1939 Play Ball - Phillies Team Set

I recently put the finishing touches on a complete 1939 Play Ball Phillies team set, adding the card of Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy to my collection.  I thought it would be cool to present the entire 10-card team set here with a brief blurb on each player's Phillies career.

The 1939 Phillies have the distinction of being one of the worst teams in franchise history, finishing with a .298 (45-106) won/loss percentage and eclipsing the 105 losses suffered by the 1938 Phillies team.

#12 Hershel Martin

#28 Sylvester Johnson

#33 Del Young

#37 Virgil Davis

#45 Merrill May

#46 Morris Arnovich

#63 Emmett Mueller

#98 Pinky Whitney

#127 Gil Brack

#145 Hugh Mulcahy

#12 Hershel Martin - One of the regular outfielders for the 1939 Phillies, Martin hit .282 in 111 games for the club that season.  I wrote about Martin in this post, and I also featured a color picture of the 1938 club's blue and yellow uniforms.  I also have Martin's 1940 Play Ball card in my collection and I featured it in a post along with the next two players listed below.

#28 Sylvester Johnson - Johnson was at the end of his 19-year career in 1939, and he served as the team's pitching coach that season as well as appearing in 22 games.  Johnson pitched in three World Series games for the 1931 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals.

#33 Del Young - Infielder Young appeared in 309 games with the Phillies between 1937 and 1940, hitting .224.

#37 Virgil Davis - "Spud" Davis was the Phillies regular catcher from 1930 to 1933 before escaping to the Cardinals and Reds for 4 1/2 seasons.  He'd come back to the Phils in 1938 and in 1939 he'd hit .307 in 87 games.  I published a more detailed post on Davis' career six years ago when I originally picked up his 1939 Play Ball card.

#45 Merrill May - 1939 was third baseman "Pinky" May's rookie season in the Majors.  I published a detailed look at May's career in this post from August 2009.  I also have cards of his in my collection from the 1940 Play Ball and 1941 Double Play sets.

#46 Morris Arnovich - Outfielder Arnovich was the club's leading hitter in 1939 with a .324 batting average and he was also the lone Phillies representative at the 1939 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.  I previously featured Arnovich's 1940 Play Ball card in this post.

#63 Emmett Mueller - "Heinie" Mueller played his entire four-year career with the Phillies between 1938 and 1941 before serving in World War II.  He hit a home run in his first big league at-bat off the Brooklyn Dodgers' Van Lingle Mungo.

#98 Pinky Whitney - One of the greatest third basemen in franchise history, 1939 was the 12th and final year of Whitney's big-league career.  I wrote about Whitney in this post, and his daughter (or relative) left a comment about Whitney being a wonderful father.

#127 Gil Brack - Baseball Reference lists Brack as "Gibby" Brack, and the outfielder spent two seasons with the Phillies in 1938 and 1939.  In 163 games with the Phils, Brack hit .288 with 10 home runs and 69 RBIs.  After his playing days were over, Brack was employed as a steel worker and unfortunately he met a tragic end.

#145 Hugh Mulcahy - Mulcahy started more games (32) than any other pitcher for the 1939 Phillies, going 9-16 with a 4.99 ERA.  As I wrote when I posted his 1940 Play Ball card, Mulcahy earned the "Losing Pitcher" nickname by going 42-82 with the Phillies over the first six years of his career.  He was the first Major Leaguer to be drafted to serve during World War II, and he'd miss four seasons (1941-1944) serving his country.

1940 Play Ball Phillies - Part 2

1940 Play Ball #99, #100 and #101

Presented here are the next three 1940 Play Ball Phillies cards that entered my collection recently via the "Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim" Christmas tradition, courtesy of my Mom.

Sylvester Johnson enjoyed a 19-year big league career between 1922 and 1940, playing his final 7 seasons with the Phillies.  The back of his Play Ball card lists his position as "pitcher-coach," as Johnson was mainly a pitching coach with the Phils from 1939 to 1941.  The righty went 36-51 over 211 games with the Phillies.

I did a write-up on Hershel Martin a few years ago when I obtained his 1939 Play Ball card.

Infielder Del Young appeared in 309 games with the Phillies between 1937 and 1940, hitting .224.  I also have Young's 1939 Play Ball card in my collection.

1939 Play Ball #12 Hershel Ray Martin

Hershel Ray Martin was not a Pinky or a Dutch or a Spud – he was just a Hersh.

Hersh played six seasons in the Majors – four with the Phillies (1937-1940) and two with the Yankees (1944-1945). Hersh was the Phils’ starting center fielder in 1937 and 1938, joining the NL All-Star team in 1938. During his time with the Phillies, he hit .286 with 12 home runs, 115 RBI and a .354 OBP. Hersh spent significant time in the minor leagues, accumulating 2,298 minor league hits between 1932 and 1957. His final minor league at-bat came as a member of the 1957 Des Moines Bruins, the Chicago Cubs’ Class A team for which he was managing at the time. (He was 47.) Hersh was a scout for the New York Mets from 1961 to 1979. He passed away in 1980 at the age of 71.

The Uniforms: It's hard to see the full Phillies uniforms on these Play Ball cards, as the standard pose seems to be along the lines of "pensive swing while looking earnest." The players' posed swing completely obscures the Phillies wordmark on the front of the jerseys. Given the patch on Hersh's left shoulder on his Play Ball card, it appears as if he's wearing a 1938 Phillies uniform which was - believe it or not - blue and gold. (Image from the Baseball Hall of Fame Uniform Database.)