Thursday, November 20, 2014

2000 Phillies Team Issue


Number of Cards:  36 (with perhaps another 11 in an update set)
Card Size:  4" x 6"
Description:  For this set, the Phillies decided to actually come up with a baseball card design, and not just figure out a new font to use for each player's name.  For the first time ever, the team logo is on the front of the cards and the player's, coach's or manager's name is in bold white text against a blue curved background.  Mike Lieberthal's card celebrates his 1999 Gold Glove win.

The card backs feature biographical information and complete career statistics along with the Phillies 2000 logo that was ubiquitous this season on the team Yearbook, marketing material, game programs, etc.  The Hatfield logo appears on the back of each card as well, making me wonder if this set should be christened the 2000 Hatfield Phillies set?

How Distributed:  The 36-card set was available for sale at Veterans Stadium throughout the season.  Based on Rick's comment below, there are also 11 update cards available.  Given the rampant player turnover in 2000, aided by the Curt Schilling trade, it makes sense that the team would issue its first true update set in five years.

For now, I'm listing the 11 update cards under the Variations/Rarities section until I know for certain they were issued together in set form.

Complete Standard Checklist:  The cards are unnumbered, but I've presented them below ordered by uniform number.
  • 2 - Rico Brogna
  • 3 - Chuck Cottier CO
  • 5 - Ron Gant
  • 6 - Doug Glanville
  • 7 - Terry Francona MG
  • 8 - Desi Relaford
  • 9 - Brad Mills CO
  • 11 - Kevin Sefcik
  • 12 - Mickey Morandini
  • 13 - Tomas Perez
  • 17 - Scott Rolen
  • 18 - John Vukovich CO
  • 22 - Tom Prince
  • 23 - Kevin Jordan
  • 24 - Mike Lieberthal
  • 25 - Rob Ducey
  • 26 - Alex Arias
  • 30 - Scott Aldred
One and Done (4):  Aldred, Miller, Reyes, Schrenk
First Appearances (6):  Brock, Burrell, Perez, Person, Telemaco, Wolf
Returning Players (18):  Abreu, Arias, Ashby, Brogna, Byrd, Ducey, Gant, Glanville, Gomes, Jackson, Jordan, Lieberthal, Morandini, Prince, Relaford, Rolen, Schilling, Sefcik

My copies of Glanville's and Wolf's cards are signed . . . and I have no idea why.  My guess is that I attended one of the old Phillies Winter Caravan stops where these two players were signing autographs, but my memory of the early 2000s is hazy at best.

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):  Francona
Coaches (6):  Cisco, Cottier, Henderson, McRae, Mills, Vukovich
Phillie Phanatic (1):  The Phanatic is shown wearing what I believe is a Phillies khaki bucket hat - one of the giveaways during the year.
Broadcasters (0)
Commemorative Cards (0)

Variations/Rarities:  Here are the 11 late season additions to the set, courtesy of Rick's comment below.
  • 10 - Travis Lee
  • 16 - Marlon Anderson
  • 19 - Brian R. Hunter
  • 21 - Kent Bottenfield
  • 35 - Cliff Politte
  • 37 - Omar Daal
  • 39 - Bruce Chen
  • 41 - Jason Boyd
  • 44 - Vicente Padilla
  • 45 - Jeff Brantley
  • 50 - Ed Vosberg
Also See:  2000 Phillies - The Missing Links, 2000 Topps David Newhan
Trivia:  Similar to the 1999 set, Beckett and all other online sources ignore this set.  Francona's card (linked above) features a lurking Ed Wade, who was the club's general manager from 1998 to 2005.
Resources:  Phillies collecter Rick (@rickphils)

6 comments:

Steve F. said...

I hadn't noticed Ed Wade in the background before. Since I suspect that is Wade's only baseball card, I may have to send that off to get signed! I have the 1981 Ken Landreaux card signed by Keith Olbermann, so this seems even more of a no-brainer. (http://www.beckett.com/news/2011/05/keith-olbermann-revives-bit-of-cardboard-trivia-on-new-autograph-cards/)

Unknown said...

OK--Big list of late season add ons after Curt Schilling dealt to Arizona for Lee, Padilla, Daal: #16 Marlon Anderson, #21 Kent Bottenfield, #41 Jason Boyd, #45 Jeff Brantley, # 39 Bruce Chen, #37 Omar Daal, # 19 Brian Hunter, #10 Travis Lee, # 44 Vicente Padilla, #35 Cliff Politte, #50 Ed Vosberg

Section 36 said...

I received the Mike Lieberthal card (along with the 2001 card) as a TTM response many years ago. I always assumed it was a facsimile auto on the front, until you started writing about them and I realized they didn't come that way. Guess he just used a thin pen. Thanks for the help in improving my Mike Lieberthal collection!

Jim said...

Steve and Section 36 - Happy to help!

Rick - I'll update the post for these cards. Were these available in an actual update set or just individually at the ALS event (or otherwise?)

Unknown said...

I don't remember if these were an update set or ALS. I suspect that it was an update set.

Jim said...

An update set would definitely make sense. I'll probably move these cards up to the "standard" checklist at some point, but for now I've listed them under the Variations/Rarities section.