Game 147 - Nola's Very Bad 5th Inning Leads to Loss

1979 Topps #566

Mets 11, Phillies 3
Game 147 - Friday Night, September 13th in Philadelphia
Record - 88-59, 1st Place, 7 games ahead of the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Two, three-run home runs in the sixth inning sunk Aaron Nola and the Phillies in this 11-3 drubbing from the second place Mets.

What It Means:  The Phillies need to win these crucial games, and hopefully Nola can figure out what went wrong.

What Happened:  The offense wasn't much help either, with the bats going quiet against Mets' pitching until the ninth inning.  Jose Quintana pitched seven shutout innings, allowing three hits and striking out four.  Brandon Marsh hit a three-run home run in the ninth following walks to Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.  Nola went 4 1/3 innings, allowing six runs on six hits, including two big home runs to Francisco Alvarez and Brandon Nimmo in the nightmare sixth inning.

Featured Card:  Former Mets and Phillies pitcher Nino Espinosa says, "Let's flush this one and look ahead to the next game."

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

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

Series Preview - Mets at Phillies: May 11th to May 13th

1978 Topps #197

1978 Topps #317

Friday and Saturday 7:05, Sunday 1:35
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

Mets 18-17, 4th place in the N.L. West, 3 1/2 games behind the Braves
Phillies 22-15, 2nd place in the N.L. East, 1/2 game behind the Braves

Mets Probables:  Steven Matz (1-3, 4.23), Noah Syndergaard (2-1, 3.09), Jacob deGrom (3-0, 1.87)
Phillies Probables:  Jake Arrieta (3-1, 3.15), Zach Eflin (1-0, 0.71), Aaron Nola (5-1, 2.05)

At the Ballpark:  On Saturday, all kids will receive the Phanatic's latest book which tells of the Phanatic's exploits at the All-Star Game.  For Mother's Day on Sunday, women 15 and over will receive a Phillies pullover.

Mets Leaders
Average:  Asdrubal Cabrera - .319
Runs:  Asdrubal Cabrera - 23
Home Runs:  Yoenis Cespedes - 7
RBIs:  Yoenis Cespedes - 27
Stolen Bases:  Yoenis Cespedes and Todd Frazier - 3

Wins:  Robert Gsellman - 4
ERA:  Jacob deGrom - 1.87
Strikeouts:  Jacbo deGrom and Noah Syndergaard - 54
Saves:  Jeurys Familia - 10

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Odubel Herrera - .353
Runs:  Cesar Hernandez - 27
Home Runs:  Maikel Franco - 7
RBIs:  Maikel Franco - 28
Stolen Bases:  Cesar Hernandez - 6

Wins:  Aaron Nola - 5
ERA:  Aaron Nola - 2.05
Strikeouts:  Vince Velasquez - 50
Saves:  Hector Neris - 8

Mets at Phillies: April 13th to April 15th

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
Friday 7:05, Saturday 4:05 and Sunday 1:35

Mets 4-2, 2nd Place in N.L. East, 1/2 game behind the Nationals
Phillies 3-3, 3rd Place in N.L. East, 1 1/2 games behind the Nationals

Mets Probables:  R.A. Dickey (1-0, 3.00), Jon Niese (1-0, 4.50), Mike Pelfrey (0-0, 4.76)
Phillies Probables:  Cliff Lee (0-0, 1.50), Vance Worley (0-0, 1.50), Cole Hamels (0-1, 5.06)

At the Ballpark:  Saturday is Kids Opening Day and all fans 14 and under will receive a Charlie Manuel Commemorative Baseball.  Sunday is the annual Jackie Robinson Day and all fans receive a schedule magnet.



Phillies Leaders

Average:  Hunter Pence - .391

Runs:  Shane Victorino - 5

Home Runs:  Four tied with - 1

RBIs:  Freddy Galvis and Hunter Pence - 4

Stolen Bases:  Shane Victorino - 4

Wins:  Roy Halladay - 2

ERA:  Roy Halladay - 0.60

Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 9

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 2

1979 Topps #566 and 1979 Burger King Phillies #11

1979 Topps Flashback:  As mentioned in the Pirates series preview post, pitcher Nino Espinosa was acquired from the Mets at the end of Spring Training 1979 for first baseman Richie Hebner.  Presented here are both of Espinosa's 1979 Topps cards from 1979 - the original version from the nationally available flagship set and the "updated" version from the regionally available Phillies Burger King set.

With the exception of one lone inning pitched with the Blue Jays in 1981, Espinosa spent his entire eight-year career with the Mets and Phillies.  1979 was probably his best season, as the righty went 14-12 with a 3.65 ERA in 33 games.  Injuries slowed him down in 1980 and 1981, as he pitched in just 26 games with the Phils during those seasons, and he was left off the team's 1980 Postseason roster.  After attempting to make a comeback with the Blue Jays in 1981 and the Pirates in 1983, Espinosa retired from baseball at the age of 29 and returned to the Dominican Republic.  Sadly, he passed away in 1987 at the age of 34 of a heart attack.

I have five Phillies baseball cards for Espinosa in my collection - his 1979 and 1980 Burger King Phillies cards, his 1980 and 1981 Topps cards, and his 1981 Fleer card.  He also appeared in the team's 1979 and 1980 postcards sets.

1981 Topps Phillies

1981 Topps #540 and #180, 1981 Topps Traded #800, 1981 Topps #470

I could be mistaken, but I think the 1981 Topps set represents the first set I ever hand-collated.  The cool thing about putting together this set back in the day is that I did it completely without the use of checklists.  I just knew which cards I needed.  I had studied and sorted and handled the cards so frequently that when a card came along that I didn't have (either in a pack, or in the form of a double in one of my friends' trade piles), I knew I needed it.  Looking back on this, I find it's amazing what the mind of a seven-year-old is able to retain.

1981 Topps #470 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  For the fourth and final year, Topps included 726 cards in its base set.  And for the first time since 1976, Topps issued a "Traded" series.  The Topps Traded set consisted of 132 cards and started with card number 727.  Since the Traded set is an extension of the regular set, I'm including all 858 cards when tallying up my Phillies totals below.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  I love this set.  When I first started reading baseball card blogs three or four years ago, I was shocked to discover there are actually collectors out there who don't care for this set at all.  In my mind, among cards released from 1970-on, this set is second only to the 1975 Topps set.

Notable competition:  Fleer made its return to baseball cards in 1981, and upstart Donruss joined the fun as well.  Our local Wawa didn't sell the Donruss cards, but I clearly remember boxes of 1981 Topps and 1981 Fleer packs sitting next to each other on the shelves in the candy aisle.  (Also included on the shelf were packs of Topps Stickers.)  I didn't realize Donruss was on the scene until later that summer when we found packs for sale at a store down at the Jersey shore.  The thought of three whole baseball card sets to collect was very exciting at the time, and just a little daunting.  It was a simpler time.

1981 Phillies

Record and finish:  The Phils compiled a record of 59-48 during the strike-shortened 1981 season.  The owners decided to use a split-season format, with a best-of-three play-off series to determine the division winners.  The Phillies, who had won the first half (pre-strike) faced off against the second half (post-strike) winners - the Montreal Expos.  The Expos ended up winning the series, three games to two.

Key players:  Mike Schmidt won his second consecutive MVP award, hitting .316 with 31 home runs and 91 RBIs in the shortened season.  Pete Rose also enjoyed another fine year at the plate, hitting .325.  The newly acquired Gary Matthews provided some punch for the offense as he hit .301 with 9 home runs.  On the mound, Steve Carlton turned in another stellar year, going 13-4 with a 2.42 ERA and 179 strikeouts in 190 innings pitched.

Key events:  Prior to the season, the Phillies sent promising prospect Bob Walk to the Braves for outfielder Matthews.  A few days later, long-time Phillie Greg Luzinski was sold to the Chicago White Sox.  Rose broke Stan Musial's National League record for hits with a single off the Cardinals' Mark Littell on August 10th.

1981 Topps #290, #120, #160 and #90

1981 Phillies in 1981 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  Including League Leader, Record Breaker and Postseason cards, there are a whopping 38 Phillies cards within the base Topps set.  There are another three Phillies cards within the Traded set, for a total of 41 Topps Phillies cards in 1981.  The running tally - 69 Topps Phillies cards from the '80s and 827 Topps Phillies cards overall.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards

#290 Bob Boone (c), #180 Pete Rose (1b), #470 Manny Trillo (2b), #120 Larry Bowa (ss), #540 Mike Schmidt (3b), #800 Gary Matthews (lf), #160 Garry Maddox (cf), #90 Bake McBride (rf)

Perhaps as a result of their recent World Championship, each of the Phillies regulars received a "hero" number in the set - a card ending in 0.

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 4 cards

#630 Steve Carlton, #691 Dick Ruthven, #346 Larry Christenson, #405 Nino Espinosa

1981 Topps #630, #691, #346 and #405

• Base cards of other players who played with the Phillies in 1981 - 13 cards

#40 Tug McGraw, #131 Keith Moreland, #317 Lonnie Smith, #376 Ron Reed, #406 Dickie Noles, #426 Warren Brusstar, #459 Greg Gross, #566 Del Unser, #598 George Vukovich, #644 Ramon Aviles, #719 Sparky Lyle, #753 Dick Davis, #815 Mike Proly

• Phillies appearing on multi-player "Future Stars" cards - 1 card

#526 Marty Bystrom, Jay Loviglio and Jim Wright

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1981 - 4 cards

#53 Kevin Saucier, #270 Greg Luzinski, #494 Bob Walk, #584 Randy Lerch

• Phillies appearing on 1980 Leaders cards - 4 cards

#2 Home Run Leaders - Mike Schmidt with Reggie Jackson (Yankees) and Ben Oglivie (Brewers), #3 RBI Leaders - Mike Schmidt with Cecil Cooper (Brewers), #5 Victory Leaders - Steve Carlton with Steve Stone (Orioles), #6 Strikeout Leaders - Steve Carlton with Len Barker (Indians)

• Phillies appearing on 1980 Record Breaker cards - 3 cards

#202 Steve Carlton, #205 Pete Rose, #206 Mike Schmidt

• Phillies appearing on 1980 Postseason cards - 3 cards

#402 N.L. Championships - Bob Boone, Greg Luzinski, Mike Schmidt and Larry Bowa, #403 World Series - Larry Bowa with Frank White (Royals), #404 World Series - Tug McGraw

• Team card with manager - 1 card, #682 with Dallas Green

1981 Topps #40, #376, #317 and #131

Who’s out:  Luis Aguayo appeared in 45 games as a reserve infielder with the Phils, but he's missing from the set.  Pitcher Mark Davis started nine games for the Phillies, but he'd have to wait until 1982 for his first Topps card.

Phillies on other teams:  The same players who appear as Phillies in the Traded set have cards in the base set - #83 Mike Proly (White Sox), #183 Dick Davis (Brewers) and #528 Gary Matthews (Braves)

1981 Topps #404

What’s he doing here:  Jim Wright makes his second appearance on a multi-player prospects card (the first appearance came in 1979), yet he would never play for the Phillies.  Jay Loviglio appears on the 1981 Future Stars card with Wright and Bystom.  He went 0 for 5 with the Phillies in 1980, although he scored seven runs as a pinch-runner.

Cards that never were candidates:  Aguayo and Davis should have cards, and Bystrom is deserving of a solo card.  I'd change up the Future Stars card to include Len Matuszek (made his debut on September 3rd, Bob Dernier and Ryne Sandberg (made his debut on September 2nd).

Favorite Phillies card:  No question - we all coveted and possessed multiple copies of the "Phillies Win First World Series" card, featuring a leaping McGraw.  Honorable mentions - Schmidt's card and the team card.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  I used the 1981 Topps design for my second Chachi set, "released" in 2006.  Topps included a reprint of Schmidt's card in 2001 as part of its Through the Years insert set.  Lonnie Smith appears on a 1981 Topps-style card in the 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites set.

Blogs/Websites:  About a year and a half ago, the Ultimate Baseball Card Set blog took a look at the composition of the "ultimate" 1981 Phillies baseball card set.

Did You Know?:  As the Ultimate Baseball Card Set blog points out, a collector would need to obtain only John Vukovich's 1981 Fleer card and Dallas Green's 1981 Donruss card to possess a set of one released Phillies card per player in 1981.

1979 Topps Phillies

1979 Burger King Phillies #13, 1979 Topps #610, #540 and #470

1979 was a watershed year for me as a baseball fan and as a baseball card collector.  My Dad took me to my first ever Phillies game in the summer of '79 and I added my first cards to my baseball card collection.  I was five years old at the time (going on six) and my life was pretty much dominated by Star Wars before I was introduced to baseball cards.

Occasionally on Friday nights, as a treat for the whole family, we'd pile into the station wagon and travel to nearby Vineland to dine at one of the finer dining establishments in our area - Burger King.  It was on one of those visits that I came away with my first baseball cards - treasures from the 23-card Burger King Phillies set, modelled after the mainstream 1979 Topps set. 

1979 Topps #540 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  Topps stuck with a 726-card set for the second year in a row.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  It's never been one of my favorite baseball card sets, but you never forget your first.  Maybe I'd give the set a little more respect if Topps had used blue or red for the team banner on the Phillies cards, instead of purple.  Strangely enough, my favorite card from the set isn't actually in the set.  It's the Burger King Pete Rose card, which I've written about before.

Notable competition:  I don't know if the Burger King set could be considered competition, as it was manufactured by Topps, but I know I would have gladly traded two regular Topps cards for one Burger King card.  There were also sets released by Kellogg's and Hostess.  The Kellogg's card for Rose features him in a Reds uniform, but it has a Phillies logo on the back.  So it's technically a Phillies card.  (At least by my rules.)

1979 Phillies

Record and finish:  The Phils slipped in 1979, finishing 84-78 and in fourth place in the division, 14 games behind the Pirates.

Key players:  Rose came as advertised, hitting .331 and helping the club set a franchise attendance record.  Mike Schmidt (.253, 45 home runs, 114 RBIs) and Greg Luzinski (.252, 18 home runs, 81 RBIs) provided the power in the middle of the line-up once again.  Steve Carlton (18-11, 3.62 ERA, 213 strikeouts) had another great year, but the rest of the pitching staff struggled.  Newcomer Nino Espinosa secured 14 wins and Ron Reed won 13 games out of the bullpen, despite owning a 4.15 ERA.  Tug McGraw led the club with 16 saves, but his 5.16 ERA was proof of a rough year for the lefty reliever.

Key events:  The Phillies signed free agent Rose on December 5, 1978, after the Phillies local televison affiliate, WPHL-TV, kicked in the necessary additional funds to land the future hit king.  In February, General Manager Paul Owens pulled off a blockbuster trade, sending Barry Foote, Jerry Martin, Ted Sizemore and two prospects to the Cubs for Manny Trillo, Greg Gross and Dave Rader.  The underachieving Phillies cost manager Danny Ozark his job in late August.  Former Phillies pitcher and the current Farm Director, Dallas Green, took over in an effort to right the ship.

1979 Topps #90, 1979 Burger King Phillies #14, 1979 Topps #210 and #630

1979 Phillies in 1979 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are just 25 cards needed to complete the Phillies team set.  The tally is now 290 total Topps Phillies cards from the 1970's, and 758 Topps Phillies cards overall.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 6 cards

#90 Bob Boone (c), #210 Larry Bowa (ss), #610 Mike Schmidt (3b), #540 Greg Luzinski (lf), #470 Garry Maddox (cf), #630 Bake McBride (rf)

The regular first baseman (Rose) and second baseman (Trillo) are in the set, but are featured with their former teams.

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 4 cards

#25 Steve Carlton, #52 Randy Lerch, #419 Dick Ruthven, #493 Larry Christenson

1979 Topps #25 and #52, 1979 Burger King Phillies #11, 1979 Topps #419

• Base cards of other players who played with the Phillies in 1979 - 9 cards

#118 Bud Harrelson, #136 Jim Kaat, #177 Ron Reed, #271 Rawley Eastwick, #317 Jose Cardenal, #345 Tug McGraw, #446 Jim Lonborg, #653 Warren Brusstar, #675 Tim McCarver

• Phillies appearing on multi-player "Prospects" cards - 1 card

#722 Jim Morrison, Lonnie Smith and Jim Wright

Only Smith actually played with the Phils in 1979.

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1979 - 4 cards

#161 Barry Foote, #297 Ted Sizemore, #382 Jerry Martin, #567 Rich Hebner

• Team card with manager - 1 card, #112 with Danny Ozark

1979 Burger King Phillies #22, 1979 Topps #675, #177 and #345

Who’s out:  Given how active Owens was in the offseason, there are a ton of players featured on other teams in the set (see below).  Also missing are utility infielders Rudy Meoli (30 games, .178 average) and Ramon Aviles (27 games, .279 average), starting pitcher Dickie Noles (3-4 in 14 starts) and reliever Kevin Saucier (29 games, 1 save).

Phillies on other teams:  There are a whopping eight Phillies featured on other teams in the set - #579 Greg Gross, #639 Manny Trillo and #693 Doug Rader (all with the Cubs), #102 Mike Anderson (Orioles), #566 Nino Espinosa (Mets), #628 Del Unser (Expos), #650 Pete Rose (Reds) and #664 Doug Bird (Royals)

What’s he doing here:  Current Rockies' bullpen coach Jim Wright appeared on multi-player rookie cards with the Phillies in both the 1979 and 1981 Topps sets, but he never played a game with the Phils.  The Royals selected him in the 1980 Rule 5 draft and he appeared in 24 games with Kansas City in 1981 and 1982.

Cards that never were candidates:  Burger King already took care of six players who should have had 1979 Topps Phillies cards, so I'll omit those from consideration here - Rose, Trillo, Gross, Espinosa, Bird and Pete Mackanin.  (Manager Ozark also has a solo card in the Burger King set.)  Unser and Anderson both saw significant time off the bench for the Phils, and they weren't in the Burger King set, so they'll need cards.  Same goes for third-string catcher Rader, who was the only one of the trio who came over in the Cubs trade who was left out of the Burger King set.  Noles and Saucier should also have cards, and how about an updated team card featuring an updated shot of the actual 1979 Phillies team along with new manager Green?

Favorite Phillies card:  Since the Rose card isn't actually in the set, I'll go with my second favorite.  I've always been a fan of the Bowa card - home uniforms, eye black and the All-Star banner make for a great combination.

1979 Topps #628

Other Stuff

Recycled:  There are just two recent Phillies cards (that I'm aware of) to recycle the 1979 Topps design - Lonborg's 2001 Topps Archives card, which is a reprint of the original, and a 2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites card for Maddox, which features a different photo than the original.

Blogs/Websites:  Check out The Vintage Sportscard Blog and let Chris know that the world needs a blog dedicated to the 1979 Topps set.  I hadn't realized this set is the first to feature a Topps logo on the front of the cards until I read his post.

Did You Know?:  Hurricane Irene delayed this post initially.  The actual Phillies Room (our basement) was a little soggy this morning, so we spent the bulk of the day vacuuming up water and arranging fans and dehumidifiers to dry the basement carpet.  Fortunately, one of the very last things I did before I went to bed last night was to pick up my binder holding the 1979 Topps set from the floor.  I frequently leave binders on the floor around my computer desk, but last night I had the foresight to pick up the '79 Topps binder and put it away.  If I hadn't picked it up, it would have been a watery mess this morning.  Hope everyone made it out of the storm safe and sound.