1995 Topps Phillies

1995 Topps Traded #140T, 1995 Topps #326, 1995 Topps Traded #77T and 1995 Topps #120

I have disliked the 1995 Topps set since I opened my first pack 17 years ago.  I think the traditionalist in me thought the cards were too over the top.  Difficult to read foil script, the jagged border around the picture, the too small and difficult to read number on the backs of the cards, and the inordinate amount of unneeded subsets within the set - it was all too much for me.  I remember thinking that these cards looked like they belonged in an insert set or a Fleer set, but not in a base Topps set.  For these reasons, I probably opened less packs of 1995 Topps than any year before or since.

1995 Topps #2 (Back)

The Set
Number of cards in the set:  The set size dropped to 660 cards, which was the lowest number of cards in a Topps base set since way back in 1977.  Topps again released the set in two separate series, with 396 cards in series one and only 264 in series two.  Another first, the traded series was not released in set form but rather sold in packs just like the base set.  There are 165 cards in the traded series (essentially series three) and the Standard Catalog officially refers to the set as the 1995 Traded and Rookies set, with the "and Rookies" bit new for 1995.
My very brief thoughts on the set:  All these years later, and I don't know why I had such an intense dislike for this set.  One theory I have is that I was still quite bitter about the whole player's strike and I took my feelings out on anything connected with the current crop of baseball players. 
Notable competition:  I didn't buy many 1995 baseball cards when they were first released, having turned my attention (and what little disposable income I had at the time) to working on my 1970 Topps set. Flipping through my 1995 Phillies binder now, there's not a whole heck of a lot that jumps out at me.  One thing is for certain - the 1995 Fleer set has got to be one of the worst baseball card sets, in terms of design, of all-time.

1995 Topps #477, #586, #533 and #260

1995 Phillies
Record and finish:  The Phillies finished the abbreviated season with a respectable record of 69-75, but they finished 21 games behind the first place Atlanta Braves in the East.  This would be the closest the team would come to a winning season until 2001 when they finished with a record of 86-76.
Key players:  There wasn't much offense, as Charlie Hayes returned to the Phils to lead the team in RBIs (with 85) and tie for the team lead with 11 home runs.  The newly acquired Gregg Jefferies also had 11 home runs and was second on the team in RBIs with 56.  Hard Hittin' Mark Whiten, acquired in late July when Dave Hollins was shipped to the Red Sox, tallied 11 home runs in just 60 games.  Jim Eisenreich had his second straight strong year, hitting .316 with 10 home runs and 55 RBIs.  Injuries hobbled the core of the 1993 team as Darren Daulton (98 games) and Lenny Dykstra (62 games) saw significantly reduced playing time.  The pitching was even less spectacular.  Paul Quantrill led the staff with 11 wins (but possessed a 4.67 ERA) while Tyler Green (8-9, 5.31 ERA) and Mike Mimbs (9-7, 4.15 ERA) were inserted into the rotation following injuries to Curt Schilling, Bobby Munoz and Tommy Greene.  Heathcliff Slocumb had a wonderful season out of the bullpen, saving 32 games and earning the win in the All-Star Game.  And rookie Ricky Bottalico appeared in 62 games while pitching to an impressive 2.46 ERA.
Key events:  There wasn't much to get excited about on the field, but in July, both Mike Schmidt and Richie Ashburn were elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

1995 Topps Traded #127T, #152T, #19T and 1995 Topps #297

1995 Phillies in 1995 Topps
Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 28 Phillies cards in the base set and another 11 Phillies cards in the traded set, for a total of 39 Phillies cards.
Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 7 cards

#477 Darren Daulton (c), #586 Dave Hollins (1b), #2 Mickey Morandini (2b), #533 Kevin Stocker (ss), #140T Charlie Hayes (3b), #77T Gregg Jefferies (lf), #326 Jim Eisenreich (rf)

Andy Van Slyke is deemed to be the team's regular center fielder by a hair, having started in one more game in center (53) than Dykstra (52).

1995 Topps #2

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 4 cards

#127T Paul Quantrill, #152T Tyler Green, #19T Mike Mimbs, #297 Curt Schilling

You know it's been a long year when your three top starting pitchers appear for the first time on Phillies cards in the traded set.  Sid Fernandez started 11 games for the Phillies, but he wouldn't make it into the traded set.

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1995 - 11 cards

#31 David West, #59 Ricky Bottalico, #88 Heathcliff Slocumb, #103 Mariano Duncan, #120 Lenny Dykstra, #144 Tommy Greene, #351 Mike Williams, #458 Bobby Munoz, #554 Mike Lieberthal, #608 Tony Longmire, #90T Dave Gallagher

Bottalico's card is part of the "Star Track" subset which features a completely different design than the normal base cards.

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1995 - 7 cards (with new teams listed)

#173 Kim Batiste (minors with the Phillies and Orioles), #239 Ben Rivera (out of baseball), #269 Ricky Jordan (minors with the Angels), #383 Billy Hatcher (Rangers and minors with the Royals), #420 Danny Jackson (Cardinals), #495 Doug Jones (Orioles), #572 John Kruk (White Sox)

Kruk signed with the White Sox in mid-May and primarily served as the team's DH before his abrupt retirement on July 30th.  Kruk singled in the first inning that day and upon returning to the dugout informed manager Ozzie Guillen and his teammates that he was officially retired.  Frank Thomas pinch-hit for him in the third inning and Kruk's 10-year career was over.

1995 Topps #88, #59, #507 and #351

• Phillies appearing on multi-player 1995 Prospects cards - 3 cards

#79 Gene Schall (with Scott Talanoa, Harold Williams and Ray Brown), #237 Shane Pullen (with Brian L. Hunter, Jose Malave and Karim Garcia), #88T Larry Wimberly (with Pat Ahearne, Gary Rath and Robbie Bell)

Schall had previously appeared on a Coming Attractions card within the 1994 Topps set and he actually played 24 games with the 1995 Phillies.  Pullen played in parts of three seasons within the Phillies minor league system from 1994 to 1996, and he made it as high as Class A Clearwater.  Wimberly was shipped to the Red Sox in January 1996 as part of the six-player deal that sent Slocumb to Boston for Ken Ryan, Glenn Murray and Lee Tinsley.  He bounced around the minor league systems of the Red Sox and Pirates until 2002, never making it to the Majors.

• Phillies appearing on 1994 Topps All Stars cards - 1 card, #393 Danny Jackson (with Jimmy Key)
• Phillies appearing on Draft Pick cards - 2 cards

#421 Ryan Nye, #108T Reggie Taylor

1995 Topps #79

Nye, the team's second pick in the June 1994 draft, eventually played with the Phillies in 5 games in 1997 and 1998.  Taylor, the team's #1 pick in the June 1995 draft, played in 14 games with the Phils in 2000 and 2001.  The team's #1 pick from the June 1994 draft, Carlton Loewer, got completely left out of the set.

• Phillies appearing on multi-player On Deck cards - 2 cards

#654 Wayne Gomes and Kevin Jordan, #107T Rob Grable with Glenn Dishman (Padres)

Jordan made it into 24 games with the 1995 club and Gomes made his Phillies debut in June 1997.  Grable enjoyed a break-out season with Reading in 1995 (.300, 16 home runs, 67 RBIs), but he never made it to the Majors.  Ironically, his counterpart on the card did play for the Phillies at one point, as Dishman appeared in 4 games for the 1996 Phillies.

• Phillies appearing on '95 Rookie Year Candidates cards - 1 card, #131T Tyler Green
• Phillies appearing on Mid All-Star cards - 1 card, #162T Lenny Dykstra with Kirby Puckett (Twins)

Who’s out:  The case could be made for both Tom Marsh (43 games, .294) and Gary Varsho (72 games) being deserving of cards.  And pitchers Jeff Juden (10 starts), Toby Borland (50 games, 6 saves), Norm Charlton (25 games) and Gene Harris (21 games) could also have had Phillies cards.  But I won't argue too loudly for anybody but Borland.
Phillies on other teams:  Only Hayes (#81 with the Rockies) and Jefferies (#526 with the Cardinals) made it into the traded series with the Phillies.  Whiten appears on this list twice with the Cardinals (#409) and Red Sox (#102T).  And there are four other members of the 1995 Phillies featured on cards with their former teams - #201 Steve Frey (Giants), #260 Andy Van Slyke (Pirates), #374 Lenny Webster (Expos), and #507 Sid Fernandez (Orioles).
What’s he doing here:  Seeing cards of Pullen, Wimberly and Grable frustrates me when prospects such as Andy Carter and Kevin Sefcik were shut out.

1995 Topps Traded #102T

Cards that never were candidates:  There could be an entire series of cards that never were of the 1995 fringe Phillies, but I've narrowed my selection to five - Van Slyke, Whiten, back-up catcher Webster, fifth starter Fernandez and Varsho.  And if I had my way, I'd make a "normal" card for Bottalico.
Favorite Phillies card:  Morandini's horizontal action shot is cool, but I'll go with Daulton's posed shot at home plate.

Other Stuff
Recycled:  As far as I know, the 1995 Topps design has yet to be revisited by the company.
Blogs/Websites:  Goose Joak has nothing to do with the 1995 Topps set, but for some reason I remember commenting on one of his past posts that 1995 was the "worst Topps base set designs ever."  So while I don't appreciate the 1995 Topps set, I do appreciate Goose Joak's wonderful custom cards.  Check it out and get ready to witness some of the best custom cards around.
Did You Know?:  With the player's strike bumping up against the beginning of Spring Training, teams began filling their rosters with replacement players.  Fortunately, the strike was settled and fans weren't subjected to replacement player baseball in the regular season, but it was still a fairly surreal spring.  I clipped the following from a newspaper article in 2005 following the 10 year anniversary of that bizarre Spring Training.  (Click to enlarge.)  A whopping 92 "Phillies" suited up that spring, including former Phillies Marty Bystrom, Todd Cruz and Jeff Stone.  Bystrom had last appeared in the Majors with the Yankees in 1985,   Cruz hadn't been on a big league roster since 1984 with the Orioles and Stone hadn't played professionally since 1992.  It was quaint at first, but then the novelty of it all quickly wore off.


Blogger's labeling limitations are causing Mike Williams and Gene Schall to not be tagged in this post.  It's probably for the best.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter N43 #N43-RH Roy Halladay

Today, Phillies pitchers and catchers report.

We made it.

1988 Fleer #636 Tried & True Sluggers - Mike Schmidt & Gary Carter

My Pop-Pop used to watch the Mets for the sole purpose of rooting against them and reveling when they lost.  (He did the same thing with the Yankees.)

One of the players who really got under my Pop-Pop's skin was Gary Carter.  It didn't take me long to figure out that Pop-Pop was most annoyed by the guys on the Mets who were really good, and he reserved most of his venom for Carter.  It didn't help that Carter always seemed to kill the Phillies.

These memories were the first things that went through my head yesterday when I heard that Carter had passed away after a brave battle with brain cancer.  His daughter wrote on the family website that she's sure Carter received a standing ovation when he walked through the gates of heaven.  I'd like to think that after the Standing O, my Pop-Pop yelled at him a little, just for old time's sake.

Rest in peace, Kid.

1883-1929 Phillies Have List

2002 Topps 206 #299

This post will no longer be updated as of January 7, 2018.

Having recently decided to re-do some of my Phillies wantlists, I opted to start at the beginning.  The very beginning.  Armed with the Standard Catalog, Beckett's on-line database and my tattered copy of Robert E. Schmierer's indispensable 100 Years of Phillies Memorabilia, I began the process of putting together checklists for the Phillies baseball cards released before 1930.

About a half hour into this exercise, I concluded that what I was doing was ridiculous.

As of this writing, I own exactly one Phillies baseball card that dates before 1930.  Rather than compile a wantlist of original Allen & Ginter's, Gypsy Queens, T-206s and Turkey Reds, why not just list here the Phillies cards I have from the team's inception in 1883 through 1929?  So here it (hopefully one day "they") is/are:

1883-1929 Phillies Have List
1887 N172 Old Judge Sid Farrar (Right hand on belt buckle and "Philadelphias") - March 2012
1909 T206 Mickey Doolan (Batting, Polar Bear back) - May 2014
1909 T206 Mickey Doolan (UER Doolin, Portrait, Piedmont back) - September 2015
1909 T206 Mickey Doolan (Fielding, Piedmont back) - December 2016
1909 T206 George McQuillan (Ball in Hand, Piedmont back) - June 2015
1909-11 E90-1 American Caramel George McQuillan - April 2012

1911 T205 Gold Border Chas S. Dooin - November 2011
1911 T205 Gold Border Michael Doolan - September 2012, courtesy of 14,000 Phillies
1911 T205 Gold Border Robert Ewing - September 2016
1911 T205 Gold Border John Titus - September 2016

1920 W516-1 Babe Adams - January 2015
1920 W519-Unnumbered Gabby (Gavvy) Cravath - February 2017
1929 Exhibits 4 on 1 Williams/Whitney/Benge/Sweetland - April 2015

I'd like to think that one day this list could grow to a half dozen to a dozen cards, and I'll be able to refer back to this post if I ever need to confirm that I'm missing a certain Chuck Klein or Eppa Rixey or Dave Bancroft card before purchasing it.

The card featured at the top is the correct spelling version of Sherry Magee's 1910 T-206 card, enlarged and reprinted within the 2002 Topps 206 set.  A quick check of my 1883-1929 Phillies Have List indicates that I don't currently possess any original 1910 T-206 cards.  Yet.

* * *

Even though the Phillies became a National League franchise in 1883, I don't think there were any Phillies baseball cards until 1887.  My limited research shows there were several Phillies featured in the 1887 Allen & Ginter set, the Buchner Tobacco Gold Coins set (N-284) and the Kalamazoo Bats set (N-690).

UPDATE (2/16/12):  Check out this entry to The Phillies Database Project over at 14,000 Phillies.  Until anyone can prove otherwise, I'm going with 1886 as the year the first Phillies baseball card was released.

1958 Philadelphia Phillies Picture Pack

My father-in-law is doing his best to keep busy during his retirement, and one of his many projects has been to diligently clean out closets, desks and other storage spaces around his house.  So far, I've been the beneficiary of some really cool baseball and Phillies finds as a result of his clean-ups, including the cards I'm displaying in this post.  At first, I wasn't sure what these were, but with a little research I've determined that this is the complete 1958 Jays Publishing Phillies team set.  There are 12 photos in total and they've been protected all these years in a brown envelope advertising "Twelve Phillies Photos" for just 25¢.  The photos are 5" x 7" with blank backs.

The Standard Catalog lumps all 681 versions of these photos, issued between 1958 and 1965, into one massive listing.  Beckett separates the photos by year and by team, and I found a great resource here with the Phillies checklists for each of the sets from 1958 through 1965.  The only thing that threw me off a little is that the images I found on the internet when doing a search for "Jays Publishing Phillies," contain the full team name, listed on the fronts of the photos as "Philadelphia Phillies."  These photos omit the city and just list the team name.  That being said, I'm still fairly confident these are the 1958 Jays Publishing Phillies photos.

(UPDATE (2/16/12):  Please see the first comment below from Matthew, a/k/a 14,000 Phillies, for the correct identification of this set.)

So many, many thanks to my father-in-law for adding these to my collection and here's hoping he continues to clean and find cool Phillies stuff!

1949 Bowman #193 Ken Trinkle

I acquired this card some time ago, but to date I really haven't had a good reason to post it.  With my recent abundance of posts featuring Phillies cards from the early to mid-90s, I thought this would be a good baseball card to cleanse the palette.

Right-handed pitcher Ken Trinkle appeared in parts of five seasons with the New York Giants (1943, 1946-1948) and the Phillies (1949), compiling a 21-29 record over 216 games.  His best year was probably 1947 when he went 8-4 for the Giants with a 3.75 ERA while leading the league in appearances with 62.  He finished second in the league with 10 saves.  Trinkle was a somewhat reliable reliever with the Phillies, appearing in 42 games and tallying a WHIP of 1.466 and an ERA of 4.00.  He finished his professional baseball career with three seasons in the minors (1950-1952) with the Phillies and Red Sox Class AAA affiliates.

Trinkle served his country during World War II, shipping out in September 1943 and missing the entire 1944 season.  He saw action in France at the Battle of the Bulge, receiving a Bronze Star.  Here's an article with much more information on Trinkle's military service.

Per the Beckett database, it looks as if Trinkle has appeared on 7 baseball cards, including this Bowman card which could be considered his only mainstream release.

* * *

My Dad was a big fan of Phillies players with unusual or difficult to say names.  Upon first seeing this card, he would have dramatically announced, "And my new favorite Phillie is Ken Trinkle!"

1994 Phillies - The Missing Links

1995 Pacific #337, 1994 Mellon Phillies #45, 1994 Flair #169 and 1990 Best Spartanburg Phillies #10

One of the things I've enjoyed about this Missing Links exercise as well as the process of researching each of the Topps Phillies posts is that I'm rediscovering players I had completely forgotten about.  For example, and I mean this as no offense to him, but I have little to no recollection of Andy Carter pitching for the Phillies.  Now obviously, Andy Carter did pitch with the Phillies and I'm sure he remembers it well, but his time in Philadelphia has been completely lost in the fog of my memory.  Contributing to my shoddy memory is the fact that Carter only ever appeared on one Phillies baseball card.

There were 40 players who appeared with the Phillies during the shortened 1994 season.  All but two of them ended up on at least one Phillies baseball card.

3 Cards or More
35 Players

2 Cards
Tom Quinlan (24 games in 1994) - 1994 Sportflics Rookie/Traded #67 and 1995 Pacific #337
Shawn Boskie (18 games in 1994) - 1994 Mellon Phillies #45 and 1994 Topps Traded #53T

Technically, Randy Ready only appeared on two cards representing his second stint with the club (1994 Phillies Team Issue Update and 1995 Phillies Team Issue), but he appeared on a ton of Phillies cards from his first go-around between 1989 and 1991.  The Dickie Noles rule is once again invoked.

1994 Phillies Team Issue
Update #50

1 Card
Andy Carter (20 games in 1994 and 4 games in 1995) - 1994 Phillies Team Issue Update #50

With all the dozens of sets released in 1994 and 1995 geared specifically towards a team's prospects, it's very surprising to me that Carter never ended up in mainstream set.

0 Cards
Bob Wells (6 games in 1994)
Tom Edens (3 games in 1994)

Wells started his professional career in the Phillies organization in 1989 and he climbed the minor league ladder until finally getting the call in May 1994.  He appeared in 6 games with the Phillies, pitching fairly decent over his 5 total innings.  His Phillies career line is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA.  Wells was waived by the team in June and picked up by the Seattle Mariners, where he'd appear in parts of the next five seasons.  He also pitched for the Twins from 1999 to 2002, at one point serving as the team's closer for part of the 2000 season.  Wells has a 1994 Fleer ProCards card featuring him with the Reading Phillies that I have yet to add to my collection.

Edens came to the Phillies at the end of July when they traded Milt Thompson away to the Houston Astros.  He appeared in just 3 games with the Phils, although like Wells, he had a fairly decent line - 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA over 4 innings pitched.  A little over a week after he was acquired though, the players' strike began and Edens tenure with the Phillies was over.  He appeared in 5 games with the 1995 Cubs before calling it a career after 7 seasons.

Past Missing Link Posts
1990 Phillies - Louie Meadows

1991 Phillies - Dave LaPoint

1992 Phillies - Darrin Chapin and Mickey Weston

1993 Phillies - None

1994 Topps Phillies

1994 Topps #380, #401, #323 and #504

After the improbable success of the 1993 season, things completely fell apart for the Phillies.  1994 marked the first of seven consecutive losing seasons as the aging team suffered through a rash of injuries.  On August 11, 1994, the baseball season ended prematurely due to an impasse between the players and the owners.  The players' strike that would go on until the following spring stained the game and sent away countless long-time fans, disgusted by the greed on both sides of the argument.

My baseball card collecting priorities also changed in 1994.  As a direct result of the strike, I became more focused on collecting vintage Topps sets, and much less focused on attempting to collect new Phillies cards.  It wasn't until much later in the '90s that I filled out my 1994 through 1998 Phillies collection, as the strike caused me to all but stop buying packs of new baseball cards for several years.

1994 Topps #504 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  Topps went back to its magic number of 792, releasing two series of 396 cards each.  The traded series contained the now-standard 132 cards.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  I wasn't really that into this set at the time, although this is the set I still tend to associate with the 1993 National League Champs.  I believe this is the last Topps base set to not feature some sort of gold or silver foil element on the fronts of the cards.  Which means we've been straining our eyes and tilting the cards since 1994 in order to read the name of the player on the fronts of baseball cards.

Notable competition:  I've always loved the 1994 Fleer set.  It's very simplistic in its design and it features a lot of great photos.  (What happened to the Fleer design team between 1994 and 1995?)  The Collector's Choice set (from Upper Deck), the Pinnacle set and the Triple Play set (from Donruss) are also terrific sets with great designs.

1994 Topps #692, #57, #476 and #635

1994 Phillies

Record and finish:  The Phils finished the strike-shortened season with a record of 54-61 in the newly aligned five-team National League East.  They were 20 1/2 games behind the Montreal Expos when the season stopped.

Key players:  Darren Daulton was on his way to another solid season, hitting .300 with 15 home runs and 56 RBIs.  A fractured clavicle suffered on a play at the plate at the end of June ended his season early.  John Kruk (.302, 5 home runs, 38 RBIs) and Jim Eisenreich (.300, 4 home runs, 43 RBIs)  helped with their bats while Pete Incaviglia added 13 home runs.  Danny Jackson led the pitching staff with 14 wins and a 3.26 ERA, followed by the newly-acquired Bobby Munoz, who won 7 games with a 2.67 ERA.  The dependable 1993 trio of Curt Schilling, Tommy Greene and Ben Rivera spent the bulk of the season on the disabled list.  New closer Doug Jones saved 27 games and pitched to a very impressive 2.17 ERA, while Heathcliff Slocumb (2.86 ERA, 5-1) served as a very effective set-up reliever.

Key events:  Mitch Williams and Terry Mulholland, both key contributors on the 1993 squad, were traded over the winter to the Astros and Yankees respectively.  Kruk battled testicular cancer during the off-season and returned on the team's home opening day to a very lengthy and very loud standing ovation.  The cheers only intensified when Kruk doubled in the first inning to drive home the first run of the season for the Phils.  The Phils sent four players to the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh - Jackson, Jones, Lenny Dykstra and Mariano Duncan.

1994 Phillies in 1994 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 30 Phillies cards in the base set and another 6 Phillies cards in the traded set.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards

#380 Darren Daulton (c), #401 John Kruk (1b), #692 Mickey Morandini (2b), #57 Kevin Stocker (ss), #476 Dave Hollins (3b), #323 Pete Incaviglia (lf), #635 Lenny Dykstra (cf), #504 Jim Eisenreich (rf)

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 5 cards

#199 Danny Jackson, #102T Bobby Munoz, #53T Shawn Boskie, #266 David West, #142 Curt Schilling

1994 Topps #199, 1994 Topps Traded #102T, #53T and 1994 Topps #266

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1994 - 14 Cards

#28 Tony Longmire, #86 Ricky Jordan, #238 Kim Batiste, #352 Ben Rivera, #419 Wes Chamberlain, #447 Mike Williams, #533 Roger Mason, #570 Tommy Greene, #597 Todd Pratt, #663 Mariano Duncan, #722 Milt Thompson, #5T Toby Borland, #43T Heathcliff Slocumb, #126T Doug Jones

Longmire's card is futuristic "Future Stars" card, complete with some sort of green computer chip background.

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1994 - 4 Cards (with new teams listed)

#114 Mitch Williams (Astros), #170 Terry Mulholland (Yankees), #294 Tyler Green (minors), #328 Donn Pall (Yankees/Cubs)

• Phillies appearing on 1993 Topps All Stars cards - 1 card, #388 Lenny Dykstra with Ken Griffey, Jr. (Mariners)
• Phillies appearing on Measures of Greatness cards - 1 card, #608 Darren Daulton

I've always thought this was a bizarre subset.  Daulton's career-to-date stats are measured against Roy Campanella and the average stats for all Hall of Fame catchers.  Topps concludes that with several more years like 1992 and 1993, Daulton's power numbers would be "truly Cooperstown-ish."  At the time, I thought it was a silly comparison and the cards in this subset took away from players who should have had cards in the set.  All these years later and my thinking hasn't changed.

• #1 Draft Pick card - 1 card, #742 Wayne Gomes
• Phillies appearing on Coming Attractions cards - 1 card, #786 Kevin Foster and Gene Schall
• Ryne Sandberg Commemorative card - 1 card, #130T Ryne Sandberg

Gomes made his debut with the Phillies in June 1997, and he'd become the team's full-time closer for a portion of the 1999 season.  Foster was shipped to the Cubs at the start of the season for Boskie.  Schall played in parts of two seasons with the Phillies in 1995 and 1996.  And Sandberg appears here on his first "official" Phillies card as part of a two-card subset commemorating his retirement part-way through the 1994 season.  Sandberg would change his mind and come back to play in 1996 and 1997 for the Cubs.

1994 Topps Traded #126T, #43T, 1994 Topps #663 and #86

Who’s out:  Topps did a really nice job with player selection for the Phillies this year.  Of the returning players from 1993, only Larry Andersen was completely omitted from the set.  He appeared in 29 games for the 1994 club.  Lefty Andy Carter, who pitched in 20 games, would have been a better choice for the Coming Attractions card over Foster.

Phillies on other teams:  Bobby Munoz (#144 with the Yankees), Shawn Boskie (#177 with the Cubs) and Doug Jones (#334 with the Astros) appeared in the base set with their former teams before getting Phillies cards in the traded set.  These guys weren't so lucky - #26 Billy Hatcher (Red Sox), #175 Fernando Valenzuela (Orioles), #417 Paul Quantrill (Red Sox), #427 Tom Edens (Astros) and #541 Jeff Juden (Astros).  Valenzuela, who appeared in 8 games for the 1994 Phillies appeared in (I believe) 9 cards with the Phillies, none of which were produced by Topps.

1994 Topps #175

What’s he doing here:  Topps jumped the gun a little by giving Green his third base card in as many years.  Green appeared in 3 games with the 1993 Phillies and he spent all of 1994 in the minors.  When Topps was going through player selection for the set, I'd imagine this final spot for a Phillies card came down to Green versus Andersen and the prospect beat out the veteran.

Cards that never were candidates:  Andersen and Carter are deserving, and Hatcher, Valenzuela and Quantrill should get Phillies cards.  I'd also make a Coming Attractions card for Mike Lieberthal and Ricky Bottalico, who both made their debuts during the season.

Favorite Phillies card:  Eisenreich has always been one of my favorite players, and he's got a great 1994 Topps card featuring him taking a warm-up swing with the sun on his face.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Topps used the 1994 Topps design for Daulton's card in its 2004 All-Time Fan Favorites set. The design is also featured on Bobby Abreu's 2006 Topps Wal-Mart card.

Blogs/Websites:  Lifetime Topps Project recently concluded its look at the 1994 Topps set.

Did You Know?:  The Phillies adopted all-blue hats for home Sunday games in 1994.  Besides the fact that the hats clashed badly with the team's uniform, many players deemed the hats to be unlucky once the blue-hat Phils went 0-3 over the first three home Sundays.  A meeting was held between team captain Daulton and General Manager Lee Thomas and it was decided that the hats would only be worn during the remaining afternoon home games.  The blue hats completely disappeared after the season.

1991 Phillies - The Missing Link

1991 ProCards #2547, 1992 Score #867, 1992 Topps Debut #110 and 1991 Upper Deck #483

This post will get me up to speed, at least for the 1990s, in my analysis of Phillies players with very few or no Phillies baseball cards at all.  I'll continue this series of posts through at least 1999, and then I may go back in time and re-visit the forgotten Phillies, or at least the woefully unrepresented on cardboard Phillies, from the 1980s.

Here's a quick summary of those unfortunate few players with no Phillies baseball cards to their names:

1990 Phillies - Louie Meadows
1992 Phillies - Darrin Chapin and Mickey Weston
1993 Phillies - None

43 different players appeared with the 1991 Phillies at some point during the season.

3 Cards or More
40 Players

Rick Schu gets credit here using the Dickie Noles rule that I instituted with my review of the 1990 team.  Schu has no Phillies cards from his second stint with the Phils, but he appeared on plenty of cards during his initial term from 1984 to 1987.  Schu made it into 17 games with the 1991 Phillies, which would be his final big league action until appearing in one game with the 1996 Montreal Expos.

2 Cards
Amalio Carreno (3 games in 1991) - 1992 Score #867 and 1992 Topps Debut #27
Doug Lindsey (1 game in 1991, 2 games in 1993) - 1992 Topps Debut #110 and 1993 Stadium Club Phillies #10

Lindsey makes an appearance on the 1993 list with the same two cards.

0 Cards
Dave LaPoint (2 games in 1991)

This was the end of the road for the 12-year veteran as LaPoint pitched horribly in his two starts with the Phillies (5 innings, 6 walks, 10 hits, 16.20 ERA), earning a quick release.  The Phils signed LaPoint on April 7th and he was with the organization for a little over two weeks before his release on April 23rd.  Given his very short time with the club, it's easy to see why he never made it onto a Phillies baseball card.

As a bonus feature with today's post, here's my scrapbook page from LaPoint's Phillies debut, which features the wonderful headline, "A disa-LaPointing debut with Phils."  And yes, I used to re-do the boxscores on my Commodore 128 for purposes of my scrapbook.  (Click to enlarge.)

Diamond Giveaway Highlights

1959 Topps #412, 1965 Topps #296 and 1967 Topps #68

I recently received an envelope from the good people from The Topps Company containing my haul from last year's Diamond Giveaway promotion.  I largely ignored the Million Dollar Giveaway back in 2010, but I was an active participant in 2011's Diamond Giveaway, as I tried to trade for cards I actually needed for my Phillies collection.  I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with how things turned out.

The cards I received aren't in mint condition, but that doesn't bother me.  Each of these cards gets me closer to having the complete run of Topps Phillies base cards from 1951 through today.  The Stan Lopata card came my way via a trade for a 1959 Topps Billy Consolo card, which was the oldest card I unlocked.  I also unlocked cards from 1969, 1972 and 1975, which I parlayed into the other Phillies cards I've displayed here.

Tony Taylor's 1965 card is in great shape, with four sharp corners.  Bob Buhl's card is a little dinged up, but frankly he scares me a little bit, so I'm not going to mention it to him.  I'll just slide his card into the pocket waiting for him with the rest of my 1967 Topps cards and move along.

I found that collectors participating on the Diamond Giveaway site are very unlikely (at least with me) to trade for anything from 1985 or later.  I've been sitting on these same seven cards for the past year and my attempts to trade them for Phillies cards from the same year has been futile:

1985 Topps #243 Barbaro Garbey (Tigers)
1988 Topps #96 Todd Benzinger (Red Sox)
1991 Topps #359 Chuck Cary (Yankees)
1992 Topps #136 Bill Doran (Reds)
1994 Topps #160 Scott Lydy (Athletics)
1996 Topps #367 Javy Lopez (Braves)
2007 Topps #331 Kelly Johnson (Braves)

I even tried lumping all seven cards together for a couple of Phillies cards I needed from 2002, to no avail.  So for now, they'll sit in my inventory until at least June 30, 2012, when the Diamond Giveaway site goes dark and these cards revert back to Topps.

2012 Phillies Want List

2012 Topps #150

All good wantlists need to start somewhere, so here's the start of my 2012 Phillies wantlist.

Panini Cooperstown
Bronze History - 25 Connor, 32 Flick, 47 Keefe, 80 Thompson
Credentials - 17 Schmidt

Topps Series 1

Gold Team Rings - GTR-MS Schmidt
Gold World Series Champions Pins - GCP-MS Schmidt
Golden Moments Die-Cut Chrome (Redemption Set) - GMDC-15 Carlton
Retired Rings - RR-MS Schmidt

Topps Allen & Ginter's
Autographs - MSC Schmidt, RH Halladay, VW Worley

Topps Archives
1956 Relics - 56R-SCA Carlton
Fan Favorites Autographs - FFA-MWI Williams, FFA-VH Hayes

Topps Five Star
Base Set - 8 Halladay, 23 Hamels, 33 Schmidt, 56 Lee

Topps Gypsy Queen
Relics - GQR-JRO Rollins, GQR-SC Carlton

Topps Heritage
Blue Border - 296 Thome
Real One Autographs - EA Averill

Topps Mini
Promos - TMB-4 Halladay
Relics - MR-14 Hamels

Topps Museum Collection
Jumbo Lumber Relics - MMJLR-RI Ibanez
Momentous Material Jumbo Relics - MMJR-CLE Lee, MMJR-CU Utley, MMJR-CH Hamels, MMJR-HP Pence, MMJR-RH Halladay, MMJR-RHO Howard, MMJR-RO Oswalt
Primary Pieces Four-Player Quad Relics - PPFGR-LRUV Lee/Rollins/Utley/Victorino
Primary Pieces Quad Relics - PPQR-CL Lee, PPQR-CU Utley, PPQR-JRO Rollins, PPQR-RH Halladay, PPQR-RHO Howard, PPQR-SV Victorino
Signature Swatches Autographed Dual Relics - SSADR-CH Hamels, SSADR-HP Pence, SSADR-SV Victorino

Topps Update
Award Winners Gold Rings - MS Schmidt, RH Halladay
Gold Hall of Fame Plaque - HOFMS Schmidt

2011 Phillies Want List / 2013 Phillies Want List

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.

2012 Topps Red #117 Carlos Ruiz

I had this random thought yesterday, and I thought I'd share:  Would the 2012 Topps set be more popular or better received by collectors if the regular base cards featured color borders corresponding to the player's team colors?

To date, I own exactly one Phillies card from the red-bordered, Target-only parallel set, but I like this version more than the regular white-bordered cards.  What if Topps had gone with blue borders for the Royals cards and green borders for the A's cards and purple borders for the Rockies cards?  I'd argue that the set would have been universally more embraced than it has been to date.

The cards have been out for all of 8 days, and there have been at least 900 posts throughout the blogoverse on the set.  Most of the reviews I've read are either negative or ambivalent.  So how would you fix the set? Is the surf board too big?  Are color borders the answer?  Does everyone (except Topps) agree that League Leader cards should be grouped together and Active Leaders cards are unnecessary?  What say you?

1993 Phillies - No Missing Links

1993 Ultra #437, 1994 Pacific #481, 1994 Stadium Club Phillies #236 and 1993 Stadium Club Phillies #10

It was fun going through the 1992 Phillies roster and determining which players appeared on only a few (or no) Phillies cards, so I thought I'd do the same thing for the the 1993 club.  Amazingly enough, each of the 40 players who spent time with the team in 1993 eventually found their way on to a Phillies baseball card.  Unlike 1992, there wasn't much roster turn-over, so while it's impressive that the players listed below received a Phillies baseball card, it's not completely inconceivable.  I may continue this exercise for a few more years, but I would suspect the coverage ratio of Phillies players to players receiving Phillies baseball cards will drop significantly in the mid to late '90s.

3 Cards or More
33 Players

2 Cards
Mark Davis (11 games in 1980 and 1981, 25 games in 1993) - 1982 Topps #231 and 1993 Ultra #437
Jeff Manto (8 games in 1993) - 1993 Medford Phillies Update #30 and 1994 Pacific #481

Kevin Foster (2 games in 1993) - 1994 Stadium Club Phillies #236 and 1994 Topps #786

Doug Lindsey (1 game in 1991, 2 games in 1993) - 1992 Topps Debut #110 and 1993 Stadium Club Phillies #10

1 Card
**Bobby Thigpen (17 games in 1993) - 1994 Donruss #273
Donn Pall (8 games in 1993) - 1994 Topps #328
Paul Fletcher (1 game in 1993, 10 games in 1995) - 1993 Bowman #272

1994 Donruss #273, 1994 Topps #328 and 1993 Bowman #272

**I now know that Thigpen also has an elusive card in the 1993 Medford Phillies Second Update set. Please see this post for further details.

1993 Topps Phillies

1993 Topps #180, #17, #340 and #740

I've been lucky enough so far to live through three golden ages of Phillies baseball - some longer than others.  The first golden age occurred from the late 1970s through the early 1980s when I was barely old enough (especially during the early years) to remember much of it.  We're in a golden age now which, beginning in 2007, has resulted in five consecutive division titles and one World Series title.  Sandwiched in between these two ages was a quick, I can't believe this is really happening, golden age.  In 1993, for 162 regular season games, 6 League Championship games, and 6 World Series games, the Phillies were one of the best teams in baseball.

It wasn't pretty, but we loved that team.  Harry Kalas famously referred to them as a lovable band of misfits and cast-offs and they gave us the last taste of the postseason for 14 long and sometimes painful years.

1993 Topps #17 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  Topps stirred things up in 1993 by releasing its set in multiple series for the first time since 1972.  There are 396 cards in series one and another 429 cards in series two, for a total tally of 825 cards in the complete set.  Topps added their standard 132-card traded set but by this point, the traded set had lost all relevance to me.  Given the large amount of sets on the market produced by Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Score and Upper Deck, I already had access to Phillies cards of players acquired prior to the start of the season or even at the beginning of the season by the time the traded set rolled around.  So I wasn't that upset in 1993 when Topps made the decision to include only two Phillies within its traded series.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  I really liked these cards and unlike the 1992 Topps set, I actually hand collated the entire 825-card set.  For the second year in a row, the player's position isn't featured on the fronts of the cards, but I didn't seem to mind since I was very fond of the card front's overall design.  The backs of the cards have a vertical alignment for the first time since 1975 and there is a full-color player photo on the backs for the first time ever.

Notable competition:  I held down a few part-time jobs while in college and any money not spent on food or clothes or entertainment went to packs of Topps or Upper Deck cards.  Upper Deck produced a wonderful set in 1993 - probably the best set of its 21-year run.  In fact, it's one of the few non-Topps sets that I proudly display in 9-pocket pages in its own binder.  1993 was also the year that Donruss and Fleer continued their comebacks, producing very attractive sets.

1993 Topps #262, #371, #154 and 1993 Topps Traded #73T

1993 Phillies

Record and finish:  With a record of 97-65, the Phillies won their division for the first time since 1983, finishing three games ahead of the Montreal Expos.  They stunned the Atlanta Braves in the N.L.C.S., winning the series in six games, and they in turn were stunned by Joe Carter and the Toronto Blue Jays.  It seems a little silly now, but the events of October 23, 1993, were very traumatic to me at the time.

Key players:  The offense was paced by Darren Daulton (.257, 24 home runs, 105 RBIs), Dave Hollins (.273, 18 home runs, 93 RBIs), John Kruk (.316, 14 home runs, 85 RBIs) and Lenny Dykstra (.305, 19 home runs, 66 RBIs).  Supporting players such as Mariano Duncan, Milt Thompson, Jim Eisenreich and Pete Incaviglia played huge roles as well.  Curt Schilling and Tommy Greene led the pitching staff with 16 wins each, followed by Ben Rivera's 13 wins and Danny Jackson's and Terry Mulholland's 12 wins a piece.  It was the first time since 1932 that the team had five starting pitchers with 10 or more wins.  Closer Mitch Williams saved 43 games during the regular season, and unnecessarily shouldered complete blame for the World Series loss.  

Key events:  Prior to the start of the season, General Manager Lee Thomas cobbled together a group of cast-offs via free agency or trades to compliment the core line-up.  The acquisitions of Jackson, David West, Eisenreich, Incaviglia, Thompson and Larry Andersen had as much to do with the team's big season as the overall offensive output of Macho Row.  I could easily compose a multi-part post with all of the highlights from this wonderful season, but one highlight in particular has always been my favorite.  In July, following a lengthy rain delay, the Phils started the second game of a double header at 1:26 in the morning.  The game ended at 4:41 on a walk-off, 10th inning single from "Mitchy-Poo" Mitch Williams.

1993 Phillies in 1993 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 15 Phillies cards each in each series of the base set and only two more Phillies cards in the traded set.  The Phils got seriously shafted by Topps in '93.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 5 cards

#180 Darren Daulton (c), #340 John Kruk (1b), #262 Mickey Morandini (2b), #17 Dave Hollins (3b), #740 Lenny Dykstra (cf)

I'm basing this starting line-up on starts by position.  Mariano Duncan played in 124 games, but he jumped around between second and third.  Kevin Stocker joined the team too late in the season to be featured in the traded series, although he did appear in the Stadium Club set.  Left fielder Thompson was completely omitted from the set, despite having played in 109 games for the Cardinals in 1992.  Eisenreich was featured with the Royals in the base set and he didn't get a card in the traded set. 

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 4 cards

#421 Curt Schilling, #291 Tommy Greene, #555 Terry Mulholland, #622 Ben Rivera

I had to double check, but Danny Jackson was also completely omitted from the set.  Jackson started 34 games in 1992 for the Cubs and Pirates, so it's a little odd that he didn't at least end up in the regular set.

1993 Topps #421, #291, #622 and #235

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1993 - 13 cards

#43 Ruben Amaro Jr., #99 Mike Williams, #126 Bob Ayrault, #154 Wes Chamberlain, #235 Mitch Williams, #371 Mariano Duncan, #479 Todd Pratt, #531 Joe Millette, #585 Ricky Jordan, #679 Kim Batiste, #818 Brad Brink, #37T Tyler Green, #73T Pete Incaviglia

Brink's card is a part of the Coming Attractions subset at the very end of the set.

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1993 - 7 cards (with new teams listed)

#72 Jeff Grotewold (Twins), #208 Mike Hartley (Twins), #317 Kyle Abbott (minors), #445 Dale Murphy (Rockies), #649 Tom Marsh (minors), #712 Stan Javier (Angels), #773 Cliff Brantley (minors)

• 1992 Draft Pick card - 1 card, #161 Chad McConnell
• 1992 Topps All Stars card - 1 card, #408 Darren Daulton with Brian Harper (Twins)
• Manager card - 1 card, #510 Jim Fregosi with Buck Showalter (Yankees)

1993 Topps #555, #22 and #510

Who’s out:  I still find it weird that Thompson and Jackson were both left out of the set altogether.  Relievers Andersen, Roger Mason and Mark Davis all played a part in the championship season, but they were also left out of the set.

Phillies on other teams:  There are five cards of 1993 Phillies players on their former teams - #7 Pete Incaviglia (Astros), #22 Jim Eisenreich (Royals), #645 Bobby Thigpen (White Sox), #652 David West (Twins), #707 Donn Pall (White Sox).

What’s he doing here:  Phillies first round draft pick and Creighton product Chad McConnell kicked around the Phillies minor leagues through the 1996 season before calling it a career.  He never played for the Phillies.

Cards that never were candidates:  Thompson, Jackson, Stocker, Andersen, Eisenreich and West are all good candidates.

Favorite Phillies card:  There's actually quite a few great Phillies cards in this set, but I'll go with Mitch Williams' card as my favorite.  That definitely would not have been the case back on October 23, 1993.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Murphy and Dykstra's cards were reprinted in the 2001 and 2002 Topps Archives sets, respectively.  While Kruk, Daulton, Dykstra (again) and Mitch Williams have cards featuring the 1993 Topps design within the 2003 and 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites set.

Blogs/Websites:  Based on my limited research, I don't think there's another set-specific Topps blog out there until 2008.  (Please let me know if I've missed any.)  So unless I come up with any better ideas, I'm going to use this space to link to my past posts.  Back in this blog's infancy, I toyed with the idea of posting the baseball cards of all the players from key teams from the Phillies' past.  I did this with the 1956 Topps Phillies cards and I started the process with the 1993 Phillies club, before the idea eventually petered out.  Here's the post from May 2009 that served as my planned gateway to the baseball cards of the 1993 Phillies squad.

Did You Know?:  I was 500 miles away from the action when the Phillies clinched the division in 1993.  One of my fondest memories of that season is my parents holding up the phone to their television set so that I could hear Harry the K call the final inning and the final outs.  My Mom taped the game and the post-game celebrations and mailed me the VHS tape the next day.  (I still have that tape around here somewhere.)  Composing this post has made me very nostalgic for 1993, and it almost makes me want to hook up a VCR and drop in the team's highlight video, aptly titled, "Whatever It Takes, Dude."

2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #84, #94, #141 and
2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #79