Cubs at Phillies: June 13th to June 15th

Friday 7:05, Saturday 3:05 and Sunday 1:35
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

At the Ballpark:  Tonight is 1960s Retro Night with both teams wearing uniforms from the '60s.  Former Phillies Tony Taylor, Cookie Rojas and John Herrnstein will throw out the ceremonial first pitches.

1988 Topps Appreciation:  Like I recently did for the Reds, I need to cram in a few more Phillies-related Cubs cards here since this is the last meeting between these two teams in 2014.  (As an aside, I think it's been at least a year or so since I mentioned that I really despise interleague play and the fact that we only get to see National League Central or West teams only once a year.)

Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg is having a difficult rookie season at the helm of the Phillies.  It's not his fault of course, and it's very unlikely that Sandberg won't be back for at least another season in 2015.  Jamie Moyer has the unenviable task of witnessing the 2014 Phillies from the announcer's booth, as the one-time Cub and Phillie joined the Phillies broadcasting team this season.  He's done a nice job so far, although I still prefer to listen to the radio guys, Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen.

1988 Topps #10, #36, #564 and #717

Frank Lucchesi finished up the 1987 season as the Cubs manager after then GM Dallas Green had fired Gene Michael.  Lucchesi managed the Cubs to an 8-17 record over the final 25 games of the season, and those 25 games would be the last he'd manage in the big leagues.  27 years earlier, Lucchesi got his start as a manager with the 1970 Phillies.  He'd compile a record of 166-233 before being dismissed part way through the awful 1972 season.

Finally, Jay Baller and his magnificent chest hair spent the bulk of his six-year career with the Cubs, but  he started and finished his career with the Phillies.  Baller appeared in four games for the 1982 Phillies before being one of the five players shipped to Cleveland in the Von Hayes deal.  He returned to the Phillies for eight games during the 1992 season, and he quickly departed after running up an 8.18 ERA over 11 innings of work.

Programming Note:  I'm returning from a brief out of town trip tonight and game summary posts will be updated shortly.  In case you were worried.

1992 Phillies - The True Missing Links

1992 Donruss Rookies #108, 1993 Donruss #332, #356 and 1993 Fleer #495

A few comments from 14,000 Phillies on my 1992 Topps Phillies post made me curious enough to check in on the Phillies cards available for each of the 48 players who appeared in a game with the 1992 Phillies.  Amazingly enough, according to my very scientific calcualtions, only two members of the 1992 Phillies sqaud never appeared on an actual Phillies baseball card.

I actually find this to be fairly stunning.  In today's day and age, there are a number of relievers, utility players and minor league fill-ins who get completely shut out from having a baseball card in any one of the dozen or so mainstream sets produced.  In recent years, if not for the Phillies team-issued postcard sets, these players would never appear on a Phillies baseball card at all.

So while I'd argue there were too many sets and too many cards to collect in the early '90s, at least the card manufacturers afforded us the opportunity to own Phillies cards of Greg Mathews, Julio Peguero and Jay Baller.  And that's a good thing.  (Right?)

1992 Medford Phillies
Update #35

3 Cards or More
40 Players

2 Cards
Keith Shepherd (12 games) - 1993 Donruss #332 and 1993 Fleer #109

1 Card
Greg Mathews (14 games) - 1993 Fleer #495
Julio Peguero (14 games) - 1992 Ultra #547
Don Robinson (10 games) - 1992 Medford Phillies Update #35
Jay Baller (8 games) - 1993 Donruss #356
Steve Scarsone (7 games) - 1992 Donruss Rookies #108

0 Cards
Darrin Chapin (1 game)
Mickey Weston (1 game)

Chapin was the player the Phillies acquired from the Yankees in exchange for Charlie Hayes prior to the start of the '92 season.  He spent the majority of the season with the team's Triple-A affiliate, but he made it into one game for the Phils on April 27th.  I have three cards of Chapin with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, but he never received a proper Phillies baseball card.

Weston signed with the Phillies as a minor league free agent in December 1991.  He was a teammate with Chapin in Scranton for much of the 1992 season, but he found himself with the big club for one game in June making a spot start against the Expos.  He didn't make it out of the fourth inning after allowing five runs, and his Phillies career was over.  I have a couple of cards of Weston with the Red Barons, but again, no Phillies cards.

1992 Donruss #745, 1992 SkyBox AAA #219,
1992 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons Team Issue #24 and 1992 ProCards #2447