Anniversary: 2007 UD Masterpieces

Just got the news that Ryan Howard has been released by the Atlanta Braves. Ten Years ago on May 9th 2007 Howard had a much better day. The events of that day are discussed in the following: 

When I returned to collecting Upper Deck Masterpieces drew quite a buzz. The set had a lot of appeal to me. The cards had a higher quality feel to them with an impressive design. The checklist was small but it had a good mix of current stars, prospects and retired stars. I particularly enjoyed the historical moments

2007 UD #71 Ryan Howard

The Phillies had five cards in the initial Masterpieces set. This is one of two dedicated to Ryan Howard. The two Howard cards are similar and we look to cover that in a future column.

One of the attractive aspects of the Masterpieces is the canvas-like feel of the cards. I believe the cards feature original artwork (based off a photograph). Unfortunately Upper Deck did not identify the artists on the Baseball Masterpieces. This was handled differently with UDs release which credited the artists and sometimes provided website info.

It appears a little dark here but this is one of the Green Parallels. These are the most common Masterpiece parallel and are not serial numbered.

Ten Years Ago Today

2007 UD #71 Ryan Howard

After a synopsis of Howard's accolades from his early career the card back goes onto mention a game played on May 9 2017. After being shutout by the Diamondbacks Randy Johnson for six innings the Phillies were able to put up a series of crooked numbers earn a 9-3 victory.

The comeback was all started by the Grand Slam mentioned on 2007 UD #71. Howard did not hit his blast off of Randy Johnson. In fact manager Charlie Manuel elected to not start Ryan Howard versus the Big Unit. However, in the 7th inning Johnson loaded the bases and was over 100 pitches. The situation forced Arizona manager Bob Melvin to go to his righty reliever Brandon Medders. Ryan Howard hit the first pitch for the Homer, tallying his fourth career Grand Slam.

According to Baseball-Ref the hit had a WPA(Win Probability Added) of +35%.



Sources and Links
2007 UD Masterpieces Index
Philly.com
baseball-ref
Baseball Cardpedia
USA Today / Andrew Bagato
Teams Sets 4 U
COMC

2015 Hall of Fame Inductees Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson

Starting off our coverage of the 2015 Hall of Fame weekend in Cooperstown with a fun card that features two of the players that will be inducted on Sunday.

2000 Skybox Dominion #7 ERA Leaders Pedro Martinez Randy Johnson

The above cards Honors Martinez & Johnson leading their respective leagues in ERA in 1999. It was the first of two times that the two held the top spot together. The other was 2002.

Flip

2000 Skybox Dominion #7 ERA Leaders Pedro Martinez Randy Johnson (b-side)

As always you get some interesting names when you go 10 deep in 2 leagues. This weekends other HoF Pitching Inductee John Smoltz is #5 on the NL list - His Hall of Fame Braves Teammate Greg Maddux ranks #8.

The 1999 Phillies are represented by HoF Possible Curt Schilling and there and there are several future Phillies in the mix - Jamie Moyer, Freddy Garcia, Kevin Millwood, and Omar Daal.

Hope you enjoy Pedro cards, going to see a lot of him the next couple of days, Apologies to the Braves fans as I may be skipping Smoltz this go around.

Sources and Links
Phungo Randy Johnson HoF Index
Phungo Pedro Martinez HoF Index 
Baseball-ref

Baseball Cardpedia

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - June 2 Randy Johnson

A star is Born.

On June 2nd Randy Johnson authored the second no-hitter of the 1990 Season.

1991 Score #700 No-Hit Club Randy Johnson

Back in April Johnson's teammate Brian Holman had come within an out of a perfect game, but he lost it on a Ken Phelps Home Run.

Randy Johnson's start would end up differently. He retired the last five batters he faced, his 9th inning went Strikeout, Pop Out, Strike Out. The final batter was journeyman catcher Mike Heath who went down swinging on an 0-2 pitch.

While it was a No-Hittter, Johnson was far from perfect. He allowed six walks, and Mariners Shortstop Mike Brumley committed an error.

Box Notes

1991 Score #700 No-Hit Club Randy Johnson (b-side)

Couple of good hitters that Johnson had to sit down, including Cecil Fielder and perennial Hall of Fame snub Alan Trammell. The "Williams" in the 9 spot of the Tigers Order is Ken Williams, the current GM of the Chicago White Sox.

The defense behind Randy Johnson included Ken Griffey Jr, Pre-DH Edgar Martinez, and MLB Network analyst Harold Reynolds. The right fielder for the Mariners was Jay Buhner who was traded for the aforementioned Ken Phelps, the man who spoiled Brian Holman's no-hit bid. 

The No-Hitter was the first of two for Randy Johnson, 14 years later he threw a Perfect Game versus the Atlanta Braves as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Relics

1990 0602 Cap Worn by Randy Johnson when he pitched the No-Hitter

Team Phungo made a brief stop at the Hall of Fame recently and we spotted this item in the Randy Johnson HoF display.  Pretty cool item here with the Classic Seattle Logo, which probably most synonymous with the career of Young Ken Griffey Jr.

The HoF visit was quick but fun. While I dedicated most of the day to the Cooperstown Classic, I did manage a quick HoF tour and we will show of some items/displays over the next couple of weeks.


1990 Seattle Mariners
There Mariners were 51 games into the 1990 season and had been involved in two no-hitters Plus Brian Holman's near perfect game. The teams promotions department would attempt to capitalize on the events by sponsoring a Guaranteed No-Hitter Night. We will cover that game in a a future post, I will just let you know that one of the starting pitchers that evening was Nolan Ryan.

2015 Randy Johnson
Part of the reason I wanted to do a series on Year of the No-Hitter is with so many pitchers involved there are just tons of great stories. We have already had the Mariners involved in 2 no-hitters (one on each side) and a near perfect game. We have had Mike Witt who completed a no-hitter after years earlier pitching his own perfect game.

And now we see a future Hall of Famer just as he emerges into greatness.

I am a fan of Twitter and one of the more interesting follows has been Randy Johnson. He dedicates a lot of time to his photography, and due to his resources he has premium access for great places and events which makes for some great shots. Right now his account appears dormant but his website is still operational - @rj51photos

Sources & Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index
Phungo Randy Johnson HoF Index
Baseball Hall of Fame
LA Times
baseball-ref
Chicago White Sox

Happy New Year!

Chinese New Year that is. 

Thursday marked the Chinese New Year, 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit or Hare - The Chinese Zodiac runs in 12 year cycles rather than a 12 (or 13 month Ophiuchus??) cycle. 

Year of the Rabbit luminaries include:

Born in 1927 Richie Ashburn!

Sorry, PC still on the blink so your getting Photos rather than scans.

Ray Chapman (1891)
Bert Blyleven (1951)
Red Dooin (1879)

Chapman was killed by pitch thrown by Carl Mays in 1920.  The incident led to rule changes regarding the use of new baseballs and batting helmets.  Red Dooin was the Phillies catcher roughly 100 years ago.  

   

Johnny Callison (1939)
Cy Young (1867)

Randy Johnson (1963)
Lou Gehrig (1903)
Placido Polanco (1975)

Lot of great Year of the Rabbit players - 1987 is off to a pretty good start as well - I am saving that spot for Phillies Prospect Dominic Brown.

Other rabbits I didn't have the patience to look for included Joe Gordon (1915) and Jim Bouton (1927).

Going Way Back 
Representing 1855 Paul Hines who won the first triple crown in 1878.  Another Triple Crown Winner, Carl Yastrzemski is a Rabbit as well (1939).  The first Rabbit would be Nate Berkenstock (1831) who is the earliest born player in the history of baseball.

Rabbit King
That is a lot of incredible names but perhaps the most significant Baseball related Year of the Rabbit Birth is Hall of Famer Walter James Vincent Maranville or RABBIT MARANVILLE born November 11 1891. 

Happy Trails Randy Johnson Game Revealed

I stole this picture off an ebay listing - This card is on my non-Phils want list, and I just haven't found it yet. NicoLax24 made a compelling argument for this being a Cardinals game but I am pretty sure it is an Orioles game.

The game that NicoLax24 Referenced was a Playoff game that occurred on October 24th 2001 between the Diamondbacks and Cardinals. Unfortunately the game was played in Arizona not St Louis. This photo was taken at a Diamondbacks away game - check the D-Backs unis at dressed to the nines.

I am pretty sure this game occurred on June 8th 2004. The Diamondbacks blew out the Orioles 8-1 in a game that I attended. I have been to Camden Yards several times and there is an area in the Right Field power alley that serves as a dugout for some sort of stadium personnel. Those folks in there are wearing Orioles Orange, not Cardinals Red. There is also a sign that marks the OF depth as 373 feet there, and you can see part of that sign behind Mr Johnson.

The Unit pitched 11 games at Camden Yards, but only one of those was as a Diamondback and that game was on June 8 2004.

Since this game is among the Phungo Games that I have attended this card is also on my want list for Phungo Games.

Randy Johnson HoF Index
1991 Score #700 (No-Hit Club 1992 0602 No-Hitter)
2000 Skybox Dominion #7 (ERA League Leaders w/ Pedro Martinez
2005 Topps Bazooka Stamp Quad (w/ Schilling, Pettitte & Hudson)

Sources and Links
Dressed to the Nines
Baseball-ref

The Happy Trails Randy Johnson Phungo Challenge

(click to enlarge)

Ok in honor of the Big Unit retiring (300 Wins, nearly 5000 Ks, and 5 Cy Young Awards) Team Phungo invites all you internet Baseball-Reference research junkies to play Name the Game!

This is a quad sticker that was offered in a Topps Bazooka product. In the SouthEast corner you can see Randy Johnson tossing a pitch. Can you guess the date of the game Johnson is pitching in?

No Prizes - Just the Honor of Winning the First Phungo Challenge of the new Decade.