1956 Topps - 4th Series Phillies Alumni

After 10 years and exactly 342 posts for each of the 342 cards in the set, my 1956 Topps blog is coming to a close.  Within the next few weeks, I'll wrap up the final few posts and put the finishing touches on both a 4th Series review and an overall review of this wonderful baseball card set.  

As I've done with the prior three series, I wanted to display a gallery of Phillies Alumni from the set's fourth series, or cards #261 to #340.  Here are those 16 players who either played, coached or managed the Phillies.

 

#261

#266

#269

#274

#275

#282

#290

#293

#296

#297

#308

#321

#331

#334

#335

#337

Phillies Alumni in 1956 Topps Set

1st Series - 18

2nd Series - 14

3rd Series - 14

4th Series - 16

Game 89 - Suarez Hit Hard in Loss

1956 Topps #296

Braves 5, Phillies 1
Game 89 - Saturday Night, July 6th in Atlanta
Record - 58-31, 1st Place, 9 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Ranger Suarez didn't have his All-Star stuff in this 5-1 loss to the Braves.

What It Means:  The Phillies will go for the series win this afternoon behind rookie Michael Mercado.

What Happened:  Suarez struggled through five innings, giving up five runs on six hits and a pair of walks.  He allowed a pair of home runs and saw his ERA increase from 2.27 to 2.58.  The Phillies offense seemed baffled by Braves' starter Spencer Schwellenbach, scattering seven hits over his six innings of work.  The only Philies run came in the third when Johan Rojas, Bryson Stott and Trea Turner connected for three singles in a row.

Featured Card:  The Phillies didn't give me anything to work with here, so I'll use this opportunity to plug one of my other blogs, focusing on every card in the 1956 Topps set.  I started by 1956 Topps blog in 2015, and it looks as if it will come to a close in 2025 when I plan to publish the 342nd and final posts.  It's been fun taking a look back at each of the cards in this iconic set over the past nine years, and I'll be honestly sad to see it end.  Once it does end though, I already have plans for kicking off a new blog, looking at every card in the 1955 Bowman set.  If things stay on schedule, a 1955 Bowman blog should debut at some point in late 2025.

I recently posted the card seen here for Andy Seminick, and you can quickly view a visual gallery of the Phillies 1956 Topps team set here.

2024 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2024 Season Summary Index / 2024 Chachi Set Checklist

1956 Topps - 3rd Series Phillies Alumni

My 1956 Topps blog is still humming along, and it's close to crossing into the fourth and final series of the iconic set.  I'll eventually publish a page looking back at the breakdown of cards to be found in the third series, which consisted of 80 cards between #181 and #260.  Of those 80 cards, 14 were current, former or future Phillies players, managers or coaches, and a gallery of those 14 Phillies alumni cards is displayed below.

 

#183

#192

#197

#201

#202

#211

#217

#219

#220

#222

#227

#244

#249

#255

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!

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

Game 45 - 2005 Topps Heritage #180 Brett Myers

Red Sox 11, Phillies 3
Game 45 - Friday Night, May 21st in Philadelphia
Record - 22-23, 2nd Place, 2 1/2 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Poor defense, questionable pitching and a lack of offense contributed to this 11-3 drubbing by the Red Sox in the series opener.

What It Means:  The Phillies are a bad team right now.  They've lost six of their last eight and are now below .500 for the first time since they were 14-15 back on May 3rd.

What Happened:  There were three errors in the box score, including two from third baseman Alec Bohm to give him the league lead with seven overall.  In the ninth, Bryce Harper let a fly ball to the wall drop in for a bases-clearing double for Christian Vazquez.  Jean Segura had three hits, including his third home run of the year, but contributed to the circus play in the fifth when he dove for a wide throw from Bohm and then proceeded to lay on the ground while the play continued.  When asked postgame why Segura was laying on the ground there, manager Joe Girardi responded, "Yeah, I'm not sure."

Featured Card:  Aaron Nola also needs to right his ship, after another shaky and short outing.  Nola went five innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits.  He did strike out nine, and his 987th career strikeout in this game gave him ninth place on the Phillies all-time list, passing Brett Myers.  Curt Simmons is next up on the list with 1,052 strikeouts.

Transaction:  The Phillies finally gave in and placed J.T. Realmuto (c) on the injured list with his wrist injury.  He last appeared in a game on May 15th, but the Phillies are only permitted to backdate his injured list start by three days.  Matt Joyce (of) was activated to take his place on the roster.

2021 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2021 Season Summary Index / 2021 Chachi Set Checklist

1956 Topps - 1st Series Phillies Alumni

Similar to what I did recently with the 1965 Topps set and the Phillies Alumni within that set's first series, I wanted to post a gallery of the Phillies within the first 100 cards of the 1956 Topps set.  You can follow along as I document each card in the iconic 1956 Topps set here, and clicking on the links below each card will take you to that player's post.

#3

#7

#9

#17

#24

#46

#48

#49

#58

#60

#63

#67

#71

#75

#77

#78

#80

#81