1973 Phillies Photocards

I updated this post here in November 2020 and this original post is now outdated.

 

Number of Cards:  41
Card Size:  3 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Description:  As was the case with all Phillies photocards issued throughout the 1970s, these cards feature a black and white photo with the players' name below.  The backs of the cards are blank and there's no indication on the cards themselves that they're from 1973.  Most of the cards (excluding the Essian card) have blue facsimile autographs on the fronts.  A lot of the photos used for this set also appear in the 1973 Phillies Yearbook.
How Distributed:  The cards were handed out to fans individually and supplied to the players in order to reply to fan mail or to honor autograph requests.  I could be wrong, but I don't believe the cards were ever originally available in complete set form.

Complete Standard Checklist:

Mike Anderson Carroll Berringer CO Bob Boone Larry Bowa Darrell Brandon Ken Brett Steve Carlton Larry Christenson George Culver Billy DeMars CO Ron Diorio Denny Doyle Jim Essian Billy Grabarkewitz Terry Harmon Tom Hutton Deron Johnson Barry Lersch Jim Lonborg Greg Luzinski Willie Montanez

Danny Ozark MG Jose Pagan Ray Rippelmeyer CO Bill Robinson (portrait, not smiling) Bill Robinson (shoulder visible, smiling) Craig Robinson Mike Rogodzinski Dick Ruthven Mike Ryan Mac Scarce Mike Schmidt Dick Selma Cesar Tovar Cesar Tovar (closer cropped, less hair) Wayne Twitchell (smiling) Wayne Twitchell (not smiling) Del Unser Mike Wallace Billy Wilson Bobby Wine CO

Carlton's page from the 1973 Phillies Yearbook

One and Done (0)
First Appearances (15):  Brett, Christenson, Culver, Diorio, Essian, Grabarkewitz, Lonborg, Pagan, C. Robinson, Rogodzinski, Ruthven, Tovar (two versions), Unser, Wallace
Returning Players (21):  Anderson, Boone, Bowa, Brandon, Carlton, Doyle, Harmon, Hutton, Johnson, Lersch, Luzinski, Montanez, B. Robinson (two versions), Ryan, Scarce, Schmidt, Selma, Twitchell (two versions), Wilson

The First Appearance designation is for players who have never before appeared within a Phillies team issued set.  These players may have already appeared on other Phillies baseball cards.

Manager (1):  Ozark
Coaches (4):  Berringer, DeMars, Rippelmeyer, Wine
Phillie Phanatic (0)
Broadcasters (0)
Commemorative Cards (0)

Variations/Rarities:  Based on the checklist found at The Trading Card Database, there are signature variations for the Boone and Schmidt cards.  The cards contain the same photos, but the signature placement differs slightly on both cards.

• Bob Boone - signature variation
• Mike Schmidt - signature variation

There are also three players (Robinson, Tovar and Twitchell) who have two versions of their cards available featuring different photos.  I'm not sure which variation is more prevalent than the others, so I've listed these variations as part of the main checklist above.

Also See:  The Mike Schmidt Rookie Card
Trivia:  I found the Carlton card featured here through an eBay search for "Phillies Photocards."  It was only through the awesome photos provided at The Trading Card Database for this set that I was able to identify this card as being from 1973.  (The eBay auction for this card advertised the Carlton card as being from 1978.)  Collector Dave Sosidka uploaded the checklist and scans of all cards to the databse back in 2011.

The Beckett database entry for this set lists the set as "1973 Phillies Team Issue" and contains only 29 cards.
Resources:  The Trading Card Database; Beckett.com