Seattle and the Phillies: 2007 Topps #UH279 Utley & Ichiro

To honor the Seahawks dominant victory over the Broncos we present a card that features both Seattle and the Phillies. 

2007 Topps UH279 Classc Combo Chase Utley & Ichiro  

Sprinkled throughout 2007 Topps was a subset billed Classic Combos. Many of these two player cards sometimes featured teammates while others contained opponents. Even with interleague play teams like the Mariners and Phillies do not face each other very often so the Utley Ichrio combo is somewhat notable. I am not sure Classic is really the right term, perhaps interesting would have been better. 

Many of these Classic Combo cards within the Updates/Highlights are pix from the All-Star game as is this one. Checking into the box score I believe this pix was taken in the first inning. Ichiro led off the game with a single but was then eliminated on a DP groundout off the bat of Derek Jeter.  It was a good game for Ichiro - The 2007 game in San Francisco featured Ichiro's All-Star Inside the Park HR. For the game he was 3-3 with the HR and a pair of RBIs and he was named the games MVP. The game didn't go as well for Utley who had a fly out and a ground out. The AL won the game 5-4 getting Home Runs from Ichiro, Victor Martinez and Carl Crawford. Alfonso Soriano went deep for the Senior Circuit. 

Sources
Chase Utley Player Collection Index
Phungo Game Dated Cards Index 
Baseball-ref 

Seattle Post - 2014 Phungo #34 Kevin Millwood

Team Phungo will be rooting for the Seahawks in the NFC half of Championship weekend. To show our support we post a Phungo Card from the Seattle baseball squad.

2014 Phungo #34 Kevin Millwood

When we had the Team Phungo Seattle road trip, I was a little bummed to see Kevin Millwood as the starting pitcher for our game. He sort of symbolized some really crummy Phillies teams and he never lived up to being an Ace while here. Truth is Millwood is more of  a decent 3 maybe a 2 starter.

Initially Millwood ended up on the discard photo pile, but I rechecked his numbers and the man had a decent career. In 1999 he was the best pitcher on the Braves NL Championship squad, and finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting. While pitching for the Indians in 2005 he won the AL ERA title and finished 6th on the Cy Young ballot. He authored a No-Hitter with the Phillies and started a second one while with the Mariners.

2014 Phungo Card    
This card has the first error I have spotted, This pix is from a game played May 8, 2012 not 2013. These are the things that happen when you defer a card for a year. Other than that I am happy with the card even if it is a touch blurry. The light blue to grey fade is pretty sharp and catching a pitcher at this point in his motion always looks good on a card.  

The card number is 34 which Millwood wore for much of his career including his Phillies stint. It is, however, not his Mariners number which was 25. Once again on the Phungo cards we differentiated handedness for pitchers, RHP for Millwood. The line beneath the player name is a dark blue rather than the light blue border as a nod to the Mariners accent color.

Sources
baseball-ref