ANNIVERSARY: 10 Years Ago Today the Phillies Win the World Series

Just wanted to post a couple of pictures to remember a great night from a decade ago.

Game Ticket 2008 World Series Game 5. 2008 OCT 27 & 29

 Pat Burrell prior to the last game he would ever play with the Phillies

Harry Kalas on about to perform his final World Series Broadcast.

 Ryan Howard

Jamie Moyer carrying the rubber from the CBP pitchers Mound

 Jimmy Rollins

Don Zimmer

One of my more common avatars

Links and Sources

2008 World Series Game 5 index

2008 World Champion Phillies Player Indices

2018 HOF Candidate: Jamie Moyer

Today's HOF Candidate has a bunch of local ties Souderton HS Alum, St Joe's University Alum, and Starting pitcher for the 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

2008 UD WS #PP-7 Jamie Moyer (image swiped from trading card database)

To me Jamie Moyer is a baseball hero just for pitching until he was 49 years old. I will spare you the suspense - to me Jamie Moyer is an absolute Hall of Famer.

Deep down inside I realize the mans numbers are just to mediocre. His big number is his 269 victories, 56 of which came for the Phillies. Of course that is an accumulation in a stat category that is going out of vogue. Regardless his 50+ WAR is very respectable ranking 110th all-time, better than a handful of Hallers most notably Sandy Koufax. Of course Moyer doesn't have the accomplished Postseason of Koufax who was twice voted World Series MVP.

2008 Upper Deck World Series
The above card honors Jamie Moyer's only World Series appearance. With the series tied 1-1 Moyer took the mound in the Phillies first Home World Series game in 25 years.

The rain delayed game did not start until after 10pm and would not end until nearly 2 the next morning. Moyer the Veteran and True Professional did not let the inhospitable conditions bother him. He put together 6.1 innings leaving the game with a 4-2 Phillies lead. A lead the bullpen would relinquish, however the Phillies eventually won the game 5-4 on a crazy finish - Reserver Eric Bruntlett reached via Hit By Pitch, moved to 3rd on a throwing error by Rays Catcher Dioner Navarro, and scored on a Carlos Ruiz dribbler.  The Phillies scored the winning run without hitting a ball out of the infield. 
 

 

2008 UD WS #PP-7 Jamie Moyer (b-side)

The flip side of the card gives a brief synopsis of the game 3 of the 2008 series. 

For more information Upper Deck's 2008 World Series Box check out Cliff's posting over at Capewood's Collections. 

Verdict

As mentioned above Jamie Moyer is an Hall of Famer to me. YES

Sources and Links

2018 HOF Candidates

Jamie Moyer Player Index

Game Dated Cards 

Capewood's Collections

Trading Card Database 

Baseball-Ref

Anniversary: 2007 UD Masterpieces

Just got the news that Ryan Howard has been released by the Atlanta Braves. Ten Years ago on May 9th 2007 Howard had a much better day. The events of that day are discussed in the following: 

When I returned to collecting Upper Deck Masterpieces drew quite a buzz. The set had a lot of appeal to me. The cards had a higher quality feel to them with an impressive design. The checklist was small but it had a good mix of current stars, prospects and retired stars. I particularly enjoyed the historical moments

2007 UD #71 Ryan Howard

The Phillies had five cards in the initial Masterpieces set. This is one of two dedicated to Ryan Howard. The two Howard cards are similar and we look to cover that in a future column.

One of the attractive aspects of the Masterpieces is the canvas-like feel of the cards. I believe the cards feature original artwork (based off a photograph). Unfortunately Upper Deck did not identify the artists on the Baseball Masterpieces. This was handled differently with UDs release which credited the artists and sometimes provided website info.

It appears a little dark here but this is one of the Green Parallels. These are the most common Masterpiece parallel and are not serial numbered.

Ten Years Ago Today

2007 UD #71 Ryan Howard

After a synopsis of Howard's accolades from his early career the card back goes onto mention a game played on May 9 2017. After being shutout by the Diamondbacks Randy Johnson for six innings the Phillies were able to put up a series of crooked numbers earn a 9-3 victory.

The comeback was all started by the Grand Slam mentioned on 2007 UD #71. Howard did not hit his blast off of Randy Johnson. In fact manager Charlie Manuel elected to not start Ryan Howard versus the Big Unit. However, in the 7th inning Johnson loaded the bases and was over 100 pitches. The situation forced Arizona manager Bob Melvin to go to his righty reliever Brandon Medders. Ryan Howard hit the first pitch for the Homer, tallying his fourth career Grand Slam.

According to Baseball-Ref the hit had a WPA(Win Probability Added) of +35%.



Sources and Links
2007 UD Masterpieces Index
Philly.com
baseball-ref
Baseball Cardpedia
USA Today / Andrew Bagato
Teams Sets 4 U
COMC

Jamie Moyer Index

This is an Index to our postings related to Jamie Moyer

2008 UD WS #PP-47 Jamie Moyer

2012 Topps #US123 - SuperBowl 50
2011 Phungo #50 - Career win #268, tying Jim Palmer
2009 UD #300 - SuperBowl 50
2009 Ginter #68 - Year of the Tiger
2009 Phungo #50
2009 Phungo #50 - intro of 2009 Phungo Cards
2008 Topps - 250 Career Wins
2008 UD WS #PP-47 - World Series Start (featured above)

Game Report 2014 April 8 - Opening Day First Pitch
Stats 2012 April 4 - 21 Defunct Stadiums in which Moyer has pitched
Game Report 2010 May 7 - versus Chipper Jones
Game Report 2008 September 11 - March to WSC begins
Game Report 2008 September 7 - Shea Stadium Visit

SuperBowl 50: Jamie Moyer?

My angle on today's Superbowl is the 50 in #Superbowl50

2009 Upper Deck #300 Jamie Moyer

One of my favorite Phillies is Jamie Moyer and he wore the Number 50 for the 2008 World Series Champions. I don't have many Phillies/Moyer cards where the uniform number is highlighted. In the above 2009 UD card you can see the ID on Moyer's left sleeve. The right sleeve displays a VUK patch to honor the memory of longtime Phillies player and coach John Vukovich.

In addition to the #50 on Moyer's sleeve there is one located at the bottom of the card next to the player position.

I also like this card because it would be a hero number if it was a Topps Card - #300.

2009 Upper Deck #300 Jamie Moyer (b-side)

There is your proof, 300. Of course this is UD so it is not a Hero card, 300 simply falls in a sequence of cards where the majority of Phillies players reside in 2009 UD. Cards 289-302 are all Phils Most of which were members of the 2008 World Series Championship Team.

2012 Topps
There are some cards on different teams that showcase Moyer's  #50 more prominently.

2012 Topps #US123 Jamie Moyer (Orange Parallel - Image Swiped from Ebay)

One of those cards that I am interested in today is a special Moyer card from the 2012 Update Series. In addition to having an easily visible #50 we also see that Jamie Moyer is featured in a Colorado Rockies, a team that share a community with one of today's Superbowl teams, the Denver Broncos.

And the Broncos are the team I will be rooting for today. I am rooting for Peyton Manning to go out a Winner. I fight it often but sometimes I must admit I am older and stories where the old guys win appeal to me.

Returning to the card, it notes Jamie Moyer becoming the Oldest Player to win a game. This game occurred on April 17 2012 versus the San Diego Padres. Moyer would break his own record a month later when he earned the W in a Rockies 6-1 victory over the Diamond Backs on May 16th.

I conclude with a Go Broncos! 

Sources and Links
bdj610s Topps Baseball Card Blog
baseball-ref
baseballcardpedia
ebay tscardstore
mlb
 

Snapshots Opening Day Brewers @ Phillies 2014 04 08

The Phillies Home Opener started off with lots of promise, but ended with a 10-4 loss and the heavy weight of disappointment,  

The long list of grievances for the day included

- Old man winter keeps his dying fingers clutched upon us - Opening Day was delayed a day and when it did come was a bit windier and colder than expected.
-That same windy weather caused the thrilling Navy Leap Frog parachute drop to be cancelled. This is the 2nd consecutive time this has happened for a Phungo Opening Day trip.
-Before we even left for the stadium it was announced that Chase Utley would be out due to the flu.
-The Phillies had a series of fielding gaffes and looked like they were in the first day of spring training rather than the first day of the regular season.
-Kyle Kendrick who we finally decided may have a big season, completed imploded and was unable to execute a big pitch when needed.
-and Finally the player who got top billing on the sports day did it in the game we were attending, unfortunately he was the one guy on the field you couldn't possibly root for - Ryan Braun.

Even with those complaints Team Phungo had a fun day and we are looking forward to the 2014 Phillies season with guarded optimism.

Snapshots


2014 04 08 Steve Carlton & Jamie Moyer

The honorary first pitch was thrown out by Jamie Moyer who was accompanied by Steve Carlton. The pair of southpaws represent the Phillies two World Championship teams.


2014 04 08 Ryan Braun

This is Braun batting in the 6th inning when he flied out to to center. Oddly I took about a dozen pix of Braun and not one was during one of his HR ABs. In addition to his three Homers Braun also robbed Carlos Ruiz of a muli-RBI hit at a key point early in the game.

As I mentioned above, it is tough enough seeing your team get beat badly - it is much worse when the one guy that is out there having a career day is the one guy you just want to boo loudly,

2014 04 08 Kyle Kendrick

Interesting shot of Kendrick taken from the upper deck. After Tuesday's game my enthusiasm for his 2014 season is less than it was earlier in the week.


2014 04 08 Marlon Byrd

Marlon Byrd returns to the Phillies after eight years crisscrossing the baseball landscape.

 
2014 04 08 Phillies Starting Line Up Cards

Starting Line Up Cards are updated for 2014, but they are not affiliated with Topps. The cards do sort of remind me of the Topps Stickers that have come out the last couple of years.
  

2014 04 08 Sixto Lezcano Jersey

I didn't expect to see one of these. Sixto Lezcano played for the Phillies as well as the Brewers and actually was a contributor to the 1983 Wheeze Kids.

2014 04 08 Phillie Phanatic

My favorite Photo of the day - The Phanatic looks a bit dejected here, standing in front of the backdrop of excitement provided by the Opening Day logo.

Sources
Baseball-ref

Jamie Moyer 50

2009 Phungo #50 Jamie Moyer

Above is a card of Jamie Moyer from the innaugural Phungo set of 2009.  This past weekend Moyer turned 50. This past season he made headlines for several starts he made with the Colorado Rockies in which age related records were broken.  Unfortunatley time caught up with Jamie Moyer in 2012 and he was released. 

Milestones

I have not seen an official announcement of Moyer's retirement, and maybe we won't get one.  I hope he gets another shot.  Moyer is the only player to pitch in the 2012 season that is older then I am.  For whatever reason as long as there is somebody out there playing baseball that is older then me, it helps me feel younger - and I like being able to hold onto that feeling. 

Jamie Moyer v Tony Perez - 1986 08 22

On Wednesday night Jamie Moyer earned another win resetting his own record of holding the distinction of being the oldest player to win a Major League ballgame AND he set a record with his BAT by recording an RBI an RBI - which has never been done by anyone older. 

Today I want to take a look at an event on the other end of Jamie's career that involved a Future Hall of Famer who also recently reached an age plateau. 

1984 Topps #385 Tony Perez (image swiped from Baseball Card Database)

On Monday 5/14/2012 Tony Perez celebrated his 70th birthday.  Here comes your Phun Phact - Jamie Moyer once pitched to Tony Perez - recording 3 Outs vs the Future Hall of Famer while recording a 3-2 victory in August of 1986.

The Topps RC for Tony Perez is the #581 card in the 1965 set.  Hard to believe that there is an active pitcher that pitched to someone who played in 1964 and had a card issued in 1965.

Moyer has pitched to batters whose birth years have ranged from 1942 to 1990 (Starlin Castro). 

2011 Phungo Cards - Jamie Moyer

I wanted to take a timeout to recognize Phungo Phavorite and all-around good guy Jamie Moyer on becoming the oldest pitcher to record a Win in a Major League game.   Moyer went 7 strong for the Rockies last night in their 5-3 victory over the Padres.  The two runs that Moyer gave up were partially due to an error by Troy Tulowitzki on a routine grounder.

2011 Phungo #50 Jamie Moyer

It was career win number 268 for Moyer, tying him for 35th all-time with Jim Palmer.

Photo on the above Phungo Card was from prior to a game in 2007 - On many of Moyer's off days he would go from dugout to foul pole signing autographs.  This is one of several reasons I frequently salute Moyer as part of the Good Guy Club. 

Congrats to Jamie on the victory, and I hope he racks up a few more.

21 Defunct Stadiums that Jamie Moyer has Pitched In

The Marlins have officially moved to their new Stadium, Jamie Moyer  has added yet another ballpark to the list of places he has pitched where they no longer play Major League Baseball.

He has pitched in 21 defunct stadiums.  Twenty-One.

I would assume that is a record for any player active or not.

TEX-Arlington St

ATL-Atl-Fulton

BAL-Memor. Stad

CHW-ComiskeyPk 1

CIN-Cinergy Fld

CLE-ClevelandStd

DET-Tiger Stad

HOU-Astrodome

FLA-ProPlayerStd

MIL-County Stad

MIN-Metrodome

MON-Stade Olymp.

NYY-Yankee Stad

NYM-Shea Stad

PHI-VeteransStad

PIT-3 Rivers Std

SDP-Qualcomm St

SEA-Kingdome

SFG-3Com Park

STL-Busch Stad

WSN-RFK Stad

Reply to: Reply to Ember, Paul (H USA)

Send

 Source: Baseball-Reference

2011 Phungo #50 Jamie Moyer

For more Jamie Moyer content clilck here

Philly Show Returns this Weekend

The Philly Show returns to Valley Forge this weekend, March 4-6.  The show comes to the area three times a year and I enjoy it every time I attend.

2011 Phungo #50 Jamie Moyer


The most disappointing part of the show is that it becomes more expensive autograph autograph show and les card show every year.  This weekend the big autograph day for baseball is Saturday.  Friday is primarily Flyers and Sunday is basically dedicated to the Eagles.

Jamie Moyer is one of the signers on Saturday.  I already have Mr Moyer's autograph, so I doubt I will shell out the $40 for his signature.  The Free Auto on Saturday is former Phils pitching coach Joe Kerrigan.  I will likely will wait in the 2 minute line for his autograph.  Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda will be part of Saturday's festivities ($30).  Mr Hockey, Gordie Howe, will be autographing items for $89.

Note the scheducled Dick Allen signing has been CANCELED.  This unfortunately has become a pattern of the Philly Show.  At almost every show there is a major cancellation or postponement.  Last Year both Jim Palmer and Roy Halladay were not present for their announed shows.      

Friday is Flyers day with several past and present players including Danny Briere, Bernie Perant, Dave Schultz, Rick Tocchet, and Reggie Leach.

Sunday is dedicated to the Eagles. The Free Auto is Calvin Williams.  Harold Carmichael at $25 is the deal of the day to me.  Brian Dawkins, Brian Westbrook, and DeSean Jackson are all over $60.

I expect to be at the show on Saturday hunched over a dime box looking for cheap singles.  If anyone plans to attend the show let me know and we can hook up.

Admission to the show is $8.  There is usually a $1 off coupon in the local weekend papers.


For reports on some of the past Philly Shows click the dates below:


2010 09 25
2010 03 13
2009 12 05
2009 12 05 (special 1959 Topps Edition)
2009 09 27

Phungo Game Report - 2010 07 07 Braves @ Phillies

The Phils dropped the final game of a 3 game series against the Braves on Weds night. Jamie Moyer held the Braves to one run through five innings, but couldn't get out of the 6th inning. The Braves sent 10 hitters to the plate in the 6th and scored 6 runs which would lead them to the 7-5 victory.

Brian McCann had a bases loaded double which broke open the 6th inning. Martin Prado added a pair of homers in his 3-5 evening. Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino each homered for the good guys while Jimmy Rollins collected a pair of doubles.

Kris Medlen earned the victory for the Braves, while former Phil Billy Wagner (hitting "only" 96mph these days) picked up the save. During the big 6th inning I found out that Medlen is a switch-hitter, and performed the rare feat of striking out from both sides of the plate in a single inning - good thing or else the Phils might still be trying to get the Braves out.


Photos and Observations
2010 07 07 Jamie Moyer v Chipper Jones (click to enlarge)

This is a picture of Jamie pitching to Chipper in the first inning, if you enlarge the picture you can see the baseball right below the right hand side of the first base coaching box. Moyer would win this AB as Chipper popped out to center.

It was a hot somewhat humid night - fortunately there was a bit of haze which actually kept the sun from beating down on us in the early innings. Braves fans were fairly well represented, including a confused young lady in front of us who wore a Braves cap and a Jayson Werth T-Shirt.

One thing that you really get a sense for when your actually at the game as opposed to watching on TV, is the size of some of these guys. The Braves have a couple of guys that are just huge. Tommy Hanson and Troy Glaus were among the giants. Perhaps it was just that I spotted them standing next to Matt Diaz.

Cards that Never Were
Wilson Valdez was still a Met in 2009, but he gets the 2009 Topps treatment as a Phil in the above starting line up card.

Cards that will likely never be in my PC

1952 Topps Mickey Mantle and Willie McCovey Autograph

Excuse the layout here - I am not going to put in the time to figure out why I can't orient this photo correctly.

Hunt Auctions is based in Exton PA about an Hour west of Philadelphia. They have a case of items for sale at the ballpark - it may be in conjunction with their memorabilia auction at the All-Star fan fest this week. This is a 52 Mickey Mantle in basically horrible condition, if I am not mistaken the salesman quoted a price of $35,000 for the card. The McCovey Autograph mext door was listed for $20 - a comparative bargain.

Good Guy Awards
Tim Hudson gets a GGA for signing roughly two dozen autographs. Other Braves spotted signing balls and caps included Matt Diaz and Bullpen Coach Eddie Perez. I also saw Ryan Howard signing for a few kids on the Phils sideline.

Despite the Phils losing an important mid-season game and series and the hot humid conditions, it was still a fun night at the ballpark. We are half way through the season, hopefully Team Phungo will catch some Wins soon.

Happy New Year - Year of the Tiger!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese Zodiac.

2010 is The Year of the Tiger as well as the past years 1998, 1986, 1974, 1962, 1950 ,1938 and beyond at 12 year intervals.

We at team Phungo will celebrate by posting a few cards of some Tigers.

1962 2009 Topps Allen & Ginters #68 Jamie Moyer

Hard to believe that Jamie is starting his 5th cycle of the zodiac and has a chance to be a pitcher this season. He has been a great player and member of the community and I hope he can return for one more season.

Looking ahead a year, if Moyer were to be issued a 2011 Topps Heritage card, he would probably be the first active player to have a Heritage card from his birth year. Not sure if Julio Franco hung on that long or not.

1938
1965 Topps #220 Billy Williams
1990 Donruss #716 Bart Giamatti

A Hall of Famer and a major league president that faced the task of disciplining a player that had a Hall of Fame career.

1950

1978 Topps #420 Greg Luzinski
2007 UD SPXcitement SPX-29 Julius Erving

Two Philadelphia Giants.


1974

2008 UD Nationals Baseball Card Day #UD10 Derek Jeter
2000 Topps #38 Bobby Abreu

A pair of former teammates. 4800 Hits, 480 Homers and 650 Stolen Bases between them. Alanis Morissette, who is featured on a 2010 Phungo Card is also a 1974 Tiger.

1986
2008 Topps Trading Card History #TCH75 Felix Hernandez
2009 UD Goudey #152 Lou Marson

Felix Hernandez is on a card featuring the design from his birth year, which is pretty cool. Not many players can say that - unless they are a member of the Chicago White Sox or perhaps next year Jamie Moyer.

2004 Topps Heritage Faux Blaster - 1955 Topps Returns

The Phungo Faux Blaster is basically $20 worth of cards out of a single product or in a certain theme. Today we are examining 2004 Topps Heritage.

04 Heritage looks back at 1955 Topps, the first of the Topps Sets to feature Landscape/Horizontal cards. Here is one other link dedicated to 1955 Topps.

I picked up Five packs of the 04 Heritage at a show last month and opened the first pack over at A Pack to be Named Later. Recently Matt F of Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius has been busy opening a lot of quality 1980's and early 90's wax.

Here is what came out of the remaining 4 packs

Pack 2
304 Rocco Baldelli
1 Jim Thome
160 Carlos Quentin (early card but not a RC)
66 Kyle Davies RC
NPA15 Josh Beckett
67 Tim Salmon
270 Ramon Ortiz
103 Hideo Nomo

The Inserts (click to Enlarge)

Pack 3
86 Ray Durham
325 Alex Gonzalez
212 Darrin Erstad
133 Wes Helms
F10 Flashback Robin Roberts
4/4 Checklist (on some really thick cardboard)
277 Ty Wiggington
178 Shane Reynolds
322 Junior Spivey

Thome Short Print with Thome Base (Click to Enlarge)


Pack 4
353 Brad Lidge (Astros)
372 Eric Karros
189 Braden Looper
392 Jamie Moyer (Mariners)
1 Thome (SP)
76 Placido Polanco
285 Neifi Perez
199 Javier Vazquez

Phillies Past and Present

Pack 5
44 Jimmy Haynes
143 Brad Fullmer
280 Brian Giles
55 Brendan Donnelly
195 Flash Gordon
53 Jose Contreras
215 Randy Johnson
107 Jarrod Washburn

The five packs pretty much came up as promised. The lot didn't contain a "hit", four of the five packs contained either an insert or a short print. As far as I can tell the last pack does not contain an insert. The Short Print I pulled was of Jim Thome and 1 of the three inserts was of Robin Roberts - Very happy on the Phils meter. Pack four was probably the pick of the lot as it contained two Phils including the Thome SP, plus two future Phils who would make up part of the 2008 World Championship pitching staff.

Whenever I pick up packs in bulk from the a dealer at a show, I try and get a then to throw in some sort of a bonus. With the 5 packs of 04 Heritage I also picked up a pack of 2003 Fleer Tradtion which is featured in this post. That pack produced 10 cards the Highlights were a Sammy Sosa insert, Drew Henson SP, and an early Jake Peavy card.

Summarizing the 2004 Topps Heritage Faux Blaster: No big hits a couple of inserts and short prints. Who knows maybe the packs were searched, or I got the end of the Heritage box.

Overall I came away with 50 total cards broken down as follows:

36 2004 Topps Heritage Base Cards
1 Short Print Variation (Thome)
3 Inserts (Robin Roberts, Josh Beckett, Herb Score/Kerry Wood)

7 2003 Fleer Tradition Base Cards
1 Short Print (Drew Henson)
2 Insert (Sosa, Jeter Puzzle Piece )

The Heritage cards included 7 Past, Current or Future Phils of some significance which made the Faux Blaster a success, otherwise I would have considered it mediocre. Regardless, I think I would prefer this Blaster to a Blaster of 90 current topps cards.

1955 Topps

Lets take a look back at some of the other 1955 Topps related cards in the Phungo Collection:
1955 Topps #11 Ferris Fain

Ferris Fain played his first 6 seasons (1947-52) with the Philadelphia Athletics. During his career he posted an On Base Percentage of .424, which ranks 9th all time! Fain was basically a singles hitter (48 career Homers) with a lot of walks and it is doubtful he would have ever gotten consideration for the Hall of Fame. He also only played 9 seasons, one short of Hall of Fame qualification.

2004 is not the only time that Topps has recycled the 1955 design. They have done this as far back as 1975 when Topps had a subset featuring the Topps cards of the Leagues previous MVPs.


I am sure that most of you are also aware that Topps has used the design for a Mantle Subset and included a handful of 1955 style cards in their Fan Favorites Series:


2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #84 Johnny Podres
2008 Topps Mickey Mantle Home Run History #HHR536 Mickey Mantle
(click to enlarge)

Tribe Cards Allen Ginter Group Break - The Phils and other Phun Stuff

Dave over at Tribe Cards hosted a great box break that was right in my wheelhouse. For a mere $5 one could get all the cards of a certain team out of a Hobby Box of Allen & Ginter. I obviously picked the Phils and was very happy with the results.

2009 Allen & Ginter #162 Shane Victorino
2009 Allen & Ginter Black Border Mini #151 Cole Hamels
2009 Allen & Ginter A&G Back Mini #68 Jamie Moyer


Love the Cole Mini and nice to get the A&G back Moyer mini also. The remainder of the PHils included Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, Jamie Moyer Base Card and Brett Myers.

There are obviously cards in Allen Ginter that are not associated with any team. These were divided randomly amongst the break participants.

2009 Allen & Ginter #297 Bowling Champion Kolan McConiughey
2009 Allen & Ginter #2 Zack Greinke

And some teams were unclaimed - that is how KC Royal Greinke ended up in the Phungo Collection. Bringham Young and Justin Moreneau were some of the other bonus cards that were sent my way.

Dave did a tremendous job as usual with the break. He went the extra mile by reinserting the cards in an Allen Ginter wrapper (pictured above) which gave me the excitement of opening a pack. He also designed a Special Tribe Cards Allen Ginter Return Addy sticker:


Thanks again, and good luck to the Indians - 2009 looks shot, but hopefully some of the former Phils prospects will be able to contribute to Clevelands Future.

Card Show - Corcorde Mall, Wilmington, Delaware

Checked out a local card show at the Concorde Mall in Wilmington Delaware. Best part of the show was meeting PTBNL/Patsearcher-Greg, the author of In Search of Pat the Bat. Greg was the winner of the 2009 version of the Spot the Sig! contest and announced that he will be back to defend his title this fall. It was good to meet a fellow Phils collector and blogger. We batted around a couple of collecting and blogging topics, and of course discussed the Phils past and Present. We were also able to take in part of Saturday's Cards v Phils game on TV and got to see Jimmy Rollins' Grand Slam!

Greg is much more in touch with the cards from the years prior to my return to collecting and it was good to get some insight on those sets, inserts, and the all the related parallel variations.

I think we both did pretty well at the show, He was able to pick up a handful of Burrell cards for his want list and was busy filling out some sets he has been building. On my end I found a couple of cards from some set I am building. 1 from 08 Spectrum and 2 form 07 Bowman Heriitage. I found these cards among three dime boxes I searched. Most of the cards I picked up were to build my Phils teams sets from 1980-Present. I also took home my usual boatload of Heritage/Retros, HOFs, and Chromey superstars. I picked out a handful of slightly higher priced cards in the 7/$5 bin and also picked up about a dozen junk autos going for about $2.50 each

Here are some of he Highlights:


(Click To Enlarge)
1972 Topps #38 Carl Yastrzemski In Action
2009 Topps #428 Jamie Moyer Gold #d 1188/2009
1974 Topps #342 Jim Longborg
1970 Topps Scratch Off Juan Marichal
2009 OPC #220 Ryan Howard Black Border
1984 Topps #397 Eddie Murray All-Star
1991 Topps Archive 1953 #318 Curt Simmons
2008 UD Documentary #4233 PHI142 Joe Blanton September 7, 2008 Phils 6 Mets 2

The Yaz, Moyer, Marichal, and Howard cards came out of the insert box. The rest of the cards were out of dime boxes.

Quick Summary: It is always good to get cards of vintage HOFs especially pre-1974. The 72 In Action set is a fun set too. The #d Gold card will be a nice addition to my emerging Jamie Moyer collection. The Longborg was one of many Phillies that I picked up as I try and build the entire Topps run of Phils cards. I didn't have any of the Topps Scratch Off cards. I am not sure if I will be collecting O-Pee-Chee this year but the Black Border was to nice to pass on. Eddie Murray is for the HOF collection. Curt Simmons is an underappreciated Pitcher from Phils past and finally the Documentary will go into the Phungo Games collection.

The Concorde Mall Show consisted of about 20 maybe 25 tables. The few dealers that I talked to felt Saturday was down, but they seemed to think they had done well on Friday Night.

Congratulations Jamie Moyer

2008 Topps #173 Jamie Moyer

Jamie Moyer earned his 250th career win today. Moyer has been a key player for the Phillies since arriving here late in 2006 and I am very happy to see Moyer reach the milestone. Some analysts may see the accomplishment as merely the accrual of wins over a long career. I choose to see it as the product of a smart and tenacious pitcher diligently working hard so that he can succeed every time he pitches.

If 250 wins isn't remarkable to you, check the Baseball-Reference list of active pitchers with the most career wins. Jamie is currently 2nd or 3rd depending on the status of Tom Glavine, and has a chance of being the active pitcher with most career wins if Randy Johnson retires prior to Moyer. Also notice that if admitted steroid abuser Andy Pettitte does not reach 250, the next pitcher to reach the milestone may be Tim Hudson and he still needs over 100 wins to get there.

To symbolize the 250 victories I have shrunk the Moyer card above and dupicated it 250 times.


If you click on the above and then imagine it six times as big that would be roughly the size of 250 Jamie Moyer Cards.