players in one area - for me the variety in a base set trumps that convenience.  In the NetWorld there are plenty of places to dig up team set information. 

Exception - Dammit Topps can you put the League Leaders cards together.  sprinkling them through the set is just plain annoying.

On Deck

Hero Numbers 2012 - in the Part 2 we will discuss the Merits of this years Heroes Mr Bautsita (above), Miguel Cabrera, and Josh Hamilton

Swag from Play at the Plate - 2010 Topps Chrome - Including an Orange HOF

Play at the Plate ran one of my favorite kinds of contests - A random Winner Contest! Those happen to be the kind I am best at - and guess who won!

The Prize in the PATP contest was a 2010 Topps Chrome Value Pack. Seen a lot of these around the blogs and it was fun to open my own pack.

I was hoping for a cool Rangers card to send back PATPs way but unfortunately came up empty - The 3 packs plus Orange Pack also lacked Phils but were fun to open. Here are the Highlights:


Refractor - Orange

Mickey Mantle
Delmon Young
Carlos Quentin

As with other Topps Products the Mantle is card #7 in 2010 Chrome. Jury is out on the Orange - cool idea having basically an extra parallel pack of cards in with a 3 pack retail product. Kind of weird - I think of Chrome as a parallel set to begin with and they just keep adding parallels to it.

Inserts

Refractor Erick Aybar - I think these used to be X-Fractor's but the card sez Refractor
Refractor - Purple Mike McCoy (#d 237/599)

I think the Purples are 1:12 so those come at about 3/box in retail. Aybar is one of those steady Middle Infielders that none of us folks on the East Coast no anything about. Mike McCoy is a career minor league player who finally broke into the majors in 2009 at the age of 28.

Highlights


Jake Peavy
Chris Heisey
Shin-Soo Choo
Cliff Lee

Chris Heisey is an intriguing player to me - I went to school with a group of brothers named Heisey that were all very good athletes. From his Bio have determined that Chris Heisey went to college very close to my hometown. Have not tracked down weather he is related or not, but I am following the talented prospect.

And of course after Monday Night's performance what Phillies post featuring cards from a Rangers fan would not be complete without mentioning Mr Cliff Lee.

Thanks to Brian over at PATP and hope this gets the Rangers some Mojo 2nite as they face the Yanks.

Whats this card doing here?

To celebrate the Phils Upside Down Home/Away Interleague series with the Blue Jays Team Phungo is checking out some O-Pee-Chee.



Find out more in my latest post over at A Pack to be Named Later.

Pull of the Month - April 2010 - Heritage Chrome Troy Tulowitzki

It is a good thing I got involved in the Cardboard Junkie Heritage Blaster League - or else I would have a very little fodder for Pull of the Month.


2010 Topps Heritage Chrome #C90 Troy Tulowitzki (#d 288/1961)

I was also pretty happy with this Topps Heritage Then & Now Insert that came out of the box.

2010 Topps Heritage Then & Now #TN10 Shutout Leaders Whitey Ford & Roy Halladay

Not exactly sure how Topps came up with this one. According to the card back Ford actually finished 8th in shutouts in 1961. And if the stat doesn't match up there isn't much of a reason to pair up the HoF lefty with The Phils new staff ace.

I could also mention some of the cards I picked up in a group break from Nachos Grande that would be Pull of the month worthy, but I am sticking to packs I actually opened this month.

Meh of the Month


2009 UD Signature Stars #90 Ryan Garko

This product only has 100 veterans and Ryan Garko gets a card marking his 40 games as a San Francisco Giant?

If you want to find out more about the rather bland UD Signature Stars set check out my pack break over at A Pack to be Named Later.

Previous Pull of the Month Posts

2010 March

2010 February

2010 January

Phungo Roman Numeral Challenge I

In honor of the Super Bowl today we will be running a day long Phungo Challenge.

Today Super Bowl XLIV wil be played by the Saints and Colts. In recognition of this we are going to be running a challenge having to do with the NFLs continuing insistence to use Roman Numerals in the Name of the Superbowl.

Throughout the day I will be posting cards which represent different Roman Numerals. Your Goal is to figure out what the Roman Number is and give me the Arabic (traditional english) Number.

The connection could have to do with the Subjects Names, Numbers, Card Numbers, and probably some really odd connections that would only happen in my brain.

First Person to get each card gets a point, most points at the end of the day wins the challenge. The Prize for this Challenge is bragging rights in the Card Blogoshpere - Trying using that at your SuperBowl party tonight.

I have broken the Challenge into 4 quarters. This is the first Quarter and here are the first two cards. I think these are pretty easy.


I will try and get the 2nd 3rd and 4th quarters up at 12, 2, and 4 eastern today.

Winners of previous Phungo Challenges and Pop Quizzzes so far in 2010 have been

Rod from Padrographs
NicoLax from NR-MT

Euro Travelblog

2010 01 01 - La Tour Eiffel

This is a non-baseball card post and will have nothing at all about cards but I thought I would pass it along for those of you interested in what else goes on in the world I sometimes refer to as Planet Phungo.

As you may have noticed not much posting lately, that is because Team Phungo has been abroad checking the European cities of London and Paris as well as the Champagne region of France. We spent 10 days abroad and it was a great vacation.

2009 Phungo #49 Statue of Liberty - Toronto Blue Jays

The Phungo card above is a statue created for the 2008 All-Star game festivities in New York City. Each team had a statue created for them and they were placed around the city. We never found the Phillies one. This one represents the Toronto Blue Jays. Oh yeah I mentioned this is a non-baseball card post - well the rest is, this part I just wanted to pass along because as most of you know the Statue of Liberty was originally donated the the US by France. Which is where we were on vacation and saw lot of statues and sculptures including this rather jolly one of Champagne originator Dom Perignon

2009 12 29 Dom Perignon

Here is a quick rundown of some of my thoughts on our recent trip.

Europe

Underated
Mass Transit system - I would love to have a decent mass transit system.

Multi-culturalism - Beautiful women from all over Europe were present in both London and Paris.

Overrated

Shopping - I am not a shopper so I am no judge but I didn't see anything in London or Paris that I thought I couldn't get at home. Well there were Topps Attax cards in France, but I didn't get a chance to examine them and see if they were any different then the American ones.

I suppose I will give them Kinder Eggs - although they are probably a choking hazard in the states.

Good Stuff

Chunnell - Not much on the views but a fun ride.

Push

Not Tipping - It just feels weird, but it saves you a bit of money.

Off Season v Holiday Travel - The Winter is the Off Season for European Travel, which should be a bonus, but that doesn't pertain to Christmas Week Travel - All 3 planes we took were stuffed including our Flight from Philadelphia to Paris on Christmas day. Everywhere we went that was remotely touristy was mobbed, and lots of places are closed on certain holidays.

Things that Suck

Exchange Rates and Sticker Shock

London

2009 12 27 Big Ben

Underrated

Big Ben - as far as tourist sights go this is a good one as Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Trafalger Square are all within walking distance fo each other.

Overrated

Boxing Day - Apparently this is Black Friday for the Brits. And this years shopping frenzy was coupled with the threat of an upcoming VAT tax that set shoppers into a frenzy.

Good Stuff

English Breakfast - How did we ever give up having beans to start the day?

Push

Chain Restaraunt Pizza Express - Good Clean Efficient and survives wine. .

Pubs Closing at 10. Bad for drinking ones face off all night, good for helping you get up early and being a proper tourist.

It Sucks

Lost Luggage not arriving for 36 hours.

Paris

2009 12 31 Arc De Triomphe


Underrated

The Louvre on the Free Sunday through covert entrance and good planning. We could have actually planned a lot better, but got lucky a few times. Louvre and other museum tickets can be bought in advanced via a variety of different outlets which can help you avoid long lines. Highly recomended. We got lucky by stumbling into the Louvre "Port de Leons" entrance which had no line for whatever reason.

Champagne Country - Highly recommended - it is a short drive from Paris and gives you a chance to see what life in France is like outside the city.

Luxemborg Gardens even in winter - It's free lots of great statues and fountains. There is a mini statue of liberty here but we did not see it.

Crepes off a Street Stand - good stuff for under 4 Euros and much better than the New Year's Eve Dinner we blew 60 Euro on.

Versailles Outdoors - Once again, this must be really awesome in the summer time

Overrated

Versaille Indoors - probalby because of the insane crowds - but I still think it was overrated regardless my lack of knowledge probably hurts me here too - although Hall of Mirrors was pretty intense.

Closing stuff on Sunday's

Cafes near any major attraction - Same as Versaille Indoors, Insane crowds.

Good Stuff

Champs Elysees on New Year's Eve

Good wine at a good price

Sacre Coeur - This is an ancient church set on a good size hill in a fun neighborhood. Great views and artwork.

Paris Subway System - efficient with some cool stations.

Mona Lisa - Our party discussed the merits of the Mona Lisa - I think I get part of it. I am no art aficionado or historian - but I did take the time to give the painting a good look and I don't know if it's the history of the thing or what but I thought "yeah I am glad I saw it".

Push

Pubs open all-night. Sometimes not good for sightseeing the next day.

It Sucks

Pub Beer Prices - 6 Euro for a Pint!!!

Dog Doo and Urine everywhere