ANNIVESARY: 1980 Topps #270 Mike Schmidt - Hall of Fame Induction

25 years ago today (July 30 1995) Five baseball legends were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Among them were Richie Ashburn, Leon Day, Vic Willis and 19th century Executive William Hulbert.

The fifth inductee is the one we will discuss tonight. The only one to have played his entire career with the Philadelphia Phillies.

1980 Topps #270 Mike Schmidt

This is the first Mike Schmidt card tagged with an All-Star flair, honoring his first ever start for the NL squad in the mid-summer classic.

If your curious as to how well Mike fared in that game all you need to do is flip over the card.

1980 Topps #270 Mike Schmidt (b-side)

The Triple was in the first inning off of another Haller Nolan Ryan.  The hit plated Steve Garvey for the NLs first run in a 7-6 victory.

Schmidt made 12 All-Star teams and was named a starter 7 times.

1980 World Champions 
It is obvious I am not going to dedicate as much ink to the 1980 Phillies as I would like, but I am still trying to highlight as many players as possible.  For more of these postings see the link below.

Sources and Links
1980 World Series Champions Index 
Mike Schmidt Index
Baseball Card Database
Baseball-Ref
Baseball Hall of Fame

Happy Birthday Mike Schmidt: 1977 Topps #140

On September 27th Mike Schmidt will celebrate his 70th birthday. To mark the occasion we are examining a card that was issued back when Schmidt was 27 just on the cusp of hitting his prime.

1977 Topps #140 Mike Schmidt

In 1976 the Phillies wore a Bicentennial/All-Star Game patch on their left shoulders. The 1977T card which displays the patch most prominently is Mike Schmidt's.

That is probably my favorite aspect of the card. I have two other photo observations:

1) I believe this is Shea Stadium which is the setting for several Phillies cards in the era.

2) Schmidt appears to be swinging a Rawlings bat. Adirondack/Rawlings bats from the middle 70s carried a ring on the bat handle in the team color - seen in red here.

However, during a Louisville Slugger tour I took a few years ago I found out something interesting:

Louisville Slugger Museum

Above we have four Louisvlle Slugger Bats. Schmidt's lumber is the 3rd one from the top, notice the Red ring. Schmidt had an exclusive contract with Rawlings, however at times he felt the need to change bats. To hide the switch, Schmidt disguised the Louisville Slugger bat by creating his own red ring using tape. More detail on this can be found at the PSA Card site.

The four bats top to Bottom are Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray (HR #501, last as an Oriole), Schmidt and George Brett (note the Pine Tar).

 Flip

1977 Topps #140 Mike Schmidt (b-side)

This is the first card issued following Schmidt's Four Home Run game on April 17 1976 and the text leads of with that fun fact. The blurb closes mentioning that Schmidt had 11 Homers in April which is a record - not sure if this is for any month or specific to April. Regardless both records have been eclipsed since 1976. Sammy Sosa holds the MLB Record for HR in a month with 20 (June 1998), While the April Record of 14 is shared by Albert Pujols (2006) and A-Rod (2007).

Talkin Toons
Always good to see a cartoon on the back of the card. The subject of today's comic is Yankees Slugger Hank Bauer and his17 game Wolrd Series hitting streak( 1956 OCT 3 - 1958 OCT 4).  At the time this card was released Bauer had held the record for 18 years. Here we are almost 42 years later and he still holds the record. the 2018 World Series marked the 60th Anniversary of the record.

Bauer's 17 game hitting streak is also the record for consecutive postseason games as well. He shares the record with Derek Jeter (1998-1999) and Manny Ramirez (2003-2004).  The Astros George Springer has an active streak of 14 games

Bauer Toons
A couple of Hank Bauer own cards have comics that feature the record including 1960 and 1961.  My favorite is a manager card from 1969.

1969 Topps #124 Hank Bauer (b-side / baseball card datbase)

Rather than featuring a lengthy text bio the Manager cards from 1969 featured a full size cartoon that include a nice profile sketch.

Artsy
Speaking of sketches and bringing this back to our original subject, I created my own version of the 1977T Schmidt card.

1977T Mike Schmidt (Phungo Original)

Drawing 1997 Topps doesn't present any unusual challenges. The Team names are italicized which is a minor hassle. I like the drop shadow on the pennant.

I elected to leave the team logo and number off the uni, which are largely covered in the original - unfortunately this leaves a lot of blue space on the drawing and elongates Schmidt's Torso.

1980 Phillies
I am including this post as part of our 1980 Phillies Series. I hope to return to Schmidt again next year as he is not only one of the  most significant members of that particular team but also the franchise history.

Sources and Links
Mike Schmidt HoF Index
1980 Phillies World Champs Index
Phungo Artwork Index
Baseball Almanac
PSA Card
baseball card database
mlb.com / Astros 
Baseball-Ref

Welcon to the Hall of Fame Vladimir Guerrero: 2001 Topps Gallery Heritage #GH10

Today's HOF Recognition posts goes to Vlad Guerrero. He is going in as an Angel but I will think of him more as an Expo. For this reason our Vlad HOF posting features the following Expos card.

2001 Topps Gallery Heritage #GH10 Vladimir Guerrero (image swiped from trading card db)

Topps Gallery returned this past fall and I found the cards pretty meh. For me the apex of  Topps Gallery is the 1965T Homage insert that was produced in 2002. Guerrero is the last of the 10 offerings in the set.

Bill Purdom
The artist responsible for the Guerrero portrait above is the late Bill Purdom who appears to have done the artwork for all ten cards in the set. The paintings are all well done and in my opinion superior to anything I have seen in the latest edition of Gallery.

Purdom has done a number of really cool pieces for various baseball entities including the Hall of Fame. His Phillies related subjects include Robin Roberts and Mike Schmidt during the teams 1976 season when the club hosted the All-Star Game

Mike Schmidt Lithograph by Bill Purdom

During the 1976 season the Phillies celebrated the Bicentennial, among the teams various decorations to honor the occasion is the Happy Birthday sign in Left-Centerfield.

1965 Topps
In addition to the original artwork I like how Topps has brought forward the classic 1965 Design. The colors on the card are really sharp and really pop off the cardboard.

Flip

2001 Topps Gallery Heritage #GH10 Vladimir Guerrero (b-side - image swiped from trading card db)

The design carries through to the back. The blue is significantly brighter than on the originals but that doesn't bother me. 

2001 Topps Gallery Heritage Checklist
GH1 Todd Helton
GH2 Greg Maddux
GH3 Pedro Martinez
GH4 Orlando Cepeda
GH5 Willie McCovey
GH6 Ken Griffey, Jr.
GH7 Alex Rodriguez
GH8 Derek Jeter
GH9 Mark McGwire
GH10 Vladimir Guerrero

I am thinking of building this Set and this posting will be an index for those cards. As things stand it appears this set will have 7 or 8 Hall of Famers. Todd Helton who debuts on the 2019 ballot  and A-Rod are the "Maybe" players while Mark McGwire appears doubtful.

Peanut Gallery
Dime Boxes 1998 Topps #5 and others (top 5)
Orioles Card o The Day 2011 Bowman #167
Sports Card Info 1995 Bowmans Best Refractor #2
Padrographs Custom

Vladimir Guerrero Index
1998 Topps #5 HOF Candidacy / Game Dated 1997 05 21
2012 Heritage #108  Pack Break
2009 UD Rivals #R9 Pack Break

Sources and Links
The Art of the Game
Andrews Mortuary
Tom's Old Days
ebay/brotherly love memorabilia
2014 Heritage/1965 Topps Index
Trading Card Database

ANNIVERSARY: 1987 April 18 Mike Schmidt 500th Home Run

April 18th marks the 30th Anniversary of the day Mike Schmidt joined the 500 Home Run Club.

 

Not only was the Home Run a milestone number, it was also a high impact HR. Entering the 9th inning versus Pittsburgh on the road the Phillies trailed 6-5. Schmidt was scheduled to hit 5th that inning. Fortunately for the Phillies Milt Thompson singled and Von Hayes walked which allowed Mike Schmidt to come to the plate with two outs in the 9th.

 

It was then that Schmidt hit is 500th career Home Run. The Home Run came off of Pirates Pitcher Don Robinson. Former Pirate Kent Tekulve came in for the save and the Phillies went home with a 6-5 victory.  

 

For video of the HR click here.  

 

 

2005 UD #CM-MS Mike Schmidt

 

In 2005 Upper Deck honored the event with a card in their Classic Moments Insert.

 

Nice looking card with the 70s era Phillies Logo I remember from my childhood. The photo does hit one of those minor things that drives me crazy. This game-dated card notes an event that happened in Pittsburgh, however Schmidt is clearly wearing the Phillies Home uniform.  

 

The Classic Moments set consisted of 20 cards three of which are dedicated to Phillies. The two other Philadelphia Reps are Lenny Dykstra and Steve Carlton. The base set for 2005 UD Classics is also noteworthy for having a Ryne Sandberg Phillies Card.  

   

 

2005 UD #CM-MS Mike Schmidt (b-side

 

The blurb on the reverse gives a mini summary of the Home Run with the date of the game nicely ghosted behind the text.

 

As the card states Schmidt was the 15th player to reach the milestone, Thirty years later the 500 club has nearly doubled now containing 27 members. Albert Pujols is the only active player in the club with Miguel Cabrera (448) and Adrian Beltre looming (445) 

  

Phun Phact

After hitting the Home Run Mike Schmidt returned to the field as a SHORTSTOP. Due to a series of late game moves by Manager John Felske both Luis Aquayo and Steve Jeltz were out of the game for the Phillies.  Schmidt filled the vacancy and Rick Schu came into play 3rd Base. Neither player fielde a chance in the 9th inning as Tekulve induced three fly outs.    

 

Sources and Links

Mike Schmidt Index

Game Dated Cards Index

MLB

Upper Deck

Baseball-Ref

ANNIVERSARY: 1976 07 13 Veterans Stadium Hosts it's first All-Star Game

On the day after the 87th Mid-Summer Classic we are taking a look at the 47th All-Star Game.

If you have been following along here at Phungo you are aware that we are working on a yearlong series discussing the 1976 All-Star Game which was hosted in Philadelphia. Today Marks the 40th Anniversary of that game.

1976 All-Star Game Program

This is the cover for the 1976 ASG program. It may not appear this way but the cover was designed but an Artist many collectors are familiar with, Dick Perez.

While the cover does a nice job of featuring a behind the plate shot overlaying Independence hall I do find it odd that there is not a Red White and Blue motif to capitalize on the Bicentennial fervor.

The Program opens with a section that includes photos of players enjoying many of the tourist attractions around Philadelphia.

The man with the Liberty Bell is Phillies then President Ruly Carpenter.

The other two pictures are Mike Schmidt and Wife Donna, sporting similar hair styles while exploring Valley Forge Park, which I believe is now a National Park, but is listed as a State park in the above text.

Sheena & Larry Bowa at Independence Hall

The Luzinski's at the Art Museum, and the Garry Maddox family at the Zoo. These pictures are interesting as they feature a couple of kids that went on to play Professional Baseball, Ryan Luzinski and Garry Maddox Jr.. Neither of the youngsters made it to the major leagues.

I picked up the program at a SABR meeting and whomever I inherited it from kept score for the game. Near as I can tell the scoring is pretty accurate.

1976 All-Star Game +40 Series
A full Index to our postings related to the 1976 ASG can be found here. I know there are a lot of notables that we haven't gotten to, rest assured just because we have made it to the games anniversary that doesn't mean that we are done featuring the many players involved in that game. Ideally we will get to all of the Phillies and Hall of Famers that were involved in the game, but well time restraints and laziness always get in the way.

Sources and Links
Larry Bowa Index
1976 ASG Index
Mike Schmidt HoF Index
Baseball Almanac

Purple

Inspired by Night Owl Cards Prince Memorial last week we have a few Phillies Purple Cards.

1975 Topps # 574 Tony Taylor

In deference to NOC we open with a 1975T card that has a Purple top. The Phillies had purple cards in Flagship even in years when it was not one of the base colors.

Several times over the years Purple has served as a secondary color for Phillies cards. The 1990T Bob Dernier is a favorite - Green and Purple are particularly good complimentary colors.

Purple Chrome

Purple Parallels have shown up the last couple of years commonly found in Toys R Us sets, but I think the 2013 Heritage may have been regular retail.

Fleer stole the 1954T design for this set. Lots of Purple on the Ron Gant card.

Continuing with Fleer with a minimalist retro inspired design from 2006. Kind of like the look of this set.

The Purple continues through to the b-side.

 HoF Mike Schmidt go the Purple Honors on his 1988 Score card.

Once again the Purple continues through to the back, although more subtle then on the Rollins 06 Fleer Tradition Card.

Finally from 1982T, in addition to the titles the signature hockey sticks are also in Princely Purple.

Finally we close with Prince Himself

Purple Rain 45 RPM on Purple Vinyl

And the packaging...

I supposed colored vinyl is the Parallel of Records.

Sources and Links
Prince Memorial / Prince R&R HoF Index

ANNIVERSARY: April 17 1976 Mike Schmidt 4 Home Run Game

Missed a Phillies anniversary yesterday and wanted to correct that error today. Special thanks to @HighHeatStats for mentioning the event last night or else I would have completely bypassed the occasion.

2008 UD Baseball Heroes #138 Mike Schmidt 

On April 17th of 1976 Mike Schmidt became the first NL player to hit four consecutive Home Runs in a game. The feat was commemorated on the above card in the 2008 UD Baseball Heroes set.

2008 UD Baseball Heroes #138 Mike Schmidt (b-side)

The back has a capsule summary of the wild game which the Phillies eventually won 18-16.  Schmidt's final Home Run of the four broke a 15-15 tie in the 9th inning.

Upper Dreck
Just gotta mention one of those things that will always bug me, Schmidt's four homer game came at Wrigley field but the UD card captures him in a Home uni - slackers.

Sources and Links
Phungo Mike Schmidt HoF Index
High Heat Stats Twitter
Baseball-Ref 

Swag from Night Owl Cards

Tonight we have another Swag post featuring a couple of highlights from a recent batch of cards that arrived from Night Owl Cards

1988 Fleer Superstars #33 of 44 Mike Schmidt

Mike Schmidt standing in the batter's box wearing the Phillies powder blue road uni evokes his 1987 Base Card. The pix are not from the same session, the above Fleer card appears to be at Wrigley field in Chicago, while the 1987T card appears to be at Montreal.

The 1988 Fleer Superstars was a 44 card set distributed a McCrory's a department store chain (based in York PA) that went out of business in 2001.

2013 Topps #309 Domonic Brown (Green Parallel)

I refer to the Green Topps Instagrams A Christmas cards, especially for the Red teams like the Phillies Reds and Cardinals.

1981 Donruss #284 Sparky Lyle

Sparky Lyle was one of the original hipsters.

At one time Lyle was the manager of the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League, he is still involved with the team but in a a more ceremonial role.

1962 Topps #303 Frank Torre

Ok it has some flaws but it is a 1962 Topps of Joe Torre's brother.

There were plenty of other goodies, I just wanted to hit a cross section of the cards sent over by NOC. Not only one of my favorite card writers but a great trader as well.

Sources & Links
Mike Schmidt HoF Index
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards (Bob Lemke)
Somerset Patriots
Open checklist
Dayton Business Journal

Box Break: Panini 2013 USA Baseball Champions

This is box #2 of the Team Phungo Annual Black Friday Binge of cheap stuff from Dave & Adams Card World.

2013 USA Baseball #34 Mike Schmidt

I have a minor collection of USA baseball cards. There is typically an interesting selection of players early in their careers. The set has been published by Panini, UD and Topps in different years and  each has flavored the set with different inserts.

Panini has done a good job of putting together a nice looking base set for 2013. The base cards includes several players that have MLB connections. Mike Schmidt above was a coach for Team USA in 2009.

2013 USA Baseball #34 Mike Schmidt

The flip side of the card doesn't really get into much detail regarding Schmidt's role with Team USA.

The handful of other subjects in the set with Phillies Connections include Pat Burrell, Terry Francona, and Davey Johnson. Hall of Famers on the checker include Ozzie Smith, Frank Robinson, Barry Larkin and Frank Thomas. There are also a handful of cards of players either awaiting the call or in HoF limbo including  Mussina, Chipper, Junior, Nomar, McGwire, and Clemens.


Highlights

2013 USA Baseball 2012 National Team Signature #54 Parker Kelly. 

The autograph hit for this box was the above card of Parker Kelly. There are a couple of baseball players with the name but I am pretty sure that this card is of this Parker Kelly. Apparently he has committed to play for University of Oregon in 2015, His brother is Carson Kelly who is in the Cardinals organization - a 2nd round pick in the 2012 draft.
 

There are several parallels of autos in this set, This is from the Red Series which is serialed to /49.

2013 USA Baseball #143 Carlos Rodon (#d/25) 

2013 USA Baseball #143 Carlos Rodon (b-side)

The autograph cards are variations on the 2012 National Team Subset Cards that run from #126-#187. In addition to the autographs there are a number of other parallel versions. Above we have the A and B-sides of Carlos Rodon. The Southpaw was the 3rd overall pick in the 2014 draft by the Chicago White Sox.

Panini 2013 USA Baseball Jersey 
#39 Adam Plutko
#59 Hunter Morris
#38 Colton Plaia

Each retail box contains 3 relic cards, didn't do a lot of research on these, Plutko is in the Indians organization.

Pride Insert Cards
#21 Mark McGwire
#14 Michael Choice
#5 Gerrit Cole
#19 Chipper Jones

I am guessing these are the vanilla version of a card design that is used for patches and/or relics. I find the card to be attractive, however the 25 card checklist (numbered to 26, skipping 23) is just large enough to be larger than I would want to build. For me personally another drawback to the insert set is a lack of Phillies cards. 

I close the pix portion of this post with additional parallels cards from the National Teams Series portion of the checker. a couple of the above cards are serial numbered. The first two cards on the bottom row are advertisements.


The Vitals
1 Retail Box of 2013 USA Baseball Champions $13

Base 117/123 (95%)
Duplicates - more than 2 dozen

Yes, a single 24x7 (168 cards) box of cards failed to yield a complete 123 card base set.

Want List - 6
#20 Ben McDonald
#58 Robert Refsnyder
#62 Austin Maddox
#77 Blake Swihart
#100 Bubba Starling
#107 N/A
#113 Nolan Fontana
#124 N/A

Hits
Autograph - Parker Kelly
3 Relics - #38 Plaia, #39 Plutko, #58 Hunter Morris

Sources & Links
Phungo Mike Schmdit HoF Index

Cardboard Connection
Perfect Game

Philly Show 2014 12 06: 1974 Topps #283 Mike Schmidt

This is a card I picked up at the Philly Show on December 6th. It went for $4.

1974 Topps #283 Mike Schmidt

I have balked at picking up this card a few times, because I am fairly sure it was part of my childhood collection. On Saturday I finally broke down and brought the card back into the fold.

The card is noteworthy and should be in the hands of any good Phillies collector. It is the first solo Topps card of the Hall of Famer. The previous Mike Schmidt Card is a shared Rookie card which we featured a few months ago.

In addition to all this Hall of Fame goodness, the card has one other fun detail in the photo

A BULLPEN CAR

One of the great relics of 70s baseball. PHUNGO CHALLENGE - find other cards with Bullpen cars. This may be the only HoF card that features a Bullpen Car.

There is a bit of a mystery in this card though. At first I assumed by the colors that it was a Phillies Bullpen car. But Schmidt is wearing the Phillies powder blue road unis of the era, which leads us to this being an away game. Perhaps the Phils were at the Reds or Cardinals.

It also looks like a spring training or minor league facility. Did either the Reds or Cards host spring training in Florida during the 70s?
 
And finally, did they have Bullpen cars in the minors, or at spring training? seems odd.

sources & Links
Mike Schmidt HoF Index 
2014 12 06 Valley Forge Card Show Swag Index

HoF Cards: 1981 Topps #206 Record Breaker Mike Schmidt

Wanted to take a break from all of our playoff card postings so we can put up a Phillies Card. This 1981T card is one of the Dimers that I picked up at the Valley Forge show.

 

1981 Topps #206 Record Breaker Mike Schmidt

This card notes Mike Schmidt breaking the Home Run Record for third baseman. Schmidt hit 48 in 1980 breaking the record previously held by Eddie Mathews who hit 47 in 1953. Schmidt's Record Breaking Homer was hit in the Phillies NL East Clinching game versus the Expos.

At a different recent card show I ran into this:

2014 10 18 Mike Schmidt Home Run Ball from 1980 10 03

This Home Run ball is not the one that Schmidt hit to in the card referenced above. This is a Schmidt HR ball from the previous day when Schmidt hit his 47th homer of the season which tied Eddie Matthews

1981 Topps Record Breakers

The Record Breakers subset has a run of eight cards (201-208) in 1981 Topps. Three of the eight cards are Phillies (Pete Rose & Steve Carlton) and they are 2 other Hall of Famers, Ozzie & Johnn Bench.  

Sources & Links

Mike Shmidt HoF Index

Philly Show 2014 09 28 Index
Philly Show 2014 09 28 Dime Box Summary 
Baseball Cardpedia
baseball-ref

Mike Schmidt 2013 Topps Chasing History #CH-92

The Phillies have revamped their broadcast lineup for 2014. Three of the teams alums are coming in to do color commentary: Jamie Moyer and Matt Stairs from the 2008 World Champs and Hall of Fame 3rd baseman Mike Schmidt.

2013 Topps Chasing History #CH-92 Mike Schmidt (Gold)

Schmidt is apparently healthy after a recent cancer scare. He had surgery and radiation treatment related to mole that was found on his back. Recent scans have shown Schmidt to be cancer free.

During the regular season the Phillies plan on having Mike Schmidt join the TV broadcast team as part of a three man booth with lead Tom McCarthy and either Moyer or Stairs.

Mike Schmidt will turn 65 later this year, He appears to have remained in good physical shape while retired. Hopefully this will aid him in avoiding a recurrence of any cancer.

2013 Topps Chasing History
CH is a 150 card insert set spread evenly across the the three series of of 2013 Topps. The card come in both silver and gold variations. I am not sure but assume gold is more scarce

2013 Topps Chasing History #CH-92 Mike Schmidt (Gold)
2013 Topps Chasing History #CH-92 Mike Schmidt (Silver)

 

More Schmidt
Phungo HoF Index

Sources
Phillies,com
h/t the Phillies Room 
baseball cardpedia