Friday, August 18, 2023

1992 Medford Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards


Number of Cards:  46
Card Size:  4 1/8" x 6"

Description:  For the fourth year in a row, the card fronts feature a photo with the player's, coach's or manager's name in a red band with white text.  The card backs feature biographical information along with complete career statistics.  Medford Food Company sponsored the set for the second year in a row. 

In the spring of 1992, the new Phillies uniform were kept top secret and they didn't make their public debut until opening day.  The cards in this set feature portraits of all players, coaches and the manager in their new uniforms, and (in my opinion) this is one of the nicer team-issued photo card sets released by the Phillies.

How Distributed:  The original 36-card base set was available for sale at Veterans Stadium throughout the 1992 season.  The ten card update set was available for sale at some point beginning in late June or early July.  Pat Combs is the "newest" Phillie in the update set, having joined the team on June 18th.

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the front of cards): 

1. Kyle Abbott (#47 - LHP)
2. Ruben Amaro (#33 - OF)
3. Andy Ashby (#40 - RHP)
4. Wally Backman (#6 - INF)
5. Kim Batiste (#5 - INF)
6. Larry Bowa (#2 - CO)
7. Cliff Brantley (#51 - LHP)
8. Wes Chamberlain (#44 - OF)           
9. Danny Cox (#34 - RHP)
10. Darren Daulton (#10 - C)
11. Mariano Duncan (#7 - INF)
12. Lenny Dykstra (#4 - OF)
13. Jim Fregosi (#11 - MG)
14. Tommy Greene (#49 - RHP)
15. Dave Hollins (#15 - INF)
16. Barry Jones (#50 - RHP)
17. John Kruk (#29 - INF)
18. Steve Lake (#30 - C)
19. Jim Lindeman (#19 - OF)
20. Denis Menke (#14 - CO)
21. Mickey Morandini (#12 - INF)
22. Terry Mulholland (Close up photo - #45 - LHP)    
23. Dale Murphy (#3 - OF)
24. Johnny Podres (#46 - CO)
25. Wally Ritchie (#39 - LHP)
26. Mel Roberts (#26 - CO)
27. Mike Ryan (#25 - CO)
28. Curt Schilling (#38 - RHP)       
29. Steve Searcy (#24 - LHP)
30. Dale Sveum (#8 - INF)
31. John Vukovich (#18 - CO)
32. Mitch Williams (#28 - LHP)    
33. Phillie Phanatic
34. Phillies Team
35. Veterans Stadium
36. Uniforms Through the Years

Complete Update Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the front of cards):
1. Bob Ayrault (#55 - RHP)
2. Brad Brink (#23 - RHP)
3. Pat Combs (#21 - LHP)       
4. Jeff Grotewold (#48 - C)
5. Mike Hartley (#42 - RHP)
6. Ricky Jordan (#17 - INF/OF)       
7. Tom Marsh (#9 - OF)
8. Terry Mulholland (Shoulders visible - #45 - LHP)
9. Ben Rivera (#34 - RHP)
10. Don Robinson (#35 - RHP)

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (1):  Robinson
First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (13):  Abbott, Amaro, Ayrault, Batiste, Brantley, Duncan, Grotewold, Hartley, Jones, Marsh, Rivera, Schilling, Sveum
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (21):  Ashby, Backman, Brink, Chamberlain, Combs, Cox, Daulton, Dykstra, Greene, Hollins, Jordan, Kruk, Lake, Lindeman, Morandini, Mulholland (two versions), Murphy, Ritchie, Searcy, Williams

Don Robinson's eight game stint with the Phillies to wrap up his 15-year career is commemorated with his sole Phillies baseball card in the update set.

Managers (1):  Fregosi
Coaches (6):  Bowa, Menke, Podres, Roberts, Ryan, Vukovich
Phillie Phanatic (1):  Like everyone else in the set, the Phanatic is posed in a studio setting, wearing his new uniform.
Broadcasters (0)
Commemorative Cards (1):  Uniforms Through the Years
Other Cards (2):  Phillies Team, Veterans Stadium

The Uniform Through the Years card is perhaps one of the coolest cards ever produced by the Phillies for its team-issued photo card sets.  It was originally given out on Opening Day as a poster.  Veterans Stadium gets its first card since the 1984 Tastykake Phillies set.

Set Composition:  The 25 players in the base set represent the entire opening day roster, which is a fairly impressive feat.  The nine new players in the update set feature players who made their season debut with the team between mid-April (Grotewold) and mid-June (Combs).  For some reason, Mulholland receives another card in the update set, with a different posed photo than the original base set.  

Omissions:  Those who could have had cards in the update set but were omitted are Julio Peguero, Darrin Chapin and Steve Scarsone.  Peguero was called up on the second day of the season after Dykstra suffered a broken hand on opening day.  Chapin was on the active roster for six games in late April/early May, and Scarsone was on the active roster for 18 games in May into early June.


Variations/Rarities:
  In the original post for this set, fellow collectors Rick and Steve helped me piece together a checklist of photo cards available at the annual ALS Autograph Party.  The checklist below features four players who were on the active roster, but had not appeared on officially released photo cards by the time of the annual fund raising event, held on August 10th.  Mike Williams received a card, and must have been at the event, although the team's transaction log shows him being optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on July 29th.  Only Greg Mathews was omitted here, which is odd, as the pitcher had been recalled from Triple-A on July 17th and stayed with the team for the remainder of the season.

Along with these five "update" cards for recently added players, 12 more cards were produced for either returning Phillies alumni or other, non-alumni former players.

ALS Autograph Party
1. Dick Allen
2. Jay Baller (#56 - RHP)          
3. Steve Bedrosian
4. Dave Cash
5. Joe Coleman, Jr.
6. Joe Coleman, Sr.
7. Stan Javier (#22 - OF)
8. Sparky Lyle      
9. Garry Maddox
10. Tug McGraw
11. Joe Millette (#27 - INF)          
12. Dickie Noles
13. Todd Pratt (#23 - C)
14. Bobby Shantz
15. Joe Torre
16. Elmer Valo
17. Mike Williams (#41 - RHP)          

Also See:  Scrapbook Sunday: April 7, 1992Uniforms Through the Years
Resources:  Beckett.com; Phillies collectors Rick (@rickphils) and Steve F.

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


No comments: