1974 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  39
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.  Most of the cards (excluding the cards for Ollie Brown, Jay Johnstone, Pete Richert and perhaps Gene Garber) have blue facsimile autographs on the fronts.  The backs of the photo cards are blank and there's no indication on the cards themselves that they're from 1974.

How Distributed:  The photo 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.  I believe after an original batch of 32 photo cards, featuring the manager, the coaches, and 27 players, an additional 7 cards were released throughout the season, as evidenced by the inclusion of Richert, Brown and Garber who started the season with other teams.  Richert was purchased from the Cardinals on June 21st, Brown was selected off waivers from the Astros on June 24th and Garber was purchased from the Royals on July 12th.  (Steve F. and Rick G. clued me in to the existence of the Garber card in comments to this set's original post almost six years ago.)

The back of a 1974 Phillies schedule shown here contains photos of the entire 25-man opening day roster, plus Mike Rogodzinski and Wayne Twitchell who would play in their first games in mid-April and early May respectively.  I'm making the assumption the photos shown here represent the original 32 photo cards, with 7 cards added later for the 3 players acquired along with Larry Cox, Jesus Hernaiz, Johnstone and Larry Christenson.  Ed Farmer was also added right before the season, purchased from the Yankees on March 21st, which explains why his background is different than all other "original" photo cards.  Finally, the Billy Grabarkewitz photo card is identical to his 1973 photo card, with the exception of the facsimile autograph placement.

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. Mike Anderson 2. Carroll Beringer CO           3. Bob Boone 4. Larry Bowa 5. Ollie Brown 6. Steve Carlton 7. Dave Cash 8. Larry Christenson 9. Larry Cox 10. George Culver       11. Billy DeMars CO 12. Ron Diorio 13. Jim Essian

14. Ed Farmer 15. Gene Garber 16. Bill Grabarkewitz 17. Terry Harmon 18. Jesus Hernaiz 19. Tommy Hutton 20. Jay Johnstone 21. Frank Linzy 22. Jim Lonborg 23. Greg Luzinski 24. Willie Montanez 25. Danny Ozark MG           26. Pete Richert

27. Ray Rippelmeyer CO 28. Bill Robinson 29. Mike Rogodzinski 30. Dick Ruthven 31. Mac Scarce 32. Mike Schmidt 33. Ron Schueler 34. Tony Taylor 35. Wayne Twitchell 36. Del Unser 37. Mike Wallace 38. Eddie Watt 39. Bobby Wine CO

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (3):  Hernaiz, Linzy, Richert

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (8):  Brown, Cash, Cox, Farmer, Garber, Johnstone, Schueler, Watt
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (23):  Anderson, Boone, Bowa, Carlton, Christenson, Culver, Diorio, Essian, Grabarkewitz, Harmon, Hutton, Lonborg, Luzinski, Montanez, Robinson, Rogodzinski, Ruthven, Scarce, Schmidt, Taylor, Twitchell, Unser, Wallace

Manager (1):  Ozark
Coach (4):  Berringer, DeMars, Rippelmeyer, Wine

Surprises:  The only surprise (to me at least) in the inclusion of a Garber card.  Acquired on July 12th, he didn't make his Phillies debut until July 31st.

Omissions:  40 players appeared with the Phillies in 1974 and only 6 of them do not appear in this set.  Reliever Dave Wallace gets the shaft for the second year in a row, as he appeared in 3 games in early May.  Outfield prospects Alan Bannister (26 games) and Jerry Martin (13 games) got overlooked, as did left-handed pitcher Tom Underwood (7 games).  The last two omissions each appeared in one sole game for the Phillies - pitcher Erskine Thomason on September 18th and catcher John Stearns on September 22nd.  Stearns would go on to enjoy a 10-year, All-Star career with the Mets.

Variations/Rarities:  The checklist found at The Trading Card Database lists four cards with autograph variations, featuring a slightly different placement of the facsimile autograph on each card.

Signature Variations 1. Larry Bowa 2. Jim Lonborg 3. Willie Montanez 4. Danny Ozark MG

Also See:  1974 Topps Stamps Phillies; 1974 Johnny Pro Phillies; 1974 Phillies Team-Issued Mike Schmidt

Resources:  The Trading Card Database; Phillies collectors Steve F. and Rick G.

This set was originally featured in a post back in January 2015, and I'm going to slowly go through these team-issued set posts and update them with new information learned (if any) over the past six years.

 

1973 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards / 1975 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards

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