Happy Birthday Matt Stairs 2009 Topps #139

Matt Stairs celebrates his 50th Birthday on February 27th. Of course Matt will always be remembered for one of the biggest Home Runs in Phillies history.

Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS Playoffs:

2009 Topps #139 Matt Stairs (image swiped from topps card db)

In the 8th inning of a 5-5 tie Stairs came in to pinch-hit and blasted a 3-1 pitch from Dodgers pitcher Jonathan Broxton deep into the Dodger Stadium bleachers. It is one of the hardest hit balls I have ever seen. The homer capped the scoring as the Phillies won the game 7-5 and took a 3-1 series lead. 

2009 Topps #139 Matt Stairs (b-sides /image swiped from topps card db)

The back of the card has a similar synopsis as we have written above along with the RHE box. Fumy how it is unlabeled bit all baseball fans know what it means. Stairs line for the game consists of his single PH AB - 2 RBI nobody Left on Base!


Pix

2008 Oct 13 Matt Stair Home Run in Game 4 of the NLCS

I was able to find the original image but it there is no associated photo credit in the accompanying Philly.com article. Notice that on this 2009 card the umpire has been digitally removed. Of course this meant that something had to be added in the umps absence. It looks like Topps took a crowd from a different game and inserted them in the space vacated by the ump. Check Stairs head then move to the right. The first guy is a match, Kid in orange shirt missing, Blue shirt w/ blue cap and shades over cap also missing. Same thing on row below - matches end with the person in the maroon shirt. ahh The joys of Photoshop.

UPDATE: I have found the source photo, it was taken by Chris Carlson and can be found here.  

Matt Stairs Index
1991 ProCards #259 (Swag)
2007 Topps #UH119 (Gold / Canadian Baseball HOF induction)
2009 Phungo #12

Sources & Links
2008 World Series Champs
Game Dated Cards Index
Topps Card DB
Baseball-Ref
Philly.com
AP Images

Update:
2018 0228: AP Image found
 

Welcome to the Baseball Hall of Fame Matt Stairs: 2007 Topps #UH119

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame that is.

2007 Topps #UH119  (#d57/2007)

On Wednesday it was announced that Matt Stairs had been elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Not only was Stairs born in Canada, but he came up with the Expos and played for the Blue Jays.

And he was also a member of the 2008 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Last year Stairs joined the Phillies TV broadcast team and is expected to return for 2015. It is not unusual for him to mention his Canadian roots and talk a little hockey.

Congrats to a Phungo Favorite.

HoF Index
I am thinking of using this post for an Index to my Hockey HoF cards :)




Sources and Links 
HoF Index
Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
Baseball-ref

Phungo Cards - Matt Stairs

2009 Phungo # 12 Matt Stairs

One of the things I got to do with Phungo Cards was create cards for players that had none or few. As far as I know the only Phillies Matt Stairs cards is in Heritage High Numbers and I believe it is a stinkin short print.

Stairs was an August waiver trade acquisition who didn't do much during the season, but he had a huge hit to give the Phils the lead in game 4 of the NLCS versus the Dodgers. I am not sure if I have ever seen a ball hit harder then the one that Stairs nailed that night.

The Phillies still have Matt Stairs on their roster, however, they are sort of overloaded with left-handers on the bench. I doubt it is best for the Phils to go into 2009 with both Stairs and Geoff Jenkins on their bench, but they still have a few months to sort that out.

I chose Stairs Uniform number of 12 for this card. The photo was taken during BP prior to part B of game 5 of the World Series. I thought for sure that Stairs would be called upon to pinch hit at some point during those last three innings but he never was.

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Team Phungo is on vacation this weekend. I do have a Spot the Sig! post scheduled for Saturday Night. Hopefully that gets published correctly.

Phungo Cards - Ryan Ludwick and Cards from Cards on Cards

Today on Phungo Cards we feature another player from a team other than the Phillies. This is for Cards on Cards who was good enough to send me a great bunch of minor league cards.

Ryan Ludwick played his first full major league season in 2008 and put together a fine campaign. The first time all-star hit .299 with 37 homers and 113 RBI, good enough to earn him a Silver Slugger award. It felt like he got about half those dingers vesus the Phillies.

2009 Phungo #47 Ryan Ludwick

Nothing new on this card. I used the same color template for the Cardinals and Phillies. As noted with the Pat Burrell card earliar this week, I denote the specific position for Ludwick as right field. As you can see Ludwick's card number (47) matches his uniform number.

This card is from July 8th when Joel Piniero shutout the Phils. Ludwick was responsible for one of the two runs the Cardinals scored as he hit one of his aforementioned homers.

This is not one of my favorite camera angles, however anytime I can capture an action shot with the baseball actually in the picture I consider the photo a success. I also think I read at some point someone mentioning that there wasn't a Ludwick card available in Series 1 and I wanted to create a card for him.

While I am not fond of the behind the batter shot, apparently it is good enough for Topps, Especially if the batter is Casey Blake.


2008 Topps Gold Foil #231 Casey Blake
2006 Topps #391 Casey Blake

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Here are a couple of the highlights from the minor league cards sent out by Cards on Cards. I had asked for Phillies minor leaguers and anything from my local minor league teams, such as Harrisburg Senators and Wilmington Blue Rocks. CoC sent me two team bags with lots of Phils. I particularly loved these two cards.


1991 ProCards #259 Matt Stairs
1989 Star #120 Mike Morandini

Mickey Morandini, Identified by his given name, Mike. And one of 2008 World Championship Phillies playoff hero Matt Stairs. Stair stole 23 bases for the 1991 Senators. Hard to imagine.