Cup of Coffee: 1963 Topps John Paciorek

The column has been quiet because I have been spending my free time with a sketchbook. 

This does not mean I have given up on baseball or card collecting, most of the sketches are of baseball cards. 

One of the projects that I have been working on is a series of "Cup of Coffee" players drawn on, yes, Coffee Cups. 

The first subject of the Series was John Paciorek who at the age of 18 had a perfect batting day during a Houston Colts 13-4 victory over the New York Mets.  Paciorek started in Right Field went 3-3 with a pair of walks and scoring four times. 

 

                Phungo Original: 1963T John Paciorek

That game was played on September 29 1963, John Paciorek would not play another Major League Game. 

He already had a bad back that would only get worse the following spring. He eventually had spinal fusion surgery which helped his back but hurt is game. In 1968 he retired from professional baseball. 

John Paciorek was never issued a baseball card during his career however he was immortalized in a comic:

1980 Topps #481 Tom Paciorek (b-side)

John's brother Tom also made it to the majors, he was fortunate enough to have an 18 year career. The comic on the back of Tom's 1980 Topps card features a nod to John's game with the 1963 Colts.  

Canvas

Since John did not have a baseball card, i needed to create one for the cup. Going with 1963 Topps was an obvious design choice, for the cards image I used a photo that was on the cover of John's biography. 

That's right, there is a biography of John Paciorek, a Cup of Coffee player who appeared in a single major league game. 

Perfect - Steven K Wagner

Beyond that I wanted to add the phrase "Cup of Coffee" to each Cup and the date of the players game. For John Paciorek I put the date on the lid. 

To date we have put together 16 Cups featuring 18 subjects which I have been releasing periodically on Twitter. I hope to also post the cups here to create a more permanent record of the players and their accomplishments. 

If you have an idea for a Cup of Coffee player, please let us know and we will put them on the roster. Thanks Team Phungo.  

Sources & Links

Cup of Coffee Index

Basenall-ref

MLB

Kronozio

Goodreads

Phungo Original: 2021T Migue Cabrera Snow Squall variation

We are switching gears here, trying to see if posting sketches will get be more motivated to publish. We will see. 

2021T Miguel Cabrera Snow Squall Variation

A few weeks ago Miquel Cabrera hit a Home Run on opening day, but it was snowing so much he could not tell if the ball had left the park. Miggy elected to slide into 2nd base on the play. We have captured that moment and put it on the canvas of 2021 Topps. 

3 Strikes

This is my comments on the sketch - I try to come up with 3 things going thru my head during the development of the work:

- This is a contemporary event so I went with a 2021 Topps Canvas, I flipped the design on the x-axis because the slash placement interfered with image I wanted to created. 

- Giant snow flakes: I used symbolic flakes over a bunch of little dashes that would have looked like rain. 

- Big Font: I enlarged the name plate, lots of folks have noted that the 2021T player names are unreadable. I agree and well I cannot write that snowfall. The snowflake motif carries through to the name plate acting as the divider between Miggy's name and position.

ToppsNow

Topps issues an instant card for the Homer. 

2021 Topps Now #1 Miguel Cabrera

Turns out Cabrera got card #1 in this years Topps Now set! Nice enough, this angle is always a good one and the image clearly shows the snow shower. Still I prefer mine, mostly because it's mine, but I also like capturing the slide as it was unique moment that doesn't typically happen on a Home Run.

Flagship

2021 Topps #291 Miguel Cabrera

Looks like Miggy's base card was taken on a much nicer day. On this one you get 2 HoF for the price of one as we can see the Al Kaline #6 memorial patch on Cabrera's right shoulder. The card lists Cabrera's position as DH, which is accurate - it is the only position he played in 2020. Oddly it took him one game to get back in the field playing First Base, and that is reflected in my card above. 

Sources and Link

Miguel Cabrera Index

Cardboard Connection

ebay

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

 

 

Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe: T201 Mecca Double Folder

Recently my sketches have been focused on the players of the Negro Leagues. Today we featured Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe who got his nickname from pitching one end of a double header followed by catching the other.  

 I was interested in a way to capture this idea on a baseball card. 

1911 T201 Mecca Double Folder Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe

The T201 Double Folder was the perfect solution. Unfolded/Open features Radcliffe pitching, while the folder version shows him catching. 

While the video is fun, I kind of think it is easier to see the images in stills.

1911 T201 Mecca Double Folder Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe (pitching)

 For the pitching image I put in Radcliffe in pinstripes and on a basically clear field.

1911 T201 Mecca Double Folder Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe (catching)

As a catcher I made Radcliffe a catcher for the Birmingham Black Barons. whom he played for from 1942-46. I went with an industrial background here - typical of many Negro League stadium. 

Time

The card is a bit of an anachronism. Radcliffe's career spanned 1928-50 so 1911 predates that period a bit, but the double folder was to good an idea to pass up.

Sources and Links

Phungo Originals

Phungo Negro Leagues

Seamheads

Negro League Baseball eMuseum 

Cardboard Connection

1964T Phil Linz Phungo Variation

Thursday August 20th is an important Anniversary of one of the most significant events in the Storied History of the New York Yankees.

It is the 56th Anniversary of the Harmonica Incident. 

If you are not familiar with the Harmonica Incident click the link above for a more detailed account, for our purposes the important facts are that Yankees Infielder Phil Linz was playing Harmonica on the team bus following a loss. This upset manager Yogi Berra, yelled "Shove that harmonica up your..." towards the back of the bus. Here is where it gets interesting...

Linz did not hear Yogi and asked Mickey Mantle what he said and Mickey said:

"PLAY IT LOUDER"

Which Phil Linz proceeded to do. This let to a confrontation between Berra and Linz including the harmonica being used as a projectile.

I original heard the story years ago when I first read "Ball Four" and was reminded of it reading Mitch Nathanson's outstanding biography "Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original" 

This got the crew at Phungo HQ thinking, this story needs a baseball card.

 Phungo Variation

1964T Phil Linz Phungo Variation

I went with 1964T as the canvas as that was the year the incident occurred. To capture the humor of the event I went with the comic approach. The comic is not really original - I stole it from the back of Ed Sadowski's 1960 Topps Card

1960 Topps #403 Ed Sadowski (b-side)

Pretty happy with the reproduction of the -toon on my part. I love to envision Phil Linz being in as care free a mood as this comic right before being yelled at by Yogi Berra. 

I sort of kept the colors and lettering from the original 1960 comic. I went with an orange interior border to reflect the creamsicle backs of 1964 Topps.  To match the original Phil Linz card the comic extends out of frame into the team name area which matches the Red/Orange color from 1964T. I did change the player position from INF-OF to SS-3B to better reflect Phil Linz 1964 playing time.

Ed Sadowski was a backup catcher who spent the bulk of his 5 year career with the LA Angels. I did some minor digging and was unable to find more info on Sadowski's musical talents. Regardless his cartoon was good enough for me. 

In a sad note Ed Sadowski's bio revealed that he died in 1993 from Lou Gehrig's Disease. 

Sources and Links

Phungo Original Index

Bob Nightengale USA TODAY

Mitch Nathanson - Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original

Topps Baseball Card DB

Baseball-Reference

Ed Sadowski SABR Bio -  Clayton Trutor

1974 Topps #47 Dick Ruthven

Dick Ruthven was drafted three times: 1969 (20th round Orioles) 1972 (Twins 1st rd / 8th pick) and finally by the Phillies (1973 Winter #1 overall)

1974 Topps #47 Dick Ruthven

As a highly touted prospect Dick Ruthven made his pro debut at the Major League level. This means no multiplayer RC - Ruthven's first card is the above 1974T and it's a solo. 

It was not a straight line for Ruthven and the Phillies to the World Series. There were a series of trades involving Ruthven which are worthy of their own discussion but the important result was that Ruthven ended up in the rotation for the 1980 Phillies. 

1980 Phillies 
Yes Dick Ruthven was an important member of the 1980 Phillies pitching staff - he was 2nd on the staff (behind Steve Carlton of course) in Wins, Starts, Complete Games, and Innings, however..... I will always remember him for a relief appearance.

Game 5 of the 1980 NLCS

The deciding game of the series saw Phillies closer Tug McGraw blow a save. Dallas Green had already gone through four other pitchers. The staff was shot when Dick Ruthven was called into the 9th inning of the Winner Take All game.  And what does Ruthven do in his only relief appearance of 1980?

Six up Six Down, Phillies Win 8-7.

Ruthven did that on 18 pitches - 2 innings on 18 pitches, including a six pitch inning.

Phungo Original

Phungo Original :1974T Dick Ruthven

I chose this card for our 1980 WSC Phillies sketch for two reasons. 1) it is significant to Dick Ruthven as it is his RC 2) We are clearly focuses on his NLCS Game 5 relief appearance and this shot clearly shows the bullpen in the background. 

 

To further illustrate Ruthven's 1980 NLCS contributions we have made a few minor modifications. The first is adding "RELIEF" to Ruthven's "PITCHER" position. The other change is a fun one, we have added a Bullpen Cart to the image.  The cart is also a nod to a different 1974T card - of a very prominent Phillies Player, Mike Schmidt. 

Dick Ruthven Index

1975 Topps (2008 Game 5 prep)

1975 Topps Mini (2010 Philly Show Swag: mini w/ 1959T Robin Roberts)

Sources and links
1980 Phillies
baseball-ref

Phungo Originals

1980 World Champions: Manny Trillo 1983 Topps #5 Record Breaker

One of the casualties of Fan-less Baseball Games is the Phillies Alumni weekend.  I have been to several of these events over the years and they are always enjoyable.

Typically Alumni weekend occurs in early August and have a theme including the honoring of a player on the clubs Wall of Fame. This year the Phillies were scheduled to honor the 1980 Phillies with Manny Trillo getting added to the Wall.

1983 Topps #5 Record Breaker Manny Trillo

It is a shame that the Phillies are unable to honor Trillo this year. I have been to a several Alumni weekends, and don't recall Trillo participating and was looking forward to his 2020 induction.

1983 Topps RB
To rep Trillo in our 1980 Phillies Series I have chosen his 1983 Topps Record Breaker. The card honors Manny setting the record for consecutive chances fielded for a second baseman. Trillo's achievement occured during a 98 game stretch in 1982.  The streak began on April 9th during a Phillies 2-0 victory vs the Expos. It ended during another 2-0 victory, this time versus the Cubs. The beneficiary of the Trillo miscue was Bill Buckner - Who would make his own error a few years later.

Flip

1983 Topps #5 Record Breaker Manny Trillo

The blurb is written as a newspaper byline from the day the streak ended. It also goes on to mention the previous record holder Jerry Adair. As expected Adair was also a very good in the field. It isn't as specific date wise but Adair's 1967T card has a 2 panel cartoon that notes the streak.

1967 Topps #484 Jerry Adair (detail/comic)

In that 2nd shot I guess he is carrying a basket full of error free games

Phungo Original Jesus Trillo
For my Manny Trillo Phungo sketch I took the 1983 RB card and turned it to landscape format.

 1980T RB Jesus Manny Trillo

I noticed that the borders for the 1983 Record Breaker Card are Blue Red and Yellow. Those match the colors of the flag of Manny Trillo's native of Venezuela. This was the genesis of the idea to go with a flag motif for the card. In the bottom left I modified the 1982 Record Breaker logo to reflect this years Phungo series 1980 World Champs. The various scorebook tags listed on the card are the 33 fielding plays that Trillo made during that series.

Now I direct you to the bottom of the card - Jesus Manny Trillo. This isn't Trillo's given name - but it is closer than just Manny. His first name really is Jesus but through typical Phillies ignorance the organization messed up both his first and last names. Read more about it in his SABR Bio here.

Finally I direct you to the 4 stars that arc through the card/flag. The Venezuelan Flag has 8 stars representing the countries 8 provinces. Here I have chosen to feature four stars as a nod to the 4 times that Manny Trillo made the All-Star team.

Peanut Gallery
For a bit more on this card and a progressive record of the Error-less streak check out the 1983 Topps Blog.

Manny Trillo Links
1983 Fleer #631 Pride of Valenzuela
1983 Topps Blog

Sources & Links
1980 Phillies
Phillies Wall of Fame
Baseball-Ref
SABR - Leonte Landino
Encyclopedia Britannica

1976 Topps #251 Rick Monday

It happened on April 25 1976.

During the Bicentennial 44 years ago Rick Monday became a Patriotic Hero by saving an American Flag from being set afire at Dodger stadium. 

1976 Topps #251 Rick Monday

This is the card that Topps issued of Monday in 1976. Couple of things I like about this card - first off collectors recall the simple design of 1976T which features a team related color with a complimentary color on the name plate. The photo appears to be taken at Spring Training - notice that Monday is wearing a Home Uni yet there is a palm tree in the background beyond his left elbow.

I am always a fan of identifying bat knobs on cards. Here we can sort of see Monday's #7 which he wore most of his career.

The Position Icon

The final item I want to point out is the position icon. It is a point of interest in that becomes the focus on a 1976T design. Each position has a different icon including unique artwork for Left and Right handed pitchers.  For outfielders like Monday the player is show flagging down a fly ball.

Baseball iconography is actually pretty rare in Topps designs. This is really sad and it is getting rarer as Topps moves to using generic formats that can be used for multiple sports, films and other media.

The Photo

Rick Monday Rescues American Flag (Vice/James Roark)

Photographer James Roark caught the above iconic image of Rick Monday saving the flag.  The picture was nominated for the 1976 Photographic Pulitzer which ended up awarded to a different photo taken in April of 1976 that also involved a flag.

Phungo Originals  

For me the Outfielder icon used on 1976 Topps echoed the James Roark photo - it easy to see the fielder running with a Flag rather than Flagging down a baseball. 

This similarity inspired me to create a Phungo Original...

1976T 0425 Rick Monday

For the most part I tried to keep the everything about the card the same as the Topps. I enhanced the Cubs logo a tad and kept the palm tree because I liked how it balanced the image. The 7 on the bat knob is enlarged as well.

The most significant change is adding the American Flag and making it prominent in the frame.

I have always liked when a trading card can tell a story and I am happy that 1) this idea came to me and 2) I was able to execute it to my satisfaction. 

Sources and Links
Rick Monday Index

Vice.com (David Davis / James Roark)
NPR

1980 World Champions: Larry Bowa 1971T #233

We have turned over into a new year (and decade) so we can officially celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1980 Phillies.

1971 Topps #233 Larry Bowa (b-side)

This is not Larry Bowa's rookie card, he shared 1970T #539 with fellow middle infielder Denny Doyle.

However this is Bowa's first solo card and it is a fine card. To start with we have one of the most iconic designs in the Topps canon, 1971. Secondly the photo captures Bowa in a defensive posture, which was his most dominant skill during a long career. Finally this card is part of one of Team Phungo's favorite collections: All-Star Rookie Cards.

The cup was awarded to Larry Bowa for his 1970 campaign that saw him finish 3rd in the Rookie Of the Year voting (Carl Morton, Bernie Carbo).

I would also like to give a shout out to Paterson New Jersey's Johnny Briggs who appears in the background of this shot. Briggs spent the second half of the 1960s on the Phillies roster but was only teammates with Larry Bowa for one year as he was traded early in 1971 season.

1971 Topps #233 Larry Bowa (b-side)

Lots of fodder on the back of Larry Bowa's 1971T card. TOPPS goes all selfie and mentions the award they have given to Bowa. The most noteworthy portion of the text is Topps use of the term '"On-Base" average' which I imagine is one of the earliest on card uses of the term.

Unfortunately Topps use of the word "fine" to describe Bowa's OBA is questionable. At .277 he ranked 53rd among the 56 NL players who qualified. The League Average was .329, Bowa's 21 walks ranked 110th.

The final sentence in the bio refers to Paul Bowa, his baseball-ref page can be found here. 

Not sure where the front image was taken, could be spring training or possibly Shea stadium, but this back photo sure looks like the Vet - Even in b&w.

1970 RoY voting
As mentioned above Bowa finished 3rd in the NL Rookie of the Year voting:

Carl Morton or Bernie Carbo deserved to be 1-2 by both 1970 standards and modern analytics. To be honest I am surprised the BBWAA went with Morton (18-11, 3.60 ERA 154K) over Carbo (.310, 21 HR).

Among the 5 players receiving votes he was clearly the least deserving. However, other than Cedeno he is probably the player to have the most career success. He is also the only player among the lot to win a World Series.

Phungo Originals

This is one of the cards that made the cut for the Phungo Sketch Challenge

Phungo Original 1971T Larry Bowa

I swapped out the Rookie Cup for a World Series Trophy and went with a simplified background. I think Larry looks more like John Vukovich - oh well, my art career is a Work In Progress - perhaps I can say I have a "fine On-Base Average"

Larry Bowa Index
1972 Topps #520 (2008 NLCS)
1975 Topps #420 (1976 All-Star Team +40)
1975 Topps #420 (Larry Bowa Bobblehead night 2015)
1976 ASG Program (1976 ASG +40)
1981 Fleer #645 (1980 Phillies Reunion/Card Show w/ Pete Rose & Mike Schmidt)
1981 Fleer #645 (1980 Phillies +30)
1984 Topps #704 (1983 NL Champs w/ Joe Morgan & Cedeno)

Peanut Gallery (Other columns on this card)
Topps Baseball 1971 (Night Owl Cards)

Sources and Links
1980 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies
1971 Topps All-Star Rookies
Phungo Artwork
1971 Topps Blog (Night Owl Cards)
baseball-ref
SABR Bio Larry Bowa Rich D'Ambrosio 
SABR Bio Johnny Briggs (John Saccoman) 

How Awesome Is this Card?!?!?!!!

A DayF original!

 

 DayF Original Brad Lidge 1/1

DayF of Cardboard Junkie sent this over about a month ago and I really love it.  It has a bunch of qualities that I like

-It captures a favorite player at likely the biggest moment of his career
-DayF painting is terrific - It is bright and vibrant and captures Brad Lidge beautifully.      
-The 2008 World Series Clincher is one of the games that I was fortunate enough to attend. 
-DayF fashioned the painting onto one of those blanks used to combat pack searching - I love recycling of items in such an appropriate fashion.

I am not an artist or painter, but I am thinking that these cards are good for absorbing the paint, this may be good for creating nice works as the one above.

Thanks DayF.  This card is going right onto my card mantle with other cards related to the 08 Series similar to the ones below.

The Phillies are going through a rough patch right now. The DayF original reminds me of happier times and the Baseball Fan in me needs that right now.