2016 Hall of Fame Ballot

It isn't as exciting as the postseason or even the regular season but Awards Season is upon us. This will all culminate with the Hall of Fame Voting in January. 

There are 15 new names on this years Ballot, none bigger than Ken Griffey Jr.

1994 Topps #388 All-Star Outfielders Len Dykstra & Ken Griffey Jr

We will all likely see a lot of cards of Junior over the next couple of weeks. This is a fun one that also happens to feature the Phillies centerfielder of the era Len Dykstra. Something tells me that Griffey's HoF ballot count will be significantly better then Dykstra's sole appearance - the 2002 ballot. 

Lenny received a single HoF vote, which is more than he deserved. 

I did a few searches but was unable to find the BBWAA that voted for Dykstra. It is almost comical to think of he and Junior getting equal billing on a card. For the most part I think Griffey is one of the most well regarded professional athletes while Lenny is pretty much viewed as a cretin.

flip

1994 Topps #388 All-Star Outfielders Len Dykstra & Ken Griffey Jr (b-side)

Kind of a cool idea for an All-Star card with the pre- and post- break stats. Both Griffey and Dykstra had impressive OBP for the entirety of 1993, I am a little surprised the stat made it onto a 1994 card. Dykstra had a bit of a dropoff in the 2nd half, but his numbers remained impressive.

Dykstra finished 2nd to Barry Bonds in the 1993 NL MVP Voting, while Griffey came in 5th in the junior circuit - despite having the 2nd best WAR (8.7) which led AL position players. 

RookiesThe 15 new comers on this years ballot are listed below

Garret Anderson
Brad Ausmus
Luis Castillo
David Eckstein
Jim Edmonds
 
Troy Glaus
Ken Griffey Jr
Mark Grudzielanek 
Mike Hampton
Trevor Hoffman
 
Jason Kendall
Mike Lowell,
Mike Sweeney
Billy Wagner
Randy Winn

I am going to try and cover a couple of these players prior to the HoF announcement in January.  At a minimum I expect to put together columns on Billy Wagner, Hoffman, and Ballot Snub Chan Ho Park.

There are 17 holdovers from the 2015 ballot giving us a total of 32 candidates. Some of those folks got mentioned in our 2015 HoF Ballot coverage which is can be found here.


Sources and Links
2016 HoF Candidates Index
CNN/SI - Jay Jaffe
Baseball Hall of Fame
baseball-ref

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

1990 Topps #515 Len Dykstra

Yesterday we featured a card for a no-hitter that almost happened. Today we have a card of the player that foiled the John Smoltz Attempt.

1990 Topps #515 Len Dykstra

Lenny Dykstra broke up the No-Hitter by pulling a double down the right field line. Dykstra would eventually even score to end the shutout as well, but Smoltz held on for the 6-1 victory.

1990 Topps
This is the first Topps Base card to feature Lenny Dykstra in a Phillies uniform. Biggest oddity here is that he is Len rather than Lenny. He is almost always Lenny to me. If I am running off stats in a formal way I may say something like "In 1993 Len Dykstra led the league in both Hits AND Walks, That's tough to do".  More typically I would say, "Man I would love to party with Lenny Dykstra sometime, but I fear it would kill me"

According to the Baseball Card Database Topps issued a dozen base cards of Dykstra. He is not referred to as Lenny on any of them. 

Sources and Links
1990: Year of the No-Hitter
baseball card database
Baseball-ref

Spats Grudges and Card Shows - Mitch Williams v Lenny Dykstra

I spent the last decent weather day of the year in a mall at a card show. Yes I questioned the wisdom of the decision, but Darren Daulton was there and he is battling brain cancer. The man had provided me with many baseball memories and I wasn’t sure when I would get a chance to see him again.

Autograph collecting at shows isn’t really my thing, the lines and cost really don’t fit my collection budget. But I do enjoy going to the shows to check out cards, take pictures and chat with other collectors. Seeing the players off the field is always fun and sometimes interesting.

Apparently Saturday was more interesting than most shows as Mitch Williams and Lenny Dykstra got themselves into a snit.

Mitch Williams

 

 

Unfortunately, I left before the incident. I don’t have much to add to the story other than I saw Mitch close to the end of his signing stint and he appeared annoyed, which is converse to the attitude he generally has on TV as a commentator and at the few events I have seen him appear in the past.

Darren Daulton

 

Darren Daulton  appeared pretty decent for a man in such a dire situation. He was in good spirits and was willing to spend time with fans and take pictures. Hard to believe that a man with enough issues already had to keep Mitch Williams and Lenny Dykstra from getting into a fistfight.

Phun Cards 1991 Donruss #744: Dale Murphy 2013 Hall of Fame Candidate

I didn't quite make it thru all of the Phillies on the HoF Ballot, but I did want top get to this one.  


1991 Donruss #744 Dr Dirt and Mr Clean

This card says a lot about this years ballot.  It has one player who got a single vote in 2001 and another that remained on the ballot for his full 15 years of eligiblity.

We have one player who was known as a good guy off the field and one guy who has had nothing but trouble since leaving baseball.

This card also shows both sides of the steroid issue.  One guy we're pretty sure is Mr Clean and on the other side of the PED issue we have Dr Dirt. 

Looking forward to Wednesday's Results.

My Apologies to the two Phillies Alums I didn't get to in the 2013 HoF candidates I didnt' get to - Julio Franco and Roberto Hernandez.  I supposed I may get a crack at Mr Franco in 2014 - doubtful for Hernandez. 


2013 HoF Candidate Postings

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Mike Piazza

Curt Schilling 

Also brief thoughts on

Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens

2012 Phungo Cards - Lenny Dykstra

Nails once again remains noteworthy for all the wrong reasons.  

 

 

Lenny Dykstra's post Baseball Career spiral continues to spiral downward - earliar this week he was sentenced to 1-3 years in prison for a grand theft auto scheme. 

 

 

2012 Phungo #38 Lenny Dykstra

 

 

The photo on the above Phungo Card was taken at a card show last year.  Team Phungo doesn't have the budget to take part in the autograph portion of card shows, so I am typically banished beyond the rope.  My camera doesn't handle the low lighting of the expo center as well as I would liks and photos of guests in the center can be dicey.  This shot of Dykstra barely made the acceptable cut for a Phungo Card.

 

 

I loved Lenny when he played, During his early 90s tenure with the Phils he had one great year surrounded by a couple of decent ones which were generally tainted by injury.  Off the field his life has been a mess, and it bums me out.  I look at Dykstra and I see Allen Iverson, I also see a Post-Career Josh Hamilton.  There are a lot of enablers in their camps, but I wonder what happens when the money dries up. 

 

 

I hope Dykstra can escape his demons while serving time and comes out a recovered man.  I think it is more likely he emerges stating he's a changed man, ghost-writes a book, collects a million dollars, blows it all in a blink and winds up returning to squalor.  It's unfortunate but I honestly have a tough time seeing it end any other way. 

Swag from Nachos Grande...

I was pleasantly surprised to get a nice package of cards from Nachos Grande which included Several great Phillies Cards.

2008 Topps #140 Ryan Howard (Authorized by Cincinnati Red Ken Griffey)
1990 Donruss Diamond Kings #7 Lenny Dykstra
1985 Topps #157 Tug McGraw

Fine cards indeed....wha????? What the Heck is this - the unis are Red, but the players aren't to familiar looking???


2009 UD #95 Brandon Phillips (multiple)
2009 UD #601 Brandon Phillips (multiple)
2009 UD #961 Brandon Phillips (multiple)

Ahh this Explains It!!!

Bippage Relic Card Numbered to /2 - My lowest Serial EVER!!!

It feels like Groundhog's Day, I have been bipped again!

I wonder who got the Other Relic??

Thanks to Fan Of Reds and the Nachos Grande Crew - And Thorzul for making this all possible.

Lenny Dykstra has Something to Say - Special Spot the Sig! Announcement coming up on Wednesday!

1995 Score #22 Lenny Dykstra

This Wednesday Team Phungo will have a Very Special Announcement regarding the Spot the Sig! competition. Until then I would like to congratulate Autograph Cards for picking up their third auto and plating a pair of runs. I will have a full run down of the Bonus round and scores later in the week.

Anyone that has not entered still has until noon on Tuesday to get a chance at the STS! Bonus.

The Card

This has to be one of my all time favorite cards. Lenny Dykstra giving it to an ump. It is likely from a game on May 8th 1994, meaning the Umpire is probably Angel Hernandez. If this the game I remember, Dykstra got upset with a bad call by Hernandez and then drew a line through the opposite batters box where the ball had passed - I don't know maybe 10 inches outside. The replay did agree with Lenny's estimate. Regardless, Angel was not going to be shown up and ejected Dykstra.

Great Ejection, Great Memory, That's Baseball - Oh and the Phils won the game, That part I don't remember.

Opening Night - Phungo 5 with Cardboard Junkie

New Phungo Feature today - the PHUNGO 5. For each series during the Phillies 09 Season I am going to attempt to get a mini-interview of 5 questions from a card blogger related to the team which is facing the Phillies (Think "Daily Show" V1.0 with Kilborn)

The Phillies are coming off of winning the 2008 World Championship and as a reward they get to host ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball and the Atlanta Braves. This gives me the opportunity to pick the brain of the prolific DayF over at Cardboard Junkie. I am ashamed, I think he gave me his entire Braves preview. Dayf is his usual witty and insightful self and I am very happy with the results of the first Phungo 5.

1) This is the 2nd consecutive year the Braves have been on Opening night, Like it or Loathe it?
Love it. It's like Daytona for baseball, a big event. I don't even mind the crappy ESPN announcers. Bonus: Derek Lowe gets an extra start in due to all the off days from playing a day before everyone else. I just hope the weather isn't lousy up in Philly.

2) If I am a prospector what Braves cards should I be looking at?
You obviously are too late to jump on the Jordan Shafer bandwagon and pretty much everyone knows about Hanson and Heyward by now. Gorkys Hernandez too, to a lesser extent. Freddie Freeman is probably the best prospect still (sort of) under the radar. Huge 19 year old first baseman that mashes the ball. Also watch out for shortstop Brandon Hicks. He's raw, but he might end up converted to third base to take over for Chipper one day. Brandon is another guy who can hit the ball out of the park, but he strikes out too much. If he can learn how to make contact or at least figure out how to take a ton of walks like Adam Dunn he might be in the bigs one day. There's a whole mess of pitchers who could make an impact in a couple of years too. Kris Medlen, Cole Rohrbaugh, Julio Teheran and Jeff Locke. All lefties except for Medlen.

3) What three players will need to excel for the Braves to win the NL East?
Jeff Francoeur has got to remember how to hit. If he doesn't the Braves are in trouble and Jeffy will probably be on his way out of town. Mike Gonzalez is pretty critical. The bullpen is good but injury prone and Mike needs to lock down that closer role to keep the whole house of cards from collapsing like it's done so often in the past. The most important guy on the team right now is Brian McCann. He's an All-Star catcher, hits the daylights out of the ball and is picking up the Team Leader role now that Smoltz is gone and Glavine has gotten old. If McCann gets injured for any period of time, the Braves are in deep trouble. If Chipper goes down they could muddle through with some combination of Infante, Prado and Norton over in the hot corner. Behind McCann is David Ross and Clint Sammons. McCann has to stay healthy.

4) Favorite Phillies Braves Connection
My cousin Tim, a big Phillie fan who took me to a few Phillies/Braves games when I was a kid. I owned a Phillies cap before I ever owned a Braves cap if you can believe that. Got it at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium at a game he took me to. I don't know how the hell he managed to drive home after all of those beers he had at the game, but we did and it was a really fun time.

5) Dr Dirt or Mr Clean?
No contest. Mr. Clean.

1991 Donruss #744 Dr Dirt and Mr Clean (click to enlarge)

There it is, the Debut of Phungo 5 - We will give the Cardboard Junkie team a perfect 5 of 5 for their efforts - Hope you enjoyed it, We will be looking to Tulo Trader for a Rockies report later this week. If you are interested in representing your team in a future Phungo 5 leave a comment or email me - I have some folks in mind, but some teams are a little thin - is there a Nats Card blog out there?

As for me I am looking forward to watching the Phils defend the World Championship. The Phillies are facing long odds, No NL team as repeated since the 75-76 Reds 30+ years ago. Regardless, the Phils are a fun and likeable team. Tickets will be more expensive and harder to come by this season, but I am sure glad the season is here.

Spot The Sig! Profile Lenny Dykstra

2003 Donruss Legends of the Summer LS-27 Lenny Dykstra

This is a Mets Lenny Dykstra autograph, which is perhaps as it should be. Dykstra won a World Series with the Mets, he only played in a Series with the Phillies. The 93 post season is definitely significant in the Dykstra legend - Between the NLCS and World Series Dykstra hit 6 home runs. For his Career Dykstra hit .312 in the post season including 10 Homers in a mere 112 At Bats.

Dykstra is a fan favorite in both New York and Philly due to his well earned reputation as a hard-nosed player. His career ended somewhat prematurely due to injuries at the age of 33 - although a high $$$ contract and the financial stakes of both Dykstra and the Phillies were probably also factors.

Another aspect of Lenny Dykstra's personality is that he is a man who has been known to enjoy a drink or two. For this reason I chose Lenny to represent STS! with the New Year's Eve holiday looming.

Dykstra can also help to serve as a warning too. In May of 1992 Dykstra was involved in a nasty car accident while driving home from a bachelor party for teammate John Kruk. Another Phillie Darren Daulton was injured in the crash. There are countless examples of athletes, celebrities, and our friends, relatives, and neighbors all being affected by mishaps that involve drunk driving, yet we as a society have not learned much from these examples. Everyone enjoy your New Year's Eve, but also do your part to be safe and not endanger yourself or the lives ot others.

Many folks know that Dykstra has parlayed his baseball celebrity into a successful stock/business venture and currently writes a column for the street.com. Dykstra's son Cutter was recently drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers and I think he has a card in either Razor or Donruss Threads.

Oh and here is a short article that appeared in the Onion referencing Lenny Dykstra. FYI - the Javier/Searcy trade really did happen, but the PTBNL was not Dykstra, it was Julio Peguero, who never did play for the Dodgers major leage club.

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Once again PTBNL was the first reader in with the correct answer good for a Pat Burrell Double - His last AtBat as a Phil no doubt. The bonus question is still open until after the Rose Bowl. I am accepting entries for the bonus question here until 11:00 AM (eastern) on January 1st 2009.



The current STS! standings

PTBNL - repsresentin those Fightin Phillies - 4 Runs - Burrell on 2nd. For those of you keeping score at home, I missed one of PTBNL's runs last week and had initially stated he only had 3 runs - this has been corrected.

Stats on the Back - Mets - 1 Run in - Man on 3rd
Cardboard Junkie - Braves - 1 Run in - Man on First
Cardboard Addiction - Bosox - Man on First
Night Owl - Dodgers - Man on 3rd
A Cardboard Problem - Yankees - on Deck

For further information regarding the Phungo Spot the Sig! contest click here and join the party - you just may find yourself with a stack of cards come spring training!

Phillies World Series Teams - 1993

As you're well aware, the Phillies will be competing in their first World Series in 15 years. This week I am going to feature posts related to the five previous Phillies teams to compete in the World Series.

1993 Upper Deck Team Stars # 485

The 1993 Phillies simply are one of the most loved teams in Philadelphia History. And this great card sums them up. The 93 team flat out bashed the ball - sure they had Curt Schilling and a bunch of other solid pitchers but they won on their hitting. Thanks to guys like Dykstra and the Krukker they seemed to always have men on base and then Dauton and Hollins would drive them in.

The 1993 Phillies shocked the perennial NL Champion Atlanta Braves in a 6 game NLCS but would ultimately lose in the World Series, also in 6 games, to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Philadelphia fans get a lot of bad pub for how they treat their athletes - oddly, Mitch Williams has had a fairly unexpected post playing career. He has become an incredibly popular figure in Philadelphia. Williams consistently shows up on sports talk shows and with quality information and analysis while also giving his honest opinion. He also spends some time hawking is salsa. I haven't tried the salsa, but I do enjoy having Mitch around. It's a story that took a weird turn and has had a happy ending - A nice story for Mitch for the Phils and for Philadelphia.

If you want to see a great card related retrospective on the 1993 Phils check out this series of posts that was written earlier this year over at Capewood's Collections.

Game 3 Phillies @ Brewers

1993 Upper Deck #800 Jim Eisenreich
1995 Fleer Ultra #203 Lenny Dykstra

Yesterday I never got around to putting up a post for game three of the NLDS and the Baseball Fates frowned upon the Phillies. My Bad.

The Phillies simply have not been hitting in the series and largely have capitalized on Brewer errors and a bad CC Sabathia inning. To help out with the Phils hitting woes, I am drawing on some of the 93 Phils lefthanded hitters. Eisy was a Phan Phavorite who never seemed to have a bad at-bat while the Dude Lenny Dykstra was an offensive spark plug getting one clutch hit after another. Phils needs some big hits out of current left-handers Chase Utley and Ryan Howard so they can come on home and get ready to face the NL West Champion LA Dodgers.

Philadelphia Phillies @ Milwaukee Brewers: Miller Park, Milwaukee WI Sunday October 5th 1:07 PM Eastern.

GO PHILS!