Rookie Cup: 1965 Topps #340 Tony Oliva

Today our Rookie Cup Series takes a look at 1964 AL Rookie of the Year Tony Oliva who is one of only six Cuban born players in the Hall of Fame.

1965 Topps #340 Tony Oliva

Check out this Off-Center HOF beauty! 

1965T is one of my favorite card designs. I am a sucker for pennants.  Between the Pennant, Oliva's Twins Cap and the Cup trophy we have a fine combination of complimentary colors here.

Oliva earned Rookie of the Year honors by leading not just rookies but all of MLB in hitting with a .323 average. It was the first of 3 batting titles for Tony. 

The Numbers

1964 MLB Rookie WAR Leaders

Tony Oliva is listed 2nd here because his NL Rookie of the Year peer, Dick Allen had a Higher WAR, but you can still see all of his black ink. In addition to leading the league in Batting Average the young Cuban also ranked #1 in Runs, Hits (first of 5 times), Doubles (1st of 4), and Total Bases. Oliva's 374 Total Bases tied the Rookie record set by Hal Trotsky Sr in 1939. 60+ years later Tony Oliva still holds the record for Total Bases by a rookie, Nomar Garciaparra's 365 in 1997 has been the closest challenger. 

And how often do two rookies lead their respective leagues in Total Bases. Amazing Rookie class. 

Those numbers were good enough to place Oliva fourth in AL MVP vote which was won by Baltimore 3rd baseman Brooks Robinson (8.1 WAR, .317/28/118 LL)

ROY

Robinson's Orioles teammate Wally Bunker kept Oliva from a unanimous Rookie of the Year victory. Hard to compare Hitting & Pitching numbers. In 1964 the BBWAA members were not familiar with WAR, we simply note that Oliva's 6.8 is superlative while Bunker's is average. Looking at Bunker's triple crown numbers he ranked 3rd in Wins (FIRST in PCT) and 6th in ERA. During his 9 year career Bunker never finished top 10 in Ks. Oliva's 32 HR was 6th in the AL with the 94 RBI ranking 9th. That gives Tony Oliva finishes of 1,6,9 vs 3,6,11+ for Wally Bunker. I can see the one voter giving it to Bunker on the W-L Pct, but I offer Oliva's record setting LL Total Bases as a push, minimum. 

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1965 Topps #340 Tony Oliva (b-side)

All the superlatives that we just went over and what is in the comic on Tony Oliva's first solo card?  For some reason Topps goes with the numbers Oliva put up in Short Seson D-League 3 years prior. I don't get it. Topps text does cover Oliva's Batting Championship, Hits Crown and ROY win in the text. Check out that batting average at Whytheville, it is not one of the crowns alluded to in the comic, but .410 in 249 ABs - that is solid at any professional level. 

GridLock

I have been playing Immaculate Grid with majority All-Star Rookie Cup Players. Today we are introducing a sub-feature dubbed GridLock where we will take a look at the Grid Possibilities of the players we cover. 

For Tony Oliva some good Grid Luck categories are: 

-Only 1 Team

-Born outside the US

-Rookie of the Year / ASG / GG

-Played all 3 OF positions. 

-Single Season 3xCrown Categories: .300 AVG, 30 HR, 100 RBI and 100 Runs

-6+ WAR season

-Career .300 hitter

Tony Oliva HOF Index

1965 Topps #340 (ROY - this posting) 

1970 Topps #510

Sources and Links
1965 All-Star Rookie Cup

phungo HOF Index

baseball-ref

SABR Bio - Peter C Bjarkman

Twins Reliever Justin Topa Ripping Packs at Wheelhouse Cards

On Monday I mentioned I was looking for Justin Topa cards in my s3 Blaster. 

Why would I, a Phillies fan, care about a reliever that has never played for the Phillies?

Well the IG post below sort of explains why I was seeking a Justin Topa card in this box. 

Topa is an MLB reliever that is also a card collector. Last Friday HE WAS IN MY LOCAL CARD SHOP OPENING CARDS. I happened to be there that same day, but I was there prior to Topa - who I believe dropped in unannounced. The Cards in this blaster review were all picked up that day. 

Here is a link to the Instagram -> Justin Topa at Wheelhouse Cards

Justin Topa with his Card

Topa opened at least two boxes and in the IG post you get to see his reaction to getting his own first card. He also gets another pretty good hit as well.

Great to see Justin Topa is a card collector that also comes out and supports local card shops. 

Sources

Wheelhouse Cards. 

Richard Pryor + Ice Cube + Julia Roberts + AFC Championship Game = ???

Hey it is NFL Championship weekend! to honor the occasion we have this fun trading card from 1992.  

1992 Studio #208 Pat Mahomes

1990s MLB relief pitcher Pat Mahomes is the father of Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes. One of the early fun cards of the elder Mahomes is his 1992 Studio offering. This fine set artfully places a nice profile photo atop a black and white action shot. 

The idea is carried through to the reverse where fun facts regarding the player are presented rather than just your typical baseball stats.

Flip

1992 Studio #208 Pat Mahomes

I always enjoy the pop culture connections on these cards. This set would be a great one for a card/card deep dive. I imagine there would be a lot of redundancy among the big stars of the era but this would make the outliers stand out even more.

Mahomes is  a cross section of early 90s and outliers. Neither Ice Cube nor Julia Roberts is surprising however I find seeing them listed together quite charming. Amazingly a quarter century later and both stars remain active, yet near as I can tell they have never been involved in a project together - unless you count Patrick Mahomes 1992 Studio card.

The outlier on the card is "Which Way is Up", a 1977 star vehicle for Richard Pryor which I have never heard of previously. Apparently the film features Pryor playing a triple role - sounds pretty madcap, would love to hear a review from the peanut gallery discussing the merits of this work.

Best of luck to Patrick Mahomes the younger this weekend. Anybody who has a father who digs RIchard Pryor is ok by me.  

Sources and Links
imdb
Baseball-Ref
Amazon

Anniversary: 45 Years ago Harmon Killebrew Joins 500 HR Club.

August 10th marks the 45th Anniversary of Harmon Killebrew's 500th Homer. The milestone occurred in the first inning of a Twins 4-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles

2015 Topps #H-74 Harmon Killebrew 500 Home Runs.

 

The event was honored in Topps 2015 Highlight of the Year insert.

 

2015 Topps #H-74 Harmon Killebrew 500 Home Runs. (b-side)

A brief synopsis on the back of the card also notes that the hit was part of a pretty big day for Killebrew in which he had a pair of Home Runs, both lead changers, and 3 RBIs.


Sources and Links
Phungo Harmon Killebrew HoF Page
Baseball-ref

 

Rod Carew HoF Index

Phungo Rod Carew HoF Index
1977 Hostess #3 (Var/SP)
1981 Topps #100
1983 OPC #386 All-Star (DeGumming experiment)
1991 Bowman #3 (1976 ASG +40)

1991 Bowman #3 Rod Carew

Tonight in honor of the Phillies rare trip to Minnesota (and as part of our 1976 All-Star Game Coverage) we take a look at Twins Hall of Famer Rod Carew.

1991 Bowman #3 Rod Carew III

When he played in Philadelphia's Bicentennial All-Star Game Rod Carew was 30 years old and was playing in his 10th major league season.

Incredibly He was also a member of his 10th All-Star Team.

In every one of his eight previous All-Star games (Made team but DNP 1970) Carew played 2nd Base. 1976 was the first mid-summer classic which Carew played at his new position, First Base.

The Seven time batting champion did not fare quite as well in All-Star game play. In 1976 Carew was 0-3 with a walk and a stolen base. At the time the performance brought his career numbers to 2-24 a .083 Batting Average. Quite an anomaly for a player who batted .328 in the regular season through that point in his career.

Carew's All-Star performances would improve during the 2nd half of his career, he finished with a career .244 BA in 48 ABs. His best performances was in 1978 when he had a pair of triples and scored two runs.

1991 Bowman
I went with the 1991 Bowman card over one of the many Rod Carew All-Star cards.

This is because I am fond of the #29 Jersey stamp on the upper right. The flair represents Carew's uniform number that was retired by the Twins on July 19 1987.

Recently Rod Carew suffered a major heart attack, and may possibly need a heard transplant. Subsequently in partnership with the Twins Carew and his wife Rhonda launched a project to raise funds for the American Heart Association - the name of the initiative is The Heart of 29 Campaign.

Flip

1991 Bowman #3 Rod Carew III (b-side)

The post career card highlights Carew's accomplishments during the 1970s including his six batting titles and 1977 MVP award.

Sources and Links
1976 ASG Index
Rod Carew HoF Index
Minnesota Twins
Baseball-ref
Cardboard Connection

Phungo HoF Index: Harmon Killebrew

This is an index to our cards and postings related to Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew

1967 Topps # 460 Harmon Killebrew

Harmon Killebrew HoF Index
1967 Topps #334 (Twin Terrors with Bob Allison)
1993 Hillshire Farms Home Run Heroes (auto)
2015 Topps Highlights #H-74 500 Home Runs (1971 0810)

2016 Topps the Originals: Duos

Today we take a look at the rather random Dual Player cards of 1967 Heritage
 

1967 Topps #334 Twin Terrors Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew
Four our cover card we picked this one because the Dual Player cards typically feature 2 players and it’s a Twins Card – get it?

However I am thinking Topps may dump the 'Terror' portion of “Twin Terror” for this cards Heritage counterpart.
 
Future Hall of Famer and 500 HR club member Harmon Killebrew was an obvious choice to represent the Twins. Bob Allison’s qualifications were a bit more wanting, he was coming off of a 70 game 1966 season in which he hit 8 Home Runs, well down from the 28 he averaged from 1959-65.

Flip

#334 Twin Terrors Allison Killebrew (b-side)

Nice bios of each players on the back of the cards. Although 2/3 of the text is dedicated to the lesser accomplished Allison. Regardless it is about twice as many words as I expected to see on the upcoming Heritage Card.
  
More Duos

 The Tigers card features a couple of mega prospects one of which is in the Hall of Fame. 

 

The White Sox came up with one of the weaker combos in the subset. Don Buford is acceptable but Pete Ward is coming off a 1966 season where he batted .219 with 3 dingers.

But for mre the Indians card is the worst of the 1967T Multi-Player subset. "Tribe Thumpers" is NOT alliterative!

Menke would spend some time as Hitting Coach for the Phillies, We probably should dedicate a post to him at some point.

Pretty strong one here - Donn Clendenon batted .299 with 28 Home Runs in 1966. He was just a step behind Willie Stargell (.315, 33 HR), but both were outpaced by teammate Roberto Clemente who won the MVP award in 1966.

We will Definitely be returning to this card in a future posting. 

Over at the 1967 Topps blog there is a write up on the #423 Giants Fence Busters Card that features Mays and McCovey.

Checklist
1967 is a decent edition of this subset, you may recall the 1966 duos were very random and consisted of just five cards. There is a great deal of Randomness in 1967 as well, but it's size (12 cards) and talent makes it a stronger set.

Team	1967 Topps	2016 Heritage
Cardinals	#63 Card Clubbers Brock/Flood	#63 Stephen Piscotty - Matt Carpenter
Indians	#109 Tribe Thumpers Colavito Wagner	109 Francisco Lindor - Jason Kipnis
White Sox	#143 Sox Sockers Ward Buford	#143 Josh Reddick (Oakland Athletics)
Mets	#186 Mets Maulers - Kranepool Swoboda	#186 Curtis Granderson - Juan Lagares
Tigers	#216 Bengal Belters Cash Kaline	#216 Ian Kinsler - Miguel Cabrera
Pirates	#266 Pitt Power – Stargell Clendenon	#266 Starling Marte - Andrew McCutchen
Phillies	#309 Hurlers Beware Callison Allen	#309 Maikel Franco - Ryan Howard
Twins	#334 Twins Terrors Allison Killebrew	#334 Miguel Sano - Byron Buxton
Braves	#396 Altanta Aces Menke Cloninger	#396 Nick Markakis  (solo?)
Giants	#423 Fence Busters – Mays McCovey	#423 Brandon Belt (solo?)
Indians	#463 Hill Aces McDowell Siebert	#463 Josh Hamilton - Texas
Orioles	#521 Bird Bombers Powell Blefray	na
Orioles	#1 Robinson Bauer Robinson	#1 Moustakas Escobar Hosmer

Last week we got a glimpse at the 2016 Heritage Checker for comparison. We have added the list here for comparison. To me the originals win on almost every card - the exceptions are possibly #109 Indians, #216 Tigers (close call), and amazingly Phillies (2008 WSC puts Howard over Dick Allen). 

Quick note on the Mets card, Topps has a run of Rookie Pairs that run from 161-190 that they interrupted to match Granderson/Lagares with Kranepool/Swaboda. One may make the argument that the Heritage card should win the Met battle, for me the 1999 SI Greats of the Game card w/ Ed Kranepool eating the Fried Chicken Dinner gives the edge to 1967T.

Sources and Links
1967 Topps/2016 Heritage Index
Harmon Killebrew HoF Index
1967 Topps Blog
Cardboard Connection 
Terapeak
Baseball-ref
Pnilly Inquirer

TRENDY: 2012 Bowman Platinum #BDPP36 Eddie Rosario - Home Run on first Pitch seen in the MLB.

You get a Home Run on the first pitch you see in the majors and I may just post your card on Phungo

2012 Bowman Platinum #BDPP36 Eddie Rosario

Eddie Rosario has floated on and off the Prospect Radar, probably due to a drug suspension in 2014. Prior to 2014 he was ranked #60 by BaseballProspectus, the only one of the three majors to rank Rosario. MLB.com Ranks Rosario #10 in the Twins Org

The Home Run appears to be a bit of an anomaly. In 749 ABs at AA or above he has 15 Home Runs.  .  

Sources and Links 
Baseball-ref
TwinCities.com
MLB.com

2014 Playoff Cards - St Louis Cardinals AJ Pierzynski 1994 Topps Signature Rookies #61

With Yadier Molina on the shelf for game 3 of the NLCS the Cardinals will start veteran catcher AJ Pierzynski

1994 Topps Signature Rookies #61 AJ Pierzynski

This is the game that Pierzynski is here for. He may be an annoying guy with a rough reputation but when it became apparent earlier this season that Molina may be questionable down the stretch the Cardinals went out and got AJ.  

That looks like a smart move today. Veteran leadership likely matters at catcher more than any other position. 

1994 Topps Signature Rookies

Pierzynski's red gear makes him look like a Cardinal here, but it is from a different squad. This 20 year old card is from early in AJs career when he was still in the Twins organization. 

1994T Signature Rookies is a 100 Card set which includes notables Nomar Garciaparra #12, Paul Konerko #13, Jason Varitke #14, Ryan Nye (Phillies 2nd round pick 1994) #49, Aaron Boone #62, JT Snow #99. The honor of the #1 card went to Josh Booty who was featured along with brother John David Booty QB (USC) on MLB networks "The Next Knuckler"

Sources & Links
2014 Playoff Cards  
ebay
Miller Cards
MLB News  
Sports-Reference

2014 BA Baseball Prospect Handbook Cover Curse

Yes my Baseball America Prospect Handbook arrived last week. A day later we got the Baseball news that coverboy Miguel Sano would be getting Tommy John surgery. So yes Miquel Sano has become the victim of a cover curse.

2014 Baseball America Prospect Handbook

To be honest, as far as I know, there is no BA cover jinx. Regardless,  I am disappointed to see that we will not get to see Miguel Sano make his big league debut this year.

I pick up the prospect guide every year, much of the info is on-line, but I do enjoy having the book handy while watching a game and a younger player appears in the game.

Currently the Phillies prospects are mediocre at best - kind of similar to the big club. One of the clubs issues the past couple of seasons is that when veterans get injured, there aren't any insurance players at the lower levels. For 2014 BA ranked the Phillies system 22nd of the 30 teams, which I suppose means us Phils fans may not have much to look forward to on the prospect front.

Hopefully for the Phillies there is a surprise prospect out there that will help them get back in playoff form. 

Source
2014 Baseball America Prospect Handbook

2014 Heritage Rookie Stars: 1965 Topps #282 Dick Estelle & Masanori Murakami

We are a week away from 2014 Topps Heritage, today we bring you one of my favorite cards from the original 1965 set:

1965 Topps #282 Giants Rookie Stars Dick Estelle & Masanori Murakami

Masanori Murakami was the first Japanese MLB player way back in 1964. He preceded Hideo Nomo by three and a half decades. As a lefthanded relief pitcher Murakami pitched farily well for the Giants. Unfortunately due to a variety of contract issues and failed negotiations between the Giants, MLB and the Japanese League Nankai Hawks Murakami would return to Japan after a mere two seasons in the States.  

For further information, I highly recommend this Masanori Murakami biography that I believe was written by High School student in New York City. The Bio- further cites "Remembering Japanese Baseball: An Oral History of the Game" which as it's name infers is mostly Murakami commenting on his career - not terrific writing but an interesting read.   

Murakami was honored by the Giants in 1995, throwing out the first pitch prior to a game versus the Dodgers. Coincidentally the LA starter that night was Hideo Nomo who took a no-hitter into the 7th inning, Royce Clayton broke up the Nomo No-No which was the only hit for the Giants. 

1965 Topps
I had thought Masahiro Tanaka would have been a great candidate for the #282 card in 2014T Heritage, but Ben Henry as pointed out over at the Baseball Card Blog that Tanaka's signing may have happened to late for Topps to send the card to print.  I hope that Topps figures it out, Tanaka would be a nice bonus for 2014 Heritage.

1965 Topps featured a number of Rookie Stars cards including 3 and 4 player varieties. 

1965 Topps #597 Rookie Stars Twins
1965 Topps #561 Rookie Stars Dodgers

No idea why Joe Nosseck got the prime spot in the Twins card. Perhaps alphabetic order. Rich Reese had the best career of the three Players. As far as the Dodger card, Jim Lefebvre was probably the most successful - in 1965 he even beat out Joe Morgan for Rookie of the Year. 

Other Voices
The Great 1965 Topps Blog - Kevin has a lot more info on the Dick Estelle half of the above card.

1965 Topps/2014 Heritage Index
Base - #534 John Herrnstein
Rookie Cup - #460 Dick Allen
Rookie Stars - #282 Dick Estelle & Masanori Murakami

More info on 1965 Topps
The entire 1965 Topps Series was covered by Kevin B of Orioles Card "O" the day on The Great 1965 Topps Project
Cardboard Connection
Sports Collectors Digest (TS O' Connell)
Golden Age of Baseball Cards
Dean's Cards
Beckett

PSA

Sources
Baseball-ref.com
HSMSE Sports Journalism Blog
Sports Illustrated 

Katie & Ted Uhlaender: Olympic Athlete Daughter & Ballplayer Father

Recently via the fine twitter account of @ObxLeatherman I found out that Katie Uhlaender, A US Competitor in the Olympic Skeleton, is also the daughter of 60/70s era Outfielder Ted Uhlaender.

1966 Topps #264 Ted Uhlaender (RC)


Sochi is the third olympiad for the 29 year old Katie Uhlaender.  Uhlaender's resume includes a 6th place finish at the 2006 Olympics in Torino. She also has Olympic aspirations in the summer sport of weightlifting.

This years Women's Skeleton events will be held on Thursday and Friday (13th & 14th).  Not sure if the game competition will be on NBC, but will be keeping an eye on that.

Sadly Katie's father Ted Uhlaender died of cancer in 2009 at the age of 59.

1969 Topps #194 Ted Uhlaender (Swiped from Baseball Card Database)

To honor her father Katie keeps Ted's 1969 Topps card taped to her sled. As a card collector, I find this to be a really hip tribute. The 1969 Ted Uhlaender card is show above.

Ted Uhlaender spent eight seasons in the Majors mostly with the Twins, but was also a member of the Reds 1972 National Leaque Championship squad. During game 2 of the World Series he had a pinch hit double off of future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter. 

Katie Uhlaender has a card in the 2014 Topps US Olympic and Paralympic Team Hopefuls Trading Card set (including an auto). I would think that this would make the Uhlaender's one of the few father-daughter combinations to both have Topps Cards - very unique.

2014 Topps US Olympics #84 Katie Uhlaender
In our 2014 Topps Olympic Cards break we feature Katie Uhlaender a bit more. That post can be found here. 

More Uhleander's
1967 Topps Baseball
Von's Cards (2014 Olympic Katie, 1972 Topps Ted)  

Sources
Sochi2014
SportsRef/Baseball-ref
Baseball Card Database
New York Post
Cardboard Connection
Phungo 2014 Topps US Olympics Box Break

Updates (2018 0211) - Added Katie Uhlaender card and link to related box break.  

Goodbye Metrodome

This afternoon the Minnesota Vikings host the Detroit Lions in their final game at the Metrodome.

1997 11 02 Team Phungo at the Metrodome

I know this sounds a little funky, but my football squad is the Minnesota Vikings. Today they close the building that served as their home for the past 3+ decades. Twice in the late 1990s I was fortunate enough to make the pilgramage out to Minneapolis to see the Vikings play - Yep that is a younger thinner version of me in the braids - My friend Sluggo (everybody has a friend that goes by Sluggo right) is wearing the Pats jersey.  The Vikings beat the Patriots that day 23-18, Cris Carter had a 4th quarter TD for the good guys, The Vikings QB was Brad Johnson. Back then New England was pre-Tom Brady and we got to see Drew Bledsoe at the helm.  

Twins   
A few years ago we put together one of my favorite postings regarding the Twins last game at the Metrodome - check it out here. 


Sources
cnnsi.com
football-ref.com 

2011 Topps #US97 Cody Eppley - Joins the Twins organization

Today it was reported that Cody Eppley has hooked up with the Rochester Red Wings, the AAA Twins Affiliate.    

2011 Topps #US97 Cody Eppley (RC)
Eppley was a decent set up guy for the 2012 Yankees and even pitched in all four games of the ALCS versus the Tigers.  Unfortunately he did not fare well in 2 months of AAA ball with the Teams Scranton Wilkes-Barre affiliate this season and was subsequently released.

Cody Eppley is one of two players to make the majors out of my high school, and I hope to see him back in the big leagues at some point. Cody's brother Nate was in the A's system but was apparenlty released at the beggining of this season.


Ballplayers From Dillsburg Updates
Anthony Lerew 2012 05 11 (2012 Review)
Anthony Lerew 2012 02 28 (Joins Korean League)
Anthony Lerew 2010 11 22 (Venezeulan League No-Hitter)
Anthony Lerew 2009 09 24 (Returns to Starting w/ Royals)
Anthony Lerew 2008 11 25 (Major League Debut)

Reading the Competition - 1970 Topps #510 Tony Oliva

This week the Phillies are in the Twin Cities and tonight we are taking a look at the career of Hall of Very Good contender Tony Oliva. 

1970 Topps #510 Tony Oliva

I liked Tony Oliva when I was a kid.  No idea why - cool sounding name, older guy had a .300 average are among my guesses. Probably read a gushing article in Baseball Digest somewhere along the line.

One has to wonder how close Oliva's career was to never happening.  I don't know a lot about the Cuban revolution, but I would have to think that Tony Oliva had to be among the last players to come out of Cuba in the era - According to Baseball-ref he has minor league experience dating back to 1961.  Following a  couple of cups of coffee in 62 and 63 Tony Oliva began playing regularly in 1964 when he earned Rookie of the Year honors.  In his debut he led the league in Batting Avg (.323) , Runs 109 , Hits 217  Doubles (43) and Total Bases (374). Those numbers were also good enough for 4th in the MVP voting, an award which he would finish runner up for in both 1965 (teammate Zoilo Versailes) and 1970 (Boog Powell).

Oliva played his entire 15 year career with the Twins. He represented the team in 8 consecutive All-Star games, starting with his rookie campaign. He led the league in Batting 3 times and hits 5.  In 1971 He led the AL in both AVG and slugging. For his career Oliva batted .304 good enough for 154th all time - much of his career was played during a pitching heavy era.  He finished just short of some milestone numbers, 1917 Hits and 947 RBIs with 220 Home Runs.

Oliva helped the Minnesota reach the playoffs in 3 different seasons, 1965, 69 and 70 But the Twins lost all 3 series. The 1965 World Series the Twins and Dodgers battled 7 games with the Dodgers taking the finale behind a Sandy Koufax 3 Hitter.  Oliva did have a Home Run off of Don Drysdale in game 4 of the series.  

Post playing career Tony Oliva has been involved with the Minnesota Twins in varying roles and still maintains ties to the community. 

For The Collector 
1970 Topps commons can sometimes be had for a dime, but for a semi-star like Oliva one would likely have to look for the card in a quarter or 3/buck bin.

His rookie card is 1963 Topps #228 and Identifies Tony as "Pedro Oliva".  The card is shared with Ed Kranepool and two other players.  Low eBay for an off condition of this card was $4.04.  $8.50 will get you the card in a bit nicer condition.

For those of you with a little extra cash laying around a PSA 9 MINT version of this card finished at $1699.00.  Yes a buck shy of  Seventeen Hundred Dollars!!! PSA 7 NM cards went far cheaper with five auctions ending between $60 and $85 and one being under $50. 

Topps had Tony Oliva on a slow progression.  His 2nd yr card is also a shared card #116.  Finally on 1965 #340 Topps granted Oliva a solo card - which is also a rookie cup card. Although Oliva is present in the Topps Super set at card #44.  His last Topps Card is 1976 Topps #35  

Sources & Links

Tony Oliva HOF Index
Baseball-ref
wikipedia
SABR Bio
Baseball Card Database 

1984 Toledo Mud Hens Jay Pettibone

Tonight Jonathan Petttibone makes his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies.  One of the happiest folks today win or lose will likely be Jay Pettibone.

1984 Toledo Mud Hens Jay Pettibone (image poached from ebay)

Jay Pettibone made 4 starts for the Minnesota Twins during a September call up in 1983. That is the the extent of his Major League career.  Pettibone's best start was probably his major league debut - He threw a Complete Game versus the Kansas City Royals. Pettibone entered the 9th inning having only given up 3 hits and 1 run - However the Twins had also only scored a single run.  Pettibone retired the first two batters in the 9th before giving up a single to Hal McRae followed by a Willie Mays Aikens dinger.  That was all the Royals needed - Dan Quisenberry came in and pitched a scoreless 9th and Pettitbone took the loss.

Jay Pettitbone got 3 more starts for the Twins and took the L in all 3 starts.  He ended his career with an 0-4 record in 4 career starts - the highlight was probably that first start v the Royals. 

Hopefully Jonathan Pettibone has a longer career then his father - regardless I hope both men have a good night this eveiing.

For Your Consideration: 1995 Score #559 Kirby Puckett

Andy from HighHeatStats noted this AM via twitter that today is the anniversary of the day in 1996 when Kirby Puckett woke up without sight in his right eye.  He was diagnosed with glaucoma. His career as a Major League Baseball player was over.

1995 Score #559 Kirby Puckett

This card as always freaked me out.  I mean how many cards go so out of the way to feature a players eyes? And those are the eyes that betrayed Kirby Puckett and basically ended his Hall of Fame career.  Freaks me out when I think about it.

Kirby Puckett (1960-2006)

The Puckett discussion led Andy and I down the path of Hall of Famers that died prematurely - and moments later HHS had a posting regarding the life expentency of HoFs.  The internet age is impressive.  Turns out Kirby Puckett is the first HoF from the 1960s to pass away and appears to be the 2nd youngest to die post enshrinenemt (Lou Gehrig was also inducted prior to his passing)   

2013 03 08 Exton Mall Card Show Nickel Box

I never expect much from a Nickel Box.  Those low expectations actually improve the experience.  There are no worries about getting a good deal for a card or its condition.  The card is stinking nickle - The only issue it adds to my hoarding habit. 

2013 Topps Vance Worley

Yes there were 2013 Topps Phillies in the nickle bin, albeit only former Phillies.  X-Phil or not, I am a fan of the retro-uni cards.  With relatively little effort my 2013 Topps Phillies collectiion is off to a good start.  I think I have four of the cards so far, and that is from just one each of a  Hanger and single pack and the Worley above.

Note: according to the Current Twins Depth Chart, Worley is Minnesota's Opening Day starter.  I think the Twinkies may be in for a long year.

2009 Bowman First Card #BDPP2 Billy Hamilton RC

If your a prospector you have likely heard of Billy Hamilton - he stole something like 400 bases last year at  various stops in the Reds system. I have seen him ranked 11th among prospects in one of the polls.

Speed is always exciting especially with young players. Hamilton will also have the advantage of playing with a pretty good ballclub whne he reachees the major league level. 

There is a minor dinged corner on the caxrd, but still finding a prospect card in a nickle bin is a thrill. Especially when it appears he is on the verge of making some noise at the major league level.

2013 Topps Heritage Joe Blanton and Anthony Gose

There were also just released Heritage Cards commons in the nickle bin - lots of them. No Current Phillies but a couple of Formers.

Note: Again with the Depth Charts - The Angels Depth Chart has Joe Blanton penciled in at #3.  Makes it a little tough  for me to take them seriously as a contender. 

2013 Topps Heritage #300 Jason Heyward

There was at least one star in the Heritage nickel bin and on a Hero Number as well. This card shares its number with the 1964 Topps Hank Aaron card. I wonder how many heritage cards had their Heritage number shared between Hank Aaron and Chipper Jones. Dudes didn't play the same postion, but they were definitely the stars of their respective squads. 

For a look at the team Phungo 1964 Topps retrospective start here