Another Wonderful Christmas: Diamond Stars, Phillies Yearbooks and Vintage Cards

As has become tradition, we spend the day after Christmas at my Mom's house with my sister and her family.  The day is filled with food, way too many presents and a steady stream of laughter.  This year was no different and there were a few different times I was literally out of breath as I was laughing too hard.  In between the food and the laugher and handing out presents, I sat down to open my presents from my Mom and as is also tradition, the gifts were spectacular.  The baseball card/Phillies portion of this year's gifts consisted of the following:

• 1963 and 1979 Phillies Yearbooks - The 1963 Yearbook is new to my collection, and the 1979 is a much-needed upgrade from the original version obtained during my first ever Phillies game.
• 1953 Bowman Black & White - I needed two more cards to complete my Phillies team set and Mom added them both, #35 Johnny Wyrostek and #64 Andy Hansen.  I'm now the happy owner of a full run of Bowman Phillies cards, with the sole and notable exception of the Richie Ashburn rookie card from the 1949 Bowman set.
• 1956 Topps - To wrap up my Phillies team set from this iconic release, and essentially the second time I've collected these cards, the last five cards I needed were added.  There were two Phillies cards, #180 Robin Roberts and #334 Bob Miller, and three cards of players on other teams who played with the Phillies during the 1956 season, #3 Elmer Valo, #77 Harvey Haddix and #293 Stu Miller.
• 1934-36 Diamond Stars - Finally, two cards were added to my growing 1934-36 Diamond Stars set, and I'll cover both of those with separate posts over on my blog for that set.  I think the coolest, and most unexpected, gift was an original yellow wrapper from the set.  I've seen pictures of these, and I know this is one of three colors available, but I've never actually held one and now it will make an excellent top page within my set's binder.

My Mom puts so much thought and care into her Christmas presents for all of us, and she once again outdid herself this year!  I hope Santa brought plenty of new baseball cards for your collection this holiday season and here's to a wonderful, hopeful and healthy 2022!

First Seven Non-Roster Invitees Announced

2021 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs Update #4

2020 Topps Update #U-105

2021 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #8

Hopefully you're not depending on this blog for any breaking Phillies news, as I'm 10 days late with this post.  On December 14th, the Phillies officially announced their first seven non-roster invitees to spring training, which will hopefully start on time if and when the current owner's lock-out ends.  This is way ahead of schedule, at least compared to last year, when the first four non-roster invitees weren't announced until January 4th.  He's a look at the first seven, their 2021 organization and their last major baseball card appearance.

Cam Bedrosian and Kyle Dohy both spent time with the Phillies last season with Bedrosian making it into 11 games and Dohy making his big league debut on October 2nd with a scoreless inning of relief.

 

	Player (position)	Date	2021 Organization	Last MajorBaseball Card Appearance
1	Cam Bedrosian (rhp)	12/14/21	Reds / Athletics / Phillies	2020 Topps Total #706 - Angels
2	Kyle Dohy (lhp)	12/14/21	Phillies	N/A
3	Andrew Bellatti (rhp)	12/14/21	Marlins	2009 Bowman Draft Prospects #BDPP37 - Rays
4	Tyler Cyr (rhp)	12/14/21	Giants	N/A
5	Joe Gatto (rhp)	12/14/21	Rangers	2016 Bowman Turn Two #TT-NE - Angels
6	Michael Kelly (rhp)	12/14/21	Astros	N/A
7	Jake Newberry (rhp)	12/14/21	Royals	2020 Topps Update #U-105 - Royals

Merry Christmas!

1956 Topps - 2nd Series Phillies Alumni

Over on my 1956 Topps blog, I recently wrapped up posts on the 80 cards featured in that set's second series.  Presented below is a gallery of former Phillies players or coaches to appear in the 1956 Topps second series run, and clicking on the number below each card will take you to that card's blog post.

#114

#119

#120

#127

#147

#148

#153

#155

#158

#168

#172

#173

#174

#180

2002 Topps Phillies Team Set

#662 Phillies Team

#294 Larry Bowa MG

#359 Phillies Team UWS

#709 Scott Rolen GG

#13 Bob Abreu

#524 Terry Adams

#269 Marlon Anderson

#83 Ricky Bottalico

#545 Pat Burrell

#155 Omar Daal

#578 Brandon Duckworth

#577 Doug Glanville

#594 Ricky Ledee

#199 Travis Lee

#367 Mike Lieberthal

#184 Jose Mesa

#394 Robert Person

#610 Scott Rolen

#164 Jimmy Rollins

#557 Turk Wendell

#221 Randy Wolf

#675 Taylor Buchholz PROS

#311 Marlon Byrd PROS

#680 Nate Espy PROS

Traded & Rookies

#T77 Jeremy Giambi

#T83 Vicente Padilla

#T16 Dan Plesac

#T62 Placido Polanco

#T31 Mike Timlin

#T228 Ezequiel Astacio PROS

#T166 Carlos Cabrera PROS

#T259 Travis Chapman PROS

#T189 Josh Cisneros PROS

#T130 Gavin Floyd PROS

#T124 Michael Floyd PROS

#T122 Mark Outlaw PROS

#T235 Jorge Padilla PROS

#T136 Elio Serrano PROS

#T126 Pete Zamora PROS

#T271 Curt Schilling WWHT

2001 Topps Phillies Team Set / 2003 Topps Phillies Team Set