2015 Phillies Team Issue - 2nd Edition

Number of Cards:  40
Card Size:  4" x 6"
Description:  Keeping with a theme that's been used for the past two seasons, the card fronts feature full color photos with a bottom border containing the player's name, number and position.  The blue border used for the first series set has been replaced by a red border and a simple Phillies "P".  The horizontal card backs feature biographical information and complete career statistics.

How Distributed:  The second series set went on sale at Citizens Bank Park on June 2, 2015.  Sets are available for sale for $5.

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

2 - Ben Revere 3 - Jeff Francoeur 4 - Andres Blanco 5 - Pat Burrell (Alumni) 5 - Steve Henderson CO 6 - Ryan Howard 7 - Maikel Franco 8 - Juan Samuel CO 9 - Domonic Brown 10 - Larry Bowa CO 12 - John Mizerock CO 13 - Freddy Galvis 16 - Cesar Hernandez 18 - Darin Ruf 22 - Bob McClure CO 23 - Ryne Sandberg MG 24 - Grady Sizemore 25 - Cody Asche 26 - Chase Utley 29 - Cameron Rupp

30 - Justin De Fratus 31 - Jerome Williams 34 - Aaron Harang 35 - Cole Hamels 37 - Odubel Herrera 38 - Chad Billingsley 40 - Dustin McGowan 45 - Pete Mackanin CO 46 - Jeanmar Gomez 47 - Sean O'Sullivan 51 - Carlos Ruiz 53 - Ken Giles 54 - Rod Nichols CO 55 - David Buchanan 57 - Luis Garcia 58 - Jonathan Papelbon 59 - Elvis Araujo 63 - Jake Diekman Phillie Phanatic Phillies Broadcasters

One and Done (1):  McGowan
First Appearances (2):  Araujo and O'Sullivan
Returning Players (26):  Asche, Billingsley, Blanco, Brown, Buchanan, De Fratus, Diekman, Franco, Francoeur, Galvis, Garcia, Giles, Gomez, Hamels, Harang, Hernandez, Herrera, Howard, Papelbon, Revere, Ruf, Ruiz, Rupp, Sizemore, Utley, Williams

I wouldn't be surprised if Araujo, McGowan and O'Sullivan get bumped from the First Appearances designation up to the One and Done spot.  The younger Araujo has the best chance of receiving a second Phillies baseball card.  Asche's card designates him as a left fielder, despite the fact he had only played three career games at the position prior to this set's release.  Sizemore was released the day before this set was released.

Brown is in the set even though as of the set's release date he had yet to appear in a game with the Phillies in 2015.  Brown has been exiled to Triple-A Lehigh Valley thus far into the season.

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):  Sandberg
Coaches (7):  Bowa, Henderson, Mackanin, McClure, Mizerock, Nichols, Samuel
Phillie Phanatic (1)
Broadcasters (1):  Features the same photo as the first series with announcers Tom McCarthy, Ben Davis, Larry Andersen, Scott Franzke, Jim Jackson, Matt Stairs, Mike Schmidt and Gregg Murphy.
Other Cards (1):  Burrell (Alumni Card)

The second series replaces the Charlie Manuel alumni card (found within the first series) with an alumni card for this year's Wall of Fame inductee Burrell.

Variations/Rarities:  On July 31st, I purchased a second series photo card set from the ballpark that included an Aaron Nola card on top.  The rest of the cards in the set were the same 40 cards as listed on the checklist above.

• 27 - Aaron Nola

Photo from Steve F. from 2016 ALS Festival

Photo from Rick from Jr. Phillies Club Night

Update (6/13/16):  Fellow collector Steve F. obtained an Aaron Altherr card in the style of this set at the 2016 ALS Festival held on June 9, 2016. The card is blank-backed and was most likely printed solely in order for Altherr to have a card for autograph requests.  Collector Rick also informed me that blank backed cards are available for Franco and Rupp.

Update (9/16/16):  Fellow collector Rick e-mailed me on September 16th to let me know that blank-backed photo cards in the style of this set were available to Jr. Phillies Club members during the game.  From the scans sent by Rick, I've listed below the additional cards available through this promotion.

• 17 - Peter Bourjos (posed photo)
• 23 - Aaron Altherr
• 39 - Adam Morgan
• 45 - Pete Mackanin MG (different photo - white jersey)
• 48 - Jared Eickhoff

Update (12/15/18): At the recent Phillies holiday sale, an annual event held at Citizens Bank Park, Steve found even more rare versions of cards in this set's style.  These three coaches joined the staff in 2016, so presumably these cards were produced during the 2015-2016 offseason.

• 9 - John McLaren CO (posed photo)
• 12 - Mickey Morandini CO (posed photo)
• 33 - Rick Kranitz CO (posed photo)

Trivia:  As I laid out in this post, this is the earliest a second series set has ever been released since the team started issuing multiple team issued sets back in 2010.  Hector Neris and Severino Gonzalez are the only members (so far) of the 2015 Phillies not to appear in either series of team issued sets.

Resources:  Thanks to fellow Phillies collectors Steve F. and Rick for giving me a head's up that this set was for sale at the ballpark.