Phun Cards 1952 Topps #216 Richie Ashburn

I am a little bit amazed that I have really not given a lot of ink to Richie Ashburn on the Phungo Pages.  Although his playing career was long over before I was born, Ashburn was a large part of the Phillies experience for any fan of my generation.  He was the color analyst for Harry Kalas from the time I started watching the game until his death in 1997. 

Despite ranking up more hits then any other player during the decade of the 1950s and 2574 for his career Richie Ashburn was dropped from the Hall of Fame ballot in 1982.  Eventually he would enter the Hall in 1995 as a selection of the Veterans committee.  Ashburn led the National League in Batting average twice (1955,1958) and OBP 4 times (54, 55, 58, 60).  He was a 6 time all star selection and was a member of the 1950 Whiz Kids.  His #1 is one of 5 numbers retired by the Phillies. 

1952 Topps #216 Richie Ashburn

1952 Topps #216 Richie Ashburn (b-Side)


For the Collector

 

This is the 2nd Topps card issued of Richie Ashburn.  A recent ebay auction of a rough conditioned 52 Topps Ashburn finished at $9.62.  The Hi auction for a slabbed PSA 9 Mint card was $1710.32.  6 auctions of cards in pretty good condition concluded between $26 and $43. 

The above '52 Topps Ashburn was procured for the Phungo collection off an ebay auction for $18.97 in July of 2009.

More Richie Ashburn
1950 Bowman #84
1952 Topps #216

1959 Topps #317 (with Willie Mays)

2009 Phungo #1

1955 Topps Cards that never were (link to Bob Lemke Custom Card)
 

Phun Cards: 1958 Topps #476 Stan Musial All Star

This is the 2nd installment of Phun cards, essentially our variation on Cardboard Appreciation.  

For a long time I ran a feature titled Hall of Fame Thursday, which featured HoF players and people from various sports at various levels.  It was basically baseball centered with a strong Philadelphia accent.  Sometimes the subjects were big names like Steve Carlton other times they were less well known athletes such as Philly Sports HoF member, sprinter Leroy Burrell.

Today we are leaving the Philly area and taking a look at a Phavorite card in the Phungo Collection of Stan Musial. 

1958 Topps #476 Stan Musial All Star

1958 is the first year that Topps had a subset of All Star cards in the collection.  Which is only one of several reasons this card is special. 

    1) Stan Musial was a first ballot Hall of Famer - 1969

    2) You got to like anybody whose nickname was Stan the Man

    3) This is not nearly Stan Musial rookie cards, but it is his first card issued by Topps (Musial was not issued a base card in 1958)

    4) In my opinion the 58 All Star set is pretty sweet looking. 

For More info on Stan Musial check his Hall of Fame Page 

For the Collector

I challenge you to find a more affordable initail Topps Card of any First Ballot Hall of Famer from the vintage era.  Generally collectors don't value the All Star Subset cards of players as much as the base cards from the same year which controls costs, additionally the Musial Card (along with several other 58 All Star cards) was double printed. 

I am not sure what the above Musial card went for, I suspect around $5 - there is a minor pinhole bottom left, but that isn't enough to bother Team Phungo.

Low recent auction price $3.03 for one that was in slightly rougher condition then mine.  There were 3 auctions that ended under $5.  Fairly nice version of the card came in the $7 - $10 range.  Graded cards topped out at $101.87 (BVG 8.5 NM-MT+) . 

Phungo Stan Musial HoF Index
1959 Topps #470 (Baseball Thrills - 3000 Hits May 13 1958)  


Sources
1958 Topps All-Star Index
ebay 
Stan the Man
Baseball Hall of Fame
Baseball-Ref
 

Phungo Hall of Fame Profile Mike Schmidt 1975 Topps Mini

I am hoping to bring the Hall of Fame feature back to Phungo for a while now.  With the latest edition of A&G trending throughout the card blogs, I thought that I would take a look at a mini from the 1975 Topps Series.  Recently Bad Wax mentioned the set as a possible goal that is fun and affordable. 

1975 Topps #70 Mike Schmidt
1975 Topps Mini #70 Mike Schmidt

Mike Schmidt is a perfect subject to restart Hall of Fame Profile with - He is probably the Phillies most iconic Hall of Fame Player - Of the four Phillies Hall of Fame Players that have played since 1950 he is the only one that played his entire career with the Phils.  22+ years after his retirement, Schmidt's 548 Home Runs still rank 15th on the career leaders list - five or six of the guys that have passed him in those 22 years would probably need to have an asterisk* next to their names in some record books.


Schmidt won 3 NL MVP awards and a World Series in 1980.  Schmidt led the league in OPS seven times including every year from 1980 thru 1983.  And we cannot ignore the 10 Gold Gloves

For the Collector
1975 is Topps third offering of a Mike Schmidt base card.  It is the 2nd time that Schmidt is the sole player on a card - His 1973 RC is a shared card that also features Ron Cey and John Hilton.

The Recent Lo-Ebay auction for the 1975 Topps #70 card was $2.25 for the Base version and $3.48 for the mini.

The mini pictured above was picked up at a card show last year for roughly $3.50, I think the Base card is a legacy from my younger days - The corners are a little dinged but overall the card remains in good shape.

Hall of Fame Profile - Steve Carlton

I used to have a regular feature I referred to as "Hall of Fame Thursday". I am now going to try and revive the series under the heading of "Hall of Fame Profile". This should give me the freedom to continue the feature while not be tied to a specific day of the week. Once again the HOF profile posts will not be restricted to the Baseball Hall of Fame and Players enshrined in Cooperstown. I will also be featuring a heavy dose of folks in the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. I will occasionally feature the HoF players or people from other popular sports, not so popular sports, other fields, schools and locations. However the main focus will remain Baseball and Philadelphia with the other folks mixed in.

The Phils were in St Louis battling the Cardinals this week (1 up 3 down ) and I thought that largely known as a Philly, but one time Cardinal, Steve Carlton would be a great way to Re-kickoff HOF Profile.


1973 Topps #300 Steve Carlton

1973 Topps is not one of my favorite designs. But I do like this card.

#1 I like it because it is Carlton's first base card as a Phil (There is a 1972 Traded Card)

#2 I like it because for a long time Tim McCarver was known as Steve Carlton's personal catcher. This photo features Carlton with a catcher that may be McCarver. The Photo is likely from 1972, Carlton's first year with the Phils. McCarver was with the Phils in '72, unfortunately for us card photo sleuths McCarver was traded mid-season to the Expos for John Bateman. Of course Bateman would wear number 6 as a Phil. So unless someone can make out weather this is Bateman or McCarver we may never know.


1973 Topps #300 Steve Carlton (b-side)

I feature the flip side of the card here just for the cartoon. The artist has shown a little creativity giving the comic a baseball motif for billiards...although cartoon Lefty is shooting Right-Handed.

For the Collector
I picked up This 1973 Topps Carlton card for $1 at a card show last year. In recent auctions the card has sold as low as $1.81 (shipped) - graded versions of the card topped out a $17.75. The 1965 Topps #477 Steve Carlton Rookie Card (shared with Fritz Ackley) has sold as low as $23.59 - The High end for the graded RC was $218.50.

Autographed Cards
The lowest finished Auction of a Carlton Card was a really yucky 2003 Timeless Treasures that featured him in a White Sox Uni - why bother - which sold for $13.49. A serial numbered (/99) 05 Baseball Heroes card also went for $13.49 (sticker auto). The 1999 Fleer SI On Card Auto went for $15.50 and as with many of the cards in this set, is pretty sharp. 2007 Sweet Spot (#d/25) and faded $19.37. A much sharper auto is the 2005 Sweet Spot Bat Barrell (#d/10) which went for $38.50. And finally on the high end somebody laid out $102.98 for a 2010 Sportskings Steve Carlton Auto Jersey.

Lefty HoF Index
1972 Topps #751 (Traded/First Phillies Card - Post includes Carlton Card Price Guide)
1981 Donruss #481 (70th Birthday Posting)
1981 Topps #202 (Record Breaker Most Strikeouts Lifetime Lefthander)
1982 Topps #1 (Carlton Breaks Bob Gibson's NL K Record)
1982 Fleer #632 (Carlton Battery with Carlton Fisk)
1984 Topps #1 (300th Win, All-Time Ks leader)
1984 Topps #4 (1983 Highlights - Ryan, Carlton, and Perry pass Johnson Career Ks)

Sources 
Baseball-ref
Ebay