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| 1993 Donruss Diamond Kings #DK-17, 1993 Upper Deck #485, 1994 Fleer Pro-Visions #1 and 1992 Donruss Diamond Kings #DK-12 |
Decade MVP
Mike Schmidt was the easy choice for the decade MVP of the '70s and '80s, but I don't think it's as clear cut for the '90s. From the offensive side, I narrowed it down to Darren Daulton, John Kruk or Lenny Dykstra before deciding that Dutch was the appropriate choice. He's at the top of all the major statistical categories and he was the clear leader of the team throughout his time with the club, including the magical 1993 season.
Curt Schilling was far and away the best pitcher for the Phils during the decade. But it's telling that both Daulton (in 2010) and Kruk (in 2011) were elected to the Phillies Wall of Fame before Schilling. Schilling is on the ballot for induction this year, but as I told Phungo a few weeks ago, I'd like to see either Jim Konstanty or Rick Wise get in before the Big Schill.
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| 1994 Donruss #373, 1992 Score #892, 1993 Score #526 and 1994 Ultra Phillies Finest #9 |
Games - Mickey Morandini (874), Daulton (780), Kruk (663), Dykstra (644), Kevin Stocker (545)
Average* - Kruk (.306), Dykstra (.298), Gregg Jefferies (.287), Scott Rolen (.280), Morandini (.268)
Home Runs - Daulton (110), Rolen (82), Dave Hollins (67), Mike Lieberthal (67), Rico Brogna (64)
RBIs - Daulton (466), Kruk (352), Rolen (297), Brogna (287), Hollins (273)
Stolen Bases - Dykstra (152), Morandini (98), Doug Glanville (57), Jefferies (52), Bobby Abreu (46)
Games - Ricky Bottalico (234), Schilling (226), Mitch Williams (200), Wayne Gomes (181), Terry Mulholland (149), Toby Borland (149)
Wins - Schilling (95), Mulholland (58), Tommy Greene (36), Danny Jackson (26), Ben Rivera (23)
ERA** - Schilling (3.31), Jackson (3.53), Jose DeJesus (3.55), Mulholland (3.68), Greene (4.02)
Strikeouts - Schilling (1,458), Mulholland (510), Greene (429), Bottalico (280), Matt Beech (266)
Saves - Mitch Williams (102), Bottalico (75), Heathcliff Slocumb (32), Doug Jones (27), Roger McDowell (25)
*At least 1,700 ABs with the Phillies, completely subjective
** At least 300 IP, completely subjective
1990-1999 Topps
Total Phillies Players (1990-1999): 219. There were 179 different Phillies in the '80s and 142 different Phillies in the '70s.
Total Phillies Players with Topps Phillies Cards: 105. Only 36% of the players who suited up with the Phillies during the decade ended up on Phillies baseball cards between 1990 and 1999. The success percentage was 63% in the '80s and 59% in the '70s.
Managers with Cards: Nick Leyva (2 cards) and Jim Fregosi (3 cards).
Topps Phillies Cards of Non-Phillies: 5 cards - Jeff Jackson (1990), Chad McConnell (1993), Shane Pullen, Larry Wimberly and Rob Grable (all 1995).
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| 1997 Topps Gallery #54, 1994 Pinnacle #159, 1991 Donruss Bonus Cards #BC-14, 1994 Triple Play #175 |
Most Featured: Schilling (10 cards), Daulton (9 cards), Dykstra (9 cards), Morandini (8 cards), Hollins (6 cards), Ricky Jordan (6 cards), Kruk (6 cards), Green (6 cards).
By comparison, Steve Carlton and Schmidt had the most Topps Phillies cards in the '80s with 26 each.
Most Games (Batter), No Phillies Topps Card: Kevin Sefcik (325 games from 1995 through 1999), Alex Arias (174 games from 1998 and 1999), Mark Lewis (142 games in 1998), David Doster (138 games in 1996 and 1999), Todd Zeile (134 games in 1996), Mark Whiten (120 games in 1995 and 1996), Rob Ducey (104 games in 1999).
Sefcik and Ducey would have to wait until the 2001 Topps set for their first and only cards in a Topps base set. While Arias, Lewis, Doster, Zeile and Whiten were never featured as Phillies within a Topps flagship set.
Most Games (Pitcher), No Phillies Topps Card: Jerry Spradlin (145 games in 1997 and 1998), Larry Andersen (93 games in 1993 and 1994), Yorkis Perez (92 games in 1998 and 1999), Wally Ritchie (79 games in 1991 and 1992), Russ Springer (65 games in 1995 and 1996).
Andersen and Ritchie make the list because their tenure with the team in the '90s produced no Topps Phillies cards, but they appear within Topps sets in the '80s. Andersen is in the 1985 and 1986 Topps sets, while Ritchie is in the 1987 Topps Traded and 1988 Topps sets.
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| 1998 SP Authentic #153, 1998 Sports Illustrated Then and Now #128, 1998 Ultra #391 and 1997 Collector's Choice #192 |
Here are the next ten cards in my checklist of the best 60 Topps Phillies cards since 1951. By the time I'm done with this series of posts, I'm going to need to revamp this to the Topps 61.
41 - 1990 Topps #469 John Kruk
42 - 1991 Topps #345 Lenny Dykstra
43 - 1992 Topps #83 Tommy Greene
44 - 1993 Topps #235 Mitch Williams
45 - 1994 Topps #504 Jim Eisenreich
46 - 1995 Topps #2 Mickey Morandini
47 - 1996 Topps #85 Darren Daulton
48 - 1997 Topps #268 Scott Rolen
49 - 1998 Topps #94 Mike Lieberthal
50 - 1999 Topps #385 Curt Schilling
Cards That Never Were Series
This set is getting much bigger than I had originally anticipated, and I had to purposely cut back on the cards I'd include from the late '90s, in order to keep the latest batch of additions at 51.
141 - 1990 Topps Dale Murphy
142 - 1990 Topps Jose DeJesus
143 - 1990 Topps Sil Campusano
144 - 1991 Topps John Morris
145 - 1991 Topps Jim Lindeman
146 - 1991 Topps Wally Ritchie
147 - 1992 Topps Ben Rivera
148 - 1992 Topps Kyle Abbott
149 - 1992 Topps Jeff Grotewold
150 - 1992 Topps Juan Bell
151 - 1992 Topps Stan Javier
152 - 1992 Topps Don Robinson
153 - 1993 Topps Danny Jackson
154 - 1993 Topps Milt Thompson
155 - 1993 Topps Kevin Stocker
156 - 1993 Topps Jim Eisenreich
157 - 1993 Topps Larry Andersen
158 - 1994 Topps Coming Attractions Andy Carter
159 - 1994 Topps Billy Hatcher
160 - 1994 Topps Paul Quantrill
161 - 1994 Topps Fernando Valenzuela
162 - 1995 Topps Andy Van Slyke
163 - 1995 Topps Mark Whiten
164 - 1995 Topps Lenny Webster
165 - 1995 Topps Sid Fernandez
166 - 1995 Topps Gary Varsho
167 - 1996 Topps Benito Santiago
168 - 1996 Topps Todd Zeile
169 - 1996 Topps Ken Ryan
170 - 1996 Topps Toby Borland
171 - 1996 Topps Russ Springer
172 - 1997 Topps Terry Francona MG
173 - 1997 Topps Rico Brogna
174 - 1997 Topps Midre Cummings
175 - 1997 Topps Mark Leiter
176 - 1997 Topps Ruben Amaro, Jr.
177 - 1997 Topps Darren Daulton
178 - 1998 Topps Doug Glanville
179 - 1998 Topps Mark Lewis
180 - 1998 Topps Desi Relaford
181 - 1998 Topps Tyler Green
182 - 1998 Topps Mark Portugal
183 - 1998 Topps Yorkis Perez
184 - 1999 Topps Alex Arias
185 - 1999 Topps Marlon Anderson
186 - 1999 Topps Paul Byrd
187 - 1999 Topps Ron Gant
188 - 1999 Topps Kevin Jordan
189 - 1999 Topps Robert Person
190 - 1999 Topps David Doster
191 - 1999 Topps Kevin Sefcik
Links to the Past
4 comments:
Good riddance to the 1990s!
What is going on in that Darren Daulton card? It looks like he has super powers in that he can catch a ball game even while his feet are stuck in a very large Rice Krispie treat and melt water towers at the same time. What was the artists trying to say in that card?
Maybe I am overanalyzing something that requires no analysis.
I think the drawing was an attempt to show that Daulton was chiseled out of a block of stone. (The back of the card may have made mention of this . . . but I don't have the card with me right now.) It's a stretch, to be sure.
A couple of things brought up in the last few months in this series show what the multiple number of sets in this time period gave us, many bad ideas as companies scrambled to put out yet another set. This Daulton card in cotton candy land is a good example of just pure garbage along with the cards in soup cans idea discussed in another post. Maybe I like the basics (nice picture, stats on back) and there may be a place for this stuff, at the same time you can see why these companies are no longer around...too much focus on quantity and not quality.
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