Phillies Wall of Fame Robin Roberts

Each season I make it a priority to check in on Phillies Alumni weekend. I love seeing the players from my younger years come back to Philadelphia, even if it is to just wave to the crowd. When a club is going to lead the league in losses you look for bright spots anywhere they can be found. 

The 2016 Phillies schedule came out earlier this week and it appears the weekend will occur August 12th &13th versus the Rockies.

2006 Toyota Phillies Wall of Fame Robin Roberts

Each year the Phillies add an alum to their Wall of Fame, the initial induction was of Robin Roberts in 1978.

In 2006 the Phillies issued a set of postcards to honor the "Wallers". Today we have the card dedicated to Roberts.

2006 Toyota Phillies Wall of Fame Robin Roberts (b-side)


Robin Roberts Stats on the back plus a ghosted faux-action shot.


Phillies Wall of Fame Index

Robin Roberts	1978
Richie Ashburn	1979
Chuck Klein	1980
Grover Alexander	1981
Del Ennis	1982
Jim Bunning	1984
Ed Delahanty	1985
Cy Williams	1986
Granny Hamner	1987
Paul Owens	1988
Steve Carlton	1989
Mike Schmidt	1990
Larry Bowa	1991
Chris Short	1992
Curt Simmons	1993
Dick Allen	1994
Willie Jones	1995
Sam Thompson	1996
Johnny Callison	1997
Greg Luzinski	1998
Tug McGraw	1999
Gavvy Cravath	2000
Garry Maddox	2001
Tony Taylor	2002
Sherry Magee	2003
Billy Hamilton	2004
Bob Boone	2005
Dallas Green	2006
John Vukovich	2007
Juan Samuel	2008
Harry Kalas	2009
Darren Daulton	2010
John Kruk	2011
Mike Lieberthal	2012
Curt Schilling	2013
Charlie Manuel	2014

Pat Burrell            2015
Jim Thome           2016
 (Pete Rose)          2017 (rescinded)
Roy Halladay       2018
Pat Gillick            2018
Bobby Abreu       2019
Manny Trillo        2020


There is also a Section of the Wall dedicated to the Philadelphia A's

Philadelphia A's Wall of Fame

Connie Mack	1978
Jimmie Foxx	1979
Lefty Grove	1980
Al Simmons	1981
Mickey Cochrane	1982
Jimmy Dykes	1984
Eddie Plank	1985
Rube Waddell	1986
Eddie Collins	1987
Wally Moses	1988
Bob Johnson	1989
Elmer Valo	1990
Chief Bender	1991
Jack Coombs	1992
Frank Baker	1993
Bobby Shantz	1994
Eddie Joost	1995
Ed Rommel	1996
Ferris Fain	1997
Bing Miller	1998
Sam Chapman	1999
George Earnshaw	2000
Gus Zernial	2001
Rube Walberg	2002
Rube Oldring	2003

Sources and Links
Phungo Robin Roberts HoF Index
Phillies

40th Anniversary: Rennie Stennett 7 Hit Game

Rennie Stennett recorded 176 Hits during the 1975 season. He collected SEVEN of those hits in a single game, a 22-0 Pirates rout of the Cubs at Wrigley

1976 Topps #6 Record Breaker Rennie Stennett 7 Hits in one game

Topps noted the accomplishment with card #6 in their 1976 Record Breaker Set.

Rennie is one of only two players to pick up 7 hits in a nine inning game, the other is Hall of Fame manager Wilbert Robinson.

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1976 Topps #6 Record Breaker Rennie Stennett 7 Hits in one game (b-side)

Interesting graphic on the RB card. All of Stennet's ABs are listed along with his scoring result. Notice he had not one but TWO multi-hit innings, the first and the 8th. Stennet's 7 hits got him the first 3 hits of a cycle. He scored five of the 7 times he reached - Rookie Willie Randolph pinch ran for Stennett in the 8th. The first and last hits were off of different Reuschel brothers, Starter Rick first and Finisher Paul Last.

As a team the Pirates collected 24 hits that day. Every starter including pitcher John Candelaria picked up a hit AND scored a run. In addition to Stennett six other Pirates had multi-hit games.

Sources and Links
1976 Topps Record Breakers Index
2015 Playoff Contenders Index 
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Dejan Kovacevic
Cup o Joe - Joe Klimchak
Baseball-ref

The Pope Visits Philadelphia

Not sure what all the excitement is about, Paul "The Pope" Ownes spent close to 50 years working for the Phillies in some capacity.

2006 Toyota Wall of Fame Paul Owens

I think Owens got his nickname from having a resemblance to Pope Paul VI. I am not Catholic, but I do think of Paul VI as my Pope - he was Pope during my entire childhood. It is hard to make out a resemblance in the image of the plaque of Owens featured above, but one may see it in a card we feature below.

To me Paul Owens will always be the guy who took the reigns from Pat Corrales and led the 1983 Phillies to the NL Pennant. Two years ago we marked the 30th anniversary of that team with a series on a few of the notable players from the squad including Owens.

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2006 Toyota Wall of Fame Paul Owens (b-side)

The ghosted photo on the back of the postcard doesn't give us much help with a Pope Paul VI connection, but there is something interesting in the stats. I can't recall many cards that have a persons Win-Loss record as a GM - but there it is.

 1985 Topps #92 Paul Owens

Here we have an image of Owens from an angle similar to the one used for the WoF plaque. I suppose he looks Popish - with a baseball cap and windbreaker.

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1985 Topps #92 Paul Owens (b-side)

Two things of note on the back of the card 1) Text mentions Owens return to the GM role, 2) The 1984 Phillies fell from being an NL Pennant winner to being a .500 team. With the aging roster and general lack of young talent on that checker it is easy to understand the demise.


Phungo Paul Owens Phillies WoF Index
1984 Topps # 229 (1983 Phillies NL Chanps 2013 retrospective - 20th anniversary)

Sources and Links
Phillies Wall of Fame Index
Baseball-ref

Sunday Night Baseball: Baltimore Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken

Last week when we published a posting on the Anniversary of Cal Ripken's streak breaking game I realized that I had yet to create an HoF Index for the Iron Man.

Tonight with the Orioles hosting the Royals on Sunday Night Baseball we correct that oversight.

1992 Topps #40 Cal Ripken

When Cal Ripken posed for the above shot he was likely still four years from passing Lou Gehrig for the consecutive games record. Apparently he had no fear of jinxing the streak by alluding to hit in the photo.

To me this is one of the great shots in the history of Topps. Cardboard Connection put together a top 10 list of Ripken cards, the 1992T card didn't make the cut, but it did get an honorable mention. The Article's Author Ryan Cracknall sums up the card beautifully:

So it's not the most valuable card, but do they all have to be? 1992 Topps Baseball has a beautiful shot of Ripken sitting next to the Lou Gehrig monument in Yankee Stadium, looking as classy as ever. The horizontal layout and slightly raised angle take it to another level.

There is nothing further I can add to that fitting description. The card is a member of the ubiquitous 1992 set and can be found anywhere for nothing. I likely found mine in a dime box.

The O's are five games below .500, but that hasn't stopped Baseball-ref from publishing the teams progress (regress?) in the playoff standings - and accordingly I will add this card to our 2015 Playoff contenders index as well. The Royals are also repped in Playoff Contenders (Lorenzo Cain, Alex Gordon, and Salvador Perez)

Also as noted above this card will function as our Cal Ripken HoF index

Cal Ripken HoF Index
2001 UD Cal Ripken Commemorative set #4 (2008 - 10h Anniversary of ending the streak)
2001 UD Cal Ripken Commemorative set #4 (2015 - 20h Anniversary of breaking Lou Gehrig's Record)
2011 Phungo #8

Throws out First Pitch on 15th Anniversary of Breaking Record (2010)
Cal Ripken Statue at Camden Yards (2012 Photo)

Sources and Links
2015 Playoff Contenders (O's include Adam Jones, Hardy, Chris Tillman) 
Cardboard Connection - Ryan Cracknell

30 Years Ago: Pete Rose Passes Ty Cobb as all-time hits Leader

30 Years ago Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's all-time hit Record. An accomplishment that would surely put Him in the Hall of Fame. Of course as we all know things change.

1986 Topps #206 Pete Rose Record Breaker - Most Hits, Lifetime

Rose's record breaking hit was a first inning single off of Padres starter Eric Show in a Reds 2-0 victory over the Padres.

1986 Topps #206 Pete Rose Record Breaker - Most Hits, Lifetime (b-side)

Nice Synopsis on the back of the card, much better than you would get today as Topps doesn't bother to recognize the existence of the Hit King.

Sources and Links
Pete Rose HoF Index
Baseball-Ref

Farewell Ruben Amaro Jr

Today the Phillies made it official that Ruben Amaro would be let go as GM.

1992 Donruss Rookies #4 Ruben Amaro

Amaro's tenure as Philadelphia is looked upon rather poorly, he took over the Club shortly after they won the 2008 World Series and leaves them with the worst record in baseball. When evaluating RAJ time with the Phillies one must also consider the fact that he was one of the key people working with Pat Gillick to build the team that did win the World Championship.

The Phillies have had declining fortunes for seven consecutive seasons, they are destined to finish with one of the three worst records in 2015 and have had 2 manager changes in the last 3 years. These are all factors that point to the need for a change.


 
1992 Donruss Rookies #4 Ruben Amaro Jr (b-side)

The demographics has the interesting factoid that Amaro was acquired as part of the meager return for longtime Phillie Von Hayes.

1992 Donruss The Rookies
Despite this card being part of a set titled "the Rookies" it is not a Rookie Card. There are a few true RCs in the set, the Most prominent of which are Manny Ramirez (98) and Jeff Kent (61). 2008 World Series Champion and Current Phillies Broadcaster Matt Stairs has his RC at #112 in the set.

Sources and Links 
Baseball-ref
Philly.com
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards - Bob Lemke
baseball Cardpedia

50th Anniversary: Sandy Koufax = Perfect

Most of the season we have been looking back 25 years to the Year of the No-Hitter.  Today we turn the clock back an additional quarter century and find ourselves on the day that Sandy Koufax became the first man to pitch four no-hitters.

That fourth No-Hitter was also a Perfect Game.

2007 UD Masterpieces #17 Sandy Koufax

Love the Image on the card. Four Baseball symbolizing the Four No-Hitters and The 29 year old Sandy Koufax with a reluctant smile that he can't hold back. Hard to believe 13 months later his career would be over.

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2007 UD Masterpieces #17 Sandy Koufax (b-side)

The text on the back of the card tells the story of the Perfect Game in which the Dodgers beat the Cubs by the narrowest of margins 1-0. The hard luck loser was journeyman pitcher Bob Hendley who pitched a 1-Hitter giving up only an unearned run.

The Cubs lineup that day featured three future Hall of Famers, Ernie Banks (3 Strikeouts), Billy Williams (2 Ks), and Ron Santo (1 K). Of course on the other side of the ledger there were two Cubbies making their Major League Debut Don Young and future Phillie Bryon Browne.

Notable Dodgers in the Lineup were Maury Williams, Willie Davis, Catcher Jeff Torborg (see below), and Lou Johnson who scored the Dodgers lone Run and got the games only hit.    

I re-read the chapter on Koufax's Game in James Buckley Jr's "Perfect". Couple of interesting things in the article.

1) The Cubs were in LA for one game only, Apparently this was part of the regular schedule NOT a rain out make-up.
2) The final out was a strikeout of Harvey Kuenn who was also the the last out in Koufax's 2nd No-Hitter.
3) The Cubs Bob Hendley pitched to two over the minimum for an 8-inning start, meaning only 53 batters came to the plate combined. The Lowest possible Combined PAs is 52, which has never been done.  
4) The Perfect Game was the 2nd of three called by Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully: Don Larsen, Koufax, and Denny Martinez. Both the Larsen and Martinez Perfectos were versus the Dodgers.

Scully's call of the final 3 outs of the Perfect Game can be heard at Archive.org. If you stay with the recording to the end Vin Scully can be heard in an interview, he notes that he specified the time of day during this broadcast in an effort to add something special to the No-hitter since Sandy Koufax already had 3 recordings of the 9th innings of his no-hitters.

Much of Buckley's essay was derived from an interview with Catcher Jeff Torborg who caught no-hitters in Both Leagues. In addition to the Koufax Perfecto Torborg while with the Angels caught Nolan Ryan's first No-Hitter. He is one of 3 men to have caught No-Hitters in both leagues  - all 3 have caught Perfect Games as well (Gus Triandos - Jim Bunning (NL - Phillies vs Mets) & Hoyt Wilhelm (AL) , and Ron Hassey Len Barker (AL) & Denny Martinez (NL))

Sources and Links
Phungo Sandy Koufax HoF Index
Phungo No-Hitter Card Index 
archive.org 
Perfect - James Buckley Jr 
SABR Baseball Games Project - Mike Huber
Sandy Koufax Time Capsule
baseball-ref
Baseball Almanac