2026 Topps Rookie Cup Team Series 1

This is an index to postings related to the 2026 Topps All-Star Rookie Team which honored rookies from the 2025 season. 

2026 Topps #27 Matt Shaw

S2	Drake Baldwin	Atlanta Braves	C	2026
97	Nick Kurtz	Athletics	1B	2026
3	Luke Keaschall	Minnesota Twins	2B	2026
27	Matt Shaw	Chicago Cubs	3B	2026
204	Jacob Wilson	Athletics	SS	2026
202	Isaac Collins	Kansas City Royals	OF	2026
189	Roman Anthony	Boston Red Sox	OF	2026
37	Jakob Marsee	Miami Marlins	OF	2026
287	Agustín Ramírez	Miami Marlins	DH	2026
S2	Cade Horton	Chicago Cubs	RHP	2026
S2	Noah Cameron	Kansas City Royals	LHP	2026
S2	Jack Dreyer	Los Angeles Dodgers	RP	2026

At publication only 8 of the Dozen ASR card numbers were known. The S2 cards will be filled in whenever that checklist is published 

Sources and Links
All-Star Rookie Index

Topps

Beckett

1962 Topps #288 Billy Williams

Today's All-Star Rookie Cup posting brings us to Hall of Famer Billy Williams who is the oldest living Hall of Famer to have also won a Rookie Cup. 

The recent passing of Willie Mays has pushed the 86 year old Williams into 8th place among the eldest surviving Hall of Famers - and 6th among players. 

1962 Topps #288 Billy Williams (image lifted from tcdb)

1962 Topps is one of my favorite designs - the novelty of the wood grain only used here and in 1987 keeps the idea fresh. I also like how the rolled up photo illusion slides our eyes into the full size Rookie Cup trophy.

Williams is captured here in follow through of his "Sweet Swinging" form - the rollup flows with the swing here as well. All this adds up to a really great early card of a Future Hall of Famer. 

Rookie of the Year

Billy Williams earned NL Rookie of the Year honors by leading the 1961 freshman class with 25 Home Run 86 RBI and 256 Total Bases.  However...

Even in the pre-analytics days Voters recognized the importance of the catching position with just under of a third of the ballots favoring future HOF Joe Torre. Saving deeper analysis for a future aWARds column, but for today's discussion it's enough to say that Billy Williams led NL rookies in 2 of the 3 Triple Crown categories and it is really hard to argue against those criteria in the Rookie of the Year voting. 

1962 Topps #288 Billy Williams (flip)

 

Little hard to make out but here we see the rest of Billy Williams numbers for his ROY campaign. The 146 games is noteworthy as that his a high number for a rookie by today's standards and the phrase "played everyday" definitely applied to Williams. For a decade from 1962-1971 averaged 161 games and was just below superlative threshold numbers (29 HR /98 RBI/.298 AVG)

 

I also want to point out in the demographics section that specifies Williams' Home as "Whislter, Ala." Which is of course the tail end of his nickname "Sweet Swingin' Billy from Whistler"

Always a fan of cards with comics. The presentation on 1962T is a bit different - it is more of an illustration than a comic. A lot of the rookie cup cards in the early era of the subset have comics focused on the cup. This one is ok - cup is a bit distant and I cannot tell which character is giving or receiving the award. 

Note that the card makes no mention of Williams Rookie of the Year award.

 

More Rookie Iconogaphy

 

1962 Topps is not the only time that a Billy Williams card features rookie related iconography 

 

1961 Topps #141 Billy Williams

 

In just 1961 and 1962 Topps added a Star Icon to a few of the rookies in the set. Other notables from 1961 were Carl Yastrzemski and Phillies Catcher Clarence Coleman. Hall of Famer Juan Marichal's rookie card is in 1961T but did not get a Rookie Star Icon.

Sources and Links

1962 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Subset Index

Billy Williams HOF Index

Baseball-Ref

NBC Bay Area

1976 Topps #251 Rick Monday

It happened on April 25 1976.

During the Bicentennial 44 years ago Rick Monday became a Patriotic Hero by saving an American Flag from being set afire at Dodger stadium. 

1976 Topps #251 Rick Monday

This is the card that Topps issued of Monday in 1976. Couple of things I like about this card - first off collectors recall the simple design of 1976T which features a team related color with a complimentary color on the name plate. The photo appears to be taken at Spring Training - notice that Monday is wearing a Home Uni yet there is a palm tree in the background beyond his left elbow.

I am always a fan of identifying bat knobs on cards. Here we can sort of see Monday's #7 which he wore most of his career.

The Position Icon

The final item I want to point out is the position icon. It is a point of interest in that becomes the focus on a 1976T design. Each position has a different icon including unique artwork for Left and Right handed pitchers.  For outfielders like Monday the player is show flagging down a fly ball.

Baseball iconography is actually pretty rare in Topps designs. This is really sad and it is getting rarer as Topps moves to using generic formats that can be used for multiple sports, films and other media.

The Photo

Rick Monday Rescues American Flag (Vice/James Roark)

Photographer James Roark caught the above iconic image of Rick Monday saving the flag.  The picture was nominated for the 1976 Photographic Pulitzer which ended up awarded to a different photo taken in April of 1976 that also involved a flag.

Phungo Originals  

For me the Outfielder icon used on 1976 Topps echoed the James Roark photo - it easy to see the fielder running with a Flag rather than Flagging down a baseball. 

This similarity inspired me to create a Phungo Original...

1976T 0425 Rick Monday

For the most part I tried to keep the everything about the card the same as the Topps. I enhanced the Cubs logo a tad and kept the palm tree because I liked how it balanced the image. The 7 on the bat knob is enlarged as well.

The most significant change is adding the American Flag and making it prominent in the frame.

I have always liked when a trading card can tell a story and I am happy that 1) this idea came to me and 2) I was able to execute it to my satisfaction. 

Sources and Links
Rick Monday Index

Vice.com (David Davis / James Roark)
NPR

1999 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Subset (honoring 1998 Cup Winners)

This is an Index to postings about the 1998 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team that was honored in the 1999 Set.

1999 Topps Rookie Cup #20 Kerry Wood

1999 Topps Rookie Cup All-Star Checklist
C          A.J. Hinch               Oakland Athletics   
1B        Todd Helton            Colorado Rockies   
2B        Miguel Cairo           Tampa Bay Devil Rays   
3B        Bobby Smith            Tampa Bay Devil Rays   
SS        Mike Caruso            Chicago White Sox   
OF       Ben Grieve               Oakland Athletics   
OF       Magglio Ordonez     Chicago White Sox   
OF       Mark Kotsay            Florida Marlins   
RHP    Kerry Wood              Chicago Cubs   
LHP    Jesus Sanchez            Florida Marlins

Sources and Links
B-R Bullpen Baseball-Ref
Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Master Index

Sunday Night Baseball: 1961 Topps #35 Ron Santo

With Cubs on national TV tonight prior to hosting the Phillies this week I felt it was a good time to honor Hall of Famer Ron Santo.

1961 Topps #35 Ron Santo (rc)

Due to Topps diligence (and traded sets) it is rare that a player of Santo's stature gets a Rookie Cup on his actual rookie card. I took a glance at the list and among Hall of Famers the only other rookie cup/ rookie card combos I found were Willie McCovey (1960) and Eddie Murray (1978).

There are three other players that qualify, however they won their Rookie All-Star awards in years when Topps chose not to adorn winners cards with the rookie cup icon: Ozzie Smith(1979), Ryne Sandberg(1983), and Kirby Puckett (1985).

Sy Berger on Topps and Santo

1961 February 22 The Sporting News (JT Spink)

In a 1961 interview in "The Sporting News" Topps executive Sy Berger addressed the omission of both Willie McCovey and Ron Santo from the 1959 and 1960 sets respectively.  Regardless both were properly honored with Rookie All-Star cards that also happen to be Hall of Fame Rookie Cards.

1961 Topps #35 Ron Santo (rc - bside)

The center panel of the cartoons mentions Santo's Topps All-Star rookie award. Of the 10 All-Star Rookie cards in the 1961 Topps Set, seven of them have cartoons mentioning their selection.

The text notes that there was a Vote by "Youngsters". As part of an outreach program to raise interest in trading cards Topps sent out ballots via various youth organizations including the Boy Scouts, Boys Clubs of America and the YMCA. The Results of the voting were the early All-Star Rookie teams.

The origins of the Topps Rookie All-Stars is worthy of it's own posting and we hope to elaborate on this at some point.

Phungo Ron Santo HoF Index
1966 Topps Year of the Dragon Birthday
Obituary/Retired Number (2010)

Sources and Links
1961 Topps All-Star Rookies Index
Cards that Never Were
BR Bullpen
The Sporting News (1961 02 22, 1959 07 15)
baseball-ref

1999 Topps Opening Day #162 Highlights Kerry Wood 20 strikeout Game

The Nationals Max Scherzer added his name to the short list of pitchers to record 20 K games last nights, the others were HoF Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and....

 1999 Topps OD #162 Kerry Wood

Kerry Wood in just his 5th career game struck out 20 Astros in a 2-0 complete game victory. The sole hit of the game was a third inning single by Ricky Guttierrez.

Among the Hitters in the Houston Lineup were Hall of Famer Craig Biggio (1K), Jeff Bagwell (3), Moises Alou (3) and Derek Bell (2).

1992 Topps #162 Kerry Wood (b-side)
  
The story of the game is told on the back of the card, however there is a Sloppy Topps moment as they got the score of the game incorrect - The text says 1-0, however the Cubs recorded two runs in the game.

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref

Man of the Year: Ryne Sandberg

In a year when Philadelphia teams fired 3 coaches in the four major sports and the only one to survived started 3-32 it only seems appropriate to give a "Man of the Year" award to Ryne Sandberg.

Score Presaged this a quarter century ago.

1991 Score #815 1990 Score Man of the Year Ryne Sandberg

Ok Score was noting Sandberg's accomplishments as a player: A Power hitting and slick fielding second baseman.

Regardless I wish things would have worked out better in Philadelphia for Ryne Sandberg. And technically I suppose he quit rather than got fired, but I think his departure was inevitable.

Score's 1990 Man of the Year
It should be noted the 1990 Man of the Year was not just given to Ryne Sandberg for his on-field prowess. 

1991 Score #815 1990 Score Man of the Year Ryne Sandberg (b-side)

Ryne Sandberg's charitable work in Chicago during the era is noted on the back of the card. Specifically his work with the Chicago Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation is mentioned.



Sources and Links
Phungo HoF Index Ryne Sandberg
Sports-Ref
Chicago Tribune - Jacquelyn Heard

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.

flip

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

Game Report 2015 0625 Dodgers 4 at Cubs 0

Throwing up a sort of quick posting with some pictures from a game Team Phungo attended as part of SABR 45 in Chicago. The Dodgers shutout the Cubs 4-0 in a game that had some odd events.

Howie Kendrick had a 2 RBI double in the first for LA which was all that the Dodgers needed. Cubs starter Jon Lester struggled to find the plate for most of his outing and was lifted after 4 innings. Carlos Frias started for the Dodgers and navigated his way through five innings. The Bullpen completed the shutout by pitching to one over the minimum over the final four innings.

Snapshots

Edwin Jackson vs Alex Guerrero 

The Cubs have honored Ernie Banks with his #14 behind Home Plate. You may also notice that the classic scoreboard is no longer the outfield feature. The two new scoreboards are not for everyone, but I found them to be well done and informative.

Anthony Rizzo

Anthony Rizzo was the Cubs lone bright spot for the day, going 3-4 with a pair of doubles.

Jimmy Rollins

Getting to see the Dodgers gave us a chance to see our old friend Jimmy Rollins. He had a bunt single which was something I don't recall him doing very often with the Phillies, he was also caught stealing - making the 3rd out at 3rd base. I probably saw Jimmy do that while he was in Philly.

Matt Sczczur

I was looking forward to seeing Kris Bryant while I was in Chicago. Unfortunately he left the game after one inning (flu like symptons). That did open the door for Matt Sczczur to get into the game. Sczczur played his collegiate baseball (and football) at Villanova which is located just down the road from Phungo HQ.

"Sweet Swinging" Billy Williams

There are a couple of statues outside of the entrances of Wrigley. This one of Billy Williams who we featured a few Sunday's ago is outside gate D.

Paddington and Clark

There were three first pitches for the game - none more fun then the one from Paddington the Bear. The throw was terribly off the mark. The Cubs new mascot, Clark, was the catcher for the pitch and ran over a cameraman in an effort to catch Paddington's errant throw.

In the photo above Clark is shown giving Paddington a gift, which was the ball to be used on the first pitch.

Sources and Links
SABR 45 Index
Chicago Travelblog
Baseball-ref

Sunday Night Baseball: Cubs HoF Billy Williams turns 77

With Sunday Night Baseball in Chicago we will take a look at the 1960s era Cubs Hall of Fame Left Fielder and Monday Birthday Boy Billy Williams

1965 Topps #220 Billy Williams

Pretty strong HoF Resume for Mr Williams: 426 Home Runs, 2711 hits, 1961 Rookie of the Year, 1972 Batting Champ, and 3 Time League Total Base Leader.

If it wouldn't be for Johnny Bench, Billy Williams would also have a pair of MVP awards on his mantle as well.

The only omission is his modest postseason contributions. Like all the big time Cubs of the era (or almost any era) Williams got shut out of the World Series until he moved onto another team. Williams finally got to experience the playoffs in 1975 at the age of 37 as a member of the Oakland A's.  Unfortunately his only playoff opportunity was brief as the A's were swept by the Boston Red Sox.

Flip

1965 Topps #220 Billy Williams (b-side)

Nice snap shot of Billy Williams number mid career. At 27 the man was established but still early in his career, He would hit 319 Homers after this card was produced. The cartoon is a nice nod to Williams Rookie of the Year award in 1961. He appears to be driving a VW Beetle, likely as nice a car as a rookie could afford in 1961 when Billy Williams pulled in an estimated $9500.


Post career Billy Williams returned to the Cubs as a coach but never got the chance to manage a club. In August 13th 1987 The Cubs retired Williams #26 just a few after his induction to the Hall of Fame. The Cubs drew 35,033 for the ceremony and the Fans got to see a W that day. 

Phun Phact
The trade that sent from Billy Williams to Oakland was for a package of players that included Manny Trillo - The second baseman for the 1980 World Champion Phillies.

Billy Williams HoF Index

1962 Topps #288 (rookie cup)
1965 Topps #220 (Year of the Tiger Birthday)
1965 Topps #4 (LL HR)

Statue at Wrigley Field

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref
SABR bio by Mark Armour
This Day in Chicago Cubs History

Baseball America #3 Prospect Addison Russell

A week after calling up Baseball America's #1 Prospect, the Cubs are not calling up the BA #3 Prospect.

 

2011 Topps USA Baseball #USA-57  Addison Russell

This is a card from the 2011 USA Baseball set which was issued when Addison Russell was still in High School at age 17. 

Flip

2011 Topps USA Baseball #USA-57  Addison Russell (b-side)

The reverse side gives a snapshot of Russell's devotion to the game. 

In the early part of the 2015 season the Cubs have become a much watch team.

Addison Russell 2013

An Addison Russell card was the subject of an interview with a Topps rep on an MLB network. A transcript of the conversation can be found here.

Good news for the prospector who picked up the 2013 BowPlat card mentioned in our posting. It is currently up from the $7.77 purchase price in 2013 to $10.50 in current auctions.

Sources and Links 
Baseball-ref
ebay

Sunday Night Baseball Cardinals at Cubs: 1966 Topps Ernie Banks

ESPN opens the 2015 MLB season with the Cardinals and Cubs on Sunday Night Baseball. Neither team participated in the 2014 World Series but they are division rivals each with storied histories.

1966 Topps #110 Ernie Banks

I am sure ESPN will turn a lot of attention to one of the greatest Cubs ever during their telecast. So great that they call him Mr Cub.

Sunday will be the first Official Cubs game since Ernie Banks died in late January.  There will be a pregame tribute to the Hall of Famer and Cubs players will wear a commemorative patch on their uniforms throughout the season.

1966 Topps
From 1954-1962 All of Banks cards list his position as Shortstop, The above 1966 card is the fourth to list him at first base. Nice portrait shot, Banks cap features Cubs blue on a bright blue sky. The Orange color striping that Topps chose for the Cubs works here as a complementary color those various blues. Despite all the creasing on this card it still pops - Part of that I attribute to Ernie Banks personality beaming through the card.

In 2015 Heritage Topps gave the honor of card #110 to Anthony Rizzo. In past years Topps sometimes tried to echo the photo from the companion set on the Heritage card, The Rizzo card is a  variation pair - neither of the images is similar to the Ernie Banks 66T card

Source and Links
Phungo Ernie Banks Hof Index
Phungo 1966 Topps/2015 Heritage Index
Chicago Cubs
Cardboard Connection

2015 Topps Inserts: Free Agent 40 - Andre Dawson

Delving into the 2015 Topps Insert sets a bit tonight. 

Free Agent 40 is an insert set for 2015 Topps which is dedicated to the biggest FA signings of the last 40 years. Sort of a more modern version of big trade subsets.

2015 Topps F40-7 Free Agent 40 Andre Dawson 

F40 looks like a lot of other recent insert set. A dozen Hall of Fame caliber players connected by some theme designed to be a canvas for "Hits"

This Andre Dawson card piqued my interested for a bit of text on the back.

2015 Topps F40-7 Free Agent 40 Andre Dawson (b-side)

We have a DALLAS GREEN Sighting. It is a story I have heard repeated dozens of times, but it is still cool to see it commemorated on cardboard. Dallas Green signs Andre Dawson for a half millon bucks and the Hawk goes on to have an MVP season.

Auto/Relics
Andre Dawson is one of 15 subjects in the S1 insert set, none of the 15 cards are of Phillies. Ten of the players are given the relic treatment, half of which also have autographs and auto-relic. Dawson is not among the players for which Auto or Relics were produced. 
This is all pretty familiar territory for Insert sets. I have always wanted to take a closer look into what players get into these insert sets, this will hopefully be the beginning of this analysis.

Sources and Links
2015 Topps Index
Cardboard Connection
ebay
baseball-ref

Ernie Banks 1931-2015

Late Friday Night we got the news that Ernie Banks passed away a week shy of his 84th birthday.

2008 07 13 - Ernie Banks

I never got a chance to see Ernie Banks play, He retired when I was four, but I did get to see him at the 2008 Futures Game in New York.

It isn't the same as seeing the man play but there is something cool about seeing a legend take the field honored by an ovation and waving his cap. That is what Ernie Banks did that day, he was the honorary captain for the National League. This pix was taken before I really started using the zoom a lot and working on camera angles. That didn't stop me from putting Banks on a Phungo Card

1959 NL MVP

1975 Topps #197 1959 MVPs Fox & Banks

In 1959 Ernie Banks won his 2nd consecutive MVP award. The season was honored as part of the 1975 Topps MVP subset. The flip of the 1975T card snapshots sums up a few Banks accomplishments in the 1959 season. 

1975 Topps #197 (b-side edit)

Modern analytics agree with the MVP votes of 1959 voters. Banks had a 10.2 WAR in 1959, it was the highest of his career and led the National League.

The 1975T Selfie is of a card originally from 1959

1959 Topps #350 Ernie Banks

This is a nice base card of Banks, most of the 1959T cards are straight up head shots. I like seeing the glove in the shot and it appears that Mr Cub was captured at his playing home, Wrigley Field. Once again we flip the card and see that Banks 1959 card summarizes the accomplishments that earned hims the 1958 MVP.

1959 Topps #350 Ernie Banks (b-side)

Ernie Banks Tributes
 Dick Allen
Wrigley Wax (397 Banks Cards!)

Waiting til Next Year (tribute including Wrigley Field Sign)
The Phillies Room (2008 Topps Heritage Then Now w/ Ryan Howard)
Night Owl Cards (1971 Topps)
20th Century Topps (1971T,  1960T,  1955T)
The Five Tool Collector (1959 Topps 3 Cards - includes 1959T #350 above)
Drews Cards (Banks Personal Appearance)
Chronicles of Fuji (various autos)
The Lost Collector (Hillshire Farms Auto)
Card Buzz (1954T reprint TTM auto)
Cardboard Connection (several modern retro cards)
Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius (2009 Sighting)
Cardboard Icons (1954 Topps RC)
bdj610 (2011 Topps Variation)
Cardboard Connection (14 Cards showing Banks love of the game)
Rectangle Men (1998 Cubs Convention)
Mint Condition (1954T Reprint)
Life and Baseball Cards (Sketch Card Originals)
Cards that Never Were (Fleer custom)
Lifetime Topps Project (Topps Archives 1972T)
Starting Nine (various retros)
My life in the Sports Card Hobby (photos)


Other Voices - Cards from this post that are examined at other sites

1959 Topps one f/g card at a time
1975 Topps (Night Owl Cards)

Sources and Links
Phungo Ernie Banks Hall of Fame Index
Baseball-ref

Noteworthy: 2013 Bowman Platinum #BPP10 Javier Baez

There are dozens of disappointments in the Phillies 2014 season. The recent call by the Cubs of Javier Baez reminds us that the Phillies future looks bleak as well.

2013 Bowman Platinum #BPP10 Javier Baez 

September Call Ups are looming but the Phillies have no one near the caliber of Baez in their system.  At AAA this season the Cubs future second baseman or shortstop has knocked out 23 Homers along with 24 doubles. His BA is an ok .260 with a very respectable .510 slugging number. This is a followup to a 2013 season where Baez hit 37 Homers across 2 levels.

We don't know what the future holds for the 21 year old Javier Baez. We do know that prior to the season 3 different prospect ranking services placed Baez in the Top 10. There is no Phillies that were held in such high regard - Maikel Franco drew rankings ranging from #17 to #52, Jesse Biddle #53 - #94. Neither has had a good 2014, although Franco has played well for the last month.

As the Phillies turn the page to 2015 hopefully some prospects emerge and we can post a Bowman Card of a Phillies player next year.  

Sources
Baseball-ref

Sunday Night Baseball: 1984 Topps #456 Fergie Jenkins n Keith Moreland

This week ESPN is taking part in the 100th birthday party for Wrigley Field by broadcasting the Cardinals and Cubs from the classic ballpark.

1984 Topps #456 Cubs Batting and Pitching Leaders Keith Moreland & Fergie Jenkins
 1984T included a subset of team checklists that featured team leaders on the front of the card. In 1983 the Cubs team leaders were two former Phillies.

Keith Moreland who turned 60 last Friday came up with the Phils in 1978 and was a member of the 1980 World Series team. He had a key hit in game 2 of the 80 Series and served as the first DH in franchise history in game 3. 

The Cubs 1983 pitching staff included 3 former Phillies: Fergie Jenkins, Dick Ruthven and Dickie Noles. As a Cub Ruthven actually posted a better ERA (4.10) than Jenkins, but He didn't come over to Chicago (from the Phillies) until May 22nd - this caused Ruthven to fall a few innings short of the 162 needed to qualify for ERA leadership. 

As can be seen above the leaders presented for the statistical categories of Batting Average and ERA. Today the leaders would possibly be some SABRmetric category like OBP, WHIP, or very possibly WAR. Had the cards featured OBP and WHIP leaders it would have appeared the same. Leon Durham had a better OBP than Moreland but he fell 100 ABs short of a qualifying season. Jankins trailed Ruthven in WHIP, but as mentioned above Ruthven was short in innings pitched.

WAR is a different story, turns out the 83 Cubs team leader wasn't Moreland, Jenikns, or any other everyday player or starting pitcher. The leader was closer Lee Smith

Fergie Jenkins
Phungo HoF Index

Source 
Baseball-ref

2014 Hall of Fame Candidates Index

This is the Index for the 2014 Hall of Fame Candidates that were profiled by team Phungo. This series was largely done between November of 2013 and February 2014. Three of the HoF candidates became inductees Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas.

1988 Topps #361 Greg Maddux

2014 HoF Candidate Postings  

Craig Biggio (Phungo Vote = HoF)      
Tom Glavine HoF
Todd Jones  
Greg Maddux HoF     
Mike Mussina   HoF      
Rafael Palmeiro HoF    
Mike Piazza (2013 Profile)     
Curt Schilling (2013 Profile)      
Mike Timlin      
Larry Walker 
 
2013 HoF Rejects (no longer on ballot)

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Phungo HoF Index
 

Ryne Sandberg and Rick Renteria reunite at Wrigley

Last summer Team Phungo got this snapshot of Ryne Sandberg and Rick Renteria exchanging lineups prior to a Padres Phils game.

2013 09 11 Rick Renteria and Ryne Sandberg

At the time Renteria was a bench coach and Sandberg was likely still Interim Manager. Today (weather permitting) the two will once again meet at home plate. This time it will be as opposing managers during the lineup announecement for the Home Opener at Wrigley Field.

1966 Topps #254 Ferguson Jenkins/Bill Sorrell RC

The Phillies are on a travel day between the opening series’ for the Rangers and Cubs. There are several players that tie the three teams together including Mitch Williams and Jamie Moyer. Today we are going to feature one of their pitching brethren Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins.

1966 Topps #254 Ferguson Jenkins/Bill Sorrell RC

Yes Fergie Jenkins’ rookie card was issued with him wearing Phillies pinstripes. Unfortunately the Philllies traded Fergie to the Chicago Cubs in a deal that returned an end of career Larry Jackson. Jenkins pitched for several clubs, but the two teams that make up the bulk of his Hall of Fame career are the Cubs and Rangers.

Career Highlights include Jenkins’ 1971 Season in which he won the Cy Young Award (backed up by modern WAR numbers that also would have made him NL MVP).  Fergie led the league in Ws twice ('71 & '74), four times he led the league in CGs and K/BB ratio 5 times. For his career he won 284 games vs 226 losses. 

Despite his long and successful career Jenkins never got the opportunity to play in the postseason.

Phun Phact

During Jenkins 1971 Cy Young Award season he HIT 6 home runs.

Fergie Jenkins HoF Index
1970 Topps #240
1984 Topps #456 Cubs Team Leaders 
1984 Topps #706 Active Career Wins Leaders
Phungo HoF Index Page

Sources

baseball-ref

2014 Heritage the Originals - 1965 Topps #4 League Leaders Home Runs

The typical format of the 1965 Topps League Leaders has been referred to by Night Owl Cards as Olympic Podium style. The League Leader on the Top, with two smaller photos of the 2nd and 3rd  place finishers. Of course in many categories there are ties. Take the 1964 Home Run Leaders

1965 Topps #4 League Leaders Home Run

This LL card is packed full of players - It is kind of a cool one for Phillies Fans. You get Johnny Callison plus 3 Hall of Famers.  I am sure it is a must have for Giants fans as well, I mean how many LL cards have 3 players from the same team.

Willie Mays and Billy Williams sort of get equal billing, although Mays had 14 more Home Runs then Williams (47-33). Callison and the other folks on the bottom tier each tallied 31 dingers.  This can all be seen on the flip of the card:

 

1965 Topps #4 LL Home Runs (b-side)

Kind of interesting feature here, the HR hitters are listed down to 18 and then we are presented with a separate list of all the players that hit a Grand Slam. The latter list includes the only career grand slam hit by Pete Rose, which was off the Phillies and Dallas Green.  

Traditional 1965T Olympic Podium

1965 Topps #3 LL Home Runs (image swiped from baseball card database)

The AL counterpart to our titular card is a fine example of the 3 man LL card, with some stellar reps in Harmon Killewbrew, Boog Powell, and Mickey Mantle. 

MLB 2013 did feature some ties in the LL categories, it will be interesting to see how this is handled for Topps in 2014 Heritage.

More Banished Chris Short
A few weeks ago we discussed the omission of Phillies pitcher Chris Short from Topps cards prior to 1967. The fine creative folks over at Cards that Never Were figured out that this meant that Topps had to create an NL ERA LL card without Short, who placed 3rd in 1964. CTNW put together their own custom card that is pretty sweet.  Cards that Never Were is on a bit of Chris Short binge - their example of the 1965T Chris Short card is here. (hat tip to Chris Short fan Jim From Downingtown for pointing me to the CTNW LL posting)

1965 Topps/2014 Heritage Index   

Base - #534 John Herrnstein 

Rookie Cup - #460 Dick Allen 

Rookie Stars - #282 Dick Estelle & Masanori Murakami 

2010 Topps Vintage Collection - #VLC2 Johnny Mize

World Series - #139 The Cards Celebrate

More info on 1965 Topps
The entire 1965 Topps Series was covered by Kevin B of Orioles Card "O" the day on The Great 1965 Topps Project
Cardboard Connection
Sports Collectors Digest (TS O' Connell)
Golden Age of Baseball Cards
Dean's Cards
Beckett

PSA

Sources

Night Owl Cards 

Cards that Never Were

baseball card database

baseball-ref.com

2014 Topps