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| 1992 Donruss Rookies #108, 1993 Donruss #332, #356 and 1993 Fleer #495 |
I actually find this to be fairly stunning. In today's day and age, there are a number of relievers, utility players and minor league fill-ins who get completely shut out from having a baseball card in any one of the dozen or so mainstream sets produced. In recent years, if not for the Phillies team-issued postcard sets, these players would never appear on a Phillies baseball card at all.
So while I'd argue there were too many sets and too many cards to collect in the early '90s, at least the card manufacturers afforded us the opportunity to own Phillies cards of Greg Mathews, Julio Peguero and Jay Baller. And that's a good thing. (Right?)
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| 1992 Medford Phillies Update #35 |
40 Players
2 Cards
Keith Shepherd (12 games) - 1993 Donruss #332 and 1993 Fleer #109
1 Card
Greg Mathews (14 games) - 1993 Fleer #495
Julio Peguero (14 games) - 1992 Ultra #547
Don Robinson (10 games) - 1992 Medford Phillies Update #35
Jay Baller (8 games) - 1993 Donruss #356
Steve Scarsone (7 games) - 1992 Donruss Rookies #108
0 Cards
Darrin Chapin (1 game)
Mickey Weston (1 game)
Chapin was the player the Phillies acquired from the Yankees in exchange for Charlie Hayes prior to the start of the '92 season. He spent the majority of the season with the team's Triple-A affiliate, but he made it into one game for the Phils on April 27th. I have three cards of Chapin with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, but he never received a proper Phillies baseball card.
Weston signed with the Phillies as a minor league free agent in December 1991. He was a teammate with Chapin in Scranton for much of the 1992 season, but he found himself with the big club for one game in June making a spot start against the Expos. He didn't make it out of the fourth inning after allowing five runs, and his Phillies career was over. I have a couple of cards of Weston with the Red Barons, but again, no Phillies cards.
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| 1992 Donruss #745, 1992 SkyBox AAA #219, 1992 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons Team Issue #24 and 1992 ProCards #2447 |
An interesting project -- one I'm not certain I'd want to undertake -- would be to find out which Phillies team has the highest percentage of players who actually appeared on a Phillies card. The 1992 team clearly set the bar pretty high.
ReplyDeleteI've got a post coming up on the 1993 team where there was 100% coverage. I imagine that percentage dips significantly from 1995 through today.
ReplyDeleteOne of my collections is to get a signed card of every Phillie who appeared on a card as a Phillie. I do allow for substitutions as a Phillies system minor league card where the player never appeared as a Phillie, like Chapin and Weston.
ReplyDeletePlease continue to do this for more recent, and older, sets! Thanks.
Thanks Steve. That sounds like an awesome collection!
ReplyDeleteThanks. It's by no means complete though! I haven't checked lately, but it's probably at about 400 cards.
ReplyDeleteI organize them by first year in a Phillies uniform. My bigger years I have maybe 15-20 cards. I have the most cards of players who premiered in the 1960s and 1970s, most of whom are, or at least were when I was more actively writing, very responsive by mail. It's sort of a bell curve, with relatively few from the 1930s and 1940s (usually on oddball cards, like TCMA sets from the 1970s), a lot in the middle years, and relatively few recent ones, since almost no one replies by mail anymore. Most of the recent ones I do have have come from the ALS Carnival, and generally only for the lesser players since I typically have something better I'm trying to get signed by the top players.
All that said, your listing of these one- and two-appearance players is extremely helpful, as several of them I wasn't aware even had a card, like Baller and Scarsone, just to name two. Now I'm going to have to either raid my sets or pick them up on Beckett.com and mail them out. So thanks!
Quick follow-up. Seeing your Don Robinson card got me thinking about my photocard sets. You don't have a list (or know of one anywhere) that lists all of the photocards, especially including the update sets, that the Phillies have put out over the years, do you?
ReplyDeleteI have a handwritten list from a friend (unfortunately now deceased) who ordered the sets--for free--each year from the Phillies from 1968-1982. But he wasn't certain he had captured all the updates issued during that time. I would be happy at least for a list of all the cards issued since the Phils started selling them at the park as sets in, I believe, 1983. The pre-1983, black and white ones can get pricey, if you can even find them.
There are some very hard-to-find ones, especially of new free agent signings who received cards to hand out at the winter caravan appearances. For example, there is a 2007 Brad Lidge (remember, he came to the Phils for the 2008 season) and a 2008 Matt Stairs (he came to the Phils August 30, after the second set had been issued). Both were given out in the offseason.
Steve - Sounds as if you have the perfect collection for a blog of your own. I'd love to see some of your collection and follow along with your pursuit. Also, in terms of lists, check with the guy at the top of the list of comments (aka 14,000 Phillies). He's working on a monster project to checklist ever Phillies baseball card.
ReplyDeleteAnd I had no idea about the Lidge and Stairs variations. I have a Mitch Williams variation from (I think) the 1991 set, but that's the only one I know of.
Thanks. If I have the time someday, I wouldn't mind starting one. I like your yearbook photo, by the way--pretty cool to be immortalized like that!
ReplyDeleteWhere did you pick up the 1992 Medford Update set? I've been looking for this set for a while.
ReplyDeleteHi there. I was lucky enough to purchase the 1992 Medford Update set for sale at the Vet back in late '92. These team issued update sets have proven to be very difficult to track down, but my suggestion would be to keep checking eBay.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!