1970 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  40
Card Size:  3 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Description:  As was the case with all Phillies photo cards issued throughout the 1970s, these cards feature a black and white photo with the players' name below.  Unlike the rest of the Phillies photo cards issued throughout the 1970s, the players' position is also included.  The backs of the cards are blank and there's no indication on the cards themselves that they're from 1970. 

How Distributed:  The cards were handed out to fans individually and supplied to the players in order to reply to fan mail or honor autograph requests.  I could be wrong, but I don't believe the cards were ever available in complete set form.

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. Larry Bowa 2. John Briggs 3. Byron Browne           4. Jim Bunning 5. Bill Champion 6. Mike Compton 7. Billy DeMars CO 8. Denny Doyle 9. Doc Edwards CO (with hat) 10. Doc Edwards CO (without hat)           11. Woodie Fryman 12. Oscar Gamble 13. Terry Harmon 14. Larry Hisle

15. Joe Hoerner           16. Jim Hutto           17. Grant Jackson 18. Deron Johnson      19. Rick Joseph 20. Bill Laxton 21. Barry Lersch 22. Joe Lis 23. Frank Lucchesi MG                24. Greg Luzinski 25. Tim McCarver 26. Don Money   27. George Myatt CO

28. Lowell Palmer 29. Sammy Parrilla 30. Scott Reid 31. Ken Reynolds 32. Ray Rippelmeyer CO                33. Mike Ryan 34. Dick Selma 35. Chris Short 36. Ron Stone 37. Tony Taylor 38. Fred Wenz 39. Billy Wilson 40. Rick Wise

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (1):  Laxton

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (22):  Bowa, Brown, Champion, Compton, Doyle, Gamble, Harmon, Hoerner, Hutto, Joseph, Lersch, Lis, Luzinski, McCarver, Palmer, Parrilla, Reid, Reynolds, Selma, Stone, Wenz, Wilson
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (11):  Briggs, Bunning, Fryman, Hisle, Jackson, Johnson, Money, Ryan, Short, Taylor, Wise

Manager (1):  Lucchesi
Coaches (5):  DeMars, Edwards (2), Myatt, Rippelmeyer

Surprises:  Two versions of the Doc Edwards card is kind of odd.  The Phillies could have issued a third variation with "catcher" listed as Edwards' position as he was activated on June 6th to help carry the catching load after a rash of injuries at the position.  Edwards hadn't caught in the Majors since 1965 but he got into 35 games with the 1970 Phillies, amazingly making 23 starts!

Omissions:  I'm also surprised by the fact the Phillies had 38 players suit up in 1970 and 34 of them are in this set.  The club can't be blamed for omitting the final four, as they were all short-timers that season.  Catcher Del Bates appeared in 22 games between May 6th and June 5th and reliever Mike Jackson pitched in five games between May 10th and May 24th.  The Phillies would have had to scramble to produce and distribute cards of those two players during the short time they were both active.  If I ever get around to producing my Phillies Missing Links custom cards from the 1970s, Bates and Jackson will be the first two cards in the set as neither ever appeared on a Phillies baseball card.

The other two players omitted were two prospects who would both go on to have much more time in Phillies uniforms.  Outfielder Willie Montanez and infielder John Vukovich were both September call-ups and cards weren't produced for them.

Variations/Rarities:  There are two versions of the Edwards card - one featuring him with a hat, and another featuring him without a hat.  I'm not sure which is more prevalent than the other, so I've listed them both above as part of the main checklist.

Also See:  According to entries found at The Trading Card Database and Beckett.com, there was also a 12-card "Picture Pack" set issued in 1970 containing cards measuring 4 1/4" x 7".  And again per The Trading Card Database, a 26-card set containing 8" x 10" black and white cards featuring a portrait and a posed photo of each player was also released.

Resources:  As far as I can tell, there's no other record or checklist of this set available online.  Phillies collector Rick (@rickphils) was kind enough to send along the scan shown above, which is what I used for my checklist.

This set was originally featured in a post back in November 2014, and I'm going to slowly go through some of these team issued set posts and update them with new information gleaned (if any) over the past nearly six years.

1950-1969 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards / 1971 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards

1970-1979 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page