Blaster Break 2015 Topps Stadium Club

Some highlights from a recent Blaster purchase of 2015T Stadium Club. I think I may have picked up a single loosey as well, can't remember.

The Sole Phillie in the 40 card bounty was or retired centerfielder - convicted criminal Lenny Dykstra.

As with most Stadium Club cards we have a nice shot - full bleed. The TSC design is minimal - showing of the photo more, but unremarkable. Dykstra is bundled up here, wonder if this is from a road opener somewhere. I am a fan of the Liberty Bell flair whenever it shows up on Phillies attire on a card - you can see it here on Dykstra's turtleneck.

Blaster All-Stars

I like to post Breaks in the form of an all-star team of the cards drawn. Sometimes it is the best players, but often it is the most interesting photo or card design/shot combo

Battery

David Cone
Tim Hudson
Hisashi Iwakuma
Ivan Rodriguez

I think we were pitching light which is how Iwakuma got the nod, but the rest of these shots are great.  I may return to the Cone card as part of our Year of the No-Hitter Series. The Pudge card needs to rank among the best in the set - I want this shot on a Carlos Ruiz card.


Infield

Chipper Jones
Orlado Cepeda
Hanley Ramirez
Bip Roberts

I like the Ramirez card as it is a nice nod to both his changing teams and changing positions. It is a card that pays off on the viewers baseball knowledge. Note I moved Hanley back to Shortstop for this posting as the position was left vacant by our 40 card blaster.

Including a handful of Black n White hots is a nice touch in the set. The entirety of Orlando Cepeda's career was probably in the color photography era, but it is nice to see the B/W shot here.



 Outfield

Bo Jackson
Joe DiMaggio
Deion Sanders
Dusty Baker

Lots of stuff going on here, The Bo Jackson card gives us an interesting candid shot -
Something that is hard to capture. I typically dislike any shot from behind the player but the Deion Sanders card is ok, there is action and it is with one of the premier basestealers of the era. Dusty Baker is getting a lead from 2nd or 3rd, which you don't see on many cards - also it is hard to pick up but this is a Gold insert.

The Joe DiMaggio B/W is apparently noting his reach 45 games in his hit streak. At the time this tied Wee Willie Keeler for the major league record - this is another card I would like to return to at some point.


The Bench (Inserts)

Ken Griffey/Ken Griffey Jr
Contact Sheet Miguel Cabrera
Luminous Trumvirate Starling Marte

The Griffeys card is a fun one, will probably see this one a lot in the next year especially come Father's day. Here I have presented the base and Gold for side/side comparison.

The two bottom cards are inserts that I don't understand.

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref
Baseball Almanac
Ken Griffey Jr HoF Index
Orlando Cepeda HoF Index
Joe DiMaggio HoF Index
Ivan Rodriguez HoF Index

Dodgers v Phillies - NLCS Retrospective

1982 Topps #680 Gary Matthews

This year the Dodgers and Phillies will meet for their 5th NLCS matchup. According to my hasty research this ties them with.....the Pirates and Reds as the most common NLCS opponents - go figure.

This is basically the rubber match of the 5 series' -- each of the teams have won 2 of the previous match-ups. Lets take a look back at the last 4 meetings between the Phils and Dodgers:


1979 Topps #562 Dusty Baker

1977: The 2nd NLCS for each club. Don Sutton and Tommy John each toss 1 run complete games victories. Greg Luzinski muffs a critical play in the 9th innning of the pivotal third game. The Dodgers Win the Series 3-1. Dusty Baker (2 HR, 8 RBI, .357 BA) is named the first ever NLCS MVP. Mike Schmidt goes 1 for 16 (.067) in the series.

1992 Action Packed #64 Steve Garvey

1978: The Phils lose the rematch 3-1. Steve Garvey hits 4 homers in the series and is named NLCS MVP. Dusty Baker has another good series batting .467 with a .556 OBP. The Dodgers pitchers hold Mike Schmidt to 3 of 15 at the plate with 1 RBI. For the second year in a row Bill Russell knocks in the go ahead run in the clinching game. Intresting Notes - Steve Carlton had a homer in the series and Steve Yeager who only had 14 career stolen bases, got one during the 1978 NLCS.

1983: We skip ahead a few years and the Phils turn the tables and win the series 3-1. Some of the players are the same as the Phils and Dodgers previous meetings, but there are some important new additions. The Dodgers feature there young Phenom Fernando Valenzuela while the Phils have added veteran Slugger Gary Matthews (featured top of the page and currently a Phils Broadcaster).

MVP honors go to Matthews who bats .429, clobbers 3 Homers with 8 RBI. The 8 RBIs are enough to almost take care of the Dodgers singlehandedly as LA only scores 8 runs for the series. The Phils pitchers are led by Steve Carlton (2-0, 1 ER in 13.1 ip) as the staff holds the Dodgers to a .209 BA.

In the 24 series Since 1983 (no NLCS in 1994) only 2 other NLCS have gone less than 5 games. In 84 the Padres and Cubs went the distance (5 games). The following year the series went to the present 7 game format, and there have only been 2 sweeps during the 7 gm NLCS era (1995 Braves over Reds, 2007 Rockies over D-Backs)

2008: I am sure that Last Year's series is still fresh in most folks memories. The Phils won the set 4-1 as Cole Hamels led them to victory in the first and last games. The performance earned the southpaw MVP honors. Shane Victorino and Pholk Hero Matt Stairs blasted game and series changing homers in the 8th inning of game four.

2008 is also the first time that the victor of the Dodgers Phils series has gone on to win the World Series. The 77 and 78 Dodgers lost to the Reggie Jackson era Yankees. The 83 Phillies Wheeze Kids squad lost to the Baltimore Orioles who featured a young Cal Ripken with only 345 major league games under his belt.

Tomorrow Night the 2009 version of the rivalry will begin to unfold. Go Phightins!!