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 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

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

2014 03 08 Card Show Valley Forge PA: $2 Box - 1969 Topps #6 LL HR Dick Allen & 2 HoF

Next up on our VF show Show n Tell is a card from the $2 Bin.


1969 Topps #6 League Leaders Willie McCovey Dick Allen Ernie Banks

This is a pretty unique LL card for Phils fans. We have one of the clubs most prolific Home Run hitters flanked by a pair of first ballot Hall of Famers.  It was the 2nd of 3 Home Run titles for Willie McCovey who led the league in 1963 and would win the HR title again in 1969. Dick Allen finished second in the league with 33 followed by Banks at 32. It was the 2nd time that Allen was runner-up, he would finally win an Home Run title in 1972 as a member of the ALs White Sox. 1968 was the last time Ernie Banks would hit 30+ Home Runs. Previously Banks had won HR titles in 1958 and 1960. 

In 1968 McCovey's 36 Homers was the lowest total to lead the NL since Ralph Kiner won the title with 23 dingers in 1946. Since '68 the Home Run title has been won with 36 or less homers five times 1974 Mike Schmidt (36), Schmidt again in Strike shortened 1981 (31), 1984 Schmidt and Dale Murphy(36),  1992 Fred McGriff (35), and last year when Pedro Alvarez and Paul Goldschmidt each had 36.  

2014 03 14 VF Card Show
1973 Topps #503 Phil Niekro

Sources 
Dick Allen Player Collection Index 
Willie McCovey Index

Baseball-ref

1959 Topps Baseball Thrills #469 Ernie Banks

New series time - I have always wanted to do a series based on a subset or insert set. I will open this with the old "I don't know if I will ever finish this" caveat.  

1959 Topps Baseball Thrills #469 Ernie Banks

My first angle for a post on this card was find the original photo and figure out what game this picture is from, Forutunately CommishBob of the "topps 1959 one f/g card at a time blog"  has already done the research for us. Turns out Banks was safe and it was a big run, the go ahead run in an extra inning game versus the Braves.    

1958 MVP Award
Ernie Banks won the 1958 MVP award by taking 2/3 of the 24 first place votes. He led the NL in both Home Runs (47) and RBI (129) with a very respectable .313 batting average. The oddity in Banks 1958 election is that the Cubs finished 5th in the 8 team National League - 10 games under .500.

By today's metrics the WAR winner for 1958 was Willie Mays with a 10.2 over Banks' 9.5. The two were closer when using only offensive WAR, with Mays winning again 8.8 - 8.6. The '58 Giants did not win the NL title either, finishing 3rd, 12 games behind the pennant winning Braves.

The top Braves player in the MVP voting was Hank Aaron who finished 3rd. He was also 3rd in WAR. So kudos to the BBWAA of 1958, who basically got it right. While Mays won the WAR, it certainly be argued that Banks HR and RBI crowns were more significant. Hank Aaron was in the mix about where he should of been, although his vote total may have been split with teammate Warren Spahn.

Biggest MVP snub as far as WAR is concerned was the Cardinals Ken Boyer (WAR-4th / MVP-13th ) , special mention to Phillies Richie Ashburn (WAR-4/MVP-7). Most MVP Overrated were a couple of Pirates Frank Thomas (WAR-17/MVP-4) and Bob Friend (WAR-20/MVP-6).   

Phungo Ernie Banks HoF Index
1959 Topps #350 (Memorial Posting)
1959 Topps #469 Baseball Thrills
1964 Topps #55
1966 Topps #110
2009 Phungo #14

Sources n Links
1959 Topps Baseball Thrills Index

Cardboard Connection
Baseball-ref
topps 59 one f/g card at a time

Card Show Report 2011 12 03 - Philly Show, Valley Forge PA

The December edition of the Philly Show was a real success for Team Phungo.  I was real happy with results of the vintage bins I checked out.  Here are some of the Highlights: 


1959 Topps

Ernie Banks All-Star $6.00
Al Kaline Baseball Thrills $3.50
Commons Gus Bell 0.50, $1 for the Rest - I did spy a Solly Drake for 50 cents after I had already picked up the one above. 

The quest to complete 1959 Topps set is in the home stretch.  Going into the show I needed 20 cards to finsh the set, knocking out 35% of the cards on my want list in a matter of  a few hours was a complete victory.


 Phillies Vintage Bowmans

 This is a section of the Phungo collection that I plan on taking more seriously.  I have completed the 1948 Bowman Phils Set (all 2 cards of it) and have a lot of the 1955 set. The rest of the years are pretty sparse.  Most of the above cards went for $2-$5 each.  The commons were $1 or $2 while the High Numbers went for $5.  The Highlight in there is the 1955 Del Ennis Card ($2.50).

Other Phils Vintage

1963 Fleer Clay Dalrymple ($2)
1940 Playball Syl Johnson ($5)

The Dalrymple is my first 63 Fleer.  $5 for a card that is older then my parents is a buy. The 1940 Phillies Play Ball Set is likely hard to build, it is 15 cards.  One of the 15 is Chuck Klein, which I would imagine commands a bit of a price tag.


Hall of Famers

1969 Topps Willie McCovey
1969 Topps Phil Niekro 
1970 Topps AL HR League Leaders (Killebrew/F Howard/Reggie)
1970 Topps NL Battling LL (Pete Rose, Clemente, Cleon Jones) 

The first 3 cards were all 3 for a buck - The Rose/Clemente LL card went for a dollar. A stinking Dollar for Pete Rose and Roberto Clemente on a League Leaders card - That is like stealing.

The McCovey Card is in rough condition but the others are pretty decent the 1970 cards are in real good shape.

etc

1965 Topps Masanori Murakami RC (0.50)

This is a card I have always wanted but never was interested in throwing down real money for.  Masanori Murakami is the first Japanese player ever to play for Baseball in the US at the Major League level - 30+ years prior to Ichiro.  Murakami had some success with the Giants in his only season in the Majors but was forced to return to Japan due to a contract squabble involving his Japanese team.

Murakami is still alive at the age of 67.  The Giants honored him with a bobblehead at a game in 2008.  More info on his wiki.

Links
Willie McCovey Index
 

Card Show Report 2011 11 11 - Oaks PA - CSA Show

Sorry not enough time to commit to a thorough write-up so I am just going to post a few snapshots and pricing when I remember the $$ - These are some of the Vintage cards I picked up at the show. Later in the week I will feature the dime box specials.  


Phillies Great Richie Ashburn

1955 Bowman #130 Richie Ashburn $2



Home Run King Hank Aaron

1975 Topps Mini #1 Hank Aaron '74 Highlights $2.00
1974 Topps #2 Hank Aaron Special (1958-61) $1.00

More HoFs

1960 Topps #450 Orlando Cepeda ($1)
1962 Topps Warren Spahn All-Star ($1)
1953 Topps Dick Williams ($2.00)
1959 Topps #147 Cubs Clubbers ($1 - w/ Ernie Banks)

The weekend of the Oaks Show was a busy one for me an dI dint' get to spend as much time there as I would have liked, but I did well for the brief time I was there.   The Bowman Ashburn was a steal at the  price of $2.  I already had the Cubs Clubber card, but this one was a definite upgrade.

$2 for the Hank Aaron mini was a pretty good deal as well - One of the projects that is dancing in the back of my head is building a set of the HoF 75 Minis.  There are quite a few of them in that set and they are basically the biggest names from my childhood.
T

Card Show Report 2010 09 25 - Philly Show @ Valley Forge Convention Center

This edition of the Philly Show for me was a pretty good one. I had a totally free day, I was only marginally exhausted - I think for the rest of my life I will always be at least a little bit tired. I had a couple of want lists and actually knocked some things off them.

One of the highlights was the 1951 Topps Seminick in the previous post here are some others.


1959 Topps
1959 Topps #147 Cubs Clubbers

I was able to knock out four cards from my 1959 Topps Collection. I am down to my last 42 cards, and any time you can find four in one day at this stage of the game, you have accomplished something. This card which features Hall of Famer Ernie Banks went for the rather nice price of $2


Vintage Phils

1975 Topps Mini #267 Dick Ruthven
1959 Topps #352 Robin Roberts

I already had the Robin Roberts card, but I could not let him set in the $2 bin. I seem to pick up at least one or two 1975 minis at each Philly show. This time it was Dick Ruthven. Typically I only go 25 cents on these, but for Ruthven I went to 50 cents.


1952 Topps and a Vintage HOF

1952 Topps #75 Wes Westrum
1956 Topps #195 George Kell
1942 Topps #117 Sherman Lollar

If you want to start building a vintage collection on the cheap, you may want to look into some Wes Westrum cards. I seem to keep coming across him in budget bins. George Kell is a Hall of Famer that you may not know about - he was a 10 time all-star who played 3b with five different clubs including the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia A's.

All three of these cards went for $2. There is some creasing and the Lollar card has some surface issues, but the price was right. Good Rules of thumb 1950s HOF player for $2 - thats a buy. 1952 Topps fro $2 also a Buy.


Retros


These Retro cards all came out of a Dime box. Pretty much anytime I see a Heritage insert in a Dime box, it goes in the Phungo Collection. Same thing goes for the 2006 Allen & Ginter's. The Tim Duncan is from the 2007+ Topps Hoop set that I have bee slowly building. 2007 BowHer Tex is also a set builder - almost over the 50/50 mark on that set. I just think the Beckham card looks cool. hmm how bout that good day for Chisox Cards I guess.

Hall of Fame Thursday - Ernie Banks - Phun Stuff from Thoughts and Sox

1964 Topps #55 Ernie Banks

2009 Phungo #14 Ernie Banks

Ernie Banks was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977, his first year of eligibility. Mr Cub had 512 career Homers, 1636 RBI, 1305 Runs, and 2583 Hits during his 19 year major league career. He was a two-time MVP who played on 13 all-star teams. His 277 Homers as a Shortstop was the major league record until he was passed by Cal Ripken Jr.

The Topps card I received in a trade with Adam from Thoughts and Sox. I sent over a couple of vintage Red Sox and a pile of more recent Bosox and he sent back bunch of Phillies and the 1964 Banks card above.

The Phungo card has a picture taken during the 2008 All-Star Futures game. Banks was named an honorary captain. I erroneously put down his position has 3B, for some reason I thought I heard that he was inducted into the HOF as a Third Basemen. According to the Hall of Fame Website he was inducted as a shortstop. Banks did play about half of his career at first base. Banks' Phungo card number is 14 which is the number he wore during his playing career, and was also the first number ever retired by the Cubs.

One interesting fact I found out while researching this post is that on May 8th 1973, Cubs manager Whitey Lockman was ejected from a game versus the Padres. Banks was a coach for the Cubs at the time and took over the helm for the team. The Cubs went on to win the game in 12 innings 3-2. This game preceded Frank Robinson's first management stint by nearly two years, meaning that Banks was the first black manager in Major League Baseball.

Banks has established the charity Live Above and Beyond Foundation as an organization to fight discrimination among various age groups. Proceeds from the charity wine Ernie Banks 512 Chardonnay benefit the foundation.

Links 
Phungo HoF Index - Ernie Banks 
*Note - This column was written before I started sourcing posts, I am guessing most of the statistical information from Baseball-ref and other info from the always reliable wikipedia