1956 Topps #63 Roger Craig

This a crossover post from my other blog, chronicling each card in the wonderful 1956 Topps set. Today's post features former Phillies pitcher Roger Craig.  Please click on over there for all of the posts to date, including a look at all the Phillies Alumni featured in the set.

Roger Lee Craig
Brooklyn Dodgers
Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  190
Born:  February 17, 1930, Durham, NC
Signed:  Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1950 season
Major League Teams:  Brooklyn Dodgers 1955-1957; Los Angeles Dodgers 1958-1961; New York Mets 1962-1963; St. Louis Cardinals 1964; Cincinnati Reds 1965; Philadelphia Phillies 1966
As a Manager:  San Diego Padres 1978-1979; San Francisco Giants 1985-1992

A few decades before he was a successful manager for the Giants, Roger Craig pitched in parts of 12 seasons, experiencing the move of the Dodgers to the West Coast and suffering through the futility of the first fews years of the Mets' existence.  Craig went to six World Series (four as a player), winning rings with the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, the 1959 Los Angeles Dodgers, the 1964 Cardinals and as a coach with the 1984 Tigers.  Spending equal time as a starter and a reliever, Craig went 74-98 in 368 career appearances and owned a 3.83 career ERA.  He lost 46 games over two seasons with the expansion Mets.

Following his playing days, Craig taught his signature pitch, the split-finger fastball, to several pitchers including Jack Morris, Mike Scott and Milt Wilcox.  He served as a pitching coach for the Padres (1969-1972), Astros (1974-1975), Padres again (1976-1977) and Tigers (1980-1984).  In 1985, he was named manager of the Giants and he led the 1989 Giants to their first World Series appearance in 27 years.  Craig's leadership and unique rallying cry, "Humm Baby" weren't enough to defeat the Athletics in the 1989 series interrupted by 10 days as a result of the devastating Loma Prieta earthquake.

My family visited San Francisco for the Phillies series in early August, and the Giants celebrated the 30th anniversary of the 1989 team with a pre-game ceremony.  Craig, now 89, was on hand to celebrate with his former team and he took the field to a standing ovation with current Giants manager Bruce Bochy.

Building the Set
October 7, 2007 from Dad's eBay purchases - Card #307
This is one of five cards I received from my Dad for my 34th birthday, with each card being a fairly major card needed for our set.  Along with this Craig card, I received Bill Bruton (#185), Bob Feller (#200), Don Newcombe (#235) and Don Larsen (#332).  My Dad never told me how much he had paid for the cards.

The Card
This is Craig's rookie card and what looked to me initially to be a #10 on the back of his jersey is actually #40.  Craig wore that number for the first four seasons of his Dodgers career before switching to #38 for the 1959 season.  His birth year is off a year on the back of his card, as he was actually born in 1930.

The final panel on the back of the card celebrates Craig's performance in Game 5 of the 1955 World Series.  With the series tied at two, manager Walter Alston (#8) handed the ball to Craig.  I'm fairly certain he wasn't carried off the field, but Craig pitched six strong innings, allowing four hits including a solo home run from Bob Cerv (#288) in the seventh that chased him from the game.  Reliever Clem Labine (#295) held down the Yankees for the final three innings, giving the Dodgers a 3-2 advantage in the Series they'd ultimately win in seven games.

1956 Season
In his first full season with the Dodgers, Craig appeared in 35 games (32 starts) pitching to a 12-11 record and a 3.71 ERA.  He led all pitchers with a 1.000 fielding percentage, not committing an error in 32 chances.  Craig was the second top starting pitcher in the Dodgers rotation in 1956, following Newcombe and coming in ahead of both Sal Maglie and Carl Erskine (#233).

Phillies Career
On April 11, 1966, Craig was released by the Cincinnati Reds at the end of spring training, signing with the Phillies that very same day.  Craig made his first appearance for the Phillies on opening day against the Cardinals, coming on to relieve Chris Short in the 10th after Short had pitched 9 2/3 innings.  Craig pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings and was the recipient of the win when John Herrnstein singled home Dick Allen with the eventual winning run in the 12th.

Used solely as a reliever, Craig appeared in 14 games for the Phillies, going 2-1 with a 5.56 ERA.  The 36-year-old Craig was released by the club on July 23rd, ending his big league career.  Craig received a Phillies card in the 1966 Topps set, but the photo used is the exact same photo used for Craig's 1962 Topps card, when he was with the Mets.  Craig signed reprinted versions of his 1966 Topps card for inclusion in the 2015 Topps Heritage set.

1958 Topps #194

1963 Fleer #47

1966 Topps #543

1974 Topps #31

1989 Topps #744

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1956 Topps #63
First Topps Card:  1956 Topps #63
Representative Phillies Card:  1966 Topps #543
Last Topps Card (as a player):  1966 Topps #543
First Topps Card (as a manager):  1979 Topps #479
Last Topps Card (as a manager):  1992 Topps #109
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2015 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-RC

140 - Craig non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/30/19.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

Game 131 - 2019 Topps Archives #6 Rhys Hoskins

Pirates 5, Phillies 4
Game 131 - Tuesday Night, August 27th in Philadelphia
Record - 68-63, 3rd place, 10 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies battled back to tie up this game in the sixth, only for a Rhys Hoskins error in the ninth to lead to the Pirates' winning run.

What It Means:  The loss dropped the Phillies to two games behind the Cubs for the second Wild Card.

What Happened:  Drew Smyly gave up four runs on nine hits (including two home runs) in his 5 2/3 innings.  Adam Haseley had a pair of RBI singles and Logan Morrison hit his first home run as a Phillie to tie up the game in the sixth.

Featured Card:  It's not been a good summer for Hoskins.  Hoskins dropped the ball at first in what should have been an inning-ending double play in the ninth, and his error led to the Pirates scoring the eventual winning run.  Since the All-Star break (41 games), he's hitting .166 (24 for 145) with five home runs and 14 RBIs.

Another Package from Alan: Searching for Freddie Andrews

A few weeks back, I featured the first Phillies baseball card for Larry File as fellow collector Alan had been kind enough to send me a care package of autographed Phillies photos, including the rare photo of File used for my card.  Since then, Alan has been busy putting together a second care package, with even more autographed Phillies photos along with cards from various 1960s Phillies picture packs and a hard to find 1967 Phillies Safe Driving Jim Bunning card.

It's a blast to get a package like this in the mail, and with a busy week at work I wanted to wait until the weekend to take the time and enjoy each item Alan sent.

There were 21 different cards from various 5 x 7 Phillies picture pack sets in the package, and an extra card signed by Ray Semproch.  Sorting through the cards, I realized I had complete sets of the 1961 Jay Publishing picture pack (12 cards) along with 9 of the 12 cards from the 1958 Jay Publishing set.  The autographed Semproch photo is from the 1959 set.  I've been slowly adding these picture pack Phillies issues from the '50s and '60s and it's probably time for me to put together a true want list of what I still need to track down.

There was also a few version of a cool photo of former Phillies manager Danny Ozark, both signed, and taken during an Old-Timers Game at some point in the late 1980s in Arlington.

But the few pieces that puzzled me were the signed photos of short-time former Phillie Freddie Andrews, apparently clipped from a magazine article.  Andrews appeared in 16 games for the 1976 and 1977 Phillies, and his sole Phillies baseball card can be found within the 1977 team-issued photo card set.  I wanted to figure out the source of these signed magazine pages sent by Alan.  I came up empty while searching the Sports Illustrated online archive, and I searched every possible combination of words and names found within the article on the back of the pages but I still couldn't identify the source.

I finally Googled this sentence from the article, "In the spring of '72 Freddie Andrews learned to hate the Continuous Motion Program," and I immediately got a hit for the March 1974 issue of Boys' Life magazine.  Andrews was featured on the cover of that issue, and I'd recommend reading the entire article which I've linked here.  The article is written by former big leauge pitcher Jim Brosnan and it recounts a spring day in March 1973 on a minor league field at the Carpenter Complex in Clearwater, Florida, along with Andrews' rise through the Phillies farm system.  The article is dotted with names every Phillies fan will recognize, including farm director Dallas Green, general manager Paul Owens, Reading Phillies manager Bunning and coaches Wally Moses and Ruben Amaro.

Alan sent two copies of page 9 of the magazine along with the cover photo from page 8, with all three pages signed by Andrews.  Andrews would spend the entire 1973 season with the Reading Phillies team, where he'd hit .227 over 110 games.  He'd bounce back with a successful 1974 season, earning him a promotion to Triple-A Toledo.  And while he wasn't with the Phillies for long, I'm happy to add these pieces to my 1970s Phillies binder.

Thanks again Alan for the great package!

Game 72 - 2017 Topps Heritage #329 Brad Miller

Nationals 6, Phillies 2 (Game 1)
Game 72 - Wednesday Afternoon, June 19th in Washington
Record - 39-33, 2nd place, 3 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Patrick Corbin bested Zach Eflin as the Phillies offense fell flat again.

What It Means:  Summarizing these games has felt more like a chore than fun, so I've been avoiding it.  For purposes of completeness, here we go.  After two days of rain outs, the Phillies and Nationals resumed their schedule with a Wednesday day-night double header.

What Happened:  Eflin allowed three runs (two earned) in his six innings of work, but Corbin was better allowing a run on four hits.  The Phillies were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.  The Nationals put the game away when Brian Dozier and Gerardo Parra both homered off Cole Irvin in the eighth.

Featured Card:  Brad Miller collected his first Phillies RBI with triple in the ninth.  He's the 15th player in franchise history with the Miller surname, joining Bert (1897), Bob (1949-1958), Cyclone (1884), Ed (1948-1949), Elmer (1929), Hugh (1911), John (1920-1921), Keith (1988-1989), Leo (1923), Ralph (1920-1921), Roy (1912-1913), Russ (1927-1928), Stu (1956) and Trever (2000).

Transactions:  Ranger Suarez was added to the roster as the 26th man for the double header.

1958 Topps #326

1989 Topps #268

Game 99 - 2007 Topps Heritage #230 Chase Utley

Dodgers 7, Phillies 6
Game 99 - Monday Night, July 23rd in Philadelphia
Record - 55-44, Tied for 1st place, 6 games ahead of the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Chase Utley farewell tour came through Philadelphia one last time as the Dodgers capitalized on miscues by the Phillies to win late, 7-6.

What It Means:  The Phillies let this one get away, and they let small mistakes turn into big problems in this game.

What Happened:  With the score tied at five in the top of the 9th, Seranthony Dominguez loaded the bases and then uncorked a wild pitch to allow the go-ahead run to score.  The ball most likely should have been handled by catcher Jorge Alfaro.

The Dodgers hit four solo home runs and the Phillies countered with four home runs of their own from Maikel Franco (14), Rhys Hoskins (17) - a 3-run shot in the 5th, Odubel Herrera (18) and Franco again (15).  Todd Zolecki Tweeted that Franco is hitting .354 (29 for 82) in 25 games since June 23rd.

Zach Eflin suffered through a rare, ineffective start, getting pulled after 2 2/3 innings.

Featured Card:  Utley received several standing ovations throughout the game, with his familiar Kashmir playing before he was introduced prior to his first at-bat in the 2nd inning.

Transactions:  In a somewhat surprising move, fourth outfielder Aaron Altherr was optioned to Lehigh Valley and in a less surprising move, reliever Mark Leiter, Jr. was sent with him.  Eflin was activated from the disabled list, and Yacksel Rios, Sunday's double header's 26th man, was added to the 25-man roster.

Phillies Missing Links of the 2000s - #22 Russell Branyan

#4
Russell Oles Branyan
Pinch-Hitter/Third Base

First a disclaimer . . . In the course of drafting this post, I discovered for the first time, that Russell Branyan does in fact have a Phillies baseball card!  Unbeknownst to me until now, Topps included him within their Year in Review insert set in 2008.  Please consider this Missing Links card an Uncorrected Error, as Branyan is not in fact a Missing Link.  Carry on.

Over the course of his 14-year big league career, Branyan played for 10 teams teams and the Phillies hold the distinction of being his shortest stop.  The Indians sold Branyan to the Phillies on August 9th in a move presumably designed with the intention of Branyan being used as a left-handed bat off the bench.  The move resulted in one big win for the team as Branyan hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run in his first at-bat for the Phillies on August 14th, giving the team a 3-2 win over the Nationals.  He'd have one more hit in a Phillies uniform (another home run) and it came during his only start with the team (at third base) on August 19th.  On August 27th, Chase Utley was activated from the disabled list and Branyan was designated for assignment.  He'd land with the Cardinals on August 31st - his fourth organization of the season.

Branyan's best season was on the horizon, as he hit 31 home runs and drove in 76 with the 2009 Mariners.  His last Major League appearance came in 2011 with the Angels, and he played professionally through the 2014 season during his fifth (!) stint within the Indians organization.

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  235
Born:  December 19, 1975, Warner Robins, GA
Drafted:  Drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 7th round of the 1994 amateur draft, June 2, 1994
Major League Teams:  Cleveland Indians 1998-2002; Cincinnati Reds 2002-2003; Milwaukee Brewers 2004-2005; Tampa Bay Devil Rays 2006; San Diego Padres 2006-2007; Phillies 2007; St. Louis Cardinals 2007; Milwaukee Brewers 2008; Seattle Mariners 2009; Cleveland Indians 2010; Seattle Mariners 2010; Arizona Diamondbacks 2011; Los Angeles Angels 2011
Professional Affiliations:  Cleveland Indians 1998-2002; Cincinnati Reds 2002-2003; Atlanta Braves 2004; Cleveland Indians 2004; Milwaukee Brewers 2004-2005; Tampa Bay Devil Rays 2006; San Diego Padres 2006-2007; Cleveland Indians 2007; Phillies 2007; St. Louis Cardinals 2007; Milwaukee Brewers 2008; Seattle Mariners 2009; Cleveland Indians 2010; Seattle Mariners 2010; Arizona Diamondbacks 2011; Los Angeles Angels 2011; New York Yankees 2012; Toros de Tijuana (Mexico) 2014; Cleveland Indians 2014

Phillies Career
7 games, .222 average (2 for 9), 2 home runs, 5 RBIs, 6 strikeouts
Acquired:  August 9, 2007 - Purchased from the Cleveland Indians.
Debut:  August 14, 2007 - Pinch-hitting for Antonio Alfonseca in the 8th inning in a game the Phillies were trailing 2-1 against the Nationals, hit a home run off Jon Rauch to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead.  Brett Myers struck out the side in the 9th to record his 10th save, pulling the Phillies to within 3 games of the Mets in the division.
Final Game:  August 25, 2007 - Pinch-hit for Tom Gordon in the 8th and struck out against the Padres' Heath Bell.
Departed:  August 31, 2007 - Traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for a player to be named later.

3 Branyan Baseball Cards in My Collection
2007 Topps Heritage #195
2007 Topps Update #US19
2007 Upper Deck #910

Complete Chachi Checklist
2007 Chachi #52

1996 Bowman #342

1998 Topps #262

2007 Topps Heritage #195

2007 Chachi #52

2011 Topps #116

Other Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1996 Bowman #342
First Topps Base Card:  1998 Topps #262 (with Eric Chavez and Russ Johnson)
Last Mainstream Card:  2011 Topps Heritage #364
Other Notable Cards:  1999 Upper Deck #358, 2000 Topps #208, 2001 Topps #599, 2001 Topps Heritage #263, 2002 Topps Traded #T32, 2005 Bowman Heritage #87, 2008 Topps Year in Review #YR134, 2011 Topps #116

Sources:  Baseball Reference and The Trading Card Database

Phillies Missing Links of the 2000s
1 Kirk Bullinger
2 Chris Pritchett
3 Bryan Ward
4 Mark Holzemer
5 Turner Ward
6 P.J. Forbes
7 Matt Walbeck
8 Kelly Stinnett
9 Valerio de los Santos
10 Josh Hancock
11 Brian Powell
12 Paul Abbott
13 Todd Jones
14 A.J. Hinch
15 Ramon Martinez
16 Matt Kata
17 Aquilino Lopez
18 Adam Bernero
19 Jose Hernandez
20 Randall Simon
21 Anderson Garcia
22 Russell Branyan

This is a continuing series looking at those players who spent time with the Phillies but possess no baseball card proof of their time in Philadelphia.  In some cases, the First and Last Mainstream cards listed above have been subjectively chosen if multiple cards were released in that year.

Happy Birthday Mom!

1950 Bowman #204

1952 Bowman #148

I'm a few days late with this post, as I had to take a quick little work trip to Chicago.  Sadly, I was unable to fit a baseball game into my visit and return trips to Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park (aka Guaranteed Rate Field) will have to wait until (hopefully) my next Chicago trip.

But I digress.  Another tax day has come and gone and my Mom's birthday was on Monday.  As has been the tradition in recent years, I'm compensated for preparing my Mom's tax returns in the form of vintage Phillies baseball cards.  This is an amazing form of compensation and at the same time a horrible business model if I was actually in the business of preparing individual tax returns.  I'm always extremely grateful for the time my Mom takes to review my want lists and then track down Phillies cards I need.  She's very meticulous in her hunt, and the cards she provides are always in fantastic shape.

This year was no different than prior years.  I added two more Bowman Phillies cards to my collection as I creep ever closer to having a full run of vintage Bowman Phillies team sets.  The fantastic horizontal Granny Hamner card from the 1950 Bowman set means I'm just one card away (#177 Hank Borowy) from the complete team set.  And the Ken Heintzelman card from the 1952 Bowman set means I'm three cards away from completing that team set.

1952 Topps #44

1958 Topps #134

Next up were a few vintage Topps cards.  I've had a reprint of Con Dempsey's 1952 Topps card in my collection for over 30 years, and I now I've added the original.  My Mom also tracked down a 1958 Topps Phillies team card, with a pristinely unmarked back.

Even though I'm extremely thankful for my Mom every day, I like to officially declare my gratitude every year on (or near) her birthday.  Nothing I've accomplished so far would have been possible without the love, support, patience and baseball card purchasing of her and my Dad.  Happy birthday Mom!

Thanks Santa! Time to Update My Most Wanted List (#SBWTMABCTJ)

1950 Bowman #121

1952 Topps #158

1952 Bowman #184

We made it!  It's 2017 and the sun is (sort of) shining, the coffee is hot and I've decided to spend the first day of the year sorting baseball cards.  My first order of business is to once again completely update my Ten Most Wanted - Vintage list on the sidebar, which until the day after Christmas looked like this:

For the past six Christmases, my Mom has been chipping away at my Phillies team set needs one card at a time.  For as long as I can remember, Santa (with help from my parents I suppose) has gifted me with amazing baseball cards each and every Christmas morning.  Through my college years, the Dark Times and even after I had married and had kids of my own, my Dad continued the tradition of hunting down baseball cards that would amaze me and become treasured additions to my collection. My Mom has continued that tradition since my Dad passed away in 2011.

She truly outdid herself this year for the annual Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim (SBWTMABCTJ) extravaganza, completely wiping out my Ten Most Wanted - Vintage list.  Here's a run-down of the 10 vintage cards from this year's haul.  (Click on any of the photos of the cards to enlarge.)

1950 Bowman #121 Andy Seminick
This brings me down to needing just two more cards to complete the 1950 Bowman 19-card Phillies team set.  Once I have the final two cards, I'll definitely be showing off the complete set in a gallery-style post.

1952 Bowman #184 Curt Simmons
I'm also close to completing the 16-card Phillies team set from 1952 Bowman.  After adding this Simmons card to my collection, I'm only four cards away.  The back of this card references Simmons' return from military service.  Although it's slightly miscut, this may be my favorite card of the bunch.

1952 Topps #158 Eddie Waitkus
The bio on the back of this card begins, "Shot by a crazed girl in June, 1949, Ed was close to death." Most of the remaining Phillies cards I need from the 1952 Topps set are from the scarce and pricey high number series.

1952 Bowman Black & White #58

1953 Bowman Color #133

1958 Topps #90

1959 Topps #8

1953 Bowman Black & White #58 Jim Konstanty
1953 Bowman Color #133 Willie Jones
It's always exciting to add cards of any of the Whiz Kids to my collection.  I've seen these two cards for years both at baseball card shows and online, and it's a fantastic feeling to have them both in my collection now.  Kids opening packs of baseball cards in 1953 had no idea how good they had it.

1958 Topps #90 Robin Roberts
1959 Topps #8 Phillies Team Card
With the exception of cards needed from the 1952 Topps set, I'm surprisingly close to having a complete run of Phillies cards from the Topps sets of the 1950s.  I'm pretty sure I have this Roberts card in my collection in reprint form, so it's nice to finally have the original.

1965 Topps #4

1967 Topps #560

1967 Topps #595

1965 Topps #4 N.L. Home Run Leaders
Johnny Callison's head appearing in the bottom left of this card meant that I needed it to complete my 1965 Topps Phillies team set.  It's also great to have an excuse to add a card featuring three Hall of Famers (Willie Mays, Billy Williams and Orlando Cepeda) to my collection.

1967 Topps #560 Jim Bunning
1967 Topps #595 Cookie Rojas
Wrapping up the vintage portion of the annual SBWTMABCTJ are two Phillies cards I needed for my 1967 Topps team set.  These are both from the tougher high-number series, and the Rojas card is a close runner up to the 1952 Bowman Simmons card as my favorite addition.

But wait, there's more!  My Mom also crossed off two extremely oddball wants from my Ten Most Wanted - Modern list and I'll feature those two cards in a future post.

Baseball Card Show Report - Valley Forge 4

1941 Play Ball #9

1957 Topps #174

1958 Hire's Root Beer #43

1959 Topps #338

On Sunday, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show in Valley Forge. Doug had actually saved Christmas money for this show and he's spent the last few weeks preparing his checklists.  We had a fantastic day, and I'm OK with the fact that Doug came away with way more cards than I did.  I'm always grateful to those dealers that give Doug some extra attention, especially when they realize that this kid is truly a collector and not just looking for the big hits.

There were four former Phillies signing autographs on Sunday, and Doug admittedly had never heard of any of them.  That being said, we still decided to buy four autograph tickets so that he could at least meet them and add to a growing autograph collection.  I'll have a separate post coming up to show off our new autographs.

Doug was very happy going through the bargain bins and he added a small stack of vintage (1970s is vintage to him) Hall of Famer cards to his collection.  He also came away with a bunch of newer Phillies cards and some more Mike Trout cards for his growing player collection.  He's within a few cards now of completing his 2016 Topps Opening Day set, and he needs just one more card (Johnny Bench) for a complete 2016 Topps Bunt set.  Not to leave out his brother Ben, Doug hunted down an autographed Ben Revere card and a signed 8 x 10 photo of Revere for his brother's collection.

1948 Philadelphia Bulletin Stand-Ups

1949 Philadelphia Bulletin Phillies

While we weren't adding cards to Doug's collection, I managed to add a bunch of cool cards to my collection as well.  The "newest" card I brought home was from 1971:

• I wanted to add at least one of the four following big stars to my 1971 Topps set:  Ernie Banks, Willie Mays, Bench or Roberto Clemente.  I came away with both the Banks and Bench cards along with several other semi-stars and a few high numbers.  I'm slowly making progress on this set and once it's completed I'll be the proud owner of a complete run of Topps sets from 1970 through 2015.
• I picked up a nice assortment of Phillies cards from the 1950s and 1960s, with the highlight being the addition of Sparky Anderson's rookie card from the 1959 Topps set.
• I found a gorgeous (and cheap!) Pinky May card from the 1941 Play Ball set.
• I found a few oddball Dick Sisler items from newspaper sets from the late 1940s.
• Finally, I added two 1911 T205 Gold Border Phillies cards to my collection, and I'll show these off in a future post.

It was truly a fantastic day and we're already making plans for our next big baseball card show outing!

Memory Lane

Valley Forge 1 - September 2010 - Thinking of my Dad
Valley Forge 2 - October 2012 - Doug's first baseball card show
Valley Forge 3 - September 2014 - Meeting Darren Daulton
Valley Forge 4 - September 2016

1958 Hires Root Beer #60 Willie Jones #Report

Happy Pitchers and Catchers Day!

We made it through another long winter.  May your skies be blue and may your root beer be cold.

Here's hoping the Phillies can find some players to really sock the horsehide in 2016, much like Puddin' Head did in 1951.

1958 Topps #76 Dick Farrell

Phillies 6, Tigers 5
Spring Training Game 10 - Thursday Afternoon, March 12th in Lakeland
Record - 5-4-1

One Sentence Summary:  Led by Andres Blanco's two-run triple, the Phillies rode a six-run fifth inning to a 6-5 win over the Tigers.

What It Means:  Ten games into the spring schedule and the offense finally showed a little pop.

What Happened:  Along with Blanco's big hit, Odubel Herrera and Jeff Francoeur each had a pair of hits.  David Buchancan impressed with three scoreless innings of relief.

Featured Card:  No offense to Blanco or the other Phillies, but of much more interest to me and other baseball fans on Thursday afternoon was Will Ferrell's stunt of playing for ten different teams over five different spring training games.  Unfortunately, the event (which raised funds for cancer research) took place in Arizona so the Phillies weren't able to participate.

I'm hoping Topps is able to issue a special ten-card set as part of a future release to commemorate Ferrell's day.  In the meantime, the closest I can come to paying tribute to this event is by featuring a card of former Phillies pitcher Dick "Turk" Farrell.  (No relation, and different last names but close enough.)

2002 Topps Archives #141 Richie Ashburn

Braves 7, Phillies 4
Game 139 - Wednesday Afternoon, September 3rd in Atlanta
Record - 64-75, 5th Place, 15 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  A costly Chase Utley error and David Buchanan's inconsistent pitching doomed the Phillies in a 7-4 loss to the Braves.

What It Means:  The Phillies came back down to Earth in this game.  They'll have the day off today and then open up a weekend series in Washington.

What Happened:  Utley's error to start the third would eventually lead to three unearned runs.  Buchanan lasted just four innings before giving way to the bullpen.  Grady Sizemore temporarily tied up the game in the third with a two-run home run.

2014 Bowman Prospects
#BP105

Featured Cards:  Ben Revere had three more hits in this game, and as of right now, his .314 average leads the National League . . . which is actually kind of mind-boggling.  Revere has only 11 walks all season, and his OBP of .331 ranks 38th in the National League among 69 qualifying batters.  He could quite possibly become one of the worst hitters, statistically speaking, to ever win a batting title.

If he does win the title, and I'll be pulling for him, he'd become the first Phillie to win the crown since Richie Ashburn did it way back in 1958.  Whitey hit .350 that season.

Also, Cuban righty Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez made his Major League debut in this game, pitching an inning, allowing three hits and two walks and a couple of runs.  It wasn't the best debut, but I'm hoping he was just getting his feet wet.