Sunday, January 17, 2010

Scrapbook Sunday: June 16, 1991

1992 Donruss #384 Wes Chamberlain
1992 Topps #456 Pat Combs
1992 Upper Deck #350 Wally Backman
1992 Stadium Club #156 Joe Boever

Turn back the clock games are fairly commonplace now, but that wasn't always the case. In June 1991, the Phillies tried the promotion for the first time, wearing retro uniforms from 1957. It was very, very strange to watch the Phils play a game in something other than their familiar maroon and white uniforms. So strange in fact, I distinctly remember videotaping this game for posterity. (The Phillies announcers did the pre-game opening in vintage '50s gear and the first few minutes of the broadcast was in black and white. I recall Andy Musser looked particularly out of place.)

The retro uniforms didn't help the Phils against the World Champion Reds in this game, as the team lost for the seventh time in eight games. Pat Combs was hammered, Dickie Thon made a crucial error in the 9th inning and Wes Chamberlain's first home run of the year was wasted.

Retro Cards: Pictures of the Phillies wearing these uniforms turned up on several baseball cards in late 1991 and throughout 1992, as follows:

1991 Medford Phillies Update #39 Wally Ritchie
1992 Donruss #384 Wes Chamberlain, #493 Joe Boever, #614 Danny Cox (back), #631 Wally Ritchie (back)
1992 Stadium Club #156 Joe Boever
1992 Topps #331 Steve Lake, #456 Pat Combs, #754 Charlie Hayes
1992 Triple Play #128 Andy Ashby, #220 Mitch Williams
1992 Upper Deck #350 Wally Backman, #402 Joe Boever, #410 Mitch Williams (back), #442 Pat Combs (back), #567 Tommy Greene

Dale Murphy shows up wearing a retro uniform on his 1991 Studio card (#220), but I didn't count that here as it's a staged studio shot. Pitchers Tommy Greene, Wally Ritchie and Mitch Williams show up on cards wearing their retro uniforms, even though they didn't pitch in the game.

2 comments:

Jenna said...

What ever happened to Pat Combs?

Jim said...

I don't know . . . perhaps that's a good topic for a future post!