Happy Anniversary 1985 Villanova Wildcats

Today marks the 25th Anniversary of the Villanova Wildcats Upset of Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA Men's Basketball Final.

2010 Phungo #10 Rollie Massimino

It doesn't seem like that long ago. I was a senior in High School then and thoroughly enjoyed what was one of the biggest upsets in the history of sports. The game made me a lifelong fan of the NCAA tournament. It's one and done format creates opportunities for an underdog like Villanova to beat a powerhouse like Georgetown - Even if they have to play a "Perfect Game"

The photo from the above Phungo card was taken prior to a 2nd round game at last years NCAA tournament. Rollie was in the house to see the 2009 version of the Wildcats in the tournament. I arrived at the venue early and was checking out the shoot around when a friend spotted Massimino. He walked right in front of us and was gracious enough to pose for this picture and sign autographs while making some quick conversation.

For more information on the 1985 NCAA championship click here for the Wikipedia entry.

Phungo Challenge: What Kind of Garbage will we find in this Pack?

Found this at the local 5 below recently:


They are from Cards One and I imagine are really similar to a pack opened recently on A Pack to be Named Later.

Here are the Odds (click to enlarge):


Sounds pretty similar to the Topps Cards Your Mom Threw Out giveaway. Although each pack will contain a "Historic Star Card". For those of you that can't read the small print there is 1:5 for 20+ Year Old Card, 1:10 for 30 and 1:100 for 40. For those of you actually interested in this product the cost is $1.06 (incl PA tax). Packs contain 15 cards.

I have 3 packs of this stuff and I am entertaining guesses on the Most Historic, Most Vintage, and Most Collectible cards I pull from "Historic Vintage Collection".

You have 24 hours to get your guesses in - or 48 or 60 hours - basically till I get around to posting the packs.

Best guesses will be honored in the Phungo Challenge Hall of Fame.

Winners of previous Phungo Challenges and Pop Quizzzes so far in 2010 have been

PatSeacher from In Search of Pat the Bat
Rod from Padrographs
NicoLax from NR-MT

oh and if you want some actual useful information - stop reading this and go and watch "Modern Family".

The Original 1961 Topps - The Inserts

There are many inserts in 1961 Topps. Today we will take a look at some of these "subsets".

1961 Topps #50 1960 AL Strikeout Leaders
1961 Topps #25 Reds Heavy Artillery (Vada Pinson, Gus Bell, Frank Robinson)

In 1961 Topps produced it's first League Leader Cards. Like this card featuring Jim Bunning and Early Wynn, several of the 1961 Leader cards feature Hall of Famers. If you would like to pick up vintage cards of Hall of Famers and your on a budget, you may want to look into league leader cards.

Multi-Player card returned again in 1961, This Reds Card with HOF Frank Robinson was among them. I don't believe the Phils have a multi-player card in the 61 set.


1961 Topps #310 World Series Game 5: Face Saves the Day
1961 Topps #361 5th Series Checklist

The World Series cards which debuted in 1960 return for 1961. One of these World Series Cards features Bill Mazeroski's historic Homer that defeated the Yankees in the 1960 Series.

1961 is the debut of checklist cards in the Topps Set. I like the cool pictures on the top of these checklists. I am pretty sure that these are photos rather than painting and may be the first time in action pictures were featured on a Topps card other than World Series games.

For a previous look back the Phungo 1961 Topps feature on Phillies Cards click here.

Links
Phungo HoF index Frank Robinson

2010 Topps Opening Day - First Pack

I am sure you are aware of this product. I picked up a single pack at Target, 7 Cards $1.05 including PA Sales Tax I am guessing.

First Opening Day Card of the Year:

Daniel Hudson. I actually like this card and drew it in the half dozen or so retail packs of regular Topps I picked up a few weeks back. It is probably the only rookie card that I don't mind the RC logo on. Unfortunately the additional opening day pushes the red white and blue from a nice small touch to two dueling logos.

Phils Cards

Unlike those half dozen packs of 2010 flagship Topps which yielded only one Phils card, this pack produced 2 including a serial numbered Shane Victorino insert. The light blue does nothing for me. Well certainly not as much as the Red did back in 2008 - which bordered the Phils cards perfectly.

The Rest

Other than stinkin Mr Met, A nice selection of cards. The Oswalt is a particularly good looking shot - Swoosh meshes into the card well - only draw back is Miller Lite ad in the background.

Farewell Scottie Reynolds

I don't think I have ever gotten more attached to a college athlete than Scottie Reynolds. Reynolds is the exciting point guard who led the Villanova basketball squad the last three years. Despite the disappointing finish to Scottie's senior season, History will likely view Reynolds as one of Philadelphia's Sports Heroes.

Scottie Reynolds burst on to the local basketball scene late in his freshmen year scoring 40 pts on UConn in a single game. He wouldn't do that every night, but he became more than a scorer. He became a basketball player. Reynolds has several shortcomings that will likely keep him from being an impact player at the next level, but he does possess some skills, a lot of heart, and high degree of basketball intelligence that should allow him to play professionally in some capacity.

I sincerely hope that Reynolds has a basketball future, and look forward to following it, regardless of it's magnitude. He led the 2nd wave of the return of Villanova Wildcats basketball, and it was always wonderful to watch him play.

This card is from the Original Phungo Cards released in 2009. The game was played in the legendary Pavilion over Thanksgiving weekend of 2008. Villanova beat Towson that night. It was one of about a half dozen times that I was able to catch Reynolds playing live. The games I saw included a couple of NCAA tournament games that Villanova won last year in route to their 2009 Final Four appearance.

Tonight the NCAA tournaments continues without Villanova and Reynolds. I still love March Madness and will be watching but the 2nd weekend will not be the same as the last couple of years when the Wildcats gave everybody in Philadelphia a rooting interest.

Philly Card Show Report - 2010 03 13 - Vintage Hall of Famers

For a previous post on the March 2010 Philly Show featuring Vintage Phils Cards click here.

Today I am featuring HOF cards that I picked up.

1964 Topps #29 Lou Brock
1962 Topps #475 Whitey Ford All Star

Cool to find a Lou Brock card from before he was traded to the Cardinals. I think each of these rough cards went for a buck a piece but don't remember now. The early vintage All-Star cards 1958-1962 are all usually pretty reasonable except for 1961.


1957 Topps #215 Enos Slaughter
1973 Topps #341 Jim Palmer

The back of the Slaughter card was well "slaughtered" but it was in the 3 for $1 bin and I couldn't turn it down. The Palmer is from the first iteration of the Boyhood Photos in 1973. This card was also in the 3fer bin.


1967 Topps #241 1966 AL RBI Leaders
1969 Topps #175 Jim Bunning

I am not a big League Leaders card fan, but this one was to big to pass up. Both of these were in the $1 bin.




1971 Topps #380 Tony Perez
1974 Topps #61 Luis Aparicio

Two more HOFs I think from the 3fer bin but can't remember. Aparicio was known for playing the White Sox but finished his career playing for the Red Sox. I believe this is his final Topps Card from his playing days.

2010 Topps Heritage First Pack

My first 2010 Heritage pack was a Retail Pack from Wal-Mart, where the packs go for $3.16 including PA Sales Tax. The pack proved to be a bit insert heavy.

2010 Topps Heritage

#22 Ross Ohlendorf
#295 Rick Ankiel #251 Jarrod Washburn

Nice first couple of cards. Hats off to Ohlendorf for being the First Heritage card of 2010. Wonder if he has ever been first at anything else before. Ankiel is now with the Royals - not sure if he kept the -stache. Washburn remains a free agent, but still gets a Heritage card from the 2 months he spent with the Tigers in 2009.


#114 Buster Posey
#105 Tim Hudson
#180 Robinson Cano (b-side)

I like the second half of the pack much better. Three pretty decent young players. I chose Cano for the B-Side Rep basically because he is a stinkin Yankee. Buster Posey only needs a rookie cup to have three different rookie designations thrown on his card.


#BF1 Baseball Flashbacks Roger Maris
#61RM-13 Maris Chase '61 13th Homer
#TN7 Then and Now White Ford, Justin Verlander

I like the Baseball Flashback card. Nice action shot of a player that has basically been denied his place in history twice.

Can somebody explain the Maris Chase cards going for bonkers bucks on ebay?? several #13 cards that appear similar to this one have gone for $7 plus shipping. According to the packs they fall one every four packs. They cannot be that uncommon.

I am pretty sure the Then and Now came out of a different pack. If someone can explain to me why Mr Verlander has been married to Mr Ford on this card, It would be appreciated. According to the leader board on the flip side of the card Ford finished 3rd in the league in Ks while Vernlander led the league - no symmetry there. It's not like the Tigers didn't exist in 1961. How about Jim Bunning he was a Tiger and was among the strikeout leaders in 61.



#BF1 Baseball Flashbacks Roger Maris
#61RM-13 Maris Chase '61 13th Homer

The B-sides of the two Maris cards for anybody that's interested.

Not a bad start to the year. I have already decided I am collecting only the Phils, plus one player from each other team from the base set. Undecided on the inserts.