Just One Card - 1990s Phillies Edition (Part Two - 1996 to 1999)

Having wrapped up my Phillies Missing Links custom card sets from the 1980s and 1990s, I wanted to look back and those players who just barely missed inclusion.  These are the players who have been featured on one and only one Phillies baseball card.

There were 23 Phillies players from the 1990s with no Phillies baseball card appearances, and there were 26 Phillies players from the decade with only one Phillies baseball card appearance.  Here's part two of the list.  Part one can be found here.

The Jon Zuber card, available only at the 1998 Phillies Phestival, has eluded my search so far.

1996 Phillies Team Issue #5

1996 Phillies Team Issue #43

1996 Phillies Team Issue #54

1997 Phillies Team Issue #40

1997 Phillies Team Issue #41

1998 Phillies Team Issue ALS Phestival #40

1996
Mike Benjamin - 1996 Phillies Team Issue #5
Carlos Crawford - 1996 Phillies Team Issue #54
Ricardo Jordan - 1997 Pacific #381
Dave Leiper - 1996 Phillies Team Issue #43
J.R. Philllips - 1996 Leaf Signature Extended Autographs #159
Jon Zuber - 1998 Phillies Team Issue ALS Phestival #40

1996 Leaf Signature Extended Autographs #159

1997 Fleer #649

1997 Pacific #381

1998 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #202

1997
Tony Barron - 1998 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #202
Reggie Harris - 1997 Phillies Team Issue #40
Erik Plantenberg - 1997 Phillies Team Issue #41
Edgar Ramos - 1997 Fleer #649

1999
Scott Aldred - 2000 Phillies Team Issue #30

Jim Poole - 1999 Phillies Team Issue #41

Steve Schrenk - 2000 Phillies Team Issue #52

Paul Spoljaric - 1999 Phillies Team Issue #50

1999 Phillies Team Issue #41

1999 Phillies Team Issue #50

2000 Phillies Team Issue #30

2000 Phillies Team Issue #52

1996 Phillies Team Issue #5 Mike Benjamin

Slowly getting back into the swing of things. It's hard to focus on baseball what with all the overwhelming joy of our new son and all.

Braves 4, Phillies 3
Game 13 – Tuesday Night, April 20th in Atlanta

Jenna went into labor just as this Phillies game was getting underway in Atlanta. We listened to the first inning or so in the car ride on the way to the hospital, but I was too focused on breaking new land-speed records and not hitting pedestrians on the sidewalks to pay much attention to Kyle Kendrick’s pitching performance.

Later, I caught a snippet of the 8th inning play-by-play as I was moving my car from the ER parking lot to the main visitors’ parking lot. Radio broadcaster Larry Andersen was thrilled with Kendrick’s game, noting he was using his fastball early to establish a pitcher’s count and then keeping the hitters off-balance with his off-speed stuff.

Shortly before Ben was born, Jenna requested we turn on the TV in our room – more as a diversion than anything else. The volume on the TV was low, but we caught the highlights of the Flyers’ play-off victory and the lowlights of the Phils’ stunning defeat. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, interim closer Ryan Madson allowed back to back home runs. Jose Contreras allowed a solo, walk-off home run in the 10th. (I still don’t know who actually hit the home runs for the Braves.)

Any other night, I would have been thrown into a funk and become extremely grumpy because of the Phillies’ loss. However, none of that really seemed to matter as I was very close to meeting my second son for the first time.

It's All About the Benjamins: The Phils have had two players with the surname of Benjamin in their history - Stan Benjamin, the team's starting right fielder in 1941 and Mike Benjamin, a middle infielder who played in 35 games with the 1996 squad.