1976 ASG +40: Luis Tiant 1976 Topps #130

The Yankees are at Fenway for a weekend Series which means that they are once again on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball....even if Curt Schilling won't be part of the festivities.

We tie into the evening by featuring Red Sox alum Luis Tiant as part of our 1976 All-Star Game 40th Anniversary coverage.

1976 Topps #130 Luis Tiant 

1976 was the 3rd and final All-Star game for Luis Tiant. He entered the game in the fifth inning and immediately gave up a Triple to Pete Rose. However El Tiante was able to get out of the inning unscathed. Steve Garvey hit a sharp grounder to third which may have gotten down the line had George Brett not been holding Rose on the bag. Rose's Reds Teammates Joe Morgan and George Foster than followed with a Pop Out and Ground Out. Tiant set down the NL in order in the sixth separating pop out of Phillies Greg Luzinski and Bob Boone with a strikeout of Astros Outfielder Cesar Cedeno.

Luis Tiant's other All-Star games were in 1968 and 1974 he took the loss in both games.

 1976 All-Star Game Luis Tiant vs Cesar Cedeno

We scanned the video of the 1976 ASG to check out Tiant's distinct delivery. Above he is facing Cesar Cedeno, even in this blurry image you can tell that Tiant has his back to the plate.  The catcher in the shot is Tiant's Red Sox teammate Carlton Fisk.

Tiant spent all but two months of his career in the AL, consequently the 76 All-Star Game is the only tie he pitched at the Vet. Yes in those pre-interleague days Luis Tiant pitched 19 seasons and 573 games but the only way you got to see him inside the Philadelphia city limits was to got to the 1976 All-Star game. Similarly his only appearance in the Astrodome was the 1968 All-Star Game.
 
Phungo Luis Tiant Index
I have created Indices for many Hall of Fame players, to these I have been adding a few for noteworthy non-hallers. Tiant is now part of this group.
1975 Topps #430 (This is a great card)

Sources and Links
1976 ASG 40th Anniversary Index 
YouTube - 1976 ASG
Baseball Almanac
Baseball-ref

2016 Topps Blaster Break

Since I struck out looking for 2016 Heritage tonight you are getting an unenthusiastic posting on a Blaster of 2016 Topps.  The first pack of the blaster can be found here.

Blaster All-Stars - Battery

2016 Topps
#50 Salvador Perez
#300 Buster Posey
#237 Carlos Ruiz
#4 Sonny Gray

I am protesting 2016 Topps tight shots epidemic by feature mainly catcher's in our Battery part of the lineup. The position and the gear give the photographer more opportunities to create interesting shots. Here we have the Catchers for the two most recent World Series champs and the Phillies own 2008 WSC catcher. We featured the Ruiz card a few weeks back in our First Phillie of 2016T posting.

Sonny Gray won the battle for the only Pitcher card to Make the Blaster All-Star because I don't think he gets enough press, and I like the high socks.


Blaster All-Star Infield 

#241 Freddie Freeman
#137 Joe Panik
#310 David Wright
#225 Scooter Gennett

The David Wright is just another tight shot on a batter. I do like how we can see his number not only oh his jersey but also on the sweatband. Freddie Freeman celebrating a Homer is a nice highlight in the box. Scooter Gennett gets a 5 number Freddie does not.

Blaster All-Star Outfield

#272 Denard Span
#312 Curtis Granderson
#227 David Murphy
#8 Michael Brantley

Granderson wins the interesting shot here.  I realize Span and Murphy look virtually the same, but still like them.

Inserts 
Just some Quick Comments here, Would like to return to these individually in the future.

2016 Topps #BB-60 Berger's Best Mike Trout
2001 Topps Update #US-175 Mike Trout

Once again Topps has a set featuring cards that are basically re-issues. This is one of the relatively recent 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout. I think the one on the Left is the 2016T version, with the original on the right - The foil is in Gold this year as opposed to Silver on the original. Not sure if this was an accident of by design.

I have seen a couple of the Berger cards now and I like them more than I thought I would.

 2016 Topps #MLBD-35 MLB Debut Mike Trout

My first blaster of 2016 Turned out to be a Mike Trout Hot box, with a pair of his insert cards (although we did not pull the #1 Base card)

MLB Debut is basically This years version of 2015 Topps Retail Only First Home Run cards - which I think may be the Topps common insert. Ok idea for an insert set.

2016 Topps #FP-15 First Pitch Bill Withers

Bill Withers is the 2015 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame musician responsible for "Lean On Me".

I don't care if this set doesn't showcase baseball players, I think the FP insert is fun. My only issue is that I don't believe that Topps has featured one from Philadelphia.

2016 Topps #WOW-15 Henry Urrutia

Walk of Wins is a nice idea for a Insert. I believe these are new for 2016 and replace last year's similar but defensive minded Robbed Insert Set. Both sets are retail only.

2016 Topps #MLBW-6 Wacky Packages

Advertising for another product. I don't know whether I should be happy or bothered that only six of the 30 teams are represented by this set.

2016 Topps #AM-03 Amazing Milestones Carl Yastrzemski

This is the Target only insert. I believe that WalMart got an Insert involving "Greatest Streaks" A set I would probably find more interesting even if it omit's Pete Rose and Joe DiMaggio.

2016 Topps #PIS1 Pressed Into Service Mitch Moreland

Lots to like about this set including that the Acronym is Three-Quarters of PISS.

2016 Topps #B2B-5 Back to Back Reds

I was sick of lineage, but I am not sure this is an improvement

Obligatory Blaster "Hit"

2016 Topps #MDM-NR Major LEague Debut Medallions Nolan Ryan

The Medallion was the last thing we opened out of the box and I told Mrs Phungo we want a Ryan Howard card here, after we saw the card she quickly quipped "Well you got a Ryan"

By The Numbers

81 Cards
72 Base (roughly)
1 Phillies card (Chooch)
10 Inserts
1 Fake Relic (Ryan)
2 Hero Numbers (Posey, Harper)
I think there were also a couple of foil cards.

There you have it, I think I may have snuck in an extra insert or two from looseys I picked up w/ the Blaster coupon, but basically it's a blaster. Sorry, I try and be accurate in my counting numbers, but it has been a busy couple of weeks. 

Sources and Links
Phungo 2016 Topps index
BillWithers.com
Cardboard Connection

Sunday Night Baseball: Welcome to the Hall of Fame Pedro Martinez

Tonight on the day of Pedro Martinez Induction into the Hall of Fame ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball is honoring the occasion by Featuring the Boston Red Sox as the Host the Detroit Tigers.

2002 Bowman Heritagae #66 Pedro Martinez

After a little bit of debate, I have decided to go with a Retro card as my Anchor card for Pedro's Phungo HoF series.

I love this card - A decade ago when Retro Sets were still sort of new it felt like the card companies tried harder. 2002 Bowman Homages 1954 Bowman. The Pedro #66 Card echoes the Ted Williams Card that sort of held the position in the original Bowman release.

2002 Bowman Heritage #66 Pedro Martinez (b-side)


And there is your proof that Martinez lives at House #66 in 2002 BowHeritage, notice above that I specified that was a position "Sort of" held by Ted Williams. Turns out that in 1954 Topps had inked a trading card contract with Topps and Bowman had to pull the card from the set. Rather then leave an open spot on the checker Bowman replaced Williams with Jim Piersall

Similarly #66 in Heritage is occupied by a pair of Red Sox.

2002 Bowman Heritage #66 Pedro Martinez/Nomar Garciaparra (b-side)

2002 Bowman Heritage #66 Nomar Garciaparra

There is the A-side of Nomar. I think the Black box for the player signature is an additional level of variation in Bowman Heritage - so yes variations have been around a while.

Pedro Martinez HoF Index
1997 Bowman Chrome #53
2000 Skybox Dominion #7 (ERA Leaders w/ HoF Randy Johnson)
2001 Topps Chrome #45 (card# = uniform#)
2004 Topps Pristine #18
2009 Phungo #45
2009 Topps Heritage #563 (w/ Phillies)
2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars Sign Sealed Delivered #SSD-8 (w/ Phillies)

1995 0603 Perfect Game Spoiled in Extra Innings (includes game ball in HoF)
2009 03xx Pedro pitches in the WBC San Juan PR

Sources and Links
Ted Williams HoF Index
Baseball-ref
Cardboard Connection

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: Greg Harris?? Lo-Hitter - A Pat Venditte from two decades ago

Greg Harris did not join the Red Sox rotation until the teams 17th game on April 28th. He was pretty much the definition of a SwingMan, but given the opportunity to start for a very good 1990 Red Sox team, Harris made the most of his opportunities.

On June 7th Harris had his best start of the year, He and Closer Jeff Reardon combined to throw a 1-hitter as the Red Sox shutout the Yankees  3-0 .

1991 Score #109 Greg Harris

Notice this is a Lo-Hitter as opposed to a Near-Hitter. The difference being that in this Game Greg Harris gave up a fifth inning single, while in a Near-Hitter (see Brian Holman or John Smoltz) The No-Hitter stays in tact deep into the game. I would say at least into the 7th is a good yardstick of went to start Near-Hitter talk. 

Box Notes

The batter that foiled Greg Harris' meeting with infamy was Yankee outfielder Jesse Barfield - and once again we will bring up how small a world baseball is and let you know that Barfield will play a role in a future Year of the No-Hitter posting. 

Barfield was the only Yankee to reach base as Harris/Reardon pitched to one over the minimum. The final inning was uneventful although there was a Hall of Famer that batted that inning, although it was a football Hall of Famer - Deion Sanders. 

Flip

1991 Score #109 Greg Harris (b-side)

This is a GREAT Card. Notice in the box with Greg Haris' Demographic info we find that he is right handed. Now look at the action shot on the A-side. Harris is throwing Lefty. 

What is going on here? 

Check the end paragraph on the back of the card. The Ambidextrous Harris is tossing BP in the photo and he is throwing Lefty, I would assume he is a bit less dominant from that side. 

We have some fortuitous timing here as this earlier this weekend The A's called up switch-pitcher Pat Venditte. He has a special Ambidextrous glove that allows him to pitch from different sides in the same inning, can't tell from the above photo, but it appears that Harris is using a LH glove on his right hand.

Sources and Links

1990: Year of  the No-Hitter

Baseball-ref

Sunday Night Baseball - Yankees @ Red Sox: Carlton Fisk

With the Yankees @ Fenway for SNB we take a look at Red Sox Hall of Fame Catcher Carlton Fisk

1975 Topps #80 Carlton Fisk (mini)

Carlton Fisk played 11 of his 24 seasons with the Red Sox. He was a member of their 1975 squad that took the Reds to seven games in that years very exciting series. His Home Run in game 6 of that series is when of the most discussed in the history of the game.

"Pudge" was not a one hit wonder,

The unanimous selection for AL Rookie of the Year in 1972 was an 11 time all-star, he cranked out 376 Home Runs (3rd among Catchers behind Johnny Bench and Mike Piazza) on his way to winning 3 Silver Slugger Awards and a Gold Glove.

He returned to the Postseason one other time with the 1983 White Sox with whom he spent the second half of his career. He was inducted in the Hall in 1990 on his second ballot.  

1975 Topps #351 Bob Boone
1975 Topps #80 Carlton Fisk (mini)

Carlton Fisk played baseball at one of the games most grueling positions until past age 45. He hung around long enough to break Bob Boone's record for career games caught. The record game occurred on June 22 1993. It was Carlton Fisk's last career game. He went 0-2 with a sacrifice.  The last man to pitch to Fisk was Alex Ferrnandez.  

1975 Topps
There are many reasons that 1975 Topps is one of the classics, The design is colorful and instantly recognizable. One of my favorite details is the All-Star flair. Unlike the Rookie Cup which often remains unchanged for years Topps comes up with a new All-Star logo most releases.

Most years it is some sort of added icon. In 1975 it is a Star where the player position is located. Off the top of my head this is the only year that the AS Logo flat out replaces a design element.

I have presented FIsk here with the Previous Catching Games Record Holder, Bob Boone. I paired the two cards mostly to display the size difference for the mini, but we also get to see both record holders along with the AS flair compared to the vanilla Baseball Position log.

Both Fisk and Boone have been surpassed in the games caught ladder by Ivan Rodriguez (HoF Eligible 2017) 
 

Check My Math
If my count is correct this is the 3rd time the Yankees have been on Sunday Night Baseball, while the World Champion San Francisco Giants have yet to be featured.

Phungo Carlton Fisk HoF Index 
1982 Fleer #632 Carlton Battery
2008 Donruss Threads Century Collection Materials #CCM-37 Carlton Fisk (92/100)

Sources and Links
baseball-ref
SABR bio by Brian Stevens

Sunday Night Baseball: 2015 Hall of Fame Candidate Pedro Martinez - 2001 Topps Chrome #45

Tonight we take over our intermittent Sunday Night Baseball postings with our Hall of Fame ballot feature. In 2014 we made it through 10 candidates - This year we are starting a bit sooner, hopefully we hit more of the ballot.

With the Red Sox hosting the Yankees yet again on the big E, it seems like a very appropriate time to look at Pedro Martinez.

2001 Topps Chrome #45 Pedro Martinez

Pedro took the mound for five different teams in his career, including a dozen starts with the 2009 Phillies but to me he will always be a member of the Boston Red Sox.

The HoF resume for Martinez is pretty solid, Curse busting World Series Ring, 3 Cy Young Awards, Eight time All-Star, A W/L record 100+ games over .500. He won 5 ERA titles and his 3154 Strikeouts are 13th all-time. For the cool kids Martinez 86.0 career WAR ranks 17th all time. Everyone ahead of him is Either in the Hall or on the ballot.

Phungo Verdict
Despite the fact he lost the Game 6 of the 2009 World Series. Pedro remains one of my favorite players. He was the rare player who wanted the ball, believed he would deliver and then would - the notable exception was of course his last couple of starts with the Phillies.

I found him to be pure theater on and off the mound from much of his career and he gets a Thumbs Up on the Phungo HoF ballot.  

2001 Topps Chrome
It is likely coincidence but in 2001T Chrome Pedro Martinez occupies Card #45 which is his uniform number. Last year there was a mini kerfuffle due to Topps moving away from their traditional hero numbers system. I didn't get the folks that were disappointed with the change. I thought it was kine of neat, but hey if you need something to get upset about, I suppose that's fine. 45 was not Pedro's card number in base - instead in 2001 Topps went with the semi-hero #60

Sources And Links 
Pedro Martinez HoF Index

Baseball-ref
2015 HoF Candidates

Babe Ruth Debut 100th anniversary: 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Great ones #GO2

2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Great ones #GO2 Babe Ruth

100 Years ago on July 11 1914 Babe Ruth made his Major League Debut earning the W in a 4-3 Red Sox victory over the Cleveland Naps (now Indians). Ruth was of course a Pitcher back then. He went 7 innnings giving up 8 hits and 3 Runs (2 earned). He struck out 1 while walking none. Notable players he faced in that game included Nap Lajoie, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Ray Chapman. Ruth's Teammates included Tris Speaker.

Ruth batted 9th in the game went 0 for 2 including a strike out versus LHP Willie Mitchell. Mithell was a mediocre pitcher for the era (caree ERA+ 103) who was in the middle of a 10 year career in which he poated and 83-92 record - I say mediocre, but among the comps that show up in his later career Sim Scores is Tommy John.

After his 7 innings Ruth was removed for a pinch hitter Duffy Lewis a career .284 hitter who tallied 38 Home Runs - Those 38 Home Runs were pretty solid for the era. Lewis finished in the AL top 10 in Homers four times, but never hit more than 8 in a season.

2011 Gypsy Queen Great Ones
Typically Babe Ruth represents the Yankees. This GQ card gives a nod to the games history showing Ruth with the Red Sox. The card also show the legendary southpaw pitching, which of course was his position with the Sox. 

Sources
baseball-ref
SABR Bio Duffy Lewis

Johnny Damon Number Retirement by Wilmington Blue Rocks and Class A All-Star Game

On Tuesday Night as Part of the California vs Carolina League All-Star game the Wilmington Blue Rocks retired the jersey #18 of Johnny Damon

Johnny Damon

I have been a Damon fan for a variety of reasons. He was an exciting palyer who racked up a lot of hits, ran well and had some pop. He made it to the playoffs with the A's Red Sox and Yankees winning the World Series with the latter two squads. One of the other reasons I like Damon is we share an ethnicity. He and I both have a Thai Mother and American father. it is a unique combination that was precipitated by each of our fathers being stationed in Thailand during the Viet Nam War.

Jonny Damon has honored his heritage by returning to Thailand to promote baseball and represented the country as a player during the 2013 World Baseball Calssic.

In a nice touch to the retirement ceremony, Damon and the Blue Rocks brought back Damon's House Mother from his Wilmington tenure. She is shown in the background of the above photo along with another popular Blue Rocks alum Mike Sweeney.

All-Star Game

There was also a game played last night - The Carolina League All-Stars hosted their Califormia League counterparts. Both Leagues are at a level that is referred to as High Class A. It was a good opportunity for us East Coasters to see some prospects that play for Western Division organizations.

Tha Cal League won the game 3-2 with two Cincinnati Reds prospects leading the way.

Kyle Waldrop

All Three of California's Runs were plated by Kyle Waldrop who hit a Long 2 Run HR to center in addtion to an RBI single.

Ben Lively

The Reds #9 Prospect Ben Lively stuck out 2 of the first 3 batters he faced while pitching a pair of perfect innings for the victors. I would think that Lively has greatly icreased his Prospect status this season posting a 10-1 record and 2.28 ERA including a solid 95-16 K/BB ratio. Both Lively and Waldrop were promoted to AA Pensacola following the game.

Line Ups

A couple of noteables in there. Courtney Hawkins is the White Sox prospect that did a backflip on the podium at the 2012 Draft. Last year Team Phungo ran down to Wilmington to give Hawkins the Eye Test. He failed miserably, I am happy to report Hawkins is having a much better 2014 and appears to be a lot more patient at the plate. Kyle Wren is the son of Braves GM Frank Wren. Corey Seager is making some noise in the Dodgers Org, batting .340 with 12 Homers this season. Gabriel Guerrero is the nephew of Vlad and appears to have a similar build and batting stance. He his playing well for Seattles Hi Desert squad.

Carlos Correa

2013 1st overall pick Carlos Correa didn't get to start but did sub into the game. He went 0-2 with a K in his first AB. Still 19 Correa has displayed good hitting ability at the Hi-A level well represented by his .329/.421/.502 slash line. He was as big as any player on the field for the game and it will be interesting to see if he remains at shortstop or moves to another position as he continues to fill out.

Sources
Johnny Damon Index
Baseball America

Sunday Night Baseball:Bobby Doerr: 2003 Topps Tribute All-Stars #21

Bobby Doerr turned 96 a few weeks ago earlier this month and hasn't played a major league game since 1951. He was inducted into the hall of fame 28 years ago and I am guessing he is the oldest lving Hall of Famer. 

2003 Topps Tribute #21 Bobby Doerr

I think Doerr would fall into the borderline Hall of Fame category, He was on the ballot in various forms for close to two decades prior to falling off in 1971. Eventually he was inducted by the veteran's committee in 1986. His career Highlights include batting a slick .409 with a Home Run in his only World Series (1946) and being part of 9 all-star teams. In 1944 Doerr led he league in slugging, He was also s standout fielder who led the league in Defensive WAR in 1946.  He was never an MVP but the Sporting News named Doerr Player of the Year in 1944.

Bobby Doerr Retired #1

The Red Sox have a pretty basic policy regarding retired numbers. The player must have played for the team for a decade and be a member of the Hall of Fame.

Seven players fit this criteria and Bobby Doerr is among them.  Here is Doerr's number presented between Joe Cronin(#4) and Carl Yastzemski (#8)

2003 Topps Tribute All-Stars

I am a fan of these Chrome style Topps Tribute cards. The 50 Card set is made up almost exclusively of Hall of Fame players. A handful of the cards come as autograph variations - Doerr does not. Doerr, however is included in the Relic set.


Sources
Baseball-ref
Boston Red Sox 
Baseball Hall of Fame
Bob Lemke's Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards 

2014 Topps First Pack

2014 Topps #199 Matt Davidson

Mixed on the first card of 2014. Matt Davidson has been on my radar since last summer when Team Phungo took in the 2013 Futures Game. He hit a home run and took home the MVP honors for the day. This is all great, a RC of a player I am familiar with - The flip side of all this is that Davidson was traded a little over a month ago. He is now a member of the Chicago White Sox. So yes my first 2014 Topps card is a player show representing an outdated team.

The Pack - Base Highlights
 

2014 Topps #134 Josh Donaldson
2014 Topps #211 Dioner Navarro

During the 2013 version of the great WAR vs RBI vs Playoff debate Josh Donaldson's name came up as a second thought behind the big guns of Trout & Cabrera. Donaldson was a factor because he had WAR cred and played on a contender. So yes he beats out Miguel Cabrera in WAR and he is on a Playoff team which knocks out Mike Trout. Of Course we have a Topps fail here as Mr Potential MVP Josh Donaldson doesn't get any type of hero number. He gets stinkin #134.

I posted Dioner Navarro just to showcase Topps photography. Catchers are great for pix and this is a nice example.

The Hits

2014 Topps Upper Class #UC-42 Jim Rice

This is one of two inserts I picked up in pack one. I will cover this set more in a future post, but will mention here that I like the look of the cards.

2014 Topps Red #6 Josh Beckett

Last year the Target Reds moved to a deeper shade which is maintained in 2014. I prefer the red in previous sets as it seems closer to the Phillies colors. 

Remaining Base

2014 Topps JD Martinez, Don Kelley, Brandon League, Garrett Jones, Mike Minor

Verdict
In my opinion the sole purpose of the extension of the white borders into the pix frame is done exclusively for use in creating parallels. Other than that and the duplication of the team name on the tab the design is decent.  The photography throughout the set is good. On day 1 I picked up the above pack plus 2 more and a hanger. The roughly 100 card sampling yielded strong pix throughout with interesting shots at an decent rate.   

Over the next couple o weeks we will take a look at some specific elements of 2014T as well as some of the different insert sets.

Previous Debut Packs
2013 Topps
2012 Topps
2010 Topps Opening Day
2010 Upper Deck

Sources
Beckett 

1983 Topps #498 Wade Boggs (RC)

On Friday we ran the clean up on the 1983 Wheeze Kids series, today we finish looking at the 1983 Topps RC set - A 3 post feature, which I was to lazy to finish.

1983 Topps #498 Wade Boggs  


3000 Hits, a World Championship, 5 batting titles, and a 12 time All-Star.  Wade Boggs was also the 1986 and 1988 O-WAR champ. In 1986 Boggs finish 7th in the MVP voting which was taken by teammate Roger Clemens, Fellow Red Sox player Jim Rice also polled better than Boggs. The 1988 award was taken by 40/40 man Jose Canseco. Once again in '88 Boggs(6th) was outvoted by a teammate - Mike Greenwell 

For The Collector
There are only several million 1983T complete sets out there, consequently the sets HoF RCs are pretty affordable.A check of recent auctions revealed the following:

$3.19 - Low Auction
$5 - At least a dozen sales were completed for $5 or less
$383 - The High for the card (PSA - GEM MT 10)

1983 Topps HoF RCs
Tony Gwynn
Ryne Sandberg

Sources

Old Cardboard - Hall of Fame Rookie Cards

ebay.com
baseball-ref.com

2013 WS Game 1: 1975 Topps #205 MVPs Yastrzemski & Cepeda

I wanted to find a card that combined the BoSox and Cardinals and was very happy to find this beauty.

1975 Topps #205 1967 MVPs Yastrzemski & Cepeda (image swiped from baseball card database)


The 75T MVPs is one of the most fun subsets in the Topps canon. It marks both the 25th anniversary of Topps and the MVPs of each of those seasons.  In 1967 the MVPs were Yaz and Orlando Cepeda pictured here on the minimalist 67T Design.

Recent MVP discussion appear to come down to discussion of various traditional stats vs the single WAR stat.  Tonight I would like to examine the WAR numbers for these two future HoF players during their 67 MVP seasons - which was the only MVP for each. 

Yaz
Working from Left to Right we start with Yastrzemski.  He won the AL Triple Crown in 1967 and collected an astounding WAR of 12.41.  The 12.41 WAR is the highest single season number for anyone in the history of the game that is not named Babe Ruth. Yes Yaz won the Triple Crown and he had the 4th highest WAR in history, but he didn't get voted MVP unanimously.  Cesar Tovar received a single #1 vote for his 2.44 WAR season - I have no idea.    

Orlando Cepeda
Of course in a year when Carl Yastrzemski puts together one of the greatest seasons in history and doesn't get a unanimous MVP, Orlando Cepeda collected all 20 MVP first place votes in the NL Balloting. Cepeda had a very good year, but not historic. His 6.80 WAR was 5th among vote getters - Ron Santo led the league at 9.77. Cepada led the league in RBI (111) and finished 3rd in OBP (.399)

MLB 1967
Finally it should be noted that in 1967 the Cardinals and Red Sox met in the World Series. Yaz hit 3 Homers and batted .400 in the Series.  Cepeda collected 3 hits total and batted .103.  But baseball is a cruel game Yaz and the Red Sox lost to the Cardinals - Bob Gibson won 3 complete games giving up 3 ER across those starts.   

Other Voices
Night Owl Cards - 2010 posting from the NOC 75 Topps retrospective. Contains some interesting observation on 67T and notes that Orlando Cepeda's MVP season was his first with the Cardinals.   

2013 PostSeason Cardinals
Matt Adams
Lance Lynn
Michael Wacha 


2013 PostSeason Red Sox
Clay Buchholz
David Ortiz
Dustin Pedroia 
Shane Victorino
Jose Iglesias (Now with Tigers)

Sources
Phungo HOF Orlando Cepeda Index
Phungo HOF Carl Yastrzemski Index 
baseball Card Database
baseball-ref.com 

2008 UD Goudey #143 Shane Victorino

During our playoff frenzy we have been featuring a lot of non-Phillies material. The Phils are no longer in the mix and I wanted to feature some of the players that are getting a chance to perform on the big stage of postseason baseball. Tonight we feature a Phils card and a playoff participant!

2008 UD Goudey #143 Shane Victorino

Similar to his tenure in Philadelphia, Shane Victorino has become a fan favorite in Boston.  It hasn't hurt that he has had a terrific year. Having a Centerfielder playing one of the corner OF positions is a nice bonus.

With the Phils out of the postseason Victorino gives me a player to cheer for on the Red Sox.  For Phils fans that haven't been paying attention to the playoffs, you may be interested to know that Victoriino has given up switch hitting.  He is a righty only currently. It will be interesting to see if he continues to bat strictly RH in the future. 

2013 PostSeason Tigers
Miguel Cabrera
Max Scherzer
Jose Iglesias (Red Sox Card)

2013 PostSeason Red Sox
Clay Buchholz
David Ortiz
Dustin Pedroia 


Sources
baseballcardpedia
baseball reference

2010 Bowman Topps 100 #TP64 Jose Iglesias (pre-RC)

Regardless of the outcome of the ALCS, there is one guy that may end up as a LCS Bonus qualifier either way. 

2010 Bowman Topps 100 #TP64 Jose Iglesias (pre-RC)

Jose Iglesias was traded from Boston to Detroit mid-season. If the BoSox players are generous they could vote Iglesias get a portion of their playoff shares from the 2013 bonu$ pool.

The Tigers picked up Iglesias to fill in the hole created by Jhonny Peralta's Biogenisis suspension and he has been a solid fill in at the Shortstop position.  

2010 Bowman Topps 100
The Topps 100 Insert set consists of 100 Prospects, In addition to Iglesias the impressive checker includes early cards of Dom Brown, Ben Revere, Kyle Drabek, Anthony Gose, Josh Lindblom, Stephen Strasburg, Freddie Freeman, J-Hey, Posey, Bumgarner, Aroldis Chapamn, Logan Morrison, Todd Frazier, Austin Jackson, Ivan DeJesus JR, Koby Clemens, Zack Wheeler as well as several others.

2013 PostSeason Tigers
Max Scherzer
Miguel Cabrera


2013 PostSeason Red Sox

Clay Buchholz
David Ortiz
Dustin Pedroia 

Sources
baseball-ref
baseballcardpedia

2009 Topps Heritage #TME-DP Dustin Pedroia

Today Game 2 of the Rays and Red Sox ALDS is happening at Fenway. After a injury marred 2012 the BoSox second baseman and leader Dustin Pedroia is back in the fold.  

2009 Topps Heritage #TME-DP Dustin Pedroia

Pedroia's raw numbers for the 2013 (.301/9 HR/84 RBI) may not be as impressive as his 2008 MVP season, but his WAR number ended up being pretty close (6.5 in 2013, 6.9 in '08). It has been a quietly impressive season - which is what has happened for many of the Red Sox this years.

2009 Mayo
The Mayo Cards are based off of an 1895 football release. The inserts were in 2009 Topps Heritage RETAIL. The set consists of 20 cards with the Phillies represented by Ryan Howard.  A Pedroia card has recently gone on Ebay for $6.95 - Others have sold as low as $3.33 (Albert Pujols).  

Sources
baseball-cardpedia
Nachos Grande
baseball-ref.com
ebay.com

2004 UD USA Baseball #USA-60 Terry Francona

Tonight is the last of 3 consecutive nights of Winner or Go Home MLB games, featuring Monday Nights winner the Tampa Bay Rays v the Cleveland Indians who have come to be known as the "Fighting Francona's" 

2004 UD USA Baseball #USA-60 Terry Francona


Lots of folks know that in addition to managing the Indians Terry Francona has also managed both the Phillies and of course the Red Sox (2004 and 2007 World Champions), however they may not know that he was the manager of the 2001 USA Baseball team.  The USA squad took the silver medal in the 2001Baseball World Cup (not affiliated with the WBC) hosted by Tapei Taiwan. The Gold Medal game was versus Cuba who took the gold with a 5-3 victory. 

2004 UD USA Baseball  
 
The USA Baseball set gets around (2013=Panini, 2010=Topps)  The 2004 Set by Upper Deck consists of 200 cards and recognizes the 25th anniversary of USA Baseball.  The checklist contains some superstars: McGwire, Oswalt, Mussina, Brian Roberts, Jack McDowell, Varitek, and Mauer as well as lesser known players.  In addition to the full 200 cards the factory sets include a relic plus 3 autographs. RA Dickey is a notable auto from the set. 

Factory sets are available on Amazon for $34. 

Sources
USA Baseball
Dave and Adam's Card World
wikipedia.com
Amazon.com

2008 Topps #232 Clay Buchholz (RC)

2008 Topps #232 Clay Buchholz (RC)

This is just one of several 2008 Clay Buchholz cards that reference the No-Hitter he threw in his second major league start.  

One of the things a Photo can do is to tell a story.  This image of Buchholz throwing the No-Hitter early in his career rewards the fan for their baseball knowledge. The moment you pick up the card you know the event it captures.

Tonight Buchholz takes the mound in another Sunday Night Baseball contest featuring the Yankees and Red Sox. There was a bit of a stir when the rivals met last month. This weekend they are back at Fenway and I am sure the fans will be watching for more drama.  

For the Collector
There are a couple of 2008 Cards that celebrate the Clay Buchholz no-hitter.  
2008 Topps Opening Day #211
2008 Topps Trading Card History #TCH5 (1956 Topps Retro)
2008 UD #384  

    

Source

ebay.com
Trading Card Database
baseball-ref.com 

Sunday Night Baseball: 2006 Allen & Ginter Dick Perez Sketches #4 David Ortiz

This week Sunday Night Baseball is once again featuring the Yankees and Red Sox.  For the last decade many of the meetings between the rivals have feature Big Papi at DH. 

2006 Allen & Ginter Dick Perez Sketches #4 David Ortiz

After an injury shortened 2012 David Ortiz is having a terrific season. Going into tonight's game he is batting .325/.406/.586 with 24 dingers and 77 RBIs. This is all at the age of 37.  Ortiz's 425 career Home Runs and 2 World Series rings are going to make him a borderline Hall of Fame candidate at some point - despite spending most of his career as a DH.  If your on Twitter Andy @HighHeatStats occasionally chronicles Ortiz's last 162 game numbers, and they are impressive.

2006 A&G Dick Perez Sketches Insert Set

The Dick Perez sketches were the per pack insert in the A&G debut offering in 2006. The 30 card insert set contained a single player from each Major League team. The Phillies 2006  rep was Bobby Abreu.  Of the 30 players in the set about 18 remain active in 2013 (if you count retirees like Lance Berkman who played in '13 and Johan Santana who is on a roster, but has been DL'd all season.). Of those 18, 6 are currently Yankees (A-Rod, Ichiro, Mark Teixeira, Alfonso Soriano, Vernon Wells, and Travis Hafner).  Two are Red Sox (Ortiz and Jake Peavy). At least 3 were moved at or near this years trade deadline (Wells, Peavy and Soriano).


And finally 1 was recently suspended for being too lazy to get a prescription written by Dr Nick Riviera (Miguel Tejada)  

Other Voices
A recent Cardboard Junkie posting on the 2006 A&G Insert set.

Sources
BaseballCardPedia.com
Baseball-ref.com 
MLBTV
Cardboard Junkie

Sunday Night Baseball: 1975 Topps #430 Luis Tiant

The Yankees and Red Sox are at it again on National TV tonight. Yes the two teams may be featured a bit to often, but I don't think anyone can deny the match up has had a good share of drama. I watched a bit of the Saturday game found it enjoyable.

Tonight we take a look at 1970s era BoSox pitcher Luis Tiant.

1975 Topps #430 Luis Tiant

El Tiante is one of the memorable characters from my baseball fan youth.  From the mound he had a distinct delivery where he turned his back to the plate during his windup.  He won 3 games during the Red Sox memorable 1975 postseason - The start he didn't win was Game 6 of the World Series (the Carlton Fisk Game)  

Luis Tiant falls into the borderline HoF category.  Hist career pitchers WAR of 66.1 ranks 40th all-time. That puts him ahead of Bob Feller, Juan Marichal, Jim Bunning, Don Drysdale and Mariano Rivera.  Critical points here are that Feller lost 3 years to military service and he and Drysdale both have World Series rings. The Marichal and Bunning comps legitimize Tiants resume a bit more.  

He had a 19 year career that extended well beyond his Boston years.  His 6 years with Cleveland included an impressive 1968 season (21-9, 1.60 ERA) that was overshadowed by Denny McLain's 31 wins. His Boston peak came during a 5 year period from 1972-76 when he won 96 games. In 1974 Tiant went 22-13 with a league leading 7 shutouts. He finished his 19 seasons with 229 victories and 2400+ Ks.  

1975 Topps

Between 1971 and 1973 Topps made several attempts at action shots with very mixed results. The 1972 Topps In Action "parallels" are particularly.....odd. The late Chris Stufflestreet had an entire blog dedicated to 1973 Topps photography which had a lot of great action shots and some more mediocre.

In 1974 the results were much better and by 1975 the results are pretty acceptable.  The above #430 Tiant card is among the finest examples. If there is a complaint, I would say that it is that the pix is very white, Tiant's uniform blends into the crowd a bit, but that is a minor complaint.

1975 Topps commons can sometimes be found in dime boxes. This card is in very good condition, and even though Luis Tiant is in the near HoF category I don't see this card going for over a quarter.     

Other Voices
1975 Topps Blog (Night Owl Cards) - #430 Luis Tiant - This is as fine a love letter as you will find to this card.


Sources
Baseball-ref.com
wikipedia.com