ANNIVESARY: 2000 May 24 Pat Burrell MLB Debut

May 24th marks the 20th anniversary of Pat Burrell's MLB Debut in a Phillies 9-7 victory versus the Houston Astros.

2008 Topps 50th Anniversary All-Rookie Team #AR81 Pat Burrell

in 2008 to mark the 50th anniversary of Team Phungo's favorite subset, All-Star Rookies, Topps issued and 110 card Insert set. Among the 110 players included was Pat Burrell.

The 2008 card format echoes the seminal 1960 Topps subset. For a look at those cards see our posting on Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.

Flip
2008 Topps 50th Anniversary All-Rookie Team #AR81 Pat Burrell (b-side)

The backs also mirror 1960T including the Season Highlights section bottom left. Notice the first bullet cites Burrell's MLB Debut and mentions a Triple he hit in that game. An oddity for a man who would finish with 16 career. That first Triple tacked on an insurance run in the 9th inning. It came off of Burrell's future teammate Billy Wagner. 

Burrell's originally made the 2000 team that was honored in the 2001 Topps.

2001 Topps #144 Pat Burrell 

Sources and Links
Pat Burrell Index
2001 Topps Rookie Cup Index (2000 honorees)
Baseball-Ref 
Check Out My Cards

2000 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team (2001 Topps Set)

This is an index to postings related to the 2000 Topps All-Star Rookie Team which was honored with cards in the 2001 Topps set. The Set includes 2008 World Champ Pat Burrell.

2001 Topps #144 Pat Burrell 

91    2001 TOPPS MIKE LAMB
144    PAT BURRELL
271    BENGIE MOLINA
278    TERRENCE LONG
293    JAY PAYTON
319    RAFAEL FURCAL
514    ADAM KENNEDY
653    MARK REDMAN
720    KAZUHIRO SASAKI
721    MARK QUINN

2008 Topps TASR 50th Anniversary #AR81 Pat Burrell

ANNIVERSARY: 10 Years Ago Today the Phillies Win the World Series

Just wanted to post a couple of pictures to remember a great night from a decade ago.

Game Ticket 2008 World Series Game 5. 2008 OCT 27 & 29

 Pat Burrell prior to the last game he would ever play with the Phillies

Harry Kalas on about to perform his final World Series Broadcast.

 Ryan Howard

Jamie Moyer carrying the rubber from the CBP pitchers Mound

 Jimmy Rollins

Don Zimmer

One of my more common avatars

Links and Sources

2008 World Series Game 5 index

2008 World Champion Phillies Player Indices

International Polar Bear Day: Sherry Magee T205

Tuesday February 27th is International Polar Bear Day. The day is dedicated to raising awareness of the plight of the Polar Bear. You can even Adopt a Polar Bear for just $30 - well virtually anyway.

1911 T205 Sherrwood Magee

Sherry Magee is one of those borderline Hall of Famers from the deadball era that I don't know much about. He was traded away from the Phillies prior to their 1915 NL Pennant winning season so he did not get to play for that squad. He did manage to get into a World Series with the 1919 Cincinnati Reds who defeated the ill-fated Joe Jackson / Black Sox team.

In 2003 Magee was added to the Phillies Wall of Fame during an era that included several other early 20th century Phillies such as Gavvy Cravath and the original Billy Hamilton. Magee's best year with the club was 1910 when he led the league in Batting Average, Runs, RBI and Total Bases. In addition to those traditional stats he led the league in OBP, Slugging, OPS, OPS+, and Offensive WAR. That is a Mike Trout type year kids!

T206 may get all the notoriety because of the Honus Wagner card but I much prefer their 1911 predecessor T205 (see below). There is so much more going on with T205, The color, Gold Borders, Facsimile Signature and Team Logo are all things that stand out and then you flip the card over and...

1911 T205 Sherrwood Magee (b-side)

Look at all that text AND Stats. It may only be Games Played, Batting Average, and Fielding Percentage but they are stats. The Final Stat line includes the League Leading batting average mentioned above. The final line in the biography mentions the 263 Total Bases.

Not sure how many issues prior to 1952 Topps contain both a written synopsis and a stat box.

At the bottom of the card we return to todays theme "International Polar Bear Day". T205 were issued for a variety of Tobacco brands, This one just happens to be Polar Bear.


Retros

2002 Topps T206 #123 Pat Burrell (mini)

Among the Topps many retro brands are both T205 and T206 cards. This is a 2002 mini, which means it matches the size of the original tobacco cards from the early part of the 20th century.

 

2002 Topps T206 #123 Pat Burrell (mini / b-sdie)

 

Flipping over the card we get to see a faux Polar Bear ad, as Topps is not associated with the Tobacco company.

 

One of my minor collections is Polar Bear cards, both originals and retros. I have no official list, but do enjoy picking up the ones I see. Ideally I would like to have 1 T205 from each team - that would make for a good set for me.

 

This is all because my High School Mascot was the Polar Bear. It's a funny connection, I suppose it make me feel good when I hear stories about Polar Bears and I think of my younger days.

 

 

International Polar Bear Day

Yes it is a real think and if you want to learn more about the plight of the Polar Bear you can check here.



Sources and Links
Phillies Wall of Fame Index
Polar Bears International
Baseball-Ref

2017 Hall of Fame Canidate: Pat Burrell

Today we take a look at the most prominent Phillies player on the 2017 Hall of Fame Ballot, Pat Burrell.

2009 UD A Piece of History Box Score Memories #BSM-PB Pat Burrell

For close to a decade Pat Burrell was fixture in the Middle of the Phillies batting order. The 2009 UD card featured here honors one of those games. On October 5th 2008 the Phillies defeated the Brewers 6-2 in game 4 of the NLDS. The W clinched the franchise first Postseason series victory in 15 years.

WAR Stories (actually WPA stories)
Pat Burrell was the offense hero of that game going 3-4 with a pair of Homers and 4 RBI. The big blow was a 2 out/2 strike three run homer in the third. The shot gave the Phillies a 4-0 which they never relinquished. Burrell led all players in Win Probability Added for the game with a healthy 0.282 number. The 3 run homer accounted for 23 of those 28 points.

Flip

2009 UD A Piece of History Box Score Memories #BSM-PB Pat Burrell (b-side)

Back of the card has a nice box score with Burrell Boldfaced in the #5 spot in the batting order. Other noteworthies in the box are Jimmy Rollins who Homered to lead off the game and Jayson Werth who hit a dinger immediately after Burrell's 3 run blast.

Upper Dreck
couple of complaints with the UD box score. I would like to see the line score of the game - Hell UD doesn't even mention who the Phillies played. There pitching portion of the box is also ignored. The often overlooked Joe Blanton went 6 innings allowing just 5 hits and a single run (Homer Prince Fielder)

I have one other complaint. That is on the front of the card - The Phillies and Brewers played this game in Milwaukee, wish that UD would have selected a photo Burrell in an away uni. It is one of those things that I am OCD about on baseball cards - especially cards that are "inserts"

Phungo Verdict

Hell Yes Hall of Fame!

Pat Burrell's tenure in Philadelphia concluded with a World Championship. He followed that up by being part of a World Series winner in San Francisco.  Phungo Verdict = HoF


Phungo Pat Burrell Index 

1999 Topps #T44
1999 Topps Stadium Club #151 Pat Burell - 1998 First overall Pick
2001 Topps #144 (rookie cup)
2001 Topps Stadium Club
2002 Topps Heritage #179
2003 Topps Heritage #11
2004 Fleer Authentix #50
2006 Topps Opening Day #117
2006 Fleer Ultra Diamond Producers #DP19 
2007 Topps Heritage #90 
2008 UD Documentary 2008 06 20
2009 Phungo #5
2011 Topps (w/ Giants)

2010 08 17 Game Report (Burrell returns to Philadelphia with Giants)
2015 Alumni Weekend
Pat Burrell's farewell letter to Philadelphia

Sources and Links
2017 HoF Candidates
Game Dated Card Index
Baseball-ref
Check out my Cards 

2017 Hall of Fame Candidates Index

This is an index of our posts related to the 2017 Hall of Fame Candidates

 2009 UD A Piece of History Box Score Memories #BSM-PB Pat Burrell

New to the BBWAA HoF Ballot in 2017

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Aaron Rowand

Arthur Rhodes

Carlos Guillen

Danys Baez

Derrek Lee

Edgar Renteria

Freddy Sanchez

Ivan Rodriguez

J.D. Drew

Jason Varitek

Javier Vazquez

Jorge Posada

Julio Lugo

Magglio Ordonez

Manny Ramirez

Melvin Mora

Mike Cameron

Orlando Cabrera

Pat Burrell

Tim Wakefield

Vladimir Guerrero

Final BBWAA Ballot in 2017

Tim Raines

Lee Smith

Players from previous BBWAA Ballots 

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Barry Bonds

Billy Wagner

Curt Schilling

Edgar Martinez

Fred McGriff

Gary Sheffield

Jeff Bagwell

Jeff Kent

Larry Walker

Mike Mussina

Roger Clemens

Sammy Sosa

Trevor Hoffman

Sources and Links

Phungo HoF Index

Baseball-ref

Baseball Hall of Fame

WAR and the Draft: Phillies 2016 Pick 1-1

The Last time the Phillies had the #1 Overall Pick they selected Pat Burrell. A few months ago we looked at the #1 Pick and what a team should expect from the player. I felt as though Burrell was a successful pick but I am not so sure I would say the pick was a win if it had not been for the 2008 World Championship.

 1999 Topps Stadium Club #151 Pat Burell 

The above conclusion was reached after researching the top of the draft results during it's 50+ year history. Here are some of the things we found:

 How Much WAR?

 Our survey was for 48 #1 overall Picks  from 1965-2012. On the left side we have the Average and median WAR of all #1 Picks. The reason I calculated median is one player can really throw off the numbers. Alex Rodriguez is a big part of the difference between the 20 WAR Average and the 15 WAR median.

The Right Hand Chart tells us what percentage of players reach certain plateaus. A +2.0 WAR season is basically a starter, the number is reached by 73% of players, which means that over a quarter of players drafted #1 are TOTAL FAILURES. One in three players have a  +5.0 WAR season, the equivalent of an All-Star Season. In reality closer to half (48%) of the players become All-Stars. The Career WAR numbers tell us only 56% of players reach +10 WAR for their careers. A more stellar +25 Career WAR is reached by one-third of draftees - which matches the number that have a single season of +5.0.

What about Playoffs?

Here I did the math for the #1 and #2 picks and we found that the #1s make the playoffs significantly more often that #2s. Roughly 2 in 3 First Picks make the postseason while only half of their #2 counterparts get as far.

Pat Burrell
Finally lets take a look at Pat Burrell. This is how he stacked up against other #1s.

Pat the Bat comes out pretty close to average. He reached plateaus of roughly half of number 1 picks, but didn't reach the heights of superstar #1s.

Sources and Links

Baseball-ref  

Steven Eck (SABR Collegiate Baseball Committee Newsletter Winter 2016)

Fan Graphs

Baseball America 

 

1998 First Overall Pick Pat Burrell

Last week the Broncos Superbowl Winning QB Peyton Manning officially announced his retirement.

We are taking this moment to take a look at a Phillies outfielder that has something in common with Mr Manning.

Pat Burrell

1999 Topps Stadium Club #151 Pat Burell

Within a few months of each other Peyton Manning and Pat Burrell were both draft first overall in their respective sports.

Burrell is one of twelve Draft Pick Cards that run from #149-#160 in the set. The Dozen cards are all RCs, none of which is more significant that Burrell. The subset does include another Phillies Draftee, Eric Valent.  

SABR
I have been a Member of SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) since 2013 when the National convention was hosted in Philadelphia. This past weekend I gave my first presentation in front of the local SABR affiliate the Connie Mack Chapter. The subject was the success rate of #1 Overall picks in the MLB Draft.

The Phillies are drafting #1 for the first time since the Burrell pick in 1998. I was interested in finding out what the success rate of #1 Picks have been across the history of the draft. I found close to 3/4 of all #1s achieve at least one +2.0 WAR season. A more substantial single season +5.0 WAR season was achieved by a much more modest 1/3 of the candidates. Number Ones reached the playoffs at a rate of 65% of which just short of half (31%) reached the World Series.

In terms of these numbers I judged Burrell a success. His peak WAR was +4.5 which is substantially more that the +2.0 WAR of a pedestrian starter, but not quite an All-Star level of +5.0. However, more importantly to me as a Phillies fan he was among the 31% that reached the World Series and also the 23% that took home a ring.

The powerpoint slides from presentation are below, They are tough to follow without the commentary, but it gives you an idea what I was attempting to learn about the #1 pick. 




Sources and Links
WAR and the Draft Index
SABR
Baseball-ref
Baseball America
New York Times

Game Report Braves @ Phillies Alumni Weekend

Made it to two games as part of  the Phillies Alumni Weekend versus the Braves, a 12-2 victory on Saturday Night and a 6-2 Loss on Sunday.

 Snapshots

2015 0801 Pat Burrell operating the Hot Dog Gun

By far the highlight of the Phillies Season has to be Pat Burrell firing the Hot Dog Cannon. Add to this the massive uhm Shoulder Bag that he is carrying and you have a perfect image.

Alumni weekend provided plenty of entertainment. Burrell tried to make a few awkward jokes during his speech, but he fared well enough otherwise. 2008 World Series Champ Manager Charlie Manuel gave a great intro and it was great to see him get loud ovations all weekend.

Pat Burrell's new Wall o Fame plaque was added next to 2014 Inductee Charlie Manuel. 

Franchise Four

On Satyrday Night the Phillies honored their Franchise Four. You may remember MLBs promotion from last month - the Phillies four were Richie Asburn, Robin Roberts, Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt. Carlton is in the 80s era powder blue roadie. To his right is Richie Ashurn's grandson and on his left is one or Robin Robert's sons. Mike Schmidt is hidden by Bob Boone on the left side of the photo.

The four other gentleman in the pictures are all catchers. Each of the Franchise Four took part in a four pronged first pitch with a Phillies Catcher. Boone is on the far left, Darren Daulton and Mike Lieberthal are next to the obscured Mike Schmidt while current Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz is on the far right.

Game Pix

Cameron Rupp 2015 0801

Saturday night has a bunch of heroes. The offense put up a season high 12 runs, three of which came on a Homer by Cameron Rupp.

Adam Morgan

The Phillies have two rookies in the rotation right now. Aaron Nola got the W on Friday night, Adam Morgan didn't fair as well on Sunday. He struggled through five innings giving up four runs. The Braves had runners on in each of those innings with the big blow coming in the 5th, a three-run homer by Jace Peterson

 Julio Teheran

Julio Teheran who has had a mixed season looked more like the pitcher he was during his All-Star 2015 campaign. He scattered 8 hits and 2 runs over 7 innings without a walk.

Ryan Howard

Over the two games Ryan Howard looked like 2008 or maybe 2011 as he went 5 for 8 with a couple of doubles and RBI. He has hits in eight consecutive games and as been a big contributor to the Phillies recent success.

GGA

Aaron Harang

Couple of Phillies signing autograph's on Sunday. Harang was out in the sun for a good 30 minutes. Maikel Franco and I think Cody Asche were also out there for short stints.

Blue err Orange Moon

There was a bit of excitement over the Blue Moon this weekend. I took this shot on Saturday night, so it is a day past full. I have no idea what structures are in the shot, I think they are generally East of the stadium. 

 2015 0801 Ticket Braves at Phillies

2015 0802 Game Ticket Braves @ Phillies

Sources and Links

Baseball-ref

Phillies Wall of Fame Inductee Pat Burrell

Tonight the Phillies will add Pat Burrell to their Wall of Fame

2001 Topps #144 Pat Burrell (r-Cup)

To mark the occasion we are going to take a look at Burrell's 2001 Topps Card which features a rookie cup flair. The then 23 year old outfielder earned the honor by leading all rookies in RBI with 79 and finish second to Lance Berkman in Home Runs (18 vs 21)

 2001 Topps #144 Pat Burrell (b-side)

Good summary of the drafting of Burrell and his Rookie season. 2001 Topps B-sides are pretty decent with a 2nd photo plus a ghost of the a-side.


More Rookie Cup

2008 Topps #AR81 Pat Burrell

Topps marked the 50th anniversary of the All-Star Rookie team with this insert set done in the design of the 1960T Rookie Cup Subset.

 2008 Topps #AR81 Pat Burrell (b-side)

The back of the 1960T cards have bullet points of season highlights. Cool feature when looking back at a players rookie season.

2005 Topps Rookie Cup #118 Pat Burrell (Orange #d 397/399)

2008 was not the first time that Topps leveraged their Rookie Cup cache. In 2005 they released an entire set dedicated to the Rookie Cup. While the design of the 150 card set is rather bland I do like this card of Burrell blowing a chewing gum bubble while presuming playing first base - his position early in his career. Also note that he is wearing the 2000 era #33 rather than his more familiar #5. 

2005 Topps Rookie Cup #118 Pat Burrell (b-side )

All three cards mention Burrel'sl Debut Game on 2000 05 24. The first two cards discuss his early success while the latter two mention Pat's numbers with the bases loaded.

For a more detailed look at Pat Burrell cards check the In Search of Pat the Bat blog.

Sources and Links
Phillies Wall of Fame
Baseball-ref
Baseball Cardpedia

2015 Wall of Fame inductee Pat Burrell

Last week the Phillies announced that the 2015 Wall of Fame inductee will be Pat Burrell

1999 Topps #T44 Pat Burrell

I was pulling for Fred Luderus to get the Phillies Wall Treatment but have no problem with Burrell. He may have never been an All-Star but he had several very good years in Philadelphia. His biggest hit came in Game 5 of the 2008 World Series - A 7th inning double that would eventually score as the series deciding run. 

1999 Topps #T44 Pat Burrell (b-side)

Pat Burrell initially came to the majors as a first baseman which is reflected on a couple of his early  cards. 1999T doesn't have the position listed on the front, but if you look at the flip it is listed across the top next to the player name.  

Sources and Links
Phillies
baseball-ref
baseball card database

Opening Day 2013 - Cole Hamels & A look at Topps Opening Day through the Years

Welcome to Opening Day Folks - well Opening Day for the Phillies, since The Astros hosted the Rangers last night (technically Opening Night I supposes).  The Phils don't play v Atlanta till 7p tonight -so once again technically they are also part of Opening Night - pt 2.  

Cole Hamels

2010 Topps Opening Day #37 Cole Hamels
2012 Topps Opening Day #196 Cole Hamels

Cole Hamels has NEVER started an opening day game.  This is for various reasons. Since Roy Halladay arrived in Philadelphia he has been without a doubt the Ace.  That changed in 2012 - Now Cole Hamels has earned that role.  Prior to Roy Halladay, Hamels was a rung below at least one other pitcher, including folks like Brett Myers.

I have not done the research but when Cole Hamels signed his $140MM+ contract last summer, it may have made him the highest paid pitcher to have never been an opening day starter.

This changes tonight, as Hamels will be on the mound v the Atlanta Braves.

Topps Opening Day Logo

 2005 Topps Opening Day #43 Jimmy Rollins

I thought today would be a good opportunity to check out the Topps Opening Day logo through the years.

The Topps OD Logo has matched the MLB Opening Day Logo the last few seasons. The logo has been used at least the last 2 seasons - This logo is on the Cole Hamels 2012 Topps OD card at the top of the post. 
 
Prior to that the Topps OD logo was a similar with a bunting/drape design. This design was used starting in 2005, and varied only by the year placed in the center of the logo. You can see this logo on Jimmy Rollins card above, which is similar to the 2010 Cole Hamels Topps OD at the top.

2003 Topps Opening Day #31 Jimmy Rollins
2004 Topps Opening Day #27 Kevin Millwood
2005 Topps Opening Day #145 Pat Burrell

From 2003-2005 Topps created special logos for their Opening Day brand. There really isn't much connection between the logos other than the all feature the year. I know that the 2003 Topps OD set included minis.  Other OD sets may have included them as well,.    

2002 Topps Opening Day #13 Bob Abreu
2000 Topps Opening Day #78 Paul Byrd

I am not sure when Topps first produced Opening Day - my limited research found cards going back to 2000.  The 2000-2002 cards feature an Opening Day foil shield. Note on the early Bobby Abreu card he is simply Bob.   

There you have it internet - A quick look at Topps Opening Day Cards through the years.

Phungo Challenge Resolved: Pat Burrell and Andruw Jones 2000-06-19

Uncle John's Band who publishes the entertaining Cards that Never Were blog was the only person to submit an entry for our Phungo Challenge on a Pat Burrell card roughly a month ago.

 

 

2001 Topps Stadium Club Pat Burrell

 

For this card UJB went with June 19th 2000.  I think he got the right series but I am leaning towards a game that was played the previous day Sunday 6/18. 

 

The series is pretty easy to drill down,  Burrell's rookie season is the only one he played at first base.  6/16-6/19 was the only Phils home series hosting the Braves that featured a Burrell appearance.  The Guest Star on the card is obviously Andruw Jones - pretty strong guest appearance there.  Surprisingly not many of Jones' ABs during those 4 games match up with the evidence in this Photo.

 

I pretty much brought it down to a few plate appearances in the games on June 18th and June 19th.  In the end, I am pretty sure this is a day game and that is why I went with 6/18.  It is true that there is significant daylight early in a night game in June, but the AB for Jones would not have taken place until at least the 3rd inning on 6/19 which would have been likely after 8p.  I can't see there being that much light at that time of day.  The other half of that theory is that I think Topps and their photographers generally use day games, because of the better lighting. 

 

I also worked under the theory that Jones could have been safe on the play.  And indeed on Sunday June 18th in the fourth inning Jones did have an infield single.  There were other possible outcomes - obviously the ground out, which happened on 6/19 and back end of a fielders choice which may have happened on 6/19.  

There is a chance that Uncle John's Band is correct and he hti the correct series so UJB you are the winner of the first Phungo Challenge of 2012!

Sources & Links

Game Dated Cards Index

Andruw Jones Index

Swag from Nachos Grande

In January Chris from Nachos Grande ran a group break involving a bunch of boxes from the early 2000s.  If you're a Phils Fan the early aughts is a pretty quiet time - typically this means a lot of Scott Rolen and Bobby Abreu - neither of which is a fan favorite.  Despite this the Nachos Grande break was a fun one and provided us with a bunch of nice cards.  Here are some of the highlights:

 A couple of Phils from my childhood.   These are from the UD Vintage set.  These are the cards that mimic 1975 Topps.

Fleer Vintage cards that homage 1954 Topps.

Topps Finest Bobby Abreu and Todd Helton - The NG break featured one random team, Team Phungo got the Rockies.  Not a great one if you like classic cards, I mean who are they going to put in the Vintage sets Larry Walker?   

 Fleer Inserts of Pat Burrell and Die Cut of Phungo Favorite Randy Wolf