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Card Size: 4" x 6"
Description: The fronts feature full color photos with the player's, coach's or manager's name in large capital letters framing one of the corners of the card. Scott Rolen's card features a badge on the front celebrating his 1997 National League Rookie of the Year win, while Curt Schilling's card celebrates his league leading 319 strikeouts in 1997. The card backs feature biographical information with the Phillies wordmark logo in the background. There are some strangely cropped photos in the set - see the cards for Billy Brewer and Bobby Abreu as examples.
How Distributed: The 36-card set was available for sale at Veterans Stadium throughout the season. For the fourth year in a row, there was no update set issued.
Manager (1): Francona
Coaches (6): Cisco, Cottier, Henderson, McRae, Mills, Vukovich
Set Composition: The entire 25-man opening day roster is represented in the set with the exception of reliever Matt Whiteside, who signed with the Phillies on March 27th, a few days prior to opening day. Wayne Gomes, Matt Beech and Bobby Estalella would start the season in the minors, but they're in the set too. Billy McMillon, who spent the entire 1998 season in Triple-A was the only miss for the Phillies on the checklist and the only player in the set not to suit up at some point during the 1998 season for them.
Omissions: A card for Whiteside would have been nice, as he would never appear with the Phillies on a baseball card. (His Chachi Missing Links card will have to suffice.) Other players who spent significant time with the team that could have found their way into an update set include pitchers Yorkis Perez, Carlton Loewer, Ken Ryan and Mike Welch along with Paul Byrd, who joined the Phillies on August 14th. Cards for rookies Jon Zuber, Gary Bennett and Marlon Anderson would have welcome additions to an update set too.
Variations/Rarities: This is the set that first tipped me off that variations and rarities existed for these team-issued photo card sets. For years, I was comfortable in the knowledge that once I purchased the complete set from the Vet, I was done for the year. As Steve F. pointed out back in the 1998 Phillies - The Missing Links post in March 2012, Zuber had a card produced in the same style as the rest of the 1998 team issued set, most likely to allow him to respond to autograph requests and making it his sole Phillies baseball card. Fellow collector Rick noted in a comment to the original post for this set that cards were issued for Perez and Welch to sign at the annual ALS Autograph and Auction Party, held on June 29th.
How Distributed: The 36-card set was available for sale at Veterans Stadium throughout the season. For the fourth year in a row, there was no update set issued.
Complete Set Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the back of cards):
1. Bobby Abreu (#53 - OF) 2. Ruben Amaro (#33 - OF) 3. Alex Arias (#26 - INF) 4. Matt Beech (#55 - LHP) 5. Ricky Bottalico (#52 - RHP) 6. Billy Brewer (#49 - LHP) 7. Rico Brogna (#2 - 1B) 8. Galen Cisco (#42 - Pitching Instructor) 9. Chuck Cottier (#3 - Bench Coach) 10. Bobby Estalella (#27 - C) 11. Terry Francona (#7 - MG) 12. Doug Glanville (#6 - OF) | 13. Wayne Gomes (#61 - RHP) 14. Mike Grace (#44 - RHP) 15. Tyler Green (#28 - RHP) 16. Ramon Henderson (#59 - Bullpen Coach) 17. Rex Hudler (#14 - INF) 18. Gregg Jefferies (#25 - LF) 19. Kevin Jordan (#23 - INF) 20. Mark Leiter (#31 - RHP) 21. Mark Lewis (#5 - INF) 22. Mike Lieberthal (#24 - C) 23. Billy McMillon (#41 - OF) 24. Hal McRae (#56 - Hitting Instructor) | 25. Brad Mills (#9 - First Base Coach) 26. Mark Parent (#8 - C) 27. Mark Portugal (#21 - RHP) 28. Desi Relaford (#30 - INF) 29. Scott Rolen (#17 - 3B) 30. Curt Schilling (#38 - RHP) 31. Kevin Sefcik (#11 - INF) 32. Jerry Spradlin (#48 - RHP) 33. Garrett Stephenson (#54 - RHP) 34. John Vukovich (#18 - Third Base Coach) 35. Darrin Winston (#58 - LHP) 36. Phillie Phanatic |
One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (0): But see below under Variations/Rarities . . .
First Appearance in Phillies Photo Card Set (12): Abreu, Arias, Beech, Brewer, Estalella, Glanville, Gomes, Lewis, McMillon, Relaford, Stephenson, Winston
Returning Players in Phillies Photo Card Set (16): Amaro, Bottalico, Brogna, Grace, Green, Hudler, Jefferies, Jordan, Leiter, Lieberthal, Parent, Portugal, Rolen, Schilling, Sefcik, Spradlin
Returning Players in Phillies Photo Card Set (16): Amaro, Bottalico, Brogna, Grace, Green, Hudler, Jefferies, Jordan, Leiter, Lieberthal, Parent, Portugal, Rolen, Schilling, Sefcik, Spradlin
Manager (1): Francona
Coaches (6): Cisco, Cottier, Henderson, McRae, Mills, Vukovich
Phillie Phanatic (1): The Phanatic is once again pictured atop his ATV.
Broadcasters (0): N/A
Set Composition: The entire 25-man opening day roster is represented in the set with the exception of reliever Matt Whiteside, who signed with the Phillies on March 27th, a few days prior to opening day. Wayne Gomes, Matt Beech and Bobby Estalella would start the season in the minors, but they're in the set too. Billy McMillon, who spent the entire 1998 season in Triple-A was the only miss for the Phillies on the checklist and the only player in the set not to suit up at some point during the 1998 season for them.
Omissions: A card for Whiteside would have been nice, as he would never appear with the Phillies on a baseball card. (His Chachi Missing Links card will have to suffice.) Other players who spent significant time with the team that could have found their way into an update set include pitchers Yorkis Perez, Carlton Loewer, Ken Ryan and Mike Welch along with Paul Byrd, who joined the Phillies on August 14th. Cards for rookies Jon Zuber, Gary Bennett and Marlon Anderson would have welcome additions to an update set too.
Toby Borland and Loewer were on the active roster on June 29th, but cards weren't produced for them for the ALS event. Oddly enough, Welch was not active on June 29th, and the Phillies wouldn't add him to their roster until July 10th, the first game following the All-Star break.
There's also a Dickie Noles card available with a 1998 copyright on the back and sponsored by Independence Blue Cross/Pennsylvania Blue Shield.
ALS Autograph/Auction Party 1. Yorkis Perez (#45 - LHP) 2. Mike Welch (#47 - RHP) 3. Jon Zuber (#40 - 1B/OF) | Independence Blue Cross/Blue Shield 1. Dickie Noles (#34 - RHP) |
Also See: 1998 Topps Phillies
Resources: Beckett.com; Phillies collectors Steve F. and Rick (@rickphils)
This set was originally featured in a post back in November 2014, and I'm going through these older team-issued photo card set posts to update them with new information learned (if any) over the past nine years.
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