2010 Topps 206 Mini Framed Autographs #TA-BS Brian Schneider

Shows you what I know.  In a post not yet three weeks old, I declared that Phillies back-up catcher Brian Schneider was "definitely gone" after filing for free agency.  Yesterday, the Phils re-signed the 34-year-old catcher to a one-year deal to again back up Carlos Ruiz and serve as Vance Worley's personal catcher.

Schneider has been all but ignored by Topps during his tenure with the team.  He's had cards in the 2010 and 2011 team issued sets (both series), but his only other Phillies card since 2010 is this autographed insert from the 2010 Topps T206 set.

Moving On

Dane Sardinha (10-11) 10/10/11 - Filed for free agency

Brandon Moss (11) 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and filed for free agency

Brad Lidge (08-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Roy Oswalt (10-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Ross Gload (10-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Raul Ibanez (09-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Ryan Madson (03-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Jimmy Rollins (00-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Juan Perez (11) 11/2/11 - Became a minor league free agent

Coming Back

Pete Orr (11) 11/3/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies as a minor league free agent with an invitation to Spring Training

Brian Schneider (10-11) 11/17/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies to a one-year contract

New Additions

Jim Thome (03-05) 11/5/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cleveland Indians

Jonathan Papelbon 11/14/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Boston Red Sox

1947-1966 Exhibits Phillies

I recently completed another trade with John, a reader of this blog and a fellow Phillies baseball card collector.  Solely based on the Phillies doubles he has available and the impressive nature of his wantlists, I imagine that John's Phillies baseball card collection must be amazing.  He recently put together his Phillies wantlists from the 2000s, and I was more than happy to help him out with his pursuit of new-ish Phillies cards.

In return, I got a whole mess of old-ish Phillies cards.  Most of the older Phillies cards are in lesser condition, but John did a great job pointing out their minor flaws before shipping them along to me.  Frankly, I've become less and less condition-sensitive as I get older (and wiser) and I was thrilled to add a bunch of Phillies cards from the '50s, '60s and '70s to my collection.

Three of the cards in John's package were my first "Exhibit" cards.  I wasn't familiar with these cards, so a bit of research was in order.  According to the Standard Catalog, the Exhibit Supply Co. of Chicago released these oversized cards between 1947 and 1966, issuing some of the same cards over several years in a row in some instances.  All told, there are 336 unnumbered variations of these cards produced over the twenty-year span.

I found this handy dating chart, which helped me determine that the Del Ennis card was most likely first issued in 1947.  The "MADE IN U.S.A." on the bottom right is exactly a half inch across.  The Richie Ashburn card is actually an error variation (his first name is misspelled on the card) and was first issued in 1950.  On both the Ashburn card and the Whiz Kids team card, "MADE IN U.S.A." is exactly 7/16th of an inch across.  (Click on any of the cards to enlarge.)

I scanned the complete 336-card checklist and there appears to be at least two dozen (maybe more) Phillies in the 1947-1966 Exhibits set.  (Hopefully 14,000 Phillies will insert a comment to this post with a Phillies checklist - hint, hint.)

Thanks again for the trade John!

2006 Chachi #7 Aaron Rowand

I've uploaded the entire 71-card 2006 Chachi set to its own Picassa Web Album.  It joins the complete 2005 Chachi set, uploaded a few weeks ago.

I've discussed my affinity for the 1981 Topps set on this blog before, and the set was an easy choice for the second ever Chachi set.  Observant collectors will note that I changed the button on the top of the Phillies cap to blue from the original white, in keeping with the team's current look.

I also spent more time planning for the 2006 Chachi set throughout the 2005 season.  Whenever there was a good picture of a player available on the internet, I'd save it to be used for the set.  Some players still posed challenges.  Middle relievers don't get a whole lot of press, so tracking down good shots to use for Geoff Geary's and Aaron Fultz' cards wasn't easy.  I never did find Phillies pictures of Brian Sanches, Joe Thurston or late-season addition Randall Simon before the end of the 2006 season.  (Pictures of Sanches and Thurston in Phillies gear turned up after the season, but I again resisted my inner-George Lucas and I haven't modified the original set.)

Threre are a few original photographs featured in the set.  I took usable pictures of Rick White, Fabio Castro and Rheal Cormier during the team's annual photo day and I was able to turn these pictures into Chachi cards.  Believe it or not, the picture of Matt Smith was snapped off Phanavision during a 2006 game using my little digital camera.

For links to the other Chachi sets, please visit the new and improved Chachi Sets page.

2012 Chachi Transactions #2 Jonathan Papelbon

The Phillies have officially announced the signing of former Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon to a four-year contract with a vesting option for a fifth year.  The deal is worth $50,000,058 over four years, with that number going up to about $63 million (per various reports) if the fifth year kicks in.  It’s the largest contract for a closer ever.  Yikes.

Papelbon has won a World Series with the Sox and he reached the 200-save threshold faster than any pitcher in history.  In 396 games with the Red Sox from 2005 through 2011, he saved 219 games out of 248 opportunities.

I’m not sure what to make of this yet.  The team was apparently very close to re-signing Ryan Madson for the same duration, but for less money, but the deal completely fell through.  (Although GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. has stated that reports of an imminent deal with Madson were completely false.)  We now have one of the best closers in the game, but I can’t help but have a little concern over the length of the contract.  Will he really be the team’s closer through the 2016 season?

I turned to my favorite Red Sox fan over in Section 36 with my concern, asking him if I should be worried.  His response helped calm my nerves a little, even though his last point will prove to be completely off the mark:

I guess "worried" depends on the financial state of the Phillies. He's a great closer. He'll rack up the saves. He'll be fun to watch come into games. Yes, it's a lot of years/money. He'll be good for most of it I would assume. I personally have a hard time giving any closer that kind of money. But, he'll help your team get to the World Series. You'll lose to the Red Sox, of course. But, NL Champs should be fine.

So that helped, but then I realized I had a few more questions:

1. Is re-signing Jimmy Rollins still in the budget?
2. How will Papelbon fare at Citizens Bank Park?
3. Why didn’t we just go with Madson, who is home-grown and would have cost less?
4. Madson was very popular in the clubhouse. Will Papelbon fit in here?
5. Will Antonio Bastardo give up #58, Papelbon's number with the Sox?

Only time will tell.

Moving On

Dane Sardinha (10-11) 10/10/11 - Filed for free agency

Brandon Moss (11) 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and filed for free agency

Brad Lidge (08-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Roy Oswalt (10-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Ross Gload (10-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Raul Ibanez (09-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Ryan Madson (03-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Jimmy Rollins (00-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Brian Schneider (10-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Juan Perez (11) 11/2/11 - Became a minor league free agent

Coming Back

Pete Orr (11) 11/3/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies as a minor league free agent with an invitation to Spring Training

New Additions

Jim Thome (03-05) 11/5/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cleveland Indians

Jonathan Papelbon 11/14/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Boston Red Sox

1948 Leaf #49 Del Ennis

When the news broke last Friday night that the Phillies were reuniting with Jim Thome, my immediate thought was to call my Dad to talk about it.  It was one of the moments I'm told I'll have for the rest of my life.  Dad passed away a month ago today, and I'm still dealing with the void it's left.  Strangely enough though, once I realized that it would be very difficult (logistically) to give him a call to discuss the Thome signing, the fact that I immediately thought of my Dad made my very happy, serene even.  I want to have those moments and I'm glad I'll think of him whenever there's a Phillies trade or whenever I'm opening my first pack of the year or when pitchers and catchers report in February.

I definitely thought of him when I recently won this Del Ennis card on eBay for less than it would have cost for a blaster of 2011 Topps Update from Target.  Ennis, along with Dick Sisler, were my Dad's two favorite Phillies and I've decided to try to add as many of their cards to my collection as I can.  Dad would have been only four when this card came out, so he wouldn't have had it in his baseball card shoebox* growing up.  But he would have loved the fact that I've now added it to my baseball card shoebox.

*There was an actual shoebox.  My Dad told me he once "had them all" - complete runs of Bowman sets from 1951 through 1955, early Topps cards, everything.  As was the case with so many collections stemming from that era, the shoebox found its way to the curb soon after my Dad left for college.  One of the first things I'm going to do, after inventing my time machine, is to head back to the mid-1960's and stop my Mom-Mom from tossing out Dad's shoebox.

1985 Topps Phillies - Missing Links

My post on the 1985 Topps Phillies cards is not quite ready yet, but I wanted to share these "cards that never were" for players who should have had Phillies cards in the 1985 Topps set.  There are only ten players who appeared with the Phils in 1985 who didn't have Topps Phillies cards in either Topps' regular or traded sets.  Here are those missing ten cards:

PR1

PR2

PR3

PR4

PR5

PR6

PR7

PR8

PR9

PR10

1911 T205 Gold Border Chas. S. Dooin

Back in the day, before the internet made it possible to click and buy just about any baseball card your budget could afford, we relied on four sources to add “vintage” cards to our collections – 1) Trades with friends, 2) Local hobby shops, 3) Baseball card shows or 4) Mail order.  For the fourth option, I scoured the advertisements of Baseball Cards magazine and the tabloid newspaper-style Sports Collectors Digest daydreaming about ordering bulk lots of older baseball cards.  I remember that the ads for the far-off, West Coast-based Kit Young Cards were amazing – even awe-inspiring.  I don’t remember the first time we ever ordered from Kit Young, but my detailed purchase logs for my 1956 Topps set and several 1970’s Topps sets show that he was responsible for adding several “vintage” cards to my collection – via my parents as birthday presents or via Santa under the tree on Christmas morning.

I found myself browsing through Kit Young’s on-line store recently, and I pulled the trigger on the card you see here – a 1911 T205 Gold Border tobacco card of long-time Phillie, Charles “Red” Dooin.  The card is amazing.  It’s now by far the oldest card in my collection and it’s the first actual pre-war tobacco card I possess.  It’s thinner than I thought it would be and it might be my imagination, but I think it smells a little like tobacco.  Or it could just be the previous owner was a heavy smoker, but that’s less romantic, isn’t it?  And yes, I smell my old baseball cards.

I’m extremely happy to have this 100-year-old card in my collection, but even happier that it cost me less than a blaster box of 2011 Topps Whatever from Target.  I know there aren’t many more Phillies baseball cards out there from the turn of the last century within my modest budgetary means, but it will be fun to try to track a few more of these down.

(Santa: If you’re reading this, I have a few other suggestions for you.  If you check your list, you’ll see that I’ve been pretty good this year.  E-mail or text me.  Thanks.)

* * *

Dooin, born in 1879, played 13 seasons with the Phillies from 1902 to 1914 as the team’s primary catcher.  He also managed the club from 1910 to 1914, compiling a winning record of 392-370.  He’s credited with helping develop Grover Cleveland Alexander into the Hall of Fame pitcher he’d become.  Dooin played in 1,219 games for the Phillies, catching in 1,124 of those games.  Only Mike Lieberthal has caught in more games for the franchise.  He hit .241 with 10 home runs and 335 RBIs for the Phillies before wrapping up his career with the Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants in 1915 and 1916.  His career trajectory is somewhat similar to that of Lieberthal’s – both were long-time catchers for the Phillies and they both left the franchise the year before the team made it into postseason after long dry spells.  In Dooin’s case, the Phillies lost to the Red Sox in the 1915 World Series and in Lieberthal’s case, the Phillies lost to the Rockies in the 2007 N.L.D.S.  Dooin passed away in 1952, at the age of 72.

1995 Phillies Team Issue #1 Richie Ashburn

There sure are a whole lot of ones involved in this post.

1983 Fleer #167 Bob Molinaro

I'm an uncle!

Carol and Bill, my sister and brother-in-law, have just welcomed their first daughter, Molly Margaret, into the world.  It's been a rough year for our family, and Molly's arrival provides a much-needed dose of pure joy for all of us.

While I can't say for certain if anyone ever used the nickname "Molly" when referring to Bob Molinaro, he's the closest "Molly" I could come up to celebrate my new niece.  As she grows up, rest assured she'll be surrounded by very loving, very caring Phillies fans.

Congratulations to Carol, Bill and Molly!

Les Ballenas Blancas

1980 Venezuelan Stickers #256,
1981 Venezuelan Stickers #238 and #259

I've been collecting Bob Dernier's baseball cards since his rookie card appeared in the 1982 Topps set.  I casually collected his Topps, Donruss and Fleer offerings for the next few years and added them to nine-pocket pages in the back of my Phillies binder.  The task of completing a Dernier player collection became a little more difficult when Topps Tiffany, Fleer Glossy, Score and Upper Deck came onto the scene, but it was still relatively easy to track down each of Dernier's baseball cards.

When I purchased the first edition of the Standard Catalog back in 1988, I discovered that Dernier had a bunch of oddball cards I had never even heard of, let alone seen.  eBay helped in the mid-90s, as I tracked down his cards from 7-Up sets or Cubs team issues or even a stray Tastykake Phillies card.  Today, I believe I have ever card of Bobby D. except for the elusive few listed on my wantlist.  (I haven't bothered listing the one-of-one printing plates from the 2005 Topps All-Time Favorites or Retired Signatures Autographs sets.)

Every so often, I'll do an eBay search for "Bob Dernier" and there's very rarely anything new that appears that I haven't seen before.  Until recently.  I've added the stickers you see at the top of this post to my Bob Dernier collection through the magic of eBay.  I've known about the 1980 Venezuelan sticker for a while, but I had never seen an example of one.  I had no idea the 1981 Venezuelan stickers even existed.  (Actually, they're not really stickers.  The paper feels more stamp-like than sticker-like.)

Those of you with dedicated player collections know how cool it is when you track down and add something to your collection that you either a) never knew about it or b) knew about it, but thought you'd never acquire it.  My wife Jenna even seemed mildly impressed with my new additions, especially since the envelope they arrived in referred to me as "Señor."

I'll next turn my attention to trying to find Dernier's first ever baseball card, included within the 1980 TCMA Reading Phillies set.

Que será el mío. Oh sí, que será el mío.

1984 Topps Phillies - Missing Links

A few years ago, I went through the process of creating Topps Phillies cards for every Phillies player between 1980 and 1988 who didn't make it onto an official card during the year (or years) they played with the club.  Presented here are eight of the 1984 Topps Phillies "cards that never were."  I'd share the card I created for Mike LaValliere, but it's not one of my best.  I'll consider that one to be a work in process until I can find a better picture of Spanky in a Phillies uniform, or until my Photoshop skills greatly improve.

PR1

PR2

PR4

PR11

PR12

PR13

PR14

PR15

2012 Chachi Transactions #1 Jim Thome

Jim Thome, who helped close out The Vet in 2003 and open up Citizens Bank Park in 2004, is returning to Philadelphia.  The slugger signed a one-year deal and he'll be back in red pinstripes in 2012.  He'll mostly be used as a big left-handed bat off the bench, although he may want to dig up his first base mitt as well.  Depending on the severity of Ryan Howard's ruptured Achilles' tendon, Thome could see some time at first.  All the articles I've read are quick to point out that Thome has played just 28 innings in the field since he left the Phillies following the 2005 season.  But playing first is just like riding a bike, right?

In 93 games last year with the Twins and Indians, Thome hit .256 with 15 home runs and 50 RBIs.  His 604 career home runs currently has him in eighth place on the all-time list and he needs just six more to pass Sammy Sosa and move into seventh place.

Thome becomes the first card in the hot-off-the-presses 2012 Chachi Transactions insert set and he becomes the first name added to the New Additions list below.  I'll attempt to track the Phillies comings and goings in the Transactions set, using the minimal by-line featured in the 1979 O-Pee-Chee set.  (See here for reference.)

Moving On

Dane Sardinha (10-11) 10/10/11 - Filed for free agency

Brandon Moss (11) 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and filed for free agency

Pete Orr (11) 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and filed for free agency; 11/3/11 - Resigned by the Phillies as a minor league free agent with an invitation to Spring Training

Brad Lidge (08-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Roy Oswalt (10-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Ross Gload (10-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Raul Ibanez (09-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Ryan Madson (03-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Jimmy Rollins (00-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Brian Schneider (10-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Juan Perez (11) 11/2/11 - Became a minor league free agent

New Additions

Jim Thome (03-05) 11/5/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cleveland Indians

1984 Topps Phillies

1984 Topps #700, #484, 1984 Topps Traded #105T and 1984 Topps #587

One of the common criticisms of the 1984 Topps set is that it's just another version of the prior year's set, but with more angles.  I often wonder how the set would have been received had it been released before the '83 set.  It's got the cool vertical team name going for it, and I love that Topps included the team logo on the back of the cards.  Maybe I've been too harsh on the 1984 Topps set all these years?

1984 Topps #587 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  For the third straight year, it's a 792-card regular set, plus a 132-card traded set.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  As I was getting everything together for this post, I realized there may be a more subliminal reason I've never been terribly fond of the 1984 Topps set.  As noted below, there are 51 cards in the set (regular and traded) featuring Phillies.  However, 15 of those cards featured players who had moved on to other teams by the time the '84 season started.  So whenever I found a new Pete Rose or a Gary Matthews or a Ron Reed card in a pack of 1984 Topps, it wasn't as exciting for me since those guys were now with other teams.

Notable competition:  I have a boat-load of doubles from the 1984 Donruss, Fleer and Topps sets.  While it may shock some hobby enthusiasts, I never really cared for the 1984 Donruss set, even though I hand-collated a complete set back in the day.  Shortly after its release, our local baseball card dealer (the Card Doctor) couldn't sell his inventory of 1984 Donruss wax boxes.  My Dad bought a box on the cheap, right before the set started taking off.  The Don Mattingly rookie card from the Donruss set was probably the first card I ever owned that I rarely handled as it was stored safely in a plastic screw-down holder.  Also, 1984 was a key collecting year for me, as it was the year my subscription to Baseball Cards magazine began and I started tracking the "book value" of my collection.  Ah, youth.

1984 Phillies

Record and finish:  And so begins the long and tortuous road of mediocre to downright bad Phillies teams from 1984 until 2006, which a slight respite in 1993.  The Phillies finished at an even 81-81 in 1984, 15 1/2 games behind the former-Phillies heavy Cubs.

Key players:  Mike Schmidt turned in another fine year, batting .277 with 36 home runs and 106 RBIs.  Youngsters Ozzie Virgil (.261, 18 home runs, 68 RBIs) and Juan Samuel (.272, 15 home runs, 69 RBIs, 72 stolen bases) also enjoyed fine years at the plate.  Rookie Jeff Stone hit .362 following his June call-up and bench guys Tim Corcoran (.341) and Greg Gross (.322) had terrific years.  Veteran Jerry Koosman led the staff with 15 wins, followed by an aging Steve Carlton (13 wins) and Shane Rawley (10 wins) who was acquired in a late-June trade.  Closer Al Holland had another solid year, saving 29 games.

Key events:  In March, in the middle of Spring Training, the Phillies pulled off two miserable deals.  First, reliever Willie Hernandez was shipped to the Tigers for Glenn Wilson and John Wockenfuss.  Hernandez would go on to win the American League Cy Young and MVP for the World Champion Tigers.  A few days later, Porfi Altamirano, Sarge Matthews and (my personal favorite) Bob Dernier were sent to the Cubs for Bill Campbell and Mike Diaz.  This trade explains why most pictures of me from the summer of 1984 feature yours truly wearing a Cubs hat.  Schmidt joined the 400-home run club on May 15th with a shot off the Dodgers' Bob Welch.

1984 Topps #275, #279, 1984 Topps Traded #129T and 1984 Topps #185

1984 Phillies in 1984 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 46 Phillies cards in the base set and 5 cards in the traded set for a new all-time high 51 Phillies cards.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards

#484 Ozzie Virgil (c), #275 Len Matuszek (1b), #105T Juan Samuel (2b), #279 Ivan DeJesus (ss), #700 Mike Schmidt (3b), #129T Glenn Wilson (lf), #587 Von Hayes (cf), #185 Sixto Lezcano (lf)

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 4 cards

#780 Steve Carlton, #64T Jerry Koosman, #432 Charles Hudson, #17 John Denny

1984 Topps #780, 1984 Topps Traded #64T, 1984 Topps #432 and #17

• Base cards of other players who played with the Phillies in 1984 - 11 Cards

#148 Joe Lefebvre, #332 Kevin Gross, #458 Kiko Garcia, #511 Marty Bystrom, #535 Bo Diaz, #564 Al Holland, #613 Greg Gross, #728 Tug McGraw, #755 Garry Maddox, #22T Bill Campbell, #130T John Wockenfuss

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1984 - 9 cards (with new teams listed)

#43 Ron Reed (White Sox), #70 Gary Matthews (Cubs), #101 Porfi Altamirano (Cubs), #199 Willie Hernandez (Tigers), #210 Joe Morgan (Athletics), #252 Larry Christenson (Retired), #300 Pete Rose (Expos/Reds), #358 Bob Dernier (Cubs), #385 Tony Perez (Reds)

• Phillies appearing on 1983 Highlight cards - 2 cards

#1 Steve Carlton, #4 Steve Carlton with Nolan Ryan (Astros) and Gaylord Perry (Royals)

• Phillies appearing on 1983 Leaders cards - 4 cards

#132 Home Run Leaders - Mike Schmidt with Jim Rice (Red Sox), #135 Victory Leaders - John Denny with LaMarr Hoyt (White Sox), #136 Strikeout Leaders - Steve Carlton with Jack Morris (Tigers), #138 Leading Firemen - Al Holland with Dan Quisenberry (Royals)

• Phillies appearing on National League All Star cards - 2 cards

#388 Mike Schmidt, #395 Steve Carlton

• Phillies appearing on Active Career Leaders cards - 9 cards

#701, #702, #703, #704, #705, #706, #707, #708, #709

Featuring Pete Rose, Tony Perez, Mike Schmidt, Joe Morgan, Steve Carlton and Tug McGraw.

• Manager card - 1 card, #229 Paul Owens
• Batting & Pitching Leaders card - 1 card, #637 with Gary Matthews and John Denny

1984 Topps #564, #613, #755 and #254

Who’s out:  There are several 1984 Phillies reserves who didn't make it onto Topps cards - Corcoran (.341 average in 102 games), Stone (51 games, 27 stolen bases), John Russell (.283 average in 39 games) and Luis Aguayo (58 games).  Reliever Larry Andersen had a 2.38 ERA in 64 games, yet he didn't earn a Topps card.

Phillies on other teams:  Four players were in the base set with other teams, but received Phillies cards in the Traded series - #119 John Wockenfuss (Tigers), #311 Jerry Koosman (White Sox), #563 Glenn Wilson (Tigers) and #787 Bill Campbell (Cubs).  Three other players appeared with other teams, with no Phillies cards in the Traded series - #254 Shane Rawley (Yankees), #603 Renie Martin (Giants) and #620/#87T Al Oliver (Expos/Giants).

What’s he doing here:  Rose, Morgan and Christenson were all released by the Phillies in October or early November 1983.  So when we were opening packs of Topps cards in the summer of 1984, these guys had been history for over six months.

Cards that never were candidates:  There's a bunch here, given the heavy player turn-over the Phillies had following the 1983 season and even during the regular 1984 season.  Here's the list of players deserving of Phillies cards - Aguayo, Andersen, Corcoran, Oliver, Rawley, Russell and Stone.  Also, catcher Mike LaValliere made his debut with the Phillies on September 9, 1984, so a Phillies rookie card would be fitting.

Favorite Phillies card:  For the third year in a row, it's a card featured in the Traded set - Samuel's rookie card.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Carlton's Highlight card and Hernandez' base card are reprinted in the 2001 and 2002 Topps Archives sets, respectively.

Blogs/Websites:  1984 Topps?  Anyone?  My Dad bought me the 1984 O-Pee-Chee set for my birthday the year it was released and to date, it's the only complete O-Pee-Chee set I own.  (As an aside, and as I mentioned earlier, this was a big year for me personally as a baseball card collector.  I wasn't yet fully into G.I. Joe and my interest in Star Wars was waning, so baseball cards was where it was at.  My parents - and Santa - obliged accordingly with a baseball card-heavy birthday and Christmas morning.)  The Oh My O-Pee-Chee! blog has highlighted some of the cooler variations between the 1984 Topps and O-Pee-Chee sets.   

Did You Know?:  Dave Wehrmeister appeared in 7 games with the 1984 Phillies, causing me quite a bit of ten-year-old angst.

1984 Topps #702, #703 and #707

2011 Chachi Almost #4 Josh Barfield

While we wait for the official word that Jim Thome has re-joined the Phillies on a one-year contract, I'll pass along a few other transactions from the past week.  (Thome's signing is pending a physical, which could be happening as you're reading this.)

Infielder Pete Orr will be back in the fold in 2012.  Orr was briefly a free agent before the Phillies re-signed him to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training.

Baseball America posted a lengthy list of minor league free agents yesterday, including 31 players who spent time within the Phillies system in 2011.  The only player on the list who spent time with the big club last year was left-handed pitcher Juan Perez.  Perez' big moment came back on July 8th when he struck out a side of Braves batters on just nine pitches.  Perez appeared in eight games with the Phils, pitching five innings and allowing two runs while striking out eight.

Also included on the list of 31 were Spring Training stand-outs Josh Barfield and Delwyn Young.  Both seemed to be locks to head north with the club when camp broke in late March, but neither made the club.  Barfield does however have the honor of receiving a Chachi card in the "Almost" insert set.

Moving On

Dane Sardinha (10-11) 10/10/11 - Filed for free agency

Brandon Moss (11) 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and filed for free agency

Pete Orr (11) 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and filed for free agency; 11/3/11 - Resigned by the Phillies as a minor league free agent with an invitation to Spring Training

Brad Lidge (08-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Roy Oswalt (10-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Ross Gload (10-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Raul Ibanez (09-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Ryan Madson (03-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Jimmy Rollins (00-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Brian Schneider (10-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Juan Perez (11) 11/2/11 - Became a minor league free agent

2005 Chachi #4 Jim Thome

Welcome back Gentleman Jim!

Why must April be so far away?

2011 Chachi #61 Victory Leaders - Roy Halladay & Cliff Lee

The last time two Phillies pitchers won at least 17 games was back in 1980 when Steve Carlton won 24 and Dick Ruthven won 17.  There were times during the 2011 season when the Roy Halladay-Cliff Lee tandem was unstoppable and the duo provided the bulk of the team's pitching highlights throughout the year.  (Of course, Lee couldn't hold a four-run lead in the NLDS, but I'm slowly forgiving him for that.)

Cole Hamels should have had at least four or five more wins if not for poor run support.  Injuries hampered Roy Oswalt's season, as his 9-10 record put a serious crimp in that whole "Four Aces" thing.

Here's the Phillies top ten in wins for 2011:

1.  Roy Halladay - 19
2.  Cliff Lee - 17
3.  Cole Hamels - 14
4.  Vance Worley - 11
5.  Roy Oswalt - 9
6.  Kyle Kendrick - 8
7.  Michael Stutes - 6
7.  Antonio Bastardo - 6
9.  Ryan Madson - 4
10.  Danys Baez - 2

2005 Chachi #10 Todd Pratt

I recently uploaded the entire 63-card 2005 Chachi set, the inaugural issue, to its own publicly viewable Picassa Web Album.  (I think this is changing soon to Google Pictures or something of that nature, but I'm not sure.)  To date, I've only posted 19 of the cards from this set to The Phillies Room - 20 now if you count this Todd Pratt card - and I wanted to show off the entire set in all its multi-colored, 1975 glory.

This set represented my first venture into making my own baseball cards.  I resisted the recent urge to get all George Lucas on some of the cards and tweak a few of the obvious imperfections, and what you see in the linked album is the set I created one dark and stormy night six years ago.

At the time, there wasn't a vast library of current on-line images available for the team's players, and I had to rely on scanning yearbook pages or re-using photos from 2004 and 2005 baseball cards.  The cards with a black and white background, for example, are photos straight from the 2005 Phillies Yearbook.  There are a few players featured in their Triple-A Red Barons' uniforms (Danny Sandoval and Clay Condrey) and there a few really crappy cards of guys in their old uniforms (Aquilino Lopez and Michael Tucker).  The Lopez card has always particularly irked me, since it not only features him as a Rockie, but it's a lousy picture to boot.  I'll still occasionally do a Google Images search for "Aquilino Lopez Phillies," to no avail.

I'm going to upload the complete Chachi sets from 2006 through 2008 in the not too distant future.  The 2009 through 2011 (to date) Chachi sets are already featured in their entirety and can be accessed through the Chachi Sets page.

2011 Chachi #57 Batting Leaders - Shane Victorino & Placido Polanco

Based on a minimum of 502 plate appearances, only 5 Phillies qualified for the team batting average title this year:

1.  Shane Victorino - .279
2.  Placido Polanco - .277
3.  Jimmy Rollins - .268
4.  Ryan Howard - .253
5.  Raul Ibanez - .245

However, if you change the qualifying mark to 3.1 plate appearances per team games played, seven players qualify and Carlos Ruiz takes the top spot for the team:

1.  Carlos Ruiz - .283
2.  Shane Victorino - .279
3.  Placido Polanco - .277
4.  Jimmy Rollins - .268
5.  Chase Utley - .259
6.  Ryan Howard - .253
7.  Raul Ibanez - .245

I went back and forth on this one, and I finally decided to go with the 502 plate appearance qualification for the Chachi team leader card.  Chooch had a great season, but I didn't think it was right to award him the team batting title when he had over 100 less plate appearances than Victorino.  (Victorino had 586 plate appearances to Chooch's 472.)

It's the third time Victorino has lead the team in batting average, but his .279 mark is the lowest to lead the team since Mike Schmidt hit .277 in 1985.  Quite simply, this team could be so much better if it had a legitimate .300 hitter.

2011 Chachi #60 Stolen Base Leaders - Jimmy Rollins & Shane Victorino

One of the biggest criticisms* of the 2011 Phillies was their inability to steal a base when the situation called for a manufactured run.  Charlie Manuel is more likely to wait for one big swing than to hit and run or to send a runner when conditions are favorable.  With Juan Samuel as the team's third base coach, you'd think there would be more aggressiveness on the base paths, given Sammy's success as a base stealer during his playing days.  I hope this is a facet of the game the 2012 Phillies are focused on improving.

*It's tough to criticize a team that won 102 games, but I'm still a little bitter about the whole N.L.D.S. thing.

Here are the Phillies top ten base stealers in 2011:

1.  Jimmy Rollins - 30
2.  Shane Victorino - 19
3.  Chase Utley - 14
4.  John Mayberry, Jr. - 8
5.  Ben Francisco - 4
6.  Placido Polanco - 3
6.  Wilson Valdez - 3
6.  Michael Martinez - 3
6.  Domonic Brown - 3
6.  Pete Orr - 3

Rollins' team-leading 30 stolen bases is the lowest stolen base total to lead the Phillies since Bobby Abreu stole 22 bases in 2003.