Cup of Coffee: Sidd Finch

This is part of our Original Artwork series dedicated to players who had a #CupOfCoffee in the Major Leagues. 

• In their April 1st 1985 issue Sports Illustrated ran a Cover Story on a mysterious pitcher at Mets Spring Training named Sidd Finch.
• The story was an April Fools Prank written by author and participatory journalist George Plimpton. Plimpton later turned the story into a novel.
• 1985 Topps was used as the design for this cup. That is the year for the original Sports Illustrated cover Story. 
• Where the Team Logo is found in 1985 we have placed a French Trombone, the instrument played by the fictional Sidd Finch.  

Sources and Links
Cup of Coffee Index

CTB: 1993 Topps #703 Jeff Kent

Jeff Kent was recently voted into the Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Era Committee making him the 35th All-Star Rookie Cup winner to also be honored in the Hall (Carlos Betlran & Andruw Jones bring us to 37)

1993 Topps #703 Jeff Kent (image stolen from  Lifetime Topps Project)

Jeff Kent earned the 1993 TASR for second base by posting 11 Home Runs and 50 RBI in 102 Games. His Batting Average was only .239 but it should be noted Kent had enough Walks and Power to post a 105 OPS+.

Toronto Blue Jays

However the bulk of Jeff Kent's 1992 season was played with a team that is not on the card, the Blue Jays. After debuting with Toronto April 12th Jeff played 65 games before being dealt to the Mets for David Cone. 

The deal worked for the Blue Jays who won their first Word Championship and for Cone who earned the first of his FIVE Rings. 

Andy Stankiewicz

Across Town the Yankees had their own rookie Second Baseman, Andy Stankewicz who like Jeff Kent had a decent if unspectacular rookie year: .268 AVG, 2.7 WAR. TASR authority hiflew who covers cards for Cards from the Quarry make an argument for Andy Stankewicz to win the award over Jeff Kent - check the details here. 

Of course in the end Kent had a better career than Stankiewicz whose 7 marginal seasons were not Hall worthy. 

Flip

1993 Topps #703 Jeff Kent (image stolen from TCDB)

Dave Blume is still in scouting, he is currently with the Orioles organization. Thirty years after signing Jeff Kent still cites the HOF second baseman among his highlights. 

Jeff Kent HOF Index

1993 Topps #703 (Rookie Cup)

2010 Phungo #37: 2012 Survivor Phillippines

Sources and Link
1993 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index

LifeTime Topps Project

Cards from the Quarry

National Baseball Hall of Fame

Baseball-Ref

TCDB

Baltimore Orioles

Golden Mountain California Media

TASR: 1966 Topps #35 Ron Swoboda

Today we take at 1966 Outfield Topps Cup Selection Ron Swoboda 

Ron came up in 1965 and led NL Rookies in Home Runs with 19. The outfielder did not receive any ROY votes likely due to his .228 batting average. Regardless his 1.6 WAR placed him 5th among 1965 rookies and was good enough to earn Swoboda Cup Honors.

For the most part Ron Swoboda's career was top loaded. His 19 Home Runs in 1965 was 6 better than any other season he would haveIn fact by the end of May Swoboda had 11 dingers, a number he would only exceed once during his remaining career.

The highlight of Ron Swoboda's career was being a member of the 1969 Mets. He played 4 games for the Miracle Mets in the series which was against his Hometown Baltimore Orioles.

1966 Topps #35 Ron Swoboda

Ron Swoboda wore #14 throughout the rest of his career but only as a rookie with the Mets. Following the 1965 season he turned it over to newly acquired Third Baseman Ken Boyer. Fourteen was also worn by Miracle Mets manager Gil Hodges for whom the number is now retired. 

That is the entire history of the #14 for the Mets: Hodges (player), Swoboda, Boyer, Hodges (Manager) and retired.   

The patch on Swoboda's left sleeve notes the Worlds Fair hosted in New York.  The Worlds Fair opened in 1964 and ran through 65, the Mets wore the patch both years.

I also need to note it is nice to see the Yellow Font on the card which matches the colors of the cup trophy.    

 

Toon Time

1966 Topps #35 Ron Swoboda (b-side)

The franchise rookie Home Record referred to in the comic was previously held by Jim Hickman

Mets Rookie HR Record

Year	HR	Mets Rookie
1962	13	Jim Hickman
1965	19	Ron Swoboda
1983	26	Darryl Strawberry
2019	53	Pete Alonso

The evolution of the Mets Rookie Home Run record consists of four players including members of each of the franchises World Series teams in 1969 (Swoboda) and 1968 (Darryl Strawberry). Could Pete Alonso add his name to that list....

Ron Swoboda Index

Reserved for future Swoboda Content

Sources and Links

1966 All-Star Rookie Index

Baseball_ref

bleacher report

1974 Topps #80 Tom Seaver (1944-2020)

I learned a lot about Tom Seaver while researching “The Andy Warhol Triple Play”. My focus was Warhol but I learned a lot about his subjects, one of which was Tom Seaver.

The more you learn about Seaver the more interesting he becomes. He was more than a ballplayer, He was a devoted family man, a vintner, and a connoisseur of the arts.

One of his many interests popped up recently when I saw the cartoon on the back of Tom Seaver’s 1974 Topps card. 

1974 Topps #80 Tom Seaver (b-side)

Tom Enjoys Playing Bridge. Mildly interesting… Then last night while re-reading my notes from the Warhol Project I came across an enjoyable blog posting written by Phillip Richter, a schoolmate of Tom and Nancy’s daughter Sarah. An excerpt from the column read:

While walking and talking and tending to the vineyards, Tom made the comment that pitching is like playing bridge. To be a really successful pitcher you have to get inside the mind of the batter. Is he having a good day? Will he wait for a fat pitch or just aggressively strike at anything served to him? What are his goals? How consistent a player is he? Your goal as a pitcher is to control the outcome. Tom said that it was his job to control where the ball was going to go should the batter connect with the ball and make a hit.  I know next to nothing about baseball but Tom’s complex and astute thesis was logical and so well articulated. It made all the sense in the world. I would never have seen parallels between the game of bridge and the art of throwing a baseball at high speed. Tom knows that I’m not a crazed baseball fanatic but I have always had huge admiration and respect for his many incredible accomplishments. Back in the day I was around for a lot of his career highlights–like when he got his 300th win in 1985. 

Tom Seaver just doesn’t play bridge, he plays bridge the way he pitches or pitches the way he plays cards. The article was written in 2016, Seaver would have been 71 years of age – 30 years removed from his final pitch, yet here he is making parallels between two games he loves. 

1974 Topps

1974 Topps #80 Tom Seaver

I have always loved this card, great action shot of an absolute legend - good use of the landscape format in the mainly portrait style 1974T set. 

The card re-drew my attention earlier this summer as part of a Project2020 inspired activity spearheaded by @_gritz_ of Project 62.  Gritz posted a randomish page of 9 noteworthy trading cards. Similar to Project2020 the assignment to the world of amateur artists was to redesign the card – Project2020 for the common folks.

One of the cards posted was the 1974T Seaver. 1974 has the best -toons and I had to flip the card over. That is where I spotted the comic. Once I saw it I knew that was the route I was going:

 Phungo Original: 1974T Tom Seaver

In creating my own Tom Seaver card I kept the 1974T design – in a simplified format. The original comic is more portrait – I have changed it to Landscape format which necessitated moving the copy. I added a touch of color to the lines – keeping the Mets 1974T flavors. My biggest remaining modification was identifying the card being pitched by Seaver as the Ace of Diamonds – which he truly is.   

It was a fun card to do and I think of Tom Seaver as a happy individual who was able to pass that joy on to those around him, I hope this Phungo Original captures that vibe.

In Memoriam

Links to other folks that have Tom Seaver Memorial Postings:

1960s Baseball (1968T)

Cards that Never Were (1968T Seaver LHP w/ Bob Gibson LHP)

Starting Nine (41 Scans for #41)

Sources and Links

Andy Warhol: Tom Seaver

Phungo Tom Seaver HOF Index

Turtle Garage

@_Gritz_

Project 62

 

 

1967 Topps #165 Cleon Jones

I often find the "Where are They Now" features on retired ballplayer fascinated. Particularly those that are accomplished off the field.

Recently I saw a a news item on 1960s-1970s era Mets outfielder Cleon Jones.

1967 Topps #165 Cleon Jones

Jones has returned to the community where he was raised, Africatown Alabama which is near Mobile. He is 76 now and is busy helping out townspeople and elderly folks fixing and painting their homes. Africatown is an historic town in the area which is attempting to build a museum to honor the communities past. To read about the towns history, I strongly recommend you read this Alabama Newscenter article to find out about Africatown and Cleon Jones' efforts.


1967 Topps
Seeing the story about Cleon Jones also gives us a chance to add a column to our All-Star Rookie Cup Series. Unless team Phungo returns to serious blogging the Series will remain unfinished, but I do think it is within the realm of possibility to get up a Rookie Cup from each year and all the Phillies.

For his 1966 Cleon Jones received a single Rookie of the Year vote, good enough to place him 4th in the voting which was won by Reds Infielder Tommy Helms. Jones played 13 years which is wear several of his 1966 Topps Rookie All-Stars mates fall. The leader for tenure appears to be Woodie Fryman (LHP 18 years), while George Scott (1B) led the crew in WAR (36.5, Jones = 18.5). 

1967 Topps #165 Cleon Jones (b-side)

No pressure here, just that the back of Cleon Jones' first solo card mentions Hank Aaron, Billy Williams and Willie McCovey (featured on the very first Topps All-Star Rookie Cup card)

Sketchy
One of the many reason blog output has been slow is I have diverted my hobby time to artwork - mainly sketching baseball cards. Cleon Jones off the field charity inspired me to create a 5x7 based off of his 1967T card coupled with his efforts in Africatown.

1967T Cleon Jones (Phungo Original 5x7 in 2019 06 24)

Chief among my customizations is changing the bat to a paint roller. I also added a different trophy, changed the Mets team designation to Africatown and gave Cleon a background of a refurbished home rather than Shea Stadium.

Sources and Links
1967 Topps Rookie Cup Index (1966 Winners)
Phungo Sketch Index
Alabama NewsCenter
Baseballl-ref BR-Bullpen

Bucket or Chuck-It; 2016 Topps Throw Back Thursday Set

Ahh time to return to a feature that we haven't had in a while Bucket or Chuck-It. Bucket is good as in add it to your bucket list. Chuck-It is bad as in Toss it out like a pair of worn sneakers.

2016 Topps TBT #37 Mike Piazza '96 ASG MVP

All seaon Jim from the Phillies Room has been picking up Phillies related Topps Now cards in bulk and passing along cards to other Phils collectors. I find the cards unique and as a fan of game dated cards the concept appeals to me, especially when someone like Jim is dedicated to do all the work of submitting the requests to Topps. There have been at least 6 Phillies Topps Now cards and I would like to get to those and a More dedicated thank you to Jim in a future post.

I myself  hadn't picked up anything directly from Topps until recently when I saw in celebration of the Hall of Fame weekend they issued a "bundle" related to this year's inductees Ken Griffey Jr and Mike Piazza.

The six card set is inspired by the 1962T Babe Ruth Subset with 3 cards dedicated to each of the new Hallers.  The second card of the set features a photo of Mike Piazza receiving an the 1996 All-Star Game award.

This card was appealing to me as a Piazza fan and it is a nice add to my local players collection, but the real draw is that the 1996 ASG is a Phungo Game and This is a card I can add to the Phungo Games collection.

Despite the fact that the image on the card makes Piazza appear as if he had a few to many at the family picnic, I do like the front of this card.

However.....

2016 Topps TBT (b-sides)

Topps mailed it in on the b-sides for the text. The backs of all six cards have identical text. The only thing that differentiates each card is the number and the player name.

 It's a shame, if these are such big events in each players career how about paying a writer and a copy editor (or even an intern) for a couple of days work to come up with a paragraph. This is a $20 set of six cards, that can be produced months in advanced - it's not like they woke up on Wednesday and said "Hey we need to put out a Throw Back Thursday set tomorrow" or maybe they did.

Compare

2016 Topps TBT #37 Mike Piazza '96 ASG MVP (b-side)
1962 Topps #138 Babe Ruth Special (b-side)

Check out this example of an original 1962 Babe Ruth Special. We have a pretty detailed summary of Ruth's rough 1925 season. On the New Piazza card all you get "Hey look at us, we have been making cards for 50 years and Mike shares this documentation with Ken Griffey Jr"


Flip

2016 Topps TBT Ken Griffey Jr 1995 ALDS
1962 Topps #138 Babe Ruth Special

Just for comparison we present the front of one of the other TBT specials with Babe's original.  I think Topps did a decent job on the fronts, just wish they would have carried through to the back.

Verdict
Very disappointed, Great Concept, I think Topps picked a great subset to use for these cards, but the execution of the backs is insulting, especially for a set that runs $20.

Sources and Links
1996 All-Star Game Index
Phungo Mike Piazza HoF Index
Phungo Ken Griffey Jr HoF Index
Phungo Babe Ruth HoF Index
Topps TBT
Baseball-Ref

TRENDY: Noah Syndergaard MLB Debut

Noah Syndergaard, the Baseball America #11 MLB prospect for 2015, is scheduled to make his Major League debut tonight versus the Cubs in Chicago.

2013 07 14 Noah Syndergaard vs Xander Bogaerts

This is, however, not Syndergaard's first appearance in a Major League Ballpark. He likely has been involved in a couple of prep, Spring Training On-Deck, and All-Star Games.

One of the All-Star Games he was involved in was the 2013 Futures Game where he got to start in front of his future Home Crowd at Citifield. In the above photo he is pitching to current Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts.

 2013 07 14 Noah Syndergaard

This is a tighter but blurry shot of Syndergaard on the mound. He gave up a single and recorded a strikeout during an inning of work.

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref
mlb.com
Baseball America

SNAPSHOTS 2015 05 08: Mets @ Phillies

As a fan it is tough to watch a bad team, but if you look hard enough there are appealing games on the schedule. Friday Nights was one of those:

-It was a Friday Night, a good opportunity for a worker bee like myself to get to a game
-The weather was favorable
-The Division Leading New York Mets were in town
-And there was a Big Time Pitching matchup, Matt Harvey vs Cole Hamels

SnapShots

2015 04 08 Cole Hamels

Cole Hamels was the Ace that won out this time. He held the Mets to four hits and a manufactured run through seven innings. The Phillies southpaw recorded 8 Ks against 2 walks. The bullpen did the rest, Ken Giles perfect inning, Papelbon recovers from a leadoff single with a couple of Ks and a line out.

Freddy Galvis and Dilson Herrera 2015 05 08

The Offense was led by Freddy Galvis who had 3 hits and a couple of stolen bases along with Ryan Howard who had a pair of RBIs including a solo Homer

Matt Harvey 2015 05 08

Prior to Friday night's start Harvey had handled the Phillies pretty easily. His night wasn't bad just not as dominant as prior outings. Three runs over six for the Dark Knight, one of those runs was pretty much scored by Freddy Galvis' legs in the first inning. Freddy singled, stole 2nd, and came home on a Ryan Howard ground single when Galvis was attempting steal third.

 

Cole Hamels vs John Mayberry Jr 2015 05 08

Beautiful Night for a ballgame, nice to get a W vs a quality starter.

Sources and Links
baseball-ref

RTC: 2015 Topps Opening Day #111 Dilson Herrera

With the Mets coming into town for the weekend, in our Reading the Competition feature we take a look at a 2015T OD  card of Mets prospect Dilson Herrera. 

2015 Topps Opening Day #111 Dilson Herrera

Baseball America ranked Dilson Herrera as the #46 MLB prospect going into the 2015 season.

The Colombian born Middle Infielder got a taste of the Majors in 2014 and I imagine he will at some point work his way into a platoon situation with Daniel Murphy. Herrera's offensive numbers throughout four minor league seasons have shown him to be a decent contact hitter with some pop. He has a .300 career BA in the Minors with double digit homers each of the last two seasons.

It should also be noted that Dilson is currently only 21 years of age and has played well versus older competition.

Herrera was acquired by the Mets as part of a trade that sent Marlon Byrd to the Pittsburgh Pirates. It will be interesting to see how he stacks up with Ben Lively who the Phillies got in return for Marlon Byrd this past off-season.   

2015 Topps Opening Day 
I tried to get a sharp scan of this card but it never was as good as I needed, so this may be hard to spot. Or you can check the Topps Website here and use the magnification function - which I have done beolw. What is the name on the Bat Barrell? .

Is it me or does it say Wifredo Tovar?

The oddity is that the bat knob has the #2, which is Herrera's number - clearly seen on his uniform on the card above. So we have a Bat that has Herrera's number on the knob but appears to have Tovar's (who wore #70 with the Mets) name on the barrel.

A quick search revealed this,  Apparently Tovar wore #2 at Binghamton. I suppose he had a case of bats made and still has a few of them - and Dilson Herrera must like them. 

Dilson Herrara's card number in flagship is #241, same image minus the OD Logo.

Sources and Links
Collect the Mets - Matt Reynolds
Baseball-ref
Topps
Cardboard Connection

Original posted 2015 0507
Update 2015 0515 - Added magnified Photo

Tom Seaver Celebrates 70th Birthday

Tomorrow one of the greatest pitchers of my youth, Tom Seaver, turns 70.

1974 Topps #80 Tom Seaver

I am  not sure when and where I became a Tom Seaver fan. When I was younger, I grew up outside the Philadelphia area, so I wasn't real clued into the Mets being a Phillies rival. This allowed me to root for Tom Terrific without thinking about he uniform he wore.

I think I started to follow Seaver after reading one of those Scholastic Books that was offered through our school. Each book covered four players and had a quad photo on the cover. I can remember reading about Seaver playing a high school tournament in a Alaska where they played all night because the sun never set at the height of the summer. I also remember the chapter mentioning Seaver coming an out short of a no-hitter.

Hall of Fame and Pitcher MVPs
Last week we saw Clayton Kershaw win both the MVP and Cy Young awards. Any time a pitcher has an exceptional season it is debated whether or not they can win the MVP award.

There is a perceived school of thought that believes that the MVP award should be dedicated to position players.

This appears more myth than reality - at least in the 2014 vote it was. Kershaw was listed on all 30 ballots and 27 of the 30 listed him as either first or 2nd. To mean that does not indicate a bias against pitchers. Kershaw did have to dip to 4th place to garner his 30 ballots, while Giancarlo Stanton was top 3 on all 30 ballots. That is a tiny margin of two fourth place votes.

This brings me back to Tom Seaver. He is the current record holder for HoF vote percentage - he received 425 of 430 votes - that is 98.8%. Pretty close to perfect, yet he was a pitcher, and 2nd is Nolan Ryan 491/497 (Also 98.8%) The first batter shows up at #3 Cal Ripken 537/545 or 98.5%.

My question is, if pitchers command the #1 and #2 spots on the Hall of Fame vote percentage list, why is there a stigma toward giving them MVP votes.

1974 Topps
Action shots were sill pretty new to Topps in 1974. Yes 1972T did have the "In Action" subset, but while some were ok, many were questionable to refer to as "In Action". 1974T has a couple of simlar looking Mets pitcher cards - the Jon Matlack base card is a landscape action shot as is a NLCS card featuring pitcher Jerrr Koosman. Most of 1974T is portrait style which helps these pitcher cards seem unique. 

Tom Seaver HoF Index
1970 Topps Scratch Off 

1974 Topps #80 (memorial)
1977 Andy Warhol Portrait
1984 Topps #706  Active Career Victory Leaders - With HOFs Steve Carlton and Fergie Jenkins

Sources & Links 
Phungo Hall of Fame Index
baseball-ref
BBWAA
Newsday - Anthony Rieber
Baseball Almanac

Reading the Competition: Jerry Koosman 1985 Topps #15

With the Mets in town this weekend (and then some) we are going to turn our RTC segment to a Mets Icon who happened to finish his career with the Phillies

Jerry Koosman was the Left-Handed Anchor for the 1969 Miracle Mets rotation. I limit Koosman to Left-Handed Anchor, because the team had it’s ace in future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver. If you look at the numbers, Koosman was not far behind Tom Terrific. Seaver had a significantly better record (25-7 vs 17-9) but the remaining numbers were close – Pairs with Seaver listed first: 2.21/2.28 ERA, 273/241 IP, 208/180Ks, 165/160 ERA+. For you hip SABR kids, Koosman actually had a better FIP ERA then Seaver with Koosman coming in at 2.67 while Seaver had a much higher 3.11.

1985 Topps #15 Jerry Koosman

Koosman picked up 2 of the Mets 4 Wins during the 69 series including a complete game victory in game 5. He spent 12 seasons with the Mets including a return to the World Series as a member of the 1973 squad. He made 2 all-star squads during his Mets tenure and in 1968 he finished a close 2nd to Johnny Bench for the Rookie of the Year voting. In 1968 Koosman was 19-12 with a 2.08 ERA. Bench posted 15 homers, 82 RBI with a .275 while catching for the Reds. Koosman’s 6.0 WAR was a point higher than Bench. Bench took the award by a point.

A trade prior to the 1979 Season brought Jerry Koosman back to his native Minnesota where he prospered once again. Koosman won 20 games and finished 2nd behind Dennis Eckersley in Pitching WAR, both hurlers lost out in the Cy Young voting to Mike Flanagan who pitched for the AL Champion Orioles. After a couple of seasons in Minnesota and Chicago Koosman was traded to the Phillies

Phillies
Early in 1984 the Phillies acquired Jerry Koosman from the White Sox in a deal that completed the trade of relief pitcher Ron Reed to Chicago. Most folks probably don’t remember Koosman’s stint with the Phils, it came on the heels of the 1983 NL Championship. I am sure that the team thought that the then 41 year old southpaw would fit right in with the Wheeze kids. Koosman had a productive 1984 posting a 14-15 record with a 3.25 ERA. it was his last significant contribution to MLB Baseball, Koosman returned to the Phillies in 1985 but struggled with injuries pitching his final game on August 21.

Koosman finished his career with 222 Wins (73rd all time) and 2556 strikeouts (28th). The Baseball-ref EloRater system currently ranks Koosman 66th all-time among pitchers - that puts him right between two Hall of Famers Jim Bunning and Bob Lemon. 

Retirement
In 2009 Koosman was sent to prison on Tax Evasion charges. According to the IRS, During a 3 year period from 2002-2004 Koosman made over $750,000 and failed to pay as much as $80,000 of that in taxes. The bulk of his earnings were from stock sales totaling over a half million dollars. Koosman’s MLB pension for the period averaged over $40,000 per year.

Sources
New York Daily News
New York Post
Baseball-ref
SABR
hardball times

Shea Stadium Opening 1964 04 17 - 50 Years Ago Today

Team Phungo isn't going to make a habit of Mets milestones, but I thought today we would put together a quick posting regarding the 50th anniversary of Shea Stadium

  

1964 04 17 Shea Stadium Opening Day Tix and Program

The Mets musuem/HoF whichis located in the new Citifield had some neat items including the above 1964 Opening ticket.  You can click on the photo to enlarge it, A field level box that day went for $3.50. 

 

Swag from Play at the Plate: 2014 Topps Blue Blaster

At the end of last year Brian over at Play at the Plate ran a contest to win a blaster of 2014 Topps. It was my kind of contest too, All I had to do was comment on a post. And Team Phungo Won!

2014 Topps Blue #312 Jimmy Rollins

There was only one Phillies player in the blaster, but it was a colorful Walmart parallel. Other than that it was a pretty nice box. I had already hoarded 100+ cards via Hangers and Looseys, and it was a pleasant surprise to find out that the blaster didn't duplicate many of the cards that I had already collected. I have developed a taste for hangers so it has been a while since I have opened a blaster. The number of inserts is mindblowing. Since each 8 card pack contains 2 blue parallels plus an insert, technically 37.5% of the cards are not base. To me parallels count as base, but for the completists out there, well I sympathize for their plight.

Highlights - Base

2014 Topps Leonys Martin 
2014 Topps Brian McCann

Check it out a Ranger and a Play at the Plate card. These should put a smile on faces at PATP HQ.

Inserts

Manupatch of 2008 Kershaw RC

These are a bit odd. the "Border" from the original 2008 design is raised, while the pix is inset.

89T Die Cut Sandy Koufax

The blaster was a bit of Dodger Hot Box. Never been a big fan of Die Cuts. Just harder to take care of. That being said the 89T design is a good one to give the Die Cut treatment.

2014 Topps Power Player Wilmer Flores

Just noting the difference from the PP cards and base here. The RCe logo is gone and the Topps moved from right to left. There is good news here if your hate the chrome print, it appears a bit lighter on the Power Play cards.

2014 Topps Blue Mariano Rivera

This was a bit of an oddity, All of the Blue Parallels in the box were of cards with Landscrape Photos, notice these two of the retiring Rivera and the one of Jimmy above. This is a coalation thing I have noticed from Topps previously. In 2008 I got a Hobby Box of S1 where all the Gold Foil stamped cards were Horizontal.

Bleeders

Night Owl referred this years new Red parallels as bleeding walls or something similar. At some point I hope to have some additional thoughts on these, but will note that all 3 of these like the blue instagrams above are landscapes.

etc   

The reamaining inserts. I like the UpperClass cards but find the Future is Now cards meh. For whatever reason I liked the UC cards of Retired players more than these new cards of current players.

All in all a fun break. Lots of new blue cards for the Phungo collection, a couple of cool inserts including a Rollins Parallel. Thanks to the Brian over at Play at the Plate for running a contest that even Team Phungo can win.

More 2014 Topps Review
2014 Topps First Pack

Steve Carlton 300 Career Victories: 1984 Topps #706

30 Years ago today Steve Carlton won his 300th game. I am curious if any other 300th win came at a bigger moment.  The Phils entered play on the 23rd of September 3 games up with 9 to play. They had won eight consecutive games  - a streak that would eventually run to 11.

1984 Topps #706 NL Active Career Victory Leaders Carlton, Jenkins, Seaver

Carlton had 29 more victories left in him.  Fergie Jenkins was done pitching following the 1983 season and the above card reflects his career win total of 284.  Seaver eventually passed Jenkins and finished with 311 Wins.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago the 1984 Topps active leaders subset is a fun one for Phillies fans to collect and this Wins Leader card is another great example.


1983 NL Champions Series   
Darren Daulton
Bo Diaz    
John Denny
Ivan DeJesus
Garry Maddox  
Joe Morgan 
Tony Perez
Pete Rose
 
Steve Carlton Passes Walter Johnson (Strikeouts) Steve Carlton 300 Wins
 
Sources  
Baseball Card Database  
Baseball-ref.com
ebay.com 

Bucket or Chuck-It: 2013 Topps Opening Day 1/2 Price!

Target stores in the area are offering packs at 1/2 Price through August 3rd I think. I had decided to bypass Opening Day this year, but at .49/pack it was worth a look.  Here are some highlights from 3 packs

Picked up on Phillies card in the 3 packs, but it was a good one - Cole Hamels.  His OD card is shown here with his base card. The Opening Day card actually came out first since the Base card was part of Series 2.

 Insets Bucket or Chuck-It?

 Mascots - A staple of OD. The Blue Jay on a blue background makes for a lame photo - Chuck-It.

Blue Parallels - A bit of chrominess, darker colors - looks good on Braves card. As I have noted before the added color on 2013 Topps really helps the design. Also like that they didn't totally blue-out the background beyond the player -  Bucket!

Opening Day Stars - some sort of 3D front honoring a couple of stars. They look decent.  but it's a Met - Chuck-It.

Opening Day Play Hard -  decent shot, bursting through the card, great name/theme. I will give this one a Bucket!

Moving Rookie Cup - once again the Rookie Cup on Topps Opening Day is hovering in a different spot then on base.  At least it has returned to it's gold/yellow state.  This is a Chuck-It.  Too many icons on one card. 

Overall - Bucket, I picked up 3 packs, for me they yeilded $1.50 of entertainment. 

Reading the Competition: 1970 Topps Scratch-off Tom Seaver

The Phillies are in New York to visit the Mets and that gives us one last opportunity for an All-Star Game related post. It was great to see the Mets bring out Tom Seaver on Tuesday night. Despite being a Phillies fan I was always in awe of Seaver as a kid. His driving delivery and all those Ks really grabbed hold of my 10 year old imagination.  

1970 Topps Scratch Off Tom Seaver

Seaver's Hall of Fame career really doesn't need redocumented by me - but I will quick-hit some highlights, 3 Cy Young Awards, 1969 World Champion, 1967 Rookie of the Year, 12 time All-Star, 311 Wins (100+ games over .500), 3,640 career Ks, 5 time strikeout champ. His Career pitching WAR of 106.3 is 7th all-time and still the all-time leader among folks that pitched during my lifetime in the non-steroid division - which means he is behind Roger Clemens.

Seaver was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1992, receiving close to 99% of the BBWAA vote, Which remains the record. He got the thumbs up on 425 of 430 ballots.

Scratch Off
In 1969 and 70 Topps released a subset of scratch off cards. The set was limited in size (24 cards?) so it is all pretty much superstars. At a show I will pick up any HoF or name player scratch off card that is a buck or less.

1970 Topps Scratch Off Tom Seaver (inside)


The scratch offs can be used to be pay a baseball game, fortunately this one is untouched.  I have flirted with the idea of using one of these for an online game, but have never been that ambitious.     

Rookie Card
Seaver's RC is 1967 Topps #581 has a low recent auction of $156 in good but certainly not mint condition.  Ungraded cards appear to be running just over $200 with a half dozen auctions ending between $200 and $210.

On the high end the card went for between $839 and $1,034 for PSA8 NM-MT.
 
Sources
Old Cardboard - HoF Rookie Cards
baseball-ref.com
ebay.com
wikipedia.com

ReWind: 1964 All-Star Game - 1965 Topps #310 Johnny Callison

The Last time the All-Star Game was hosted by the Mets was at old Shea Stadium in 1964.  The game was a big one for one Phillies Rep.   

1965 Topps #310 Johnny Callison

With the scored tied in 2 outs in the 9th Johnny Callison hit a 3 run homer to give the NL a 7-4 walk off victory.

The moment noted on the reverse of Callison's 1965 Topps card: 

1965 Topps #310 Johnny Callison(B-side)

1965 Topps

Commons from the much loved 65T set can often be found in the 3/Buck bin.  A semi-star like Callison would likely fetch somewhere between 50 cents adn a dollar. Commons from the set run from #1-370. The High Numbers start at 371 and run to the end of the set, 598. Non-stars among High Numbers go for around a dollar.

Other Voices

ESPN recently ran a full length piece on Callison and his famous Homer here.

1967 Topps #85 Johnny Callison

Sources

Baseball-ref.com

ESPN.com

2013 Topps All-Stars Home Run Derby Cards

On Sunday Team Phungo was fortunate enough to make it to Citi Field to see the All-Star Futures Game. One of the nice things about the Futures Game is that you get to see a lot of the background of what goes into putting together game without having to shell out ASG money.

One of the items the Mets have is the Topps Lineup cards similar to the Phillies.  For Monday Night the cards are specail ASG cards of the Home Run Derby participants.  

New York Mets Citi Field 2013 Topps ASG Line Up Cards (click to enlarge) 

2013 Topps ASG Cards HR Derby Participants NL
Pedro Alvarez
Michael Cuddyer
Bryce Harper
David Wright

2013 Topps ASG Cards HR Derby Participants AL
Robinson Cano
Yoenis Cespedes
Chris Davis
Prince Fielder

Just the Hits: 3 Packs o 2013 Topps Series 2 Hobby - including Case HIts?

 Busy week at Phungo HQ so cliff notes and pix only - will try and elaborate later. If this was Bucket or Chuck-It these 3 Packs would get a surprise BUCKET LIST IT!

3 Packs of 2013 Topps Series 2, $2/Pack $6 total. Purchased at a card show so no sales tax.

2013 Topps S2 Jonathan Papelbon

I am sick of closers being overzealous upon getting saves.  Papelbon is the Phillies guy, so I guess I am ok with this one.

 Case Hits?

2013 Topps S2 Camo Mike Baxter

 I get a Camo Parallel and it is a stinkin Met.

2013 Topps S2 Black Alberto Cabrera

Cabrera was a middle reliever for the Cubs in 2012. I think he is back to starting in their minor league system now.  Cool to get a black parallel, even if it is a minor player and looks closer to charcoal in color.

Apparently the Black cand Camo Parallels are 1 or 2/ case so those are pretty rare.  Team Phungo wins the lottery - well winning in the way that you win when you get 2 of the 6 numbers and you basically get back the cost of ticket. 

 

2013 Topps S2 Emerald Parallel Salvador Perez


Base Cards

2013 Topps Series 2

Some Additional Cards that will bear comment at some future time. Posting now for folks that want to see them.

There was one other Insert that I picked up - it wasn't anything major but wanted to save it for its own posting.

Bucket List
Only one Phillies card but I consider the 3 packs a win just for the rarity of the two parallels that popped up.