ANNIVERSARY: 1976 07 13 Veterans Stadium Hosts it's first All-Star Game

On the day after the 87th Mid-Summer Classic we are taking a look at the 47th All-Star Game.

If you have been following along here at Phungo you are aware that we are working on a yearlong series discussing the 1976 All-Star Game which was hosted in Philadelphia. Today Marks the 40th Anniversary of that game.

1976 All-Star Game Program

This is the cover for the 1976 ASG program. It may not appear this way but the cover was designed but an Artist many collectors are familiar with, Dick Perez.

While the cover does a nice job of featuring a behind the plate shot overlaying Independence hall I do find it odd that there is not a Red White and Blue motif to capitalize on the Bicentennial fervor.

The Program opens with a section that includes photos of players enjoying many of the tourist attractions around Philadelphia.

The man with the Liberty Bell is Phillies then President Ruly Carpenter.

The other two pictures are Mike Schmidt and Wife Donna, sporting similar hair styles while exploring Valley Forge Park, which I believe is now a National Park, but is listed as a State park in the above text.

Sheena & Larry Bowa at Independence Hall

The Luzinski's at the Art Museum, and the Garry Maddox family at the Zoo. These pictures are interesting as they feature a couple of kids that went on to play Professional Baseball, Ryan Luzinski and Garry Maddox Jr.. Neither of the youngsters made it to the major leagues.

I picked up the program at a SABR meeting and whomever I inherited it from kept score for the game. Near as I can tell the scoring is pretty accurate.

1976 All-Star Game +40 Series
A full Index to our postings related to the 1976 ASG can be found here. I know there are a lot of notables that we haven't gotten to, rest assured just because we have made it to the games anniversary that doesn't mean that we are done featuring the many players involved in that game. Ideally we will get to all of the Phillies and Hall of Famers that were involved in the game, but well time restraints and laziness always get in the way.

Sources and Links
Larry Bowa Index
1976 ASG Index
Mike Schmidt HoF Index
Baseball Almanac

Tug McGraw would have been 70: 1979 Topps #345

Over the weekend found out via @HighHeatStats that this past Saturday would have been Tug McGraw's 70th birthday. McGraw seemed perpetually young, his 2004 death from brain cancer at age 59 felt so premature. 

1999 09 15 Tug McGraw Event Poster for Chester County Historical Society Speaker Series. Artwork by Dick Perez
1979 Topps #345 Tug McGraw

15 years ago I got to see Tug McGraw speak as part of a baseball exhibit at the Chester County Historical Society, which at the time was a block away from my apartment.

As one can imagine Tug was a great speaker, He talked about his days as a starting pitcher with the Mets and as a reliever for the 1980 Phillies.

Some of the interesting tidbits I remember are that he pitched against Sandy Koufax. He also batted against him and said that one of his proudest moments was putting the ball in play off of the Hall of Famer.

He brought his personal World Series Trophy (the players each get a smaller replica trophy from the league) from the Phillies 1980 World Championship. He also had his 1969 World Series Ring from the Miracle Mets triumph. McGraw explained that he knew it was a Phillies event but that the then current year (1999) was a Mets Anniversary Year and he wore that ring. The following year would be the Phillies 20th anniversary and he would switch rings in 2000.

Amazingly McGraw passed both items through the audience. He said he had done this has similar speaking engagements and knew he would get them back.

Autographs
The night of the CCHS event Tugger signed autographs for all in attendance. There was youngster in front of me that had a baseball that literally had the cover ripped away. The boy asked McGraw to sign the ball on the inside of the cover. McGraw mentioned that he had signed thousands of autographs but had never signed on the inside of the horsehide.

McGraw signed both poster that accompanied the event and a 1979 Topps Card that I brought. Both autographs contained his trademark smiley face.  

Sources & Links
Baseball Card Database

Sunday Night Baseball: 2006 Allen & Ginter Dick Perez Sketches #4 David Ortiz

This week Sunday Night Baseball is once again featuring the Yankees and Red Sox.  For the last decade many of the meetings between the rivals have feature Big Papi at DH. 

2006 Allen & Ginter Dick Perez Sketches #4 David Ortiz

After an injury shortened 2012 David Ortiz is having a terrific season. Going into tonight's game he is batting .325/.406/.586 with 24 dingers and 77 RBIs. This is all at the age of 37.  Ortiz's 425 career Home Runs and 2 World Series rings are going to make him a borderline Hall of Fame candidate at some point - despite spending most of his career as a DH.  If your on Twitter Andy @HighHeatStats occasionally chronicles Ortiz's last 162 game numbers, and they are impressive.

2006 A&G Dick Perez Sketches Insert Set

The Dick Perez sketches were the per pack insert in the A&G debut offering in 2006. The 30 card insert set contained a single player from each Major League team. The Phillies 2006  rep was Bobby Abreu.  Of the 30 players in the set about 18 remain active in 2013 (if you count retirees like Lance Berkman who played in '13 and Johan Santana who is on a roster, but has been DL'd all season.). Of those 18, 6 are currently Yankees (A-Rod, Ichiro, Mark Teixeira, Alfonso Soriano, Vernon Wells, and Travis Hafner).  Two are Red Sox (Ortiz and Jake Peavy). At least 3 were moved at or near this years trade deadline (Wells, Peavy and Soriano).


And finally 1 was recently suspended for being too lazy to get a prescription written by Dr Nick Riviera (Miguel Tejada)  

Other Voices
A recent Cardboard Junkie posting on the 2006 A&G Insert set.

Sources
BaseballCardPedia.com
Baseball-ref.com 
MLBTV
Cardboard Junkie

Dick Perez interview on PCN

A local cable network PCN (Pennsylvania Cable Network) recently broadcast an interview with Baseball Hall of Fame and Baseball Card Artist Dick Perez.  Perez lives in Pennsylvania now and is also the team artist for the Phillies.

Here is a link to the interview.  You have to scroll down the right hand side of the page below all the inauguration and political stuff.  There are a series of dark blue boxes - Perez is in the one titled "PCN Profiles Episodes"  He is the interview dated 1/23/2011.     

It is pretty interesting, covers Perez personal life, lots of baseball history, and includes some of Perez's paintings and some cool photos of great ballplayers.