Based on my somewhat thorough and non-scientific research, I'm going out on a limb and saying the picture was taken at some point in 1955. The men featured can be broken down into six subsets:
Blaylock made it into the '56 set after all. |
2. The Reserves (5): These are the guys who played with the Phillies sparingly in 1956, but they had been with the organization since 1955 or earlier. Glen Gorbous, Bobby Morgan, Jim Owens, Murry Dickson, Herm Wehmeier.
3. The Field Staff (5): The manager and coaches. Manager Mayo Smith, and coaches Benny Bengough, Wally Moses, Whit Wyatt and Maje McDonnell.
4. The 1955 Phillies (9): These are players who saw time with the team in 1955, but were gone by the time the 1956 season rolled around. Peanuts Lowrey, Ron Mrozinski, Thornton Kipper, Lynn Lovenguth, Gus Niarhos, Jack Spring, Mel Clark, Dave Cole and Earl Torgeson.
Ortiz strikes again |
5. The Prospects (2):
Lou Ortiz: My new favorite non-Phillie is actually featured on the team card. I wrote about my fascination with Ortiz in my '55 Topps post.
Tom Qualters: Bonus baby Qualters pitched 1/3 of an inning for the Phillies in 1953, giving up six earned runs and earning a 162.00 ERA. He bounced around in the minors before making it back to the Phils for seven games in 1957 and 1958.
6. The Batboy, the Trainer and the Dude in the Suit (3):
The Kenny Bush rookie card |
The dude in the suit standing to the far right is traveling secretary John Wise. Ennis' Wikipedia entry mentions that he and Wise at one point operated a bowling alley in Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania, following Ennis' playing days.
And he's not named on the front of the card, but the batboy sitting in the front is none other than Kenny Bush, who served in that role from 1949 until 1961, and then went on to serve as the team's clubhouse manager for several decades. Here's an ad from a 1955 issue of Boys' Life featuring the young batboy.
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