Snapshots 2012 10 08 - ALDS Game 2 - Yankees 2 @ Orioles 3

Team Phungo closed our 2012 MLB campaign where we started it, At Camden Yards. For the sixth consecutive year I was able to procure a playoff ticket.  Somewhat sadly that ticket was not for a Philles Postseason game.  Regardless time moves on and it has been exciting to watch the Baltimore Orioles usher in a new playoff era.

On Monday night the Orioles defeated their AL East Division Rivals 3-2 in a rather dramatic game.  There weren't many offensive fireworks as both teams had to scratch out all five of their combined runs.

There were a couple of notable performances Wei-Yin Chen and Andy Pettitte both pitched well, Chris Davis had a pair of RBIs for the O's.  Ichiro basically stole a run for the the Yankees with some creative baserunning in the first inning. 

Snapshots (click on any photo to enlarge) 

National Anthem  

Always cool to be at any Big Flag game.  Both Baltimore and For McHenry take great pride in their place in American History and their connection to the Star Spangled Banner. 

 Wei-Yin Chen

After getting into some jams early Chen was able to settle down and gave the O's 6 1/3 innings.  This photo of Wei-Yin was taken during warm ups.

Nate McClouth 

Hard to imagine after a few up and down years Nate McClouth is batting leadoff for a 90+ Win team in the ALDS.

Record Setter

Alex Rodriguez (looking a bit exasperated)

I heard last night that Alex Rodriguez set the  blob postseason record.  Blob is the term that Night Owl Cards has used for the last out of the Season, a Series, or Game.  A-Rod has now been the final out of 4 Playoff games  

Coda

Andy Pettitte

I really haven't heard what Pettitte is going to be up to after the 2012 season.  But he turned 40 this summer and has already retired once.  If the O's end up defeating the Yankees, Monday night may have been Pettittes final MLB appearance. 

2012 Topps Update Gold HoF Plaques - Mike Schmidt (Looks like a freaky Anime Alien)

Cardboard Connection recenlty posted the faux-relic series of Hall of Fame plaque cards featured in 2012 Topps U&H.  These I think essentially replaced the All-Star Patch cards from years past.  The sole Phillies player on the checker is Mike Schmidt.

2012 Topps Update Hall of Fame Plaques #HOF-MS Mike Schmidt (image swiped from Cardboard Connection)

I spot checked a few of the cards and the headshot/plaque portion of the cards all have a freaky alien/anime appearance on these preview images.

While Schmidt is the only true Phils player a card was issued for, there is also a Cubs card issued of Ryne Sandberg who spent a September callup with the Phils prior to starting the Chicago portion of his HoF career.  Semi-related Sandberg once again got the call from the Phils today as he was promoted to be the third base coach w/ the big club.

Snapshots 2012 09 27 Nationals 7 @ Phillies 3

The 2012 Phillies home season ended with a whimper, which is pretty much how the whole season went.  The only highlight of the Phils 7-3 loss was a bases loaded double by the recenltly promoted Darin Ruf.  That happened early but the Phils pretty much left Gio Gonzalez off the hook after getting some runners on in the 1st and 2nd innings.

Snapshots (click any pix to enlarge) 

 Darin Ruf Double 

The rising streak just above the 1b foul line is the ball

Sighting

Stephen Strasburg

He may not be pitching in games but Strasburg is still getting his work in - He was doing long toss with the other pitchers and looked like he was working on keeping his mechanics sharp.

Good Guy Awards

Strasburg signing autographs

GGAs go out to Strasburg and Ian Desmond for the bad guys.  Several Phillies including Chase Utley and Kevin Frandsen were signing for fan appreciation night.

Ryan Howard 

Uneventful final home game for the big man in the Phils final home game of 2012.

Bryce Harper

Yep thats a Home Run swing.  Harper knocked this one out to right center.   He got all of it, looked like it was out the moment he swung.

Philly Show in Valley Forge This Weekend

Unfortunately, team Phungo will not be able to makes this weekends show.  The show returns to the Valley Forget Convention Center (and Casino).   Show Dates are Sep 28-30, $8.00 for admission ($7 w/ coupon)

As far as autograph opportunities Saturday is Philadelphia  Day while Sunday has a Pittsuburgh flavor.

Saturday
Richie Hebner, Donn Pall, Bill Bergey, Keith Byars, Seth Joyner, Mickey Shuler, Juan Marichal, Maxie Baughan, Pete Retzlaff, Mike Quick, Danny Jackson, Harold Carmichael, Dave Hollins, Milt Thompson, Joe Millette, Tom Dempsey, Rickey Jordan, Correll Buckhalter, Bob Ayrault

Sunday
Louis Lipps, Jack Ham, Donnie Shell, Roy Jefferson, Frenchy Fuqua, Jack Lambert, Rocky Bleier, Dave Parker, Grant Jackson, Randy Grossman, Gerry Mullins, Robin Cole, Bill Madlock, Omar Moreno, Matt Bahr, Manny Sanguillen, Ed Ott, Don Robinson, Mike Wagner, Jon Kolb, Larry Brown, Bobby Walden, Franco Harris, Greg Lloyd, Andy Russell, Levon Kirkland
In addition Earl Weaver is scheduled to appear Friday.

Neither day appears to have complimentry autos.

For additional info click here.

The next show is set for December 7-9. 

For additional Philadelphia Area Card Show information click here.

Chris Stufflestreet

I really didn't really know Chris well at all - I met him briefly at the 2012 National, traded cards with him once and swapped a couple of emails.  That was it, but I felt like I knew him much better.  

I read his columns avidly. Chris had a gift for writing - I suspect his honesty and humor made you feel like you knew him.

Chis' passing has been covered quite eloquently by Greg at Night Owl Cards, Mike Smeth at Cardboard Connection, Bob D Angelo at TBO.com and Dayf of Cardboard Junkie.

My impressions from our brief meeting echo the passages by those folks.  In a space of 15 minutes Chris' enthusiasm jumped off the page to real life.  Our conversation covered the vastness and variety of the show, vintage cards and historical connections, camraderie with seeing and meeting other collectors. as well as his personal highlights from that show - tracking down some Japanese cards and older Steelers cards.  It was fun reading his postings relating to the show, and indeed his final post was NSCC related, Collector Related, Condition Related and Trade Related. 

Chris Stufflestreet, I thank you for documenting vintage and oddball sets.  I thank your for your views on open trading and spotty condition, I thank you for being a link to a different card era.  And I thank you for running interesting and funny columns that would often bring a smile into my world.  

Selected Chris Stufflestreet Blogs and Websites

Vintage Baseball Cards: 1886 - 1991

The Vintage Sportscards Blog 

80s Music Mayhem

2013 Topps Preview

The upcoming (By upcoming I mean over 4 months from now) release of 2013 Topps has been previewed in several outlets. 

This has been covered by several other bloggers - Chris of Stale Gum has his comments here - he once again campaigns against gimmicks and brings up some other interesting points regarding insert flooding and other issues.  

The 9 page Topps Sell Sheet can be found here.   

My first impression is that the base cards are too bland too white.  They aren't as boring as 2012 Topps but there is not much interesting in the design.  It is a design w/ potential.  The Parallels on the sell sheet do pop a bit.  They stand out after seeing the minimalism of the base cards.  The blank borders on 2013 Topps seem even larger then previously releases.  

Phillies

2013 Topps Preview - Chasing History Relic Mike Schmidt

Recently the teasers have featured a lot of Phillies including Ryan Howard and Roy Halladay.  For 2013 quite appropriately after their tough 2012 season, the current Phils have been banished.  Topps did reach back to Mike Schmidt to show us what one of the relic inserts will look like. 

Are there any Relic Collectors out there?

The first relic I pulled when I retunred to collecting was exciting.  That was the last time I was excited about relics.  The Schmidt card above is fine enough looking but other than noting he is a Phillies player nothing about seeing it on the sell sheet makes me look forwrd to 2013 Topps.

Mickey Morandini Unassisted Triple Play Anniversary and a Mystery Solved

Today during Andy's High Heat Stats This day in Baseball History feed he noted that today is the 20th Anniversary of Mickey Morandini's Unassisted Triple Play.  Despite the UATP the Phils took the loss 3-2 to the Pirates in extras.   

At the time it was only the second UATP in MLB history turned by a 2nd Baseman. - Bill Wambsganss turned the first during the 1920 World Series.  There have been three by second baseman since including one by Phils utility man Eric Bruntlett in 2009.

1993 Score #415 Mickey Morandini
1993 Topps #262 Mickey Morandini 

First off the pix on these cards feature a Double Play not the Triple Play mentioned above.

I had always assumed the Topps card featured the Phils ill-fated day game blue caps which were ejected after a few games because 1) the players didn't like them 2) they lost the few games when they wore them.

Mystery Solved

 
I assumed wrong.  The years didn't add up.  Turns out the cursed hats were from 1994 - The cards above are from 1993. After some Turn Back the Clock Game research I found that the Phillies wore there 1948 throwbacks for a game on June 21 1992.

Interesting thing you have above is two cards, different manufacturers, same play - possibly same photographer.

If you check the box link above, you can see in the 4th inning Andre Dawson singled followed by Mark Grace hitting into a 6-4-3 DP. I am pretty sure that is what we are seeing here.

Sources
Wikipedia.com
Baseball-Ref.com