Game 18 - Yuck

Chicago Cubs	11
Philadelphia Phillies	2

1969 Topps #477

Wednesday Night, April 15th

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
8-10, Tied for 3rd Place, 3 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  In maybe the worst loss of the year, the Phillies lost ugly with lifeless at-bats and ineffective pitching in this 11-2 drubbing.

What It Means:  Yuck.

What Happened:  Both teams wore blue #42 on their jersey backs, as part of the annual Jackie Robinson Day celebration.  The Phillies book-ended this game with solo home runs in the first from Trea Turner and the in the ninth from Bryce Harper, with nothing remotely exciting happening in the seven innings in-between.  Jesus Luzardo continued his struggles, getting hit hard and earning his third loss with an ugly pitching line - 5 1/3 innings, 12 hits, 9 runs, 8 earned, a walk and a wild pitch.  His ERA shout up to 7.94.  Utility player Dylan Moore pitched in his second game of the season, allowing a run.

Featured Card:  Jeff James doesn't like what he's seeing.  My work schedule and life have conspired to keep me away from my other blogs chronicling my set building of the 1969 Topps and 1955 Bowman sets.  I'll get back to the them soon, especially if further distractions are needed based on the way the Phillies have been playing recently.

Field Report:  Jenna and I sat through most of this game from our perch in Section 207 with our friends from ALS United Mid-Atlantic.  The pre-game appetizers from Pass & Stow and the late game funnel cake were highlights.

Transaction:  Zach Pop (rhp) landed on the injured list with a right calf strain and Kyle Backhus (lhp) rejoined the bullpen.

2026 Virtual Phillies Wall (Coming Soon) / 2026 Season Summary Index / 2026 Chachi Set Checklist

Game 156 - Arizona Assaults Suarez; Phils' Crushed

Philadelphia Phillies	2
Arizona Diamondbacks	9

1969 Topps #338

Sunday Afternoon, September 21st

Chase Field - Phoenix, AZ
92-64, 1st Place, 12 games ahead of the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  It was Ranger Suarez's turn to have a rough outing as the Diamondbacks were all over Phillies' pitching in this 9-2 romp.

What It Means:  This game was never even close, despite the Phillies offense having 11 hits.  Overall, they went 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position.

What Happened:  Suarez labored through four innings, allowing six runs on eight hits and a walk.  He struck out only two.  Tim Mayza, Orion Kerkering and even Jhoan Duran allowed single runs each, letting Arizona have an easy afternoon.  The Phillies scored both their runs in the eighth on an RBI-single from Nick Castellanos and a bases loaded walk to Weston Wilson.  Alec Bohm was 4 for 4 in the game.

Featured Card:  I really have nothing for this game.  Here's one of the cooler Phillies alumni cards I purchased on Sunday at The Philly Show as part of my 1969 Topps set build.  Unser has nothing to do with the Diamondbacks or this game, but it's a great card and likely one of the only (?) night cards in the set.

2025 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2025 Season Summary Index / 2025 Chachi Set Checklist

The Philly Show Report - Only 16 More Needed for '69 Topps Set

This morning I made the hour-long drive to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of the Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show, known to its friends as The Philly Show.  The show has a legitimate official sponsor (eBay) and the advertisement for the event notes the show is in its 50th year.  I hadn't attended a baseball card show since the last Philly Show in December, and I was flying solo to this one as our oldest son is in his first month of college at Villanova.  (One of the perks of having him so close is that I was able to stop by and see him on my way home, and he even "bought" me a coffee.)

The showroom floor is ginormous and even though I was there for over three hours, I still didn't visit every table.  Vintage cardboard is still well-represented, although there were more tables selling Pokemon cards or nothing but slabs of graded cards than I remember from past shows.  I had two goals for this show - come close to completing my 1969 Topps set and look for any old and/or oddball Phillies stuff.  I succeeded in my first goal, but failed in my second.  When the final score was tallied, I had added 91 cards to my 1969 Topps set, leaving me with needing just 16 more.  I'm collecting 666 cards - the base 664, plus the variations for Clay Dalrymple and Donn Clendenon.  I have no interest in the white letter variations or the checklist anomalies.

• The first place I stopped was a table with well-organized and well-marked binders of commons and semi-stars with 20% Off notes across the front of each binder.  I took my time and found 32 common and semi-stars needed before asking to see the dealer's star cards from the set.  It turned out this first purchase was also my biggest, as I spent over half my allotted budget here, America's Pastime from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, before moving on to the next table.  I paid a nicely discounted sum for the star cards of Harmon Killebrew, Tug McGraw, Bobby Cox (rookie card) and Rod Carew.  Set progress - 36 added, 71 still needed.

• My next stop was the aptly named Vintage Sports table.  I always appreciate a dealer with clear signage explaining their pricing method, and Vintage Sports had a marker in their selection of 1969 Topps cards laying out that cards without a sleeve were $1 and cards with a sleeve were $2.  I had one "high number" in a sleeve, and that was a whopping $4.  Set progress - 28 added, 43 to go.  Appreciating the deal, I also added 10 cards to my not-yet-officially-collecting 1959 Topps set build.

• I next found a smaller table with the impossible to pass up offer of 1969 Topps commons that were only $1, unless marked.  The binder was right at the end of the table, making it an even easier sell.  The prices on some of the cards were stunningly low, so I was even more surprised when the dealer gave me an even deeper discount upon tallying up my total.  I made sure to ask for a card, and I'll be making Niagara Sports Cards one of my first stops when I return to the Philly Show, hopefully in December.  Set progress - 12 added, 31 to go.

• After about 90 minutes of walking and buying, while running low on funds, and even lower on stamina, I found a nice display of vintage Topps star cards at Richie's Sports Cards, from Manalpan, New Jersey.  I quickly and easily picked up six more star cards needed for our set.  Set progress - 6 added, 25 to go.

• I'm not even sure how best to describe the next table I visited.  I typically steer clear of tables that look incredibly disorganized or tables that look as if the dealer put minimal effort into his/her display.  This table was both.  But the crudely designed, hand-made sign advertising "Entire Table is 50% Off" made me stop and at least look at what was in the 1969 Topps hodgepodge of cards.  And I'm glad I did.  It took me a solid 20-25 minutes to go through the cards that were loosely in order, but I found seven cards I needed with either mislabeled prices (?) or prices that hadn't been updated since the 1980s.  I paid $7.50 for a perfectly decent Carl Yastrzemski card, and I suddenly wished I had made this table my first stop.  Set progress - 7 added, 18 to go.

• And finally, I made one last stop at Uncle Dick's, the source of 486 cards in our set, or almost 75% of my entire set build.  I wanted to make sure I had completely cleaned him out of all 1969 Topps cards I needed, and I was able to add two more cards from the neon green binder, the last two cards I'll likely purchase from Uncle Dick's for our 1969 Topps set - the Ray Fosse rookie and the Al Kaline card.  Set progress - 2 added, 16 to go.

The 16 cards I need to complete the set are superstars, stars or semi-stars with nary a common in the bunch.  I have a feeling the Nolan Ryan card will be the last to fall, as I don't think I saw any 1969 Ryan cards at the show unslabbed.  I probably won't wait until adding the remaining 14 cards to officially start collecting the 1959 Topps set, the next set on deck.  I've enjoyed collecting this set over the past three-plus years, and I've definitely enjoyed blogging about each of the cards added, but I already have my sights set on moving backwards into the 1950s.

The last 16 cards needed:

82 Richie Hebner / Al Oliver Rookie

85 Lou Brock

90 Jerry Koosman

100 Hank Aaron

150 Denny McLain

190 Willie Mays

270 Mickey Lolich

394 Lou Piniella Rookie

533 Nolan Ryan

540 Curt Flood

547 Billy Martin

570 Ron Santo

573 Jim Palmer

600 Tony Oliva

630 Bobby Bonds

640 Fergie Jenkins

Game 153 - Snell Snoozes Phils' Bats

Philadelphia Phillies	0
Los Angeles Dodgers	5

2013 Topps Archives 1969 Topps
4-in-1 Stickers #69S-SKCK

Late Wednesday Night, September 17th

Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles, CA
91-62, 1st Place, 12 1/2 games ahead of the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Blake Snell threw seven shutout innings, striking out 12, in this 5-0 win over the Phillies.

What It Means:  The hangover had to come sooner or later, and it apparently waited to arrive for the last game of this series.

What Happened:  If I had to completely miss one game of this Dodgers series, I'm glad I missed this one.  The Phillies' offense had just three singles in the game, with only two allowed by Snell and the other coming off reliever Tanner Scott in the ninth inning.  Jesus Luzardo took the loss, allowing four runs on six hits over seven innings of work.  He exited in the eighth inning after Shohei Ohtani hit his 51st home run of the season.

Featured Card:  Clayton Kershaw announced his retirement from baseball the day after this game, as the legendary left-hander decided this would be his last season.  That made me check to see how many Kershaw cards I have in my Phillies Collection, and I was surprised to learn I had nine of his cards in my collection, all of them showing him paired with a Phillies pitcher.  This is the best one I have, in my opinion, showing a quartet of some of the all-time greatest left-handed pitchers in the history of the game.

2025 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2025 Season Summary Index / 2025 Chachi Set Checklist

Game 141 - Kepler, Stott Back Sanchez's Stellar Start

Philadelphia Phillies	9
Miami Marlins	3

2018 Topps Heritage #73

Friday Night, September 5th

loanDepot park - Miami, FL
82-59, 1st Place, 6 games ahead of the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies pounded out nine runs on 16 hits and Cristopher Sanchez was stellar for seven innings in this 9-3 series opening win.

What It Means:  They've won five of their last seven while maintaining a six-game lead over the Mets in the division.

What Happened:  Sanchez improved to 12-5, allowing a run on six hits while striking out five.  Tanner Banks had a rare shaky outing, allowing a two-run home run to Brian Navarreto in the bottom of the eighth.  Tim Mayza pitched a scoreless ninth.

The Phillies took a quick lead in the first when Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper all singled to start the game.  Harper's single brought Turner home.  Max Kepler hit his 15th home run in the second.  Three more runs scored in the fourth when Brandon Marsh hit a two-run home run and Harrison Bader followed that with a solo home run of his own.  And the scoring continued with four more runs in the seventh.  Kepler added an RBI-single and Bryson Stott hit a three-run home run, his 10th of the season.

Featured Card:  Stott drove in the most runs, but Kepler paced the offense with a few key hits.  Collectors are still waiting on Kepler's first mainstream Phillies baseball card, and here's his 1969 Topps inspired card from the 2018 Topps Heritage set.

2025 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2025 Season Summary Index / 2025 Chachi Set Checklist

The Philly Show Report - 12 Years Gone in a Flash

Last Sunday, Doug and I made the hour-plus drive to Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of The Philly Show, now a major sports card and memorabilia event with eBay as its corporate sponsor.  Doug's first winter track meet of the 2024-25 season precluded us from going on Saturday and obtaining a So Taguchi autograph, but the word was Sunday's crowds were much smaller and more manageable.  Our oldest son is in his senior year of High School, so it shouldn't have caught me off guard when he commented on the way into the show, "This could be my last one of these for a while."

His first baseball card show was somehow already 12 years ago.  It's been a blur since then.

His interests have changed over the years of course, and in the past his disposable income would have gone to low-numbered autographed or relic cards of recent, fringe Phillies players.  And while he did find a few moderately priced cards of Bailey Falter, Weston Wilson and Hans Crouse that gave him a smile, he ultimately opted to hang on to his money for gas, food, dates and other stuff a typical 18-year-old would spend his money on.  Still, I was glad to have him with me and I enjoyed what could have definitely been our last baseball card show together for a little bit.

The Oaks show floor is massive, and it's expanded since our last visit, last December.  We were there for a little over two hours and I saw maybe 40% or so of the show's offerings.  But I had some goals in mind, and having attained those goals, and run out of money, I was fine with the abbreviated visit.

• 1969 Topps Commons:  I pulled up a folding chair one more time at Uncle Dick's Cards, picking up where I had left off a year ago, and pulling commons I needed between card #500 and the final card in the set, #664.  I crossed 98 more cards off my list, and bundled in the Rollie Fingers rookie card for good measure and at a good price, given the stack of commons I had already committed to buy.

• 1969 Topps Stars:  Along with the Fingers card, I found a dealer with good prices on the Ted Williams and Brooks Robinson All-Star cards.

• 1955 Bowman Wrapper:  My sole non-focused purchase was a fairly beat-up 1955 Bowman wrapper.  Once I finish up my 1956 Topps blog, likely at some point in 2025, I'll officially begin collecting the 1955 Bowman set.  This wrapper will look great in the front of that set's binder.

• 1935 Diamond Stars Jimmie Foxx:  My monster purchase was the Foxx card from the Diamond Stars set I'm collecting, and slowly getting close to completing.  Doug gets credit for finding the slabbed Foxx card in his journeys.  The card was priced at almost twice what I ended up paying for it, and it won't officially enter my collection until Santa presents it on Christmas morning as my major gift for the year.

• 1969 and 1959 Topps Semistars:  Nearing the end of our stay, I added 14 semistars to our 1969 Topps set and six commons to our not-yet-collecting 1959 Topps set.

• 2024 Topps Factory Set / 2024 Topps Heritage Hobby Box:  And finally, before we made our way to the exit, I purchased an obligatory 2024 Topps factory set for Santa to also deliver on Christmas morning and we decided it would be fun to open a box of 2024 Topps Heritage once we were home.  (And I can confirm, it was fun.)

So that's a wrap on the first and only baseball card show we attended in 2024.  I'm excited for the 2025 baseball card shows, but I'm honestly more excited for whatever comes next for Doug in the coming year.

 

Congrats to Dick Allen - Hall of Famer!

On Sunday night, the 16-member Classic Baseball Era Committee finally inducted Dick Allen into the Hall of Fame.  Allen will posthumously be inducted this summer as part of the Class of 2025.  The Phillies Room is thrilled for Allen's family, the Phillies organization, and those who have continuously lobbied to have Allen immortalized in the Hall.  Finally!

1964 Topps #243

1965 Topps #460

1966 Topps #80

1967 Topps #450

1967 Topps #309

1968 Topps #225

1969 Topps #350

1970 Topps #40

1971 Topps #650

1972 Topps #240

1973 Topps #310

1974 Topps #70

1975 Topps #400

1976 Topps #455

Game 54 - Rocky Mountain Low

1969 Topps #312

Rockies 5, Phillies 2
Game 54 - Sunday Afternoon, May 26th in Denver
Record - 38-16, 1st Place, 6 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies fell flat against the last place Rockies, dropping this game 5-2, and more surprisingly, losing the series.

What It Means:  They'll try to rebound with a three-game set against the Giants, beginning on Memorial Day afternoon.

What Happened:  Ranger Suarez had his first rough outing of the year, quickly finding himself in trouble in the first two innings.  Suarez allowed a two-run home run in the first to Ryan McMahon.  He allowed four walks and a double in a three-run second inning, with Alec Bohm contributing a costly throwing error.  The Phillies scored a pair of runs in the fourth and fifth innings on RBI singles from Bohm and Johan Rojas, but they couldn't add any more runs the rest of the day.

Featured Card:  Happy Memorial Day to everyone, and I hope you found some time this weekend to enjoy yourselves and spend time with family and friends.  We had a relatively quiet weekend, by design, and I was happy to spend some time catching up on my 1969 Topps blog.  Despite the lack of a logo on his hat, former Phillies manager Lee Elia wishes you all the best and is optimistic about the upcoming summer.

2024 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2024 Season Summary Index / 2024 Chachi Set Checklist

Spring Training Game 17 - Phils Offense Can't Support Wheels

1969 Topps #229

Yankees 2, Phillies 1
Spring Training Game 17 - Monday Afternoon, March 11th in Clearwater
Record - 6-8-3

One Sentence Summary:  Zack Wheeler appears ready for the season, as he tossed three shutout innings against the Yankees on Monday afternoon, in a game lost by the Phillies, 2-1.

What It Means:  Opening day is 17 days away.

What Happened:  Wheeler didn't allow a hit and struck out three in his 47-pitch outing.  The bullpen shut down the Yankees until the eighth when Oscar Gonzalez hit a two-run home run off Luis F. Ortiz.  The Phillies offense was quiet all afternoon, with only five hits, including doubles from Whit Merrifield and Aramis Garcia.  Garcia's double came in the ninth, and he'd score the Phillies' only run following a David Dahl sacrifice fly.

Featured Card:  I'm going to save my Wheeler cards for the regular season, as I'm hoping to be featuring quite a few of them.  I'm still plugging along on my 1969 Topps blog, and I'm almost caught up on posts for cards purchased over a year ago at the March 2023 Philly Show.  Here's outfielder Don Lock's card from the set, recently featured here, and it looks as if Lock could use some sunglasses.

Camp Head Count:  59

In the first roster moves of the spring, Tyler Phillips (rhp) and Griff McGarry (rhp) were reassigned to minor league camp and Michael Mercado (rhp) was optioned to Triple-A.  Mercado impressed during his outings, and it's likely he'll be back at some point in 2024.

Annual Christmas Haul: Santa Mom Writes Book, Delivers Baseball Cards

The author with her book and grandkids

It's become a tradition to gather at my Mom's house on the day after Christmas to exchange gifts with her and my sister's family.  There are way too many gifts exchanged, way too much food eaten, and it's one of the best days of my year.  

Before we get to that though, on Christmas day I unwrapped three cards from my wife Jenna and our sons with a common theme.  They were kind enough to get me the three #1 cards from my next three set builds, 1959 Topps, 1955 Bowman and 1966 Topps, which given I now have a sizable stack from each set, I guess I can say I'm now officially collecting.  

As we approach the end of 2023, I'm 18 cards away from a 1934-36 Diamond Stars set, with that set build likely slowing down in 2024 given the scarcity and price tags of the remaining cards needed.  We're almost two-thirds of the way through the 1969 Topps set, and if I compose five posts a week on the cards we've added, my 1969 Topps blog should be caught up by this time next year.  It's feasible that set is completed by 2025.

My Mom kicked off my collection of the 1955 Bowman set last Christmas, and I've since added a few more cards throughout 2023.  A family friend gifted me his 1959 Topps doubles in February, and I'll be tackling that set once the 1969 Topps set is wrapped up.  And then there's the 1966 Topps set, which I started collecting in the late 1980s given I had the "big" card from the set already in my collection - card #50, Mickey Mantle.  Adding these three #1s was a great way to admit I'm now once again a full-fledged complete set collector, having spent the better part of the last two decades exclusively collecting Phillies baseball cards.

Three #1s

My family also gave me a 2023 Topps factory set, continuing that tradition, and I'm now the proud owner of every Topps flagship set from 1956, 1965 and 1970 through 2023.  The 2023 Topps cards have already been sorted.

My Mom's big surprise for us on the 26th was the announcement she had written a book.  It's wonderful.  It's a collection of stories from her childhood through today, with brief histories of her family and poignant remembrances I'm grateful will now be passed down to our grandkids.  I'm about half-way through reading it as I write this, and I'm taking my time, making sure to take it all in.  She told us writing the book was fun and therapeutic, which I can completely understand given I've authored posts for this blog with only brief interuptions over the past almost 15 years.  Honestly, all the other gifts opened yesterday were very much overshadowed by my Mom's book, and at first I missed the fact I hadn't opened two boxes in my pile about an hour into the exchange.  Since I hadn't yet opened any baseball cards, I had a fairly good idea what was in them, or at least what was in one of them.

Mom has always come through with items from my want lists, and she decided this year to tackle my few remaining Phillies Media Guide needs.  I had never even seen the Phillies Media Guides from the 1960s, and now I'm just one away (1967) from having a full run between 1965 and 2023.  The next box I opened contained 10 individually wrapped baseball card-sized packages, and as I started opening them I noticed they were the first cards from the 1955 Bowman checklist.  Ironically enough, I went from having no Hoyt Wilhelm cards from the 1955 Bowman set to having two over a two day period, and one of them will be offered up for trade soon.  (If you're reading this, and looking to obtain a 1955 Wilhelm card for something of equal value, please leave a comment or send me a message.)

It was another wonderful Christmas, and I'm reminded again how lucky I am.  I hope you and your family had a fantastic holiday season, and here's to a happy, healthy and safe 2024.

Philly Baseball Card Show Report - Rainy, Quick Trip

We weren't supposed to attend this show, as Doug had a travel baseball tournament scheduled for the weekend in the Toms River area.  The torrential downpour that started on Friday night scuttled those plans, so we pivoted and made the hour-plus drive to Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest Philadelphia Sports Collector Show, better known as The Philly Show.

Our goals were simple.  Doug wanted to add a Michael Lorenzen signature to the recently released Phillies scorecard celebrating the pitcher's August no-hitter.  Lorenzen may not return in 2024, and this could have easily been the only chance to get his autograph before he moves on.  I wanted to add at least one Diamond Stars card and hopefully a few 1969 Topps star cards.  My massive 1969 Topps haul from March is still mostly sitting on my project table, as life and work have forced me to step away from my 1969 Topps blog for a little bit.  (I hope to return to it in October.)

We drove through a hard, steady rain, navigated our way through the confusing admission lines, found the not-well-marked autograph pavilion, stood in line again, purchased our autograph tickets and waited our turn.  I made an impulse Jim Thome autograph ticket purchase, as I wanted to have the Hall of Famer sign his Phillies Alumni photo card.

For the first time ever, I spent all my allotted money at one table and one table only.  Technically, it was two tables, but the two dealers from the Buffalo area were working together and even provided me with a joint business card.  From the Ed Hans side of the table, I found a Paul Waner card needed for my 1934-36 Diamond Stars set build, which is steadily plugging along.  From the Gary Nuchereno side of the table, I first settled on four star cards needed for our 1969 Topps set - all in good shape and very reasonably priced.  After we secured Thome's and Lorenzen's autographs, I went back and found 11 needed commons and semistars from the same dealer's 1969 Topps binder.

Doug spent his money on Ultra Pro supplies with nary a new baseball card purchased.  We were on our way out in less than two hours, me with 16 new cards for my two current, primary set builds and a Thome autograph, Doug with his signed Lorenzen scorecard and some much needed supplies.  We'll now rest up and get ready to likely do a little more damage at the next show in December.

Recent Memory Lane

Valley Forge 12 - December 2021 - Huge haul of 1965 Topps, Jim Thome

Valley Forge 13 - March 2022 - Easy like Sunday morning, close to completing 1965 Topps

Oaks 3 - December 2022 - 1965 Topps set completed, dent made in 1969 Topps, Schwarber, Vierling and Stott

Oaks 4 - March 2023 - Huge haul of 1969 Topps and five Diamond Stars cards added

Oaks 5 - September 2023 - Thome, Lorenzen, only 26 cards purchased from two dealers

Philly Baseball Card Show Report - 1969 Topps Commons Explosion

On Sunday, Doug and I drove an hour north to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks for the March Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, known to its friends as the Philly Show.  This could be our last show for a while, as baseball schedules along with a packed summer and fall tend to keep us away from any June or September shows.  We were happy we had decided to attend on Sunday, as we both heard from dealers and other collectors that Saturday's show was, "way too crowded, "a madhouse" and "chaos."  There were still a lot of people there on Sunday, but we were able to leisurely browse the dealer tables and we both came away with hauls that had us smiling all the way home.

• Doug's collecting habits are geared towards cards he thinks are cool, which is usually some combination of a signature, a relic and/or a low serial number for a favorite baseball or basketball player.  He's got quite the display going on his bedroom desk, and he added the cards shown below to his collection after a few hours of scouting and negotiating.
• After being a big spender on star cards at the December show, and completing our 1965 Topps set, I was focused on volume this time around.  I pulled up a chair at Uncle Dick's table, found the first binder of 1969 Topps commons (1-300) and plowed through it.  I stopped after each 100 cards to ask for a price check, and with the understanding I'd buy more if there was as a discount in play for volume, I soldiered on.  I added 193 cards to our 1969 Topps set, which is most likely the highest single set tally since the 1980s when my Dad and me were collecting the 1976 Topps set and we bought most of the commons needed for that set at an Ocean City baseball card show.
• I was happy to find quite a few dealers with Diamond Stars cards for sale.  I visited three separate dealers, making three separate purchases, all of which came in a little lower than the advertised prices. With five more cards added to that set, I'm down to needing 38 cards out of the 119 I'm collecting as my version of a master set.

I purchased one Phillies card, a 1987 team-issued variation card of the Phillie Phanatic, and we didn't purchase autographs from any of the dozens of autograph signers.  It was another great show, and it may need to hold us over until December.

Doug's Haul

New Diamond Stars cards

Memory Lane

Valley Forge 1 - September 2010 - Thinking of my Dad
Valley Forge 2 - October 2012 - Doug's first baseball card show
Valley Forge 3 - September 2014 - Meeting Darren Daulton
Oaks 1 - October 2015 - Meeting Pete Rose and Steve Carlton
Valley Forge 4 - September 2016 - Phillies acquisitions and 4 Phillies Legends
Valley Forge 5 - December 2016 - Meeting Don Money
Valley Forge 6 - September 2017 - Doug's big day
Valley Forge 7 - December 2017 - Ben's first baseball card show with Mike Schmidt and Rhys Hoskins!
Oaks 2 - December 2018 - Meeting Matt Stairs and Cole Hamels
Valley Forge 8 - March 2019 - 5 Phillies Autographs and Vintage Phillies Additions
Valley Forge 9 - September 2019 - Closing in on 1971 Topps set and Andrew McCutchen
Valley Forge 10 - December 2019 - Finishing 1971 Topps set, Starting 1965 Topps set, adding key autographs from Ryan Howard and Brad Lidge
Valley Forge 11 - February 2020 - More 1965 Topps cards, Jimmy Rollins, Mike Lieberthal and Jim Kaat

Valley Forge 12 - December 2021 - Huge haul of 1965 Topps, Jim Thome

Valley Forge 13 - March 2022 - Easy like Sunday morning, close to completing 1965 Topps

Oaks 3 - December 2022 - 1965 Topps set completed, dent made in 1969 Topps, Schwarber, Vierling and Stott

Oaks 4 - March 2023 - Huge haul of 1969 Topps and five Diamond Stars cards added

Blue Jays 8, Phillies 3
Spring Training Game 16 - Sunday Afternoon, March 12th in Clearwater
Record - 7-8-1

One Sentence Summary:  Further south, the Phillies dropped a spring training game to the Blue Jays.

What It Means:  With our fresh spoils in hand, we listened to the start of this game on our ride home from the Philly Show.

What Happened:  Starting pitcher Bailey Falter got hit early and often, allowing seven hits and three runs (two earned) in 2 2/3 innings of work.  Jake Jewell was the recipient of four unearned runs in the ninth due to a costly error by second baseman Hao-Yu Lee.  Josh Harrison hit a two-run home run in the fifth.

Featured Card:  See above!

Camp Head Count:  65 - 7 - 3 = 55

Before the game, James McArthur (rhp) was optioned and Mick Abel (rhp), Andrew Baker (rhp), Jon Duplantier (rhp), Griff McGarry (rhp), Francisco Morales (rhp) and Billy Sullivan (rhp) were all assigned to minor league camp.  Following the game, Jhailyn Ortiz (of) and Simon Muzziotti (of) were optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley and Johan Rojas (of) was optioned to Double-A Reading.

NEW BLOG: Collecting the 1969 Topps Set

Earlier this week, as we turned the calendar to 2023, I started a new set-collecting blog for the 1969 Topps set we're building.  It's going to look and feel mostly like the blog I recently wrapped up, which chronicled our collation of a complete 1965 Topps set between December 2019 and December 2022.  Presented below is the post for the first official card we added to our set - Cookie Rojas.

Please check out my new project and follow along as I collect the under appreciated 1969 Topps set.

1969 Topps #507 Cookie Rojas - Philadelphia Phillies

Octavio Victor Rojas
Philadelphia Phillies
Infield-Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'10"  Weight:  160
Born:  March 6, 1939, La Habana, Cuba
Signed:  Signed by the Cincinnati Reds as an amateur free agent before 1956 season
Major League Teams:  Cincinnati Reds 1962; Philadelphia Phillies 1963-1969; St. Louis Cardinals 1970; Kansas City Royals 1970-1977

As a Manager:  California Angels 1988; Florida Marlins 1996

A long-time utility player for the Phillies, Cookie Rojas enjoyed the best years of his career as the starting second baseman for the Royals in the early 1970s.  Rojas was a five time All-Star - once with the Phillies in 1965 and then four times with the Royals between 1971 and 1974.  Blocked at second base by Tony Taylor (#108) early in his career, Rojas moved around the field playing wherever needed for Phillies manager Gene Mauch (#606).  He finished in the top 10 in singles in his respective league in 1965, 1966 and 1974.  Rojas is second on the Royals' all-time games played list at second base behind Frank White.

Rojas played for 16 seasons, accumulating a .263 average over 1,822 games.  Following his playing career, Rojas stayed in the game serving as a coach for the Cubs between 1978 and 1981, and becoming the first Cuban born manager in major league history when he was at the helm for the Angels in 1988, succeeding his former manager Mauch as manager of that club.  He later served as a coach for the Marlins (1993-1996), Mets (1997-2000) and Blue Jays (2001-2002).  He's been the Spanish-language color commentator on Marlins television broadcasts since 2003.

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.

Building the Set / Card #3
November 6, 2021 from Cooperstown, NY (Stonehouse Toys of Fame)

In early November 2021, needing a quick vacation and wanting to take our sons to Cooperstown for the first time, we took advantage of the annual NJEA Teacher Convention in which public schools are closed for a few days.  We loaded our car on a Thursday morning with a loose plan of spending two days in Cooperstown and the surrounding area over the weekend, shopping in the village, soaking in the Hall of Fame exhibits and eating a few good dinners.  The 4 1/2 hour drive to Otsego County was scenic and enjoyable.  Most of the day Friday was spent in the Hall of Fame and Saturday was dedicated largely to shopping in the many stores, mostly baseball related, located in the blocks surrounding the Hall.

We'd add nine cards to our 1965 Topps set during the weekend and four cards to our not-yet-collecting 1969 Topps set.  This Rojas card was pulled from a stack of loosely organized vintage Topps commons found within the subterranean Stonehouse Toys of Fame and it cost me $3.  I hadn't planned on adding any 1969 Topps cards during this trip, but by the end of the weekend Rojas would be joined by three other cards from the set.  It's fitting Rojas would be the first official card purchased for our 1969 Topps set build, as his 1965 Topps card was one of the first five cards we purchased for that set in December 2019.

The Card / Phillies Team Set / Accuracy Index +5

Given the card comes late in the set, I'm going to assume this is one of the newer photos to appear, perhaps taken as late as spring training 1969.  The back of the card highlights Rojas' 14-game hitting streak in 1968 which came in May and early June.  Rojas' versatility is also mentioned, and through the 1968 season he had pitched in one game, caught in seven games, played a game at first base and played three games at third base.

Accuracy Index:  This card scores a +5 for showing Rojas on the correct team and not recycling an old photo.

1969 Season
This was to be Rojas' seventh and final season with the Phillies.  In 110 games, he batted .228, the fourth year in a row his average had declined.  Rojas made 96 starts overall, with 94 starts coming a second base and a pair of starts in April in left field.  Taylor gradually saw more playing time at second base as the season progressed, and by the end of the season the Phillies had decided to move ahead with young Denny Doyle as Rojas' permanent replacement for 1970.  As noted below, Rojas was shipped to the Cardinals on October 7, 1969 as part of a blockbuster seven-player deal.

Phillies Career
The Phillies acquired Rojas from the Reds on November 27, 1962 for reliever Jim Owens, and his Topps rookie card in the 1963 set shows him wearing a Reds uniform top.  He played for seven seasons with the Phillies, appearing in at least 100 games every year except his first in 1963.  His best season with the club was 1965 when Rojas was named to his first All-Star team, joining his teammates Dick Allen (#350) and Johnny Callison (#133).  He appeared in 142 games that year, and saw more time at second base than usual due to a season long slump endured by regular second baseman Taylor.  He also led the team with a .303 average, which placed him eighth overall in the league.

After several years of declining offensive output, the Phillies traded him in October 1969.  Rojas was one of the players included in the blockbuster deal between the Phillies and Cardinals that shipped Allen and Jerry Johnson (#253) to St. Louis in exchange for Curt Flood (#540), Tim McCarver (#475), Byron Browne and Joe Hoerner (#522).  (Flood never reported to the Phillies, but that's a story for another post.)

Rojas played in 880 games for the Phillies - the exact amount of games he played for the Royals.

1963 Topps #221

1968 Topps #39

1971 Topps #118

1975 Topps #169

1988 Topps Traded #97T

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1963 Topps #221
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (16):  1963-1977, 1988
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2019 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autographs #FFA-CR
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards:  90 in the Beckett online database as of 12/27/22.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference / SABR
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog / The Phillies Room

Game 134 - Deptford Mall Baseball Card Show Precedes Another Loss

Giants 5, Phillies 3
Game 134 - Sunday Afternoon, September 4th in San Francisco
Record - 73-61, 3rd Place, 11 1/2 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies couldn't complete the comeback against the Giants, as David Robertson allowed a two-run walk-off home run to Wilmer Flores in this latest loss.

What It Means:  It's not going well, and I'll admit I'm starting to worry.  The Phillies hold a 2 1/2 game lead over the Brewers for the National League's third Wild Card spot.  They went 1-6 on a disastrous west coast trip against two teams with losing records.  A six-game homestand begins on Tuesday night against the Marlins and Nationals.

What Happened:  Ranger Suarez joined the ranks of Phillies starting pitchers who have been ineffective lately, pitching just four innings and allowing three runs.  The Phillies dramatically tied up the game in the eighth inning when J.T. Realmuto connected for a three-run home run off Giants' reliever John Brebbia.  Robertson couldn't preserve the tie however, allowing Flores' home run and ending the game.

Featured Card:  Before this debacle began, Doug and I drove to the Deptford Mall for a mini baseball card show and Bobby Abreu signing.  We were among the first in line to secure our Abreu signatures, and then we spent about a half hour browsing the six or so tables set up in the mall.  I found one dealer with stacks of vintage commons for sale, adding cards to my not-yet-officially-collecting 1955 Bowman, 1959 Topps and 1969 Topps sets.  It was a good afternoon, diminished a few hours later by the Phillies' loss.

Transaction:  Nick Castellanos (of) was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain and Dalton Guthrie (of) had his contract selected from Lehigh Valley.  To make room for Guthrie on the 40-man roster, Luis Garcia (inf) was designated for assignment.

2022 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2022 Season Summary Index / 2022 Chachi Set Checklist