The Phillies Room: Hamner

Showing posts with label Hamner. Show all posts

Saturday, August 26, 2023

1956 Topps - 3rd Series Phillies Alumni

My 1956 Topps blog is still humming along, and it's close to crossing into the fourth and final series of the iconic set. I'll eventually publish a page looking back at the breakdown of cards to be found in the third series, which consisted of 80 cards between #181 and #260. Of those 80 cards, 14 were current, former or future Phillies players, managers or coaches, and a gallery of those 14 Phillies alumni cards is displayed below.

Monday, September 5, 2022

Game 134 - Deptford Mall Baseball Card Show Precedes Another Loss

Giants 5, Phillies 3
Game 134 - Sunday Afternoon, September 4th in San Francisco
Record - 73-61, 3rd Place, 11 1/2 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary: The Phillies couldn't complete the comeback against the Giants, as David Robertson allowed a two-run walk-off home run to Wilmer Flores in this latest loss.

What It Means: It's not going well, and I'll admit I'm starting to worry. The Phillies hold a 2 1/2 game lead over the Brewers for the National League's third Wild Card spot. They went 1-6 on a disastrous west coast trip against two teams with losing records. A six-game homestand begins on Tuesday night against the Marlins and Nationals.

What Happened: Ranger Suarez joined the ranks of Phillies starting pitchers who have been ineffective lately, pitching just four innings and allowing three runs. The Phillies dramatically tied up the game in the eighth inning when J.T. Realmuto connected for a three-run home run off Giants' reliever John Brebbia. Robertson couldn't preserve the tie however, allowing Flores' home run and ending the game.

Featured Card: Before this debacle began, Doug and I drove to the Deptford Mall for a mini baseball card show and Bobby Abreu signing. We were among the first in line to secure our Abreu signatures, and then we spent about a half hour browsing the six or so tables set up in the mall. I found one dealer with stacks of vintage commons for sale, adding cards to my not-yet-officially-collecting 1955 Bowman, 1959 Topps and 1969 Topps sets. It was a good afternoon, diminished a few hours later by the Phillies' loss.

Transaction: Nick Castellanos (of) was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain and Dalton Guthrie (of) had his contract selected from Lehigh Valley. To make room for Guthrie on the 40-man roster, Luis Garcia (inf) was designated for assignment.

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

Monday, August 19, 2019

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!

Monday, December 31, 2018

1953 Bowman Color Phillies

Having recently completed the 11-card 1953 Bowman Color Phillies team set, I wanted to show off these gorgeous cards here. If I were to ever win the lottery and decide to collect another set from the 1950s, it would come down to choosing between this set and the 1955 Bowman set.

#10 Richie Ashburn

#28 "Smoky" Burgess

#60 Granny Hamner

#64 Curt Simmons

#65 Robin Roberts

#67 Mel Clark

#103 Del Ennis

#113 Karl Drews

#131 Connie Ryan

#133 Willie Jones

#158 Howard Fox

Sunday, December 30, 2018

The Best Lists are Checked Lists - Crossing Off Vintage Phillies Cards (#SBWTMABCTJ)

1949 Bowman #161

1949 Bowman #177

1951 Berk Ross #4-8

This is a post I look forward to writing all year.

My Mom has taken it upon herself to single-handedly wipe out my Ten Most Wanted - Vintage list every year with a highly anticipated Christmas present. She made me work for it this year, hiding the box with the ten individually wrapped cards that I could only find using a series of clues she had hidden. With the help of two sons and two nieces, and following each clue, I was eventually able to locate the box in the back seat of my Mom's car. Before we dive into the summary, here's a look at what the list looked like before Christmas:

These cards are all off my want lists now due to the 2018 installment of Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim (#SBWTMABCTJ). Thank you Santa (aka Mom)!

1949 Bowman #161 Jocko Thompson
1949 Bowman #177 Stan Lopata
I'm getting closer to this tough Phillies team set with the addition of these two cards. I'm now down to needing the rather expensive Richie Ashburn and Robin Roberts rookie cards, and the high-numbered cards of Schoolboy Rowe and Jackie Mayo.

This is Lopata's rookie card, and he'd go on to play 13 years in the Majors, 11 of those years with the Phillies.

1951 Berk Ross #4-8 Robin Roberts
I'm now one card away to completing this 14-card Phillies team set, needing just the Curt Simmons card at this point. I had to break Roberts out of his PSA slab to let him breathe and take his place in the 1950s Phillies binder along with his counterparts.

1953 Bowman Black & White #14 Bill Nicholson
1953 Bowman Color #158 Howard Fox
Thanks to this Howard Fox card, I'm now the proud owner of a complete 1953 Bowman Color Phillies team set. I'm going to show off the entire team set in a separate gallery. Bill Nicholson's card got me a card closer to also finishing off the 1953 Bowman Black & White Phillies team set. Both of these cards are beautiful.

1953 Bowman Black & White #14

1956 Topps #220

1953 Bowman Color #158

1956 Topps #220 Del Ennis
Having already completed the entire 1956 Topps set*, I'm now trying to add a second Phillies team set to my 1950s Phillies binder. This Del Ennis card is actually nicer than the version of the card I have in my complete set.

*My 1956 Topps blog has been dormant since February 2017, which truly bothers me. I'd love to find some time in 2019 to dust this off and add a few more cards to this blog. I think I originally stalled out due to the daunting task of writing about card #30, Jackie Robinson, and I haven't been able to pick it back up . . . yet.

1957 Topps #265 Harvey Haddix
1957 Topps #335 Granny Hamner
A complete 1957 Topps Phillies team set is now within reach as I'm just a handful of cards short of wrapping this one up too.

1957 Topps #265

1957 Topps #335

1960 Topps #518

1961 Topps #530

1960 Topps #518 Tony Gonzalez
1961 Topps #530 Bobby Malkmus
The Tony Gonzalez card was the last card I needed to finish off my version of the 1960 Topps Phillies team set. Gonzalez was dealt to the Phillies from the Reds in June, playing the bulk of the 1960 season in Philadelphia. By my logic, his 1960 Topps card belongs with the rest of the 1960 Topps Phillies team set.

The addition of the 1961 Topps Bobby Malkmus card means I need just one more card for a complete 1961 Topps Phillies team set.

Finally, the print below is a new addition to the actual Phillies Room, courtesy (again) of my Mom. The print features the classic broadcast team of By Saam, Richie Ashburn and Bill Campbell, who worked in the booth together between 1963 and 1970.

2011 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim

Part 1 - Continuing a Tradition

Part 2 - 1971 Topps Set - 13 More Down

Part 3 - 1952 Topps Phillies

Part 4 - 1951 Bowman Phillies

Part 5 - Curt Simmons - Two New Bowman Cards

Part 6 - 1955 Bowman and Topps Phillies

2012 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Part 1 - 1941 Double Play Litwhiler & May
Part 2 - 1963 Topps John Herrnstein rookie card (featuring Willie Stargell)
Part 3 - 1940 Play Ball Phillies - Part 1
Part 4 - 1940 Play Ball Phillies - Part 2
Part 5 - 1950 Bowman Del Ennis

2013 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Part 1 - 1998 Upper Deck Scott Rolen
Part 2 - 1968 Topps Phillies Team Card
Part 3 - 1966 Topps Bob Uecker
Part 4 - 1955 Bowman Robin Roberts
Part 5 - 1965 Topps Johnny Callison
Part 6 - 1954 Bowman Richie Ashburn

2014 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Part 1 - 1952 Bowman and 1953 Bowman Color Richie Ashburn
Part 2 - 1950 Bowman Roberts, 1951 Topps Blue Backs Jones, 1955 Bowman Wyrostek
Part 3 - 1995 Collector's Choice Hayes and 1999 Fleer Mystique Burrell

2015 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Seven Phillies Cards from the 1950s Crossed Off the List

2016 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Part 1 - 10 vintage Phillies cards added to the collection
Part 2 - 2 modern oddball Phillies cards find a new home

2017 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
Vintage cards crossed off the list, 1959 Topps Phillies team set completed!

2018 Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim
8th annual haul completes 1953 Bowman Color Phillies team set

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Happy Birthday Mom!

1950 Bowman #204

1952 Bowman #148

I'm a few days late with this post, as I had to take a quick little work trip to Chicago. Sadly, I was unable to fit a baseball game into my visit and return trips to Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park (aka Guaranteed Rate Field) will have to wait until (hopefully) my next Chicago trip.

But I digress. Another tax day has come and gone and my Mom's birthday was on Monday. As has been the tradition in recent years, I'm compensated for preparing my Mom's tax returns in the form of vintage Phillies baseball cards. This is an amazing form of compensation and at the same time a horrible business model if I was actually in the business of preparing individual tax returns. I'm always extremely grateful for the time my Mom takes to review my want lists and then track down Phillies cards I need. She's very meticulous in her hunt, and the cards she provides are always in fantastic shape.

This year was no different than prior years. I added two more Bowman Phillies cards to my collection as I creep ever closer to having a full run of vintage Bowman Phillies team sets. The fantastic horizontal Granny Hamner card from the 1950 Bowman set means I'm just one card away (#177 Hank Borowy) from the complete team set. And the Ken Heintzelman card from the 1952 Bowman set means I'm three cards away from completing that team set.

1952 Topps #44

1958 Topps #134

Next up were a few vintage Topps cards. I've had a reprint of Con Dempsey's 1952 Topps card in my collection for over 30 years, and I now I've added the original. My Mom also tracked down a 1958 Topps Phillies team card, with a pristinely unmarked back.

Even though I'm extremely thankful for my Mom every day, I like to officially declare my gratitude every year on (or near) her birthday. Nothing I've accomplished so far would have been possible without the love, support, patience and baseball card purchasing of her and my Dad. Happy birthday Mom!

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Santa Crossed 7 Cards Off My Most Wanted List (#SBWTMABCTJ)

1952 Topps #223

1953 Bowman Color #65

1953 Topps #146

For the fifth year in a row, my Mom took it upon herself to personally demolish the majority of my "Ten Most Wanted - Vintage" list found on the sidebar. Here's what it looked like prior to Christmas, and as you can tell by the seven cards featured within this post, the list now needs seven new residents.

The Pre-SBWTMABCTJ List

I've always received baseball cards for Christmas, and I'm very lucky that my Mom has kept the tradition alive started by her and my Dad many years ago. In recent years, our family has gathered at my Mom's house the day after Christmas to spend time together and exchange gifts. This year, I was happy to unwrap the Star Wars book I asked for and I was also thrilled to receive the Beatles 1+ CD/Blu-Ray collection from my Mom. But there's just something about unwrapping small packages shaped like baseball cards in top loaders that brings me back to those special Christmases from the 1970s and 1980s.

(As an aside here, I think it's fitting that my Mom's main Christmas presents to me this year were once again related to the Beatles, Star Wars and baseball cards. This is pretty much what my typical Christmas gifts have consisted of for the past 35+ years.)

For past after-Christmas posts, I've spread out the haul from the annual Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim (#SBWTMABCTJ) over several posts. This year, I wanted to keep these seven cards together in one post in order to maximize their collective awesomeness.

1950 Bowman #30

1952 Bowman #4

1950 Bowman #30 Eddie Waitkus
This card brings me down to needing just six cards to complete the 19-card 1950 Bowman Phillies team set. The first line on the back of this card is still bizarre to read today: "Eddie had appeared in 54 games last season and was hitting at a .306 clip when he was shot and seriously wounded by a demented girl fan."

1952 Bowman #4 Robin Roberts
This is one of two vintage Roberts cards I received this year, both representing two of the most valuable remaining cards standing in the way of me having a complete run of Phillies Bowman cards from 1948 to 1955.

1952 Topps #223 Del Ennis
This card may be my favorite of the bunch. Featuring one of my Dad's favorite players, this is now the nicest 1952 Topps card in my collection. The card is well-centered with no front or back blemishes and it has three sharp corners with only a minor ding on the lower left corner. I still have a ways to go to complete the 1952 Topps Phillies team set, but this card gets me a little closer.

I need to mention again how pristine this card is. This is pretty much what I imagine the 1952 Topps cards looking like when they were pulled out of a nickel pack over sixty years ago.

1953 Bowman Color #65 Robin Roberts
This is the second Roberts card from this year's haul, and now the only vintage Bowman card of the Hall of Famer that I'm currently missing is his 1949 Bowman rookie card. This is one of those cards that I've seen for sale at card shows for years, but I've never owned. I'm thrilled to finally have this card as part of my collection.

1953 Topps #146 Granny Hamner
The card's front reads Granville, but the card's back points out three times that the player's nickname is actually "Granny." The 1953 Topps Phillies team set is now well within reach for me, as I need just four more cards.

1957 Topps #70

1959 Topps #317

1957 Topps #70 Richie Ashburn
This was one of two "modern" baseball cards I received from the SBWTMABCTJ and this is the final Ashburn Topps cards I needed to finish off my complete run of his Topps cards from 1951 to 1959. For good measure, my Mom also added in the next card.

1959 Topps #317 N.L. Hitting Kings - Willie Mays & Richie Ashburn
Like the 1953 Bowman Color Robin Roberts card, this is one of those cards I had admired for years at various baseball card shows. This card commemorates the 1958 N.L. batting title race, decided on the final day of the season when Ashburn went 3 for 4 to top Willie Mays' 2 for 5. Ashburn finished at .350 with Mays at his heels with a .347 average.

And there you have it. Thanks to my Mom's continuation of an annual tradition, I now have the pleasure of crossing seven more vintage Phillies cards off my want lists.