1980 Phillies Photocards

I updated this post here in November 2020 and this original post is now outdated.

 

Number of Cards:  38
Card Size:  3 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Description:  As was the case with all Phillies photocards issued since 1970, 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 1980.  Some of the cards contain blue facsimile autographs, as noted on the checklist below.  One way to tell if the photocard is from 1980 is the fact that these are the only photocards from this era on which the majority of the players' names aren't all in all capital letters.  I've listed below those few cards on which the player's name is in all capitals.  (Thanks to Phillies collector Rick and his scanned checklist below.)

How Distributed:  The cards were handed out to fans individually and supplied to the players in order to reply to fan mail or honor autograph requests.  I could be wrong, but I don't believe the cards were ever available in complete set form.

It should be noted that the Christenson card from this set in my collection (shown here) features an actual autograph.  The original Christenson card was distributed without an autograph.

Complete Standard Checklist:

Luis Aguayo Ruben Amaro CO Ramon Aviles (capitals) Bob Boone Larry Bowa Warren Brusstar Steve Carlton Larry Christenson Billy DeMars CO (auto) Lee Elia CO (auto) Nino Espinosa Dallas Green MG (auto) Greg Gross Lerrin LaGrow (auto) Dan Larson (capitals) Randy Lerch Greg Luzinski Garry Maddox (auto) Bake McBride (auto)

Tug McGraw (auto) Keith Moreland (auto) Scott Munninghoff Dickie Noles (auto) Ron Reed Pete Rose (batting, auto) Pete Rose (portrait, auto, capitals) Dick Ruthven (auto) Mike Ryan CO Kevin Saucier Mike Schmidt Lonnie Smith (auto) Herm Starrette CO (auto) Manny Trillo Del Unser George Vukovich John Vukovich Bob Walk (capitals) Bobby Wine CO

One and Done (3):  LaGrow, Larson, Munninghoff
First Appearances (4):  Aguayo, Moreland, G. Vukovich, Walk
Returning Players (24):  Aviles, Boone, Bowa, Brusstar, Carlton, Christenson, Espinosa, Gross, Lerch, Luzinski, Maddox, McBride, McGraw, Noles, Reed, Rose (2 versions), Ruthven, Saucier, Schmidt, Smith, Trillo, Unser, J. Vukovich

Not to sound like too much of a weirdo, but the seven-year-old me would have loved to have added Munninghoff's card to my collection.  He was one of those guys who was in the prospect section of the yearbook and no one in my little circle of young Phillies fans had any idea who he was.  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):  Green
Coaches (6):  Amaro, DeMars, Elia, Ryan, Starrette, Wine
Phillie Phanatic (0)
Broadcasters (0)
Commemorative Cards (0)

Variations/Rarities:  Phillies collector Rick sent me a scan of his checklist for this set (see right) which allowed me to update the checklist above for several available variations.  Cards for McBride and Noles can be found both with and without facsimile autographs.  In his comment below, Steve indicates that there could be a Espinosa variation card available.  For the sake of completeness, I'll add it here too.

• Nino Espinosa (variation available?)
• Lerrin LaGrow (no auto)
• Bake McBride (no auto)
• Keith Moreland (no auto)
• Dickie Noles (no auto)

There are also two versions of the Rose card.  One has a portrait of Rose and the other shows him batting.  I'm not sure which is more prevalent than the other, so I've listed them both above as part of the main checklist.

In October 2018, I added LaGrow and Moreland cards to my collection without facsimile autographs.

Finally, while not part of the team issued set per se, there is a 1980 card of the Phillie Phanatic that was issued by Harrison/Ericsson.  I'm not including it as part of the main checklist above but it should be noted that a black and white Phanatic card does exist in the same size as the rest of the 1980 set.  (The same note pertains to the 1978 and 1981 team issued sets.)

Also See:  When this little mini project of mine is all over, I need to go back and revise several previous Missing Links posts.  Here's my Missing Links post for the 1980 Phillies.  Also, before I realized LaGrow had a card in this set, I gave him what I thought was his first Phillies card here.

Trivia:  I found the cards featured here through eBay.  It was only through the awesome photos provided at The Trading Card Database for this set that I was able to identify these cards as being from 1980.  Collector Dave Sosidka uploaded the checklist and scans of all cards to the database back in 2011.  However, The Trading Card Database entry for this set omits the card for Munninghoff and the portrait version of Rose's card.

The Beckett database entry for this set lists the set as "Phillies Postcards" and omits the cards for Maddox, Noles, John Vukovich and the second Rose card.

Resources:  The Trading Card Database; Beckett.com; Phillies collectors Steve and Rick (@rickphils)