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| 1987 Donruss #583, 1989 Topps #338, 1990 ProCards #608 and 1989 Fleer #106 |
The 1989 season was a hot mess for the Phillies. Mike Schmidt tearfully announced his retirement, fan favorites Chris James, Steve Bedrosian and Juan Samuel were all sent packing, and the team continued to underwhelm with another last place finish.Nick Leyva's squad fielded 48 different players during the long 1989 season, which at the time was one short of the all-time high 49 players used by the 1946 Phillies. As you'll see below, four of those 48 players have never graced a Phillies baseball card. If not for the 1989 Tastykake Phillies set, that number would have jumped to nine players.
3 Cards or More
38 Players
Outfielder Keith Miller just makes the 3 Cards or More list. Miller had solo cards in the 1989 Topps set, as well as the 1989 Score Hottest 100 Rookies set. He's also featured on the multi-prospest card within the 1988 Tastykake Phillies set and a solo card (which I don't have yet) within the 1988 Tastykake Phillies Update set.
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| 1989 Topps #268, 1987 Topps #196, 1987 Donruss Opening Day #220 and 1990 Fleer #569 |
Dwayne Murphy (98 games in 1989) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies #6 and 1990 Fleer #569
Veteran Murphy wrapped up his 12-year career with 98 games for the Phillies in 1989. He hit .218 with 9 home runs and 27 RBIs, and was released following the season. Thankfully, Fleer saw fit to include a "final tribute" card to Murphy with its 1990 release.
1 Card
Mark Ryal (29 games in 1989) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies #31
Tom Nieto (11 games in 1989 and 17 games in 1990) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies #24
Randy O'Neal (20 games in 1989) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies #27
Jim Adduci (13 games in 1989) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies Update #37Eric Bullock (6 games in 1989) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies Update #38
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| 1989 Tastykake Phillies #31 and #27 |
Nieto was the back-up to Steve Lake, who was the back-up to Darren Daulton. He hit .160 in his 28 games with the Phillies.
O'Neal stuck around for 20 games, and he made an emergency start for the Phillies in mid-August. He was released following the season after compiling a 6.23 ERA in 39 innings. Prior to landing with the Phillies, O'Neal had been a semi-reliable reliever with the Tigers in the mid-'80s.
Adduci appeared in 13 July games for the Phillies when the newly acquired John Kruk landed on the disabled list. Once Kruk was healthy, Adduci headed back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He wrapped up his 11-year professional career in 1990 with another full season as a Red Baron.
In October 1988, the Phillies traded starting pitcher Shane Rawley to the Twins for starting second baseman Tommy Herr, back-up catcher Nieto and outfielder Bullock. Bullock earned a very brief call-up by the Phillies in late June, going 0 for 4 in his six games as either a late inning outfield defensive replacement or as a pinch-hitter. Bullock was one of the five lucky recipients of a 1989 Topps Card That Never Was that I posted two years ago. To date, I haven't yet made the other 14 cards needed to complete this series.
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| 1989 CMC Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons #12, #4, #7 and #21 |
Steve Stanicek (9 games in 1989)
Bob Sebra (3 games in 1988 and 6 games in 1989)
Gordon Dillard (5 games in 1989)
Al Pardo (2 games in 1988 and 1 game in 1989)Stanicek was a first round draft pick by the Giants in 1982. He earned a brief call-up with the Brewers in 1987 and the Phillies signed him as a minor league free agent prior to the 1989 season. After spending the season with the Red Barons, Stanicek was a September call-up appearing solely as a pinch-hitter in nine games. He went 1 for 9 during his brief stay and was released immediately following the season.
Dillard, a lefty, came over to the Phillies from the Orioles in the Phil Bradley deal in December 1988. He had his contract purchased in May and appeared in a total of five games with the Phillies. He finished up the season in Scranton and bounced to the Pirates organization following the season. He pitched briefly for the independent Salinas Spurs in 1991 before calling it a career.
I wrote about Sebra's and Pardo's time with the Phillies in my 1988 Missing Links post.
Past Missing Link Posts
1985 Phillies - None
1987 Phillies - None
1993 Phillies - None
3 comments:
Nice post yet again, Jim. I remember Bullock for some reason (perhaps because his name made me think of "Never Mind the Bollocks"?). I too don't have any of the 1988 Tastykake update cards either. My list has them as Bowa, Elia (horizontal version), Guttierrez, Greg A. Harris, R. Jordan, Miller, J. Russell, Vukovich, and Broadcasters (the big 4 plus Maddox). Do you have the same list?
Your Tastykake photocards made me think of something I meant to report in, perhaps future White Whales for you? I recently picked up the following team-issued photocards that I previously didn't know existed:
- 2004 Charlie Manuel (recall that he was signed after the season, so maybe this was given away at the 2005 spring caravan?)
- 2011 (Second Series style) Dontrelle Willis (this was autographed; almost certainly it was made for him to autograph at some 2011-12 offseason or 2012 preseason event)
-2010 (Second Series style) Scott Mathieson (also autographed, and likely issued for 2010-11 offseason or 2011 preseason event)
I don't think we will ever know exactly how many different photocards are out there!
I'll have to add these three cards to my want lists, and you're right - we'll probably never know how many of these different cards exist.
I was in a fantasy baseball league in 1988 & 1989, and I remember having Steve Stanicek on my team. I think he was a 2nd baseman for the Orioles then.
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