Phillies Missing Links of the 1980s - #18 Steve Stanicek

#33
Stephen Blair Stanicek
Pinch Hitter

The older brother of the Orioles' Pete Stanicek, Steve Stanicek accumulated nine pinch-hit appearances with the Phillies as a September call-up in 1989.  A first baseman with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, Stanicek never took the field while with the Phillies.  He had one hit in nine pinch-hit appearances, an RBI single off the Expos' Zane Smith.

In nine seasons in the minor leagues with the Giants, Brewers and Phillies organizations, Stanicek hit 108 home runs.  His best season by far was 1987, when he hit .352 with 25 home runs and 106 RBIs for the Triple-A Denver Zephyrs, earning him a promotion to the Brewers.  His brief appearances with the Brewers in 1987 and the Phillies in 1989 were to be his only Major League action.

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  190
Born:  June 19, 1961, Lake Forest, IL
Drafted:  Drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 1st round of the 1982 amateur draft, June 7, 1982
Major League Teams:  Milwaukee Brewers 1987; Phillies 1989
Professional Affiliations:  San Francisco Giants 1982-1985; Milwaukee Brewers 1986-1988; Phillies 1989-1990

Phillies Career
9 games, 1 for 9 (.111) with an RBI single and 3 strikeouts
Acquired:  Signed as a free agent formerly with the Milwaukee Brewers, January 11, 1989
Debut:  September 5, 1989 - Pinch-hit for Dwayne Murphy in the seventh inning and flied out to left
Final Game:  October 1, 1989
Departed:  Released by the Phillies, October 11, 1989, but came back to play the 1990 season in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

Just for the heck of it, here are the nine batters Stanicek pinch-hit for during his Phillies career: Dwayne Murphy, Todd Frohwirth, Lenny Dykstra, Ken Howell (x 2), Don Carman, Tom Barrett, Jason Grimsley and Pat Combs.

1988 Fleer #174

1989 CMC Scranton/Wilkes- Barre Red Barons #12

1990 CMC #242

1990 ProCards #608

3 Stanicek Baseball Card in My Collection
First Card:  1989 CMC Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons #12
Last Card:  1990 ProCards #608

Other Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1988 Fleer #174
First Topps Base Card:  N/A
Last Mainstream Card:  1988 Fleer #174
Other Notable Cards:  1984 First Base Shreveport Captains, 1988 Kenner Starting Line-Up Talking Baseball Orioles #16, 1989 ProCards #717, 1990 CMC Pre-Rookie #242

Sources:  Baseball Reference and The Trading Card Database

This is a continuing series looking at those players who spent time with the Phillies but possess no baseball card proof of their time in Philadelphia.  I will make my way through the decade of the 1980s first and then work my way forward.  In some cases, the First and Last Mainstream cards listed above have been subjectively chosen if multiple cards were released in that year.

1989 Phillies - The Missing Links

1987 Donruss #583, 1989 Topps #338, 1990 ProCards #608 and 1989 Fleer #106

When I started to put together this post, I wanted to start with a few sentences summarizing the 1989 Phillies season.  I stumbled around a little and then decided to just cut and paste what I had written about that team in my 1989 Topps Phillies post:

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.

Nick Leyva's squad fielded 48 different players during the long 1989 season, which at the time was one short of the all-time high 49 players used by the 1946 Phillies.  As you'll see below, four of those 48 players have never graced a Phillies baseball card.  If not for the 1989 Tastykake Phillies set, that number would have jumped to nine players.

3 Cards or More
38 Players

Outfielder Keith Miller just makes the 3 Cards or More list.  Miller had solo cards in the 1989 Topps set, as well as the 1989 Score Hottest 100 Rookies set.  He's also featured on the multi-prospest card within the 1988 Tastykake Phillies set and a solo card (which I don't have yet) within the 1988 Tastykake Phillies Update set.

1989 Topps #268, 1987 Topps #196, 1987 Donruss Opening Day #220 and 1990 Fleer #569

2 Cards
Dwayne Murphy (98 games in 1989) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies #6 and 1990 Fleer #569

Veteran Murphy wrapped up his 12-year career with 98 games for the Phillies in 1989.  He hit .218 with 9 home runs and 27 RBIs, and was released following the season.  Thankfully, Fleer saw fit to include a "final tribute" card to Murphy with its 1990 release.

1 Card
Mark Ryal (29 games in 1989) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies #31
Tom Nieto (11 games in 1989 and 17 games in 1990) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies #24

Randy O'Neal (20 games in 1989) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies #27

Jim Adduci (13 games in 1989) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies Update #37
Eric Bullock (6 games in 1989) - 1989 Tastykake Phillies Update #38

1989 Tastykake Phillies #31 and #27

If you can actually recall any of the five players above suiting up for the Phillies, I'll tip my cap to you.  For some odd reason, there was actually a period during the 1989 season when Ryal was my favorite Phillies player.  He was only with the team from opening day to mid-June, hitting .242 in his 29 games, but I seem to remember he had a few big late-inning hits.  Checking the official record, it appears as if my memory is shoddy.  Perhaps I just liked rooting for an underdog.

Nieto was the back-up to Steve Lake, who was the back-up to Darren Daulton.  He hit .160 in his 28 games with the Phillies.

O'Neal stuck around for 20 games, and he made an emergency start for the Phillies in mid-August.  He was released following the season after compiling a 6.23 ERA in 39 innings.  Prior to landing with the Phillies, O'Neal had been a semi-reliable reliever with the Tigers in the mid-'80s.

Adduci appeared in 13 July games for the Phillies when the newly acquired John Kruk landed on the disabled list.  Once Kruk was healthy, Adduci headed back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  He wrapped up his 11-year professional career in 1990 with another full season as a Red Baron.

In October 1988, the Phillies traded starting pitcher Shane Rawley to the Twins for starting second baseman Tommy Herr, back-up catcher Nieto and outfielder Bullock.  Bullock earned a very brief call-up by the Phillies in late June, going 0 for 4 in his six games as either a late inning outfield defensive replacement or as a pinch-hitter.  Bullock was one of the five lucky recipients of a 1989 Topps Card That Never Was that I posted two years ago.  To date, I haven't yet made the other 14 cards needed to complete this series.

1989 CMC Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons #12, #4, #7 and #21

0 Cards
Steve Stanicek (9 games in 1989)
Bob Sebra (3 games in 1988 and 6 games in 1989)

Gordon Dillard (5 games in 1989)

Al Pardo (2 games in 1988 and 1 game in 1989)

Stanicek was a first round draft pick by the Giants in 1982.  He earned a brief call-up with the Brewers in 1987 and the Phillies signed him as a minor league free agent prior to the 1989 season.  After spending the season with the Red Barons, Stanicek was a September call-up appearing solely as a pinch-hitter in nine games.  He went 1 for 9 during his brief stay and was released immediately following the season.

Dillard, a lefty, came over to the Phillies from the Orioles in the Phil Bradley deal in December 1988.  He had his contract purchased in May and appeared in a total of five games with the Phillies.  He finished up the season in Scranton and bounced to the Pirates organization following the season.  He pitched briefly for the independent Salinas Spurs in 1991 before calling it a career.

I wrote about Sebra's and Pardo's time with the Phillies in my 1988 Missing Links post.

Past Missing Link Posts

1980 Phillies - Orlando Isales and Don McCormack

1981 Phillies - Jerry Reed

1982 Phillies - Stan Bahnsen and Alejandro Sanchez

1983 Phillies - Steve Comer

1984 Phillies - Renie Martin, Jim Kern and Mike LaValliere

1985 Phillies - None

1986 Phillies - Tom Gorman and Jeff Bittiger

1987 Phillies - None

1988 Phillies - Salome Barojas, Bill Dawley, Al Pardo, Bill Scherrer and Bob Sebra

1990 Phillies - Louie Meadows

1991 Phillies - Dave LaPoint

1992 Phillies - Darrin Chapin and Mickey Weston

1993 Phillies - None

1994 Phillies - Tom Edens and Bob Wells

1995 Phillies - Jim Deshaies, Kevin Elster, Omar Olivares, Chuck Ricci and Dennis Springer

1996 Phillies - Glenn Dishman, Bronson Heflin, Manny Martinez and Rafael Quirico

1997 Phillies - Rob Butler and Mike Robertson

1998 Phillies - Robert Dodd and Matt Whiteside

1999 Phillies - Joel Bennett, Domingo Cedeno, Joe Grahe and Torey Lovullo

2000 Phillies - Clemente Alvarez, Kirk Bullinger, Mark Holzemer and Bryan Ward