2011 Phungo Cards - Randy Wolf

The Phils are out of the postseason playoffs.  while I have not completely recovered from their ouster at the hands of the St Louis Cardinals I still enjoy baseball enough that I am try to watch the other playoff games whenever possible. 

There are very few players with Philly connnections on the four remaining squads, but one of those players is Phungo Household favorite Randy Wolf.

2011 Phungo #16 Randy Wolf

Wolf is never going to be the A starter for a team with World Series aspirations, but he is a decent lefty who can hold down that 3 or 4 spot on a good team.  Tonight he will try and hold off Albert Pujols and the rest of the Cardinals lineup in game 4 of the NLCS.  I would like to see Brewers advance in the playoff just so I can have a former Phil to root for in the Series. 

The Brewers are facing another former Phils Pitcher in Kyle Lohse, but I really don't count him.  He was only here for a brief post trade deadline stint, and I think he only lasted an inning in the sole game I saw him pitch for the Phils. 

Broken News: Drinking in the clubhouse may be one thing.....

Recently spotted on Twitter:

Thanks Buster and Good Luck to Mr Leyland

Phungo Question: Death of the Autograph?

Will there be an end to the autograph?

 

The amount of communication we do via the keyboard/keypad medium has increased rapidly over recent years.  With this decreased use of the written word schools are struggling with the value of teaching cursive writing - From what I understand, today when it is taught, cursive writing is not a skill that is really focused upon.

 

I am not really interested in debating the merits of teach handwriting here - that is for the educators to discuss.  But I would like to discuss the impact on the hobby of collecting signatures.

2008 Topps #54 Victor Martinez - Image Swiped from Baseball Card Database

Let me first note that Mr Martinez's signature is not always printed as on the 2008 Topps card above.  In fact if you want to check on ebay you will find that for the most part his signed cards look pretty good.  But this card does provide a fairly noticeable autograph that is really not a signature as we commonly think of them.

My Questions are: 

- If autographed cards are still considered hits 20 years form now, will half of them be of a hand printed signature?

  

- If your one per box hit were of a printed "signature" would you be disappointed?

 

- If your a kid an can barely write your own signature, would you place any value in getting a ball signed by a ballplayer?

2010 Phungo Cards Jimmy Rollins and the End of a Disappointing Season

The Phillies 2011 campaign has come to an end as their offense goes scoreless in their final 17 innings of play.  Their gifted starting roation was good enough to help lead them to a 102 win regular season, sadly the Phillies won only 2 additional games.

  

 

The playoffs were more disappointing then shocking, although up until the very end I thought they would find a way to win game 5.  To me the critical loss for the Phils was game 2 when they got a 4 run lead with Cliff Lee on the mound.  Lee couln't hold that lead (for only the 2nd time in his career) and the Hitters couldn't build on their early runs despite facing the Cardinals spotty bullpen.

  

 

I know there is still a lot of baseball going on out there, but right now I am mourning the end of a good Phillies Season, followed by a rather sad playoff ending.  The end of the 2011 season could also be the ending of the Phillies portion of several players careers - including a couple that were on the 2008 World Series Champs.

 

2010 Phungo #11 Jimmy Rollins

 

Jimmy Rollins is the longest tenured athlete in Philadelphia.  He has been playing shortstop for the Fightins since September of 2000.  The 2007 NL MVP has played over 1600 games w/ the Phils accumulating 1866 hits.  Rollins will turn 33 before the calendar year is out and is expected to want a long term contract when he hits the free agent market this winter. 

 

He is maddening to watch sometimes, Offensively Rollins has not had the production he did earlier in his career.  He does not get on base like a prototypical leadoff hitter, but when healthy he can steal bases if needed and he still has some pop.

 

I am of the opinion that the Phillies should move on without Rollins.  The Phils are already locked into several long term deals with aging players and I am not sure that adding another one to the mix is the right thing for them to do right now. 

 

Regardless, if Jimmy leaves, I will miss him and hope that he finds the right situation to be an impact in the league (as long as it ain't against the Phillies).  If he stays, I hope it is at the right number and he can stay healthy enough to contribute to the Phillies future teams.

 

Moneyball 2011 - Jeremy Brown

Jeremy Brown was the 35th overall pick of the 2002 MLB draft discussed in Moneyball.  He was the fat catcher that the scouts hated with the high On Base number which Billie Beane and Paul DePodesta.  

Because of compensation picks the A's had 7 picks in the first round of the 02 Draft which had 41 selections total.  Michael Lewis dedicated an entire chapter of Moneyball to the Jeremy Brown selection.  In hindsight he probably did not warrant the significant word count that he was given.  Brown announced his retirement in 2008 and his professional baseball career is likely he over.  He ended up with 10 career at bats in 5 Major League games all for the 2006 Athletics during a September call up.  

Of the 7 picks the A's made in the first round Brown probably ranks in the middle.  Nick Swisher would be at the top, followed by Phillies Pitcher Joe Blanton and Mark Teahan.  The A's 3 other picks from that first round never played in the majors.  That is pretty close to the hit ratio of the 1st round picks from the 02 draft.  To Date 27 of the 41 picks in that draft have reached the majors.  For comparison the Phillies 02 first round pick was Cole Hamels.  Prince Fielder, Matt Cain, Zack Greinke, BJ Upton were all drafted in the first round - all were drafted ahead of Jeremy Brown.
 

Brian McCann was likely the best catcher drafted after Brown - McCann was a High School product and not likely on the A's radar.  18 players were drafter as catchers in the 2002 Draft and have played more games then Jeremy Brown.  A couple of those players made it to the show at other positions (Joey Votto, Randy Wells).  Notable to Phillies Fans is Eric Kratz who is a local product that got a chance to play for his hometown club as a September Call Up for this years squad.  Kratz was the 866th overall pick in 2002.
  

I haven't seen the film yet, but Jeremy Brown is not credited as a character in the imdb listing.

For the Collector

I believe Jeremy Brown only had one topps card issued in their flagship product.

 

2007 Topps #624 Jeremy Brown (image swiped from baseball-simulator) 

 

Moneyball 2011

 

Links to  previous MB 2011 posts

 

Billy Beane

Michael Lewis

Michael Oher 

 

etc

Here is a link to a Moneyball and Collecting related article in Beckett that I first saw referenced by Chris Olds via Twitter. 

 

Jumping on the John Henry Bandwagon

Jumping on the John Henry Bandwagon here.

I am farily sure Triple Threads is out of my price range and I will leave the debate on the product contents up to folks that have that kind of scratch.  

I would like to mention that, I am not sure if John Henry is considered a character of Public Domain - so Topps may have had to get permission from someone to produce cards with his "likeness".  Therefore in some way the cards are limited and somewhat unique.  For instance I probably cannot produce John Henry Phungo Cards and Sell them (but if you offered me $ to make them I may create them anyway)

 

That being said if I am paying a hundred dollars for a product with a X number of hits and one of them is the JH card, I would initially be disappointed until I found how I could sucker somebody into paying $500 for it on eBay.  Ok maybe I won't leave the debate up to the heavy hitters - I will put the Phungo 2 cents in.

At any rate if Topps needs some ideas here are some Other Relics they may want to consider that are at least baseball related:

A Bat Relic from Crash Davis' History Record breaking Home Run. 

A corn kernel from the Field of Dreams

A Jobu VooDoo Doll Relic from Indians curve ball challenged Slugger Pedro Cerrano - or a coke spoon from Rick Vaughn.

Jacket Relic from Umpire Frank Drebin

Beer can Relic from Coach Morris Buttermaker 

A piece of the Bat which Mighty Casey was using when he struck out.

A Springfield Isotopes Hat Relic from Homer Simpson Pinch Hitting Appearnce for Darryl Strawberry.

A baseball made from the horsehide of the thoroughbred John Henry. 

  

 

2011 Faux Topps Finest #BS-JH #d 2/5 John Henry Horse Hide Relic


Ok technically John Henry is a real horse and baseballs are no longer made of horsehide - but that would make that relic all the more real.

Etc

Haven't posted much recently been busy and on the road etc.  Was at Oktoberfest in Munich - if anyone is interested in a travelblog, post a comment and I will put one together - not much sports related stuff, but lots o beer drinking.

Hopefully getting back to posting will help to right the Phillies playoff ship as well.

Go Phightins!!!

Moneyball 2011 - Michael Lews and Michael Oher

2009 Topps #342 Michael Oher RC (click to enlarge)

There is likely no baseball card for Michael Lewis, in lieu of that I am featuring this Baltimore Ravens Rookie Card of Michael Oher which was featured here in 2009.  Oher is a Tackle for the Ravens and the subject of the Film adaptation of one of Lewis' other books "The Blind Side"

I find it odd timing for the film version of "Moneyball" to surface.  The book is from 2003, the Baseball Draft featured in the book occurred over 9 years ago.  I think at least part of the reason the movie finally got done was the success of "The Blind Side" in 2009.

Michael Lewis is a gifted writer, and  have read several of his books - many of which are related to business and finanacial tycoons.  He takes what otherwise may be a dry subject and adds interesting and funny insights and anectdotes.

  

While Moneyball is a non-fiction work, inevitably part of the story and the Moneyball version of Billy Beane is the creation of Michael Lewis.  One can give you straight facts, but the author still chooses which facts to keep and which to ignore and Billy Beane comes out of Moneyball pretty favorably - the same cannot be said of field Manager Art Howe.  The Paul DePodesta character goes by a different name in the film version of the story as DePodesta would not sign off on the veracity of the script. 

Michael Oher

The Blind Side was a box office success and can currently be seen on cable movie channels.  Micheal Oher has also proven to be a success at the NFL level as well starting all 32 games for the Baltimore Ravens in his first two seasons.  Oher has written (w/ Don Yaeger) his own Biography "I Beat the Odds".  

Moneyball 2011

Past Moneyball 2011 related posts:

Billy Beane

etc

Here is a link to a Moneyball and Collecting related article in Beckett that I first saw referenced by Chris Olds via Twitter.