Father's Day: Curt Schilling 1998 Fleer SI Then & Now

There are a couple of Father and Son/Daughter cards out there, this is one of my favorites.

1998 Fleer SI Legends of Today #130 Curt Schilling

Understandably the card a favorite of Curt Schilling. Last month he posted this via his Twitter account.

Twitter by @Gehrig38

Curt is pitching to his eldest son Gehrig in the photo (the @Gehrig28 referred to in the Curt Schilling's tweet).

This Past Friday Gehrig and his sister Gabby were featured in an SI.com article discussing bullying and internet bullying.    
 
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1998 Fleer SI Legends of Today #130 Curt Schilling (b-side)

The reverse of the Schilling card contains some comparisons to a few pitching legends. This is before the three World Championships and he is being held up to the standards of a Legend like Bob Gibson. The presence of reliever Rollie Fingers in the graphic seems odd, however the walk rates for him and Schilling appear to be somewhat similar. 

Sources and Links
baseball cardpedia
Sports Illustrated - Jeff Bradley
Gehrig Schilling
Curt Schilling

Happy New Year, Year of the Horse that is - 1994 UD Collectors Choice #253 Curt Schilling

Friday January 31st is New Years, Chinese New Year. Within the Chinese Zodiac we are moving into the Year of the Horse. Over the next couple of weeks we will take a look at a few Year of the Horse ball players.  

1994 UD Collectors Choice #253 Curt Schilling

Thanks to former Phillies GM Ed Wade, Curt Schilling is the perfect poster boy for Year of the Horse. Wade once famously quipped Schilling was a "horse" every fifth day, and a "horse's ass" the other four.

I think that pretty much makes Curt Schilling our Year of the Horse rep for birth year 1966, but there are a few other notables 
  

1966 baseball Horses:
Greg Maddux 
Tom Glavine

Larry Walker (nicknamed booger)

Tim Wakefield

Jose Mesa

David Justice

Jeff Conine

Mark Whiten

Shawn Abner (from Mechanicsburg PA)

Past Chinese New Years Postings
Year of the Snake (2013)
Year of the Dragon (2012)
Year of the Rabbit (2011)
Year of the Tiger 2010
Year of the Ox (2009)

Sources
Finger Food
Baseball-ref.com
 

Who would induct Curt Schilling into the Phillies Wall of Fame

The fan voting for the Phillies 2013 Wall of Fame Honoree closed earliar today. There was only one reallly legit candidate on the ballot.

2011 Phungo #38 Curt Schilling

There were about a dozen candidates.  My 3 votes went to Jim Konstanty, Harry Wright and Pinky Whitney. Other candidates included Rick Wise, Von Hayes, LC, Fregosi, Ozark, Gregg Gross, and Ron Reed.   

I suppose at some point he would get my Phillies WoF vote, but not just yet. If the fans vote him in for 2013 thats fine with me - I am off the hook.

I do think that he will end up winning the 2013 fan ballot.  The rest of the candidates are too thin and spread across such varied eras that I don't think any of them could muster more votes then Schill. 

This leads me to a question. Who in the Phillies family will induct Schilling into the Phillies WoF? I just don't seem him as being that close with any of the Phils alums. Past inductees were introduced by folks that made some sort of sense.  In 2012 Mike Lieberthal was inducted by fellow Phils WoF catcher Bob Boone.  Darren Daulton was introduced by Steve Carlton which surprised me but apparently the two were known to have an adult bevarage together.

There are other 1993 Phils already on the Wall including Dautlon and John Kruk.  But I always saw them as being from the other end of Macho row.  Kruk and Schilling are both colleagues with ESPN and perhaps the two of them have a better professional relationship then I imagine.

Of course none of this may matter - Maybe Curt Schilling would blow off the honor. Maybe Curt Schilling is too big for Philadelphia, just like he was back in the 2000 season. 

Phungo Cards
I concede this is a crap photo - damn you Valley Forge Convention Center basement and your shoddy lighting.  I wanted a Schilling card in one of the Phungo sets and this was just barely good enough to make the grade.

Phun Cards 2000 Topps #120 Curt Schilling: 2013 HoF Candidate

This one is no fun for me.  If I had an HoF vote it would be no. Not on the first ballot and likely not ever.

Curt Schilling is a borderline for regular season numbers with many outstading playoff and World Series performances. You probably know all this and already have an opinion on Schilling - Which likely is based at least partially on his off the field persona and oddly for his generation has nothing to do with steroids.

2000 Topps #120 Curt Schilling

Not discussing Schilling does give me an opportunity to discuss 2000 Topps however. 

One of the things I hear regarding foil on cards in recent years is that it doesn't scan well.  Is that really a legitimage complaint.  If the card looks ok out of the pack and you can read the name why should the readability of the players name on a scan be a design flaw. Peoiple will mention that "3-D" cards don't scan well, but the complaint will be it is a stupid idea not a dumb design. 

I rather like 2000 Topps - minimalist, but contains all the pertinent info you would like to see on a baseball card. Team Colors and a modest team logo. It isn't a set that will make the Topps all-time list but it is more then adequate.

2013 HoF Candidate Postings

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Mike Piazza

Swag from O No!!!, Another Orioles Blog

I desperately need to get caught up on trade posts, and will try and knock out a bunch of them in the next couple o weeks.  This unfortunately means that I will likely not dedicate the time and effort to them that they deserve.

Today we are looking at some cards I received way back in April from Ryan over at O No!!! Another Orioles Blog

2008 Topps Update #UH241 Chase Utley

2011 Topps Heritage #77 Chase Utley

Chase took ground balls during BP today for the Phillies.  We are past the quarter pole in the 2012 season and the Phils haven't seen either Utley nor Ryan Howard.  Hope we hear from the soon. 

The two cards above are just a pair of the many cards that Ryan sent over.  He knocked out several cards off my Phillies checkers,  and another pile of cards from the 2011 Heritage set.    

2003 Topps 572 Todd Pratt

1996 Topps 128 Curt Schilling

  Big Old Stack of 2011 Topps Heritage 

The 2011 Topps Heritage is a set that I am buiding by default, partially in the name of journalistic research delving into potential hot-boxes in last years set.  FYI I did not get a hot box.

For a look at my 2011 Topps Heritage Want List Click Here

My Phils Topps 1980s Collection Want List is Here. 

For access to all my want lists click here 

The Happy Trails Randy Johnson Phungo Challenge

(click to enlarge)

Ok in honor of the Big Unit retiring (300 Wins, nearly 5000 Ks, and 5 Cy Young Awards) Team Phungo invites all you internet Baseball-Reference research junkies to play Name the Game!

This is a quad sticker that was offered in a Topps Bazooka product. In the SouthEast corner you can see Randy Johnson tossing a pitch. Can you guess the date of the game Johnson is pitching in?

No Prizes - Just the Honor of Winning the First Phungo Challenge of the new Decade.

Curt Schilling Retires

2000 Pacific #332 Curt Schilling

Curt Schilling announced his retirement via his website today. He has had an excellent career, but I like most Phils fans have mixed emotions about Schill.

The Phils won and NL Title with him and then had to jettison him from a poor team. He spent more time with the Phillies then he did on either team for which he won the World Series.

Schilling is now retired, not sure he stays retired......But one thing I am sure of, even if he remains retired, it won't be the last we see and hear from number 38. I am sure he will show up on plenty of TV and Radio.