1978 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  35
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.  The backs of the photo cards are blank and there's no indication on the cards themselves that they're from 1978.  Some of the cards contain blue facsimile autographs, as noted on the checklist below.  Tug McGraw's card features a rare horizontal format to fit his post wind-up photo.

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.  The set's checklist is comprised of the manager, five coaches, the entire 25-man opening day roster and two players acquired via trades in mid-June - Rawly Eastwick and Dick Ruthven.  As fellow collector Rick pointed out in a comment to this set's original post, there are action and portrait variations for the Tim McCarver and McGraw cards.  I'm not sure which versions are more prevalent, so I've included both in the standard checklist below.

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. Carroll Beringer CO         2. Bob Boone (action, auto) 3. Larry Bowa (auto) 4. Warren Brusstar (action) 5. Jose Cardenal (auto) 6. Steve Carlton (action, auto)       7. Larry Christenson 8. Billy DeMars CO 9. Rawly Eastwick (action) 10. Barry Foote (action) 11. Gene Garber (action) 12. Bud Harrelson (action)

13. Richie Hebner (auto) 14. Dave Johnson (auto) 15. Jay Johnstone (action, auto) 16. Jim Kaat (auto) 17. Randy Lerch (action) 18. Jim Lonborg (action) 19. Greg Luzinski (auto) 20. Garry Maddox (action, auto) 21. Jerry Martin (action) 22. Bake McBride (action, auto)       23. Tim McCarver (portrait)         24. Tim McCarver (action)

25. Tug McGraw (portrait) 26. Tug McGraw (action) 27. Jim Morrison 28. Danny Ozark MG (auto) 29. Ron Reed (action) 30. Ray Rippelmeyer CO 31. Dick Ruthven (action) 32. Mike Schmidt 33. Ted Sizemore (action, auto) 34. Tony Taylor CO (auto) 35. Bobby Wine CO (auto)

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (0)

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (4):  Cardenal, Eastwick, Harrelson, Morrison
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (25):  Boone, Bowa, Brusstar, Carlton, Christenson, Foote, Garber, Hebner, Johnson, Johnstone, Kaat, Lerch, Lonborg, Luzinski, Maddox, Martin, McBride, McCarver (2), McGraw (2), Reed, Ruthven, Schmidt, Sizemore

Manager (1):  Ozark
Coach (5):  Beringer, DeMars, Rippelmeyer, Taylor, Wine

Surprises:  The Phillies made two fairly significant trades on back-to-back days on June 14th and June 15th.  First, Jay Johnstone and Bobby Brown were traded to the Yankees for Eastwick.  A day later, Gene Garber was sent to the Braves for Ruthven.  Both Eastwick and Ruthven are featured in action photos for their cards, meaning these update cards were issued as early as late June.

Bob Boone's card uses the same photo as his 1977 photo card, but with a slightly different autograph placement.

Omissions:  The Phillies teams of the late 1970s were mostly very good teams, which correlates to little to no roster turnover.  There were 10 players who appeared with the 1978 Phillies who did not appear in this photo card set, and all with good reason.  Of the 10, only Orlando Gonzalez made his season debut before September and he only appeared in 26 games.  Pete Mackanin, Horacio Pina and Dan Larson all joined the organization in September.  Three September call-ups saw action early that month - Lonnie  Smith, Todd Cruz and Kerry Dineen - while three other prospects made their season debuts on the final day of the season, October 1st - Keith Moreland, Kevin Saucier and Dan Boitano.

Variations/Rarities:  Rick also confirmed the existence of a Mike Schmidt variation, with a blue facsimile autograph.

Signature Variation 1. Mike Schmidt (auto)

Harrison/Erickson 1. Phillie Phanatic

And while not part of the team issued set, there is a 1978 color postcard of the Phillie Phanatic issued by the Phanatic's creators Harrison/Erickson.  Perhaps this could be considered the Phanatic's rookie card?  Finally, I added a photo card of coach Carroll Beringer to my collection over the past few years that is slightly larger than the standard 3 1/4" x 5 1/2" photo cards.  I don't know what year this would have been issued, but I've included it below for reference.  Beringer was the team's bullpen coach between 1973 and 1978.

Also See:  1978 Phillies Spring Training and 1978 SSPC Baseball the Phillies Way - Part One and Part Two.

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.

 

1977 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards / 1979 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards

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