Showing posts with label Herr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Herr. Show all posts

Friday, May 31, 2024

Cardinals at Phillies - May 31st to June 2nd

1984 Topps #649
1984 Topps #17

Friday 6:40, Saturday 7:15, Sunday 7:10

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

At the Ballpark:  Tonight is the annual Irish Heritage Celebration and the Phillies will again wear their City Connect uniforms.  On Saturday, all kids will receive a Phillies London 2024 Double Decker Bus.  And Sunday is the annual Lou Gehrig Day and ALS Awareness Night.

St. Louis Cardinals 27-27
2nd Place in the N.L. Central, 5 games behind the Brewers

Cardinals Probables
Miles Mikolas (3-5, 5.64)
Sonny Gray (7-2, 2.60)
Lance Lynn (2-3, 3.45)

Cardinals Leaders
Average:  Masyn Winn - .308
Runs:  Paul Goldschmidt - 28
Home Runs:  Nolan Gorman - 10
RBIs:  Three tied with - 25
Stolen Bases:  Masyn Winn - 7

Wins:  Sonny Gray - 7
ERA:  Lance Lynn - 3.45
Strikeouts:  Sonny Gray - 67
Saves:  Ryan Helsley - 18
Philadelphia Phillies 39-18
1st Place in the N.L. East, 6 1/2 games ahead of the Braves

Phillies Probables
Aaron Nola (6-2, 3.04)
Ranger Suarez (9-1, 1.75)
Taijuan Walker (3-1, 5.51)

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Alec Bohm - .308
Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 43
Home Runs:  Bryce Harper - 13
RBIs:  Alec Bohm - 47
Stolen Bases:  Bryson Stott - 14

Wins:  Ranger Suarez - 9
ERA:  Ranger Suarez - 1.75
Strikeouts:  Zack Wheeler - 85
Saves:  Jose Alvarado - 9

Sunday, December 3, 2023

Baseball Card Show Reports - Washington Township & The Philly Show


I think I'm slowly coming out of the November slump caused by the Phillies' unceremonious and unexpected exit from the postseason in Game 7 of the NLCS.  As we get closer to Christmas, I find myself thinking less about the past and the what could have been, and thinking more about the future and what might be.  There's a mental health and wellness lesson in there somewhere, but instead of digging deeper into that topic, here's a look at recent happenings with the Phillies and the hard-working support staff at The Phillies Room.  We've attend two (!) baseball card shows within the past month.

Nola Re-Signs / Hoskins Likely Departs:  It's been a relatively quiet offseason so far for the Phillies, as there thankfully aren't a lot of holes to fill.  On November 19th, the Phillies locked up starting pitcher Aaron Nola, signing him to a seven-year, $172 million deal, that will have him wearing a Phillies uniform through at least the 2030 season.  Nola has the chance to put himself towards the top (or at the top) of several all-time Phillies pitching categories, and I'm happy he's coming back.

On the other hand, I'm sad to see that Rhys Hoskins' days with the Phillies are likely at an end.  Club President Dave Dombrowski recently confirmed that Bryce Harper will be the team's first baseman going forward, leaving no real spot for Hoskins.  Hoskins is a Phillies Room Favorite, and it's going to be tough seeing him in a different uniform.


Baseball Card Show Report #1 - Washington Township:  My wife Jenna found an announcement on Faceback for a baseball card show to be held at St. Charles Borromeo Hall in Sicklerville, New Jersey on November 18th.  I gathered my lists and we made the short drive to what the organizers called the "First Ever Sports Card Show" in Washington Township, which I find hard to believe given the number of baseball card stores in the area back in the 1980s and 1990s.  Potential mislabeling aside, it was a decent-sized show with mostly modern stuff and slabbed Pokemon cards.  I found the one dealer selling vintage cards, and cleaned him out of every 1969 Topps card I needed for our set, along with a few 1959 Topps cards for our next set build.  Credit to Jenna for finding the show, and if it happens again, I'll gladly make the 10 minute drive over there.


Baseball Card Show Report #2 - The Philly Show:  With our oldest son Doug sitting for the SATs (!) on Saturday morning, our only choice for attending the December Philly Show was Sunday.  Honestly, I'm fine with going on Sunday as it's much less crowded, and we were able to actually browse dealer tables.  I still only browsed half the hall, as my allotted budget was gone after seeing only a portion of the show.
  • eBay has taken over official sponsorship of the show, complete with a new logo and increased advertising.  The quaint, bubble-lettered logo that had been in place since the 1980s is gone and has been replaced by a more edgy, modern logo.  And so it goes.
  • I didn't mess around this time, and headed right for Uncle Dick's Cards, finding the second neon green binder of 1969 Topps cards, #301 to #664.  Within 45 minutes, I had accumulated another stack of commons, with some semi-stars, from #301 to #498 in the set.  There were three or four other oldish collectors sitting in a row with me, all going through our chosen binders and meticulously crossing off our checklists along the way.  Uncle Dick prices his cards reasonably, most of which were $1 before a final discount, and everything is extremely organized.  Definitely my kind of dealer, and it will be my first stop when we go back to the Philly Show in March.  I need to finish off the second 1969 Topps binder, going from card #500 through #664.  I added 145 new commons to our set, putting me a little under 2/3 of the way there.
  • Doug secured autographs for me from Tom Herr and Bobby Wine on Phillies Alumni photo cards.  Wine was great, taking his time to appreciate the photo of him in his younger days, and pointing to the bleachers behind him in the photo, telling Doug, "That's where [Dick] Allen used to hit 'em."
  • I found three reasonably priced and not too beat up Diamond Star cards for that set build.  I'm getting closer on that one, with mostly the uber-expensive and rare high numbers remaining.  Bill Hallahan has been harder to track down than I would have expected, but I found a nice version of his card from Clean Sweep Auctions.  Carl Hubbell and Ducky Medwick were surprise purchases, found, in all places, a bargain bin.  I had no intention of buying any more Diamond Stars cards at the show, but once I saw the prices for both, I couldn't resist.
  • William Shatner was there.  Not somebody I'd expect to see at a sports card and memorabilia show, but it was cool to see Captain Kirk up close and personal.
  • On the way out, I recognized Phillies great Art Mahaffey by the exit and I asked if he wouldn't mind posing for a picture with Doug.  He finished his hot dog first, and then graciously posed for us.

Monday, April 26, 2021

Series Preview - Phillies at Cardinals: April 26th to April 29th

1986 Topps #120
1986 Topps #550

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 7:45, Thursday 1:15

Busch Stadium - St. Louis, MO

At the Ballpark:  This looks like a cool giveaway.  On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the first 10,000 fans will receive a Jack Buck statute with a voice chip featuring one of Buck's famous calls.  And then on Thursday afternoon, the first 10,000 fans will receive a Lou Brock and Bob Gibson label pin set, featuring the #20 and #45 worn by the Hall of Famers.

Phillies 10-11
2nd Place in the N.L. East, 1 game behind the Mets

Phillies Probables
Zack Wheeler (1-2, 3.80)
Zach Eflin (1-0, 2.77)
Vince Velasquez (0-0, 6.75)
Aaron Nola (2-1, 2.84)

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Bryce Harper - .338
Runs:  Bryce Harper - 17
Home Runs:  Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins - 6
RBIs:  3 tied with - 12
Stolen Bases:  Roman Quinn - 3

Wins:  Connor Brogdon - 3
ERA:  Zach Eflin - 2.77
Strikeouts:  Aaron Nola - 32
Saves:  Hector Neris - 3
Cardinals 11-10
2nd Place in the N.L. Central, 2 games behind the Brewers

Cardinals Probables
Adam Wainwright (0-2, 5.03)
Carlos Martinez (0-4, 6.00)
Johan Oviedo (0-0, 0.00)
Kwang Hyun Kim (1-0, 4.15)

Cardinals Leaders
Average:  Yadier Molina - .339
Runs:  Dylan Carlson - 14
Home Runs:  Paul DeJong and Yadier Molina - 5
RBIs:  Yadier Molina - 14
Stolen Bases:  Tommy Edman - 4

Wins:  Jack Flaherty - 4
ERA:  Jack Flaherty - 3.18
Strikeouts:  Jack Flaherty - 27
Saves:  Alex Reyes - 5
2021 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2021 Season Summary Index 2021 Chachi Set Checklist

Saturday, June 20, 2020

1985 Game 63 - 1985 Donruss #425 Tom Herr

Cardinals 5Phillies 0
Game 63 - Thursday Night, June 20th in St. Louis
Record - 25-38, 5th Place, 11 1/2 games behind the Expos

One Sentence Summary:  Danny Cox pitched a complete game shutout and Kevin Gross lasted only three innings in this 5-0 loss in St. Louis.

What It Means:  After dropping two out of three to the surging Cardinals, the Phillies headed home to open a six-game homestand against the Pirates and these Cardinals again.

What Happened:  Future Phillie Cox improved his record to 9-2 with his nine-hit, seven strikeout performance.  The Phillies offense had a few chances to score, but went 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position.  Gross was pinch-hit for in the fourth inning by John Russell as the Phillies had runners at the corners with two outs.  Russell struck out to end the inning.

Featured Card:  This Cardinals line-up included four players who would one day suit up for the Phillies - Tom Herr at second, Andy Van Slyke in right field, Tom Nieto behind the plate and Cox pitching.  This was to be Herr's best season of his 13-year career as he'd make the All-Star game, and drive in a career high 110 runs.  He helped the Cardinals reach the World Series and finished fifth in the N.L. MVP voting.

Herr was the Phillies' regular second baseman in 1989 and 1990, appearing in 270 games and hitting .277 for the club.

1985 Virtual Phillies Wall / 1985 Season Summary Index

Sunday, December 31, 2017

1982 Topps - Phillies Cards

1982 Topps #720
1982 Topps Traded #69T
1982 Topps #438
1982 Topps Traded #52T
Each year I sincerely enjoy planning out my Chachi set of custom cards, and I have fun spending the entire year with the design and cards from a vintage Topps set.  I spent a lot of time with the 1982 Topps set and design in 2017, and get ready to see a whole bunch of 1978 Topps cards in 2018.  Before closing the book on the 1982 Topps set, I wanted to tally the number of Phillies and Phillies-related cards in the set, as I've done in prior years with other Topps sets - see below.

By my very unofficial count, there are a whopping 172 cards in the 1982 Topps and 1982 Topps Traded sets featuring players, coaches or managers who at one point suited up for the club.  I attribute the high count to the massive number of trades the Phillies pulled off in the late 1970s/early 1980s.  Here's the complete list and some cards that weren't previously featured this year in series preview or game summary posts.

National League East (63 - 17 without Phillies)
Atlanta Braves (6) - #32 Gene Garber, #296 Bob Walk, #502 Steve Bedrosian FS, #668 Dale Murphy, #733 Larry McWilliams, #4T Steve Bedrosian
Miami Marlins (0)
New York Mets (3) - #399 Pat Zachry, #743 John Stearns, #783 Greg Harris
Philadelphia Phillies (46)
Washington Nationals (Montreal Expos) (8) - #118 Terry Francona/Brad Mills FS, #131 Stan Bahnsen, #292 Dave Palmer, #779 Grant Jackson, #788 Woodie Fryman, #7T Tim Blackwell, #83T Al Oliver, #104T Dan Schatzeder

National League Central (34)
Chicago Cubs (14) - #23 Willie Hernandez, #89 Steve Henderson, #117 Rawley Eastwick, #215 Mike Krukow, #273 Doug Bird, #374 Tim Blackwell, #484 Ivan DeJesus, #10T Larry Bowa, #16T Bill Campbell, #49T Fergie Jenkins, #52T Jay Johnstone, #76T Keith Moreland, #82T Dickie Noles, #92T Mike Proly
Cincinnati Reds (3) - #763 Tom Hume, #41T Greg Harris, #56T Jim Kern
Milwaukee Brewers (4) - #93 Larry Hisle, #466 Randy Lerch, #487 Bob McClure, #709 Don Money
Pittsburgh Pirates (7) - #235 Mike Easler, #332 Don Robinson, #458 Willie Montanez, #485 Kent Tekulve, #543 Bill Robinson, #24T Dick Davis, #77T Jim Morrison
St. Louis Cardinals (6) - #27 Tom Herr, #86 Dane Iorg, #262 Doug Bair, #367 Jim Kaat, #727 Sixto Lezcano, #108T Lonnie Smith

1982 Topps #669
1982 Topps Traded #42T
1982 Topps #629
1982 Topps #27
National League West (19)
Arizona Diamondbacks (0)
Colorado Rockies (0)
Los Angeles Dodgers (11) - #6 Fernando Valenzuela LL, #166 Fernando Valenzuela LL, #213 Dave Stewart, #338 Dave Lopes AS, #345 Fernando Valenzuela AS, #348 Derrel Thomas, #510 Fernando Valenzuela, #681 Ron Roenicke, #740 Dave Lopes, #741 Dave Lopes IA, #774 Jay Johnstone
San Diego Padres (3) - #330 Rick Wise, #434 Joe Lefebvre, #63T Sixto Lezcano
San Francisco Giants (5) - #406 Al Holland, #722 Jerry Martin, #754 Joe Morgan, #755 Joe Morgan IA, #66T Renie Martin

American League East (8)
Baltimore Orioles (0)
Boston Red Sox (3) - #255 Tony Perez, #256 Tony Perez IA, #619 Bill Campbell
New York Yankees (5) - #472 Oscar Gamble, #669 Larry Milbourne, #694 Dave Wehrmeister, #706 Barry Foote, #95T Shane Rawley
Tampa Bay Rays (0)
Toronto Blue Jays (0)

American League Central (29)
Chicago White Sox (9) - #269 Jim Essian, #328 Ed Farmer, #363 Bob Molinaro, #521 Billy Almon, #599 Jay Loviglio FS, #654 Jim Morrison, #714 Jerry Koosman, #720 Greg Luzinski, #721 Greg Luzinski IA
Cleveland Indians (8) - #141 Von Hayes FS, #258 Bo Diaz, #287 Allan Bannister, #601 Sid Monge, #773 John Denny, #42T Von Hayes, #69T Bake McBride, #71T Larry Milbourne
Detroit Tigers (6) - #238 Kevin Saucier, #261 Dave Rucker FS, #535 Lance Parrish, #603 Rich Hebner, #629 Johnny Wockenfuss, #691 Dan Schatzeder
Kansas City Royals (5) - #397 Ken Brett, #594 Renie Martin, #625 Hal McRae, #46T Grant Jackson, #65T Jerry Martin
Minnesota Twins (1) - #438 Pete Mackanin

1982 Topps #706
1982 Topps #238
1982 Topps #603
1982 Topps #258
American League West (19)
Houston Astros (5) - #218 Dave Roberts, #377 Kiko Garcia, #404 Dickie Thon, #539 Vern Ruhle, #698 Tony Scott
Los Angeles Angels (California Angels) (1) - #9T Bob Boone
Oakland Athletics (4) - #29 Dwayne Murphy, #392 Rick Bosetti, #757 Tom Underwood, #64T Dave Lopes
Seattle Mariners (3) - #52 Larry Andersen, #197 Shane Rawley, #31T Jim Essian
Texas Rangers (6) - #16 Steve Comer, #36 Al Oliver TL, #463 Jim Kern, #590 Al Oliver, #591 Al Oliver IA, #624 Fergie Jenkins

Memory Lane
1970 Topps - 114 cards with Phillies connections
1973 Topps - 107 cards with Phillies connections
1979 Topps - 111 cards with Phillies connections, plus one more
1982 Topps - 172 cards with Phillies connections
1985 Topps - 153 cards with Phillies connections
1988 Topps - 154 cards with Phillies connections

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

1989 Fleer Update #U-107 Tommy Herr

Giants 7, Phillies 4
Game 99 - Monday Night, July 21st in Philadelphia
Record - 43-56

One Sentence Summary:  The home losses keep piling up as the Phillies dropped the series opener to the Giants, 7-4.

What It Means:  I'm actually looking forward to the trade deadline.  Something's got to give.

What Happened:  At least the Phillies offense tried to battle back into this game, but they just couldn't overcome the rough start from Cliff Lee.  Lee made his return from the disabled list and tied a career high with 12 hits allowed while surrendering six runs.

Featured Card:  The Phillies had 14 singles in the game, representing the first time they had 14 or more hits without an extra base hit in a game they lost since April 22, 1989.  (From Bob Vetrone Jr.'s Tweet.)  Tommy Herr led the way with three singles and Phillies Room favorite Bob Dernier added two singles as well.

This season is definitely taking on a 1989-ish type vibe.

Transactions:  In a flurry of roster moves before the game, Lee, Wil Nieves and Reid Brignac were all activated from the disabled list.  Koyie Hill and Cesar Hernandez were sent back to Lehigh Valley while Tony Gwynn, Jr. was designated for assignment.  By all accounts, Gwynn was a class act (like his father) and I hope he ends up on a winning team somewhere.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Phillies at Cardinals: June 19th to June 22nd

Thursday and Friday 8:15, Saturday 4:10, Sunday 2:15
Busch Stadium - St. Louis, MO

Phillies 32-38, 4th Place in the N.L. East, 5 games behind the Nationals
Cardinals 39-33, 2nd Place in the N.L. Central, 3 1/2 games behind the Brewers

Phillies Probables:  David Buchanan (2-3, 5.97), A.J. Burnett (4-6, 4.17), Cole Hamels (2-3, 2.78), Kyle Kendrick (3-6, 3.97)
Cardinals Probables:  Shelby Miller (7-5, 3.42), Jaime Garcia (3-0, 3.72), Adam Wainwright (9-3, 2.15), Michael Wacha (5-5, 2.79)

At the Ballpark:  The Cardinals are taking care of their fans this weekend.  Tonight, the first 25,000 fans will receive a 1964 Bob Gibson replica jersey.  On Saturday, the first 25,000 fans will receive a Cardinals tote bag and the give-away on Sunday is a batting practice cap with a 2013 N.L. Champions logo.  Not a bad haul!

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Chase Utley - .302
Runs:  Chase Utley - 38
Home Runs:  Ryan Howard - 13
RBIs:  Ryan Howard - 47
Stolen Bases:  Ben Revere - 20

Wins:  Antonio Bastardo, A.J. Burnett and Cliff Lee - 4
ERA:  Cole Hamels - 2.78
Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 76
Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 16

1988 Topps #509, #208, #612 and #310
1988 Topps Appreciation:  It's another hodge podge offering in this series preview post.  The Cardinals and Phillies face off in only two series this year, and each series preview post will feature four Cardinals cards from the 1988 Topps set with Phillies connections.

Bill Dawley is the only player featured here who actually suited up with the Phillies in 1988.  Dawley was already at the tail-end of his seven-year career when he came to the Phillies as a free agent in February 1988.  He had been released by the Cardinals following the 1987 season after appearing in 60 games and going 5-8 with a 4.47 ERA.  He fared poorly with the Phillies, lasting only eight games and allowing 13 runs in 8 2/3 innings pitched for a 13.50 ERA.

Steve Lake (1989-1992), Tommy Herr (1989-1990) and Curt Ford (1989-1990) were all teammates on Nick Leyva's 1989 and 1990 Phillies squads.  Lake and Ford were acquired together in a December 1988 deal that sent Milt Thompson to the Cardinals.  Herr had been traded to the Twins at the beginning of the 1988 season after nine strong seasons in St. Louis.  After a season in Minnesota, Herr came to the Phillies via free agency and hit .277 in two seasons as the club's regular second baseman.

He was traded to the Mets in August 1990 in order to make way for the up and coming Mickey Morandini.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

1990 Topps Phillies

1990 Topps #515, #710, #542 and #469
The early '90s were an awkward time for me.  I was an awkward teenager with awkward hair and awkward acne collecting awkward baseball cards.  Flipping through my binder of 1990 Phillies cards recently, there was one overriding theme - these cards did not age well.  Cards from the '50s and '60s are classics, cards from the '70s are cool and cards from the '80s remind me of a happy childhood.  Cards from the '90s are . . . awkward.

1990 Topps #542 (Back)
The Set
Number of cards in the set:  No surprises here.  There were 792 cards in the base set and another 132 cards added to the traded series for the ninth year in a row.  (There would be two more years with this configuration before Topps mixed it up in 1993.)
My very brief thoughts on the set:  It amazes me that the creative people at Topps actually gave the green light to this set.  There are too many posed shots and there are too many orange and purple and green Phillies cards.  It's not an attractive set and it may actually be my least favorite Topps flagship set of all time.  If anyone cares to defend this set and show me the error of my ways, please leave a comment.  (I just re-read those last few sentences.  I honestly don't mean to come off as angry about the 1990 Topps set.  I still managed to hand collate the set back in the day, so I wasn't completely disgusted by it.) 
Notable competition:  If I was forced to pick a favorite set from 1990, I'd have to go with Score's set.  Donruss did this, Fleer had a completely uninspiring design, and Upper Deck basically just copied their 1989 design but rotated the base line to the top of the card.  The Leaf set was cool, but they didn't sell packs of Leaf at my Wawa and even if they did, the packs would have been too expensive for me.

1990 Topps #216, #297, #269 and #577
1990 Phillies
Record and finish:  The Phillies actually showed some signs of life in 1990, going 77-85.  They finished in a fourth-place tie, 18 games behind the Pirates.
Key players:  Lenny Dykstra flirted with the National League batting title all season, finishing the year with a .325 average.  Von Hayes (.261, 17 home runs, 73 RBIs) and Darren Daulton (.268, 12 home runs, 57 RBIs) also enjoyed decent years.  John Kruk hit .291 in his first full season with the Phils.  Pat Combs (10-10, 4.07 ERA) and Terry Mulholland (9-10, 3.34 ERA) gave the team two reliable starting pitchers for the first time in a few years.  Roger McDowell (22 saves), Darrel Akerfelds (3.77 ERA in 71 games) and Joe Boever (2.15 ERA, 6 saves) anchored the bullpen.
Key events:  On August 3rd, in a trade that blew my mind at the time, the Phillies acquired Dale Murphy from the Braves (with Tommy Greene) for Jeff Parrett, Jim Vatcher and Victor Rosario.  I was thrilled when this move was made, as it seemed (at the time) that Murphy was the final piece the Phillies were seeking to put them over the top.  Mulholland pitched the first no-hitter by a Phillies pitcher at Veterans Stadium on August 15th.

1990 Phillies in 1990 Topps
Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 29 Phillies cards in the base set and another 3 Phillies cards in the traded set.
Who’s in:

  • Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards
#542 Darren Daulton (c), #216 Ricky Jordan (1b), #297 Tom Herr (2b), #269 Dickie Thon (ss), #577 Charlie Hayes (3b), #469 John Kruk (lf), #515 Lenny Dykstra (cf), #710 Von Hayes (rf)
  • Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 4 cards
#384 Pat Combs, #657 Terry Mulholland, #22 Bruce Ruffin, #756 Ken Howell

1990 Topps #384, #657, #22 and #756
  • Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1990 - 14 cards
#39 Curt Ford, #69 Todd Frohwirth, #103 Marvin Freeman, #129 Ron Jones, #183 Steve Lake, #356 Randy Ready, #439 Jeff Parrett, #493 Jason Grimsley, #625 Roger McDowell, #633 Dennis Cook, #731 Don Carman, #1T Darrel Akerfelds, #41T Dave Hollins, #68T Carmelo Martinez
  • Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1990 - 3 cards (with new teams listed)
#154 Mike Maddux (Dodgers), #204 Bob Dernier (Retired), #607 Steve Jeltz (Royals)
  • #1 Draft Pick card - 1 card, #74 Jeff Jackson
  • Manager card - 1 card, #489 Nick Leyva
  • Phillies appearing on Turn Back the Clock cards - 1 card, #662 Mike Schmidt
As much as I didn't care for the set, I was grateful that Topps gave us one last Schmidt card following the year he retired.  His 1980 Topps card is featured on the card looking back to ten years prior. 

1990 Topps #625, #633, 1990 Topps Traded #1T and 1990 Topps #750
Who’s out:  It would have been awesome if Murphy had been included in the traded set, but he was left out.  (Both Fleer and Score managed to work him into their update sets.)  Jose DeJesus, acquired in a March trade with the Royals, should have also made it into the traded set.  DeJesus went 7-8 in 22 starts for the Phils.  There are also quite a few bench guys, rookies and relievers deserving of cards, including Rod Booker (73 games), Sil Campusano (66 games), Mickey Morandini (made his debut in September), and Boever.
Phillies on other teams:  Martinez appears with the Pirates on card #686 and he made it into the traded series as a Phillie.  Four players only had cards with the former teams - #410 Joe Boever (Braves), #534 Louie Meadows (Astros), #595 Jose DeJesus (Royals), #750 Dale Murphy (Braves).
1990 Topps #662
What’s he doing here:  A few years back, the player's union came up with a bunch of baseball card related rules that prevented Topps (and Upper Deck at the time) from including players in "main" sets who were not on team's 40-man rosters.  It's a good rule.  I remember opening a pack of 1990 Topps cards and coming across the card of Phillies top draft pick Jeff Jackson and thinking "Why?"  I didn't want cards of draft picks.  I wanted cards of players whose names I was seeing in box scores - the utility guys, middle relievers and defensive replacements.  Jackson never made it to the majors as he kicked around the minors until hanging up his spikes in 1998.  I mean no disrespect to Jackson here, but I would have rather pulled a card of Chuck McElroy.  
Cards that never were candidates:  Murphy, Boever, DeJesus, Booker, Campusano and Morandini.  I'll also add Wes Chamberlain to the long list, as Chamberlain was acquired from the Pirates at the end of August and hit .283 in 18 games.
Favorite Phillies card:  I'll go with Kruk's card, by default.  Kruk is pictured with his pre-beard and mullet look.

Other Stuff
Recycled:  As far as I know, Topps hasn't gone back to this design for any Phillies cards.  And why would they?  I took a stab at creating a final tribute Schmidt card a few years ago.
Blogs/Websites:  I can't say I'm shocked there isn't a blog dedicated to this set.  However, I love that Shoebox Legends did a series of posts highlighting his favorite cards from his "guilty pleasure" set.  I'd also like to highly recommend The Greatest 21 Days, which is highlighting each and every card from the 1990 CMC minor league set.  
Did You Know?:  Other than a few oddball issues, Schmidt wouldn't be featured on another mainstream baseball card until 1994's Ted Williams set.  When these new Schmidt cards were released, it was big news for me at the time and I remember actively seeking out his cards from the main Ted Williams set and the special 9-card insert set which chronicled the slugger's career.  It seems strange now to go three to four years without a new baseball card of a Hall of Famer.  Over the past few years especially, it seems as if Schmidt is featured in just about every "legends" based insert set that Topps releases.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

1989 Topps Phillies

1989 Topps #385, #358, 1989 Topps Traded #49T and #63T
Happy new year!  Here's to a wonderful 2012 for you and your friends and family.

The 1989 season was a hot mess for the Phillies.  Mike Schmidt tearfully announced his retirement, fan favorites Chris James, Steve Bedrosian and Juan Samuel were all sent packing, and the team continued to underwhelm with another last place finish.  Here and now, with the 2012 Phillies about to begin their journey in about 45 days, I'm reminded again just how much distance there is between today's team and the team I somehow managed to root for some two decades ago.

1989 Topps #154 (Back)
The Set
Number of cards in the set:  For the eighth year in a row, Topps issued 792 cards in its base set and another 132 in its traded series.
My very brief thoughts on the set:  I never really cared for this set although I recently enjoyed flipping through the set with my son Doug.  For the record, and this is completely unofficial, there are three Doug's in the set - Dascenzo, Drabek and Jones.  We may have missed a few since we were too pre-occupied with the discovery that there are two guys named Candy in the set.  But I digress.

Was 1987 the last great Topps baseball card set (in my opinion, of course?)  When I look through the Topps base set cards from 1988 through 2011, there isn't one complete set that really stands out.  I like the 1993 set, but was it a great set?  I'm fine with chalking this observation up to the fact that the sets I like the most are sets I first encountered during my childhood.  But is there something more to it?  Has Topps produced a great, universally adored baseball card base set since 1987?  These are deep questions for a New Year's Day.
Notable competition:  Upper Deck entered the fold in 1989 with it's ground-breaking set, holograms on the back and all.  This next statement will make me sound crotchety, but baseball cards and baseball card collecting hasn't been the same since I opened that first foil-wrapped Upper Deck pack.  Fleer, Donruss and Score were all afterthoughts to me in 1989.  Topps resurrected the Bowman name in 1989 with an extra large, underwhelming set featuring the first Phillies cards of a lot of the players the team acquired prior to the start of the 1989 season.

1989 Topps #187, 1989 Topps Traded #119T, #27T and 1989 Topps #100
1989 Phillies
Record and finish:  Have I already mentioned that 1989 was a hot mess for the Phils?  The team started the year with what seemed like dozens of new faces and a bunch of more new faces would join the team before the season was over.  They managed to win two more games than in the prior year, going 67-95 on their way to a second straight last place finish.
Key players:  Von Hayes was the only consistent offensive threat in the line-up, putting up a respectable .259 average with 26 home runs and 78 RBIs.  When your next two offensive power houses are Ricky Jordan (.285, 12 home runs, 75 RBIs) and Dickie Thon (.271, 15 home runs, 60 RBIs), you know it's going to be a long year.  New second baseman Tommy Herr hit .287 and John Kruk hit .331 after being acquired from the Padres for James in June.  Ken Howell and Jeff Parrett led the pitching staff with 12 wins a piece and Roger McDowell saved 19 games for the Phils after they had shipped former closer Bedrosian to the Giants.  Rookie Pat Combs gave the team hope for the future when he won four games and pitched to a 2.09 ERA following his September call-up.
Key events:  In late May, future Hall of Famer Schmidt called a press conference in San Diego to announce his retirement.  Although he was hitting just .203 with 6 home runs at the time, his decision still came as a shock.  Steve Jeltz lost his starting shortstop job to Thon, but he did manage to hit two home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game, making him the first Phillie in history to do so.  As mentioned at the outset, GM Lee Thomas was extremely busy, trading away popular players and netting Kruk, Randy Ready, Lenny Dykstra, McDowell, Terry Mulholland, Dennis Cook and Charlie Hayes in three seperate trades.  And my hero, Bob Dernier, hit a thrilling, game-winning, inside-the-park home run against the Giants on May 15th.  The video is terrible, but it's hard not to get chills listening to the call from Harry Kalas:



1989 Phillies in 1989 Topps
Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 28 Phillies cards in the base set and Topps added another 11 Phillies cards to its traded set.  
Who’s in:
  • Cards of the eight starting position players - 7 cards
#187 Darren Daulton (c), #358 Ricky Jordan (1b), #49T Tom Herr (2b), #119T Dickie Thon (ss), #63T John Kruk (lf), #27T Lenny Dykstra (cf), #385 Von Hayes (rf)

All three players (Mulholland, Cook and new third baseman Charlie Hayes) acquired from the Giants for Bedrosian were omitted from the traded set.  However, the players acquired from the Mets for Samuel (Dykstra and McDowell) on the same day as the Bedrosian deal, made it into the traded set as Phillies.  This baffles me.  (For the record, all three appear in Fleer's update set.)
  • Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 3 cards
#54T Ken Howell, #518 Bruce Ruffin, #154 Don Carman

1989 Topps Traded #54T, 1989 Topps #518, #154 and 1989 Topps Traded #80T
  • Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1989 - 19 cards
#20 Steve Bedrosian, #39 Mike Maddux, #100 Mike Schmidt, #268 Keith Miller, #298 Chris James, #349 Ron Jones, #418 Bob Dernier, #542 Todd Frohwirth, #575 Juan Samuel, #627 Greg Harris, #634 Marvin Freeman, #653 Tom Barrett, #707 Steve Jeltz, #65T Steve Lake, #79T Roger McDowell, #80T Larry McWilliams, #90T Steve Ontiveros, #95T Jeff Parrett, #102T Randy Ready
  • Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1989 - 8 cards (with new teams listed)
#67 Dave Palmer (Tigers), #128 Milt Thompson (Cardinals), #202 Brad Moore (Phillies minors), #215 Kevin Gross (Expos), #438 Greg Gross (Astros), #470 Lance Parrish (Angels), #494 Shane Rawley (Twins), #608 Phil Bradley (Orioles)
  • Phillies Leaders card - 1 card, #489 with Mike Schmidt
  • Manager card  - 1 card, #74 Nick Leyva
1989 Topps Traded #79T, #95T, 1989 Topps #418 and #707
Who’s out:  As mentioned previously, Charlie Hayes, Mulholland and Cook were all left out, despite their prominent roles with the team, for better or worse, during the second half of the season.
Phillies on other teams:  Brace yourselves.  There are 16 players in the base set who played with the Phils in 1989 but appear on other teams.  First, here are the 11 who ended up as Phillies in the traded set - #93 Ken Howell (Dodgers), #176 Jeff Parrett (Expos), #235 John Kruk (Padres), #259 Larry McWilliams (Cardinals), #435 Lenny Dykstra (Mets), #463 Steve Lake (Cardinals), #551 Randy Ready (Padres), #692 Steve Ontiveros (Athletics), #709 Tom Herr (Twins), #726 Dickie Thon (Padres), #735 Roger McDowell (Mets).  And here are the 5 who didn't - #41 Terry Mulholland (Giants), #91 Floyd Youmans (Expos), #132 Curt Ford (Cardinals), #338 Jim Adduci (Brewers), #667 Dwayne Murphy (Tigers).
1989 Topps #74
What’s he doing here:  Parrish was traded to the Angels on October 3, 1988, the day after the 1988 season ended.  Of course, this was back in the day when the sets were coming out shortly after Thanksgiving, so it might have been too late to airbrush anyone even for a trade that early in the offseason.  But . . . the Phils hired new manager Leyva on October 3, 1988, and managed to airbrush him into a Phillies hat in time for his card to appear within the 1989 Topps set.
Cards that never were candidates:  There are a whopping 19 players who appeared with the Phillies during the 1989 season, but did not appear as Phillies in the 1989 Topps set.  I've narrowed the list down to seven players who should have had Phillies cards - Combs, Charlie Hayes, Mulholland, Cook, outfielder Dwayne Murphy (9 home runs in 98 games), outfielder Curt Ford (.218 average in 108 games) and reliever Randy O'Neal (appeared in 20 games with a 6.23 ERA).  On second thought, maybe O'Neal doesn't necessarily need a Phillies card.  Ford appears in the 1989 Bowman set as a Phillie.
Favorite Phillies card:  I have to go with Dernier's card.  It's his last major Topps baseball card and it's always been a favorite of mine.

Other Stuff
Recycled:  Schmidt's card is reprinted in the 2001 Topps Archives set.
Blogs/Websites:  For a very thorough overview of the 1989 Topps set, check out this post over at the Lifetime Topps Project.  
Did You Know?:  I was less than impressed the first time I ever saw an Upper Deck baseball card and my Dad ended up with a nasty bump on his head.