1962 Topps #218 Joe Torre

At age 86 Joe Torre is among our eldest Hall of Famers. He was the catcher for the 1962 Topps Rookie Cup Team, which also featured fellow HOF Billy Williams - who celebrated birthday 88 this summer.

 

1962 Topps #218 Joe Torre (image swiped from PSA)

Williams and Torre also ranked 1-2 in the NL ROY Voting:

While Torre led the two in WAR, Billy Williams clearly wins the traditional power numbers and that was good enough to earn him NL Rookie of the Year honors.  

Among position players Torre's 3.4 WAR led all 1961 rookies, although looking at those offensive numbers we must also note that a large chunk of that WAR is from defense. The ROY vote is interesting, in 1961 voters only got the opportunity to vote for a single player and close to a third of the ballots recognized the importance of the catching position. 

1961 Rookie Catchers

There were basically only two catchers in the running for the position on the 1961 All-Star Rookie Club, Torre & Red Sox backstop Joe Pagliaroni. 

Lots of catchers had over 100 plate appearances but Torre & Pagliaroni have 150 more than #3 Dick Bartell. Pagliano took two of the triple crown categories and had modern analytics been popular at the time it needs to be noted he also had a higher OBP than Torre. However Joe Torre had more extra base hits and although voters would not have known it at the time he also led in OPS+.  Based on those numbers I could see either player being chosen, my guess is that the 36 point batting average difference tipped the scales in favor of Torre.  

It is interesting that Torre finished 2nd in the NL RoY vote while Joe Pagliano did not get any votes on the AL side. This is likely due to Pagliano's battery mate Don Schwall winning the award and another teammate Chuck Schilling finishing 3rd in the voting.

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1962 Topps #218 Joe Torre (image swiped from eBay) 

I am not of fan of the realistic style of the 1962T comic but do appreciated that this one is devoted to Torre's Rookie Cup win and love that fine rendition of the trophy. Nice mention of Frank Torre in the back text.  

Hall of Fame

Joe Torre was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans committee in 2014. This was largely an acknowledgement of his 4 World Championships as Manager of the New York Yankees. However, I don't want this distinction to overshadow his accomplishments as a Player:

In addition to earning a 1961 Rookie Cup, Torre was the 1971 NL MVP and a NINE time all-star (at 3 different positions C/1B/3B). Joe Torre played with some good teams but never made the postseason. 

HOF Index 

This column will do double duty as an index to our Joe Torre columns

1965 Topps #200 (Braves v Cardinals SNB)

Source & Links

1962 Rookie Cup Index

Hall of Fame Index

Baseball-reference

PSA

ebay

1969 Topps #237 Bobby Cox (1941-2026)

Over the weekend we got the sad news of Bobby Cox's passing. He is best known for his Quarter Century managing the Braves in two different stints that covered parts of SIX DIFFERENT DECADES. 

1969 Topps #237 Bobby Cox (image stolen from ebay)

Prior to his Managerial career Bobby Cox had two major league seasons with the New York Yankees in the late 1960s. His 135 games with the 1968 Yankees earned him the spot on the All-Star Rookie Squad. While none of his Rookie Numbers (.229/7/41) are impressive he led all three categories (for 3B). Well sort of - none of the 3B batted enough to qualify for the batting average title. I am giving Cox the nod since he had more than double the number of plate appearances the anyone who had a better average. Yes .229 was the batting leader among Rookie 3B in 1968, Freddie Patek batted .255 in 234 PAs compared to Cox's 490.  

AL Rookie of the Year

The 1968 Rookie of the Year Award went to Cox's teammate Stan Bahnsen who had very impressive Pitching Numbers (17-12, 2.05, 162 Ks). Only one other player received ROY votes, Del Unser. 

Not sure how Unser got 3 ROY votes his batting numbers are similar to Cox (.229/1/30) and honestly a touch worse. Del Unser started his career in CenterField and perhaps voters found that to be a more important defensive position than third base. Modern stats were not available in 1968, if they were voters would have been able to consider Bobby Cox's +0.9 WAR vs Unser's -1.5.

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1969 Topps #237 Bobby Cox (b-side image stolen from ebay)

Couple of interesting things on the flip side. Looking at the text we find out that Bobby Cox was a player in the Braves organization a decade before he started managing Atlanta. The two seasons he played for Braves affiliates were 1966 Austin and 1967 Richmond. 

The other item that caught my attention is the comic, unfortunately I was unable to track down much information on Bobby Cox's Venezuelan League career. According to Tim Deale's SABR Bio Cox played in Venezuela from 1967-1970 

Other Voices

Check out this posting from our friend Jim from Downingtown who discussed this card and Bobby Cox's career as both a player & manager back in 2014.  

Bobby Cox HOF Index

1998 Topps #334 Andruw Jones  Cox Quote re: Jones

Source & Links

SABR Bio - Tim Deale

Baseball-reference

1969 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index

Phungo HOF Index

Ebay

Ted Turner (1938-2026)

We learned of the passing of Ted Turner today. In terms of Baseball most of us know of Ted Turner the owner, but he was also a MLB manager... for ONE DAY. And that qualifies him for the Cup of Coffee Club. 

Sketch of Ted Turner on a Disposable Coffee Cup a la 1977 Topps

For the Ted Turner Cup of Coffee we used 1977 Topps for the design. This is the year of Turner's only game as manager - The Braves lost 2-1. 

In the background we see the logos for two of Turner's media outlets channel 17 which broadcast Braves games across the country via cable and his 24 hour news service CNN

The Ted Turner profile drawing is based upon a screen print done by Andy Warhol.

Sources and Links

Cup of Coffee Index

Phillips Auctions (Andy Warhol Painting of Turner) 

baseball-reference

CTB: 2019 Topps #1 Ronald Acuna Jr

We interrupt our Rookie Cup HOF coverage to discuss the WBC Champion Venezuela Squad's THREE ASR winners. 

One of those players is Jackson Chourio who we already featured. The other two players are both in the 2018 class that was honored in 2019 Topps, Ronald Acuna Jr and Gleyber Torres. 

We will first look at Acuna JR who played all seven games in right field for Venezuela and led the team in Runs Scored.

2019 Topps #1 Ronald Acuna Jr (Sports Collectors Daily)

I believe Ronald Acuna is only the 2nd player to represent card #1 with a Rookie Cup flair. Mike Piazza achieved the double win in 1994. Acuna Jr like Piazza won the NL Rookie of the Year Award the year prior. 

Ronald fell 3 votes shy of sweeping the award (Juan Soto 2, Walker Buehler 1). Acuna  & Soto's numbers are remarkably similar and I am surprised at the lopsidedness of the Vote.  

I assume the BBWAA writers were breaking ties with WAR by 2019 - although peeking inside the numbers Soto's Walk numbers are significant. On the other hand Acuna's Braves finished 8 games ahead of Soto's Nats. Regardless the two make for the start of an outstanding outfield. 

Guess the Game

Kind of thought this one looked like it may have been taken in Philadelphia and it was. According to Getty Images the Photo was taken 2018 April 29 by Rob Tringali who is responsible for a lot of Phillies pictures. 

Unfortunately for the Phillies (SP: Vince Velasquez) it was a good game for Ronald Acuna Jr and the Braves who won 10-1. 

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2019 Topps #1 Ronald Acuna Jr (b-side also SCD)

On the back of the card we see the #1 top right and the stats mentioned above - however here we seed the oWAR of 3.7 rather than the 3.9 which apparently includes defense & positional adjustments. The text gives the Pirates Outfielder Starling Marte credit for dubbing Acuna "El Ambusador" (the Abuser) 

Sources & Links

2019 Rookie Cup Team

Topps #1 Club 

Game Dated Cards

Sports Collectors Daily 

baseball-reference

Rob Tringali

Getty Images

CTB: 1998 Topps #334 Andruw Jones (ASR)

Our Second of Three 1996 HOF Profiles featuring inductees who were also honored on Rookie Cup Cards is of Phillies Nemesis Andruw Jones.  

1998 Topps #334 Andruw Jones (image swiped from tcdb)

On this card we have a quality action shot of Andruw just prior to contact - something that would result in hits 1933 times during Jones 17 year career (2541 hits as a professional). His Career Home Run totals were even more impressive 434 MLB/550 Pro. 

Notice on the card that Jones is wearing the Jackie Robinson 50th Anniversary Patch that all players wore during the 1997 season. Andruw finished 5th in the Rookie of the Year Voting - an Award that has been named after Jackie Robinson since 1987.  Nice seeing Two Hall of Famers represented on a rookie cup (keep reading there's more!) 

Rookie Cup Credentials 

Before his 1997 rookie campaign even started Andruw Jones was already a World Series hero who hit a Pair of Home Runs vs the Yankees, albeit in a losing effort. 

To earn his ROY votes Andruw Jones played a full NL season in 1997 with 18 HR, 70 RBI but only a .231 AVG (93 OPS+ / +3.3 WAR) which was similar to the 3 Cup Team outfielders - Jose Cruz Jr (26/68/.248, 101/+2.2), Jose Guillen (14/70/.267, 82/-3.3). Mike Cameron has a Snub Beef (14/55/.259, 109/+4.4) as does Vlad SR (.302 BA, 117 OPS+). In fact the BBWAA ranked Guerrero ahead of Guillen by a handful of votes on the NL side and Cameron received more AL votes then Guillen did within the NL bracket.  

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1998 Topps #334 Andruw Jones (b-side image also tcdb)   

First we want to look at the demographic info and note that Andruw Jones was the 3rd MLB player from Curacao, after Hensley Meulens (1989) and Ralph Milliard (1996). In the 3 decades since Andruw Jones the number of players born in Curacao has grown to 17 (that is a 560% increase for a territory that had ZERO players 40 years ago)

Moving down the text mentions Jones as both an Offensive and Defensive threat. And he was - Andruw just missed the 20/20 targets during his rookie campaign but did hit them 3 times in his early career. In the Outfield he earned 10 gold gloves. 2005 was his standout season where he led the league in HR & RBI with 51 & 128 respectively (+6.7 WAR) good enough for 2nd place in the NL MVP voting (Albert Pujols 41/117/.330 +8.4 WAR) 

We also get a quote from Andruw Jones' Manager Bobby Cox that invokes the name of another well known CenterFielder, Joe DiMaggio. If you're keeping score at home that is 4 HOF on a single Rookie Cup Card Andruw, Jackie, Bobby Cox (as a Manager) and Joe D. 

Andruw Jones HOF Index

1998 Topps #334 (Rookie Cup)

2001 Topps Stadium Club Pat Burrell (Game Dated Card/Phungo Challenge)

Sources and Link

1998 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index

TCDB

National Baseball Hall of Fame

Baseball-Ref

1996 All-Star Game 25th Anniversary: John Smoltz 2002 Topps #145

Our 2021 year long series is dedicated to the 1996 All-Star Game which occurred at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia 25 years ago. 

My goal is to get 20 or so postings on the subject. Almost anything will be better than the half dozen columns on last years subject, the 1980 World Champion Phillies.

Tonight our first posting is dedicated to Braves Hall of Famer John Smoltz who was bestowed the honor of staring for the National League by his manager Bobby Cox.  

2002 Topps #145 John Smoltz (stolen from amazon)

Smoltz was the first of 9 pitchers involved in the The NLs 6-0 shutout the Junior circuit. Among the hurlers Smoltz was the only pitcher to record more than an inning pitched. He faced 8 batters giving up a pair of hits. Smoltz only strike out was Albert Belle, among the other five batters he retired were four future Hall of Famers: Wade Boggs, Robby Alomar, Cal Ripken, and Pudge Rodriguez. For you advanced stats folks among the 14 pitcher who saw action in the game Smoltz was the WPA Leader with +0.102.

2002 Topps

This is definitely one of my least favorites Topps flagship issues. Don't like the brown/orange border color. It's a shame because I do like the pennant design - and this is the one year where I think Chrome looks better than flagship. 

Chose this one because it ties together two Braves Hall of Famers. The other is Eddie Mathews who passed away in 2001. To Honor Mathews the Braves wore a memorial patch which you can see on Smoltz upper sleeve. It is Eddie Mathews #41 which the Braves retired on July 26 1969. 

Sources and Links

1996 All-Star Game 25th Anniversary

John Smoltz HOF Index

Eddie Mathews HOF Index

Baseball-Ref 

mlb

SABR Day 2017: Connie Mack Chapter hosts Howie Bedell and others

The 2017 edition of the Connie Mack Chapter SABR Day featured a full slate of fun and interesting presentations. Guests included Phillies Alum Howie Bedell and Author Charles Kupfer. Additional presentations were given by several chapter members who covered a variety of topics ranging from the 19th century manufacture of the original “Base Ball” to present day Cuba excursions to see games.

Howie Bedell
The highlight of the day was a personal appearance by former Major Leaguer Howie Bedell. The 81 year old Pottstown native spoke for over two hours regarding his upbringing and career both on and off the field. As a player Bedell spent only spent part of the 1968 season with the Phillies as a player but spent a decade in the organization fulfilling various coaching and player development roles.

Bedell confirmed something that I think many Phillies fans suspect. The Phillies do too much hiring and decision making from within. He cited nepotism as a problem within all organizations but felt as though there was a particular lack of leadership within the Phillies. He cited several examples of individuals that did not have enough commitment to make painful decisions, even if they were the right decisions. A theme throughout Bedell’s career appears to having to be the axe-man when it came to firing people. He was also careful to mention in several cases the ensuing changes worked out better for the person involved. They would get into better careers in other facets of baseball where they were better suited. Jim Bunning was relieved as his job as a minor league manager, but this led to him becoming an agent. This experience may have helped the Future Hall of Famer in getting involved in politics and eventually becoming a senator. Similar stories were mentioned that involved folks such as Dallas Green and Granny Hamner.

The Phillies won the 1980 World Series while Bedell was in the organization, it would the first of three World Championships with three different clubs.  He also won a ring with the Royals as a coach in 1985 and with the 1990 Reds as a member of their front office.

Bedell's time in Kansas City included the development of the slide step for pitchers. The Royals needed a way to neutralize the Cardinals fleet footed running game. The Slide Step was the solution - and it must have worked. The Cardinals only stole 2 bases in the 7 games series (while getting caught 3 times). Compare that with the 314 Thefts the Cards racked up during the regular season. Of course one needs to mention that the Cardinals also lost Rookie Vince Coleman (and his 110 steals) for that series due to injury.

Charles Kupfer on the Orioles 1979-1983
Harrisburg based Professor and author Charles Kupfer discussed his upcoming book “Something Magic: the Baltimore Orioles, 1979-1983” which he was gracious enough to amend to 1982 for purposes of entertaining a room full of Phillies fans. One of the interesting points he brought up was that the Oriole Way is documented in the book “Modern Baseball Strategy” by Former player and manager Paul Richards. Kupfer’s book is due out in May and will be available via Amazon.

Mark Kanter on Cuba
Mr Kanter discussed the SABR Group Travel experience to Cuba that he had this past fall. As could be expected there was a lot of interesting info that went beyond baseball. Among the slides Mark displayed were several of decrepit stadiums that are 60+ years old. Games are played during the day and have sparse attendance, despite a meager three-cent admission. Several SABR members took baseball equipment to Cuba to be given to the teams – the Items were much appreciated. For more details see Mark's article in the Jewish Voice.

Seamus Kearney
Connie Mack Co-Chair Seamus Kearney led a discussion on the career of John Kruk who is returning to Philadelphia this year as a broadcaster. Kruk always brings warm memories to Phillies sports fan and it was very enjoyable hearing al the stories told by and about Kruk over the years.

The Chapters other Chairperson, Dick Rosen, was also scheduled to speak but unfortunately due to time constraints his presentation on Goose Goslin was postpone for a future meeting.

Steven King
Yes SABR has it’s own Steven King who is also a writer. King often covers early 20th century baseball, and this weekend his presentation was titled “Andy Coakley: Man of Mystery”. King related several anecdotes about Coakley using various aliases to get involved in both baseball and non-baseball activities. None of this deception appears to have been malicious, and some of the stories may be puew legend based off of Coakleys previous deceptions. Regardless Coakley is in various local Hall of Fames including Columbia University where he coached for 30+ years which included the tenure of Lou Gehrig.

Ed Morton
Connie Mack regular Ed Morton put together a detailed powerpoint that discussed the birth of the "Base Ball" covering the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Much of the information concerned the relationship between AJ Reach and Spalding as well as another baseball manufacturer Victor.

Phil Williams
SABR Bioproject author Phil Williams detailed a terrible October 1913 evening in Brainerd Minnesota. That night Philadelphia Athletics Pitcher Joe Bush was fresh off a World Series triumph with the club.  All that good fortune turned in an instant as Bush while at home in Brainerd accidentally ran over a pedestrian. Bush was acquitted of any wrong doing and went on to have a very successful baseball career which included winning two additional World Titles, one each with the Red Sox and Yankees.

Matt Albertson
Matt gave a status update on the attempt to get a historical marker placed at the Jefferson Street Ball Park site. The major hurdle remaining is funding. A facebook page related to the project can be found here. If you would like to make a contribution to the project the crowdsourcing site is here.

Extra Innings
In additions to the presentations a raffle was held and lunch was served. Despite a tight schedule there was some time for socializing and catching up on the off-season. I didn’t make an exact count but I estimate 30 members attended 2017 Connie Mack SABR Day.

There is much more detail I could go into but that would require much more time. I could do a weeks worth of postings on Howie Bedell alone.

The Connie Mack chapter of SABR has their next Hot Stove meeting scheduled for February 11th. It will likely be smaller in scope then SABR Day but still should be fun.

Sources and Links
Columbia University
SABR - Jefferson St Grounds
The Jewish Voice
SABR - Paul Richards
Baseball-ref

2017 Hall of Fame Candidate: Vladimir Guerrero

Getting to the 2017 HoF Candidates a little late this year. There are at least a half dozen players I would like to profile including a couple of prominent players who spent time with the Phillies.

We open this series with a longtime member of the Phillies division rival Montreal Expos, Vladimir Guerrero.

1998 Topps #5 Vladimir Guerrero 

Vlad deserves HOF nod just for this card alone. One of my gripes about recent Topps is the plethora of action shots. While 1998T might not have the best design, at least there is some interesting variations in the photography.

1998 Topps #5 Vladimir Guerrero (b-side)

The text on the back discusses a play early in Vlad Guerrero's career where he scored from second on a sacrifice fly. The run gave the Expos a 2-1 lead versus the Braves and future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. Unfortunately for Montreal Ugueth Urbina would later give up a 2 Run Homer to Keith Lockhart which would give Atlanta a 3-2 victory. 

Regardless the rare 2 base sacrifice score gave us a glimpse into the talent of the young Vlad Guerrero. The fly out came off the bat of Doug Strange who hit the ball to Right Fielder Michael Tucker.

The play was featured on a 1998 Stadium Club Card

 1998 Stadium Club #3 Vladimir Guerrero (image swiped from Play at the Plate)

A nice analysis of this card was done by the fine crew at Play at the Plate (who else).  I may need to add this card to the Phungo Collection just as a companion for the 1998 Base card.

Phungo Verditct

HOF


The scoring from 2nd on a Fly Out is the kind of hustle that makes one want to cast a Yes HoF vote.

Sources and Links
Vladimir Guerrero HOF Index
Play at the Plate
2017 HoF Candidates Index
Phungo Game Dated Index
Baseball-ref
Check Out My Cards 

2016 Heritage the Originals: 1966 Topps League Leaders

Today our 2016 Heritage Preview takes a look at the 1967 Topps League Leader cards.

1967 Topps #242 NL League Leaders RBI Aaron Clemente Allen

In a better world this card would have Three Hall of Famers on it. Unfortunately we live in the cruel universe where Dick (nee Richie) Allen resides on the edges of the Hall.

Regardless, I LOVE THIS CARD!!! What Phillies fan would not?

Dick Allen with two of the all time great Hall of Famers, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente. Oddly on this card we have two players who were bestowed different names for the early portion of their careers. Roberto Clemente is listed as the Americanized Bob while Dick Allen is listed as Richie.

The 1967T LL cards are pretty vanilla but strong. This format is very similar to the the 1966T LL cards. If I had a quibble with the design it would would be the use N. LEAGUE rather than NL.

The 2016 Heritage version of this card will feature Nelson Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, and Anthony Rizzo. I am pretty comfortable stating the panel on the original will be remembered a lot longer than the upcoming Heritage LL card.

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1967 Topps #242 NL League Leaders RBI Aaron Clemente Allen (b-side)

Solid listing of players on the back of the card. Five of the seven players over the 100 RBI threshold are in the Hall, the other two played for the Phillies :(

There are a dozen league leader cards in 1967 Topps, six cards for each league: ERA, Pitching (wins), and Strikeouts for pitchers; Batting (Average), RBI, and Home Runs for Hitters. In addition to appearing on the RBI card, Dick Allen is also the center panel on the HR card between Aaron and Willie Mays (WOW!). Jim Bunning occupies the 2-spot on the NL Strikeouts Leaders card.

I am a little curious if Topps will do anything with NL Wins LL card, Bob Gibson and Gaylord Perry tied for third place in Ws with 21 each in 1966 so they had to split the final spot on the #236 card.

There Will not be any Phillies on the 6 NL Leader cards in 2016 Heritage.

Sources and Index
2016 Heritage/1967 Topps Index
Dick Allen Player Collection Index
Hank Aaron HoF Index
Roberto Clemente HoF Index
baseball-ref

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

Game Report Braves @ Phillies Alumni Weekend

Made it to two games as part of  the Phillies Alumni Weekend versus the Braves, a 12-2 victory on Saturday Night and a 6-2 Loss on Sunday.

 Snapshots

2015 0801 Pat Burrell operating the Hot Dog Gun

By far the highlight of the Phillies Season has to be Pat Burrell firing the Hot Dog Cannon. Add to this the massive uhm Shoulder Bag that he is carrying and you have a perfect image.

Alumni weekend provided plenty of entertainment. Burrell tried to make a few awkward jokes during his speech, but he fared well enough otherwise. 2008 World Series Champ Manager Charlie Manuel gave a great intro and it was great to see him get loud ovations all weekend.

Pat Burrell's new Wall o Fame plaque was added next to 2014 Inductee Charlie Manuel. 

Franchise Four

On Satyrday Night the Phillies honored their Franchise Four. You may remember MLBs promotion from last month - the Phillies four were Richie Asburn, Robin Roberts, Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt. Carlton is in the 80s era powder blue roadie. To his right is Richie Ashurn's grandson and on his left is one or Robin Robert's sons. Mike Schmidt is hidden by Bob Boone on the left side of the photo.

The four other gentleman in the pictures are all catchers. Each of the Franchise Four took part in a four pronged first pitch with a Phillies Catcher. Boone is on the far left, Darren Daulton and Mike Lieberthal are next to the obscured Mike Schmidt while current Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz is on the far right.

Game Pix

Cameron Rupp 2015 0801

Saturday night has a bunch of heroes. The offense put up a season high 12 runs, three of which came on a Homer by Cameron Rupp.

Adam Morgan

The Phillies have two rookies in the rotation right now. Aaron Nola got the W on Friday night, Adam Morgan didn't fair as well on Sunday. He struggled through five innings giving up four runs. The Braves had runners on in each of those innings with the big blow coming in the 5th, a three-run homer by Jace Peterson

 Julio Teheran

Julio Teheran who has had a mixed season looked more like the pitcher he was during his All-Star 2015 campaign. He scattered 8 hits and 2 runs over 7 innings without a walk.

Ryan Howard

Over the two games Ryan Howard looked like 2008 or maybe 2011 as he went 5 for 8 with a couple of doubles and RBI. He has hits in eight consecutive games and as been a big contributor to the Phillies recent success.

GGA

Aaron Harang

Couple of Phillies signing autograph's on Sunday. Harang was out in the sun for a good 30 minutes. Maikel Franco and I think Cody Asche were also out there for short stints.

Blue err Orange Moon

There was a bit of excitement over the Blue Moon this weekend. I took this shot on Saturday night, so it is a day past full. I have no idea what structures are in the shot, I think they are generally East of the stadium. 

 2015 0801 Ticket Braves at Phillies

2015 0802 Game Ticket Braves @ Phillies

Sources and Links

Baseball-ref

RTC Braves Howie Bedell 1962 Topps

The Phillies are currently hosting their alumni weekend bring back many of the teams legends from the Past such as Schmidt, Carlton, Dick Allen, John Kruk, Dallas Green, Charlie Manuel and Latest Wall of Fame inductee Pat Burrell.

The Club also brings back some lesser known players such as Howie Bedell

 

1962 Topps #76 Howie Bedell (rookie flair but not a RC)

Howie Bedell only played 9 games with the Phillies and I don't think he ever represented the local team on card. The remainder of his career was 58 games with the Braves - The Team that is town to face the Phillies during the Alumni festivities.

On Opening day of the 1962 Season Bedell made his Major league debut as the leadoff hitters for the then Milwaukee Braves versus the San Francisco Giants and their Hall of Fame starter Juan Marichal. Bedell played Left Field along side Center Fielder Hank Aaron, They backed up Warren Spahn and another Hall of Famer Eddie Matthews started at 3rd Base.

Unfortunately for Bedell and the Braves lost 6-0 that day, but Bedell got his first career hit, a 3rd inning single off Marichal

Chester County Baseball
Bedell is more a representative of the Phillies and the Philadelphia region for his post playing career baseball activities. He did some coaching with the Phillies and more recently has been part of a group trying to bring a minor league team to Chester County.

I haven't heard much about the project recently but at one time there were proposals for West Chester, Where Howie Bedell went to College, and Phoenixville which has made a strong resurgences over the last decade. According to the 2010 Phoenix article cited above Bedell has been involved in the building of close to a dozen stadiums.

I am disappointed that the one that Bedell hasn't gotten done is in ChesCo, but understand there are a lot of factors that aren't positives for a community - including the high monetary cost. Regardless I hope that Howie Bedell, now a few weeks short of his 80th birthday gets a chance to see a local stadium.

Sources and Links
The Phoenix
baseball-ref
Topps Baseball Card Database

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - May 27th Near-Hitter John Smoltz

Today we have another Year of the No-Hitter posting which is only a Lo-Hitter or Near-Hitter. On May 27th a then 24 Year Old John Smoltz was facing the Phillies at the Vet on Beach Towel Day and he took a No-Hitter into the 9th inning.

1991 Score #208 John Smoltz

Unfortunately for Smoltz it was not to be, One of the three remaining outs he needed was Lenny Dykstra who was batting .408 going into play that day.  With a 6-0 lead Smoltz decided to challenge the hottest hitter in baseball and Lenny doubled down the right field line.

Box Notes
The man that broke up Smoltz's No-Hitter was Lenny Dykstra, who was batting .408 going into the gaem. The Phillies staring pitcher that day was Terry Mulholland, whom we will hear from a bit later in our Year of the No-Hitter series.

Smoltz's Reaction
When asked about the Near Miss post game Smoltz referred to Dave Stieb who had lost not one but two no-hitters in the ninth inning:

 "I never knew what Dave Steib went through. Now I do - even though mine was one out earlier." 

Like the aforementioned Terry Mulholland we will here from Dave Stieb later in this series as well....

Flip

1991 Score #208 John Smoltz

The documented in the first paragraph of text on Smoltz's 1991 Score Card. I had several options of cards to post noting the near-hitter and Score's recognition of Smoltz's big day made the choice easy.

It's in the Cards
A lot of reasons are given for Topps relegation to the second tier of trading cards in the 90s - Holograms, Photography, Relics, Autos etc. One I rarely see mentioned is the difference in copy. Check the text on the back of the 1991 Topps Smoltz Card.

1991 Topps #157 John Smoltz (b-side)

One line on John Smoltz's 1988 Season at Richmond. The A-Side is fine enough though.

1991 Topps #157 John Smoltz

Nice early card of Smoltz pre-mustache. There is a lot to like about 1991 Topps, nice design lots of great shots throughout the set. I have always been fond of cards where an element of the photo pops out beyond the border a bit, On the Smoltz card his pitching hand extends just beyond the edge as if he is going to throw a fastball through the frame.

Sources & Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index

John Smoltz HOF Index

Baseball-ref
Philadelphia Inquirer
LA Times

SNAPSHOTS 2015 04 25: Braves @ Phillies

 
2015 0425 Citizens Bank Ballpark at Sunset (click to enlarge)
 
The Phillies hosted the Division Rival Atlanta Braves this past Saturday Night. Despite a terrific start by David Buchanan and a rare Home Run by Ryan Howard the Phils took the loss 5-2.

Despite the outcome and the cold, it was a pretty nice night for a game, picturesque sunset photo above.

Snapshots

 2015 0425 David Buchanan

Buchanan had struggled in three 2015 starts, but Saturday Night was different. He didn't allow a hit until the 5th inning and took a 1-hit shutout into the 7th. Unfortunately he couldn't make through that 7th inning and Jake Diekman couldn't help him out.


2015 0425 Ryan Howard

Despite the Loss, Buchanan's start is a positive as was Ryan Howard who had a 2 run homer and looked good in other ABs. The rest of the Phillies offense accounted for zero runs and looked worse that that. Phillies personnel have spun Chase Utley poor start at the plate as bad luck despite good contact. For me there was no evidence of this on Saturday night, Utley had 4 unimpressive ABs.

2015 0425 Shelby Miller

For six innings Buchanan was the better pitcher, but Shelby Miller didn't let this phase him. In his fourth start as a Brave Miller put up six innings allowing only 3 hits including Howard's two run homer. Miller has been steady for the Braves getting 5+ innings in every start and now allowing more than 2 in any of them.

2015 Topps Gypsy Queen #48 Shelby Miller

Not sure but this may be Miller's first card as a Brave, picked it up in a Rack Pack a few weeks back.





2015 0425 Andrelton Simmons

Typically known for his defense Andrelton Simmons showed up with his bat on Saturday night and spoiled David Buchanan's shutout with a line drive home run to lead off the seventh.

Stray Observations
***When Jake Diekman came in to pitch the infielders segregated into two groups. I know that they are geographically separated but it defnitely felt like the Howard/Utley and Asche/Galvis weren't interested in hanging out together.

***Freddy Galvis resurrects memories of former Steelers (and Eagles) QB Bubby Brister. He goes down with what appears to be a major injury and lays on the turf. Then 10 minutes later he is up and returning to the field. 

***I have never seen a player take his fielding as seriously as Andrelton Simmons. After his BP session he took his Shortstop position for repeated grounders with his motor running at a much higher rate than I have seen from other players.

***Shelby Miller was having trouble hitting the right side of the plate during his bullpen warm up. I think this may have carried through to the game, but the Phillies failed to take advantage.

***Jason Grilli gets it, he appeared to be involved in a healthy bit of interaction with the fans prior to the game.

***The Phillies attendance may be down inside the ballpark, but that hasn't hurt the crowds in the tailgate lots. I get to games really early and I was amazed at how many folks were already in the lots.

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref

Philly Show 2014 12 06 - Vintage Phillies

This weekend Team Phungo was at the Valley Forge show for 4 hours os so and picked up a bunch of vintage cards. I concentrated on my Phillies 50s and 60s Topps checkers and Card of Hall of Famers from the same era. There was an additional focus on 1966 Topps in preparation for the release of 2015 Heritage in just a couple of months.

Highlights

1966 Topps Bobby Wine
1966 Topps John Boozer

Who would have thought I would pick up Wine and Boozer cards from the same 50 year old set on the same day. I could also toss out a quip regarding having a Wine Boozer combo on the 1964 Phils may have led to their collapse.

Joking aside, I was very happy to pick up the above cards. The pair which went for 50 cents each closed out the lower & Mid Series cards for my 1966T Phillies team set. Still have 3 cards remaining from the scarce high series.

At least part of the reason 1966T gets dismissed is it arrived on the heals of the popular 1965 Topps set. The upcoming Heritage set may give us a chance to reconsider the orignal set. The two cards above illustrate one of the nice aspects of 1966 Topps. The photographs on the cards come from a variety of angles and often feature faux-action. In my opinion the tedium of repeated head shots throughout recent Heritage sets has heard the set.

We will be taking a look the originals set over the coming weeks and I am sure I will return to that point often.

More Set Closing

1958 Topps Granny Hamner

This was the last card I needed for 1958 Topps, I also picked up the 1960 Topps Bobby Del Greco card to close that set.  Each card was $1.50 although the above Hamner was tossed in for free when I bought twenty 1954T Commons.

The two cards also give team Phungo a run of completed Phillies Team Sets that run for 1958-60 - oddly my longest run among vintage sets.

Other Highlights 

1966 Topps Chisox Clubbers

I am just going to post pix of some other cards now. Time permitting I will return to discuss these cards at some point in the future. Right now I just wanted to post a cross section of the pickups and also give some pricing details which may interest other collectors. The Clubbers card went for 50 cents. Picked up this card as part of our 2015 Heritage research.   

1959 Topps #23 Murry Dickson

$2. Down to 2 more cards to complete the entire 1959 Topps Set! 

1939 Diamond Stars Van Mungo

$14. I think this was the priciest pick up  of the day. Trying to pick up a Diamond Stars card at each big show I attend. This is a pretty sharp looking one. 

 1961 Topps #478 Roger Maris 1960 AL MVP

$8. This is a subset I have been working on. Pretty happy to pull this one in for $8

 1952 Topps George Kell

$10. 1952T of a Hall of Famer.

1934 Goudey Woody English

1934 is my favorite Goudey set. 

 1961 Topps World Series Highlight

$2. Picked this one up just for the hat.

 1960 Topps Hank Aaron All-Star

$10. A subset that I am contemplating building.

1962 Topps Willie Mays All-Star

 $10. Yet another All-Star Subber I am considering building