Chicago Cubs at Philadelphia Phillies - Phils Limp Home

2005 Topps Retired Signature #25

2005 Topps #64

Monday, June 9th - 6:45
Tuesday, June 10th - 6:45
Wednesday, June 11th - 1:05

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
Tonight is ALS Awareness Night, recognizing patients, families and caregivers battling this disease.  Following Wednesday afternoon's game, fans 55 and over are invited onto the field to stroll the bases.

Chicago Cubs 40-25
1st Place in the N.L. Central, 4 games ahead of the Cardinals

Cubs Probables
Matthew Boyd (5-3, 3.01)
Colin Rea (4-2, 3.59)
Ben Brown (3-4, 5.37)

Cubs Leaders
Average:  Nico Hoerner - .286
Runs:  Pete Crow-Armstrong - 50
Home Runs:  Pete Crow-Armstrong - 17
RBIs:  Seiya Suzuki - 55
Stolen Bases:  Pete Crow-Armstrong - 21

Wins:  Jameson Taillon - 6
ERA:  Matthew Boyd - 3.01

Strikeouts:  Ben Brown - 78
Saves:  Daniel Palencia - 5

Philadelphia Phillies 37-28
2nd Place in the N.L. East, 4 1/2 games behind the Mets

Phillies Probables
Zack Wheeler (6-2, 2.96)
Mick Abel (1-0, 0.79)
Jesus Luzardo (5-2, 4.46)

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Trea Turner - .300
Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 45
Home Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 20
RBIs:  Kyle Schwarber - 46
Stolen Bases:  Trea Turner - 17

Wins:  Zack Wheeler - 6
ERA:  Zack Wheeler - 2.96
Strikeouts:  Zack Wheeler - 94
Saves:  Jordan Romano - 8

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

Cubs at Phillies: July 22nd to July 24th

2000 Topps #106

2000 Topps #327

Friday 7:05, Saturday 6:05, Sunday 12:05
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

At the Ballpark:  Tonight is the annual Italian Heritage Celebration at the ballpark, and tomorrow night there's a post-game concert featuring Jake Owen.  On Sunday, all kids will receive a Zack Wheeler replica Phillies jersey.

Cubs 35-57
4th Place in the N.L. Central, 14 1/2 games behind the Brewers

Cubs Probables
Justin Steele (3-6, 4.15)
Marcus Stroman (2-5, 4.69)
Drew Smyly (2-5, 4.22)

Marlins Leaders
Average:  Nico Hoerner - .307
Runs:  Willson Contreras and Patrick Wisdom - 48
Home Runs:  Patrick Wisdom - 17
RBIs:  Patrick Wisdom - 46
Stolen Bases:  Nico Hoerner - 9

Wins:  Keegan Thompson - 7
ERA:  N/A
Strikeouts:  Justin Steele - 79
Saves:  David Robertson - 13

Phillies 49-43
3rd Place in the N.L. East, 8 1/2 games behind the Mets

Phillies Probables
Kyle Gibson (5-3, 4.35)
Zack Wheeler (8-5, 2.89)
Aaron Nola (6-7, 3.13)

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Alec Bohm - .276
Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 62
Home Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 29
RBIs:  Kyle Schwarber - 58
Stolen Bases:  J.T. Realmuto - 12

Wins:  Zack Wheeler - 8
ERA:  Zack Wheeler - 2.89

Strikeouts:  Aaron Nola - 137
Saves:  Corey Knebel - 12

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

Revisiting the 2004 Phillies Photo Day - 15 Years Ago Today

The 2004 Phillies Photo Day crowd

The first Phillies Photo Day I attended was back in 1984, and I shared some pictures from that day in a post from five years ago.  My Dad was not a fan of crowds or events with any degree of chaos or disorganization, so naturally he hated Photo Day.  After making our way down to the field for the 1984 event, we never went back again.  It would be 20 years until I'd participate in the crowded and controlled chaos that is Photo Day.


Fast forward to May 29, 2004 when Jenna and I were dating and we were invited by my then employer to attend a Phillies game from the comfort of a suite at the newly opened Citizens Bank Park.  Unbeknownst to us, it was also the first Photo Day at the new ballpark and we decided to casually walk down to the field to take some pictures.  This was pre-kids, pre-Chachi sets and pre-The Phillies Room, so I had no real outlet to share any of these pictures back then.  The pictures I took pretty much sat forgotten until recently when I was looking through the thousands (!) of pictures I had taken over the years at Citizens Bank Park.


I thought the time was right to produce a limited edition insert set to mark the 15th anniversary of this first Photo Day at Citizens Bank Park, and the 16 cards presented here were the best of the bunch.  I had a few other pictures I deemed unusable, such as Chase Utley posing with an unknown female fan, Harry Kalas with his eyes fully closed and a picture featuring only half of Larry Andersen's head.

We hope to return this year to this annual event, even though it's slightly crowded and at times chaotic.


Memory Lane
1984 Photo Day - Hudson, Maddox and Lefebvre
2004 Photo Day - First at Citizens Bank Park
2006 Photo Day - with Rick White
2007 Photo Day - with Shane Victorino
2016 Photo Day - Parts One, Two and Three
2017 Photo Night - Parts One, Two and Three
2018 Photo Night - Cancelled due to rain

Phillies Double Dippers - 1973 to 2015

This particular post has been lingering in my draft post folder since way back when the Phillies signed Marlon Byrd in November 2013.  Since we're quickly approaching the two-year anniversary of my first drafting this post, I decided to add this season's double dipper and finally hit the orange Publish button.

Here's my original text from November 2013 . . .

There's been a lot written and said over the past week with regards to the recent Marlon Byrd signing. The majority of the local media and most Phillies fans tend to absolutely despise the deal, and those of us who are taking a wait and see approach are in the minority.  By nature, I'm an optimistic person so I have to believe that General Manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. and his staff of advisers has to have some clue as to what they're doing.  But this post isn't about Amaro and his questionable moves, and I'm not about to delve into the pros and cons of the recent Byrd signing.

What does interest me however, is the fact that Byrd is the latest in a long line of ex-Phillies who have made their way back into red pinstripes after a stint elsewhere.  In a comment to this post, Jim from Downingtown made the excellent suggestion that I dedicate a post to Phillies making multiple appearances with the franchise over the years.  I'm sure fans of most teams feel the same way, and this is a very regional way to view the world, but it seems to me as if the Phillies dip back into their alumni pool more than most teams.  Garvey Cey Russell Lopes has an excellent feature on his blog where he looks at Dodgers Double Dippers, and my initial thought upon reading through these series of posts was, "So the Phillies aren't the only team to do this over and over?"

Rather than run this out over a series of several posts, and sticking with my theme of looking back over the last 40 years, I decided to just capture in one place those players who have made multiple appearances with the Phillies since 1973.  It was interesting for me to realize that most of the Phillies two-timers came during the 1990s.  Some of these reunions went well, and some were just plain awful.  Only time will tell on which side Byrd's return will fall.

1976 Topps #624

1981 Donruss #153

1982 Fleer #261

1989 Topps Tiffany #418

Name First Dip, Double Dip
Tony Taylor 1960-1971, 1974-1976
Dick Allen 1963-1969, 1975-1976
Joe Hoerner 1970-1972, 1975
Tim McCarver 1970-1972, 1975-1980
John Vukovich 1970-1971, 1976-1977, 1979-1981
Dick Ruthven 1973-1975, 1978-1983
Mike Anderson 1971-1975, 1979
Del Unser 1973-1974, 1979-1982

Ed Farmer 1974, 1982-1983
Willie Montanez 1970-1975, 1982
Bill Robinson 1972-1974, 1982-1983
Randy Lerch 1975-1980, 1986
Bob Dernier 1980-1983, 1988-1989

1994 Stadium Club Phillies #223

2000 Stadium Club Chrome #97

2002 Nabisco Phillies #15

2004 McDonald's Phillies #22

Dickie Noles 1979-1981, 1990
Rick Schu 1984-1987, 1991
Jay Baller 1982, 1992
Larry Andersen 1983-1986, 1993-1994
Mark Davis 1980-1981, 1993
Milt Thompson 1986-1988, 1993-1994
Randy Ready 1989-1991, 1994-1995
Kyle Abbott 1992, 1995
Charlie Hayes 1989-1991, 1995
Ruben Amaro, Jr. 1992-1993, 1996-1998
Pete Incaviglia 1993-1994, 1996
Terry Mulholland 1989-1993, 1996
Jeff Parrett 1989-1990, 1996
Gary Bennett 1995-1996, 1998-2001
Toby Borland 1994-1996, 1998

Andy Ashby 1991-1992, 2000
Mickey Morandini 1990-1997, 2000
Ricky Bottalico 1994-1998, 2001-2002
Dennis Cook 1989-1990, 2001
Todd Pratt 1992-1994, 2001-2005
Dave Hollins 1990-1995, 2002
Mike Williams 1992-1996, 2003
Doug Glanville 1998-2002, 2004
Terry Adams 2002-2003, 2005
Jose Mesa 2001-2003, 2007
Tadahito Iguchi 2007, 2008

2011 Topps Target Throwback #89

2013 Topps Chasing History #CH-39

2014 Bowman Chrome #162

2015 Topps Opening Day Blue #190

Nelson Figueroa 2001, 2010
Placido Polanco 2002-2005, 2010-2012
Cliff Lee 2009, 2011-2014
Brian Sanches 2006, 2012
Jim Thome 2003-2005, 2012
Chad Durbin 2008-2010, 2013
Marlon Byrd 2002-2005, 2014
Erik Kratz 2011-2013, 2015

2002 Topps Phillies

2002 Topps #545, #13, #610 and #164

Two weeks in a row for a Topps Phillies post!  My motivation for getting through these difficult years is the knowledge that better years are coming up.

2002 Topps #221 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  There are 718 cards in the base set - 364 cards in series one and 354 in series 2.  Card #365 commemorates Barry Bonds' record breaking 73 home runs in 2001, with a different card for each home run.  There are 275 cards in the Traded & Rookies set.  The total tally of 993 cards falls a little short of the prior year's 1,055 cards.  The Traded & Rookies set is especially difficult to track down as Topps (perhaps mistakenly?) short-printed the 110 traded players and managers in the set.  I only recently added this team set to my collection after realizing I'd have to pay more than I was willing in order to cross it off my list.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  For the third time in five years, Topps went with a full gold border.  I don't mind this set, but before digging through my 2002 Topps cards for this post I would have been hard pressed to picture in my mind what the 2002 Topps base cards looked like.  (I can't picture the 2003 Topps cards in my head right now either.)  One of the things I noticed about these cards when scanning them in groups - the gold border on the cards isn't always an exact color match.  Weird.

Notable competition:  Collectors had a ton of different sets from which to choose from in 2002.  Pacific was gone, but Fleer, Playoff and Upper Deck put out dozens of sets.  Collectors had a few more years of this flooded landscape before only Topps remained as the sole baseball card manufacturer.  I definitely miss the other card companies, but I don't miss the hundreds of different sets that used to be released.

2002 Topps #367, #199, #269 and #577

2002 Phillies

Record and finish:  The Phillies took a step back in 2002, finishing a game under .500 (80-81) and in third place behind the Braves.  They never recovered from a poor April, in which they went 9-18.

Key players:  Pat Burrell had a terrific season, hitting .282 with 37 home runs and 116 RBIs.  Bobby Abreu (.308, 20 home runs, 85 RBIs) was solid again, as was Scott Rolen (.259, 17 home runs, 66 RBIs) before he demanded to be traded.  Jimmy Rollins joined Rolen as a starter in the All-Star Game and led the league with 10 triples.  Converted reliever Vicente Padilla led the pitching staff with 14 wins and Randy Wolf enjoyed another nice season, going 11-9 with a 3.20 ERA.  Jose Mesa set a franchise record with 45 saves, but most of us remember his painful 9 blown saves.

Key events:  The biggest event of the season was the ongoing Rolen saga.  After making it clear that he wanted out of Philadelphia, Rolen was traded to the Cardinals on July 29th for Placido Polanco, Mike Timlin and Bud Smith.  Jeremy Giambi joined the team in May and became the first Phillie in history to hit two home runs in his first two at-bats.  Robert Person had a disappointing season on the mound, but on June 2nd he hit two home runs (including a grand slam) while driving in 7.

2002 Phillies in 2002 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 24 Phillies cards in the base set and another 16 in the prospect-heavy Traded and Rookies set.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards

#367 Mike Lieberthal (c), #199 Travis Lee (1b), #269 Marlon Anderson (2b), #164 Jimmy Rollins (ss), #610 Scott Rolen (3b), #545 Pat Burrell (lf), #577 Doug Glanville (cf), #13 Bobby Abreu (rf)

For the first time since 1994, the entire starting line-up received Phillies cards within the base Topps set.

2002 Topps #221, 2002 Topps Traded #T83, 2002 Topps #578 and #394

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 5 cards

#221 Randy Wolf, #T83 Vicente Padilla, #578 Brandon Duckworth, #394 Robert Person, #524 Terry Adams

So not only do we have cards of the entire starting line-up, the top five starting pitchers also have cards.  This marks the first year since 1991 that Topps went 13 for 13 in this department.  Nice going, Topps.

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 2002 - 7 cards

#83 Ricky Bottalico, #184 Jose Mesa, #594 Ricky Ledee, #T16 Dan Plesac, #T31 Mike Timlin, #T62 Placido Polanco, #T77 Jeremy Giambi

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 2002 - 2 cards

#155 Omar Daal, #557 Turk Wendell

Daal was traded to the Dodgers in November 2001 and Wendell spent the entire 2002 season on the disabled list.

• Base cards of players appearing on Prospects cards - 13 cards

#311 Marlon Byrd, #675 Taylor Buchholz, #680 Nate Espy, #T122 Mark Outlaw, #T124 Michael Floyd, #T126 Pete Zamora, #T130 Gavin Floyd, #T136 Elio Serrano, #T166 Carlos Cabrera, #T189 Josh Cisneros, #T228 Ezequiel Astacio, #T235 Jorge Padilla, #T259 Travis Chapman

This is where I have a problem with the 2002 Topps Traded & Rookies set.  I mean no offense to any of these minor leaguers, but there was absolutely no reason for the majority of these players to have a Topps baseball card in 2002.  Byrd was the only "Prospect" to actually see time with the Phils in 2002.  Gavin Floyd and Chapman both eventually played briefly with the Phils.

• 2001 Gold Glove Award Winner card - 1 card, #709 Scott Rolen
• Phillies cards in Who Would Have Thought subset - 1 card, #T271 Curt Schilling

This subset was an insert with the 2001 traded series, but Topps decided to include it within the main set in 2002.

• America: United We Stand subset - 1 card, #359 Braves vs. Phillies
• Team card - 1 card, #662
• Manager card - 1 card, #294 Larry Bowa

2002 Topps #184, 2002 Topps Traded #T62 and #T77 and 2002 Topps #524

Who’s out:  The bench got largely ignored, with Tomas Perez (again), Todd Pratt and Jason Michaels deserving of cards.  Rookie Brett Myers (started 11 games) and Joe Roa (started 11 games) would have been good candidates for the traded series.  Pitchers Carlos Silva (68 games), Rheal Cormier (54 games), Jose Santiago (42 games) and David Coggin (38 games) all got ignored by Topps.

Phillies on other teams:  Giambi (#236 with the Athletics) and Polanco (#268 with the Cardinals) are in the first series with their former teams.

What’s he doing here:  Overall, Topps did a great job with player selection for the Phillies with this set.  Daal and Wendell weren't around in 2002, but it makes sense why they'd have Phillies cards.  I'll award this to the 10 minor leaguers appearing on Prospects cards who never actually played with the Phillies.

Cards that never were candidates:  I'm trying to cut down the number of candidates for this set, so I'll go with the six most deserving again - Perez, Pratt, Michaels, Myers, Silva and Cormier.

Favorite Phillies card:  By far the most meaningful Phillies card in the set is featured within the America: United We Stand subset.  I spotlighted the card in a post last week.

2002 Topps Traded #T166

Other Stuff

Recycled:  The 2002 Topps Chrome set used the same design, just with shiny silver borders and the 2002 Topps Opening Day set went with the same basic design, except with silver foil for the nameplates.

Blogs/Websites:  I'm fresh out of ideas here when it comes to the Topps sets from the 2000s.  Unless I'm missing something, there just isn't a good reason for a blog dedicated to the 2002 Topps set.

Did You Know?:  One of the Phillies minor leaguers included within the Prospects subset in the Traded & Rookies set was right-handed pitcher and 1999 free agent signee, Carlos Cabrera.  In June 2003, it was discovered that Cabrera had lied about his age (he was actually almost two years older) and his real name was Alfredo Simon.  The Phils sent him to the Giants in July 2004 as part of the Ricky Ledee/Felix Rodrgiuez deal and he played in the Giants and Orioles systems until making his big league debut with the O's in September 2008.  He's had an eventful past few years after he was arrested in the Dominican Republic as a suspect in a fatal shooting incident.  He was eventually cleared of all charges and bounced back in 2012 to have a great season with the Reds as a late/middle inning reliever.  So if you're trying to track down an Alfredo Simon rookie card - you'll need to start your search with the pitcher formerly known as Carlos Cabrera.

2001 Topps Phillies

2001 Topps #487, #478, 2001 Topps Traded #T66 and 2001 Topps #144

This post has been sitting in my draft folder for the better part of 9 months.  I started the Topps Phillies series of posts in January 2011 with a look at the 1951 Topps Red and Blue Backs sets.  The next 49 posts focusing on the Topps Phillies cards from 1952 to 2000 came together quickly and easily as it was genuinely fun and interesting for me to revisit those years in Phillies history.

And then I hit 2001.  And I fizzled out.

2001 is divided very clearly in my mind into two distinct parts - before 9/11 and after 9/11.  The entire year was fraught with turmoil for me personally, and it's not a year that I'm necessarily keen to revisit at this point.  But for the sake of the ongoing Topps Phillies project, I'll soldier on.

The Set

2001 Topps #487 (Back)

Number of cards in the set:  The set comes in at a whopping 790 cards - 405 from series one and 385 from series two.  There's another 265 cards available in the Traded set, meaning there are a total of 1,055 base cards available - by far the largest tally for a Topps flagship set to this point in time.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  The set uses an all-green border, which works surprisingly well.  There's a little too much foil for my taste, but I can say that for just about every Topps set released from 1995 through the present day.  Topps acknowledges its 50 years in the baseball card racket with a tasteful "Topps 50 Years" gold rectangle logo on the front of each card.  The backs of the cards are nicely done, carrying over the green theme to the back borders and using the front photo as a watermark behind the player's statistics.  Honest to goodness team cards return for the first time since 1981 and manager cards are present for the first time since 1993.

Notable competition:  The scientific term for the amount of baseball cards released in 2001 is crap-ton.  By my very unofficial count, the card manufacturers released 74 different sets as follows - Fleer (16), Pacific in its last year (2), Playoff (11), Topps (23) and Upper Deck (22).  Perhaps the biggest competitor to the Topps flagship set was the Topps Heritage set, which used the design of the classic 1952 Topps set.

2001 Topps #124, #523, #574 and #592

2001 Phillies

Record and finish:  Larry Bowa brought some excitement to the club in his first year as manager, and the Phillies put together a winning season (86-76) for the first time since 1993.  They entered the All-Star break in first place, but they ultimately finished just two games behind the Braves in the N.L. East.  Bowa was named the National League Manager of the Year for his efforts.

Key players:  Right fielder Bobby Abreu contributed his third straight stellar season, leading the club in home runs (31) and RBIs (110) while hitting .289.  He became the first player in club history to have 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season.  Shortstop Jimmy Rollins, playing in his first full season, made the All-Star team, led the league in triples with 12 and tied for the league lead with 46 stolen bases.  Third baseman Scott Rolen (.289, 25, 107), left fielder Pat Burrell (.258, 27, 89) and first baseman Travis Lee (.258, 20, 90) also enjoyed strong seasons at the plate.  Robert Person (15-7, 4.19) and Omar Daal (13-7, 4.46) led the pitching staff while new closer Jose Mesa notched 42 saves.

Key events:  All-Star catcher Mike Lieberthal missed most of the season after tearing up his right knee in May.  Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Phillies and Braves helped the nation try to return to a sense of normalcy with an emotional game on September 17th.  Topps would commemorate the game with a card within its 2002 set.

2001 Phillies in 2001 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 23 Phillies within series one and two, and another 8 Phillies base cards within the traded set.  The 31 total cards are the most since there were 39 cards in the 1995 Topps base and traded sets.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 7 cards

#124 Travis Lee (1b), #523 Marlon Anderson (2b), #T66 Jimmy Rollins (ss), #478 Scott Rolen (3b), #144 Pat Burrell (lf), #574 Doug Glanville (cf), #487 Bobby Abreu (rf)

Only starting catcher Johnny Estrada got left out.  Fleer, Playoff and Upper Deck all managed to include Estrada in a few late season releases, but Topps neglected to include the rookie in their Traded set or any other set.

2001 Topps #676, #236, #131 and 2001 Topps Traded #T24

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 3 cards

#676 Robert Person, #236 Omar Daal, #131 Randy Wolf

Dave Coggin (17 starts), Bruce Chen (16 starts) and Amaury Telemaco (14 starts) were left out by Topps.  Coggin and Chen were featured in the other manufactuer's sets.

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 2001 - 10 cards

#172 Kevin Jordan, #194 Rob Ducey, #563 Nelson Figueroa, #592 Mike Lieberthal, #639 Wayne Gomes, #656 Paul Byrd, #T12 Rheal Cormier, #T24 Jose Mesa, #T40 Ricky Bottalico, #T50 Brian L. Hunter

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 2001 - 6 cards

#13 Brian R. Hunter, #182 Mike Jackson, #274 Jeff Brantley, #539 Kevin Sefcik, #T159 Carlos Silva, #T229 Ryan Madson

Jackson, Brantley and Sefcik were with other organizations by the time this set was released.  It seems particularly odd that Sefcik received a card in series two since he signed with the Rockies in early January.  Hunter made it through Spring Training with the Phillies in 2001 before getting released.  Silva made his Phillies debut in 2002 and Madson followed with his debut in 2003.

• Phillies appearing on multi-player Prospects cards - 1 card, #733 Eric Valent
• Phillies appearing on multi-player Draft Picks cards - 1 card, #751 Keith Bucktrot

After what seemed like dozens of appearances on prospect and future stars cards, Valent finally made his debut with the Phils in June 2001.  He'd play in 29 games for the team in 2001 and 2002, hitting .118.  He eventually found some success with the Mets in 2004, hitting .267 in 130 games.  Bucktrot never made it to the Majors, but the player he shares this card with - Reds catching prospect Dane Sardinha - played in 18 games with the Phillies in 2010 and 2011.

• Manager cards - 2 cards, #347 Terry Francona and #T146 Larry Bowa
• Team card - 1 card, #773

2001 Topps Traded #T146, #T40, #T12 and 2001 Topps #199

Who’s out:  The biggest omission is the eventual starting catcher - Estrada.  He hit .228 in 89 games after taking over for the injured Lieberthal.  Tomas Perez was a valuable utility player, hitting .304 mostly as a pinch-hitter and late inning defensive replacement.  As mentioned above, three of the main starting pitchers were left out, as was reliever Jose Santiago, who appeared in 53 games.

Phillies on other teams:  There are quite a few here.  Brian L. Hunter (the actual one) appears with the Reds on card #199 while Ricky Bottalico appears with the Royals on card #283.  Both would have Phillies cards in the traded set.  Or would they?  (See the Did You Know? section below for an explanation.)  Other 2001 Phillies appearing on cards with their former teams are - #23 Todd Pratt (Mets), #156 Dennis Cook (Mets), #168 Turk Wendell (Mets), #309 Matt Walbeck (Angels), #589 Turner Ward (Diamondbacks) and #590 Felipe Crespo (Giants).

2001 Topps #773

What’s he doing here:  For the second year in a row, both Jackson and Bucktrot share the honors.  Jackson missed the entire 2000 season due to injury, was granted free agency immediately following the season, and signed with the Astros.

Cards that never were candidates:  I'll go with just six, although the number could easily reach a dozen - Estrada, Perez, Coggin, Chen, Telemaco and Santiago.

Favorite Phillies card:  The photography used for the cards continued to improve, but there really aren't any Phillies cards that stand out from the others.  I'll pick Rollins' card as my favorite as it was his first base Topps card.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  The Topps Opening Day set from 2001 uses the same design and photos, but with a navy blue border instead of green.  Maybe it's just because I'm used to the green borders by now, but the navy blue borders look odd.

Blogs/Websites:  Topps produced a novel insert set in 2001 called Through the Years, featuring reprints of key cards from its 50 year run.  It was a cool idea back then, but Topps has sort of run the idea into the ground with seemingly a new reprint set every year since then.  bdj610's Topps Baseball Card Blog ran a post several years ago featuring a gallery of the 50 cards included in the original Through the Years insert set.

Did You Know?:  Brian L. Hunter appears in the 2001 Topps Traded set as a Phillie in name only.  I wrote a couple of posts a few years ago explaining this conundrum and celebrating the fact that at least Brian L. Hunter received a team-issued Phillies card for his efforts.

2000 Topps Phillies

2000 Topps #328, #38, #10 and #327

As of this writing, I have just 13 more of these posts to go to cover the Phillies baseball cards featured in each of the Topps flagship baseball card sets since 1951.  I'm a little relieved to be leaving the '90s and heading into happier times for the Phillies (and me).  But before we get to those happier times, there's the little matter of the year 2000.

2000 Topps #327 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  There are 478 cards in the base set with no #7 in the set as Topps continued to honor Mickey Mantle.  If you count all the variations available for the Magic Moments subset, there are actually 520 cards in the set.  Topps released five different versions of each of the Magic Momemts cards featuring highlights from the careers of Mark McGwire, Hank Aaron, Cal Ripken, Jr., Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, Ken Griffey, Jr., Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.  Topps also released a Traded Set with 135 cards.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  Remember how weird it was to first write out the year "2000"?  The Topps design team must of have wanted to make sure we knew we were collecting futuristic cards since they added the little "TOPPS 2000" bit above the player's name on the base cards.  This was the first time Topps ever featured the year of the card within the design of its base cards, and it's also the first time the word "Topps" is redundantly featured twice on the fronts of its base cards.  Other than the difficult to read gold foil, I really liked these cards when they came out.  The cards have a clean design and the appearance of the team logo is a plus.  Topps brought back vertical backs for the first time since 1993.

Notable competition:  There were a ton of baseball cards released in 2000.  With some disposable income available and eBay just a dial-up on the modem away, I added as many Phillies cards as I could.  This was also the year I began to catalog my growing Phillies collection in Excel spreadsheets.  By my unofficial tally, the card manufacturers released a large number of different baseball card sets, as follows:  Fleer (15 sets), Pacific (13 sets), Topps (18 sets), Upper Deck (16 sets).  The days of conceivably being able to add just about every baseball card released in a given year (circa 1980 to 1986) were now long gone.

2000 Topps Traded #T104, 2000 Topps #258, #102 and 2000 Topps Traded #T105

2000 Phillies

Record and finish:  The Y2K Phillies were terrible.  Just awful.  They finished in last place with a record of 65-97, equalling their loss total from the dreadful 1972 season.  The horrible season cost manager Terry Francona and his coaching staff their jobs at the conclusion of the season.  It was the team's 13th losing season in a 14-year span, with the only bright spot being the surprising 1993 season.  Fortunately, the Phils were about to turn the corner in 2001.

Key players:  Scott Rolen was limited to 128 games due to injuries (sprained ankle, sprained wrist and back issues throughout the season), but he still hit .298 with 26 home runs and 89 RBIs.  Bobby Abreu had his second straight strong season, hitting .316 with 25 home runs and 79 RBIs.  Pat Burrell (.260, 18 home runs, 79 RBIs) took over regular first base duties while Mike Lieberthal (.278, 15 home runs, 71 RBIs) enjoyed another decent season despite only playing in 108 games.  Randy Wolf led the pitching staff with 11 wins, followed by Robert Person's 9.  Jeff Brantley was the team's top closer, saving 23 games.

Key events:  Disgruntled star Curt Schilling asked for a trade and General Manager Ed Wade delivered, shipping the pitcher to the Arizona Diamondbacks in July for four question marks - Pitchers Omar Daal, Vicente Padilla and Nelson Figueroa and first baseman Travis Lee.  Wade wheeled and dealed all season, with not much to show in return.  By the end of the season, five of the Phillies' Opening Day starters were with other teams - First baseman Rico Brogna (Red Sox), second baseman Mickey Morandini (Blue Jays), shortstop Desi Relaford (Padres), left fielder Ron Gant (Angels) and pitcher Andy Ashby (Braves).  Wearing #29, Jimmy Rollins made his Major League debut on September 17, 2000, starting at short and collecting his first hit (a triple) off Marlins' pitcher Chuck Smith.

2000 Phillies in 2000Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 14 Phillies cards in the regular set and another 7 Phillies cards in the traded series.  The total of 21 cards is a step up from the 16 Phillies cards available in 1999.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 7 cards

#10 Mike Lieberthal (c), #T104 Mickey Morandini (2b), #258 Desi Relaford (ss), #328 Scott Rolen (3b), #102 Ron Gant (lf), #327 Doug Glanville (cf), #38 Bobby Abreu (rf)

Now we're talking.  After years of having just a few starters receive cards, Topps redeemed itself with a nice player selection in its regular and traded sets.  First baseman Burrell is featured on a multi-player Prospects card.

2000 Topps #120, #393, 2000 Topps Traded #T134 and 2000 Topps #166

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 3 cards

#120 Curt Schilling, #393 Andy Ashby, #T134 Bruce Chen

Top starters Wolf and Person were completely shut out from the set for some reason.

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 2000 - 5 cards

#166 Paul Byrd, #273 Rico Brogna, #341 Marlon Anderson, #T105 Travis Lee. #T120 Omar Daal

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 2000 - 4 cards

#63 Chad Ogea (Indians), #T11 Russ Jacobson, #T25 Brett Myers, #T87 Keith Bucktrot

The traded series was heavy with prospects and suspects and we got two Phillies cards for a couple of players who never sniffed the Majors.  Jacobson bounced around the team's minor league system until 2004 and Bucktrot lasted until 2005.  Myers was fist called up by the Phillies in July 2002.

• Phillies appearing on multi-player Prospects cards - 1 card, #204 Pat Burrell
• Phillies appearing on multi-player Draft Picks cards - 1 card, #213 Brett Myers

2000 Topps #341, #273, #48 and 2000 Topps Traded #T120

Who’s out:  Wolf and Person, as previously mentioned, should have had cards.  The bullpen got completely shut out, with nary a reliever in the set.  If I had to pick three relievers deserving of cards, I'd go with Brantley (55 games, 23 saves), Chris Brock (63 games, 7-8 record) and Wayne Gomes (65 games, 7 saves).  Bench mainstays Kevin Jordan (109 games) and Rob Ducey (112 games) were also left out.

Phillies on other teams:  Daal (#32 with the Diamondbacks), Morandini (#106 with the Cubs) and Lee (#377 with the Diamondbacks) made it into the traded series as Phillies while Kent Bottenfield (#48 with the Cardinals) did not.  Also, reliever Michael Jackson (#194 with the Indians) is in the set.  Jackson returned to the Phillies as a free agent in December 1999, hurt himself warming up on Opening Day, and never pitched during the season.

2000 Topps #204

What’s he doing here:  Jacobson and Bucktrot share the honors.

Cards that never were candidates:  It was always strange to me that Myers received a stand-alone card in the traded series, but Burrell didn't.  Here's a list of ten players deserving of cards that never were:  Burrell, Wolf, Person, Brantley, Brock, Gomes, Jordan, Ducey, Padilla and Rollins.

Favorite Phillies card:  Nothing really jumps out at me.  By default, I'll pick Byrd's card over Morandini's return to Phillies cardboard.  Chalk it up to the high socks.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Topps re-used this design on a number of parallel sets in 2000 - Topps Chrome, Topps Limited Edition and Topps Opening Day.  I believe the Limited Edition cards were available only in factory set form, and they're supposed to somehow be glossier than the "regular" edition of Topps.  Opening Day featured silver foil in place of the gold foil found in the regular set.

Blogs/Websites:  I got nothing.  Maybe there's a kid somewhere out there who loves the 2000 Topps set and he or she is about to take the plunge and blog about this set.  Until then, here's a post I ran a few years ago pondering the decade of the '00s. 

Did You Know?:  Wade traded Rob Ducey to the Blue Jays and received . . . Rob Ducey in return?  And now you know.