Wednesday, June 19, 2013

2013 Topps Archives #54 Cliff Lee

Phillies 4, Nationals 2
Game 72 - Tuesday Night, June 18th in Philadelphia
Record - 35-37, Tied for 2nd Place, 7 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Cliff Lee turned in another outstanding pitching performance as the Phillies defeated the Nationals, 4-2.

What It Means:  It means the Phils have a modest little two-game win streak going and they'll go for the series sweep tonight.  The win also moved the club into a tie for second place with the Nationals.

What Went Right:  Lee, now 9-2, limited the Nationals to two runs on five hits over eight innings, and Jonathan Papelbon shut the door in the ninth for his 14th save.

Michael Young had three doubles and an RBI, while Kevin Frandsen had a two-run single in the sixth.

2013 Topps Heritage Real
Ones Autographs #ROA-PB
Featured Cards:  I finally get to feature Lee's 1982 Topps-style card from the recently released Topps Archives set.  My son Doug and I have decided to collect this set, and I should have a want list up soon.

On a personal note, my sister and brother-in-law welcomed their second daughter, Julie, into the world yesterday afternoon.  The Phillies were kind enough to deliver a win on Julie's birthday and it's only a matter of time before she's attending her first game.

According to Baseball Reference, four former Phillies share Julie's June 18th birthday - Dave Leiper (1996), Paul Brown (1961-1963, 1968), Taylor Phillips (1959-1960) and of course, Charlie Ganzel (1885-1886).  My Ganzel collection is a little light these days, so in honor of Julie's birth, here's an autographed card of former Phillies pitcher Paul Brown from this year's Topps Heritage set.

I wonder if Julie will collect baseball cards?

5 comments:

Jim from Downingtown said...

Also Paul McCartney! (Not too shabby)

Section 36 said...

Welcome Julie!

Steve F. said...

Congrats on the new niece!

My first daughter was born during an Eagles clutch Monday night victory on October 22, 2001. Kickoff was at 9:05 (or so) Philly time, and she was born at 9:09 (although we were living in in California, so subtract 3 hours from each). By the time we got to the patient room, gave her her bath, etc., and settled in to call our families, it was nearly midnight on the East Coast. I had turned the game on (quietly, of course, perhaps so my wife wouldn't be annoyed that hours after our first child was born, I was watching the Eagles) to see that the Birds were down by the score of 9-3, IIRC, in the fourth quarter. I was telling my 81-year-old grandfather that he was a second-time great-grandfather, when (again, IIRC), McNabb broke loose for a long TD scramble. Suddenly my grandfather interrupted me to ask, "Are you watching this game? What a run by McNabb!"

My daughter loves that story of how the sports world intruded on her birth.

Steve F. said...

Quick question: The Phillies Collector blogger (sorry, I forget his name) has a Review of the 2013 Archives Phillies cards over at:

http://www.philliedelphia.com/2013/06/a-phillies-collectors-review-2013-topps-archives.html

It's very helpful in putting together my set, but I think perhaps two cards don't exist--maybe they were on an early press release, but I can't fine them on eBay. They are:

1973/1974 Action Emblem Stickers

Mike Schmidt

AND


1960 Topps Relics

Ryan Howard

Anyone have any idea whether these actually exist? (I've been trying to collect all of them except the _expensive_ Schmidt autos and the triple-signed card and am there but for those two...)

Jim said...

The Ryan Howard relic card exists. There's one that shows up when you do an eBay search of completed listings.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2013-Topps-Archives-Jersey-Relic-Ryan-Howard-Phillies-60R-RH-/111095156759?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item19ddc99017

I don't see any evidence that the 1973/1974 Action Emblem Stickers set even made it into the Archives release. The Cardboard Connection checklists are usually pretty reliable, and there's no mention of this set:

http://www.cardboardconnection.com/2013-topps-archives-baseball-cards