Game 135 - SOSA SLAMS PHILS TO WIN; LC Tribute

Philadelphia Phillies	5
Los Angeles Angels	3

2026 Topps Now #611

Late Friday Night, August 28th

Angel Stadium - Anaheim, CA
75-60, 2nd Place, 5 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Edmundo Sosa hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the top of the ninth inning, sending the Phillies to an amazing 5-3 win over the Angels.

What It Means:  Yes, I stayed up for this entire game but I almost turned it off in the seventh and went to bed.  I'm glad I didn't!

What Happened:  Andrew Painter suffered through a typical first inning for him, allowing three runs on two hits, two walks and two wild pitches, before settling down and pitching well the next five innings.  He didn't allow another hit the rest of the way and struck out six overall.  The Phillies pushed across a run in the fifth on a bunt single from Derek Hill, scoring Alec Bohm.  

Angels' reliever Ben Joyce came on in the ninth to try and hold a 3-1 lead.  Bohm was hit by a pitch and Justin Crawford walked, and Bryson Stott hit a fly ball to right that would have been a home run if not for an incredible leaping catch by Wade Meckler.  With two outs, J.T. Realmuto drew another walk and Sammy Peralta relieved Joyce.  Sosa connected for his slam, giving the Phillies a 5-3 lead and stunning the Angel Stadium crowd.

Featured Card:  Sosa rightfully earned a Topps Now card, but I also wanted to pay tribute to Larry Christenson, who passed away on Friday.  Christenson was a career Phillie, and a member of the 1980 World Championship team.  He won 83 games in his 11-year career, but I'll remember him most for being omnipresent at Phillies alumni events, special ceremonies and even just regular games.  He never didn't sign or pose for a picture with our oldest son, Doug, and I'd venture to guess Doug probable has at least a dozen Christenson autographs in his collection on Wall of Fame prints, baseballs, photo cards and score cards.  LC will be missed.

1977 Topps #59

1982 Donruss #219

2017 Chachi Alumni Weekend #1

2018 Chachi Friendly Encounters #18

2019 Chachi Friendly Encounters #7

2026 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2026 Season Summary Index / 2026 Chachi Set Checklist

Rays at Phillies - September 9th to September 11th

2024 Chachi Series Preview #8

1984 Topps #252

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 6:40
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

At the Ballpark:  There are a bunch of theme nights scheduled for this series for holders of special theme night tickets.  The newest offering appears to be Pickleball Night, which is tonight, and offers fans the chance for an exclusive Phillies Phanatic branded paddle and paddle cover.

Tampa Bay Rays 71-72
4th Place in the A.L. East, 11 games behind the Yankees

Rays Probables
Cole Sulser (0-0, 0.00)
Taj Bradley (6-10, 4.40)
Shane Baz (2-3, 3.27)

Rays Leaders
Average:  Yandy Diaz - .279
Runs:  Jose Caballero - 52
Home Runs:  Jose Siri - 17
RBIs:  Yandy Diaz - 64
Stolen Bases:  Jose Caballero - 39

Wins:  Ryan Peipot - 8
ERA:  N/A
Strikeouts:  Taj Bradley - 131
Saves:  Pete Fairbanks - 23

Philadelphia Phillies 85-58
1st Place in the N.L. East, 7 games ahead of the Braves and Mets

Phillies Probables
Cristopher Sanchez (10-9, 3.45)
Ranger Suarez (12-6, 2.90)
Zack Wheeler (14-6, 2.59)

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Trea Turner - .296
Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 97
Home Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 33
RBIs:  Kyle Schwarber - 93
Stolen Bases:  Bryson Stott - 29

Wins:  Zack Wheeler - 14
ERA:  Zack Wheeler - 2.59
Strikeouts:  Zack Wheeler - 190
Saves:  Jose Alvarado - 13

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

Game 118 (Continued) - Alumni Weekend Chachi Cards

I didn't have enough room to tag everyone in my main game summary post, so here's a continuation post featuring the bulk of the Chachi Alumni Weekend insert cards.  This is always a fun night, and creating these cards is annually a fun project.

1979 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.  The backs of the photo cards are blank and there's no indication on the cards themselves that they're from 1979.  Some of the cards contain blue facsimile autographs, as noted on the checklist below. 

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.  The set's checklist is comprised of the manager, four coaches, all but one of the 25-man opening day roster (Mike Anderson is omitted) and eight players who would make their season debut with the team between May and early July. 

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. Ramon Aviles (action) 2. Doug Bird 3. Bob Boone (action, auto) 4. Larry Bowa (action, auto) 5. Warren Brusstar (action) 6. Jose Cardenal (action) 7. Steve Carlton (action, auto) 8. Larry Christenson (action) 9. Rawly Eastwick (action, auto)       10. Nino Espinosa (auto) 11. Greg Gross 12. Bud Harrelson (action) 13. Jim Kaat (auto)

14. Randy Lerch (action) 15. Jim Lonborg (action) 16. Greg Luzinski (action, auto) 17. Pete Mackanin (auto) 18. Garry Maddox (action, auto) 19. Bake McBride (action, auto)       20. Tim McCarver (action) 21. Tug McGraw (action, auto) 22. Rudy Meoli (action, auto) 23. Dickie Noles (action) 24. Danny Ozark MG (auto) 25. Dave Rader 26. Ron Reed (action, auto)

27. Pete Rose (action, auto) 28. Dick Ruthven (auto) 29. Kevin Saucier (action) 30. Mike Schmidt (action) 31. Lonnie Smith (auto) 32. Herm Starrette CO (auto) 33. Tony Taylor CO (auto) 34. Bobby Tiefenauer CO (auto) 35. Manny Trillo 36. Manny Trillo (action) 37. Del Unser 38. Bobby Wine CO (auto)

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (1):  Meoli

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (12):  Aviles, Bird, Espinosa, Gross, Mackanin, Noles, Rader, Rose, Saucier, Smith, Trillo (2)
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (20):  Boone, Bowa, Brusstar, Cardenal, Carlton, Christenson, Eastwick, Harrelson, Kaat, Lerch, Lonborg, Luzinski, Maddox, McBride, McCarver, McGraw, Reed, Ruthven, Schmidt, Unser

Manager (1):  Ozark
Coach (4):  Starrette, Taylor, Tiefenauer, Wine

Surprises:  The biggest surprise here is the inclusion of a Bud Harrelson card, although his photo could ver well be from 1978.  Harrelson had retired from baseball following the 1978 season, but injuries to Larry Bowa and Manny Trillo in the early part of the season forced the club to reach out to him.  Harrelson resigned with the Phillies on May 25th and made his season debut a day later.  The last player to make his debut during the season and appear within the set is Dickie Noles, who made his big league debut on July 5th.

Omissions:  For some reason, hitting/third base coach Billy DeMars didn't card a new card for this set.  He'd return to the checklist in 1980.  Also odd is the omission of outfielder Anderson who returned to the Phillies via free agency on March 5th and appeared in 79 games for the team.  Five other players, all September call-ups, appeared with the Phillies in 1979 and didn't receive photo cards - John Vukovich, John Poff, Jack Kucek, Keith Moreland and Dan Larson.

Variations/Rarities:  Fellow collector Steve let me know of a few rarities and variations for this set.

Signature Variation 1. Rawly Eastwick (no auto) 2. Dick Ruthven (no auto)

Error 1. Warren Brusstar (actually depicts Randy Lerch)

And while it's definitely not part of the team-issued photo card set, I'm including a scan of the Richie Ashburn photo below which could have fit in nicely with the set.  The photo is 5" x 7" and the note on the back indicates the Phillies broadcaster signed the photo on June 16, 1979 at Whitehall Mall.

Also See:  My First Phillies Game; 1979 Burger King Phillies #13 Pete Rose

Resources:  The Trading Card Database; Beckett.com; Phillies collector Steve F.

This set was originally featured in a post back in November 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.

1978 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards / 1980 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards

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

1980 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 team-issued photo cards issued since 1970, these cards feature a black and white photo with the players' name below.  The backs of the cards are blank and there's no indication on the cards themselves they're from 1980.  Some of the cards contain blue facsimile autographs, as noted on the checklist below.  One way to tell if the photo card is from 1980 is the fact that these are the only photo cards from this era on which the majority of the players' names aren't all in capital letters.  I've listed below those few cards on which the player's name is in all capitals.  (Thanks to Phillies collector Rick and his scanned checklist shown here.)

How Distributed:  The 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 these cards were ever available in complete set form.

I'm theorizing that the cards with the players' names in capital letters were issued later in the season, as Ramon Aviles, Dan Larson and Bob Walk were not on the opening day roster and all made their 1980 debuts in late April or May.  Nino Espinosa and Warren Brusstar are the outliers here as those pitchers made their 1980 debuts in July and their names on their cards use upper and lower case letters.  Brusstar, who started the season on the disabled list and first pitched for the Phillies on July 13th, is the latest player to appear in a game in 1980 and appear on one of these photo cards.

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. Luis Aguayo 2. Ruben Amaro CO 3. Ramon Aviles (capitals) 4. Bob Boone  5. Larry Bowa 6. Warren Brusstar 7. Steve Carlton 8. Larry Christenson 9. Billy DeMars CO (auto) 10. Lee Elia CO (auto) 11. Nino Espinosa 12. Dallas Green MG (auto)           13. Greg Gross

14. Lerrin LaGrow (auto) 15. Dan Larson (capitals) 16. Randy Lerch  17. Greg Luzinski 18. Garry Maddox (auto) 19. Bake McBride (auto) 20. Tug McGraw (auto) 21. Keith Moreland (auto) 22. Scott Munninghoff 23. Dickie Noles (auto) 24. Ron Reed 25. Pete Rose (batting, auto) 26. Pete Rose (portrait, auto, capitals)

27. Dick Ruthven (auto) 28. Mike Ryan CO 29. Kevin Saucier 30. Mike Schmidt 31. Lonnie Smith (auto)   32. Herm Starrette CO (auto) 33. Manny Trillo 34. Del Unser 35. George Vukovich 36. John Vukovich 37. Bob Walk (capitals) 38. Bobby Wine CO

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (3):  LaGrow, Larson, Munninghoff

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (4):  Aguayo, Moreland, G. Vukovich, Walk
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (24):  Aviles, Boone, Bowa, Brusstar, Carlton, Christenson, Espinosa, Gross, Lerch, Luzinski, Maddox, McBride, McGraw, Noles, Reed, Rose (2), Ruthven, Saucier, Schmidt, Smith, Trillo, Unser, J. Vukovich

Manager (1):  Green
Coaches (6):  Amaro, DeMars, Elia, Ryan, Starrette, Wine

Surprises:  Not to sound like too much of a weirdo, but the seven-year-old me would have loved to have added Scott Munninghoff's card to my collection.  He was one of those guys who was in the prospect section of the yearbook and no one in my little circle of young Phillies fans had any idea who he was.  Munninghoff made the team's opening day roster, appeared in four games, and was sent back to Oklahoma City in early May where he'd stay the rest of the season.

Omissions:  The entire opening day roster, every coach and manager Dallas Green all received cards.  Every player to have suited up for the Phillies in 1980 prior to September also received cards, with Espinosa and Brusstar, as noted above, being the latest additions.  The Phillies had 9 September additions to their roster who understandably did not receive photo cards:  Jay Loviglio, Marty Bystrom, Bob Dernier, Tim McCarver, Orlando Isales, Mark Davis, Sparky Lyle, Don McCormack and Ozzie Virgil.

Variations/Rarities:  Rose appeared on two different versions of photo cards in 1980, no doubt due to high autograph request demands.  Phillies collector Rick sent me a scan of his checklist for this set cluing me in to the fact that cards for Bake McBride and Dickie Noles can be found both with and without facsimile autographs.  A few years back, I also added Lerrin LaGrow and Keith Moreland cards to my collection without facsimile autographs.  Also, fellow collector Steve indicates there could be a Nino Espinosa variation card available and for the sake of completeness, I've added it here too.

Finally, while not part of the team-issued set, there is a 1980 black and white photo card of the Phillie Phanatic issued by Harrison/Erickson and this card is roughly the same size as the rest of the 1980 set.

No Facsimile Autograph       1. Lerrin LaGrow 2. Bake McBride 3. Keith Moreland 4. Dickie Noles

Mystery Variation?  1. Nino Espinosa

Harrison/Erickson   1. Phillie Phanatic

Resources:  The Trading Card Database; Beckett.com; Phillies collectors Steve and Rick (@rickphils).

It was only through the awesome photos provided at The Trading Card Database for this set I was able to originally identify these cards as being from 1980.  Collector Dave Sosidka uploaded the checklist and scans of all cards to the database back in 2011.  However, The Trading Card Database entry for this set omits the card for Munninghoff and the portrait version of Rose's card.

The Beckett database entry for this set lists the set as "Phillies Postcards" and omits the cards for Garry Maddox, Noles, John Vukovich and the second Rose card.

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 gathered (if any) over the past five years.

1979 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards / 1981 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards

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

After 79 Years, Larry File Gets a Phillies Baseball Card

Fellow collector Alan was kind enough to e-mail me a few weeks ago to let me know he had 1970 Grant Jackson Phillies Photocard I needed from my want list.  He graciously told me he'd send me the Jackson card along with a "small care package," including a couple of odds and ends.

In the package along with the Jackson photo card were signed photo cards of Jerry Martin, Larry Christenson and Juan Samuel and a signed Manny Trillo card from the 1981 Topps 5 x 7 set.  There were five other non-Phillies photo card autographs, shown here, of former Phillies pitchers Curt Simmons, Jack Sanford and Ron Reed.  The Reed photo is interesting to me as it appears to be the same photo used for his 1982 Topps card.  These are all welcome additions to my Phillies collection.

The final autographed photo really caught my attention, as I had never heard of Larry File and the inscription under his autograph said, "Phillie 1940."  I came up empty when Googling Larry File, but thanks to Baseball Reference and a quick review of the 1940 Phillies roster, I found a Sam File.  Sam File's full name is Samuel Lawrence File, so I had my match.

Unfortunately, I didn't learn much more about File than what's on his Baseball Reference page.  At 18 years old, he was the youngest player in the National League in 1940, making his debut on September 6th.  He appeared in seven games for the Phillies, collecting a hit in 13 at-bats (.077).  He split his 33 innings in the field between shortstop (28 innings) and third base (5 innings) committing three errors in 20 total chances.  He remained in the Phillies minor league system in 1941 (77 games), 1942 (113 games) and then again in 1946 (20 games), playing his final year of professional baseball that season at the age of 24.  His three season interruption was due to his military service with the Coast Guard during World War II.

Born in Chester, PA in 1922, File passed away in 2008 at the age of 86.

2019 Chachi Phillies Missing Links of the 1940s #1

Not surprisingly, File never appeared on any baseball cards, making him a member of a club near and dear to me - the Phillies Missing Links.  I thought I'd remedy this with the first card from the Phillies Missing Links from the 1940s insert set, something I may continue at a (much) later date.  Since he signed his name "Larry" and the Phillies Media Guide lists him as "File, Larry (Sam)," I went with Larry instead of Sam for his card.

Thanks again Alan for the great package!