1977 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  38
Card Size:  3 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Description:  As was the case with all Phillies photo cards issued throughout the 1970s, these cards feature a black and white photo with the players' name below.  Some of the cards contain blue facsimile autographs, as noted on the checklist below.  Also as indicated below, and for the first time ever, the Phillies started using action photos for some players in lieu of the portrait cards they had issued up until this point.  Some of the cards are cropped so that there's a larger than usual white space on the bottom border, with the Tommy Hutton card above being a good example of this.  The backs of the photo cards are blank and there's no indication on the cards themselves that they're from 1977.

How Distributed:  The photo 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.  Every player on the opening day 25-man roster is included in the set, along with four players who made their season debuts after the start of the season (Richie Hebner, Warren Brusstar, Jim Lonborg and Tim Blackwell) and two players acquired via trades in June (Bake McBride and Barry Foote).  Given that McBride and Foote didn't play their first games with the Phillies until mid-June and the fact that their cards aren't included on the checklist found at the Trading Card Database, these could be considered short printed cards.

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. Fred Andrews (auto) 2. Carroll Beringer CO 3. Tim Blackwell (auto) 4. Bob Boone (action, auto) 5. Larry Bowa (action, auto) 6. Ollie Brown (action, auto) 7. Warren Brusstar (auto) 8. Steve Carlton (action, auto) 9. Larry Christenson (action) 10. Billy DeMars CO  11. Barry Foote 12. Gene Garber (action) 13. Terry Harmon (action, auto)

14. Richie Hebner (auto) 15. Tommy Hutton 16. Dane Iorg (action) 17. Dave Johnson (action) 18. Jay Johnstone (action, auto) 19. Jim Kaat (auto) 20. Randy Lerch (action) 21. Jim Lonborg (action) 22. Greg Luzinski (action, auto)      23. Garry Maddox (action) 24. Jerry Martin (action) 25. Bake McBride 26. Tim McCarver (action)

27. Tug McGraw (action, auto) 28. Danny Ozark MG 29. Ron Reed (action, auto) 30. Ray Rippelmeyer CO 31. Mike Schmidt 32. Mike Schmidt (action) 33. Ted Sizemore (action) 34. Tony Taylor CO (auto) 35. Bobby Tolan (action, auto) 36. Wayne Twitchell (action, auto) 37. Tommy Underwood (auto) 38. Bobby Wine CO (auto)

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (3):  Andrews, Blackwell, Iorg

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (7):  Brusstar, Foote, Hebner, Johnson, Lerch, McBride, Sizemore
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (22):  Boone, Bowa, Brown, Carlton, Christenson, Garber, Harmon, Hutton, Johnstone, Kaat, Lonborg, Luzinski, Maddox, Martin, McCarver, McGraw, Reed, Schmidt (2), Tolan, Twitchell, Underwood

Manager (1):  Ozark
Coach (5):  Beringer, DeMars, Ripplemeyer, Taylor, Wine

Surprises:  After appearing in 4 games with the Phillies in 1976, catcher Tim Blackwell received his one and only Phillies baseball card in this set.  He appeared in one game for the Phillies in 1977, entering a game on June 11th as a pinch-runner for Bob Boone and scoring a run.  A few days later, he was shipped to the Expos with Wayne Twitchell for Foote and Dan Warthen.  

Omissions:  Only 5 of the 36 players to appear with the Phillies in 1977 are not in this set, and the Phillies can't really be blamed for omitting any of them.  Pitcher Warthen came over from the Expos with Foote, but he only appeared in three games for the Phillies.  The other four omissions - infielders Mike Buskey, Jim Morrison and John Vukovich, along with pitcher Manny Seoane - were all September call-ups.

Variations/Rarities:  As mentioned above, the McBride and Foote photo cards were added to the set at some point after mid-June.  Fellow collector Rick also let me know about a Mike Schmidt variation that is a portrait photo of the slugger and not an action shot of him swinging.  Not knowing which version is more prevalent, I've included both versions in the standard checklist above.  Also, the Larry Bowa card I have in my collection doesn't have a blue facsimile autograph.  There may be other instances of these signature variations as well.

Also See:  1977 Hostess Phillies team set.

Resources:  The Trading Card Database; Phillies collector Rick G.

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

 

1976 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards / 1978 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards

1970-1979 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page

Another Package from Alan: Searching for Freddie Andrews

A few weeks back, I featured the first Phillies baseball card for Larry File as fellow collector Alan had been kind enough to send me a care package of autographed Phillies photos, including the rare photo of File used for my card.  Since then, Alan has been busy putting together a second care package, with even more autographed Phillies photos along with cards from various 1960s Phillies picture packs and a hard to find 1967 Phillies Safe Driving Jim Bunning card.

It's a blast to get a package like this in the mail, and with a busy week at work I wanted to wait until the weekend to take the time and enjoy each item Alan sent.

There were 21 different cards from various 5 x 7 Phillies picture pack sets in the package, and an extra card signed by Ray Semproch.  Sorting through the cards, I realized I had complete sets of the 1961 Jay Publishing picture pack (12 cards) along with 9 of the 12 cards from the 1958 Jay Publishing set.  The autographed Semproch photo is from the 1959 set.  I've been slowly adding these picture pack Phillies issues from the '50s and '60s and it's probably time for me to put together a true want list of what I still need to track down.

There was also a few version of a cool photo of former Phillies manager Danny Ozark, both signed, and taken during an Old-Timers Game at some point in the late 1980s in Arlington.

But the few pieces that puzzled me were the signed photos of short-time former Phillie Freddie Andrews, apparently clipped from a magazine article.  Andrews appeared in 16 games for the 1976 and 1977 Phillies, and his sole Phillies baseball card can be found within the 1977 team-issued photo card set.  I wanted to figure out the source of these signed magazine pages sent by Alan.  I came up empty while searching the Sports Illustrated online archive, and I searched every possible combination of words and names found within the article on the back of the pages but I still couldn't identify the source.

I finally Googled this sentence from the article, "In the spring of '72 Freddie Andrews learned to hate the Continuous Motion Program," and I immediately got a hit for the March 1974 issue of Boys' Life magazine.  Andrews was featured on the cover of that issue, and I'd recommend reading the entire article which I've linked here.  The article is written by former big leauge pitcher Jim Brosnan and it recounts a spring day in March 1973 on a minor league field at the Carpenter Complex in Clearwater, Florida, along with Andrews' rise through the Phillies farm system.  The article is dotted with names every Phillies fan will recognize, including farm director Dallas Green, general manager Paul Owens, Reading Phillies manager Bunning and coaches Wally Moses and Ruben Amaro.

Alan sent two copies of page 9 of the magazine along with the cover photo from page 8, with all three pages signed by Andrews.  Andrews would spend the entire 1973 season with the Reading Phillies team, where he'd hit .227 over 110 games.  He'd bounce back with a successful 1974 season, earning him a promotion to Triple-A Toledo.  And while he wasn't with the Phillies for long, I'm happy to add these pieces to my 1970s Phillies binder.

Thanks again Alan for the great package!

Just One Card & Missing Links - 1970s Phillies Edition

1975 Topps #405

1977 Topps #394

1979 Topps #169

1980 Topps #277

1981 Fleer #585

Having tackled the Phillies Missing Links from 1980 through 2008 at this point, I wanted to see what a Phillies Missing Links set from the 1970s would look like.  As far as I can tell, and please offer revisions in the comments if needed, listed below are the players who suited up with the Phillies between 1970 and 1979 and never received a Phillies baseball card.

Below this list, I've presented what I believe to be those Phillies players who received just one Phillies card, with most of these occurring in the team-issued photo card sets from the '70s.  I don't know if creating cards for these players is a project I'll tackle in the near-term, but with the checklist in place the next step would be hunting and gathering pictures of these players in red pinstripes (or baby blue road uniforms).

Phillies Missing Links of the 1970s - Initial Checklist
1 Del Bates (1970)
2 Mike Jackson (1970)
3 Manny Muniz (1971)
4 Dave Downs (1972)
5 Bob Terlecki (1972)
6 Dave Wallace (1973-1974)
7 John Stearns (1974)
8 Larry Fritz (1975)
9 Ron Clark (1975)
10 John Montague (1975)
11 Rick Bosetti (1976)
12 Bill Nahorodny (1976)
13 Mike Buskey (1977)
14 Manny Seoane (1977)
15 Dan Warthen (1977)
16 Orlando Gonzalez (1978)
17 Kerry Dineen (1978)
18 Todd Cruz (1978)
19 Horacio Pina (1978)
20 Dan Boitano (1978)
21 John Poff (1979)
22 Jack Kucek (1979)


Just One Card
1970
Doc Edwards - 1970 Phillies Photocards*
Bill Laxton - 1970 Phillies Photocards

1971
Bobby Pfeil - 1971 Phillies Photocards

1972
John Bateman - 1972 Phillies Photocards
Gary Neibauer - 1972 Phillies Photocards

1974
Allan Bannister - 1975 Phillies Photocards
Jesus Hernaiz - 1974 Phillies Photocards
Frank Linzy - 1974 Phillies Photocards
Pete Richert - 1974 Phillies Photocards
Erskine Thomason - 1976 SSPC #600^


1975
Cy Acosta - 1975 Phillies Photocards
Don Hahn - 1975 Phillies Photocards
Wayne Simpson - 1976 SSPC #599^

1976
Fred Andrews - 1977 Phillies Photocards
Tim Blackwell - 1977 Phillies Photocards

1977
Dane Iorg - 1977 Phillies Photocards

1978
Dan Larson - 1980 Phillies Photocards

1979
Rudy Meoli - 1979 Phillies Photocards

*As a coach, with two variations so he might not technically belong on this list.
^Wearing a Toledo Mud Hens uniform.

Just One Card Links
1970 to 1979
1980 to 1989
1990 to 1995
1996 to 1999
2000 to 2004
2005 to 2009

1976 Oklahoma City 89ers Team Set

1976 Oklahoma City 89ers Team Issue #14, #4, #15 and #20

I've long held a certain affinity for minor league baseball cards, ever since I acquired the 1981 TCMA Oklahoma City '89ers set from the Card Doctor back in the day.  I'm not sure what draws me to minor league baseball cards.  It could be that they're harder to find (in some cases) and I enjoy the hunt.  Or it could be that I can imagine the players featured as full of hope and anxious for their shot at the Show.  Whatever the reason, I still try to track down minor league sets issued by each of the Phillies' affiliates every year.  I'll also take a break in my eBay searches for "Dernier refractor" or "Phillies oddball" and perform a search for "Oklahoma City team set" every once in a while.

One such recent search yielded me a set I had never seen offered for sale before, and it's now the oldest minor league team set* in my collection.  The 1976 Oklahoma City '89ers set was issued by the Phillies Triple-A affiliate and it features 24 cards of the team's players and coaches.  1976 was the first season the '89ers franchise was affiliated with the Phillies, having spent the 1973 through 1975 seasons as the Indians' top farm club.  According to my 2001version of the Standard Catalog, the set was handed out to the first 2,000 fans attending the 89ers' July 26th home game.

The team went 72-63 under their manager, future Hall of Famer Jim Bunning, finishing in second place in the West Division of the American Association behind the Denver Bears.  It was Bunning's fifth and final season as a minor league manager in the Phillies organization.  In 1977, Bunning was elected to the Fort Thomas, Kentucky city council in what would be the start of his political career.  He retired from politics a few years ago after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 1999 and in the U.S. Senate from 1999 to 2010.

1976 Oklahoma City 89ers Team Issue #18, #6, #11 and #10

The set is fascinating in that in features a host of former and future Phillies as well as a few players I never realized were once a part of the Phillies organization.  Only seven of the subjects featured never spent time with the Phillies, and only four of the players included in the set never made it to the Majors at all.  Since there are only 24 cards, I thought I'd take my time and look up some pertinent facts for each of the players or coaches featured.

*As I was putting together this post, I realized I only had 23 of the 24 cards in the set and the card of Dane Iorg was missing.  I've contacted the seller, but I have yet to hear back from him or her as to the availability of the missing Iorg card.  My guess is that I'm going to be stuck trying to track down the elusive Iorg card on my own.  Frustrating, to be sure, but it's still a fantastic "set" to add to my collection.

Uniform Number, Player (Phillies Years/Major League Years)
1.  Terrence Jones - of (NA)/(NA) - Jones spent six seasons in the Orioles and Phillies organizations.
2.  Sergio Ferrer - inf (NA)/(1974-195, 1978-1979) - Ferrer played 125 games with the Twins and Mets.
3.  Ron Clark - coach (1975)/(1966-1969, 1971-1972, 1975) - Clark played in one game with the 1975 Phillies before ending his playing career and serving as a coach for the '89ers.
4.  Lonnie Smith - of (1978-1981)/(1978-1994) - Skates was a member of three World Series Champion teams, beginning with the Phillies in 1980.
6.  Jim Morrison - inf (1977-1978)/(1977-1988) - Morrison enjoyed a 12-year career with the Phillies, White Sox, Pirates, Tigers and Braves.
7.  Mike Buskey - inf (1977)/(1977) - A September call-up in 1977, Buskey appeared in 6 games for the Phillies, going 2 for 7 with a triple.
8.  Dane Iorg - of (1977)/(1977-1986) - Iorg appeared in 12 games with the Phillies before being shipped to the Cardinals (with the next guy) as part of the Bake McBride deal.
10.  Rick Bosetti - of (1976)/(1976-1982) - Bosetti appeared in 13 games with the Phillies before he and Iorg joined the Cardinals.
11.  Jesus Hernaiz - rhp (1974)/(1974) - Hernaiz made 27 relief appearances for the 1974 Phillies, never making it back to the big leagues.
12.  Fred Andrews - inf (1976-1977)/(1976-1977) - Andrews played in 16 games for the Phillies, before he was shipped to the Mets in March 1978 for Bud Harrelson.

1976 Oklahoma City 89ers Team Issue #7, #12, #21 and #19

14.  Jim Bunning - manager (1964-1967, 1970-1971)/(1955-1971) - Bunning had his #14 retired by the Phillies in 2001.
15.  Randy Lerch - lhp (1975-1980, 1986)/(1975-1984, 1986) - A member of the Phillies 1980 World Series squad, Lerch wasn't on the active roster for the postseason.
16.  Dan Boitano - rhp (1978)/(1978-1982) - Boitano pitched one inning of one game for the Phillies in 1978.
18.  Willie Hernandez - lhp (1983)/(1977-1989) - I had no idea Hernandez, who was a member of the 1983 Wheeze Kids, was once a Phillies farmhand.  The Phils lost Hernandez to the Cubs in the 1976 Rule 5 draft.  Hernandez enjoyed his best season in 1984, winning the MVP and Cy Young awards while helping the Tigers to a World Championship.
19.  Bill Nahorodny - c (1976)/(1976-1984) - Nahorodny appeared in three games with the '76 Phils.
20.  Ruben Amaro - coach (1960-1965)/(1958, 1960-1969) - Amaro Sr. also coached with the Phils in 1980 and 1981.
21.  Dave Wallace - rhp (1973-1974)/(1973-1974, 1978) - Wallace appeared in 7 games with the Phillies, pitching to a 16.20 ERA in 6 2/3 innings.  He spent eight seasons in the Phillies minor league system.
22.  Wayne Nordhagen - of (NA)/(1976-1983) - Nordhagen put together an eight-year career with the White Sox, Blue Jays, Pirates and Cubs.  He only spent a few months playing for the '89ers early in the 1976 season.
23.  Quency Hill - lhp (NA)/(NA) - Hill was the player to be named later shipped to the Dodgers in the Ted Sizemore deal in December 1976.  He never made it to the Majors.
24.  Jack Bastable - c (NA)/(NA) - Bastable played 648 games in the minors making it as high as Triple-A Oklahoma City in 1976 and 1977.
25.  John Montague - rhp (1975)/(1973-1975, 1977-1980) - Montague spent the majority of his seven-year career with the Expos, Mariners and Angels, but he did appear in 3 games with the Phillies in 1975.
26.  Manny Seoane - rhp (1977)/(1977-1978) - Seoane appeared in 2 games with the Phillies in 1977 before he was traded to the Cubs for Jose Cardenal.
28.  Larry Kiser - lhp (NA)/(NA) - Kiser pitched in the Phillies organization for 7 seasons, but he never donned the maroon pinstripes.
30.  Bob Oliver (NA/1965, 1969-1975) - Oliver enjoyed his best seasons with the Royals in the early 1970s.

1976 Oklahoma City 89ers Team Issue #3, #16, #25 and #26