Cup of Coffee: Cy Twombly

Next up in our Cup of Coffee Series is Pitcher and Longtime collegiate Athletic Director Cy Twombly. If the name sounds familiar for someone who pitched less than 30 career innings over a century ago it's likely because Cy Twombly is the father to the renowned pop artist of the same name. 

Sketch of Cy Twombly (the Elder) on a Disposable Coffee Cup 

This drawing echoes 1920s era tobacco cards. The dates of Twombly's first and last games June 25th and August 17th 1921 are written at the cups bottom. 

Four pictographs were added to note different facets of Twombly the elder’s post-baseball career. Clockwise from top right: Interlocking Washington & Lee university logo which is where Cy spent over 5 decades in various roles; The lower two icons are for Golf and Swimming, the two programs where W&L saw the most success while Twombly was Athletic Director at the University. The Natatorium is now named for Twombly. Finally top right we have a paintbrush as a nod to Cy Twombly the younger. 

The "card" on the cup is backed by a large crayon swirl which echoes the artwork of the younger Cy Twombly   

Sources and Links

Cup of Coffee Index

Gagosian - Cy Twombly (the younger)

Baseball-Reference

SABR Bio - Aidan Jackson-Evans

GeneralsSports - Washington & Lee University Sports

TASR: 1977 Topps #58 Chet Lemon

This week we got the tough news that Chet Lemon has been having health issues. It's complicated - he has had blood clotting issues for a while and this has led to a series of strokes that has left the Major League outfielder in a near non-communicative state. You can read more about Chet Lemon's condition in Jeff Seidel's sad but interesting Detroit Free Press article here. 

1977 Topps #58 Chet Lemon

1976 was an okay year for Chet Lemon, his .245/4/38 13 SB, 0.4 WAR season beat out Ellis Valentine .279/7/39 14 SB 1.4 WAR and Jerry Turner .267/5/37 12 SB 2.1 WAR and others for cup honors. 

Regardless TASR voters must have foresaw something, after that mediocre start Chet Lemon went on to a productive 16 year career where he racked  up a 55.7 Career WAR, a number that ranks above fellow Centerfielder and first ballot Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett. Meanwhile Lemon got a single 10th place HOF vote.     

In addition to personal accomplishments that included 3 All-Star appearances Lemon's career team highlight was being a member of the 1984 World Series Champion Detroit Tigers.

Chet Lemon 2024

The Lemon family has remained private about Chet's condition until recently. They are only coming forward now because they would like to raise awareness about his condition and they also wanted fans to be aware of Lemon's condition prior to the Detroit Tigers 40th anniversary celebration honoring the 1984 World Series team this weekend. 

I hope that Chet Lemon is well enough to make the trek to Detroit this weekend and enjoy the celebration with his teammates and TIgers fans.  

1977 Topps

This is the first card we have featured from the 1977 TASR class, good design that doesn't get discussed much - The Rookie Cup looks good here, it's present but out of the way. 

Chet Lemon is featured here with his other team the Chicago White Sox. Note the Faux Collar Jersey worn by Lemon. This fashion detail was likely used to dress up the Shorts that Bill Veeck came up for the 1976 White Sox uniform. 

One last detail I want to discuss is the facsimile signature. Chet goes with his more formal full name "Chester Earl Lemon" 

Oh Canada

1977 OPC #195 Chet Lemon

Posting Lemon's 1977 OPC card here so we can take a look at the card sans Rookie Cup. This allows the aforementioned facsimile signature to run at an up angle which is more consistent with 1977 Topps commons.  Also both these cards are screen caps from eBay but the OPC has stronger color and the Marlboro sign in centerfield of Yankee Stadium is a lot more identifiable. 

Closing Thoughts

Just wanted to reiterate I hope the fans and Detroit Tigers get a great 40th Anniversary Celebration and Chet Lemon makes it to the event. 

Sources and Links

1977 TASR Index

Jeff Seidel Detroit Free Press

Detroit Tigers

NBC Sports Chicago

Baseball-Ref

1989 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Subset (honoring 1988 cup winners)

This is an Index to postings about the 1988 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team that was honored in the 1999 Set.

1989 Topps #156 Dave Gallagher (image stolen from TradingCardDB)

C         Damon Berryhill    Chicago Cubs  

1B       Mark Grace            Chicago Cubs  
2B       Ron Gant               Atlanta Braves  
3B       Chris Sabo             Cincinnati Reds  
SS       Walt Weiss             Oakland Athletics  
OF       Cecil Espy             Texas Rangers  
OF       Dave Gallagher     Chicago White Sox  
OF       Jay Buhner            Seattle Mariners  
RHP    Tim Belcher           Los Angeles Dodgers  
LHP    Paul Gibson           Detroit Tigers   

sources and links

TradingCardDB

Baseball-Reference Bullpen

Rookie Cup Master Index

ANNIVERSARY: 2007 April 18 Mark Buehrle No-Hitter

Little bit early on this Anniversary posting but we have a Phillies card to get to as well.

 2008 Topps Finest Moments #FM-MB Mark Buehrle

On April 18 2007 Mark Buehrle posted his first of his two career No-Hitters. The victims of the Chicago White Sox 6-0 victory were the Texas Rangers. Batters in the Rangers potent lineup that day included Past & future Phillies Kenny Lofton and Michael Young as well as several other luminaries: Ian Kinsler, Sammy Sosa, Mark Teixeira and Nelson Cruz (Who batted 8th!).

Jeraine Dye provided the bulk of the offense for the White Sox with a grand slam off of Phillies Alum, Kevin Millwood. Jim Thome picked up the other 2 RBI on a pair of Home Runs one off of Millwood the other off of current Phillies reliever Joaquin Benoit. 

Flip

2008 Topps Finest Moments #FM-MB Mark Buehrle (b-side)

The back of the card does a good job of succinctly summarizing Buehrle's big day. His other no-hitter versus the Tampa Bay Rays in 2009 was a perfect game, therefore he pitched to the minimum at least twice.

Buehrle's battery-mate for the no-hitter was AJ Pierzynski. AJ did not call Buehrle's perfect game but he was the backstop for a different White Sox perfecto authored by Phil Humber.

The plate umpire for both of the no-hitters was Eric Cooper.

Sources and Links
No-Hitter Index
Game Dated Cards
Baseball-Reference
Baseball Almanac

ANNIVERSARY: September 12 1976 - Minnie Minoso becomes Oldest Player to Hit Safely in a Major League Game

Today marks the 40th anniversary of an event that gave birth to one of my favorite cards from my youth.

1977 Topps #232 Minnie Minoso (Oldest Player to Hit Safely)

On September 12th 1976 Minnie Minoso started the first game of a Double Header for the White Sox. He was the DH and batted 9th. With two outs in the 2nd inning Minoso singled off of Angels left-hander Sid Monge. This made Minoso the oldest player to get a Hit in a Major League game.  is a

1977 Topps #232 Minnie Minoso (b-side)

The Fact that the White Sox won 4-2 in extras is such an afterthought that the games outcome is not even mentioned on the back of the card.

Topps does mention discuss Nick Altrock who held the record previous to Minoso.  Altrock single was recorded for the Washington Senators during a 2-1 Loss to the Boston Red Sox. The hit was off of a 20 year old reliever named Pat Simmons, in what turned out to be Simmons last major league game. 

Altrock was a pitcher who also had a side career as an entertainer, his interesting SABR Bio can be found here.

Index
1977 Topps Record Breakers Index
MInnie Minoso Index
Baseball-Ref
SABR Bio Nick Altrock - 
 

1997 Topps Record Breakers Index

This is an Index to our postings regarding 1977 Topps Record Breakers

1977 Topps #232 Minnie Minoso (Oldest Player to Hit Safely)

Index
1977 Topps #231 George Brett (Six Consecutive 3-Hit Games)
1977 Topps #232 Minnie Minoso (Oldest Player to Hit Safely) 
1977 Topps #233 Jerry Morales (Most Pinch Hits Season)

Happy 50th Birthday John Cusack

John Cusack celebrates his 50^th birthday today.

1988 Orion Pictures "Eight Men Out" #12 John Cusack as Buck Weaver 

Cusack is a little over a year older than myself and due to a combination of our age and his prolific output he is probably the actor with Whom I most identify.

Three of his films standout to me: Eight Men Out – cited by the card above which as a period piece set a century ago resonates with me because of my interest in baseball; Grosse Pointe Blank – A class reunion flick that helps me revisit the middle 80s; and High Fidelity – my other obsession(s) pop music and extended adolescence.

Happy Birthday to John Cusack and thanks for growing up (or not growing up) with me.

1988 Orion Pictures "Eight Men Out" #12 John Cusack as Buck Weaver (b-side)

 
Cusack's Eight Men Out card does a nice job of summing up his early career. I think I may have seen the triumvirate of films mentioned Class, The Sure Thing and Sixteen Candles in the theater.   


Also a nice shout-out to Chicago - Like Eight Men Out, Class and Sixteen Candles were both set in Chicago as was High Fidelity. 

A bit of sloppiness on Pacific's part though - I have never seen Sixteen Candles written as "16 Candles"  
 
Sources and Links
Vittles Pop
Imdb

1990: Year of the No-Hitter - Melido Perez

The oddities of Year of the No-Hitter continued on July 12th.
.

1991 Score #705 No-Hit Club Melido Perez 

My apologies for the image, my lazy photography coupled with a shadow on the card results in Melido's face being completely dark.  Fortunately we have a profile picture on the flip of the card.

1991 Score #705 No-Hit Club Melido Perez (b-side)

In the Box on the back you will notice the short line score. The White Sox were leading the Yankees  8-0 in the top of the 7th when the game was called due to rain. This meant that the no-hitter only lasted six innings. It also meant that Perez suffered a fate similar to Andy Hawkins earlier in our No-Hit Series - the No-Hitter was rescinded.

There is one important difference between the rescinded no-hitters of Melido Perez and Andy Hawkins - Perez got to go home with a Victory.

Now look deeper into the box, check out who the losing pitcher was, yep Andy Hawkins - He might be the only pitcher to lose two shortened no-hitter. He did it in a two week period and he actually pitched one of the no-hitters.

Box Notes
The game was caught by Carlton Fisk. Due to the withdrawal of the no-hitter the Hall of Fame catcher never got credit for calling one. Other notable White Sox in the lineup include Robin Ventura, a Young Sammy Sosa (batting eighth!!) and Future ChiSox World Series Champion Manager Ozzie Guillen.

The Yankees one of their most mediocre lineups for the game. There are some semi-stars in there but the only big one is Don Mattingly and he was in the middle of a down year.

Pascual Perez
Sadly Melido's Brother Pascual was murdered in 2012. On a much happier note we must mention that Pascual has his own no-htter story that we intend to cover in a future post.

Sources and Links
1990: Year of the No-Hitter index
Retrosheet
ESPN
baseball-ref

Snapshots: 2015 05 23 Cooperstown Classic

Couple of Pictures from the Cooperstown Classic which was played just down the street from the Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday May 23rd 2015.

Team Knucksie: Yount, Fingers, Niekro, Baldelli, Trammell, A Soriano, Pudge, B Molina

The teams were broken down loosely into AL and NL squads although the AL Captain was Braves Rep Phil Niekro.

For the Alan Trammell supporters here we have a pix of the Tigers Shortstop at the Hall of Fame.

The Wizards: Smith, Glavine, Steve Woodard, Jack Wilson, E Taubansee, Kerry Robinson, Mark Loretta, John Franco, David Delucci, Ron Cey, Vinny Castilla, Bobby Abreu - Tony Perez Foreground, Baldelli and Trammell background

Apologies to Night Owl, but Ron Cey is shielded here. The Phillies had at least six alums in the game including Abreu, David Delucci and Perez.

Roy Oswalt vs Rick Ankiel

As you can see it was a Beautiful day for a game. Short time Phillies Pitcher Roy Oswalt represented the Astros.

Jim Eisenreich & Bobby Abreu

A pair of Phillies Outfielders at First Base.

Ozzie Smith and Rick Ankiel

 NL Captain Ozzie Smith taking care of some third base coaching duties

Jeff Idelson with Phil Niekro 

HoF Prez Jeff Idelson and Phil Niekro likely discussing Pete Rose's reinstatement prospects

Vinny Castilla 

Prior to the game there was a Home Run contest which was won by Colorado Rockies Thirdbaseman Vinny Castilla

Aaron Rowand

The Bob Feller award for Game MVP was given to Aaron Rowand who Homered off Steve Avery. For the HOF game Rowand who played a couple of seasons with the Phillies Represented the Chicago White Sox. 

Bob Dernier

Good Guy Award goes to Bob Dernier, although it may not be just because he is fan friendly. Bobby D was the RF ball boy and happened to be next to the stands and signed dozen of autographs between innings.

Quick Notes
--I have never seen a steal of Home in a real Game but saw one at the Classic, Brady Anderson the back end of a double steal.
--Saw two players lose bats into the stands (Ankiel, Homer Bush). That probably should not happen in an exhibition game of this type.
--I am pretty sure Brian Holman's career ended due to injury and I can see why. It took everything the man had to push the ball 60 ft 6 inches.
--Greg Cadaret who I am not at all familiar with was awful. In a game where the only job for a pitcher is to get the ball over the plate and every pitch is a strike Cadaret could not throw one.
--The Baseball Hall of Fame Jersey is Ugly (see Robin Yount in Pix 1 or Ozzie in pix 2 above)
--
Sources and Links
Baseball Hall of Fame
Baseball-ref

The Carlton Battery Card 1982 Fleer #632

Last nigh we discussed HoF catcher Cartlon Fisk. Today we transfer from one Carlton, Fisk, to another, Steve.

1982 Fleer #632 Steve & Carlton Carlton & Fisk

This is a fun card from 1982 Fleer - their second set after returning to the baseball card market in 1981.

The Photo was taken at the 1981 All-Star Game in Cleveland. Due to a players strike the game was not played until August 9th. The game reintroduced the second half of the baseball season which in 1981 was played as a split season.

Steve Carlton made the All-Star team but did not play in the game. Fisk started behind the dish for the AL and went 1-3 with his hit coming off of Burt Hooton.

1982 Fleer #632 Steve & Carlton Carlton & Fisk (b-side)

The flip side gives some brief details on the two Hall of Famers and the ASG. It also contains the "Carlton Battery" term which I ripped off for the title of this post


1982 Fleer Stars Subber
The Carlton Battery card is one of 19 star cards towards the end of the 1982F (#628-646). These are the cards that would basically become the Super Star Special subset in 1983.

I was curious if the picture on this card might be a photo taken by Steve Babineau. He was a Fleer Photographer who took a lot of pictures at the Vet for the brand. He was interview by Baseball Cards come to Life here. I found no evidence this was one of Babineau's photos but the interview is a fun read.

Sources and Links 
Phungo Steve Carlton HoF Index
Carlton Fisk HoF Index
Baseball Cards Come to Life 
1982 Fleer 
Cardboard Connection
Baseball Cardpedia
baseball-ref 

Sitting 20 feet from Eddie Cicotte Pt 2

A few weeks ago Team Phungo took in some culture in the form of Local Theater. We checked out a production of Anton Checkov's "The Cherry Orchard" at the People's Light Theater in Malvern PA. 

I have seen four productions at the People's Light and this was my least favorite. Following the play I read some background on the play and it is mentioned that directors struggle with the works balance of farce and tragedy.

I think this may have been the issue with the People's Light production of "The Cherry Orchard". The downbeats out paced the fun parts and the strongest character,  Lopakhin, was also the least likable.

My other issue was that several times in the play the dialogue between the characters came to a complete stop. I think this was to allow the audience to think about the action, these dramatic pauses were too frequent for my taste.

Regardless I was glad that I saw the show. Mrs Phungo does a great deal of work in Russian Studies and through her I have learned a lot about Checkovian theater. We have seen several Checkov influenced productions but this is the first time I saw one of the original plays.

1988 Orion Pictures "Eight Men Out" #6 David Strathairn as Eddie Cicotte

The plays lead roles featured a pair of actors with significant resumes for suburban theater, Mary McDonnell and David Straithairn

McDonnell is the star of the TNT drama series "Major Crimes" a spinoff of "the Closer". She has won and Obie and been nominated for several Oscars including Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Stands With A Fist in "Dances With Wolves". McDonnell's Daughter, Olivia Mell. also appeared in the Cherry Orchard. 

The lead male role of Leonid was played by David Straithairn who is familiar to baseball film fans as the actor who portrayed Eddie Cicotte in Eight Men Out. 

David Straithairn must be a fan of not just the theater, but Theater in Philadelphia. Back in 2010 we Strathairn in the Vaclav Havel play "Leaving" which is Checkov influenced. To see our review of that show click here.

It is pretty cool to see noted stars in a tiny theater in a small town like Malvern. People's Light always puts together quality plays, and despite my reservations presented at the top of the article I am glad that I got to see their production of "the Cherry Orchard"

Sources & Links
People's Light Theater
Eldritch Press
imdb
TNT

2015 Heritage the Originals: Teammates Subset?

There are a couple of special cards in the 1966T set that include 2 or 3 teammates.

1966 Topps #52 Power Plus Wes Covington Johnny Callison

At card #52 we have the first of the combo cards which happens to be dedicated to the Phillies. Johnny Callison is a worthy subject for a card titled Power Plus, not so sure about his partner.

Wes Covington was coming off a 1965 season in which he hit 15 homers and tallied 45 RBIs. Which I would consider unremarkable power numbers even in the pitching centric middle 60s. Other candidates for the card could have been Dick Allen (20 HR, 85 RBI) or Dick Stuard (28/95).

In addition it was Covington's last season with the Phillies, he was traded during the off-season and was likely gone by the time this card was issued.

1964 Phillies @ 50
Wes was also the a  member of the 1964 Phillies, as a Left fielder for the club he had similar numbers to 1965 13 HR, 58 RBI, .280 BA 126 OPS+, and 1.4 WAR. Covington's dWAR numbers hurt his total throughout his career.

During the clubs fateful stretch run manager Gene Mauch elected to frequently use a platoon in Left field. Following the teams collapse Covington was very unhappy and he would eventually ask for the aforementioned trade.

One of the more humorous parts of an extremely interesting SABR Bio by Andy Sturgill mentions that Covington had already spent his World Series bonus money. He purchased a rifle which he brought into the clubhouse and declared "This is for the sportswriters"

Fortunately for Wes Covington he was able to make the postseason both prior to and after his Phillies tenure. He won a World Series withe 1957 Milwaukee Braves and returned to the series with the club the following season. He also got a pinch hit appearance in the 1966 Series with the Dodgers who lost to the Orioles. 

1966 Topps Combos
Sorry drifted into our 1964 Phils coverage there, now back to our regularly scheduled post.

You may have noticed I had a Question Mark in the title, that is because I am not really sure one should call this theme a subset.  There are 5 combo cards in 1966 Topps with no apparent rationale for the players or teams. All 5 cards appear in the first couple of series. The four other teams repped are the Pirates, Giants, White Sox and Astros.

Willie Stargell is the only Hall of Famer in the subset with each card containing a player that is somewhat comparable to Johnny Callison.

#99 Bucs Belters - Willie Stargell, Don Clendennon

#156 DP Combo Dick Schofield Hal Lanier 

#199 Chisox Clubbers Bill Skowron, Johnny Romano, Floyd Robinson 

#273 Astros Aces - Bob Aspromante and Rusty Staub

Special Thanks to Jim From Downingtown who's research I stole for this post. He points out that the power outage doesn't occur just on the Phillies card, The Chisox card is dubious and ignoring Roberto Clemente on a Bucs Belters card does sound like a gaffe. 

Flipped

1966 Topps #52 Power Plus Wes Covington Johnny Callison (b-side)


There is a fairly detailed write up on the back of each card, although the Wes Covington portion of this one devotes a lot more time to his Braves career than his Phillies tenure.

2015 Heritage Combos
Who will Topps go with for the 2015 Combos?
Will 2015 Heritage have combos? 

I am saying yes to the combos and take a stab at some projections

Phillies Power Plus - egads nobody, I will stick with the standbys of Utley and Howard or Topps could maintain the continuity of the Covington trade by including Jimmy Rollins
Bucs Belters -McCutchen and How about Super Utility guy Josh Harrison filling the Clendennon role.
DP Combo (Giants) - This one is a little complicated. Brandon Crawford is the starting Shortstop for the World Champs, but there was a revolving door at 2nd. I am going with St Johns Alum Joe Panik.
Chisox Clubbers - If we can't go with Jose Abreu 3 times, I will add Konerko and Adam Dunn. I know they are both gone, but it is a deserved nod to their long careers.
Astros Aces - This is great the card is named Aces but has two batters. Going to go with 2 young guys here Altuve and Singleton - just because he came up with the Philllies.

Sources and Links
Willie Stargell HoF index 
1966 Topps Blog
2015 Heritage/1966 Topps Index
1964 Phillies @ 50 Index
SABR Bio by Andy Sturgill
cardboard connection
Topps Database
Baseball-ref

2015 Topps Hobby vs Retail

For the 2015T Hobby vs Retail we have pitted a Hanger Pack and 3 Looseys from a big box store against a Jumbo Pack and 3 Hobby Packs from a Card show. Both purchases were similar in price.

The Retail came to $16, The PA Tax and Target Red Card discount are almost a push which brings everything back to near list price. The Hobby offering was $11 for the Jumbo and $2 each for the Hobby Packs. The dealer unexpectedly charged tax on the purchase pushing the sale to $18.

Here is the scorecard:

 

Retail 
$16 - 1 Hanger & 3 Looseys

5 - Phillies (4 Base - Best = Chooch, 1 Robin Roberts insert)
84 - Unique Base Cards (23% - includes 4 Phils above)
    Best = Stanton, Puig, George Springer, Felix Hernandez
10 - Inserts (including aforementioned Roberts)
 -2 Archetypes (Aaron, Ryan)
 -2 First HR (Mattingly, Matt Carpenter
 -2 Highlight of the year (1968 Catfish, 1973 Ryan)
 -1 Jackie Robinson story
 -1 Inspired Play (Pirates Stargell-McCutchen)
 -1 Free Agent (Fisk)
 -1 Baseball History (1955 Robin Roberts)
1 - Variation (Greg Holland - Gatorade)
13 - Duplicates
102 Total Cards

Hobby
$18 - 1 Jumbo and 3 Hobby
1 - Phillies Card (Bastardo)
68 - Unique Base Card (19%)
     Best = Pence WS, Posey, Springer, Tom Koehler
9 - Inserts
 -2 Archetypes (Puig Jeter)
 -2 Highlight of the Year (1965 Marichal, 2001 Ripken JR)
 -1 Inspired (Pirates AGAIN)
 -1 Free Agent (Dawson)
 -1 Baseball History (1957 Red Schoendienst)
 -1 First Pitch (Keflezighi)
 -1 Call Your Shot (Is anybody using these)
1 - Buy Back (1978 Topps #361 Chris Knapp)
2 - Duplicates
80 Total Cards

The Verdict
Retail Wins NO CONTEST. This isn't even close. Breakdown
Phils Card - RETAIL - Wins on Number, Talent and Inserts
Base Cards -  RETAIL - Volume and Talent
Inserts - HOBBY - The first pitch puts Hobby over but barely
Hit - RETAIL - Buy back of Chris Knapp, and it is in garbage condition for a 1978 card.

There it is Retail tops Hobby in a route.

Collation
The cards came from four different sources (Hanger, Loosey, Hobby Jumbo, Hobby Pack) so there are no conclusion one can draw on collation other than that within each of those 4 segments the draw was fine.

Unfortunately there was heavy duplication across platforms. In addition to the 15 cards duplicated within each market there 18 across the two sets (plus one insert).

This means I picked up 34 duplicates from a bounty of 182 cards or 18.6%.  The number of unique base between bother purchases was 134 cards (38%). Had I been lucky enough to have no Duplicates I would have picked up 167 cards (47.6%)

Sources and Links
2015 Topps Index
Cardboard Connection

1959 Topps Baseball Thrills #466 Billy Pierce

The 2015 Verteran's Committee, er umm Golden Era Committee has been given their Hall of Fame Ballot for 2015. Among the ten nominees on the ballot is Southpaw Billy Pierce.

1959 Topps Baseball Thrills #466 Billy Pierce

During his career Billy Pierce pitched 18 years in the majors 13 of which were with Chicago White Sox. The seven time All-Star was a member of two pennant winners - the '59 White Sox, and the '62 Giants. Additional personal accomplishments include 211 career victories, ERA (1.97 in 1955), strikeout (186 in 1953)  and victory (20 in 1957).

Slightly less than half of Pierce's career occurred prior to the creation of the Cy Young Award. In two of those pre-CY seasons Pierce led the league in pitching WAR. That DOES NOT necessarily automatically translate into Cy Young Awards. In neither of the two seasons (1953, 1955) did Pierce Lead pitchers in MVP voting. Oddly in the 1956 season when he finished 4th in pitching WAR, He led all AL pitchers in the MVP voting. There was only 1 MVP award at the time (shared by both leagues) curiously Pierce did not get any Cy Young Votes - However Another AL pitcher whom Pierce finished in front of in the MVP vote did get CY votes - Hall of Famer Whitey Ford. 

Baseball Thrills

1959 Topps Baseball Thrills #466 Billy Pierce (b-side)

Billy Pierce was awarded a BT card based on his All-Star Game prowess - some additional notes on those 3 starts here: 

1953 - He matched up equally with Phillies HoF pitcher Robin Roberts 3 IP, 1 single, no walks. The HoF batters he retired that day included PeeWee Reese(twice), Red Schoendienst, Roy Campanella, Eddie Mathews, Enos Slaughter, Ralph Kiner (Strikeout).

1955 - 3ip, 1 hit erased on CS, faced minimum 9 batters. HoFs retired Duke Snider(K), Eddie Mathews, Ernie Banks(K)

1956 - 3ip, 2 singles, 1 run, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, One HoF retired Frank Robinson but he got in twice both times on strikeouts.

The Card doesn't mention Billy Pierce's 1957 appearance where he got knocked around a bit.

There is a modest discussion of this card at the 1959 Topps blog here. 

Phungo HoF Verdict
Even assuming 2 or possibly 3 Cy Young Awards for Billy Pierce, I don't think it is enough to put him in the Hall of Fame. His career WAR of 53.2 ranks 90th all-time - among contemporary pitchers that ranks between CC Sabathia and Johan Santana and just below David Wells(88th) and Dwight Gooden(89th). Both Wells & Gooden are great pitchers that rank above Pierce in Career WAR and both (unlike Pierce) have World Series Rings. However Wells & Gooden are not Hall of Famers and neither is Billy Pierce.

For more info on Pierce's career credentials check this Jay Jaffe article which is in agreement with our Hall of Very Good summation.

Sources & Links
1959 Topps Baseball Thrills
2015 Hall of Fame Candidates
AP/Philadelphia Inquirer
baseball-ref
jay jaffe- SI

Philly Show 2014 09 28 - Autographs & Relics

Taking a bit of a break from our playoff coverage to look at some Autographs and Relics that we picked up at the Philly Show last weekend.

I dabbled in autographs a bit when I first returned to collecting, but I don't really prospect or flip. I just try and get a handful of interesting cheap ones at each big show I visit. Most stay in my collection, a few I send out to fellow card bloggers or trade.

2012 Bowman Chrome Trevor May

In Decmber of 2012 Trevor May along with Vance Worley were traded by the Phillies to the Twins for Ben Revere.  Prior to 2012 May was the #69 MLB prospect according to Baseball America. He had a mediocre 2012 and '13 seasons, but excelled at AAA this past year.

May earned a Major League promotion to the Twins big club in August, His results were poor (7.88 ERA in 45+ innings across 10 games/9 starts). I don't think May should be discouraged with his debut, he just turned 25 as the season ended, and still has time to develop even if he will need to at the major league level.    


This card went for $2 - Phillies Auto Collection

2013 Topps Chasing History Adam Dunn

This card has a the retiring Adam Dunn and honors his 400th Home Run which he hit on August 8 2012

I was attracted to the dark blue pinstriped swatch. I have no idea what uniform that is, or if it the White Sox wear it, It is a dark blue navy with a pinstripe. Kind of pops on the card. Regardless, it is not from the Jersey that Dunn wore the night he hit the Home Run. The White Sox wore all black for a game in Kansas City. Note that photo on the card makes no attempt to honor the fidelity of the milestone.

$2 mid-level star, pinstriped Relic

2013 Topps Chasing History Carlos Santana

2011 Bowman Sterling Danny Duffy RC

2011 Bowman Chrome Cutter Dykstra 
2012 A&G auto Annie Duke AGA-ADK

Couple of Random Autos here - Santana on another Chasing History Card $3 and I figured the BowSter Danny Duffy RC was worth $2 with the Royals headed to the playoffs.

Meadow Soprano's Husband went for $2 and he has Phillies connections, Cutter Dykstra had a meh .279/.356/.399 line in 433 PA across 2 levels in 2014. He is at AA in the Nats system, but I don't see him being a threat to the Phillies any time season.

Finally we have the one auto I through real money down for. Poker player Annie Duke drew $10 out of my pocket, solely based on the cache that seems to go to A&G autograph subjects



Auto-Relic All-Stars
2013 Topps Triple Threads #TTR-JV1 Justin Verlander 

Source & Links
Philly Show 2014 09 28 Index
Baseball-ref
MLB/Chicago White Sox
youtube

Snapshots 2014 08 22 White Sox @ Yankees

Team Phungo took a road trip to New York this past weekend to catch what is likely our last Derek Jeter home game. 

Derek Jeter (Tyler Flower Catching - I believe this is in the 1st inning)

We may have been there to see the Captain but the evening belonged to Martin Prado.  The veteran super utility player got both a Home Run and a Walk off single accounting for 3 of the Yankees runs in the 4-3 victory.

Jeter went 1-5 in the game with the ht being a single. Regardless the Yankees crowd was glad to see him play and showed their appreciation.


Snapshots

Shane Greene vs Tony Abreu

The Three White Sox runs came courtesy of a Home Run by Cuban Rookie of the Year candidate Tony Abreu.  The photo above is of the pitch upon which Abreu hit is homer. The ball just cleared the wall in left center. Greene settled down after a miserable first inning and was able to pitch into the 6th. 

John Danks vs Jacoby Ellsbury (5th inning) 

We didn't sit there much but our tix were int he CF bleachers. It was a fun atmosphere for a game. We had an obstructed view that kept us from seeing Left Field, but it to allow me to take some ok shots of the action at the plate.

In my opinion Yankee Stadium is better lit than Citizen's Bank Park. There is a bank of lights behind the plate that were not even lit during the game. Not sure of the reasoning, but adequate illumination form the remaining lights does seem a possibility

Retired Numbers

The Yankees retired Joe Torre's #6 the day after our game, so I imaging Friday night was the last time that the Retired number board had "only"17 numbers displayed.

Sources
Baseball-ref

Sunday Night Baseball: Big League Brothers Lee and Carlos May 1977 Topps #633

ESPN is in Baltimore tonight to feature the AL East leading Orioles as they host the New York Yankees.  To honor this match up of division rivals we present a card from teh 1977 Topps Big League Brothers Subset.

1977 Topps #633 Big League Brothers Lee and Carlos May 

Lee May and Carlos May combined to play 28 years of Major League Baseball. The elder brother, Lee, spent most of his career with two clubs the Reds and the Orioles. Carlos is pictured here with the Yankees but spent 9 of his 10 seasons with the White Sox. 

Lee was the more prolific of the brothers logging 354 Home Runs over 18 seasons. His 109 RBI in 1976 led the league. Lee was a three time all-star and a member of two league championship teams - 1970 Reds and 1979 Orioles.

Carlos May had the less stellar career of the two brothers, but things could of ended up differently. On August 11 1969 Carlos was on Marine Reserve duty in California when a Mortar accident occurred. An interesting and scary interview can be read here. The accident cost May part of his thumb. Carlos was able to recover and return to baseball. As noted he had a significant career but only topped his rookie HR output of 18 once over his decade long career.

One would expect a major thumb injury to hinder a hitters performance. In the interview cited above Carlos mentions that it may have actually helped him. The Wilson Sporting Goods Co made him a custom batting glove that May acknowledged helped a lot, but he also believes that the injury forced him to change his approach. Carlos approach at the plate went from being a pull hitter to more of an fields spray hitter.

As of 2011 Lee was working in the Cincinnati Reds PR department. He is a member of both the Reds and Orioles Hall of Fame.

Carlos May is currently the first base coach for the Schaumburg Boomers, A Chicago area minor league team in the unaffiliated Frontier League.

1977 Big League Brothers
The 1997 Topps BLB subset consists of four cards. In addition to the May Brothers there are also the Forsch's, Reushel's, and the Brett's.

Sources
SABR Bio Lee May by Eric Aron
Boomers Baseball
White Sox Interactive
Baseball Card Database

2014 Topps First Pack

2014 Topps #199 Matt Davidson

Mixed on the first card of 2014. Matt Davidson has been on my radar since last summer when Team Phungo took in the 2013 Futures Game. He hit a home run and took home the MVP honors for the day. This is all great, a RC of a player I am familiar with - The flip side of all this is that Davidson was traded a little over a month ago. He is now a member of the Chicago White Sox. So yes my first 2014 Topps card is a player show representing an outdated team.

The Pack - Base Highlights
 

2014 Topps #134 Josh Donaldson
2014 Topps #211 Dioner Navarro

During the 2013 version of the great WAR vs RBI vs Playoff debate Josh Donaldson's name came up as a second thought behind the big guns of Trout & Cabrera. Donaldson was a factor because he had WAR cred and played on a contender. So yes he beats out Miguel Cabrera in WAR and he is on a Playoff team which knocks out Mike Trout. Of Course we have a Topps fail here as Mr Potential MVP Josh Donaldson doesn't get any type of hero number. He gets stinkin #134.

I posted Dioner Navarro just to showcase Topps photography. Catchers are great for pix and this is a nice example.

The Hits

2014 Topps Upper Class #UC-42 Jim Rice

This is one of two inserts I picked up in pack one. I will cover this set more in a future post, but will mention here that I like the look of the cards.

2014 Topps Red #6 Josh Beckett

Last year the Target Reds moved to a deeper shade which is maintained in 2014. I prefer the red in previous sets as it seems closer to the Phillies colors. 

Remaining Base

2014 Topps JD Martinez, Don Kelley, Brandon League, Garrett Jones, Mike Minor

Verdict
In my opinion the sole purpose of the extension of the white borders into the pix frame is done exclusively for use in creating parallels. Other than that and the duplication of the team name on the tab the design is decent.  The photography throughout the set is good. On day 1 I picked up the above pack plus 2 more and a hanger. The roughly 100 card sampling yielded strong pix throughout with interesting shots at an decent rate.   

Over the next couple o weeks we will take a look at some specific elements of 2014T as well as some of the different insert sets.

Previous Debut Packs
2013 Topps
2012 Topps
2010 Topps Opening Day
2010 Upper Deck

Sources
Beckett