Man of the Year: Ryne Sandberg

In a year when Philadelphia teams fired 3 coaches in the four major sports and the only one to survived started 3-32 it only seems appropriate to give a "Man of the Year" award to Ryne Sandberg.

Score Presaged this a quarter century ago.

1991 Score #815 1990 Score Man of the Year Ryne Sandberg

Ok Score was noting Sandberg's accomplishments as a player: A Power hitting and slick fielding second baseman.

Regardless I wish things would have worked out better in Philadelphia for Ryne Sandberg. And technically I suppose he quit rather than got fired, but I think his departure was inevitable.

Score's 1990 Man of the Year
It should be noted the 1990 Man of the Year was not just given to Ryne Sandberg for his on-field prowess. 

1991 Score #815 1990 Score Man of the Year Ryne Sandberg (b-side)

Ryne Sandberg's charitable work in Chicago during the era is noted on the back of the card. Specifically his work with the Chicago Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation is mentioned.



Sources and Links
Phungo HoF Index Ryne Sandberg
Sports-Ref
Chicago Tribune - Jacquelyn Heard

2015 Heritage the Originals: Manager Cards 1966T #411 Gene Mauch

Topps elected to include Mangers in 2015 Heritage. I have mixed opinions on this. Heritage only has 500 cards (425 if you don't count SPs). Not sure how many of those are used for Managers. I did a spot check and not all 30 managers are on the checker - I didn't see Joe Maddon or Mike Methany on the list.

1966 Topps #411 Gene Mauch

The Phillies were led by Gene Mauch from 1960 through 1968. Their peak was 1964 when the Phils won 92 games. Mauch went on to manage the Expos Twins and Angels Winning 102 games. Every Manager that has won more games is in the Hall of Fame.

The 1964 Phils are one of three teams that Mauch took to the edge of the World Series. Mauch led two Angels teams in the mid-80s that lost winner take all ALCS games. The 1982 versus the Brewers the Angles took a 2 games to none lead in the then 5 game series. They lost the subsequent 3 games including a 1 run loss in game 5 which they led at the top of the 7th. They then lost game 5 to the Brewers after leading 3-2.

Four years later the 1986 Angels faced Boston in a 7 game ALCS. The Angles were set to clinch with a three run 9th inning lead in a crazy game 5, but things didn't work out.

Don Baylor and Dave Henderson each hit 2 Run homers for the Red Sox. The Angels tied the game in the bottom of the inning sending it to extras. In the top 11th Henderson hit a sac fly for the game winner. The series returned to Boston and the Angels never recovered - losing games 6 and 7 by scores of 10-4 and 8-1. 

2015 Heritage

2015 Topps Heritage #411 Ryne Sandberg

One of the few Phillies cards Topps matched up with the 1966 checker was the Ryne Sandberg manager card. Although they didn't do much to match up the shot. I have always liked the shot of Gene Mauch - not sure if what is in the foreground with the Phillies logo, perhaps a practice jersey stretched over a seat back or a bag. Regardless it is a bit different then your typical manager card of the era.

If you look closely, as the Phillies Room Noted,  Topps neglected to match up the capitalized font on 'Manager'. There is a big 'M' on the original, while Heritage goes with the little 'm'. The non-capitalized position is the format used throughout the set outside of the manager cards.

Ryne Sandberg is about to start his 2nd full season at the helm of the Phillies, No matter how successful he is here, I doubt he gets to manage the squad as long as Mauch's 9 seasons. Times have changed and the Phils just don't appear to have the talent that will get the team turned around soon enough for Sandberg to hold on for a long tenure.

Sources and Links
the Phillies Room
2015 Heritage Originals
1964 Phillies @ 50
Baseball-ref

2015 Heritage First Look - I am obsessed with PATCHES

Successfully avoided Target for a week after Heritage's release this year, but finally gave in earlier this week. Overall I was happy with look and feel of the cards. Here are the highlights from 3 purchases - 1 Blaster, 1 Rack, 1 Loose Pack.

please excuse the meh photo quality, these are Quick and Dirty shots under low light, Hopefully will revisit Heritage a little more in the upcoming weeks.

First Pack

2015 Heritage Glen Perkins

2015H First card is a nice one of Twins Pitcher Glen Perkins. I like the ASG patch on his cap. Late we will see this repeated on the card of Perkins Teammate Kyle Gibson/

Alicides Escobar
Brian McCann
Curtis Granderson (b-side)
Kelvin Herrera

Pack 1 was a Royals hot pack. Have been a fan of Herrera since seeing him pitch at Wilmington DE a few years back.

Kendrys Morales
Derek Holland
Mark Buehrle
Rookie Stars (John Holdkon RJ Alvarez)

There are far too many of the rookie stars representing two ball clubs. I appreciate Topps trying to carry the banner motif to both sides of the card, but it looks lame. On the other hand, I do like the Mark Buehrle card. Good shot of a deserving veteran.

Highlights from other packs
No Phils or hits in the first pack, but did find a few in the remaining pickups.

First Phillies card

Ryne Sandberg

It's a Phil, but not a player - although he was a Hall of Fame player prior to being a manager. As the Phillies Rooom pointed out, it is a little sad that Topps neglected matching the capitalization on the original 1966T cards.

Flair

Freddie Freeman
Steve Pearce
Nick Castellanos
Kyle Gibson

I really like all the special patches that are on MLB unis these days. Here we have Freddie Freeman with Hank Aaron 715 HR anniversary swag. Steve Pearce has a patch honoring the memory of Orioles minority owner and author Tom Clancy. Kyle Gibson has the ASG patch mentioned at the top of this post.

No patch for Nick Casteallanos but I wanted to post a Rookie Cup card, which reminds me - Are there any RC logos in 2015 Heritage. I didn't recall seeing any in the lot I picked up. 

SPs and New Age

Jacob DeGrom
Alex Gordon
#NAP 15 - Javier Baez
Chris Carter

Three Hi numbers and an NAP. There are 75 Hi SPs in Heritage, kind of curious if there is a disproportionate number of stars in the range. Future post possibility.

Flashbacks

#NF-5 Jimi Hendrix
#BF-6 Al Kaline

The top card notes the date the Experience was formed by Jimi Hendrix, Noel Redding, and Mitch Mitchell , October 12 1966.

The Al Kaline card refers to a game a few weeks earlier on September 28th. Kaline hit a pair of Homers including a 10th inning shot which was the difference. The card does not mention that Kaline also had a stolen base and outfield assist in the game. 

Then and Now

#TN-9 Sandy Koufax and David Price

Not a fan of this card, also saving that up for a future post.

Target Only

2015 Topps Heritage #NR-4 Nolan Ryan A Legend Begins

This card is dedicated to Ryan's second no-hitter, July 15 1973. There are 15 cards in the Target Only set, this is the first where Ryan reps the Angels. 

MMMM Serial

2015 Topps Heritage Chrome #THC-441 Dee Gordon (#d 383/999)


I think the Topps Heritage Chrome inserts come 1 in 23 packs.

Relic

2015 Heritage Clubhouse Collection #CCR-MS Max Scherzer

So yeah the hit of the box and the Chrome card are both cards of players that have changed teams. bleck.

By the Numbers
1 Blaster (71 Cards)
1 rack pack (20 Cards)
1 standard pack (9 cards)

forgive me but I forgot to track pricing but my guess is $29 for the bounty ($20-Blaster,  $6-Rack, $3-single)

100 cards
2 Duplicates

3 Phillies
3 Hi Numbers
5 Inserts
1 Chrome
1 Relic

25 Teams represented (Snubs for Brewers, Rockies, Rays, White Sox, and Mariners) 

Phungo Verdict
As I mentioned above, I am happy with this years set. This may be due to low expectations. 1966 is one of the blander Topps releases. But I think Topps has done a good job of mixing in some semi-action shots and featuring more than the standard headshots of the original sets. Solid photography has caught some players in interesting moments and as I have noted, I like seeing several cards with interesting patches and uniform flair.

Sources & Links
1966 Topps/2015 Heritage Index
the Phillies Room
Cardboard Connection
baseball-ref

Checker Checking 2014 Heritage/1965 Topps Phillies

Topps Heritage is designed to homage an original Topps set from decades ago. There are several items that Heritage nods towards in replicating the originals. one of the obvious ones is replicating the design. A second is giving attention to the Checklist. Tonight I would like to take a look at how the Phillies 2014 Checker compares with the original from 1965.



That is a solid checker for the Phillies. 17 cards featuring 18 players. You would have to dig deep to find a snub, Pitchers AJ Burnett who came to the team late or Kyle Kendrick would be the closest. Carding Mayberry and Ruf could be seen as questionable. Halladay is either an honorarium or laziness on Topps part.

The original 1965T Phils team set checked 29 players on 27 cards (2 rookie pairs) plus a team card and the Gene Mauch manager card.

For 2014 Heritage, Topps chose to rhyme four subjects with the original set.

#20 Jim Bunning and Cliff Lee
This is a good pair, Bunning is a low tier Hall of Famer. Cliff Lee is an All-Star with significant Postseason exposure.

#107 Rookies Corrales/Shockley(65) Martin/Ruf (14)
I would like to think that the Ethan Martin Darin Ruf pairing will have a better career than the Pat Corrales/ Costen Shockley combo

#280 Dick Stuart and Ryan Howard
These two match on match on position, both were power hitters and both won World Series Rings - although Stuart won his with the Pirates. In fact on his 1965T card Stuart appears to be wearing Pirates threads. In addition to the similarities above the two share a reputation of poor play in the field, a rep that earned Stuart the nickname Dr StrangeGlove.

#310 Johnny Callison and Dom Brown
These two share a position and both were reigning All-Stars at the time of set production. Callison made 3 all-star games. At this point in his career Dom Brown's all-star selection appears it could be a one and only despite the outfielder being only 26.


Sources 
My Baseball Card Blog
Cardboard Connection
Team Sets 4 U
PSA Card
Baseball-ref

Snapshots: 2014 07 25 & 27 D-Backs @ Phillies

Been a strange week in what has been a forgettable season for the Philadelphia Phillies. Team Phungo ended up going to the bookends of Phils 3 game series with Diamondbacks. Fortunately these were the two games the Phillies won 9-5 on Friday Night and 4-2 on Sunday.

Turned out Ryan Howard's name came up an awful lot this weekend.

Friday night Howard was out of the lineup for the 3rd consecutive game.  Yet he had the honor of being the subject of the cover photo for our ticket. Each night a Phillies player is also the representative for their Charitable Ticket Program.  On Friday in a continuation of the unfortunate confluence of events Howard's Sluggers were the beneficiaries of the ticket program - on a night when the actual Slugger never played.

Snapshots

Marlon Byrd 

It was 25th of July and the Phillies celebrated Christmas July. As part of the festivities the player pix were outfitted with holiday attire. Marlon Byrd got a Santa Cap and an ugly sweater.


The Phanatic got into the Holiday Spirit as well, here he celebrates with a couple of Phillies ballgirls. 

 

Grady Sizemore

I was disappointed the Phillies have gotten away from the Topps sponsored game day lineup cards. They have opted to use their own design shown here. I believe this is this is the same design that is used on their postcard player sets. Grady Sizemore has only been with the club since the beginning of the month, so this is sort of like his first card as a Phil. 

Sunday

 Ryne Sandberg and Chase Utley

Sunday was Hall of Fame day, to mark the occasion all MLB players wore a special 75th anniversary of the HoF patch. Here we have HOF second baseman Ryne Sandberg with Chase Utley who may someday find his way into the Hall.

Good Guy Award

Ryan Howard 

As mentioned above Ryan Howard had a crazy week. He was in the lineup on Sunday but still found time to sign autographs almost right up to the anthem.  About 15 minutes later Howard blasted a line drive Home Run into the left-centerfield bleachers.

In addition to Howard, Darin Ruf and Chase Utley also get GGAs for taking some time to greet the fans and pen some signatures.   

Paul Goldschmidt

One of the reasons the Phillies won the series was they were able to keep D-Backs slugger Paul Goldschmidt in check.  Goldschmidt was 2-11 on the weekend.

Sunday was also Cole Hamels T-Shirsey day. Here he is being interviewed by Scott Palmer.

Vidal Nuno got the start for Arizona. The rookie was acquired by the D-Backs earlier this month in the trade that sent Brandon McCarthy to the Yankees.

Marlon Byrd has been the subject of trade rumors in recent weeks. Here it appears that he made sure to get one last good meal off of the Phillies buffet.

Sources
Baseball-ref.com
Philles Behind the Pinstripes

Ryne Sandberg and Rick Renteria reunite at Wrigley

Last summer Team Phungo got this snapshot of Ryne Sandberg and Rick Renteria exchanging lineups prior to a Padres Phils game.

2013 09 11 Rick Renteria and Ryne Sandberg

At the time Renteria was a bench coach and Sandberg was likely still Interim Manager. Today (weather permitting) the two will once again meet at home plate. This time it will be as opposing managers during the lineup announecement for the Home Opener at Wrigley Field.

2005 Upper Deck Classics #125 Ryne Sandberg

Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg came up to the Major Leagues with the Phillies. This is just about the only photo I ever see of Sandberg from that era where he is wearing a Phils uni.

2005 Upper Deck Classics #125 Ryne Sandberg

Here's to hoping the Phillies get Sandberg his first victory tonight.

1983 Topps #83 Ryne Sandberg

This week the Phillies host the Cubs and Ryne Sandberg will be in the dugout opposite the Cubs for the first time since leaving the Chicago organization a few seasons ago.  Well for the first time at the Major League level anyway - Sandberg managed the Phillies AAA Lehigh Valley affiliate prior to 2013 and possibly faced a lower level Cubs affiliate. 

The trade of Ryne Sandberg by the Phillies to the Cubs in 1982 is often mentioned when the Phillies worst trade converstions arise. He was part of a deal that brought Ivan DeJesus to Philadelphia, DeJesus was part of the 1983 National League Champions. In my opinion any deal that garners a League Championship cannot be looked upon totally unfavorably.

Hall of Fame

Ryno of course went on to have a Hall of Fame career.  His 16 MLB seasons included 10 all-star appearances, 9 Gold Gloves ,and 7 Silver Sluggers all at second base. Sandberg finished his career with 282 home runs. 277 of those were as a second baseman, good enough for the position record at the time of his 1997 retirement (a number surpassed by Jeff Kent in 2004). In addtion to being a threat at the plate and on defensive Sandberg was also adept on the basebaths with 344 career SBs including 54 in 1985.    .

The Cubs reached the postseason twice during Sandberg's career in 1984 and 1989. Those two season are of course both part of the Cubs long World Series drought. 

1983 Topps #83 Ryne Sandberg RC

There are a number of non-mainstream Ryne Sandberg cards issued prior to 1983. These include his 1980 TCMA Reading Phillies card.  1983 featured cards from Donruss Fleer and Topps.   

In off condition I found the Topps Sandberg RC for under $3.  Not sure if that is a good deal for a card that can also be found in decent condition at reasonable prices. There are a dozen auctions of this card that ended under $5.  

Graded Card Pricing  

Grade	$Price	Pop
PSA 7 NM	$7.25	1
PSA 8 NM-MT	$7.55	1
PSA 8 NM-MT	$8.25	1
PSA 8 NM-MT	< $10.06	15
PSA 10 MINT	$303	1

Ryne Sandberg HoF Index
1991 Score #815
1997 Topps Chrome (Card Show Dimers)
2005 UD Classics #125 managerial debut
2013 Topps Archives #48 (1972 Topps retro/blaster break)
2014 Heritage #57
2015 Heritage #411 - Rhyming card with 1966T Gene Mauch 
 

Sources

Old Cardboard - Hall of Fame Rookie Cards

baseball-ref.com

ebay.com

wikipedia.com

Bucket or Chuck-It: 2013 Topps Archives

Easy one Chuck-It.

I could finish the review there but I will post some pix and thoughts. The following cards are from a rack pack of cards purchased at a local big box.  $5.99/pack plus local sales Tax (6% in PA) for an 18 card pack.  

My biggest issue is 2013 Topps Archives is largely comprised of 3 designs I am not fond of, and a fourth that I find to be about average. Then there is the issue of Topps Canabalizing their old sets, and finally the whole lottery aspect of opening Archive for the more interesting whacky inserts - I do like the whacky inserts, but they won't tempt me enough to pick up a box. 

I even dislike the wrapper which got favorable reviews from a couple of sources including The Shlabotnik Report which has a fine column on the derivation of the wrapper.

2013 Topps Archives #55 CC Sabathia (1982 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #44 Chris Davis (1972 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #101 Andrew McCutchen (1985 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #186 Brett Lawrie (1990 Topps)

These are the four basic Topps Designs in 2013 Archives.  Right off the bat there are too many from the same era - 1985 and 1990 are pretty firnly in the junk wax era and 1982 is pretty close. And 1990 is my least favorite of the Topps canon.  

Finally, I am in the minority on this one, but 1972 Topps really doesn't do it for me.

Another Chuck-it for the rack is that there were no Phillies in the 18 cards :(

The hockey stick set (1982 Topps) is my favorite of this years four mains. CC is near the top of my list of favorite Yankees, Chris Davis is putting together a 2nd consecutive fine year for the Orioles - Kudos to O's fans for having 3 Orioles leading the early All-Star voting (Davis, Adam Jones, and .... JJ Hardy). Always good to get a McCutchen card - he is one of the good guys in baseball and a fine player.  Brett Lawrie has been on the shelf for a disappointing Jays team and unable to repeat is fine 2012 campaign


4 More low-lights

2013 Topps Archives #48 Ryne Sandberg (1972 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #214 Fred McGriff SP (1989 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #134 Wei-Yen Chen (1985 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #153 David Ortiz (1990 Topps)

Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg is one of the hilights of the pack.  The McGriff is a 1:4 Pack short print from the 45 card Fan Favorites hi-number series.  Chen has been on the DL for about a month, but was a nice find for the Orioles in 2012, He was a big help to the club to reach the playoffs.  David Ortiz is just keeps on chugging looks like he may e adding another fine season to his career.

There you have it - 18 cards, no Phillies, 1 short print. this is likely the only pack of 2013 Archives I will likely pick up. Chuck-It

2013 Topps Archives Other Views
Nacho's Grande (Group Break - 3 Hobby Boxes - Multiple Postings)
Arpspmith's Sportscard Obsession (2 Hobby Boxes - McGriff, DeShields, and Orosco Autos)
30 Year Old Cardboard (Two Blasters)
Capewood Collections (Blaster+ 1972 Schmidt, 1990 Chooch, Ryan Howard Relic)
Night Owl Cards (Blaster)
Play at the Plate (Blaster)
Things are Funner Here (Rack Pack w/ 72 Ryan Howard)
Paul's Random Stuff (Mets)

ReWind
Phungo Review of  2012 Topps Archives.  FYI - Despite the 3 Phils I think I passed on getting any future Archives last summer and didn't go for the Hobby Box. Also liked the set selected for 2012 archives much more then 2013.

 
References

Schlabotnik Report
Baseball-cardpedia
MLB Trade Rumors
Baseball-ref.com

Snapshots 2013 04 20 Cardinals 5 @ Phillies 0

Team Phungo's first game of 2013 was pretty miserable. The night featured brisk cold, gusty winds, and Zero offense from the home squad.

Despite the crummy game and weather we had a decent night and did get a couple of pix worth noting.

Snapshots 

2013 04 20 Flags at Half-staff

The flags were at Hall-Staff as a memorial and tribute to the victims and heroes involved in the Boston Bombings.

Lance Lynn

The star of the game was Cardinals 25 year old pitcher Lance Lynn who tossed 7 innings of 1 hit ball. This is a photo of Lynn tossing a warmup pitch late in the game. The lone hit was a leadoff double by John Mayberry Jr on a 3-2 pitch leading off the 5th.  
  

 Cliff Lee

Cliff Lee pitched poorly - He only got in trouble in only one inning, the 3rd, when he walked the bases loaded in front of three consecutive singles, but that was enough.  He was never on the whole night, He went 2-0 on the first two batters of the game and went ball 1 for all four batters he faced in the first.  His fastball was high frequently throughout the evening. 

Hall of Fame

Ryne Sandberg

The Phillies new third base coach Ryne Sandberg chats with friends and fans pregame. With each passing game Sandberg looks like the next manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.

 Cards that Never Were

2011 Faux Topps Michael Young

Two years in the Phillies starting lineup cards still feature 2011 Topps. 2011 was, of course, the last time the Phillies made the post season where they were eliminated by this weekends opponent, the St Louis Cardinals.

Scoreboard Card - Michael Young

This season the Phillies also feature these Scoreboard Bios that have a Baseball Card Motif.  The design echoes 2003 Topps. 

Thorzul Group Break Swag

Over the Holidays, I got involved in a couple of Group Breaks hosted by Thorzul.  I enjoy the Thorzul breaks because they are generally reasonably priced and with interesting products.  If your interested Thorzul is having last call for His January Break right now - I am particularly looking forward to the 05 Topps Pristine break. 

Here are some of the Highlights from last months break. 

Phillies 

 Jim Bunning, Lefty, Former Phil Matt Maloney, and Richie Ashburn

The HOFs are from SP Legendary Cuts.  The Maloney card is from Bowman Sterling.  

Cubs

Prior, Sosa, Zambrano, Cubs Quad, Castro, Sandberg, Hornsby, Soriano

For a second break the Phils already taken so I took the Cubs.  Some interesting stuff here - The Prior Card is an X-Fractor.  I am a fan of both the Goudey cards.  Always liked the Heads up cards.  Rogers Hornsby is from this years Vintage Legends set.    


Annoying Card

2010 Topps Tales of the Game #MTOG-3 "Seven Touchdowns"

This cards which came as part of my Cubs bounty commemorates the Cubs beating the Phils 26-23 on August 25th 1922.  When I think of high scoring Cubs v Phils games I prefer to remember the game on May 17th 1979.

Thanks Thorzul and looking forward to the January Break. 

Welcome Back Ryne Sandberg!

Probably should have never let him go.


 

2005 UD Classics #125 Ryne Sandberg

That's Right Ryno is back in the Phillies Organization as the AAA manager in Lehigh Valley .
 
Hopefully the IronPigs have a meet n greet and there is a chance to get the HOFs auto.

The Ryno Card came courtesy of a Nachos Grande Group Break.  Coincidentally NG has a new Grouper going on right now - he still had some teams available a day ago.  not sure if you can still get in on the actions.  I know the Cubs and Chisox were available earlier in the weekend.

Card Show Report 2010 07 24 - Concorde Mall, Wilmington DE

The Concorde Mall has skylights throughout which I am sure are wonderful for letting in the tons o light most of the year. Unfortunately the AC in the mall cannot compete with the 100 degree heat and the sun just keeps baking down on you while your trying to sort through dime bins.

But that is my only complaint about the show - A couple of vendors I enjoy seeing were not there, and the $1 Vintage guy wasn't there so there were some disappointments. Still I manage to spend $53 mostly at dime boxes. Here are some examples of things that were selling.


There was a guy that had a bunch of the cards that were thrown out by someone, probably me - during my various moves during the crazy years during and surrounding college. He had plenty of 1976-79 Topps cards for a nickle a piece. I splurged for about 160 of these including the 76 Tony Perez above. I think I only found 3 HOFs including this Perez and his 1977 card (Expos) as well as a Goose Gossage card.

The other 3 cards came out of a dime bin. Congrats to Andre Dawson on his Hall of Fame induction. This card is a BBC magazine cutout. It actually looks really good. The Blanton card goes into the 2008 WSC Phils in other unis box. It is interesting that this is an early card of Blanton and he is in a position you frequently see him in for many cards and pictures. The Miguel Cabrera is the short printed no sig variation - nice find for a dime.


This is partially the Trade Deadline Group. Both the A&G cards were in dime boxes. The Oswalt card is a short print (#333). I would like to see the Phils land either pitcher, but if they don't start hitting, I am not sure either pitcher would make a difference. There were plenty fo the A&G This Day in History cards in the dime bin. At 1/pack this is no surprise. I picked up about a half dozen of the SPs which I was happy to find in the dime bin.

The Zorro/Zoilo Versalles card is a Rookie Card of an MVP player (1965) - nice find for .50 cents. I doubt that you will find an older rookie card of a future MVP any cheaper than that. Finally the Chrome Sandberg card. For most Hall of Famers if you find a Chrome Card from their playing days for a dime, there is no reason to not have the card in your personal collection.

Group Break - Nachos Grande

2005 UD Classics
#125 Ryne Sandberg
#81 Richie Ashburn
#83 Robin Roberts
#48 Jim Bunning

These are just four of the cards that I recieved in a recent Nachos Grande group Break. The Break involved the 05 UD Classics and 1998 UD Collectors Choice as well as a handful of miscellaneous packs.

I really enjoy the 05 UD Classics such as the ones featured above. The 1998 portion of the package included a heavy dose of Curt Schilling and Scott Rolen as the star cards from a rather down era for the Phils.

If your interested in another break that is being run by Nachos Grande check out the current break featuring five different boxes from 1995-2005.