ANNIVERSARY: 1993 Apr 9 - Opening Day

Ok the busy/lazy blogger that I am missed an Anniversary. 25 Years ago the Phillies held the home opener for their 1993 Pennant Winning season. 

The 1993 Phillies opened at Houston and took all 3 games from the Astros. The Phillies returned home hosting the Cubs in front of 60,985 - the largest opening day in club history - and Team Phungo was there for the game.

As one can tell in 1993 I was not very picky about taking card of my souvenirs. This is the first major league ticket that I ever had with a play photograph. It was pretty special for the era. Oddly since then we have gone through a period when almost all tickets had pictures to the current situation where we don't use hard tickets at all. 

Regardless, I loved it at the time and I still love the tix today. Note that below the photo the card err I mean ticket honors Darren Daulton by mentioning his 1992 RBI crown. Well on his Ticket Photo day, he had a helluva day which included 5 RBI on a pair of Home Runs. So we have our star player on the tix, and the tix mentions RBIs and he piles on 5 RBI. Well Done Dutch!

Unfortunately that was not enough as the Phillies lost to the Cubs 11-7. The Phillies fell to second place a half game behind the 3-0 Pirates - It was the only day the 1993 Phillies fell out of first place. 

 

Sources and Links

1993 Phillies @ 25 Index

Darren Daulton Index 

Game Dated Cards

Macho Row - William C Kashatus

Baseball-Ref

2018 HoF Candidate: Scott Rolen

Each of the last couple of years I have reviewed a couple of Hall of Fame candidates and gave my verdict. Tonight we return to the feature to look at the 2018 candidates. The first subject that we will look at is Scott Rolen.

I am not sure if "polarizing" is the word to describe Scott Rolen. He is kind of a low key guy but brings out a lot of opinions in folks. He was a great player in Phladelphia on bad teams - eventually he got tired of playing with the struggling clubs and pushed the Phillies to trade him.

That is where the story gets tough for Phillies fans. Baseball is a business and Scott Rolen as a player as a limited time to earn a living - regardless it hurts a little to see a player asked to be traded away from your favorite team.

2002 Fleer Authentix #86 Scott Rolen

For our Scott Rolen Profile I have chosen a card that falls under our Gamed Dated obsession.

Over the last 25 years I estimate that I have been to about a dozen opening day games including the one played on April 5 2002. The above Scott Rolen card is made to appear like a ticket to that 2002 Phillies Lid-Lifter (fun term I have seen in old school Sporting News headlines, but never hear anymore).

The Phillies defeated the Florida Marlins 6-2 in this particular opener. Not all of this info is given on the Fleer "Ticket". We can see "Florida Marlins" hidden behind Rolen's legs. Also Veterans Stadium.  The Date is pretty much screened but we can make out Friday and April. The full date was April 5th 2002. 

I am happy to say it was a good day for Scott Rolen who reached base all 5 times he batted.  His plate appearances resulted in a double, single and Three Walks. The Phillies other offensive hero was Bobby Abreu who logged a 3-Run Homer as one of his four hits. Brandon Duckworth got the W pitching six innings of 1-run ball and racking up 10 strikeouts. 

Flip

2002 Fleer Authentix #86 Scott Rolen (b-side)

Couple of things to note on the back of 2002 Fleer Authentix. The % of team totals line is an interesting stat idea, easily demonstrates what Rolen meant to the Phillies offense in 2002. The card finishes with Phillies franchise info. I suppose that feels somewhat connected to a card noting the teams Home Opener. Also note that the card represents a game played in 2002 but the stats on the back are for the 2001 season.

Lazy Phungo
Someday I will dig through the Phungo Ephemera Museum and get an image of a real ticket to this game and plop it into this posting, however right now I am to busy/lazy to go through that effort.

Phungo Verdict
YES
I think this will surprise folks who know me but Yes I think Scott Rolen deserves Hall of Fame recognition. He is borderline, but when I remove my biases against him, as a player I think his numbers are HOF worthy. 

I don't think it will happen but it would be nice if the Phillies and Scott Rolen could get together so that he could be recognized on the franchises Wall of Fame.

2002 Fleer Authentix
For another look at the game featured on this card check out our posting dedicated to the Bobby Abreu card from the set here.

Sources and Links
Phungo Scott Rolen Index
2018 Hall of Fame Ballot
Game Dated Cards Index
Baseball-Ref

Updates: 2019 05 28 - Added 2002 Fleer Authentix Bobby Abreu paragraph 

The Rolling Stones 2006 February 1

Ten Years Ago I got to see one of my biggest bucket list concerts.

Ticket Stub 2006 February 1 The Rolling Stones in Baltimore

I have been to I am guessing around 200 concerts, but I prefer more intimate (and more affordable) venues, Thus I rarely get to see acts that are the stature of the Rolling Stones.

This Stones reputation comes with very high expectations for me, While I don't know the entirety of their catalog, I of course know all the soundtrack of your life stuff - and some deeper cuts on Albums like Let It Bleed and Exile.

As noted I had very high expectations and was not disappointed. I wouldn't place the show at the top of the list of concerts I have seen but it was definitely in the top tier.

1st Mariner Arena was the smallest venue of the tour (13,000) which some fans would term a club show. We were pretty far from the stage So I would call it small arena, we were under an overhang and sometimes the sound got muddy - one nice touch was that the band had a mobile stage which came out to our side of the arena for a mini-set. Overall I was very happy with the song selection with the setlist including several mandatories for me (Gimme Shelter and Sympathy), surprises like "Get of My Cloud" and closing with and encore of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Satisfaction"

Another interesting aspect of the show was the timing. It was the Stones last show prior to performing at Halftime of Superbowl XL in Detroit (Steelers 21, Seahawks 10). Two of the three songs that were performed on the National Broadcast were part of the Baltimore concert, "Start Me Up" and "Satisfaction". The Superbowl performance also included "Rough Justice" from the bands 2005 release "A Bigger Bang".

Rolling Stones Index
2014 Topps Heritage #NF-TRS Satisfaction

Sources and Links
VittlesTunes
It's only Rock n Roll
Rolling Stones
Football-Ref

They won't be making any more of these

Grateful Dead Tickets - well If the band remains retired after this weekends concerts in Chicago then yes there will never be another Grateful Dead ticket printed. 

I only saw the Grateful Dead once, that was in 1993.

 Concert Ticket Grateful Dead with Sting 1993 06 26

 I don't remember much of the show, fortunately we have the tremendous Live Music Archive so we can look back at these shows from over 20 years ago.  Looking back at the set list provided, I vaguely recall the 2nd set opener Iko Iko and the closing numbers. I also remember Bruce Hornsby being with the band and that being a big deal.

I love the fact that Sting is the opener. Can't imagine Mr Gordon Sumner has been the undercard more than a handful of times in the last 35 years.

Note the seat is Obstructed View, of course as you may be aware this means nothing at a dead show. We spent the entirety of the day on the floor at RFK. 


 
Concert Ticket Jerry Garcia Band 1993 11 16

This is a ticket from later in 1993. I saw Jerry Garcia Band twice, and preferred them to seeing the Dead. I have only run into my sister by accident once and it was at one of the two JGB shows I saw at the Spectrum. I distinctly remember the first set from this show and much of the latter - The Set list can be found here.

Concert Ticket Phish 2000 09 15

And one more ticket stub related to this past weekends festivities in Chicago. Trey Anastasio from Phish joined the Grateful Dead for their final shows this during the past week. I was fortunate to see his band play at HersheyPark Stadium 15 years ago.  I didn't know much about Phish's music at the time, but I am glad I saw them - They put on a fun show and I met some great folks.

sources and links
VittlesTunes
Internet Archive
Jerry Garcia

Angel Stadium Anaheim CA

Supplementing the game pix from our previous post with a few photos showing off the Angels Ballpark. 

The entrance to Angels Stadium has a brick field that greets fans, you may notice that some of the bricks appear to be a bit different

That is because they are engraved. Each Angels All-Star gets a brick. Here we have the catcher section which shows us a nice string of Bob Boone bricks from the middle 80s. Red Lion PA Butch Wynegar is seen here bookending the Boone string in 1987. 

Topps 

Collin Cowgill

The Angels use the template from 2014 Topps to introduce the players. 

Collin Cowgill 2 

The template displays the player via video, as we see here - this is a different image then the previous Cowgill pix. Also the name of the player is not displayed initially, but rather added during the intro - notice in the first pix, there is no name, while in the latter photo we have Cowgill's first name Collin. 

More Cards

This wasn't at Angel Stadium, but I thought I would tuck it in here. I spotted these framed Donruss puzzles at a Retro/Vintage store near Berverly Hills. The shop called tini (This Is Not Ikea) was sort of a Kitsch flea market that had a lot of pop culture and movie related items.  

The Big A outside Angel Stadium can be seen from area highways.

Game Tix.

Sources

Baseball-ref

1993 07 28 - 20 years ago today: 1 Game, 2 Grand Slams

One of the many great games I was fortunate enough to attend in the Phillies memorable 1993 season

Ticket Stub 1993 07 28

The game didn't  start off well, 14 pitches in Terry Mulholland gave up a grand slam to the fourth batter of the game. Yes four batters into a critical game with the St Louis Cardinals the Phillies found themselves down 4-0 before recording an out.  

1990 Fleer Todd Zeile (note the position)


That night the then Cardinals third baseman Todd Zeile hit his first of 9 career grand slams to give the Redbirds an early four run lead. Fortunately 4 runs was never enough against the 1993 Phillies.

Terry Mulholland basically settled down after the slam and got through 7 innings. The Phillies dependable offense came through tying the game in the 3rd and taking the lead in the 5th.

1988 Topps #468 Darren Daulton

The Phillies were already up 9-6 in the 8th when Darren Daulton blew the game wide open with a Grand Slam of his own. The Phillies went home 14-6 winners in a game in which they were done four runs in the first inning.   
. 
20 years ago today that was one of the most memorable games that I ever witnessed. 200+ games later and it is the only game in which I have seen 2 grand slams. Over the course of those 200 games Darren Daulton is the only person I have seen hit multiple grand slams. 

Oddly if you look into the baseball-ref boxscore, Daulton's Slam doesn't rank in the top 5 Win Probability Added scores, and there are 4 ABs that rank higher then Zeile's. In fact the Cardinals lost by 8 runs but recorded the highest WPA of the game when Bernard Gilkey hit a 3 run homer in the 7th. That is just the crazy stuff that happens in a game where 20 runs are scored.

Flashback 1993 Phillies Postings
1993 04 09 - Opening Day - Cubs 11@ Phillies 7 
1993 05 10 - Pirates 1 @ Phillies 5

Sources
baseball-ref.com

The Game that Changed Everything - 1993 05 10 Pirates 1 @ Phillies 5

I had always been a baseball fan but in 1993 it reached another level. The 93 Phils is where my fascination with baseball as an adult began.

And if I was to point to a single game where this all happened it would have been the Pirates @ Phillies game on May 10th 1993.

1993 05 10 Game Ticket - Pirates 1 @ Phillies 5

The Phillies were coming off a big comeback win where Mariano Duncan had hit an 8th inning Grand Slam off of Lee Arther Smith.  Smith was one of the most dominating closers of the late 80s and The game completed a 3 game sweep of the St Louis Cardinals.

The next afternoon a colleague popped into my office and asked if I wanted to go down to the game.  It was the first time I had ever considered going to a Phils game on a whim - and I am glad I did.

The Pirates and Phils were knotted at 1 in the 7th inning, Lenny Dykstra reached with a one out single Mickey Morandini reached on a 2 base error and John Kruk was intentionally walked to load the bases.  Dave Hollins grounded into a force at home setting up a bases loaded 2 out AB for team leader Darren Daulton.  And Daulton delivered - One day after Mariano Duncan hit a go-ahead slame Daulton had one of his own.  The Philllies had won 4 in a row and ran their record to 23-7 16 games over .500.  They would not look back going all the way to the World Series.

1994 Topps Black Gold #28 Darren Daulton

It was the first time I ever saw a Grand Slam in person and it was the first time I ever really understood what it was like to be watching a great baseball team. To this day it remains one of the greatest games I have ever been to.

Friday marks the 20th anniversary of that game - This year I plan on focussing on commemorating the 1983 Phillies NL Pennant but there will definitely be a few nods to the 1993 Clubs as well.

 Go Phightins!  


Sources and Links
Baseball-Ref
1993 Phillies Index
Darren Daulton Index


Updates
2018 05 10 - Added Source and Links


             

1993 04 09 - 20 years ago today my first home opener

The game didn't go real well, but the magical season that followed was a lot of fun.

I honeslty don't remember much about the game - I think it was a little windy and chilly for the suckers in the shade.  Krukker got to 2nd on a defensive indifference in the 9th, which brought a cheer from a bunch of fans that saw it as a fat man steal. Game featured a bunch of Homers by all the Phils stars, Kruk,  Dykstra and Daulton (2).  Unfortunately got four of their own including one by Mark Grace.

  

Ticket Stub 1993 04 09 Darren Daulton

Team Phungo Ticket Stubs

A couple of Tix from the Phungo Collection. I have been meaning to do a series on tix stubs at some point. For now I will just give quick descriptions of the a couple of fun tickets that Team Phungo has amassed over the years.

2008 10 27-29 World Series Game 5 Rays 3 @ Phillies 4
Top-loading this post. This will likely be forever the center of my collection.


2001 03 22 NCAA Divsion 1 East Regional USC 80 v Kentucky 76 & UCLA 63 v Duke 76

Duke won also went on to win the 2nd session in the Saturday game - and eventually the 2001 National Championship. Shane Battier, Mike Dunleavy, Chris Duhon, Carlos Boozer, and Jay Williams were all part of that Duke team. Teyshaun Prince was on the Kentucky Squad.

1996 05 04 Florida Panthers 2 @ Philadelphia Flyers 3

This was the final game the Flyers ever won in the old Spectrum.

The Panthers and Flyers met in the 96 Eastern Conference Semis. This ticket is from game 2 of the series. The Flyers victory evened the set at a game a piece. Unfortunately the Flyers would only win 1 more game during the 1995-96 campaign.

There are a lot of Flyers fans that will never miss Eric Lindros. The big man never brought the town a title and definitely had some health issues and diva qualities. I will always remember him for this game - He had a goal, a pair of assists and held the puck for what seemed like an eternity at the end of the game to seal the victory.




1993 10 07 NLCS Braves 14 @ Phillies 3

A horrible game, but it was my first playoff game ever. Fred McGriff hit a majestic homer in the first - John Kruk said the ball killed a family of four in the upper deck. The Phils never recovered. But Tommy Greene came back to pitch game 6 of the series, and the outcome was much better.



2007 09 23 Phillies 3 @ Nationals 5

This is significant as the Final Game ever played at RFK Stadium.

The Phils really needed this game, going in they were 1.5 games behind the Mets with a week to play. Cole Hamels came off the DL to pitch in the game and could only get the Phils through 5 innings. He left with a 1 run lead which the Phils failed to hold. The loss coupled with a Mets W dropped the Phils to 2.5 back. Who knew that the Mets would collapse and on the Final day of the Season the Phils would emerge as Division Champs.

Phillies @ Dodgers Game 4 and 1993 NLCS clincher 15th Anniversary!

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the greatest game I ever saw - October 13th 1993 - NLCS game 6 Atlanta Braves @ Philadelphia Phillies. The Phils had taken a 3-2 series lead by winning two very tight games in Atlanta. They were returning home for game 6, which was one of the games I drew as a season ticket holder.


The Phils took a 4-1 lead in the 5th on a Dave Hollins Homer, Mickey Morandini tripled the following inning to stretch the lead to 6-1. Tommy Greene, who was at the end of his best season of his brief career, gave the Phils seven strong innings and left with a 6-3 lead.

1994 Fleer Flair #412 Tommy Greene
Mitch Williams pitched an improbable 1-2-3 Ninth for the save clinching the 1993 National League crown for the Phils.

Amazingly the pitcher that Tommy Greene out-dueled that night is now, 15 years later, a member of the team the Phils are facing in the 2008 NLCS - Greg Maddux.


1994 Fleer Ultra #446 Greg Maddux

The only proper way to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the greatest game I ever saw would be with another playoff victory. Hopefully the baseball fates agree with me.

Note 1 - You can't tell in the scan, but the price of the Phils NLCS ticket in 1993 was $30 - that was for a ticket in the last row of the old Vet. I am not sure what upper level tickets are going for this year but the lowers carry a face value of $120.

Note 2 - The Tommy Greene card is from 1994 Fleer Flair, one of my favorite sets. The dual photos on the front of these cards are usually very good and there is even a 3rd photo on the back. I particularly like the in action pitching shots like this one. The card stock is also very strong - it really gives you the feeling your holding a premium card.

Go Phils!