Swag from Night Owl Cards

Tonight we have another Swag post featuring a couple of highlights from a recent batch of cards that arrived from Night Owl Cards

1988 Fleer Superstars #33 of 44 Mike Schmidt

Mike Schmidt standing in the batter's box wearing the Phillies powder blue road uni evokes his 1987 Base Card. The pix are not from the same session, the above Fleer card appears to be at Wrigley field in Chicago, while the 1987T card appears to be at Montreal.

The 1988 Fleer Superstars was a 44 card set distributed a McCrory's a department store chain (based in York PA) that went out of business in 2001.

2013 Topps #309 Domonic Brown (Green Parallel)

I refer to the Green Topps Instagrams A Christmas cards, especially for the Red teams like the Phillies Reds and Cardinals.

1981 Donruss #284 Sparky Lyle

Sparky Lyle was one of the original hipsters.

At one time Lyle was the manager of the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League, he is still involved with the team but in a a more ceremonial role.

1962 Topps #303 Frank Torre

Ok it has some flaws but it is a 1962 Topps of Joe Torre's brother.

There were plenty of other goodies, I just wanted to hit a cross section of the cards sent over by NOC. Not only one of my favorite card writers but a great trader as well.

Sources & Links
Mike Schmidt HoF Index
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards (Bob Lemke)
Somerset Patriots
Open checklist
Dayton Business Journal

Swag from Paul's Random Stuff

Social Media outlets can suck up a lot of time and for a procrastinator like myself they are quite dangerous. .

However, occasionally something pops on Twitter that gets my attention in a good way.

2015 Topps #302 Martin Prado (Gatorade Variation)

Paul of Paul's Random Stuff was tweeting some 2015T cards and he posted the above card. There are so many variations in 2015T I did not know this one existed. But I am glad the card exists.  

Now one may ask, what does Team Phungo want with a 2015T New York Yankees card of a player that only wore the uniform for about a week.

Well this card, which is a variation of Prado's 2015 base card, is going into my very special Phungo Games Colleciton.

Last September Team Phungo made a special trek up to the Stadium to see Derek Jeter play in his home park one last time. For more details on that game click here.  The Captain had an uneventful night (1-5) but Martin Prado had a terrific game 2-5 with 3 RBI including a game winning single - which led to the Gatorade Bath above.

A Big thanks to Paul for adding this card to my favorite collection!

2015 Topps
I am picking a nit here but as a Yankee Martin Prado played more second base than third. This card is a "Special" card featuring a photo from a specific game in which Prado played second. In Topps defense the bulk of Prado's time with  the D-Backs was spent at third. 


Sources and Links
Index of Phungo Games 
2015 Topps
Baseball-ref

2012 Timeless Talents Andy Pettitte Cliff Lee

Last week the New York Yankees announced that they are retiring the numbers of Bernie Williams Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte.

2012 Topps Timeless Talents #TT12 Andy Pettitte Cliff Lee

This generated some discussion among Baseball Nerds. First there is a the sheer gluttony - the Yankees have 17 Retired Numbers (for 18 players - 8 is retired for both Yogi and Bill Dickey). Secondly Andy Pettitte's name raised some eyebrows.

Pettitte admitted to HGH use after being named in the Mitchell Report. It should be noted that according to Pettitte the PED use occurred in 2002 prior to the banning of HGH.

Andy Pettitte's borderline HoF resume is largely based upon his incredible postseason numbers. The Mitchell Report may tip the scales against him.

I believe a large part of the Yankees motivation for retiring Pettitte's number now is to ease the return of Alex Rodriguez from his PED suspension. 

Timeless Talents
Andy Pettitte's partner on the 2012 Timeless Talents card is the Phillies Cliff Lee. The players are partnered as lefty aces that have big-game reputations.  

Lets take a closer look at the flip o the card that has some comparatives of the two players.

2012 Timeless Talents Andy Pettitte Cliff Lee (b-side)

Stats are interesting with one Lee at mid career while Pettitte was (at the time retired)

There is also a bit of a lazy Topps here - despite being released in 2012 the copy ignores the 2011 postseason. Cliff Lee took an L in his only 2011 playoff start - his record would have been 7-3 with a 2.52 ERA when this card was released.

Cliff Lee 2015
Today we find Lee 24 wins and 500 strikeouts down the road and 3 years older.  Last year was the worst season for Lee since 2007. He pitched only 13 games, 81+ innings with a mediocre 102 ERA+, all good for a replacement level +0.8 WAR.

Cliff Lee is now 36. From what I understand Lee is healthy after opting for rehab and recovery over surgery that would have cost him the 2015 season. Only 3 of Lee's top 10 comps made significant contributions at 36+, 2 never pitched again - including #1 comp Roy Oswalt. However miserable of a memory Oswalt may be for Phils fans, I am going to bring up one that distresses them more.

2011 Chris Carpenter

Yes Carpenter's age 36 season was the one where he dominated the 2011 postseason which included eliminating the Phillies in a 1-0 NLDS game 5.

In 2011 Carpenter was good for a 3.5 WAR, which is where I will target Cliff Lee. Not great, but not bad, and if he mimics 2011 Carpenter there is that World Series victory.

Sources and Links
Phillies WAR Projections 2015
Baseball-ref
Cardboard Connection
New York Yankees
ESPN

2015 Heritage the Originals: League Leaders Cards Sonny Siebert - Mysterious Extra

The League Leaders subset returned in 1966 Topps, but it was moved away from the top of the set where it had lived in the past three releases. 

The 12 cards were numbered from 215-226 and represented the same six categories (for each league) that were present in 1965: Batting, HR, RBI, ERA, Pitching, Ks 

There is at least one oddity in the subset

1966 Topps #226 LL AL Strikeouts

All of the other League Leaders cards are of the triple variety, the logical explanation here would have been that McLain and Siebert had tied in strikeouts. But they did not.

1966 Topps #226 LL AL Strikeouts (b-side)


This opens the door for King Felix to get on the 2015 Heritage League Leaders card. In 2014 he finished 4th behind David Price, Corey Kluber and Matt Scherzer.

And YES the Topps Heritage checker came out recently - check it out card #226 has 4 players on the card. Max Scherzer had a legit claim on the #3 spot in AL Strikeouts (252), but he will share his podium spot with Felix Hernandez (248)

Nice attention to detail Topps. 

Sources and Links
1966 Topps Blog
2015 Heritage/1966 Topps Index
topps
cardboard connection
Topps Database
Baseball-ref

Sitting 20 feet from Eddie Cicotte Pt 2

A few weeks ago Team Phungo took in some culture in the form of Local Theater. We checked out a production of Anton Checkov's "The Cherry Orchard" at the People's Light Theater in Malvern PA. 

I have seen four productions at the People's Light and this was my least favorite. Following the play I read some background on the play and it is mentioned that directors struggle with the works balance of farce and tragedy.

I think this may have been the issue with the People's Light production of "The Cherry Orchard". The downbeats out paced the fun parts and the strongest character,  Lopakhin, was also the least likable.

My other issue was that several times in the play the dialogue between the characters came to a complete stop. I think this was to allow the audience to think about the action, these dramatic pauses were too frequent for my taste.

Regardless I was glad that I saw the show. Mrs Phungo does a great deal of work in Russian Studies and through her I have learned a lot about Checkovian theater. We have seen several Checkov influenced productions but this is the first time I saw one of the original plays.

1988 Orion Pictures "Eight Men Out" #6 David Strathairn as Eddie Cicotte

The plays lead roles featured a pair of actors with significant resumes for suburban theater, Mary McDonnell and David Straithairn

McDonnell is the star of the TNT drama series "Major Crimes" a spinoff of "the Closer". She has won and Obie and been nominated for several Oscars including Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Stands With A Fist in "Dances With Wolves". McDonnell's Daughter, Olivia Mell. also appeared in the Cherry Orchard. 

The lead male role of Leonid was played by David Straithairn who is familiar to baseball film fans as the actor who portrayed Eddie Cicotte in Eight Men Out. 

David Straithairn must be a fan of not just the theater, but Theater in Philadelphia. Back in 2010 we Strathairn in the Vaclav Havel play "Leaving" which is Checkov influenced. To see our review of that show click here.

It is pretty cool to see noted stars in a tiny theater in a small town like Malvern. People's Light always puts together quality plays, and despite my reservations presented at the top of the article I am glad that I got to see their production of "the Cherry Orchard"

Sources & Links
People's Light Theater
Eldritch Press
imdb
TNT

WAR Stories Phillies 2015 Jonathan Papelbon and 2015T Phils Checker

Today we take a look at Jonathan Papelbon's 2015 WAR projection.

2015 Topps #143 Jonathan Papelbon

Papelbon is not one of my favorite Phils and I am not going to spend a lot of time over-analyzing his upcoming season.

He is coming off his best season as the Phillies closer. He is 34 and seems to pitch better when the stakes are higher. The stakes for the 2015 Phils don't look to be in Papelbon's preferred stratosphere. I am seeing some regression and will give him a 1.7 WAR for 2015.

2015 Topps Series 1 Phillies Checker 

10 Cole Hamels

51 Ryan Howard

118 Domonic Brown

123 Ben Revere

143 Jonathan Papelbon

163 Chase Utley

187 Marlon Byrd

212 Cliff Lee

218 David Buchanan

222 Antonio Bastardo

233 Carlos Ruiz

309 Maikel Franco (RC)

There are a dozen Phillies on the 2015T S1 checker, of course as of press time two of those players are already gone (Byrd and Bastardo). Hamels or Lee may be gone prior to the beginning of the season. If they both remain healthy at least one will likely be dealt by the deadline.

The 12 players chosen don't leave much for S2. Among the players we can look forward to seeing are Ken Giles, Cody Asche, Darin Ruf, Aaron Harang, Chad Billingsley, Grady Sizemore, Freddy Galvis and whatever other Shortstop the Phillies can pick up in  the next month plus the team card. 


Sources and Links
Phillies 2015+
2015 Topps
Cardboard Connection

Baseball-ref

OSCARS: Boyhood and Jason Lane 2006 Topps #473

Our final Oscars film posting features the Richard Linklater film "Boyhood"

This the other nominee that team Phungo checked out this year. Linklater like Anderson is another filmmaker whose career I have followed. I have seen the the Before trilogy (including Waking Life which includes an obscure scene related to Before...) and I loved Slacker.

I saw Boyhood in the theater and look forward to seeing it again. A few years from now I see this film getting heavy rotation on the USA/TBS/TNT circuit - think Shawshank. I would have to see it again, but I think the scenes will keep the viewer there until the commercial, and get you to return afterward.

Boyhood has gotten press regarding how the movie was filmed over a 12 year period. I think this is a bit of diservice to the film. Yes the process is ambitious and complicated, but focusing on the method misses out on some of the films other qualities. There are several interesting stories with the "non-story" All the characters grow up, not just Mason. It is obvious that the father (Ethan Hawke) is a man-child, but we also get to see Patricia Arquette's character grow up as well.

When you think about it the filming over 12 years idea is really just a fiction version of the Seven up! documentary series. 

Boyhood on Card

 2006 Topps #473 Jason Lane (snagged from baseball Card database)

There is a scene in the movie where Ethan Hawke takes the kids to a baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the hometown Houston Astros. It is apparent that they shot a live game. I did some research in an attempt to find out what game it was, but was unsuccessful.

Fortunately, I was not the only baseball/film nerd that needed to find out this information.  Spencer Bingol did the research and figured out that Linklater took a bit of creative license with the actual events.

Jason Lane really did hit a Home Run off of the Brewers but it was not a game winner. In fact it was in a game that the Astros lost.

The game was played on August 18th 2005, during Houston's NL Championship campaign. Roger Clemens had the Astros up 2-1 after 6, but the Rocket fell apart in the 7th. A mix of line drives and walks led to four Brewers runs and that was it for the Astros.

Richard Linklater 2015 
Prior to becoming a film director Richard Linklater went to Sam Houston State on a baseball scholarship. Later this year Linklater returns to the diamond for his upcoming film That's What I'm Talking About, about, yep college baseball - preview copy describes it as a spiritual sequel to "Dazed to Confused"

Jason Lane
The photo on Jason Lane's 2006T Card was likely taken during the 2005 season, which puts it in the time period of the Boyhood clip. Lane is in a road uni on the card so it is definitely not the same game as the film, but captures Lane in the the era.

After being out of Major League Baseball for seven years, Lane returned in 2014. However, he didn't make his return as a power hitting outfielder, he came back as a pitcher. In 10+ innings for the Padres Lane gave up only one run while picking up six Ks. He is among San Diego's non-roster invitees for the 2015 season.

Sources and Links
2015 Oscars Index
Washington Post - Michael Cavna
Slashfilm
imdb
Baseball Card Database
Baseball-ref