Swag from Nachos Grande

Couple of highlights from a recent Nachos Grande Box Break

2015 Topps Heritage #596 Freddy Galvis

We lead off our Swag posting with a rare Freddy Galvis card. Topps seems to snub Galvis for some reason. He is not exactly a star and really more of a reserve player, but he is right at the top of the list of Phillies that don't get Topps cards.

This card is from the Heritage High  Number set, likewise #596 was a high number in the original 1966T  but it did not correspond to a Phillies player. The original card was as Rookie Card issued to Nate Colbert with Houston. I was unaware that Colbert debuted with the Astros until I saw the RC. He eventually moved to the Padres as an expansion draft pickup. Colbert shares his dual RC with Greg Sims who had a grand total of 7 career MLB Plate Appearances.

2014 Topps Stadium Club Chase Utley Base & Black Parallel 

He's gone and may have to sign a minor league contract to hook up with a team in 2016 but that won't stop us from being fans. Nice to pick up this short print in the break. 

2011 Topps Wilson Valdez 

There are not a lot of cares of Phan Phavorite Wilson Valdez. 

2013 Topps Chrome Purple Refractor Ryan Howard Purple 

Picked up a couple Purple Refractor shorties, The more notable of the two is the above Ryan Howard...

2013 Topps Chrome Purple Refractor Jonathan Pettibone

Pettibone had Shoulder surgery during the summer of 2014 and was expected to return to the Phillies by spring of this year but never made it to the mound in an official game. He is not currently on the 40 man roster.

2015 Topps Ken Giles

One of the few bright spots for the Phillies the last few seasons has been reliever Ken Giles. With contenders looking for closers and the rebuilding Phillies not reall needing one there is a chance that Giles will be on the move this winter. 

2015 Topps Heritage Odubel Herrera 

The Phillies rule 5 pickup Odubel Herrera also provided a few highlights during the Phillies 2015 campaign.

2015 Topps Chrome Ryan Howard

Still good to see cards of one of the 2008 Phillies last remaining heroes.

Bobby Abreu 
Darren Daulton
Ricky Otero

Some other heroes from the past were part of the break

2008 Topps Home Run Derby Chase Utley

Closing with another Chase Card.

Sources and Links
Baseball Card Database
Baseball-reference
Phillies - Todd Zolecki
Philly.com - Jake Caplan 

Phungo Game Report - 2010 07 07 Braves @ Phillies

The Phils dropped the final game of a 3 game series against the Braves on Weds night. Jamie Moyer held the Braves to one run through five innings, but couldn't get out of the 6th inning. The Braves sent 10 hitters to the plate in the 6th and scored 6 runs which would lead them to the 7-5 victory.

Brian McCann had a bases loaded double which broke open the 6th inning. Martin Prado added a pair of homers in his 3-5 evening. Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino each homered for the good guys while Jimmy Rollins collected a pair of doubles.

Kris Medlen earned the victory for the Braves, while former Phil Billy Wagner (hitting "only" 96mph these days) picked up the save. During the big 6th inning I found out that Medlen is a switch-hitter, and performed the rare feat of striking out from both sides of the plate in a single inning - good thing or else the Phils might still be trying to get the Braves out.


Photos and Observations
2010 07 07 Jamie Moyer v Chipper Jones (click to enlarge)

This is a picture of Jamie pitching to Chipper in the first inning, if you enlarge the picture you can see the baseball right below the right hand side of the first base coaching box. Moyer would win this AB as Chipper popped out to center.

It was a hot somewhat humid night - fortunately there was a bit of haze which actually kept the sun from beating down on us in the early innings. Braves fans were fairly well represented, including a confused young lady in front of us who wore a Braves cap and a Jayson Werth T-Shirt.

One thing that you really get a sense for when your actually at the game as opposed to watching on TV, is the size of some of these guys. The Braves have a couple of guys that are just huge. Tommy Hanson and Troy Glaus were among the giants. Perhaps it was just that I spotted them standing next to Matt Diaz.

Cards that Never Were
Wilson Valdez was still a Met in 2009, but he gets the 2009 Topps treatment as a Phil in the above starting line up card.

Cards that will likely never be in my PC

1952 Topps Mickey Mantle and Willie McCovey Autograph

Excuse the layout here - I am not going to put in the time to figure out why I can't orient this photo correctly.

Hunt Auctions is based in Exton PA about an Hour west of Philadelphia. They have a case of items for sale at the ballpark - it may be in conjunction with their memorabilia auction at the All-Star fan fest this week. This is a 52 Mickey Mantle in basically horrible condition, if I am not mistaken the salesman quoted a price of $35,000 for the card. The McCovey Autograph mext door was listed for $20 - a comparative bargain.

Good Guy Awards
Tim Hudson gets a GGA for signing roughly two dozen autographs. Other Braves spotted signing balls and caps included Matt Diaz and Bullpen Coach Eddie Perez. I also saw Ryan Howard signing for a few kids on the Phils sideline.

Despite the Phils losing an important mid-season game and series and the hot humid conditions, it was still a fun night at the ballpark. We are half way through the season, hopefully Team Phungo will catch some Wins soon.