1976 Phillies Photocards

I updated this post here in September 2020 and this original post is now outdated.

 

Number of Cards:  31
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.  All photos feature hatless portraits of the players, coaches or manager.  The backs of the cards are blank and there's no indication on the cards themselves that they're from 1976.  Some of the cards contain blue facsimile autographs, as noted on the 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.

Complete Standard Checklist:

Dick Allen Carroll Beringer CO Bob Boone Larry Bowa Ollie Brown Steve Carlton (auto) Dave Cash Larry Christenson Billy DeMars CO Gene Garber Terry Harmon Tommy Hutton Jay Johnstone (auto) Jim Kaat (auto) Jim Lonborg Greg Luzinski (auto)

Garry Maddox Jerry Martin Tim McCarver Tug McGraw Johnny Oates Danny Ozark MG Ron Reed Ray Rippelmeyer CO (auto) Mike Schmidt Ron Schueler Tony Taylor (auto) Bobby Tolan (auto) Wayne Twitchell Tom Underwood (auto) Bobby Wine CO

One and Done (0)
First Appearances (3):  Kaat, Reed, Tolan
Returning Players (23):  Allen, Boone, Bowa, Brown, Carlton, Cash, Christenson, Garber, Harmon, Hutton, Johnstone, Lonborg, Luzinski, Maddox, Martin, McCarver, McGraw, Oates, Schmidt, Schueler, Taylor, Twitchell, Underwood

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):  Beringer, DeMars, Rippelmeyer, Wine
Phillie Phanatic (0)
Broadcasters (0)
Commemorative Cards (0)

Variations/Rarities:  As Rick points out in his comments, there's a variation of the Johnstone card available.

• Jay Johnstone (kneeling and holding bat)

Also See:  1976 SSPC Phillies - Part One and Part Two; 1976 Isalay's/Sweet William Discs Phillies; 1976 Hostess Phillies; 1976 Oklahoma City 89ers Team Set

Trivia:  I don't currently own any 1976 Phillies Photocards, and I had wanted to hold off on posting on any sets for which I have none of the cards.  However, in the interest of pressing onwards with this project, I've borrowed the images shown here from The Trading Card Database.

To date, the only years for which I haven't been able to track down any team issued cards are 1972, 1976 and 1981.  My guess is that the 1972 cards are rare (or rarer) due to the fact that the team absolutely stunk that year.  The 1981 cards could be harder to find because of the shortened season due to the player's strike.  But I would have thought that 1976 cards would have been more readily available as the team was gaining in popularity and was playing pretty well by the mid-1970s.
Resources:  The Trading Card Database; Beckett.com; Phillies collector Rick (@rickphils)