1995 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  36
Card Size:  4" x 6"

Description:  For the seventh and final year, the card fronts feature a photo with the player's, coach's or manager's name in a red band with white text.  The card backs feature biographical information along with complete career statistics.  At the time, I considered it a major step forward that the set's designer had actually modified the appearance of the backs of the cards.

How Distributed:  The original 36-card set was available for sale at Veterans Stadium throughout the season.  There was no update set issued, marking the first time since 1986 no new cards were issued later in the season.

Complete Set Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the back of cards): 

1. Kyle Abbott (#39 - LHP) 2. Toby Borland (#42 - RHP) 3. Ricky Bottalico (#52 - RHP) 4. Larry Bowa (#2 - Third Base Coach)         5. Norm Charlton (#37 - LHP) 6. Darren Daulton (#10 - C) 7. Mariano Duncan (#7 - INF) 8. Lenny Dykstra (#4 - CF) 9. Jim Eisenreich (#8 - RF) 10. Jim Fregosi (#11 - MG) 11. Dave Gallagher (#17 - OF) 12. Tyler Green (#28 - RHP)

13. Gene Harris (#33 - RHP) 14. Charlie Hayes (#13 - 3B) 15. Dave Hollins (#15 - 1B) 16. Gregg Jefferies (#25 - LF) 17. Tony Longmire (#16 - OF) 18. Denis Menke (#14 - Hitting Instructor)         19. Michael Mimbs (#45 - LHP) 20. Mickey Morandini (#12 - 2B) 21. Bobby Munoz (#35 - RHP) 22. Johnny Podres (#46 - Pitching Coach) 23. Paul Quantrill (#48 - RHP) 24. Randy Ready (#23 - INF)

25. Mel Roberts (#26 - First Base Coach) 26. Mike Ryan (#9 - Bullpen Coach)         27. Curt Schilling (#38 - RHP) 28. Heathcliff Slocumb (#51 - RHP) 29. Kevin Stocker (#19 - SS) 30. Gary Varsho (#5 - OF) 31. John Vukovich (#18 - Dugout Assistant) 32. Lenny Webster (#27 - C) 33. David West (#40 - LHP) 34. Richie Asburn HOF (#1 - CF) 35. Mike Schmidt HOF (#20 - 3B) 36. Phillies Team

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (0):  N/A

First Appearance in Phillies Photo Card Set (7):  Bottalico, Gallagher, Harris, Jefferies, Mimbs, Varsho, Webster
Returning Players in Phillies Photo Card Set (19):  Abbott, Borland, Charlton, Daulton, Duncan, Dykstra, Eisenreich, Green, Hayes, Hollins, Longmire, Morandini, Munoz, Quantrill, Ready, Schilling, Slocumb, Stocker, West

Managers (1):  Fregosi
Coaches (6):  Bowa, Menke, Podres, Roberts, Ryan, Vukovich

Phillie Phanatic (0):  N/A

Broadcasters (0):  N/A
Other Cards (2):  Asburn, Schmidt

The Ryan card uses the same photo as his 1994 photo card.  Ashburn and Schmidt were both inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 30, 1995.  The backs of their cards indicate their Hall of Fame status and list career highlights.

Set Composition:  Of the 26 players featured in the set, 25 were on the Phillies' opening day roster and one (Munoz) started the season on the disabled list.

Omissions:  The Phillies carried 28 players for the first 17 games of the season, due to the strike-shortened spring training.  That means three players on the opening day roster were omitted from this set - Mike Lieberthal (c), Andy Carter (lhp) and Mike Williams (rhp).  Tommy Greene (rhp) also started the season on the disabled list, and he was omitted while Munoz got a card.  

There are a bunch of good candidates had the Phillies decided to issue an update set.  If we go with the same 10 card set-size from 1994, and use the Mark Whiten acquisition on July 24th as the cut-off, my imaginary update set would include:  Kevin Elster, Sid Fernandez, Tommy Greene, Mike Lieberthal, Tom Marsh, Omar Olivares, Andy Van Slyke, Mark Whiten, Mike Williams, Phillie Phanatic.

Variations/Rarities:  This is relatively tame year in terms of variations or rarities, most likely thanks to the lingering effects of the strike.  In the original post for this set (see link below), fellow collector Rick mentioned there are some cards available with facsimile autographs.  He also passed along he had added a Larry Andersen photo card to his collection with a 1995 copyright date, the same photo as Andersen's 1994 photo card and this quote on the back:  "You're only young once, but you can be immature forever."  Andersen spent the 1995 season as the pitching coach for the Reading Phillies.

Also See:  1995 Topps Phillies - featuring a list of the 92 players (including replacement players) in camp with the Phillies during spring training 1995.

Resources:  Phillies collector Rick G.

This set was originally featured in a post back in November 2014, and I'm going through these older team-issued photo card set posts to update them with new information learned (if any) over the past nine years.

1994 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards / 1996 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

1980-1999 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page

The Offseason Begins - Early November Notes

2023 Topps Now #962

2023 Topps Allen & Ginter #263

2023 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #37

2023 Chachi #74

Free Agents:  Drew Ellis (inf) became the first official ex-Phillie of the 2023-24 offseason when he became a minor league free agent on October 13th.  Ellis appeared in 12 games for the Phillies, including the game on June 4th when he hit a pair of home runs.

The bigger free agents departed the Phillies upon the conclusion of the World Series.  Aaron Nola (rhp) and Rhys Hoskins (1b) headline this list, and I'd love to see both of these long-time Phillies back in 2024.  I'll have much more to say about each if they end up signing elsewhere.  Craig Kimbrel (rhp) and Michael Lorenzen (rhp) will likely not return.  Kimbrel saved 23 games and was an All-Star, but I'll remember him most for the two NLCS losses in Phoenix.  Lorenzen threw a no-hitter on August 9th in his Phillies home debut, and then completely fell apart for the rest of the season.

Coaching Changes:  The Phillies parted ways with two coaches following the end of the NLCS.  Bullpen coach Dave Lundquist and assistant hitting coach Jason Camilli will not return for the 2024 season.  They had been with the club since 2019 and 2022, respectively.  Cesar Ramos was named the team's new bullpen coach.  Ramos was a Phillies non-roster inivitee to spring training in 2017, and he appeared in 40 games that season for the IronPigs.  He had been the pitching coach for the IronPigs since 2022.  The club is still searching for an assistant hitting coach.

Gold Glove:  Zack Wheeler won his first Gold Glove award on Sunday night, becoming the first Phillies pitcher to win the award since Steve Carlton in 1981.  Taijuan Walker was also a finalist for the pitcher's award.  J.T. Realmuto at catcher and Bryson Stott at second base were finalists as well but both came up short.

2021 Topps #526

2018 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP16

2023 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #8

First Transactions:  On Monday afternoon, the Phillies claimed Josh Fleming (lhp) off waivers from the the Tampa Bay Rays.  Michael Plassmeyer (lhp) and Erich Uelmen (rhp) were outrighted to Lehigh Valley.  In parts of four seasons with the Rays, Fleming has appeared in 55 games, making 22 starts.  He's 19-13 lifetime with a 4.88 ERA.  In 12 games in 2023, including three starts, he was 2-0 with a 4.70 ERA in 51 2/3 innings pitched.  He's got a bunch of baseball cards in various Panini sets and his last mainstream baseball card appearance came in the 2021 Topps set.

First Trade:  Also on Monday afternoon, the Phillies acquired Michael Mercado (rhp) from the Tampa Bay Rays for Adam Leverett (rhp) and cash.  The Phillies 40-man roster is now at 38 players.  Mercado has yet to pitch in the majors, and was 4-3 in 52 games last season with a 4.79 ERA at two minor league levels.  He showed up in Bowman sets in 2018 and 2020.  Leverett has been in the Phillies system since 2019 and he was 0-6 with a 3.94 ERA in 35 games last season for the Double-A Fightin Phils.

2023 Chachi #73 NLCS Game 7 / 2024 Chachi #1 Kyle Schwarber