1973 Topps #322 Garry Maddox (rc)

Little late on this one but Garry Maddox turned 70 over the Labor day weekend. To celebrate we are posting a column on his rookie card.

1973 Topps #322 Garry Maddox (rc, image from Baseball Card Database)

Over here at Phungo Headquarters we think of Garry Maddox as a lifetime Phillies player, but as can be seen above early in his career he spent a couple of years with the Giants. Nice to see Maddox get a solo card here as many rookies from this era were awarded shared cards.

However there is a sloppy Topps element to this card as well.  Garry Maddox was a member the 1972 All-Star Rookie team, unfortunately Topps failed to put the trophy icon on his card.

As part of the Team Phungo Art initiative we have decided to correct this error, and while we were being creative we decided to modify a few other things about the card.

Phungo Original 1973T  Garry Maddox

Yes since I was going to the trouble of drawing a new card of Garry Maddox with the Rookie Cup, I figure why not make him a Phillie. I tried to get Maddox face and figure to match the card photo, but with the background I got a little crazy and put in a globe.

The idea was inspired by the quote "Two-thirds of the Earth is covered by water, the other one-third by Garry Maddox." which is often attributed to Ralph Kiner.

So yes in one drawing I made the Topps card my own by 1) Changing the team 2) Adding the missing Rookie Cup and 3) Including a globe in the background to honor Maddox defensive notoriety.

1980 Phillies

The other reason I did the Maddox artwork was because I thought that this was a fun card on the Maddox player collection checker and I wanted to make the card part of our 1980 Phillies retrospective.

My goal is to put together a dozen or so columns on the 1980 Phils, but since I don't post as often I a starting a little early. A few months ago I wrote up Del Unser which I plan on adding to the collection.

For an index of all 1980 Phillies related postings click here. Not much there yet, but hopefully there will be by this time next year.

Whiz Kids
We also profiled Maddox as part of our series on the 1983 Phillies. That posting will be used as our Garry Maddox Index. 

Sources and Links
Garry Maddox Index
1973 Topps All-Star Rookie Cards Index
1980 World Champion Phillies Index
Baseball-Ref Bullpen
Baseball Card Database
Baseball Almanac

2014 Playoff Contenders: Madison Bumgarner 2010 Bowman #BDP9 (rc)

We were able to get to 3 of the four wild card teams during our September blitz of playoff contenders. Today we complete that foursome by taking a look at the San Francisco Giants Madison Bumgarner.

2010 Bowman Draft Picks #BDP9 Madison Bumgarner (rc)

Madison Bumgarner has been a steady starter for the Giants each of the last four seasons taking the mound 30+ times annually and collecting 200+ innings. This season the Giants suffered through Tim Lincecum's continuing inconsistency and Matt Cain's injury but were able to count on MadBum to become their Ace.

The 25 year old southpaw made his 2nd all-star team in 2014 while reaching career highs in Wins, Innings and Strikeouts.

On Wednesday night The Giants send Bumgarner to the mound versus the Pirates in Game 163. I look forward to the NL half of the playoff bracket beginning, the Phillies may not be a player in this years postseason but that doesn't mean there won't be some great baseball. 

Sources & Links
2014 Playoff Contenders Index
Baseball-Ref
Baseball Cardpedia

1964 Phillies @ 50: Costen Shockley 1965 Topps #107

As part of our 1964 Philles coverage you will get to see this Rookie Stars card a couple of times.

1965 Topps #107 Costen Shockley

Today we look at the lesser known side of the card which belongs to Costen Shockley. As noted earlier in the week the Philly Show will be in Valley Forge the weekend of September 26-28th.While most of the autograph portion of the show is focused on No-Hit pitchers, there are a handful of additional guests that will be part of the festivities.

Costen Shockley was signed by the Phillies out of a nearby Georgetown DE high school. At the age of 22 he made his Major League debut with the 64 Phillies squad. He only got into 11 games with the team, during the off-season Shockley was involved in a trade to the Angels that returned Bo Belinski.

Shockley made the opening day roster for the Angels but struggled at the plate. In June the Angels decided to send Shockley to the minors an assignment he refused. That was it - at the age of 23 Costen Shockley was done playing baseball.

He returned to his native Delaware and worked in construction until his retirement in 2005. He has no regrets about moving on from baseball and his fortunate to have several family members that have played the game at several different levels. His son Costen Jr was a member of the 1981 Senior Little League championship team.

Costen Sr is a member of several local sports Halls of Fame including the Delaware HS coaches and Delaware Sports Museum HoF.

Sources & Links
1964 Phillies Index
Year of the Blue Snow (Nelson 'Chip' Greene)
Baseball-ref

Phillies 2015 AFL roster: Logan Moore 2011 Bowman #BDPP44

The Phillies 2014 season is in a shambles and we have been looking ahead to Phillies future since prior to the All-Star break. This week the Arizona Fall League rosters were announced. This gives us a glimpse into some of what the Phils may be thinking regarding 2015 and beyond.

2011 Bowman #BDPP44 Logan Moore (rc)

Tommy Joseph was the top catching prospect in the Phillies system, but he has had multiple health issues the last few seasons which may leave an opening for Logan Moore.  Unfortunately Moore's offensive output has been light (.226 /.290/.339 combined A & AA in 2014). On the plus side he has spent the majority of the season in Reading which is up a level for his age.

The Phillies entire minor league system appears pretty soft, and catcher is no exception. When the time comes to replace Carlos Ruiz, I am not sure the answer will be Cameron Rupp, Tommy Joseph or Logan Moore.   If he is adequate defensively Logan Moore may be able to contribute at the Major league level simply because he is a left-handed hitting catcher. This will help him get a nod as a platoon backup and situational pinch hitter.

The Phillies will send seven players to their AFL rep, the Scottsdale Scorpions. Joining Moore will be Pitchers Ryan O'Sullivan, Colton Murray, Nefi Ogando, and Ethan Stewart, along with Shortstop Roman Quinn (BA #10 Phillies Prospect). The final spot is TBA.

Other than Quinn, there doesn't appear to be a lot to get excited about in that list. Hopefully one of the pitchers will find themselves during the fall and can emerge as a 2015 prospect.  

Updated 2014 10 08
Adam Morgan has filled the TBA spot according to Williamsport Crosscutters via Twitter (@crosscutters) 

Sources & Links
Arizona Fall League (twitter)
Baseball-ref
@ChrisEckstein via That Balls Outta Here 
Baseball-America
@crosscutters

Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Greg Luzinski: 1971 Topps #439

Tonight Greg Luzinski is being inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame

1971 Topps #439 Greg Luzinski/Scott Reid (RC)

Not only was Luzinski a great slugger for the Phillies in the late 70s and a member of the 1980 World Championship squad - He also remains active in the community and is a team ambassador. 
 
It is great to see him get inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. This is the 10th induction class for the PSHoF and they still don't have a home, but it is good to know that enough interests remains and that they continue to host annual inductions and dinners.

This years baseball honorees include 1930s Phillies pitcher Bucky Walters and Umpire Shag Crawford. Other notable inductees from across the world of sports include Eddie George, John LeClair, The Eagles Bob Brown, and Andrew Toney.  For more information about this years class check out the PSHoF site here.   

For the Collector
The split Greg Luzinski Rookie Card above is regarded a tad above a common. I picked this off condition card out of a pretty decent buck bin at a show in 2009. In recent ebay auctions the card has finished as low as $2.96. On the high end the card finished at $5.91 ungraded - There was a $76 Lot with a graded Luzinski RC, but the anchor of that lot was a 62 Topps Clemente (graded EX).       

More Luzinski
2003 Fleer Ultra All Veterans Stadium Team #7 of 12 Greg Luzinski

2008 Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Inductees 
Mickey Vernon with Links to additional postings
someday I will get around to returning to posting on the other classes.

Sources
Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame
ebay.com
baseball-ref.com
  

Civil Rights Game: 2013 Bowman Platinum #100 Jurickson Profar

Tonight the MLB Network is broadcasting the Civil Rights Game. This is the 7th edition of the competition which started out as a spring training exhibition prior to becoming a regular season matchup in 2009. The game was created to honor the history of Civil Rights in the US.  This years game is in Chicago and features the White Sox hosting the Texas Rangers. 

 2013 Bowman Platinum #100 Jurickson Profar

The youngest player on the Rangers roster is the Baseball America and MLB #1 prospect, Jurickson Profar - Baseball America is so fond of Profar they placed him on the cover of the 2013 edition of their Baseball Prospect Handbook. 

Profar's impressive 2012 debut certainly echoes that honor, he became the 3rd teenager to homer in his first Plate Appearance.  A moment noted on the flip of the above BowPlat card. 

 
2013 Bowman Platinum #100 Jurickson Profar (b-side)

Profar has not taken off during his rookie campaign with the flair of a Bryce Harper, Mike Trout or Yasiel Puig. In fact his bat has been less than mediocre, with a .237 BA going into the weekend and 4 Home Runs across 219 ABs. Regardless Jurickson is only 20 years old and is giving the Rangers flexibility playing 3 infield positions plus left field. Still one has to wonder if the Rangers will need to look for other options down the stretch.

Hopefully we will get to see a bit of the young prospect during tonight's contest and perhaps during the post season. 

2013 Bowman Platinum
All the Bowman products run together for me, but I did want to note that the above Jurickson Profar card caught the light pretty well and reflected some pretty cool effects in the snapshot. 
 
Card #100 has been the last card of Bowman Platinum each year since the prospect sets inception in 2010.  Despite being a rookie/prospect based product, 2013 marks the first time the sets final card has actually been occupied by a rookie card.  Previous tenants have been David Wright (2010), Ichiro (2011), and Jacoby Ellsbury (2012) 

Sources

Wikipedia.org

Baseball-ref.com

Baseball America 

MLB.com

baseballcardpedia.com

Reading the Competition: 2011 Topps Heritage #76 Freddie Freeman (RC)

The Braves currently carry the best record in baseball and this week the Phillies are in Atlanta to face the NL East division leaders.  

As the best team in the league the Braves have a couple of guys that are being discussed as MVP candidates.  One of those players is First Baseman Freddie Freeman. 

Freeman is among the top ten in several offensive categories on the NL Leaderboards. He is third in the league in RBI (79) and 5th in OBP (.390).  In 2011 Freeman was runner up to teammate Craig Kimbrel for Rookie of the Year. This season Freddie made his first All-Star team. 

Freddie Freeman is in his 3rd full season and he won't turn 24 for another month, as you can tell his career is off to a pretty good start. So good that the #1 age relavant comp for Freeman is Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.   

2011 Topps Heritage #76 Freddie Freeman (RC)

Warning shot for 2014 Topps Heritage.  I am a pretty big fan of the original 1962 Topps design. With 2011 Heritage, Topps proved to me that it isn't all about design. There were way to many headshots and hatless pix in 2011 Heritage - when paging thru a binder the set looks pretty bland.

That being said the Freddie Freeman pops a little since it isn't a head shot. I do have a question.  One question, What the heck is with the lighting.  There is a pink square of light on the side of Freddie's cap and face - kind of an oddity on a baseball card.  must be the sun going down at Disney.  


Flip

2011 Topps Heritage #76 Freddie Freeman (RC) b-side


If you can read the -toon here you find that Freeman was the Braves 2010 minor league player of the year.  The Phils 2010 player of the year went to outfielder Domonic Brown, who is in the middle of his own breakout season.

1962 Topps #76
The #76 card from the original 1962 Topps set belonged to then Milwaukee Brave Howie Bedell who went on to play with the Phillies.  With any luck we will be featuring Bedells 62T card later this week.

Sources
Baseball-ref.com
Baseball Card Database
Phillies.com   

Reading the Competition: 1983 Topps #482 Tony Gwynn RC

A quick Question, What Jersey Number is Tony Gwynn wearing on this Topps Rookie Card? I did a quick search and found nothing. Does anyone have an early 80s Padres media guide that may has a 40 man roster listing Gwynn? I am a little surprised that with all the information out there, that this remains a mystery.

---
 
This week the Phillies are on the Road in Southern California, facing the Padres during the week followed by the Dodgers over the weekend. To mark the first part of the road trip we are very happy to examine the Tony Gwynn Rookie card(s)

1983 Topps #482 Tony Gwynn

2013 marks the 30th anniversary of one of my favorite Topps Sets, 1983. I Iike the design and the dual photos. Another bonus is the impressive checklist that includes 3 HoF RCs - Gwynn, Ryne Sandberg, and Wade Boggs.

1983 is near the outset of the MLB awarding multiple trading card licenses and there are actually at least three Gwynn RCs.  Plus there is a 1982 TCMA card and the 1983 OPC Gwynn. For me I am a Topps guy and the 1983 #482 card above is the Gwynn Rookie Card.

HoF Career  
We have covered the career of the first ballot Hall of Famer previously. His career accomplishments are worth reiterating 3141 Hits, 1300+ Runs, 1100+ RBI, 300 SB, 7 batting titles, 15 time all-star. He was also a member of both of the Padres World Series teams, 1984 and 1998.

According to Wikipedia Tony Gwynn has been battling various health issues (some weight related) but he remains active as the coach of the San Diego State Aztecs. The biggest name that Gwynn coached with the Aztecs is likely Stephen Strasburg. In 2013 Tony Gwynn's son Tony Gwynn Jr remains in professional baseball, playing at the AAA level of the Dodgers system in Albuquerque (batting .321/ .400 OBP at press time)

For the Collector

This makes me sick. Tony Gwynn is a first ballot Hall of Famer, His Topps Rookie Card is 30 years old and had recent auctions close as low as $2.10 Shipped! Hell, a year ago Cardboard Connection selected the card as one of the 10 most valuable RCs of the 1980s.

Why the hell would anyone buy a pack of 2013 Topps S2 when for the same price you could have Tony Gwynn's Rookie Card?  At least two other auctions ended under $3.

The 1983 Donruss #598 came in as low as $3.48 while the 1983 Fleer #360 came in at $3.50 - A graded (PSA 5 EX) version of the Fleer card went for $3.99.  

All 3 cards could be found multiple times for under $5 and All 3 cards are each currently available BIN under $10. 

On the other end of the spectrum graded version of the cards sold as follows:

Topps #482 Tony Gwynn PSA GEM MT 10: $454 
Fleer #360 Tony Gwynn PSA GEM MT 10: $75
Donruss #598 BGS GEM MT 9.5: $53 

HoF Index
2005 Topps Pristine #105 (#d/999)
2012T A&G What's in a Name
2011 Topps Tier One
2002 UD World Series Heroes #57  (Memorials and Tributes)

Sources
30 Year Old Cardboard
Cardboard Connection
Old Cardboard
ebay.com
Baseball-Ref.com
San Diego State Baseball
Wikipedia

2013 Topps Heritage the Originals - 1964 Topps RCs #263 Richie Allen

This is the second post in our retrospective of 1964 Topps in anticipation of the upcoming 2013 Topps Heritage release.

In 1964 Topps issued Rookie Cards with pairs of players from the same team. One of the better RC in the set is of Dick (He should be a Hall of Famer) Allen.

1964 Topps #263 Richie Allen/John Herrnstein 

Early in his career Allen was known by or referred to as Richie Allen and that the way he is displayed on his 1964 Rookie Card. To Topps he didn't become Dick Allen until 1973 and he went through and interim period 1970-1972 as Rich Allen.

The 64 Rookie Design is solid.  The smaller titling of "1964 Rookie Stars" atop the team name looks stylish and fits in well with the base set design.  The solid black background for the nameplate mimics the base card nameplate as well.

I have featured Dick Allen hear nearly enough, but I think you may see him hear one or two more times while we look at 1964 Topps.

Most of you likely know about the fine site Dick Allen Hall of Fame which is in addition to being dedicated to Dick Allen also has several fine custom cards of many ball players.

1964 Topps Rookies 

Other Notable RCs in the set HoF #541 HoF Phil Niekro, #287 Tony Conigliaro, #146 Tommy John #244 Tony LaRussa, and #167 Lou Piniella.  The LaRussa card is a base card the other four are all two player cards similar to the Richie Allen card above.   

Additional 1964 features the 2nd year card of Pete Rose (#125). This is his first solo card - The 1963 Topps Rose card was a Quad (#537) 

Prior 1964 Topps the Originals Postings 

1964 Topps Design (Ray Culp, Lou Brock, Gus Triandos) 

More info on 1964 Topps

The full series is in the process of being covered at the 1964 Topps Blog 

The Phillies Room has a posting on the 1964 Topps Phillies as part of the ongoing Topps Phillies Series.

Dean's Cards

Beckett

Other Sources
Dick Allen Player Collection Index
Bob Lemke's Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards 
eBay
Surf Baseball Card Collectiblies, Philadelphia Phillies 

Phun Cards: 1998 Bowman #181 Jimmy Rollins (RC)

Jimmy Rollins notched career hit number 2000 on Tuesday night.  

1998 Bowman #181 Jimmy Rollins (RC)

Recently and throughout his career has taken some heat for not hustling and other shortcomings at the plate.  Regardless the man has managed to rack up 2000 major league hits and he isn't just a slap hitter.  There are a lot of extra base hits among those 2000.  He also will always be the Shortstop for the 2008 World Champions and the 2007 NL MVP.   

Rollins joins Hall of Famers Ed Delahanty, Richie Ashburn, and Mike Schmidt in the Philllies 2000 hit club.  That is pretty good company.  If he stays healthy Rollins has a good chance of becoming the Phils all-time hit leader.

For The Collector 

The above 1998 Bomwan Card is the Jimmy Rollins rookie card - sorry about the darkness of the pix.  I recently picked this card up a box of 1998 Bowman Series 1 for $19.  There are a couple of other RCs in the set.  However, any rookies in the set are not real special - they are pretty much near Rollins level at best.  A recent auction for the card concluded as low as $2.98.  Complete sets of 1998 Bowman, includging both Series 1 and 2, are low-listed at BIN $21. 

Bryce Harper RC first Impression

Is it me or does this guy lead the league in eye-black? 

Scan stolen from Cardboard Connection

At least one 2012 Topps Heritage Variation Has a Precedent

I doubt there will be any discussion, sarcasm, or vitrol regarding the 2012 Topps Heritage Variations...

But at least one of the variations does have precedent:



1963 Topps #29 1962 Rookie Stars
1963 Topps #29 1963 Rookie Stars


For more information regarding these cards click here

For more information on the 2012 Topps Heritage variations/errors/SPs check Cardboard Connection.

for the NBA fans - 2010+ Rookie Card Photos

I don't know much about Basketball cards, but yesterday the NBA and Panini had their Rookie Photo Shoot here are a couple of the shots from NBA.com. I would believe these are the photos that will be used on this years rookie cards, as they look pretty similar to ones I have seen on previous years cards.


#2 Overall Pick Evan Turner


It's a story not worth getting into now, but I follow the lowly Sixers because of where I live, but I am actually a fan of their chief Rival the Boston Celtics.


Luke Harangody

For a look at some of the other pictures in the group click here for the NBA.com photo gallery.

Old School Phillies Variations - 1963 Topps

There have been a lot of blog talk regarding the 2010 Topps variations with the Yankees Parallel versions, and the Lincoln Cards.

As you know Topps has had variations for ages, but back in the 60s these were more often honest mistakes corrected during subsequent print runs.

This all brings us to the Phungo Vintage Phillies Collection. Every once in a while happy accidents occur. I am in the process of collecting the entire Topps Run of Phillies cards through 1980. Most of my focus has been on the 1952-1974 cards so far. Until recently one of the card that I did not have was the 1963 #29 Rookie Stars card.

Then in roughly the same week, due to a bookkeeping snafu, I ended up with a duplicate of this card. One from a trade with Rhubarb_Runner and one via auction. For a second I was a little dismayed about the mix-up, but then I quickly realized that I had both ends of a variation!

1963 Topps #29 1962 Rookie Stars Ellis/Culp/Gonder/Boozer
1963 Topps #29 1963 Rookie Stars Ellis/Culp/Gonder/Boozer

Near as I can tell the cards match except for the year. The 1962 card is the "error" as the rest of the Rookie Quads in the 1963 set all specify 1963 rather than 1962.



1963 Topps #29 1962 Rookie Stars Ellis/Culp/Gonder/Boozer (b-side)
1963 Topps #29 1963 Rookie Stars Ellis/Culp/Gonder/Boozer (b-side)

The erroneous "1962" carries over to the flip-side of the card. Other than the title line the cards are identical.

I believe this is the first year that Topps featured the multi-player rookie cards. And this is the first of the card type in the set making this Topps first ever muli-player rookie card. Card #54 in the set is also a rookie card and also has the 1962/1963 variation.

For whatever reason the higher numbered multi-RCs are titled "1963 Rookie Stars" on the back rather than "1963 Rookie Parade". One of these cards is the #537 Pete Rose Rookie, which is on the heavy hitters of forged cards.

Hall of Fame Thursday - Jim Rice - Poll Question

1975 Topps #616 Rookie Outfielders Jim Rice and others

Is Jim Rice a Hall of Famer? Register your opinion on the poll at the right. Also comment here if desired.

Jim Rice was selected as the other member of the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame class. While last weeks HOF Thursday featured player, Rickey Henderson, basically couldn't be argued against (unless you're one of the 29 writers who didn't select him as a first ballot Hall of Famer) This weeks player, Jim Rice, is more debatable. The Baseball Press has debated Rice's credentials for years now, as have baseball card bloggers. Sore For, Some Against.

I am curious as to what other bloggers think. You may have noticed that today I have added the first Phungo Poll Question. Simply put, I would like to know if you think Jim Rice is a Hall of Famer or not. Of course this is very unscientific. If you love Jim Rice and want to vote 30 times, that will skew the results. If you think this is a travesty you may vote against Rice 30 times. Personally, I would prefer that you vote only once and use all those extra clicks to scroll through all the fine articles we have for you to read here at Phungo.

I honestly can't recall much of Rice's career. I perhaps saw him in a few games on CBS game of the week as a kid. I knew Rice was a helluva a power hitter and I grouped him in with George Foster. Power hitting outfielder on a good team. Beyond that I would have to look at the stats. For that I will turn to Baseball-Reference.

Jim Rice spent all 16 years of his Major League career with the Boston Red Sox. He played from 1974 through 1989 and was a member of the ill-fated 1986 World Series team that lost to the Mets. During his career he amassed 2452 Hits, 382 of which were Homers (ranks 55th all time), and 1451 RBI (56th). He was an eight time all-star, won and MVP (1978) and finished in the top 5 six times. Rice was primarily a left fielder and designated hitter, who won two silver slugger awards and finished 2nd to fellow Red Sox outfielder Fred Lynn for the Rookie of the Year award in 1975 (Lynn also won the MVP award in 75)

All very good numbers a few more hits, 20 more Homers and a World Championship would all make a big difference. Now lets take a deeper look inside the Baseball-Reference toybox.

Below the players leaderboard there are a series of items regarding a players Hall of Fame credentials. There are four basic categories Blank Ink (Leading League in certain Statistical categories), Grey Ink (among the top 10 in the same statistical categories), HOF Standards and HOF Monitor - these latter two categories have various points awarded based on many statistical criteria. For the Standards 50 is the average Hall of Famer, with 100 being the basic maximum (Babe Ruth is #1 with a 78). For the Monitor 100 is the meter for a likely HOF member and 130+ is considred a lock.

How does Jim Rice stack up.

Black Ink - 33, (ranks 49th all time) the average HOF member is a 27, Babe Ruth 161 (1st) , A-Rod 68 (13th), Wade Boggs 37 (39th), Joe DiMaggio 34 (46th), Griffey Jr 26 (72nd)

Grey Ink - 176, (57th) average HOF 144. Hank Aaron 408 (2nd), Frank Thomas 200 (40th) Reggie Jackson 175 (58th), Junior 162 (69th)

HOF Standards - 43 (108th) - average HOF 50, Babe Ruth 78 (1st) , Jeff Kent, Vlad, Helton 50 (72nd), Wille Stargell 43 (108th)

HOF Monitor - 144.5 (89th) - likely HOF 100, lock HOF 130+ Stan Musial 454 (1st), Piazza 205 (39th), Chipper 162 (68th), Brooks Robinson 137 (93rd), Robin Yount 132 (102nd)

Rice is above the HOF average in three of the four categories and just a tick below in the HOF standards category. He is well up on the HOF Monitor list. The only player above him that is eligible for the Hall of Fame, that is not a member is Mark McGwire (169, 62nd). Below him you have to go all the way down to the 98th position and Don Mattingly (133).

One other item B-R gives us is Similar Batters. Rice's Top Ten includes four Hall of Famers (Orlando Cepeda, Duke Snider, Billy Williams, Willie Stargell). The six non-HOFs are not nearly as formidible, although one could make a case for Dave Parker who is never discussed as a Hall of Fame player.

Finally off the field Rice was certainly never considered a reporters best friend. This probably worked against Rice during the voting process. The irony is that now Rice has found himself as a member of the Media as a Red Sox analyst on NESN. Rice is also known for an incident in 1982, when his quick thinking actions may have saved the life a child struck by a foul ball at Fenway Park.

Given the totals present above, I consider Rice a Hall of Famer. I am curious to the opinions of Phungo readers. I will leave the poll open till next week and we will check the results.

The 1975 Card above is the Jim Rice rookie card. Now that Rice has made it into the Hall, it is likely one of the earliest rookie cards in the Phungo collection. It's off-center and has really soft corners, but you know what, it survived the transfer from my early collection to my current collection and that sure makes it special.