Phungo Cards - Opening Day!

2009 Phungo Black Frame Insert - Opening Day (Unnumbered)

Today is Opening Day for the Phillies. Even though it is their 3rd game of the season. Sunday was Opening Day for Baseball, but it really was a night game, Tuesday's game was also a night game. Today is a getaway day for the Braves, thus a good opportunity to schedule the Phils first day game of the year. Today's schedule also includes the ring ceremony for the World Champions - Pat Burrell even flew in from Boston for the event.

The Phungo Card above is from Opening Day back in 2005. I am sure the photo looks pretty familiar to Phungo Readers. It is also the picture that is in the Phungo banner, It was taken prior to the first game ever played by the Washington Nationals. The card is part of the unnumbered Phungo Black Frame series.

Unfortunately the Phils are off to a rough start today and will have to come up with some offense to avoid being swept.

Richie Ashburn article on The Golden Age of Baseball

I am stealing a post today. This is a link to a column on Richie Ashburn over at The Golden Age of Baseball. If your a Phils fan and need to get over the blues of the 0-2 start this article may help, enjoy.

The 1954 Topps card of Ashburn featured in the article has sold (ungraded) for a low of $10.50 in recent ebay auctions.

Opening Night - Phungo 5 with Cardboard Junkie

New Phungo Feature today - the PHUNGO 5. For each series during the Phillies 09 Season I am going to attempt to get a mini-interview of 5 questions from a card blogger related to the team which is facing the Phillies (Think "Daily Show" V1.0 with Kilborn)

The Phillies are coming off of winning the 2008 World Championship and as a reward they get to host ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball and the Atlanta Braves. This gives me the opportunity to pick the brain of the prolific DayF over at Cardboard Junkie. I am ashamed, I think he gave me his entire Braves preview. Dayf is his usual witty and insightful self and I am very happy with the results of the first Phungo 5.

1) This is the 2nd consecutive year the Braves have been on Opening night, Like it or Loathe it?
Love it. It's like Daytona for baseball, a big event. I don't even mind the crappy ESPN announcers. Bonus: Derek Lowe gets an extra start in due to all the off days from playing a day before everyone else. I just hope the weather isn't lousy up in Philly.

2) If I am a prospector what Braves cards should I be looking at?
You obviously are too late to jump on the Jordan Shafer bandwagon and pretty much everyone knows about Hanson and Heyward by now. Gorkys Hernandez too, to a lesser extent. Freddie Freeman is probably the best prospect still (sort of) under the radar. Huge 19 year old first baseman that mashes the ball. Also watch out for shortstop Brandon Hicks. He's raw, but he might end up converted to third base to take over for Chipper one day. Brandon is another guy who can hit the ball out of the park, but he strikes out too much. If he can learn how to make contact or at least figure out how to take a ton of walks like Adam Dunn he might be in the bigs one day. There's a whole mess of pitchers who could make an impact in a couple of years too. Kris Medlen, Cole Rohrbaugh, Julio Teheran and Jeff Locke. All lefties except for Medlen.

3) What three players will need to excel for the Braves to win the NL East?
Jeff Francoeur has got to remember how to hit. If he doesn't the Braves are in trouble and Jeffy will probably be on his way out of town. Mike Gonzalez is pretty critical. The bullpen is good but injury prone and Mike needs to lock down that closer role to keep the whole house of cards from collapsing like it's done so often in the past. The most important guy on the team right now is Brian McCann. He's an All-Star catcher, hits the daylights out of the ball and is picking up the Team Leader role now that Smoltz is gone and Glavine has gotten old. If McCann gets injured for any period of time, the Braves are in deep trouble. If Chipper goes down they could muddle through with some combination of Infante, Prado and Norton over in the hot corner. Behind McCann is David Ross and Clint Sammons. McCann has to stay healthy.

4) Favorite Phillies Braves Connection
My cousin Tim, a big Phillie fan who took me to a few Phillies/Braves games when I was a kid. I owned a Phillies cap before I ever owned a Braves cap if you can believe that. Got it at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium at a game he took me to. I don't know how the hell he managed to drive home after all of those beers he had at the game, but we did and it was a really fun time.

5) Dr Dirt or Mr Clean?
No contest. Mr. Clean.

1991 Donruss #744 Dr Dirt and Mr Clean (click to enlarge)

There it is, the Debut of Phungo 5 - We will give the Cardboard Junkie team a perfect 5 of 5 for their efforts - Hope you enjoyed it, We will be looking to Tulo Trader for a Rockies report later this week. If you are interested in representing your team in a future Phungo 5 leave a comment or email me - I have some folks in mind, but some teams are a little thin - is there a Nats Card blog out there?

As for me I am looking forward to watching the Phils defend the World Championship. The Phillies are facing long odds, No NL team as repeated since the 75-76 Reds 30+ years ago. Regardless, the Phils are a fun and likeable team. Tickets will be more expensive and harder to come by this season, but I am sure glad the season is here.

Would you like to see some New Hero Numbers? 42 and 21

The recent Hall of Fame posts on Roberto Clemente and Jackie Robinson got me to thinking - Are Robinson and Clemente worthy of Hero numbers?

One of the facets of Topps cards that I prefer to Upper Deck is that they have Hero numbers. The numbers were present on the cards I grew up with and I enjoy seeing them on today's cards. Topps has also "retired" the number 7 to be used exclusively for Mickey Mantle.

If a card number can be retired to a specific player for on the field greatness, why not recognize a card number that represents social progress. I propose making card #42, Jackie Robinson's uniform number, a Hero Number. This way it is a living memorial honoring Jackie Robinson and what he represents. This is similar to the way players don uniform number 42 on Jackie Robinson day during the Major League season. Similarly I also think that Robero Clemente's 21 is worthy of the Hero number treatment as an honor to him and the rise of the Latin player.

Each year the cards could be a different player, this would surely generate some free publicity for Topps as the players and their credentials would likely be debated beyond baseball card circles. In the initial years the numbers would go to a Dodger and a Pirate but beyond that I would expand the player pool to all 30 teams. Juan Pierre would be a good pick from the Dodgers for the #42 honor. Perhaps Ian Snell, who represented Puerto Rico in the WBC could be the initial #21 representative.

In a hobby that is short on innovations that are not in reality gimmicks, I think it would be easy to do and would also generate a significant goodwill return for Topps.

It would be more interesting then than having another Corey Hart on card number 42.

2008 topps #42 Corey Hart (Reverse)

What do Phungo Readers think? is this an idea that Topps could run with?

Phungo Cards - B J Upton

2009 Phungo #2 B J Upton

The Phils make there way north for a couple of exhibition games versus the Tamp Bay Rays Tonight and Tomorrow. The Rays are the same team the Phils faced the last time they played at Citizen's Bank Ballpark this past October. One of the Rays Superstars is B J Upton. Upton is the bright young centerfielder that should help them remain competitive for the next several years.

This Picture was taken prior to the beginning of the first half of Game 5. Upton took some warm up swings while stretching near the Left Field foul line. I gave Upton card number 2 to match his uniform number and marked his position as CF for Centerfield, rather than the generic OF for outfield.

Rocco Baldelli was running and stretching in the same area as Upton during warm-ups, but I never did get a suitable photo of him. Hopefully I will catch Rocco at a Red Sox game sometime this year.

Tonights game doesn't count, but it feels good to know that the boys are back in town and the Opening day is just around the corner.

For more information on Phungo Cards click here!

Hall of Fame Thursday - Jackie Robinson

1997 Upper Deck #3 Jackie Robinson (The MVP Season - 1949)

Today is April 2nd or 4-2, which happens to be the number worn by Jackie Robinson. Robinson is, of course, the player that is remembered for breaking the Major League Baseball color barrier and leading the Brooklyn Dodgers to the 1955 World Championship - The last title the Dodgers would win in Brooklyn.

Robinson was a 28 year old rookie when his career started. Baseball reluctance to add black players to their rosters likely cost Robinson four or more years of his career, which spanned 10 years. Still Robinson accumulated 1518 hits, 137 Homers, 197 Stolen Bases and was a career .311 hitter. He had a tremendous 740-291 K/BB ration which help him carry a .409 OBP number.

Jackie Robinson was inducted to the Hall in his first year of eligibility (1962) and his uniform number 42 has been retired across baseball. On April 15th of each year Major League Baseball marks the anniversary of Robinson's 1947 debut by hosting Jackie Robinson Day. Teams and players often where the number 42 in recognition of the event.

On April 15th the Dodgers host their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants on Jackie Robinson day. The Phillies will travel to DC to play the Nationals.

The Jackie Robinson Foundation was founded by Rachel Robinson in 1973 to honor the memory of Jackie Robinson and facilitate the education of minority youth's in need. JRF aids these youths by providing a scholarship fund for continuing education. The Foundation also provides additional support through an extensive mentoring program.

For the Card Sharks

The Jackie Robinson 1949 #79 Leaf card has recently sold for over $400, while his 1949 Bowman #50 went for over $500. The 1952 Topps #312 Jackie Robinson is priced in the $400 range but off condition cards can be had for as little as $175. Many of the 1950s Topps Jackie Robinsons run from $100 to $200. If your on a budget fair condition cards can be had for as little as $45 (1954 Topps #10 ). A rough 1953 #1 has gone for $58 - which is pretty good for a significant HOF and first in set card.

At this time there are no Jackie Robinson auto cards in the recently completed auctions. There are a few cut signature Buy it Nows available for well over a thousand dollars.

The Curious Case of Sidd Finch

1986 Topps Traded 11T Sidd Finch

As spring training draws to a close, I would like to take a moment to recognize Sidd Finch. Every once in a while there is a rookie that absolutely lights up the baseball Universe. Some of those players go on to be big stars, like Mariano Rivera or Ryan Howard. Many others never reach the promise of early glory like Andruw Jones, Joe Charboneau, or one Hayden "Sidd" Finch.

Sidd Finch came to Mets camp in the sping of 1985, an odd young man with a blazing fastball. He had no previous pitching experience but Finch had channelled a Zen manta into his body that allowed him to throw a baseball faster than Nolan Ryan.

Perhaps if things had been different, Davey Johnson would not have made the dubios decision to let Finch pitch to Bill Buckner during game 6 of the 86 World Series. Perhaps Finch would not have blown the save on Buckner's three run blast and the young mans promising career could have continued. Finch never returned to baseball after leaving Shea Stadium that night and has been shunned by Mets fans ever since - Many Mets Fans still refer to the Mets forty year World Series drought as the curse of Sidd Finch.

I believe it is time for the Mets faithful to move on. With the opening of a new ballpark bring back Sidd Finch and honor him, perhaps the return of Sidd Finch could reverse the curse.

Had things worked out differently, The Mets would have won the 1986 Series, Finch may have fulfilled his baseball potential, and the 1986 Topps Traded Card 11T above would be worth hundreds of dollars today.

Below is the rather interesting Mets Official Scouting Report of Sidd Finch from 1984. (click to enlarge)