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

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

1990 Phillies - No Missing Links (Sort Of)

1990 CMC #231, 1990 Fleer Update #U-45, 1991 Topps Debut #159 and 1991 Topps #603A

Due to the complete lack of Phillies news over the past several days, my inability to write anything further about the 2012 Topps set until I actually own more 2012 Topps Phillies cards, and the fact that researching Phillies baseball cards of fringe players from the early '90s is fun, I'm going to take a look at those Phillies who appeared on 2 or less baseball cards from the 1990 team.

And as a complete random aside, how is it that I've never added the 1990 Tastykake Phillies set to my collection?  If I ever get around to adding a "Most Wanted" section to my sidebar, the 1990 Tastykake Phillies set will top the list.

There were 43 players who appeared with the 1990 Phillies.  Here are the guys who appeared on the lowest number of baseball cards as Phils.

1989 Tastykake Phillies #19

3 Cards or More
39 Players

Dickie Noles makes the cut, but solely on his Phillies baseball card output from 1980 through 1982.  He appeared in 1 game with the 1990 Phillies, which turned out to be his last game in the Majors.  His only Phillies-related card from the '90s is his 1990 CMC card featuring him with the Triple-A Red Barons.

2 Cards

Brad Moore (5 games in 1988 and 3 games in 1990) - 1989 Topps #202 and 1990 Fleer Update #U-45

1 Card

Jim Vatcher (36 games in 1990) - 1991 Topps Debut #159**

Tom Nieto (11 games in 1989 and 17 games in 1990) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies #19

Louie Meadows (15 games in 1990) - 1991 Topps #603A

I'm surprised that Vatcher only appeared on one Phillies card, and it was well after he had left the organization in August 1990 as part of the Dale Murphy trade with the Braves.  And Nieto, the back-up catcher's back-up, gets absolutely no recognition from the baseball card manufacturers.

Including Meadows on this list is a stretch, since his sole card with the Phillies isn't his at all.  It's Wes Chamberlain's card, with Meadows' photo erroneously featured.  So if you want to get all technical about it:

0 Cards

Louie Meadows (15 games in 1990)

Barring any major Phillies news or pitchers and catchers deciding to report a week early, look for the 1991 installment of this series soon.

**UPDATE (October 4, 2014) - Please see this post which covers the 1990 Phillies Team Issue Vatcher card.

1988 Topps Phillies - Missing Links (Part 2)

While we await the official announcement of Jimmy Rollins' return . . . presenting Part 2 of the 1988 Topps Missing Links set.

PR11

PR12

PR13

PR14

PR15

PR16

PR17

PR18

PR19

PR20