Tuesday, November 25, 2014

2002 Phillies Team Issue


Number of Cards:  36
Card Size:  4" x 6"
Description:  The early 2000s were in full effect with these cards, thanks to the Phillies design department.  Full color photos share the card with a multi-colored, computer-ish looking geometric border, complete with three different sized floating baseballs.  The card backs feature biographical information and complete career statistics.  Scott Rolen's card celebrates his 2001 Gold Glove win, although the actual text on the card prematurely predicts his 2002 Gold Glove win.
How Distributed:  The 36-card set was available for sale at Veterans Stadium throughout the season.

Complete Standard Checklist:  The cards are unnumbered, but I've presented them below ordered by uniform number.
  • 3 - Todd Pratt
  • 5 - Pat Burrell
  • 6 - Doug Glanville
  • 7 - John Mabry
  • 8 - Marlon Anderson
  • 9 - Tomas Perez
  • 10 - Larry Bowa MG
  • 11 - Jimmy Rollins
  • 13 - Turk Wendell
  • 15 - Dave Hollins
  • 16 - Travis Lee
  • 17 - Scott Rolen
  • 18 - John Vukovich CO
  • 21 - Greg Gross CO
  • 24 - Mike Lieberthal
  • 25 - Gary Varsho CO
  • 27 - Ricky Bottalico
  • 30 - Tony Scott CO
  • 31 - Robert Person
  • 33 - Ricky Ledee
  • 34 - Nick Punto
  • 35 - Cliff Politte
  • 37 - Rheal Cormier
  • 40 - Jose Santiago
  • 43 - Randy Wolf
  • 44 - Vicente Padilla
  • 46 - Vern Ruhle CO
  • 48 - David Coggin
  • 49 - Jose Mesa
  • 51 - Terry Adams
  • 52 - Carlos Silva
  • 53 - Bobby Abreu
  • 56 - Brandon Duckworth
  • 59 - Ramon Henderson CO
  • Phillie Phanatic
  • Phillie Broadcasters
One and Done (0)
First Appearances (9):  Adams, Coggin, Duckworth, Ledee, Mabry, Punto, Santiago, Silva, Wendell
Returning Players (18):  Abreu, Anderson, Bottalico, Burrell, Cormier, Glanville, Hollins, Lee, Lieberthal, Mesa, Padilla, Perez, Person, Politte, Pratt, Rolen, Rollins, Wolf

Coggin, Duckworth, Santiago and Wendell appear on 2001 late season additions and I'll change their First Appearance designation above if I can determine whether or not the 2001 late season cards were issued together in an update set form, or if they were one off rarities.  (I believe they would have been issued in update set form.)

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):  Bowa
Coaches (6):  Gross, Henderson, Ruhle, Scott, Varsho, Vukovich
Phillie Phanatic (1)
Broadcasters (1):  After an 11 year absence and for the first time since 1990, the broadcasters received their own card in the team issued set.  Scott Graham, Harry Kalas, Larry Andersen and Chris Wheeler are featured in a photo taken during spring training.
Commemorative Cards (0)

Variations/Rarities:  The set entry for the 2003 Phillies Team Issue at Beckett.com makes mention of cards for Jim Thome and Greg Luzinski in the style of the 2002 cards, given away at the team's winter caravan.  The existence of these cards have been confirmed by Rick's and Steve's comments below.
  • 19 - Greg Luzinski
  • 25 - Jim Thome
Rick also mentions that the Abreu, Burrell, Lieberthal and Rolen cards are available with facsimile autographs.

Also See:  There was a standard-sized 36-card team set given away at The Vet during the year and jointly sponsored by Acme and Nabisco.  I'd like to eventually feature a post on this giveaway set, and a sample of a card from this set can be found here.
Trivia:  The 2002 set is back on Beckett's radar after the 1999, 2000 and 2001 issues had been completely ignored by the online database.
Resources:  Beckett.com; The Trading Card Database; Phillies collectors Rick and Steve (per their comments below)

3 comments:

Steve F. said...

I have the Thome card in this 2002 style unautographed (an eBay purchase). I presume it was issued sometime over the winter, since it is 2002 style but includes his 2002 stats with the Indians. They have done this with other players (and manager) over the years, such as:
- Charlie Manuel issued in the 2004 style;
- Brad Lidge and Geoff Jenkins issued in the 2007 style;
- Matt Stairs issued in the 2008 style;
- Placido Polanco issued in the 2009 style;
- Ty Wigginton and Dontrelle Willis issued in the 2011 style

...and probably others I don't have or am not aware of. But I don't know of any earlier examples than this Thome card of a guy who was added by the Phils after the season but still getting a card in that past year's set.

Unknown said...

There was indeed a Thome #25 with stats on back and a Greg Luzinski #19. There was no update set. Variations: There are facsimile autograph versions of Rolen, Burrell, Lieberthal and Abreu.

Jim said...

Updated! Thanks guys.