Wednesday, October 28, 2020

1952-1969 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards


Number of Cards:
  79
Card Size:  3 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Description:  These photo cards feature black and white portraits of prominent Phillies players (and managers) to have suited up for the team between 1950 and 1969.  Most of the photo cards contain black facsimile autographs on the fronts, and all the backs are blank.

How Distributed:  The cards were produced throughout the '50s and '60s by the Phillies as needed and as new players joined the club.  There's no way to tell which year any particular card is from, other than each player's card would have been issued during his tenure with the Phillies.  For example, the Johnny Callison card featured above could have been issued at any point, and over several different years from several different printings, between 1960 and 1969, the years Callison played for the Phillies.

Vintage-wise, Dick Sisler is the earliest Phillie represented, having left the club following the 1951 season.  Deron Johnson is the newest Phillie on the checklist, having joined the club in 1969.  The list presented below could grow, although I suspect that any new photo card discoveries from this era would have been made by now.  With the advent of the internet age, the mysteries surrounding these types of issuances are slowly dissipating. 

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically, with variations): 

1. Rich Allen - Glasses
2. Rich Allen - No glasses, Phillies visible
3. Rich Allen - No glasses, cropped             
4. Harry Anderson
5. Richie Ashburn
6. Jack Baldschun
7. Dennis Bennett
8. Ed Bouchee
9. Johnny Briggs
10. Jim Bunning      
11. John Buzhardt
12. Smoky Burgess
13. Johnny Callison
14. Doug Clemens
15. Jim Coker
16. Gene Conley
17. Wes Covington
18. Ray Culp
19. Tony Curry
20. Clay Dalrymple - With glove
21. Clay Dalrymple - Portrait
22. Clay Dalrymple - Portrait, cropped
23. Jacke Davis
24. Don Demeter
25. Dick Ellsworth
26. Del Ennis
27. Dick Farrell - '50s version
28. Dick Farrell - '60s version
29. Chico Fernandez
30. Woodie Fryman
31. Tony Gonzalez - Phillies visible        
32. Tony Gonzalez - Phillies partial
33. Dallas Green
34. Dick Groat
35. Granny Hamner
36. John Herrnstein 
37. Larry Hisle
38. Grant Jackson
39. Larry Jackson - Phillie visible
40. Larry Jackson - Cropped
41. Deron Johnson
42. Jerry Johnson
43. Willie Jones
44. Jim Konstanty (Not team issued)
45. Stan Lopata
46. Art Mahaffey
47. Gene Mauch MG
48. Jack Meyer (Not team issued)
49. Don Money
50. Bobby Morgan
51. Wally Post
52. Robin Roberts
53. Cookie Rojas
54. Mike Ryan
55. Ted Savage
56. Eddie Sawyer MG - Facsimile auto
57. Eddie Sawyer MG - No auto
58. Andy Seminick
59. Ray Semproch
60. Chris Short - Phillies visible
61. Chris Short - Phillies partial
62. Roy Sievers
63. Curt Simmons
64. Dick Sisler
65. Bob Skinner MG - Stands behind
66. Bob Skinner MG - No stands
67. Bobby Gene Smith
68. Charley Smith
69. Frank Sullivan
70. Gary Sutherland (Not team issued)
71. Tony Taylor - Facsimile auto
72. Tony Taylor - No auto (Not team issued)
73. Earl Torgeson
74. Gary Wagner
75. Bill White - Portrait
76. Bill White - With bat (Not team issued)
77. Bobby Wine - Phillies visible        
78. Bobby Wine - Phillies partial
79. Rick Wise

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (1):  Going through my collection and double checking the Beckett database, I believe these photo cards mark the only Phillies baseball card appearance of Charley Smith (112 games in 1961).
First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (62):  There are 63 known players to have appeared in these postcard sets.  C. Smith and 62 other players who appeared elsewhere on Phillies baseball cards throughout the years.
Managers (3):  Sawyer, Mauch, Skinner


Omissions:
  The players with the most games with the Phillies in the 1950s without a team issued photo card are - Eddie Waitkus (559 games), Ted Kazanski (417 games) and Johnny Wyrostek (315 games).  From the 1960s, the top three players by games played but not appearing on a Phillies photo card are - Ruben Amaro (668 games), Pancho Herrera (271 games) and Don Lock (215 games).

Variations/Rarities:  I've listed in the checklist above the variations to be found for Allen, Dalrymple, Farrell, Gonzalez, L. Jackson, Sawyer, Short, Skinner, Taylor, Wine and White.  I'm not sure which of the versions of their cards are more prevalent than the others, so I've listed them all above as part of the main checklist.

Special Note:  Fellow collector Rick pointed out to me via text that some of the cards included above are not in fact true team issues.  These are either smaller in size, feature action poses or in some cases are printed on a thicker stock of cardboard.  Rick notes the cards listed above that are almost certainly not team-issued are as follows:  Jim Konstanty, Jack Meyer, Gary Sutherland, Tony Taylor (no auto) and Bill White (with bat).  Collectors should also be aware there are photo cards of similar size and paper stock featuring action shots of Jim Bunning, Chris Short and Rick Wise.  Finally, there's a Mike Ryan card available that is slightly smaller in size than the team-issued version.

Resources:  Fellow Phillies collector Rick (@rickphils) provided the checklists I used to compile the list above, and Rick notes these checklists were originally compiled by collector Dan E., and please refer to my Special Note directly above.                                                                  


Checklist by Decade:  Similar to how I store my multi-year Phillies Alumni photo cards, I've broken out these cards by decade, depending on the years in which the player appeared the most.

1950s (22) - Anderson, Ashburn, Bouchee, Burgess, Ennis, Farrell, Fernandez, Hamner, Jones, Konstanty, Lopata, Meyer, Morgan, Post, Roberts, Sawyer (2), Seminick, Semproch, Simmons, Sisler, Torgeson
1960s (57) - Allen (3), Baldschun, Bennett, Briggs, Bunning, Buzhardt, Callison, Clemens, Coker, Conley, Covington, Culp, Curry, Dalrymple (3), Davis, Demeter, Ellsworth, Farrell, Fryman, Gonzalez (2), Green, Groat, Herrnstein, Hisle, G. Jackson, L. Jackson (2), D. Johnson, J. Johnson, Mahaffey, Mauch, Money, Rojas, Ryan, Savage, Short (2), Sievers, Skinner (2), B. Smith, C. Smith, Sullivan, Sutherland, Taylor (2), Wagner, White (2), Wine (2), Wise  

This set was originally featured in a post back in October 2014, and I'm going to slowly go through some of these team issued set posts and update them with new information gleaned (if any) over the past nearly six years.

2 comments:

Jim from Downingtown said...

Surprising that Amaro wasn't included. He was a long-timer and semi-regular.

Anonymous said...

I found a few of these going through my collection, I am not sure if I want to sell them or not, curious if you know their worth