All-Star Rookie Cups in the 2024 World Series

To kick off the 2024 edition of the World Series we are going to examine the series from a Rookie Cup perspective and see if that can predict a winner. 

Yankees

Juan Soto 2019

Gleyber Torres 2019

Aaron Judge 2018

Carlos Rodon 2016

Anthony Rizzo 2013

Giancarlo (Mike) Stanton 2011

Dodgers

James Outman 2024

Will Smith 2020

Shohei Ohtani 2019

Walker Buehler 2019

Sort of Dodgers

Ryan Yarbrough 2019

Jason Heyward 2011

Turns out Rookie Cups are well represented in this year's World Series with each team rostering 6 players this season. However the Yankees have all 6 of their cups on the Postseason Roster. 

Two of the Dodgers six are no longer with the team Ryan Yarbrough was traded and Jason Heyward released. 

The Yankees have gotten contributions from all of their cups players Especially Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton. Even Anthony Rizzo who had a miserable regular season has performed well in the Playoffs.

For the Dodgers Shohei Ohtani has been a star on the big stage but that is it for the hitters. Will Smith has a couple of Home Runs, but otherwise he has been a member of the Dodgers bottom third of the order which has failed to produce. James Outman has not appears in the Postseason but appears to be on the World Series Roster. Walker Buehler, Like Rizzo struggled during the regular season, however his Postseason has been mixed at best. 

If the cups have anything to do with picking a winner all signs point to the Yankees.

1) More Cups 6-4  

2) More contributions from the Cup Players

2019 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team 

Special Shoutout to the 2019 Rookie Cup Team - the cards above are all from the 2019 Cup Class and will all be playing in the World Series this week.  Pretty strong class to have 4 players in a single World Series Five if we count Ryan Yarbrough.

2024 World Series

We will be following the Series this week and giving special attention to the Rookie Cup winners. I will be rooting for the Dodgers so I will be looking for big games out of Ohtani and Buehler.  

 

Sources 

FA Sports Cards Trading Card DB Topps All-Star Rookie Card List

Blaster Break: 2024 Topps Update - inserts (Plus Justin Topa IG Link)

On Monday we covered base cards, today we are going to take a look at the inserts and noteworthy cards. 

Orioles

The blaster was a bit of an Oriole Hot Pack. out of 84 cards Eight were Orioles. We discussed the crummy Stars of MLB cards earlier this week and I am confusing the new Mystical cards with Stars - although they are slightly better. I prefer players wearing their teams uniforms for the ASG, but this year I did not mind the design that much. Regardless the Orioles have lots of young talent and are my favorite AL team, it was nice to get a bunch of them in one pack. 

Shohei Ohtani

I have no idea how many Ohtani cards are in Series 3 but picking up a trio in a blaster feels pretty strong. \

The bottom right card is from a new insert called "All Class". I don't get it, but if I am going to get one that is not a Phillies Player Ohtani is solid. The All Class insert falls at a rate of 1:32 for blasters.

The HR Record Card will go into my game dated binder. The Trout Shared card will go into the Versus collection (2 teams repped on one card)

Retro and Game Dated Cards

Couple of 1989 Retro-Selfies. Big Day in the Volpe Household when he gets to share a room with Willie Mays. Anthony Rizzo is destined for the Game Dated Binder. Ronel Blanco joins one of my favorite collections No-Hitter Cards! 

2024 Update Blaster Review

The Highs of the Blaster was getting a Paul Skenes Card (see Monday's Post), a couple of Ohtani's, a bunch of Orioles and I will also admit I kinda liked the Jack-O-Lanterns Insert. A number of singles will go towards special collections. 

Lows: No Justin Topa card which was #1 on my wish list, and only one Phillies Card. 

There are 2 cards I haven't covered yet one is the Phillies Card (which is a Low) and one is of a Hall of Famer - a high. 

So Mixed bag some fun inserts, but no Topa and a dud Phillie. 

Sources and Links

Topps

1976 ASG +40: Steve Garvey

With the Dodgers hosting the Cubs during the middle games of the NLCS we turn to one of the LA representatives for our 1976 All-Star Game retrospective.

In 1976 Steve Garvey made the third of his ten All-Star teams. He was the only infielder that represented a team other than the Reds.

1981 Topps #530 Steve Garvey

Garvey went 1-3 in the 1976 All-Star Game. In the first inning he picked up an RBI on a triple off of Mark Fidrych and later scored on a ground out by George Foster. The two runs gave the NL Squad a 2-0 lead which they never relinquished in the 7-1 victory.

Steve Garvey always liked the bright lights of big games. He was the MVP of two all-star games (1974 and 1978) as well as a pair of NLCS  - 1978 versus the Phillies, and 1983 with the Padres vs the Cubs.

flip

1981 Topps #530 Steve Garvey (b-side)

Just one thing I wanted to note from the back - check the Games Played column. 1980 was the last of six consecutive years that Garvey would play 160 games or more. He played only 110 in 1981, but that was because of the strike. He would return to play the full 162 the following season.

Garvey started a consecutive games played run on September 3rd 1975 that would continue until 1983. The streak reached 1207 games on July 29 1983 and ranks fourth on all-time list.

Sources and Links
1976 ASG Index
Baseball-Ref
Baseball-Almanac

Topps Now #362: Thanks Phillies Room!!

I am sending out a big Thank You to the fine crew over at the Phillies Room.

All season long Jim has has been keeping his eye out for Phillies Topps Now cards. He has been picking them up in bulk and passing along a card to Phungo HQ.

2016 Topps Now #362 Chase Utley

While not a Phillies card this is certainly one in spirit. There are very few folks Phillies fans are going to miss more than Chase Utley. I am glad to see him in the postseason even if it is with the Philllies west coast rival from my youth.

There are a number of things I love about this card. This is the kind of even that Suits Topps Now well especially for a club like the Phillies who are a bit short on highlights for the 2016 season.

The card also represents a Phungo Game. It was a 15-5 Phillies loss, but I definitely had a good time, you can read more about the game here.

2016 Topps Now #362 Chase Utley (b-side w/ Ryan Howard)

Typically I like some interesting copy on the back of the card, but I think Topps makes the right decision here. Sometimes you can say everything without saying anything at all.

Phungo Pix


I tried to capture a similar idea with this Photo I took at the Utley Return game. I like taking two player photos especially of opponents. It is interesting to see what relationships exist within the sportsworld.

Both of the images on the Topps card were captured by Philadelphia based Photographer Mitchell Leff. The Front of the card is here and the back here. 




Sources and Links 
Phungo Games Collection
Chase Utley Player Collection
Ryan Howard Player Collection
Mitchell Leff
Getty Images
Baseball-ref

Updates
2016 10 11 Added Paragraph regarding Photograher Mitchell Leff

Bucket or Chuck-It; 2016 Topps Throw Back Thursday Set

Ahh time to return to a feature that we haven't had in a while Bucket or Chuck-It. Bucket is good as in add it to your bucket list. Chuck-It is bad as in Toss it out like a pair of worn sneakers.

2016 Topps TBT #37 Mike Piazza '96 ASG MVP

All seaon Jim from the Phillies Room has been picking up Phillies related Topps Now cards in bulk and passing along cards to other Phils collectors. I find the cards unique and as a fan of game dated cards the concept appeals to me, especially when someone like Jim is dedicated to do all the work of submitting the requests to Topps. There have been at least 6 Phillies Topps Now cards and I would like to get to those and a More dedicated thank you to Jim in a future post.

I myself  hadn't picked up anything directly from Topps until recently when I saw in celebration of the Hall of Fame weekend they issued a "bundle" related to this year's inductees Ken Griffey Jr and Mike Piazza.

The six card set is inspired by the 1962T Babe Ruth Subset with 3 cards dedicated to each of the new Hallers.  The second card of the set features a photo of Mike Piazza receiving an the 1996 All-Star Game award.

This card was appealing to me as a Piazza fan and it is a nice add to my local players collection, but the real draw is that the 1996 ASG is a Phungo Game and This is a card I can add to the Phungo Games collection.

Despite the fact that the image on the card makes Piazza appear as if he had a few to many at the family picnic, I do like the front of this card.

However.....

2016 Topps TBT (b-sides)

Topps mailed it in on the b-sides for the text. The backs of all six cards have identical text. The only thing that differentiates each card is the number and the player name.

 It's a shame, if these are such big events in each players career how about paying a writer and a copy editor (or even an intern) for a couple of days work to come up with a paragraph. This is a $20 set of six cards, that can be produced months in advanced - it's not like they woke up on Wednesday and said "Hey we need to put out a Throw Back Thursday set tomorrow" or maybe they did.

Compare

2016 Topps TBT #37 Mike Piazza '96 ASG MVP (b-side)
1962 Topps #138 Babe Ruth Special (b-side)

Check out this example of an original 1962 Babe Ruth Special. We have a pretty detailed summary of Ruth's rough 1925 season. On the New Piazza card all you get "Hey look at us, we have been making cards for 50 years and Mike shares this documentation with Ken Griffey Jr"


Flip

2016 Topps TBT Ken Griffey Jr 1995 ALDS
1962 Topps #138 Babe Ruth Special

Just for comparison we present the front of one of the other TBT specials with Babe's original.  I think Topps did a decent job on the fronts, just wish they would have carried through to the back.

Verdict
Very disappointed, Great Concept, I think Topps picked a great subset to use for these cards, but the execution of the backs is insulting, especially for a set that runs $20.

Sources and Links
1996 All-Star Game Index
Phungo Mike Piazza HoF Index
Phungo Ken Griffey Jr HoF Index
Phungo Babe Ruth HoF Index
Topps TBT
Baseball-Ref

Game Report: Dodgers 15 @ Phillies 5 - Chase Utley Returns

There are things you expect - Chase Utley Getting a Standing Ovation, and there are things that your happy to see but don't really expect - Chase Utley's Ovation extends for a second beat, and he needs to settle the fans so the game can start or Chase Utley hits a Home Run in his return.

Then there are thing that you wonder if they would ever happen - Chase Utley gets a Curtain Call as an opposing player

And Then there are miracles - Chase Utley and Ryan Howard turned back time.

Utley Hit a Grand Slam and got a second curtain call, at this point what was a game at moved into theater. It was watching "the Natural' unfold in real life.

Later Ryan Howard would hit a moonshot Home Run into the Phillies Bullpen, after narrowly missing one earlier in the game.

It was as much fun as a fan can have in a 15-5 Loss.

The Philllies may have been down 10 runs, but for a few hours it felt like 2008 again. The crowd was good size, Everyone was excited and engaged - and I felt eight years younger, Now that's a miracle!

Snapshots

 Chase Utley in Blue :(

Warm Ups

Utley and Ryan Howard Pregame. I think Howard is saying "well if you hit a Home Run, I am going to have to hit one too.."

Just a few #26 Jerseys

Utley signed a number of autographs pregame. The fans were four of five deep down the Left Field line. Good Guy Awards go out to Corey Seager and Chris Taylor who also were spotted signing for the fans.

Fifth Beatle?

Ryan Howard MopTop

Last night was Beatles Night - in celebration of the 50th anniversary of an appearance of what turned out to be the bands US Farewell tour.

Field Report
Our friends over at the Phillies Room were also at the game and they have their own field report which can be found here.

Sources and Links
Chase Utley Player Collection Index
Baseball-ref
Beatles Bible

20th Anniversary: 1996 07 09 Philadelphia hosts All-Star Game

Saturday will mark the 20th Anniversary of the 1996 All-Star Game which was hosted by the Philadelphia Phillies.

In the contest which the NL took 6-0 the Philllies were only represented by one player Ricky Botallico, however there was a Hometown Hero involved in the Game.

Mike Piazza from nearby Phoenixville went 2 for 3 with a Homer and a pair of RBI. The performance earned the Dodgers Catcher Game MVP Honors.

1997 Topps #104 Season Hightlights Mike Piazza

Topps noted Piazza's accomplishments with a card in the Highlights Subset of the 1997 Flagship Set.

I will not sloppy Topps this one as Piazza is wearing a Home jersey, which he would have donned for the All-Star game, but I am thinking this shot is from LA during a glorious day game at Chavez Ravine not at Philadelphia creaky old Veterans Stadium.

The front of the card isn't specific the event, however...

1997 Topps #104 Season Hightlights Mike Piazza (b-side)

Nice  blurb on the back including dateline Philadelphia. The Home Run Piazza hit is detailed nicely, in the 70 or so games I saw at the Vet I can only recall a handful of balls that were hit as far as that one.

Finally the card also mentions Piazza Tenure at Phoenixville High - Makes for a nice add to the Phungo Locals collection.

Mike Piazza HoF Index
In a Couple of weeks Piazza will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. This posting will serves as our index of Piazza related postings.

1994 Topps #1 Philly Sports Hall of Fame
2006 Fleer Ultra #HRK15 - Junk of the Month (Padres WTF?)

Phungo Games Collection
I was lucky enough to attend the 1996 All-Star Game and I am very happy to have this Piazza card in the Phungo Games Collection which is indexed here.

As far as I know Topps did not issue All-Star cards in 1996 Update/Traded or 1997 Cards with ASG flairs. This is kind of a bummer as I would love to have more cards to represent that game. 1997 UD did add have a nice ASG logo on their 1997 Series 1 cards, I hope to take a look at those in a future posting or series.

Sources and Links
Phungo Games Index 
1996 ASG Index
Baseball-Ref

Chase Utley Matches his Favorite Player with Six Hit Game

2008 UD Masterpieces #69 Chase Utley

Prior to a six hit performance on Wednesday Chase Utley's previous game high Hit Total was 5. That game is noted on the back of the above Masterpieces card.

2008 UD Masterpieces #69 Chase Utley (b-side)

During the Phillies 9-3 Victory over the Nats on April 25 2007 Utley collected Five hits including a pair of doubles and recorded 3 RBIs. Three of the hits were with 2 outs. The principle victim of the barrage was John Patterson, a Former #5 overall pick who would only pitch in 2 more games as a Major Leaguer.

I was watching the Orioles @ Dodgers game yesterday when Vin Scully mentioned that Utley's sixth hit of the day tied a team record that was set by Shawn Green in 2002.

This wrung a distant bell in my head.

UCLA Player Bio Chase Utley

Years ago while playing at UCLA in his Bio Chase Utley had listed Shawn Green as his favorite player.

Pretty cool for somebody that is 37 years old to tie a team record of a childhood hero.

The big blemish on the accomplishment is that it came during the a Dodgers Loss, 6-4 to the Orioles.

Shawn Green's day is notable for another reason, four of his six hits were Home Runs. Fortunately for him and the Dodgers the game was a 16-3 Win over the Brewers in Milwaukee.

The Four Home Runs by Green were part of a record 9 Homer Week, which is commemorated on a 2003 Topps Card.

2003 Topps #333 Season Highlights Shawn Green (Swiped from Baseball Card Database)

The back of the card documents Green's incredible week.

2003 Topps #333 Season Highlights Shawn Green (b-side Swiped from Baseball Card Database)

Sources and Links
Chase Utley Player Collection
Game Dated Cards
UCLA Bruins Baseball
Vin Scully
Baseball Reference
Baseball Card Database
 

Junk of the Month: January 2016

Time to bring back a fan favorite we haven't run in a few years - Junk of the Month!

 2016 Topps #170 New Order (Houston Astros)

Despite the use of the name of a Classic 80's Alternative Band I dislike this card. Checkers are a necessary evil in flagship which have been done a number of different ways. When I was a kid (1970s) they were a checklist, nothing more nothing less. No Player Picture, Not a Team card, not a manager card. 

This year Topps has taken a similar approach to the last couple of releases. A player or team photo of a Highlight from the previous season is on the front with the data on the back.

My Issue w/ 2016 Topps is that the cards are no longer highlights. This year they are multi-player shots. I have no problem with Multi-Player cards - we took a long look at the MPs from 1967 Topps last week. The big difference is that in the 1960s Topps the Multis had some interesting Bio info on the back.

At best it is a half-baked multi-player, at worst it is a throw a picture on a checklist. Regardless it is a downgrade from 2015T

By Definition checkers need to have a checklist on the back.

2016 Topps #170 New Order (b-side)

So No information on the players on the front of the card. In fact the player names for the Carlos' aren't on the card at all (Correa and Gomez).

And there is an oddity that Night Owl Cards brought up last year, for whatever reason the recent checkers are not part of the checklist that they present. This isn't really and issue, but I find it odd especially since the checkers are interspersed throughout the set.

2015 Topps #317 Clayton Kershaw (CL)

Here is an example of how a checker appeared last year. Nice Highlight of a significant baseball event. Player CLEARLY identified.

2015 Topps #317 Clayton Kershaw (CL - b-side)

I would like to see a one sentence summary of the event on the back. For others like me that would like that info Clayton Kershaw no-hit the Rockies in a Dodgers 8-0 victory in LA. The Dodgers Southpaw recorded 15Ks with no walks. A Hanley Ramrirez 7th Inning error was the only blemish on what was otherwise a perfect outing for Kershaw.

It might get a little crowded for a blurb on the back, the typeface is about as small as one would want. While most folks are averse to adding a checklist to the set, I think if it was a highlight card that wold be more acceptable. Highlight cards are good :)

FYI if things go as planned, folks who are fans of checklists will really enjoy this week. Others well maybe you will enjoy something funny I write.

Sources and Links
2016 Topps Index
Night Owl Cards
Baseball Almanac
Baseball-ref

1953 Topps #1 Jackie Robinson and the First Topps Cartoon

To mark the anniversary of Jackie Robinson birth on January 31, 1919 We are going to take a look at the opening card of the 1953 Set.

1953 Topps #1 Jackie Robinson

We previously covered this card in 2013 and it now serves as the anchor posting for our Jackie Robinson HOF Index. That posting is largely a price guide for the card.

Today I want to take a look at the back of the card.

Cartoons first appear on the backs of cards in 1953. As the resident of the #1 slot in the set Jackie Robinson also has the honor of being the face of Topps first -toon. Ok this isn't in the same stratosphere of the Hall of Famers other accomplishments, but it is of interest to the card collector in me.

The first -toon is an interesting one, I doubt I would have even noticed it on a less noteworthy players card, but Jackie Robinson will make sure I look.

When I read the card I questioned the veracity of the information in the text. It specified that the original Home Plate was made of iron.

Fortunately in the 21st century via the magic of Twitter we can go right to baseball historians who have done much research around such topics.  Here is the question I posed to the MLB official Historian John Thorn.

1953 Topps #1 Jackie Robinson #1 (b-side)

Soon afterward John Thorn replied!

And he filled in some details. Yes the Plate was originally Iron, and he added some bonus info.

That is a lot of critical historical info in under 140 characters. 

It doesn't end there. One of Thorn's followers fleshed out some details on Home Plate. Those details  were then further elaborated on by John Thorn.

 So there we have the reasons for why we call the base Home Plate and the chronology of from the 1845 disc shape to the present shape.

Topps #1
We have recently been obsessed with #1 Cards. This posting will be a second entry for 1953T #1, which to me is the greatest of all the Topps #1 cards.

Sources and Links
Jackie Robinson HoF Index
Topps #1 Club
Our Game John Thorn
Twitter John Thorn
Twitter Peter Alexis

2016 HoF Ballot: Chan Ho Park - 1994 Score Select #177

With Korean First Baseman Byung Ho Park signing with Twins I thought it was a good opportunity to discuss Chan Ho Park in our HoF Ballot Series.

1994 Score Select #177 Rookie Prospect Chan Ho Park

Unfortunately the BBWAA committee that is responsible for creating the Ballot did not see the need for that discussion. Park fulfilled the 10 year experience quota but was left of this years ballot - Jay Jaffe noted in an SI Article that for a number of reasons Park was the biggest snub on this years ballot.  Chan Ho Park was the first Korean Player to make it in the states, as more of his countrymen Join MLB teams the significance of his career will grow.

Phungo Verditct

HOF

Ok - I'm Asian and I feel for the Snubbed guy. To be honest Chan Ho Park's year with the Phillies was pretty mediocre as was his career.

Great thing about writing a blog is I can Put Chan Ho Park in the HoF and blow off Mark McGwire.

Source and Links
2016 Phungo HoF Ballot 
Baseball-ref
CNNSI - Jay Jaffe
Minnesota Twins

50th Anniversary: Sandy Koufax = Perfect

Most of the season we have been looking back 25 years to the Year of the No-Hitter.  Today we turn the clock back an additional quarter century and find ourselves on the day that Sandy Koufax became the first man to pitch four no-hitters.

That fourth No-Hitter was also a Perfect Game.

2007 UD Masterpieces #17 Sandy Koufax

Love the Image on the card. Four Baseball symbolizing the Four No-Hitters and The 29 year old Sandy Koufax with a reluctant smile that he can't hold back. Hard to believe 13 months later his career would be over.

Flip

2007 UD Masterpieces #17 Sandy Koufax (b-side)

The text on the back of the card tells the story of the Perfect Game in which the Dodgers beat the Cubs by the narrowest of margins 1-0. The hard luck loser was journeyman pitcher Bob Hendley who pitched a 1-Hitter giving up only an unearned run.

The Cubs lineup that day featured three future Hall of Famers, Ernie Banks (3 Strikeouts), Billy Williams (2 Ks), and Ron Santo (1 K). Of course on the other side of the ledger there were two Cubbies making their Major League Debut Don Young and future Phillie Bryon Browne.

Notable Dodgers in the Lineup were Maury Williams, Willie Davis, Catcher Jeff Torborg (see below), and Lou Johnson who scored the Dodgers lone Run and got the games only hit.    

I re-read the chapter on Koufax's Game in James Buckley Jr's "Perfect". Couple of interesting things in the article.

1) The Cubs were in LA for one game only, Apparently this was part of the regular schedule NOT a rain out make-up.
2) The final out was a strikeout of Harvey Kuenn who was also the the last out in Koufax's 2nd No-Hitter.
3) The Cubs Bob Hendley pitched to two over the minimum for an 8-inning start, meaning only 53 batters came to the plate combined. The Lowest possible Combined PAs is 52, which has never been done.  
4) The Perfect Game was the 2nd of three called by Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully: Don Larsen, Koufax, and Denny Martinez. Both the Larsen and Martinez Perfectos were versus the Dodgers.

Scully's call of the final 3 outs of the Perfect Game can be heard at Archive.org. If you stay with the recording to the end Vin Scully can be heard in an interview, he notes that he specified the time of day during this broadcast in an effort to add something special to the No-hitter since Sandy Koufax already had 3 recordings of the 9th innings of his no-hitters.

Much of Buckley's essay was derived from an interview with Catcher Jeff Torborg who caught no-hitters in Both Leagues. In addition to the Koufax Perfecto Torborg while with the Angels caught Nolan Ryan's first No-Hitter. He is one of 3 men to have caught No-Hitters in both leagues  - all 3 have caught Perfect Games as well (Gus Triandos - Jim Bunning (NL - Phillies vs Mets) & Hoyt Wilhelm (AL) , and Ron Hassey Len Barker (AL) & Denny Martinez (NL))

Sources and Links
Phungo Sandy Koufax HoF Index
Phungo No-Hitter Card Index 
archive.org 
Perfect - James Buckley Jr 
SABR Baseball Games Project - Mike Huber
Sandy Koufax Time Capsule
baseball-ref
Baseball Almanac

ANNIVERSARY: 40 Years ago Davey Lopes Steals 38 consecutive Bases

Forty Years Ago Davey Lopes was in the middles of Consecutive Successful Bases Stolen Streak that Reached a total of 38.

1976 topps #4 Dave Lopes Most Consecutice Successful Stolen Base Attempts

Lopes first tied and than broke the record or 31 (previously held by Hall of Famer Max Carey) on a pair of steals during a Dodgers 2-0 Victory against the Mets on August 9th.  The latter of the two stolen bases was a steal of third which led to a run as Lopes scored later via a Wild Pitch. Both Stolen Bases were recorded off the battery of Jerry Koosman and Jerry Grote.

1976 topps #4 Dave Lopes Most Consecutice Successful Stolen Base Attempts (b-side - click to make more readable)

The flip side of the 1975T Lopes Record Breaker has a nice detailed listing of the stolen bases during Lopes' streak, although there is a discrepancy between Topps and Baseball-ref. According to Topps the Record Breaking Steal (The latter of the two August 9th Steals versus the Mets/Koosman) the base listed is 2nd - Baseball-ref had the base as 3rd, after advancing on a sacrifice bunt by Lee Lacy.

The Catcher that finally gunned down Davey Lopes was Future Hall of Famer Gary Carter in the 12th inning of a 14 inning 5-3 Expos Victory over the Dodgers. Of course this came after Lopes had already stolen 3 bases off of Carter (who was a Rookie at the time) earlier in the game. The Pitcher on the mound when Lopes was caught was Dale Murray, the tag was applied by current Phillies Manager Pete Mackanin.

40 Years Ago Today
On August 22nd 1975 Lopes recorded steal #35 in a 3-1 Loss to the Expos. It was a steal of 3rd base off of Pitcher Dan Warthen and Catcher Barry Foote - Two Expos who were traded to the Phillies in 1977 for Wayne Twitchell and Tim Blackwell.

Consecutive Stolen Base Record
Lopes held the record for close to 14 years until it was broken by Vince Coleman on June 24 1989.

Coleman extended the record to 50 prior to being caught on July 28 1989. His streak was also ended by the Expos, This time the Montreal Battery consisted of Pascual Perez and Nelson Santovenia.

Sources and Links
1976 Topps Record Breaker Index
Baseball Almanac
Cardinals Journal - John Snyder 
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

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - June 29th Fernadomania!

If 1990 was the year of the No-Hitter, June 29th of that year was the Day of the No-Hitter.

After Dave Stewart's East Coast No-Hitter, Fernando Valenzuela followed up with one for the fans in the Pacific Time Zone. He turned the trick in a 6-0 victory over the St Louis Cardinals.

1991 Score #703 No-Hit Club Fernando Valenzuela

Fernando Valenzuela peaked early, He won Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards as well as a World Series ring all at the age of 20 in 1981. He made every all-star team between 1981 and 1986.

In 1990 Fernando was only 29 but his best years were behind him. He was struggling through a mediocre season when he tossed his gem on June 29th.

There were a couple of close calls in the No-Hitter which is featured here. With one out in the 9th Pedro Guerrero hit a grounder back at Valenzuela which the pitcher just got the tip of his glove on. It is hard to tell in the video, The Dodgers were playing for the double play, but had Valenzuela not tipped the ball it may have sped pass the two middle infielders. As it worked out the ball glanced off Valenzuela's glove and was fielded by second baseman Juan Samuel who started the game ending double play that was completed by future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray. 

Flip

 1991 Score #703 No-Hit Club Fernando Valenzuela (b-side)

Valenzueala pitched to three over the minimum - three walks and an error, one of the walks was erased on the game ending double play mentioned above. 

The obstacles in the Cardinals lineup included Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith (batting 8th!!!), One time MVP and Batting Champ Willie McGee and the speedy Vince Coleman. McGee worked one of the three Cardinal walks, three of Valenzuela's seven strikeouts came against Coleman.

The Dodgers defense included the aforementioned Eddie Murray and Juan Samuel as well as Future Angels Manager Mike Scioscia who made up the other half of the No-Hit Battery.

One time Philies second baseman Juan Samuel hit one of two homers for the Dodgers - the other was by Hubie Brooks.  

It was the first of two no-hitters caught by Scioscia, the latter was authored by Kevin Gross who like Samuel debuted with the Phillies.  

Within the game box on the Score Card I like how they triple-apostrophe-d Mike Sharperson's name.

Fernandomania

2001 07 29 Fernando Valenzuela Bobblehead

In 2001 The Dodgers honored Fernando Valenzuela with one of the first three Bobbleheads ever given away at Dodgers Stadium.  Unfortunately, the Dodgers lost the game 3-2 to the Rockies on a 9th inning RBI single by Alex Ochoa.

The bobblehead shown above is part of the Baseball Hall of Fame's Viva Baseball exhibit which celebrates the Heritage of Latin American players. 

Sources and Links
1990: Year of the No-Hitter index
Baseball-ref
mlb
LA Times
Dodger Bobble
Baseball Hall of Fame