TASR: 1961 Topps #77 Dick Stigman

We are down to the PostSeason final 4 we are going to take this opportunity to look back on some cards representing the remaining contenders.

Today we lead off with the Cleveland Guardians (nee Indians) and 1961 Topps Dick Stigman.

1961 Topps #77 Dick Stigman

Dick Stigman at age 88 is one of the eldest of the TASR honorees. He had a remarkable career that is highlighted by being part of big baseball events but not getting a chance to participate. During his rookie campaign in 1960 (the Two ASG era) he was named to both All-Star Teams (despite a 5-11 record), but did not participate in either game. Stigman was also a member of the 1965 Twins Team who pushed the Sandy Koufax led LA Dodgers to 7 games in the World Series. He was a member of the postseason roster but did not get to pitch in the series. A disappointment for Stigman who was a local athlete from the small town of Nimrod Minnesota.

1961 Topps

Classic follow-thru pose of the young southpaw here. The Red and Yellow ID panels complement the old school original large form Rookie Cup Trophy. 

Dick Stigman's selection as a dual All-Star and All-Star Rookie cup member is pretty dubious. In addition to the aforementioned 5-11 record among LHP rookie pitchers in 1960 he ranked 8th in ERA (4.51) almost a run and a half behind the leader, Senators pitcher Jack Kralick (3.04). In fact Stigman was 8th in ERA for the subset (50+ip) which included the Phillies Chris Short (3.94). Among southpaws Stigman 5 wins ranked 7th (Steve Barber 10, Short 5). He did rank 2nd in Strikeouts with 104, a category again won by Steve Barber at 112. Pretty hard to justify a selection for a player that lost out in all 3 of the triple crown categories. The only thing that can point to Stigman is his combined Win+Save total of 14 eclipsed Barber by.... ONE (10 wins, 3 Saves)

30 Million Youngsters Can't be Wrong 

According to the TASR Team Announcement in the Sporting News 30 Million Youngsters voted for the team, who knew that Dick Stigman would be so popular?

The 1961 Topps Rookie All-Star Squad was only the 2nd one elected and during that era it was done by the "Youth of America". I don't want to group them in with the BBWAA, but their selection is suspect.

WAR Report

The Youth of America had no clue of what WAR was then, but I will  note that Dick Stigman did not do well here either, finishing with an abysmal -0.7. Jack Kralick's Southpaw leading ERA propelled him to the WAR crown with a 4.0 (Barber and Dick Ellsworth 2nd at 2.1 - Chris Short T5 1.1)

1961 All-Star Team(s)

4 Wins and 58 Career Strikeouts...

And 2 All-Star Teams 

That is where the Official Baseball Record stood for Dick Stigman on July 13 1960

That's Right, he had less than 60 Career Ks and the guy was already on his 2nd all-star team. 

How did this happen:

1) The biggest reason is this was during the two all-star games in one season era

2) 6 Saves. Coupled with his four wins this meant that Dick Stigman was involved in 10 of Clevelands 43 wins. Not sure where six saves ranked mid season, but chances are it was pretty high. For the season Stigman's teammate Johnny Klippstein led the league with 14. 

3) Possibly minor League Dominance - Stigman led his league in Ks twice while in the Minors. 

 

White Sox and 1960 AL All-Star Manager Al Lopez had seen Stigman a lot prior to the All-Star break,  those games were likely not helpful. In the week prior to the All-Star Break Stigman faced the White Sox 3 times, twice as a starter and once as a road finish. He pitched 8.2 innings and gave up 7 earned runs (7.27 ERA) including a start where he gave up 10 walks in 5.2 innings. 

All I can figure is Lopez was happy with the 3 Ws over Cleveland and selected Stigman - who knows. 

 

Flip

1961 Topps #77 Dick Stigman (b-side)

We have Couple of -Toons! 

In panel 1 we have the source for the aforementioned comment on Minor League Dominance. Panel 2 echoes the All-Star Rookie Trophy from the front side and in the finale we have an all-star reference with some dated artwork. 

Topps Subset Royalty

Dick Stigman's career may not have panned out but he ended up being in a number of Topps Subsets. Two years prior to being an All-Star Rookie he was one of 31 players in the 1959 Sporting News Rookie Stars Subset which was the first time that Topps had run a rookies subber of any kind. Stigman is one of three players from the set that is still living, Eddie Haas and Bob Lillis are the others.

In 1962 Stigman was on Cleveland's "Tribe Hill Trio" card with fellow hurlers Jim Perry and Barry Latham. Following a trade to his hometown Twins Dick Stigman made it into the League Leaders pantheon with 1964 Topps. He shares his 1963 Strikeout Card Podium with Hall of Famer Jim Bunning and fellow Twin Camilo Pascual

Pretty good for a guy that appeared on 7 base cards to appear in 4 different subsets: Rookie Stars, Rookie Cup, Team Multis and League Leaders. 

Dick Stigman Index

Placeholder for more Stigman

Sources Links

1961 TASR Index

SABR Bioproject (Tom Tomashek)

Baseball_ref

Sporting News

1960 Topps #324 Jim Perry

This is an entry in our effort to Chronicle the entirety of the Topps All-Star Rookie Cup canon. 

As of the spring of 2024 Jim Perry is the last living member of the original Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Team. The first class of ten members was awarded in 1959 and honored on cards #315-325 of 1960 Topps.

The penultimate card of that subset is Jim Perry

1960 Topps #324 Jim Perry

If you click here you can scroll down and see the Topps All-Star Rookie Cup awards banquet photo. Perry is the rightmost player present.  

Flip

1960 Topps #324 Jim Perry (b-side)

One of the things I love about 1960 Topps is the season timeline, thankfully this base set feature is also present on the rookie cup cards. Six of Perry's performances are listed on the card plus the October 29th rookie cup selection. 

The first game on May 12th is cited as a seminal moment in Perry's career in his SABR Bio authored by Joseph Wancho.  What the card doesn't mention is that among those 4 strikeouts are 3 HOF, Enos Slaughter, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle. The fourth was the formidable Elston Howard. 

I also want to note the creativity in the comic which imagines a baseball bat as a military rifle and baseballs as shell casings. 

By the Numbers

Perry posted a 12-10, 2.65 ERA, 79 K season in 153 innings, which would have been an inning shy of the 154 IP League leader standards of the era. He led the 7 rookies with 100 innings in ERA by a margin of over 2 (Jerry Casale 4.31 in 179.2 IP).  Larry Sherry's 2.19 in 94 innings leads if we reduce the requirement a smidge. 

Perry's 12 Wins were 2nd only to Red Sox rookie Jerry Casale who had 13 of his 17 careeer Ws as a rookie. Perry finished 4th in Ks which was led by Ernie Broglio. 

Larry Sherry was the only RHP that finished with a better WAR than Perry, 3.6 v 2.4. While both players had successful careers, Perry had the most significant of the two longevity wise. 

However... 

The big name among RHP to debut in 1959 was Bob Gibson who had a much briefer MLB season than his Rookie cohort but did well (3-5, 3.33 ERA, 48 K, 75.2 IP, 1.5 WAR). 

Career numbers for the 1959 Rookie Class are of course led by Gibby: 251 Wins, 2.91 ERA, 3117 K, 81.7 WAR. Perry is 2nd in Wins (215) Strikeouts (1576) and WAR 38.4. His 3.45 Career ERA trails Gibson and 3 time World Champion Bob Miller (3.37)

Verdict

Overall the Youth of America got this one right when voting for the first All-Star Rookie Cup Team in 1959. Jim Perry's Win Total is comparable to Casale's with an ERA that is far above any of the competition. Larry Sherry's pre-analytics WAR is impressive but the innings matter. Bob Gibson lags behind the group. 

ROY

Jim Perry received 5 votes for the AL Rookie of the Year Award finishing 2nd to Senators Slugger Bob Allison. 

Baseball Card Pioneer

Topps All-Star Rookies is not the only subset in which Jim Perry participates in the debut series. A year later the Right Hander would find himself on the first Topps League Leader to honor AL Pitching (Wins). During his sophomore season Perry posted 18 Wins which tied him with the Orioles Chuck Estrada. 

The original LL cards are just crammed with faces so Perry and Estrada do not appear much more significant than the anyone else in the top 6 wins on the 1961 Topps LL card, however they do appear on the top line

1961 Topps #48 American League Pitching Leaders 

Jim Perry would return to League Leaders a full decade later in the 1971T LL set where on this podium card he appears to have finished 3rd in Wins 

1971 Topps #69 American League Pitching Leaders 

However all 3 pitchers Cuellar, McNally and Perry won an identical 24 games. If you want to read more about this card check out Night Owl Cards Topps 1971 column here. 

Not a Rookie Card

This is not Jim Perry's rookie card. He originally appeared in 1959 Topps High number series

1959 Topps #542 Jim Perry

If you want to read more about this card check out Topps 1959. 

Big League Brother

Jim is the older brother of Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry. Gaylord's debut was not nearly as successful as his brothers and he was bested by the Phillies Ray Culp for RHP rookie cup honors in 1964. As of press time we do not have much in our HOF file on Gaylord Perry, but an index to any future postings we have can be found here.

Sources and Links

1960 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Subset Index

1971 Topps Blog

1959 Topps Blog

Baseball-Ref

SABR Bio by Joseph Wancho

Anniversary 60 Years ago: Rocky Colavito 4 Home Run Day

June 10th marks the 60th anniversary of an historic game between the Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles. That Day Rocky Colavito became the 6th major league player to record a 4 Home Run game.

1964 Topps Jumbo #9 Rocky Colavito

The Indians won that game 11-8 with Colavito accounting for 6 RBI. Notice that the above card features Rocky as an Athletic not an Indian. Well that is because of the back of the card...

1959 Topps Jumbo #9 Rocky's Hot Bat (b-side)

As we can see the headline on this card is all about the 4 Homer game which is described in the cards first coupe sentences. The remainder of the text discusses Colavito's home run legacy all the way back to his minor league days.

Rocky Colavito's four home run game is also featured on the back of a 1964 Topps base card, #109. Colavito, however, does not appear on the front of that card, to find out more click here.

Sloppy Topps
The photo on the b-side of the card is also not with the Indians. Colavito wore three different numbers with Cleveland 6, 21 and 38 but never 7. The two squads for which he donned #7 were the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City A's. I am thinking that this photo is with the Tigers as Rocky Colavito didn't join the Athletics until 1964. The front appears to be an Airbrushed Tigers photo as well. 

1964 Topps Jumbo
I love this set and I have it on the back burner to build. They are referred to Jumbo or Giant cards because they are oversized at just over 3"x5". I go with Jumbo because when you search on "1964 Topps Giant" you get a bunch of Willy Mays cards, but not necessarily Jumbos. 

Colavito's Four Home Run Game
Baseball-Ref Box
1964 Topps #109 (Rusty Staub)

Sources and Links
Game Dated Cards Index
1964 Topps Jumbo Index
Baseball-Ref
ebay
Cardboard Connection

2016 World Series

I will be rooting for the Indians this year. However I like both squads.

2004 UD USA Baseball #USA-60 Terry Francona

One of the reasons that I will be cheering for Cleveland is that their manager led some very bad Phillies teams in the late 1990s. In my opinion he took a little to much heat here for that lack of success of those teams. 

Prediction
However....I believe the Indians are way overmatched, I predict the Cubs in a quick four games. MVP goes to Ben Zobrist.

For more information on this card an 2004 UD USA Baseball see our original posting on this card which is here


Sources and Links
baseball-ref

1976 ASG +40: Bob Lemon 1956 Topps #255

The Phillies are hosting their first Home Inter-League Series of 2016 this weekend. The rare meeting with the Indians gives us the opportunity to discuss Hall of Famer Bob Lemon as part of our 1976 All-Star Game Anniversary coverage.

1956 Topps #255 Bob Lemon

The 1976 inductees for the Hall of Fame were Pitchers Bob Lemon and the Phillies own Robin Roberts.

As part of the All-Star game festivities the two were made honorary captains for the squads. Lemon who spent his entire career with the Indians was affiliated with the AL while Roberts repped the NL.

Haller
Bob Lemon was a borderline Hall of Famer who had been on the Ballot over a dozen times prior to being elected in 1976. His resume is by a World Championship with the 1948 Indians. Lemon recorded 2 wins in the series including the game six clincher.  The seven time All-Star garnered AL Pitcher of the Year honors from the Sporting News three times, He won 20 games seven times and lead the AL three times. Lemon was a durable starter leading the league in complete games five times, innings four times and Strikeouts and Shutouts once each. 

Lemon spent three years during the early part of his career in the Navy. The time lost was likely a significant consideration for Hall of Fame voters. 

Flip

1956 Topps #255 Bob Lemon (b-side)

I want to start with the last cartoon. I like how they point out Bob Lemon moved from the infield to pitching. The switch was made following Lemon's return from the service. Note that the cartoon has the hitter batting left-handed and the pitcher throwing righty, which matches the description of Mr Lemon.

Now I want to take a look at the middle panel. In the politically correct 21st century I am not sure we would see this cartoon on the back of a baseball card.

Getty Got It
According to the Getty Images archive the posed action shot was taken on September 28 1954, the day prior to game one of the World Series. However, I doubt the accuracy of that info as Lemon is wearing Home White on the card and in the photo and game 1 of the '54 series was played at the Polo Grounds.

However, if the photo is from prior to 1954 Game 1 it is connected to this card in the 1959 Topps Set. Yes that is correct, that is the game in which Willie Mays made "the Catch" at the Polo Grounds.

The Bob Lemon Action Shot is from the Otto Bettmann Collection.

Bob Lemon HoF Index
1978 Topps #574 (As Player/As Manager)

Sources and Links
1976 ASG 40th Anniversary Index
YouTube - 1976 All-Star Game
SABR Bio Jon Barnes
baseball-ref
baseball almanac
Getty Images 

Indians @ Phillies 15th overall picks Chase Utley and Tyler Naquin

Found an interesting card for this weekends Indians Phillies Series. 

2012 Bowman Draft Top Picks #TP-UN Chase Utley Tyler Naquin 

Chase Utley was once paired with the Indians Rookie Center Fielder, Tyler Naquin in a Bowman Draft Insert set. The connection between the two players was their draft position, #15. Utley was drafted in 2000 Naquin, 2012.

2012 Bowman Draft Top Picks #TP-UN Chase Utley Tyler Naquin (b-side)

The flip of the card finds a further similarity between the two players drafted, they were both previously picked out of High School. The card doesn't note that Utley's was originally drafted in the second round and Naquin remained available until the 33rd.

WAR Stories - 15th Overall Pick

If Tyler Naquin has the career that Chase Utley has had I am sure the Indians will be very happy.

Truth is if Naquin's career ended today, the Tribe would not be happy but they would have done better than half of the teams that have picked 15 overall. Of the 51 players that have been picked #15 just under half (24) have made the majors. Tyler Naquin is less than a month into his Major League career and already ranks among the top 20 in games played among #15 picks. While Naquin is among the 47% who made the majors he does not one of the 15 (29%) who have had a positive impact as measured by WAR. The rookie is at -0.2 through his first 17 games.

The average WAR for the 24 players that reached the majors is is +11.4. Nine of the 51 picks (18%) have had a career WAR of +10.0 or above - basically the equivalent of two All-Star season.   

Sixteen (31%) of players have played in 162 games, the equivalent of one major league season, 18 (36%) if you count the two pitchers between 30 and 161 games.  

Chase Utley's career 62.8 WAR paces all #15 picks with the only Hall of Famer Jim Rice second at 47.4. Other notables include Chris Carpenter (+34.5), Richie Hebiner (+32.9), Current Utley Teammate Scott Kazmir (+22.6 - active), Stephen Drew (+16.1 - active), Devin Mesoraco (+4.0 - acrtive), Phillies Reliever Ethan Martin (-0.5) and Braves Prospect Sean Necomb (2015 BA Prospect #70)

Chase Utley is the Phillies only #15 overall selection, the Indians have picked there 3 times: Naquin, 1969 - Alvin McGraw (peaked at AAA including a stint in the Phillies Org), and 2009 Alex White (-0.5 WAR was active in 2015)

Rice is the Home Run Leader among the group with 382, followed by Utley (236) and Hebner (203). Carpenter leads the Pitchers with 144 wins with Scott Kazmir at 99 victories. Swingman Scott Garrelts is 3rd in Ws with 69 and is the saves leader with 48.

Royce Clayton (1988, +19.5 WAR) edged out Jim Rice for Games Played among the selections (2108 - 2089), Chase Utley is well back just under 1600 games as of Press time.

Sources and Links 

WAR and the Draft Index

Chase Utley Player Collection

baseball-ref

Name the Game: 2014 Chrome #174 Chase Utley

If you want to Name the Game DON'T SCROLL BEYOND THE CARD!

Otherwise stay with us and I will discuss this card below.

2014 Topps #174 Chase Utley (Black Parallel #61/100)

The Photo features Phungo favorite Chase Utley, it appears he is recording a putout on the front end of a possible double play with Cleveland Indians catcher Carlos Santana sliding into second base.

Chase is wearing the Phillies alternative cream jerseys which are reserved for day games. Those two facts point pretty quickly to a single game, a sad 10-4 loss on the 15th of May in 2013. If we look a little deeper we find the only time Santana reached base was in the 7th inning.  He was erased a pitch later on a 6-4-3 double play induced by Phillies pitcher Phillippe Aumont versus the Indian Ryan Raburn

Getty Got It
Once we established the date as a cross check we scanned the Getty Archive and found the image. Hovering the cursor over the photo yield the date and location information which confirms the 2013 05 15 date mentioned above. It also credits Hunter Martin as the Photographer.

Phungo Games

Ticket 2015 05 15 Indians @ Phillies

One of the reasons this card caught my eye is that it is from a Phungo Game - A game attended by Team Phungo. For our dismal game report on that disaster click here. 

Flip

2014 Topps #174 Chase Utley (b-side Black Parallel #61/100)

This is a parallel from the 2014 Chrome set. The black border refractor is a nice look for Phillies Cards - Nice contrast with the Red and having an Indians uni in the frame doesn't hurt. These parallels have a limited print run of 100 copies which can be seen in the top right corner.

To see the vanilla Utley Chrome card you can click here to see our blaster break from 2014.

Variations
In addition to all the parallels the Image also shows up on the mini variation of the 2014 Gypsy Queen Chase Utley card. An example can be seen in the Cardboard Connection Variation Guide - scroll down to card #255.
 
Sources and Links
Phungo Games Index
Chase Utley Player Collection
Baseball-ref
Getty Images
Hunter Martin Photography
Cardboard Connection 

Updates
2016 0121: Game Ticket Added

Sunday Night Baseball: Red Sox @ Angels 1975 Topps #7 No-Hitter Highlights

Sunday Night Baseball is in LA for the Red Sox and Angels which gives an opportunity to dig a bit deeper into our Year of the No-Hitter series.

1975 Topps #7 1974 Highlights No-Hitters - Busby Bosman & Ryan

Two of the Ten pitchers who were involved in Year of the No-Hitter had thrown previous no-hitters. Mike Witt who finished Mark Langston's No-Hitter tossed a perfect game in 1984, the other of course was was Nolan Ryan.

The No-Hitter referred to by the 1975 Topps Card above is Ryan's Third. Ryan and the Angels defeated the Twins 4-0. The Twins lineup that Ryan faced that day included Future Hall of Famer Rod Carew (Who was the focus of our previous Angels SNB posting) and pinch hitter Harmon Killebrew. Ryan had the opportunity to finish the No-Hitter when he faced the Killer with 2 outs in the ninth, but ended up walking the slugger before getting Eric Soderholm for the final out.

1975 Topps #7 1974 Highlights No-Hitters - Busby Bosman & Ryan (b-side)

The newspaper style text on the back of the card gives short descriptions of the No-Hitters. Steve Busby beat the Brewers 2-0. Milwaukee's Shortstop that day was rookie Robin Yount who was playing in his 56th career game.

Dick Bosman shutdown Reggie Jackson and the Oakland A's 4-0 in the middle of their three-peat World Series Run. Today is the Anniversary of Bosman's No-Hitter which occurred 41 years ago. 

2007 09 23 Dick Bosman Throws out first pitch at RFK Stadium

Dick Bosman threw out the final first pitch at RFK Stadium. The Phillies lost to the Nationals 5-3 that day. Chuck Cordero struck out Jayson Werth for the final out.

Peanut Gallery 
Night Owl covered this No-Hitter card on his 1975 Topps Blog.

Sources and Links
1990 Year of the No-Hitter
Nolan Ryan HoF Index
Washington Nationals
baseball almanac
Baseball-ref

2015 Heritage the Originals: League Leaders Cards Sonny Siebert - Mysterious Extra

The League Leaders subset returned in 1966 Topps, but it was moved away from the top of the set where it had lived in the past three releases. 

The 12 cards were numbered from 215-226 and represented the same six categories (for each league) that were present in 1965: Batting, HR, RBI, ERA, Pitching, Ks 

There is at least one oddity in the subset

1966 Topps #226 LL AL Strikeouts

All of the other League Leaders cards are of the triple variety, the logical explanation here would have been that McLain and Siebert had tied in strikeouts. But they did not.

1966 Topps #226 LL AL Strikeouts (b-side)


This opens the door for King Felix to get on the 2015 Heritage League Leaders card. In 2014 he finished 4th behind David Price, Corey Kluber and Matt Scherzer.

And YES the Topps Heritage checker came out recently - check it out card #226 has 4 players on the card. Max Scherzer had a legit claim on the #3 spot in AL Strikeouts (252), but he will share his podium spot with Felix Hernandez (248)

Nice attention to detail Topps. 

Sources and Links
1966 Topps Blog
2015 Heritage/1966 Topps Index
topps
cardboard connection
Topps Database
Baseball-ref

100th Birthday HoF Joe Gordon

February 18th would have been Joe Gordon's 100th birthday. Not very often we get that milestone out of a Hall of Famer.

1961 Topps #216 Joe Gordon

Joe Gordon was an 1940s era second baseman who played with the Yankees and Indians. His name frequently comes up when analyzing the Sim Scores of Chase Utley.

Gordon was not an original BBWAA Hall of Famer. He fell of the ballot in 1970, eventually getting the nod from the Veterans committee in 2009.   

1960 Topps #216 Joe Gordon (b-side)

The flip of Joe Gordon's card has a couple cartoons that detail his Hall of Fame accomplishments. 

During Gordon's 1942 MVP campaign he was 2nd in the league in WAR to Ted Williams, finishing in the top 10 in BA, OBP, Slugging, Home Runs, RBI and dWAR.

In addition to his MVP trophy, Gordon had lots of team hardware: Between 1938 and 1948 Gordon was part of five World Championship teams four with the Yankees and one with the Indians.

The strongest argument for Joe Gordon being in the Hall of Fame is not his MVP or World Series Ttiles. When Larry Doby became the first African-American player in the AL, Gordon was one of the first players to welcome Doby to the team.

The following excerpt from Joseph Wancho's SABR Bio of Joe Gordon discusses Larry Doby's first game with the Indians.

While most players were cordial, a handful refused to acknowledge Doby or even shake his hand. Doby's feeling of isolation continued after the team moved to the diamond to warm up before the start of the game. "I felt all alone. When we went out on the field to warm up, to play catch, you know the way we always did, no one asked me to play. I just stood there for minutes. It seemed like a long time," recalled Doby. "Then Joe Gordon yelled, 'Hey kid, come on. Throw with me.' That was it. Joe Gordon was a class guy. He'd been a Yankee and the others looked up to him. So when he reached out to me, it really helped."

1960 Topps 
The same image of Gordon is on his 1961 Topps card however, the cap is airbrushed to show him as the Manager of the KC Athletics.

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref
SABR Bio by Joseph Wancho
Topps Card Database

1959 Topps Baseball Thrills #462 Rocky Colavito

Knocking out another one of the 1959 Topps Baseball Thrills tonight.

1959 Topps #462 Rocky Colavito

Despite Colavito's status as a loved Hall of Very Good player, this is one of the weaker cards in the Baseball Thrills subset. While the pix on the front does demonstrate some action especially with the young fan going for the ball, overall I find it a somewhat dull. Beyond my issues with the photo on the front the flip side goes into a lot of detail regarding the catch while giving it absolutely no frame of reference.

1959 Topps #462 Rocky Colavito (b-side)

All we find out is that the game was versus the Yankees and the go ahead run was on base. No mention of the pitcher or batter involved nor is the date or park cited.

I did some minor research on the photo in an effort to figure out what game this is from on my own. I came up empty. fortunately CommishBob had gone through some diligent effort which is summarized in this post. The game is from May 10 1956, The play occurred in the 6th inning, on a ball hit by Gil McDougald. Turns out that the game account on the card is almost a total fabrication. At the time of the AB, the game wasn't really close (4-0 Indians),  the bases were clear, and Lemon certainly wasn't tiring - He threw complete game.

1956 Rookie of the Year
The card captures Colavito during his rookie campaign. He finished 2nd in the 1956 RoY voting behind future Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio. Not sure what the voters were thinking here - Colavito batted 10 points higher than Aparicio and also won the Home Run Battle 21-3. Aparicio had a similar edge in stolen bases 21-0.

The big factors likely were Aparicio played a full season while Colavito played only 101 games, and the fielding postion edge - Aparicio was a shortstop while Colavito played right.

Colavito spent the bulk of his 14 year career with the Indians. He made 9 all-star teams across 6 seasons, but never made it to the World Series. Rocky placed in the top 10 of the MVP vote four times, the best of which was 3rd in 1958 When he led the league in slugging. The following season he led the league in homers (42) and Total Bases (301). In 1965 Colavito paced the AL in RBIs (108) and Walks (93)

Retired Rocky
Today Rocky is 81 and according to some TTM sites he lives outside of Reading PA in a town about an hour from Phungo HQs.

Sources & Links
1959 Topps Baseball Thrills
1959 Topps one f/g card at a time
SABR Bio by Joseph Wancho
Baseball-ref

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

Happy Independence Day! 2009 Topps A&G National Pride #NP31 Grady Sizemore

Getting the Holiday weekend off to a start by posting a card of one of the newest faces in the Phillies Organization.

2009 Topps A&G National Pride #NP31 Grady Sizemore

Last week the Phillies signed Grady Sizemore off the scrap heep and he is currently playing the outfield for the teams AAA affiliate Lehigh Valley.

Sizemore has had a decent week, picking up a couple of hits including a Home Run. The move obviously doesn't make the Phillies a contender, but it does allow the Phillies flexibility to do a couple of things. 1) Trade Marlon Byrd or Dom Brown to a contendor 2) Send Ben Revere back to AAA for some seasoning.

At this point I don't know that Ben Revere can learn much at the AAA level, A player with no pop and mediocre defensive ability just doesn't have a spot in the Major Leagues. His lack of any skill outside of hitting singles really makes it hard to find a spot for him as a ballplayer.

2009 A&G National Pride
National Pride was a commong 2009 insert of Allen & Ginter. It is a bit hard to believe that the set is now 5 years old, The checker for the subset consists of 75 cards. The Phillies featured in the set include Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez, Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz. The checker for this set has some interesting names on it, and it would be fun to do a where/now on the list 5 years removed from the originals.

Sources
Baseball-ref
Baseball Cardpedia
Teams Sets 4 U

2014 03 08 Card Show Valley Forge PA: 1952 Topps HOF Larry Doby

Last week as part of the Year of the Horse series we profiled Ellis Valentine and his famous half face mask card. One of the interesting things that was noted in a linked Jeff Pearlman interview is the an early mentor of Valentine was Larry Doby. 

1952 Topps #243 Larry Doby

In 1947 Three months after Jackie Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Larry Doby became the first African-American player in the AL. On July 5, 1947 Doby pinch hit in the 7th inning of a game between the White Sox and Indians.

A year later Doby was a key member of the Indians squad that won the 1948 World Series. During the series he led the team in hits and batting average. 66 years later it remains the Indians most recent World Championship.

Larry Doby would go on to lead the AL in Home Runs twice (1952, 1954). His 1954 performance was good enough to place him 2nd in the MVP voting (Yogi Berra). Doby led the league in WAR in 1952 and oWAR in 1950. The MVPs those years went to Phil Rizzuto (1950) and Bobby Shantz (1952). It should be noted that Shantz's pitching WAR did outpace Doby 9.6 - 7.0.

For the Collector
I picked this card up at the Valley Forge Card Show for $8.  A 1952 Topps card of an Iconic Hall of Famer for $8 stinking bucks. That is my victory of the year.

2014 03 08 VF Card Show
1952 Topps #243 Larry Doby
1969 Topps #6 LL HR Dick Allen McCovey Banks  
1973 Topps #503 Phil Niekro
  
Sources
Baseball-ref
baseball Hall of Fame

2004 UD USA Baseball #USA-60 Terry Francona

Tonight is the last of 3 consecutive nights of Winner or Go Home MLB games, featuring Monday Nights winner the Tampa Bay Rays v the Cleveland Indians who have come to be known as the "Fighting Francona's" 

2004 UD USA Baseball #USA-60 Terry Francona


Lots of folks know that in addition to managing the Indians Terry Francona has also managed both the Phillies and of course the Red Sox (2004 and 2007 World Champions), however they may not know that he was the manager of the 2001 USA Baseball team.  The USA squad took the silver medal in the 2001Baseball World Cup (not affiliated with the WBC) hosted by Tapei Taiwan. The Gold Medal game was versus Cuba who took the gold with a 5-3 victory. 

2004 UD USA Baseball  
 
The USA Baseball set gets around (2013=Panini, 2010=Topps)  The 2004 Set by Upper Deck consists of 200 cards and recognizes the 25th anniversary of USA Baseball.  The checklist contains some superstars: McGwire, Oswalt, Mussina, Brian Roberts, Jack McDowell, Varitek, and Mauer as well as lesser known players.  In addition to the full 200 cards the factory sets include a relic plus 3 autographs. RA Dickey is a notable auto from the set. 

Factory sets are available on Amazon for $34. 

Sources
USA Baseball
Dave and Adam's Card World
wikipedia.com
Amazon.com

Snapshots 2013 05 15 Indians 10 @ Phillies 4

Another garbage game from the Phils, may possibly come back and update this later.  Phils lost 10-4 in a dull game.  The last time they brought the tying run to the plate was with 2 out in the 5th. Chase Utley who had a bad day at the plate grounded out. 

Cole Hamels

Hamels really stuggled, a lot of 3 ball counts.  It is a small miracle he made it through 5 innings giving up "only" 5 runs. The scrub end of the Phillies bullpen didn't fare any better.

Jason Kipis

The only lefty in the Indians lineup was Kipnis.  This is from his first AB, when he flew out to pretty deep center.  It was the only time he didn't reach base all day. He had a Home Run and a pair of doubles plus a walk, good enough for the 4th best batting game score of the day accoring to baseball-ref.com

Corey Kluber

The young Indians starting pitcher put together a quality start as the Phillies hitters struggled once again.  The amazing thing is the Phillies punchless lineup managed to get 3 runs.  They didn't work a walk until Michael Young reached via BB in the 8th with the Indians up 10-3. 

2014 Topps 

A Photo from this game was used for several 2014 cards of Chase Utley. For more information on those cards click here.

Previous 2013 Snapshot Postings

May 5 - Miami Marlins 14 @ Phillies 2
April 20 - Cardinals 5 @ Phillies 0

Ticket 2015 05 15 Indians @ Phillies

Sources and Links
Baseball-ref

Updates
2016 0120: Added 2014 Topps section
2016 0121: Game Ticket Added

Hello Cleveland!! Nick Swisher - His first Indians Card - 2013 Phungo #38

Apparently some huge card company is coming out with baseball cards this week.  Here at Phungo we are significantly smaller which makes us a bit more agile.

2013 Phungo #38 Nick Swisher

And allows us to get cards that have players repping their new squad somewhat quicker.  Not sure if Nick Swisher is in Series 1 Topps - but here he is in 2013 Phungo and he is on a Cleveland Indians card.
 
No airbrushing for us though.  I have opted for the hatless closeup.  This photo was actually taken while Swisher was still with the Yankees.  Swisher was walking off the field between innings and removed his cap. Perfect photo op for a free agent player. Days before Phungo '13 went to print the Cleveland Indians signed Swisher. 

Moneyball 2013
Swisher was the darling of Moneyball and has gone on to modest success including winning a World Series as a member of the 2009 Yankees.  He has had a fun career to follow and was on the Phillies rumor list this off season, but I don't think he was the proper fit. 

Phun Cards 2006 Topps Kenny Lofton: 2013 HoF Candidate

I have caught a Home Run ball on the fly. 

True story....sort of.

It was a Batting Practice Home Run ball. ...

But, for me it counts.  That ball was hit by Kenny Lofton.

2006 Topps #97 Kenny Lofton 

  

That fact alone makes Kenny Lofton a Hall of Famer to me.  Not sure if it will be enough for the BBWAA. 

Lofton was a member of the 2005 Phillies.  He had a good season batting .335 over 110 games.  The Phillies were one of 11 teams for whom Lofton played during a 17 year career.  He is likely best known for his jaw dropping catches while manning centerfield for the Cleveland Indians.   

He was an excellent leadoff hitter for most of his career and Lofton's numbers are right on the edge of Hall Worthy.  Unfortunately for the most part they are just a tick under Tim Raines who the voters have yet to put in the Hall of Fame.

I think Lofton will get some consideration over the next several years.  I see him staying on the ballot for several years perhaps gettting in at the end of his eligibilty which will be in 2028 using present rules.


2013 HoF Candidate Postings

Jeff Conine

Jose Mesa

Mike Piazza

NSCC Loot 1975 Topps Mini - HoFs

I have a bunch of scans from the NSCC way back in early August which I have yet to post.

1975 Topps Minis

As with a lot of other vintage collectors I am a sucker for 1975 Topps Minis. 

These were a buck a piece which is more then I would typically go for a 75 Mini, but the lot is all Hall of Famers.  I have no serious interest in building the whole set, but I have thought of collecting all of the sets HoF cards.  The August show was a huge step towards that goal.    

Couple of favorites here.  The HR League Leaders features two Phillies, Schmidt and Dick Allen who led the AL in 74 while playing w/ the White Sox.

The Mantle - Wills card features a Card that Never Was if my memory is correct.  Topps had yet to sign Maury Wills in 1962 and he was never issued a 62 Topps card.  For the 1975 MVP series the Topps simply created the card that never really existed.

Farewell Kerry Wood

Bummed out to hear rumors of Kerry Wood retiring.  Something about a guy coming up with so much hype and he really answered the bell in the beginning - He was a key guy with the early 2000s Cubs teams that came so close to breaking the curse, but injuries just hampered a "what could have been" career.

And there will always be The Kerry Wood Game.

2012 Phungo #39 Kerry Wood

Wood did not receive a single Cy Young vote during his career, including 2003 when he led the league with 266 Ks.   67 of his 86 career Wins came between 1998-2004.

There are dozens perhaps hundreds of Kerry Woods scattered across Baseball History.  Stephen Strasburg could have a Hall of Famer career, he could also have a Kerry Wood career. 

Phungo Card
Blurry photo above taken prior to a game in 2010 where Wood got an inning of solid relief in during an Indians 2-1 loss to the Phillies.