Phungo 5 with the Phillies Room

We are very happy to debut the 2012 edition of Phungo 5 tonight by talking with fellow Phillies fan and collector the Phillies Room. 

P5 is loosely based around the Phillies scheduled opponents throughout the season, therefore there are a few teams that get skipped, typically AL teams that the Phils miss in interleague play.  Another casualty is the several Phillies Bloggers out there.  This year I have decided to expand our format and try and squeeze some extra teams in at noteworthy points in the season. 

Spring Training is always a good time for every baseball fan, especially those of us in the North East which really wasn't to wintery this year - and it is also a good time to start Phungo 5. 

1)What Phillies player from the past would you like to see featured on more current cards (inserts/Legends subsets etc)? 

Bob Dernier as he's always been my favorite player.  Bobby D. made a few appearances in Topps sets in 2005 (Fan Favorites and Retired Signature) but he's been absent from any sets since.  Honorable mentions - Kent Tekulve, Del Ennis, Juan Samuel, Johnny Wockenfuss.

2) What Vintage Phils Team set are you working hardest to complete now?  

I need one more card (#255 Milo Candini) to complete my 1951 Bowman Phillies team set.  It's a high number, and it's an expensive card, so it might take a while.  I'd also love to complete a full run of Kellogg's and Hostess Phillies cards from the 1970s.  Back in the day, these cards seemed so strange and exotic to me, so it's been fun tracking these cards down.  A long-term goal of mine is to add more pre-War Phillies cards to my collection.

3) Do you think that Curt Schilling should be this years Phillies Wall of Fame nominee?

No.  I'd vote in Jim Konstanty or Rick Wise before Schilling.  Undeniably, Schilling was a key cog of the 1993 team and he provided the team's sole bright spot during a few lean years for the franchise in the late '90s.  But quite frankly the guy just rubs me the wrong way.  He's got to be on the ballot since he was the best Phillies pitcher of that era, but I wouldn't vote him in this year.

4) Ryan Howard will play his first game in 2012 Before May 18th? 

Sadly, no.  But I hope he proves me wrong.

5) Pat's or Geno's

I'm going with Option C.  It's no longer there, but Phil's in Sea Isle City made the best steak sandwich around during the years I visited from the mid '70s through the mid '90s.  The secret was the slightly toasted roll and the secret seasoning in the steak.  Phil sold his restaurant and it's under new management now, but the thought of his steak sandwiches makes me nostalgic for the summers of my youth.  (Phil - If you're reading this, please come back.)

Phungo Note - There is a Phil's in Berwyn PA, and I believe they are associated with the Phils in Sea Isle City.  

Score Card

PR handled the Curt Schilling question well, not only conveying my personal feelings regarding Mr Schilling pretty well, but also coming up with some first rate alternative candidates in Konstanty and Wise.  I also like the answer on the Cheesesteak Question.  There are many many quality shops in the area outside of the tourist joints that folks can find a tasty chessesteak and it is good to see them get there props.  

4 out of 4 with 1 the Ryan Howard Q still in play.     

Thanks to the Phillies Room for helping start out another great year of Phungo 5 and Go Phils! 

Swag from the Phillies Room

I think Jim from the Phillies Room beat me to some of the tables at the Philly Show a few weeks back, but I don't mind because he was good enough to send me a couple of his Vintage Doubles!

1971 Topps #490 Deron Johnson
1971 Topps #414 Woodie Fryman
1960 Topps #103 Dick Farrell

The 1971 Set is one of my favorites and it is under consideration as the Set I will build once(if) I finish buidling the 1959 set. As far as the Phils portion of the set I now have 21 of 30 cards (70%). My 1960 Set is 70% complete (24 of 34) as well.

Thanks to Jim for helping me work on My Vintage Phils Collection.

My Want Lists for the various projects I am working on are located here.

Robin Roberts Memorial Posts

2010 Phungo BFI Jim Bunning & Robin Roberts

As mentioned a few days ago the photo from the above Phungo Card was taken prior to 2009 World Series Game 5. The Phils won that game, which was the final game pitched by Cliff Lee as a Phillie.

If you click the link from that post you can see the original picture from which this Phungo Card was created. Due to be taken at a distance under night game conditions the photo is a bit blurry. Thanks to creative reducing and cropping, I can make a photo that is somewhat cardworthy.

I believe this is the first 2010 Phungo Black Frame Insert I have posted. As with 2009 the cards feature a Solid Black Frame and Grey Lettering. The Phungo signature on the bottom right of the card has been altered slightly from 2009. Other than that the cards are basically the same.

Robin Roberts Card Postings

Since Roberts passed away on Thursday several articles have been written by various bloggers. I have collected many of those links here.

Capewoods Collections has featured the largest collection of Roberts cards I have seen posted so far. The title card is a special card from the 1959 set which we here at Team Phungo are frequently writing about. The remainder of the cards are retro cards created after the Hall of Fame Pitchers playing days. There is a Fleer SI auto card featured here that I have had my eye on for a while.

The Phillies Room has featured Roberts cards in several recent posts. The intial Post featured a 1961 Topps Card. For a collection of Jim's Robin Roberts related posts click here. Jim's most recent post features Roberts 1960 Topps card, and he has added Roberts 1956 Card to the top of his sidebar.

Steve over at White Sox Cards even went as far as creating a custom card marking Robin Roberts short stint with the Chicago Cubs at the end of his career.

The Great Orioles Autograph Project posted a really nice TTM auto card.

While Orioles Card "O" the Day posted the 1963 Roberts Card which is the first card to feature him and Oriole.

While checking out the 1963 Card Posted by Kevin I realized the black and white inset photo matches the one from Roberts 1960 Phillies card.

1960 Topps #264 Robin Roberts (From the Phillies Room)
1963 Topps #125 Robin Roberts (From Orioles Card "O" the Day)

Mojo and Beardy have also posted a TTM auto of Roberts 1959 Topps base card.



Robin Roberts Related Pages and Articles

Baseball-Reference
Wikipedia
1952 Game Used Ball from Roberts Fanily Auction
Hall of Fame
SABR Bio Project

Cards that never were - 2009 Topps Placido Polanco

Faux 2009 Topps Placido Polanco

I have noted the baseball lineup cards featured at Phils games several times in this space. This year the Phils have retained the card design from 2009 Topps. This means for players that did not have a card last year, a new card had to be created. This is the one for Placido Polanco, who of course did have a 2009 Topps Card but it was with the Tigers.

These lineup cards were on display during the Phils on-deck series this weekend. We went down for the Saturday game of the series. The game did not count in the regular season standings, but it was a beautiful day and a great opportunity to get down to the ballpark. If I can get some real life stuff done this week, I will try and put together a game report.

Yesterday during the Phils Home Opener Polanco had a fine Phillies Re-Debut which included a Grand Slam and 6 RBIs.

For a look a custom Polanco card check out 2010 Chachi #2 over at The Phillies Room.

Phun Stuff from The Phillies Room

2008 Topps #443 Greg Dobbs

Recently Jim from The Phillies Room has put up some want lists for Phillies that are missing from his collection and I was able to find some cards that he needed. And Jim was good enough to check out my want list and send out a bunch of cards I needed.

He sent over two more cards from my 08 Topps Series 2 Want List, Including the Greg Dobbs Card above. For those of you scoring at home I am down to my final THREE Topps Series 2 base cards, any contributions are greatly appreciated. Here is a list of the final 3.

529 Masahide Kobayashi
533 Kyle McClellan
586 Coco Crisp

Jim also sent out a couple of inserts from the 08 Topps Set, A whole bunch o cards from the 07 Bowman Heritage set that I have been slowly building. and as a bonus some great 71 vintage:

1971 Topps #586 Dick Woodson
1971 Topps #7 Jim Holt
1971 Topps #168 Bruce Del Canton (click to enlarge)

Thanks a Lot Jim! and Go Phils!!