1993 Medford Phillies

I updated this post here in September 2023 and this original post is now outdated.

 
Number of Cards:  45
Card Size:  4" x 6"
Description:  For the fifth year in a row, the card fronts feature a photo with the player's, coach's or manager's name in a red band with white text.  The card backs feature biographical information along with complete career statistics.  Medford Food Company was in the third year of its sponsorship of the set.  Size-wise, the cards lost an eighth of an inch with this set, settling into the 4" x 6" size that has been used for each team issued set as of this writing.

I always thought this was one of the weakest of the team issued sets from the 1990s, and it's a shame since the 1993 squad is really the only team from the 1990s worth remembering.  Some of the cards suffer from strange cropping, too dark backgrounds and/or blurry photos.

How Distributed:  As originally detailed in this post, the original 35-card set was available for sale at Veterans Stadium through at least early August.  A five-card update set was available for sale at some point during the second half of the season.  A second 36-card set was sold at the ballpark late in the season which included a Bobby Thigpen card and four photo variations of players included within the original 35-card set.  This second set would have been sold at The Vet at some point after Thigpen's acquisition from the White Sox on August 10th.

Complete Standard Checklist (35):  The cards are unnumbered, but I've presented them below ordered by uniform number.

2 - Larry Bowa CO 4 - Lenny Dykstra 5 - Kim Batiste 7 - Mariano Duncan 8 - Jim Eisenreich 9 - Mike Ryan CO 10 - Darren Daulton 11 - Jim Fregosi MG 12 - Mickey Morandini 14 - Denis Menke CO 15 - Dave Hollins 17 - Ricky Jordan 18 - John Vukovich CO 22 - Pete Incaviglia 23 - Todd Pratt 24 - Juan Bell 25 - Milt Thompson 26 - Mel Roberts CO

27 - Danny Jackson 28 - Tyler Green 29 - John Kruk 33 - Ruben Amaro 34 - Ben Rivera 37 - Kyle Abbott 38 - Curt Schilling 40 - David West 44 - Wes Chamberlain 45 - Terry Mulholland 46 - Johnny Podres CO 47 - Larry Andersen 49 - Tommy Greene 50 - Jose DeLeon 53 - Bob Ayrault 99 - Mitch Williams Phillie Phanatic

Complete First Update Checklist (5):

19 - Kevin Stocker 30 - Jeff Manto 41 - Mike Williams

48 - Roger Mason 1993 Phillies All-Stars

Complete Second Update Checklist (5):

10 - Darren Daulton (dugout background) 12 - Mickey Morandini (dugout background) 37 - Bobby Thigpen

49 - Tommy Greene (dugout background) 99 - Mitch Williams (bright background)

As mentioned above, these five cards were variations found within a late season 36-card set.

One and Done (0)
First Appearances (13):  Bell, DeLeon, Eisenreich, Green, Incaviglia, Jackson, Manto, Mason, Pratt, Stocker, Thigpen, West, Mike Williams
Returning Players (23):  Abbott, Amaro, Andersen, Ayrault, Batiste, Chamberlain, Daulton (x 2), Duncan, Dykstra, Greene (x 2), Hollins, Jordan, Kruk, Morandini (x 2), Mulholland, Rivera, Schilling, Thompson, Mitch Williams (x 2)

The First Appearance designation is for players who have never before appeared within a Phillies team issued set.  These players may have already appeared on other Phillies baseball cards.

Manager (1):  Fregosi
Coaches (6):  Bowa, Menke, Podres, Roberts, Ryan, Vukovich
Phillie Phanatic (1):  The Phanatic is shown walking on the field with the green and black Veterans Stadium outfield wall behind him.
Broadcasters (0)
Commemorative Cards (1):  1993 Phillies All-Stars, featuring Mulholland, Daulton, Fregosi, Kruk and Hollins.

Variations/Rarities:  In addition to the multiple updates available at the Vet throughout the season, it appears as if other cards may have been available either at the annual ALS fund-raising event, or individually to players to honor autograph requests.  Based on a comment to this post, collector Bill W. points out the following 1993 variations in his collection.  Murphy was released prior to the start of the 1993 season and both Davis and Mauser pitched for the Phillies early on in the season.  Per Rick's comment below (and the scans he e-mailed to me) there was also a Schmidt card issued.

3 - Dale Murphy 19 - Kevin Stocker (running) 20 - Mike Schmidt

48 - Mark Davis 52 - Tim Mauser

Also See:  1993 Topps Phillies
Trivia:  The Beckett database makes no mention of any of the update cards, listing only a 35-card set.
Resources:  Beckett.com; 14,000 Phillies; Phillies collector Rick (@rickphils)