1988 Tastykake Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  39
Card Size:  4 7/8" x 6 1/4"
Description:  The Phillies broke the mold for their 1988 photo card set and went with a set of supersized cards.  The fronts of the cards feature full color action photos while the backs contain biographical information and complete minor and Major League statistics.  The nine photo cards found in the update set have blank backs.  I've always thought this was one of the more impressive team-issued sets released by the Phillies, but I guess the larger size may have indirectly led to less cards in the set.  This is seventh year in a row the set was sponsored by Tastykake.

How Distributed:  Saturday, April 9, 1988, the first Saturday night home game of the season, was Tastykake Photo Card day with all fans receiving the original 30-card set.  (The Phillies won the game, 9-3 over the Mets, behind a complete game effort from Don Carman and 5 RBIs from Lance Parrish.)  The set was comprised of the entire opening day roster, 1987 Cy Young Award winner Steve Bedrosian, who opened the season on the disabled list, manager Lee Elia and cards for the coaches, top prospects, a team photo and the Phillie Phanatic.

The nine-card update set was released later in the season, and I believe was sold at various vendor stands throughout Veterans Stadium.  The update set checklist would have been finalized in mid-July as Larry Bowa took over for the fired Dave Bristol on July 15th and Ricky Jordan was recalled on July 16th.

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the front of cards): 

1. Luis Aguayo (#16 - INF) 2. Bill Almon (#15 - INF) 3. Steve Bedrosian (#40 - P) 4. Phil Bradley (#29 - OF) 5. Jeff Calhoun (#31 - P) 6. Don Carman (#42 - P) 7. Darren Daulton (#10 - C) 8. Bob Dernier (#22 - OF) 9. Lee Elia (#4 - MG, Vertical)       10. Todd Frohwirth (#52 - P)

11. Greg Gross (#21 - OF-1B)       12. Kevin Gross (#46 - P) 13. Von Hayes (#9 - 1B) 14. Chris James (#18 - OF) 15. Steve Jeltz (#30 - SS) 16. Mike Maddux (#44 - P) 17. David Palmer (#45 - P) 18. Lance Parrish (#13 - C) 19. Shane Rawley (#28 - P) 20. Wally Ritchie (#38 - P)

21. Bruce Ruffin (#47 - P) 22. Juan Samuel (#8 - 2B) 23. Mike Schmidt (#20 - 3B) 24. Kent Tekulve (#27 - P) 25. Milt Thompson (#24 - CF) 26. Mike Young (#19 - OF) 27. Phillies Coaches 28. Phillies Prospects 29. Team Card 30. Phillie Phanatic

Complete Update Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the front of cards):

1. Larry Bowa (#16 - CO) 2. Lee Elia (#4 - MG, Horizontal)       3. Jackie Gutierrez (#15 - INF)

4. Greg Harris (#33 - P) 5. Ricky Jordan (#17 - 1B) 6. Keith Miller (#11 - INF-OF)

7. John Russell (#6 - C) 8. John Vukovich (#7 - CO) 9. Phillies Broadcasters

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (1):  Almon

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (7):  Bradley, Gutierrez, Harris, Jordan, Miller, Palmer, Young
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (22):  Aguayo, Bedrosian, Calhoun, Carman, Daulton, Dernier, Frohwirth, G. Gross, K. Gross, Hayes, James, Jeltz, Maddux, Parrish, Rawley, Ritchie, Ruffin, Russell, Samuel, Schmidt,  Tekulve, Thompson

Managers (2):  Elia (2)
Coaches (3):  The coaches card in the base set includes Dave Bristol, Claude Osteen, Mike Ryan, Tony Taylor, Del Unser and John Vukovich.  Bowa and Vukovich get solo cards in the update set.

Phillie Phanatic (1):  The Phanatic is once again pictured atop his ATV.

Broadcasters (1):  Features Richie Ashburn, Harry Kalas, Garry Maddox, Andy Musser and Chris Wheeler
Phillies Prospects (1):  Features eight prospects on one card - Tom Barrett, Brad Brink, Steve DeAngelis, Ron Jones, Keith Miller, Brad Moore, Howard Nichols and Shane Turner.  DeAngelis and Nichols never played for the Phillies.
Other Cards (1):  Team card

Surprises:  The original 30-card set doesn't have many surprises, although there are a few omissions - see below.  The update set surprises me somewhat as I'm not sure why the Phillies decided we needed a second card of manager Elia and a stand-alone card of coach John Vukovich.  For some background here, the Phillies fired third base coach Bristol and hitting coach Del Unser on July 15th.  Vukovich, who had been serving as Elia's bench coach, moved over to third for a few games before the Phillies hired old friend Bowa who had recently been let go as the Padres manager.  Vukovich would switch jobs again on September 23rd, taking over as interim manager when Elia was fired.  Bowa wore #16 in his first stint as a Phillies coach, before switching to #2 at the start of the 1989 season.

Vukovich and Elia aren't the only two to appear in the set twice.  Prospect Keith Miller is one of eight prospects on the multi-player Phillies Prospects card and then he received his own card in the update set.  Five of the eight players on the Prospects card appeared with the Phillies in 1988 - Tom Barrett, Ron Jones, Miller, Brad Moore and Shane Turner.

Omissions:  If we use July 16th as a cut-off date for the update set, there are a few more deserving candidates.  The oft-injured pitcher Bill Dawley was recalled from Maine on April 22nd but was on the disabled list between May 11th and August 18th.  Reliever Danny Clay was recalled on April 30th and had three different stints with the Phillies in between trips back to Maine.  The only other possibility is pitcher Bill Scherrer who joined the team on July 5th but was gone less than a month later on August 2nd.  Wild speculation on my part here, but maybe one or more of those three pitchers were slated to receive cards in the update set only to be replaced by second cards for Elia and Vukovich.

Variations/Rarities:  As fellow collector Rick e-mailed me, there's also a smaller-sized Mike Schmidt card available, featuring the same photo as his regular 1988 Tastykake photo card, but on a smaller scale.

Smaller Sized Variation 1. Mike Schmidt (#20 - 3B)

Also See:  1988 Topps Phillies - Missing Links

Resources:  Beckett.com; Phillies collector Rick G.

This set was originally featured in a post back in October 2014, and I'm going through these older team-issued set posts to update them with new information learned (if any) over the past six years.

1987 Tastykake Phillies Photo Cards / 1989 Tastykake Phillies Photo Cards

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

Series Preview - Nationals at Phillies: August 31st to September 3rd

1991 Topps #674

2020 Chachi 1991 Topps Missing Links #7

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 7:05, Thursday 4:05
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

At the Ballpark:  All's quiet, except for the piped-in crowd noise and the occasional air horn blast courtesy of the Phandemic Krew stationed outside the gate behind Ashburn Alley.

Nationals 12-19
5th Place in the N.L. East, 6 games behind the Braves

Nationals Probables
Erick Fedde (1-2, 3.57)
Patrick Corbin (2-2, 3.82)
Max Scherzer (3-1, 3.86)
Anibal Sanchez (1-4, 6.90)

Nationals Leaders
Average:  Juan Soto and Trea Turner - .360
Runs:  Trea Turner - 25
Home Runs:  Juan Soto - 9
RBIs:  Juan Soto - 21
Stolen Bases:  Trea Turner - 3

Wins:  Max Scherzer - 3
ERA:  Patrick Corbin - 3.82

Strikeouts:  Max Scherzer - 55
Saves:  Daniel Hudson - 6

Phillies 14-15
Tied for 2nd Place in the N.L. East, 3 games behind the Braves

Phillies Probables
Spencer Howard (0-1, 6.17)
Aaron Nola (3-2, 3.00)
Zack Wheeler (3-0, 2.58)
Zach Eflin (2-1, 4.10)

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Bryce Harper - .290
Runs:  Rhys Hoskins - 24
Home Runs:  J.T. Realmuto - 9
RBIs:  J.T. Realmuto - 25
Stolen Bases:  Roman Quinn - 6

Wins:  Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler - 3
ERA:  Zack Wheeler - 2.58

Strikeouts:  Aaron Nola - 48
Saves:  Brandon Workman - 3

1988 Tastykake Phillies

I updated this post here in November 2020 and this original post is now outdated.

 
Number of Cards:  39
Card Size:  4 7/8" x 6 1/4"
Description:  The Phillies broke the mold for their 1988 set and went with a set of supersized cards.  The fronts of the cards feature full color action photos while the backs contain biographical information and complete minor and Major League statistics.  The cards found in the update set have blank backs.  I've always thought this was one of the more impressive team issued sets released by the Phillies, but I guess the larger size may have indirectly led to less cards in the set.
How Distributed:  The 2001 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards states that these cards weren't available in set form, but I'm deferring to the Phillies SGA database which shows the set being given away on the April 9th home game at Veterans Stadium.  The set given away to fans included 30 cards and another nine cards were issued later in the season as an update set.

For what it's worth, and I believe it's wrong, the checklist for the set currently found at Beckett.com lists three different Elia cards.

Complete Standard Checklist (30):  The cards are unnumbered, but I've presented them below ordered by uniform number.

4 - Lee Elia MG (vertical) 8 - Juan Samuel 9 - Von Hayes 10 - Darren Daulton 13 - Lance Parrish 15 - Bill Almon 16 - Luis Aguayo 18 - Chris James 19 - Mike Young 20 - Mike Schmidt 21 - Greg Gross 22 - Bob Dernier 24 - Milt Thompson 27 - Kent Tekulve 28 - Shane Rawley

29 - Phil Bradley 30 - Steve Jeltz 31 - Jeff Calhoun 38 - Wally Ritchie 40 - Steve Bedrosian 42 - Don Carman 44 - Mike Maddux 45 - David Palmer 46 - Kevin Gross 47 - Bruce Ruffin 52 - Todd Frohwirth Phillies Coaches Phillies Prospects Team Card Phillie Phanatic

Complete Update Checklist (9):

4 - Lee Elia MG (horizontal) 6 - John Russell 7 - John Vukovich CO 11 - Keith Miller 15 - Jackie Gutierrez

16 - Larry Bowa CO 17 - Ricky Jordan 33 - Greg Harris Broadcasters

One and Done (1):  Almon
First Appearances (7):  Bradley, Gutierrez, Harris, Jordan, Miller, Palmer, Young
Returning Players (22):  Aguayo, Bedrosian, Calhoun, Carman, Daulton, Dernier, Frohwirth, G. Gross, K. Gross, Hayes, James, Jeltz, Maddux, Parrish, Rawley, Ritchie, Ruffin, Russell, Samuel, Schmidt,  Tekulve, Thompson

Veteran infielder Almon played his final 20 games with the Phillies before getting released in mid-June.  The card in this set is his sole Phillies card.  Miller appears on the eight-player prospect card in the base set and on a solo card in the update set.

The First Appearance designation is for players who have never before appeared within a Phillies team issued set.  These players may have already appeared on other Phillies baseball cards.

Manager (2):  Elia - both versions
Coaches (3):  The coaches card in the base set includes Dave Bristol, Claude Osteen, Mike Ryan, Tony Taylor, Del Unser and John Vukovich.  Bowa and Vukovich get solo cards in the update set.
Phillie Phanatic (1):  The Phanatic is once again pictured atop his ATV.
Broadcasters (1):  Features Richie Ashburn, Harry Kalas, Garry Maddox, Andy Musser and Chris Wheeler
Phillies Prospects (1):  Features eight prospects on one card - Tom Barrett, Brad Brink, Steve DeAngelis, Ron Jones, Keith Miller, Brad Moore, Howard Nichols and Shane Turner.  DeAngelis and Nichols never played for the Phillies.
Other Cards (1):  Team card

Variations/Rarities:  I'd personally consider the update set to be rare, as I've never come across a set for sale on eBay.  As collector Rick e-mailed me, there's also a regular-sized Schmidt card available, featuring the same photo as his regular 1988 Tastykake card, but on a smaller scale.

Also See:  1988 Topps Phillies - Missing Links
Trivia:  The Phillies fired third base coach Bristol and hitting coach Unser on July 15th.  Vukovich, who had been serving as Elia's bench coach, moved over to third for a few games before the Phillies hired old friend Bowa who had recently been let go as the Padres manager.  Vukovich would switch jobs again on September 23rd, taking over as interim manager when Elia was fired.  Bowa apparently wore #16 in his first stint as a Phillies coach, before assuming #2 at the start of the 1989 season.
Resources:  Phillies SGA 1988; Beckett.com; Philly.com - Bristol and Unser Are Fired

1989 Donruss #40 Ron Jones

White Sox 5, Phillies 4 (Game 1 - 11 Innings)
Game 94 - Saturday Afternoon, July 13th in Philadelphia
Record - 46-48

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies squandered several late inning scoring opportunities, eventually losing in ugly fashion in 11 innings to the White Sox, 5-4.

What It Means:  The Phils endured the heat, came from behind to tie the game, waited out a rain delay . . . and gift wrapped a win for the White Sox.  Hopefully they fare better in game two of the double header tonight.

What Went Wrong:  The Phillies had runners on second and third in the bottom of the ninth with nobody out, and couldn't score.  They had runners on first and third in the bottom of the tenth with one out, and they couldn't score.  Particularly painful to watch was pinch-hitter Laynce Nix's strike out in the ninth and Delmon Young's follow-up strike out in tenth.

2004 Topps Retired
Signature #76

The White Sox plated two in the 11th off J.C. Ramirez as a result of a triple from Alejandro De Aza, a double from Alexi Ramirez and a booted ground ball from Jimmy Rollins.  If not for the error from Rollins, the Phillies would have tied up the game in the bottom of the 11th on Humberto Quintero's pinch-hit RBI single.

Featured Cards:  I would have loved to have featured a card of whichever Phillie provided the walk-off hit, but it wasn't to be.  It was Darin Ruf's solo home run in the seventh that tied the game up at 3-3.  After his home run, CSN's Reuben Frank provided this fantastic fact:  "Darin Ruf is the first Phillie with 5 home runs in his first 20 career games since Ron Jones in 1988."  Frank went on to add that joining Ruf and Jones in that group are also Buzz Arlett (1931) and Dick Allen (1964).

Sadly, my current baseball card collection does not include any Buzz Arlett cards.

1988 Topps Phillies - Missing Links

Today's post features the first half of the massive 1988 Topps Missing Link set.  There were 20 players who suited up for the Phillies during the 1988 season who did not appear as Phillies in either the Topps regular or traded sets.  Some of the omissions were justified and deserved (Salome Barojas), while other omissions angered me at the time (Bob Dernier).

When reflecting back on the 1988 season, The Phillies Encyclopedia puts it best:

The club performed atrociously throughout, mixing one unethusiastic performance after another with injuries, season-long slumps, and a rash of player moves that did little else but give a lot of people a chance to tell their grandchildren that they once wore a big league uniform.

A few other notes:
- I almost didn't share the Barojas card here but I figured I was among friends so the snickering at my graphic design skills would be held to a minimum.  (The Al Pardo and Bill Scherrer cards, which will follow shortly, almost didn't get published either.)
- Most of the photos used are from the 1988 Phillies Yearbook or the 1989 Tastykake Phillies set.

PR1

PR2

PR3

PR4

PR5

PR6

PR7

PR8

PR9

PR10

Look for the 1989 Topps Phillies post in 2012! (Or at some point in 2011, time permitting.)