2015 Phillies Team Issue

Number of Cards:  43
Card Size:  4" x 6"
Description:  Keeping with a theme that's been used for the past two seasons, the card fronts feature full color photos with a bottom border containing the player's name, number and position.  The blue design used on the bottom of the cards features a baseball with a Phillies P in it and is the same design featured on the cover of the 2015 Phillies Media Guide.  The horizontal card backs feature biographical information and complete career statistics.

How Distributed:  Sets are available for sale at Citizens Bank Park for $5 and I purchased my set on opening day, April 6th.

Complete Standard Checklist:  The cards are unnumbered, but I've presented them below ordered by uniform number.

2 - Ben Revere 3 - Jeff Francoeur 4 - Andres Blanco 5 - Steve Henderson CO 6 - Ryan Howard 7 - Maikel Franco 8 - Juan Samuel CO 9 - Domonic Brown 10 - Larry Bowa CO 12 - John Mizerock CO 13 - Freddy Galvis 16 - Cesar Hernandez 18 - Darin Ruf 22 - Bob McClure CO 23 - Ryne Sandberg MG 24 - Grady Sizemore 25 - Cody Asche 26 - Chase Utley 29 - Cameron Rupp 30 - Justin De Fratus 31 - Jerome Williams 33 - Cliff Lee

34 - Aaron Harang 35 - Cole Hamels 37 - Odubel Herrera 38 - Chad Billingsley 41 - Charlie Manuel MG (Alumni) 43 - Mario Hollands 45 - Pete Mackanin CO 46 - Jeanmar Gomez 51 - Carlos Ruiz 52 - Andy Oliver 53 - Ken Giles 54 - Rod Nichols CO 55 - David Buchanan 56 - Cesar Jimenez 57 - Luis Garcia 58 - Jonathan Papelbon 59 - Kevin Slowey 63 - Jake Diekman 75 - Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez Phillie Phanatic Phillies Broadcasters

One and Done (3):  Jimenez, Oliver, Slowey
First Appearances (11):  Billingsley, Blanco, Francoeur, Garcia, Gomez, Gonzalez, Harang, Herrera, Rupp, Sizemore, Williams
Returning Players (18):  Asche, Brown, Buchanan, De Fratus, Diekman, Franco, Galvis, Giles, Hamels, Hernandez, Hollands, Howard, Lee, Papelbon, Revere, Ruf, Ruiz, Utley

The number of One and Done cards could grow, but for now I've listed only Oliver and Slowey here as neither of these pitchers are still with the organization.  The following players make their Phillies baseball card debut with this set, and any of these players are potential candidates for eventual One and Done club membership - Billingsley, Blanco, Francoeur, Gomez, Harang, Herrera and Jimenez. (UPDATE - I've added Jimenez to this list as well.)

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):  Sandberg
Coaches (7):  Bowa, Henderson, Mackanin, McClure, Mizerock, Nichols, Samuel
Phillie Phanatic (1)
Broadcasters (1):  Newcomer Ben Davis takes over for Jamie Moyer this year, and he joins Tom McCarthy, Larry Andersen, Scott Franzke, Jim Jackson, Matt Stairs, Mike Schmidt and Gregg Murphy on this card.
Other Cards (1):  Manuel (Alumni Card)

I'm counting the Charlie Manuel Alumni card as part of this regular set although the card uses the standard Alumni set design as opposed to the design of the rest of the 2015 team issued cards.  The Manuel card contains a 2011 copyright date on the back.

Variations/Rarities:  Only time will tell if any variations or rarities spring up using this card set's design.

Trivia:  The Phillies did a nice job in terms of player selection for this set.  Of the team's opening day 25-man roster, only reliever Dustin McGowan is omitted from the set which is totally understandable given that McGowan didn't officially join the organization until the day before the season opener.