Happy Phillies Opening Day 2015

Regardless of a teams prospects Opening Day is always a reason for me to celebrate. It is the emergence of spring, the promise of Summer and the return of baseball. I am a fan of the Phillies but also more importantly a fan of the game - this certainly helps makes leaner times for the local nine much more bearable.

2012 Topps Opening Day #196 Cole Hamels

Today is a fairly attractive game in the 162 game marathon that is a Major League Season. Not only is it opening day, but you have a marquee opponent in the Boston Red Sox. In addition both teams are sending out their aces, although the Red Sox #1 Clay Buchholz is coming off a rather poor season.

The Phillies don't appear to have a lot to look forward to in 2015, however I expect big things from Cole Hamels. Here is hoping that Today is the first start in a Cy Young Season for the Phillies Southpaw. 

2012 Topps Opening Day

For the most part I don't get Opening Day as a product. I don't see it as any more budge conscience than flagship, packs are half as much but have half as many cards - thats a push. You do get a handful of images of cards that we won't see until S2 which is nice. The most appealing aspect of OD is that you can build the complete set at less cost simply because it is smaller. I have never analyzed the checker but I assume it has a decent cross section of veterans and rookie sensations.

Sunday Night Baseball Cardinals at Cubs: 1966 Topps Ernie Banks

ESPN opens the 2015 MLB season with the Cardinals and Cubs on Sunday Night Baseball. Neither team participated in the 2014 World Series but they are division rivals each with storied histories.

1966 Topps #110 Ernie Banks

I am sure ESPN will turn a lot of attention to one of the greatest Cubs ever during their telecast. So great that they call him Mr Cub.

Sunday will be the first Official Cubs game since Ernie Banks died in late January.  There will be a pregame tribute to the Hall of Famer and Cubs players will wear a commemorative patch on their uniforms throughout the season.

1966 Topps
From 1954-1962 All of Banks cards list his position as Shortstop, The above 1966 card is the fourth to list him at first base. Nice portrait shot, Banks cap features Cubs blue on a bright blue sky. The Orange color striping that Topps chose for the Cubs works here as a complementary color those various blues. Despite all the creasing on this card it still pops - Part of that I attribute to Ernie Banks personality beaming through the card.

In 2015 Heritage Topps gave the honor of card #110 to Anthony Rizzo. In past years Topps sometimes tried to echo the photo from the companion set on the Heritage card, The Rizzo card is a  variation pair - neither of the images is similar to the Ernie Banks 66T card

Source and Links
Phungo Ernie Banks Hof Index
Phungo 1966 Topps/2015 Heritage Index
Chicago Cubs
Cardboard Connection

ANNIVERSARY: 10 Years of the Washington Nationals. 2005 Topps Washington Nationals Inaugural Lineup

2015 marks the 10th anniversary of the Washington Nationals Inaugural season.

2005 Topps Update Nationals Inaugural Lineup #NI-TEAM

Topps marked the move of the Expos to DC and becoming the Nationals with a 10 Card insert set that was part of 2005T Update.

There was a card produced for each player in the Nats opening day lineup plus the above team card. The batting order for that game is presented on the bottom center of the card.

Can anyone tell why I love this card?

Check the main image on the card, now look at the cover image for the Phungo Blog above.

Yes both pictures were taken at roughly the same time at different angles. Notice the distance between Charlie Manuel and Jimmy Rollins in both pix.   
 
The Nationals started their history versus the Phillies on the Road, This is not uncommon, it gives the club extra time to work out the kinks of their new Headquarters before having a Home Opener. Team Phungo was enjoying the Phillies Home Opener on that day 10 years ago and as a bonus we got to see the First ever game of the Washington Nationals.

Of course the card is far from perfect.

The 2nd photo on the card is from the Nats Home Opener - note the different uniforms, the RFK stadium wall, and the players standing in a different batting order (Nick Johnson is in the 2 hole behind Brad Wilkerson rather than Christian Guzman)  

Another Quibble with the card is that it is dated April 2nd. The game took place April 4th 2005, which can be seen in the box score.

Flip

2005 Topps Update Nationals Inaugural Lineup #NI-TEAM (b-side)

The B-Side of the card contains a close up of the Nats lineup for that first game and a brief description of the comings and goings of DC teams.

First Pitch
As part of their 10th anniversary the Nationals have a series of events planned. One of their promotions is a bobblehead of their first ever starting pitcher Livan Hernandez. The giveaway is scheduled for May 4th versus the Marlins - No Phillies tie-in.

I do find it amusing that the Nationals have a bobblehead promotion related to a game that was hosted by the Phillies.


Phungo Games

2005 04 04 Game Ticket - Washington Nationals at Philadelphia Phillies

The Nationals Team Card is going to go into one of my favorite Binders, the Phungo Games Collection of cards related to games that we were fortunate enough to attend. Above we have the ticket to that game another nice piece of memorabilia buried in the Phungo Museum.

Update 2019 0219
For a brief posting regarding this card and the great Frank Robinson click here.
For the SABR Games Project description of this game click here.

Sources and Links
Phungo Games
Frank Robinson Memorial
Frank Robinson HOF Index
SABR Games Project (Steven C Weiner)  
Cardboard Connection
Baseball-ref
Washington Post

Updates 
2019 0809 added Frank Robinson related content, added link to SABR Games Project.  

Bernie Parent Turns 70 - Flyers Hall of Fame Goalie

Flyers Hall of Fame Goalie Bernie Parent turns 70 today.

2012 March 6 - Bernie Parent greets fans prior to Mark Howe Number Retirement Ceremony

Parent is a great Ambassador for the Philadelphia Flyers and can often be found at Flyers games. The photo above is from a game in 2012 when the Flyers were honoring Mark Howe. There were a lot of great players in the house that night including Mark's father Gordie Howe. 

Sources and Links
Hockey-Ref

March Madness Final Four: 2010-11 UNC Basketball Blaster Break

Ok so the Tar Heels are NOT in the Final Four, and Neither is Villanova so I am barely paying attention. Regardless I do enjoy the 3 week tournament for several reasons and College Hoop is probably my second favorite sport outside of baseball.

A few years back after North Carolina won the 2009 NCAA Championship, Upper Deck jumped on the bandwagon and put out a small set honoring the schools basketball program.

Here are the highlights from a single blaster

First Pack

2010 UD North Carolina Basketball #53 Jeff Lebo

Jeff Lebo gets the cover for today's posting. He played High School basketball in my area during the same era I was in school and is at least part of the reason why I root for the Tar Heels despite them being one of the evil empires of college hoop. 

Once you get past the fact that over half of the card is used for logo and design elements, it is a decent looking card. Trouble is looking at 50 of these and you realize that the pix look like slightly oversized windows icons.

2010 UD North Carolina Basketball
#32 Phil Ford
#29 John Kuester
#42 Sam Perkins
#22 Bill Chamberlain

2010 UD North Carolina Basketball
#82 Roy Williams
Carolina Basketball Musuem
#10 Lennie Rosenbluth 

As noted above there are coaches included in the set, pack #1 included Roy Williams. Lennie Rosenbluth was drafted 6th overall in 1957 by the Philadelphia Warriors, back when they represented the city prior to the 76ers coming over from Syracuse. The first pick of that draft was Former Laker player and Utah Jazz Play by Play announcer Hot Rod Hundley how died recently - Frank Deford had a great portrait of Hundley on NPR.

Each packs is 8 cards one of which is an insert. The center card above is from the 20 card Carolina Basketball Museum Insert. 

The base set consists of 83 cards of UNC players and coaches presented in roughly chronological order.

The Blaster

\

2010 UD UNC basketball Wrapper 

The Wrapper features Michael Jordan, who also appears on card just a few times. Part of the draw for the Hobby Boxes is the possibility of getting a Jordan Auto. There is no guarantee of an auto in the blaster.

#39 Jennifer Alley

UD recognized the Carolina Women's program as well, Jennifer Alley was the Lady Tar Heels first full time head coach. 

the Jordan Years

In addition to a his Base card (#43) Michael Jordan gets his own 20 card insert. Each card in the Jordan set has a 1/1 autograph parallel.

Rivalries Clemson vs North Carolina

There are 14 cards in the Rivalries subber. James Worthy is featured here with Clemson's Larry Nance.

 #121 NCAA All Americans Vince Carter

There are 20 All-Americans honored in the set which functions as a template for a limited number of autographs. 

#DT-5 Walter Davis

Dream Team is a 25 card insert set with each card having a slight 3D effect. 

#151 Timelines Lennie Rosenbluth

Here we have Lennie Rosenbluth again. Timelines is a 20 card subset and is another Auto Template set.

Flip

The b-side contain a short bio on each player, which is nice except....

Every single card has the same blurb about North Carolina Basketball

 Manupatch

1982 UNC NCAA Championship Manupatch Banner

Rather than contain a 1/1 Michael Jordan Auto, each blaster contains one of five Manupatch Banners that represent the each of the Tar Heels National Championships. On the plus side, 1982 Was the Jordan Championship.
 
By The Numbers 
I think this box was less than $5 or possibly was my free gift on a Dave and Adams purchase. They are currently running at $10 for a blaster of Ten 8-Card packs.

In my 80 cards, I cam nowhere near a complete set, getting only 60 of the 83 base cards.

60/83 Base Cards (72%)
7 Duplicates (although one of the dupes was the Jordan Base Card)
2 Timelines
2 All Americans
2 Jordan Years
2 Rivalries
2 Carolina Basketball Museum
1 Dream Team (Davis)
1 Championship Banner (1982)

Want List
2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 13, 16
20, 25, 27, 33, 35
45, 47, 51, 52, 55
62, 66, 67, 68, 80, 81 


Sources
Sports-Ref
Sports Card Radio
NPR - Frank Deford

The day Nolan Ryan was yanked from a possible record setting No-Hitter

Twenty Five Years ago Nolan Ryan who had already tossed a Major League Record FIVE no-hitters was working on his sixth.

It was an Opening Day Game for the Texas Rangers who were hosting the Toronto Blue Jays.

Unfortunately Bobby Valentine had to remove the future Hall of Famer after just 5 innings and only 91 pitches. 

1992 Topps #1 Nolan Ryan

One may ask how could anyone like Nolan Ryan who still advocates lots of throwing (as opposed to limiting innings) could let himself get taken out after recording just 15 outs.

There really was no other decision for Bobby Valentine.

1989 Topps #314 Bobby Valentine

It was opening day of the 1990 season which had an abbreviated Spring Training due to a player lockout. Prior to his opening day start Ryan had only pitched seven Spring Training innings total and Valentine didn't want to risk an injury to his most valued pitcher.

1990 Year of the No Hitter
This is just an Appetizer for this years planned subset series "1991 Score No-Hit Club".  A card set that commemorated the nine no-hitters pitched the previous season. 2015 marks the 25th anniversary of that season.

In addition to taking a look at each of the nine cards in the subset, we will check in on near no-hitters and other related events.

Nolan Ryan's Opening Day start didn't make the final No-No list - Reliever Mike Jeffcoat retired the first two batters of the 6th inning before giving up a double to Blue Jays Third Baseman Kelly Gruber. The Rangers held on to win 4-2, giving up 3 hits. 

Phungo Nolan Ryan HoF Index
1975 Topps #7 No-Hitter 3: September 28 1974
1977 Topps #650
1984 Topps #4 - 1983 Highlights
1990 Topps #4 - The 1990s - The Astros Years - 4000Ks
1991 Score #417 (300th Win)
1991 Score #701 No-Hit Club (No-Hitter #6 - contains links to several other cards related to Ryan's 6th no-hitter)
2015 Topps Baseball History #14B 4000Ks/Live Aid

Sources & Links
Phungo 1990 Year of the No-Hitter Index 
Topps #1 Club
New York Daily News (Bill Madden)
baseball-ref
Baseball Library
baseball cardpedia
Baseball Card Database
 

Philly Sports Hall of Fame Index

Charter Class 2004

2005 - Class II
2006 - Class III
2007 - Class IV

2008 - Class V