Series Preview - Marlins at Phillies: May 18th to May 20th

2021 Chachi Fan Favorites #4

2021 Chachi 1986 Topps Missing Links #1

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 7:05
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

At the Ballpark:  No giveaways are scheduled for this series, but there are several theme nights happening.  Tonight celebrates Citizens Weather Education Week, Wednesday night is Margaritaville Night and Thursday is the annual youth baseball and softball celebration.

Marlins 18-22
4th Place in the N.L. East, 3 1/2 games behind the Mets

Marlins Probables
Cody Poteet (1-0, 3.60)
Trevor Rogers (5-2, 1.84)
Sandy Alcantara (1-3, 4.06)

Marlins Leaders
Average:  Miguel Rojas - .291
Runs:  Miguel Rojas - 27
Home Runs:  Jesus Aguilar - 9
RBIs:  Jesus Aguilar - 32
Stolen Bases:  Jazz Chisolm, Jr. - 8

Wins:  Trevor Rogers - 5
ERA:  Trevor Rogers - 1.84
Strikeouts:  Trevor Rogers - 57
Saves:  Yimi Garcia - 7

Phillies 21-20
2nd Place in the N.L. East, 1 game behind the Mets

Phillies Probables
Zack Wheeler (3-2, 2.85)
Zach Eflin (2-2, 3.86)
Vince Velasquez (1-0, 3.68)

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Bryce Harper - .307
Runs:  Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins - 25
Home Runs:  Rhys Hoskins - 8
RBIs:  Rhys Hoskins - 23
Stolen Bases:  Bryce Harper and Roman Quinn - 4

Wins:  Connor Brogdon - 4
ERA:  Zack Wheeler - 2.85
Strikeouts:  Aaron Nola - 61
Saves:  Hector Neris - 7

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

Phillies Missing Links of the 1980s - #11 Jeff Bittiger

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Jeffrey Scott Bittiger
Starting Pitcher

When rosters initially expanded in September 1986, the Phillies recalled outfielder Chris James, infielder Greg Legg and starting pitcher Jeff Bittiger.  Bittiger had come to the Phillies along with catcher Ronn Reynolds in January in a deal with the Mets that sent two prospects to New York.  He had a decent season with Triple-A Portland (13-8, 4.15 ERA) and the Phillies needed starting pitching help during the final month of their season, so he got the call-up.

In three starts, Bittiger would go 1-1 with a 5.52 ERA and the Phils ended up releasing him in December.  His longest stint in the Majors came in 1988 with the White Sox when he appeared in 25 games, earning him a number of mainstream baseball cards in 1989.  Bittiger pitched professionally with the Fargo-Moorhead Red Hawks for seven seasons between 1996 and 2002, finally retiring at the age of 40.

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'10"  Weight:  175
Born:  April 13, 1962, Jersey City, NJ
Drafted:  Drafted by the New York Mets in the 7th round of the June 1980 amateur player draft
Major League Teams:  Phillies 1986, Minnesota Twins 1987, Chicago White Sox 1988-1989
Professional Affiliations:  New York Mets 1980-1985, Phillies 1986, Minnesota Twins 1987, Chicago White Sox 1988-1989, Los Angeles Dodgers 1990, Cleveland Indians 1991, Oakland Athletics 1992, Rochester Aces (Independent) 1993, Kansas City Royals 1993, Winnipeg Goldeyes (Independent) 1994-1995, Oakland Athletics 1995, Fargo-Moorhead Red Hawks 1996-2002

Phillies Career
3 games, 1-1, 5.52 ERA in 14 2/3 innings pitched
Acquired:  Acquired from the New York Mets with Ronn Reynolds for Rodger Cole and Ronnie Gideon, January 16, 1986.
Debut:  September 2, 1986 - Lasted five innings against the Padres, allowing five runs on six hits.
Final Game:  October 4, 1986
Departed:  Released on December 8, 1986, and signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves, December 20, 1986.

1986 ProCards Portland Beavers #1

1988 Score Rookie & Traded #66T

1989 Topps #209

1989 Upper Deck #509

1 Bittiger Baseball Card in My Collection
First Card:  1986 ProCards Portland Beavers#1

Other Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1988 Score Rookie & Traded #66T
First Topps Base Card:  1989 Topps #209
Last Mainstream Card:  1989 Upper Deck #509
Other Notable Cards:  1982 TCMA Jackson Mets #1, 1989 Bowman #60, 1989 Score #512, 2003 Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks Team Issue #35

Sources:  Baseball Reference and The Trading Card Database

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.  I will make my way through the decade of the 1980s first and then work my way forward.  In some cases, the First and Last Mainstream cards listed above have been subjectively chosen if multiple cards were released in that year.

1986 Phillies - The Missing Links

1986 Tastykake Phillies #35 and 1987 Tastykake Phillies #11

I'm slowly making my way through the 1980s in this series of posts, detailing those unfortunate former Phillies with little to no cardboard representation, and then I'll tackle the 2000s.  And for those of you wondering if the Topps Phillies post will continue - they will.  It's just that I've had less free time to blog what with my new job (which is fantastic so far), my son's t-ball games and just general spring/summer fever.

3 Cards or More
37 Players

Randy Lerch's Major League swan song came in the form of four forgettable games with the 1986 Phillies.  In 8 innings, Lerch compiled a 7.88 ERA before earning his release in late June.  Lerch had a number of Phillies cards from his first stint with the club, but only one card - from the 1986 Tastykake Phillies set - commemorating his short second stint with the Phils.

2 Cards
Francisco Melendez (30 games in 1984 and 1986) - 1985 Tastykake Phillies and 1986 Tastykake Phillies
Rocky Childress (16 games in 1985 and 2 games in 1986) - 1985 Tastykake Phillies and 1986 Tastykake Phillies

I featured Melendez with the 1984 Missing Links post and Childress was featured within the 1986 Missing Links post, so there's no new ground to cover here.  Even though both players received two Phillies cards, the photos used for both remained the same in the 1985 and 1986 Tastykake Phillies sets.

1989 CMC Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons #19, 1998 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons
10th Anniversary #8, 2004 Multi-Ad Reading Phillies #25 and 2012 Multi-Ad Lakewood BlueClaws #30

1 Card
Greg Legg (11 games in 1986 and 3 games in 1987) - 1987 Tastykake Phillies #11

Legg has been a fixture in the Phillies organization for 31 years.  Legg was drafted by the Phillies in 1982 and he climbed through the minor league ranks before finally getting the call to the Majors in 1986.  His time with the Phillies was short-lived as he appeared in only 14 games throughout the 1986 and 1987 seasons.  He finished his big league career with a .409 (9 for 22) average.

Legg continued playing with the team's Triple-A affiliate through the 1994 season before retiring and permanently joining the minor league coaching ranks.  He has filled in briefly as an interim coach at the Major League level, with his most recent appearance coming during the team's 2008 championship season.  He's now a coach for Mickey Morandini's Low-A Lakewood BlueClaws.

Because of his longevity within the Phillies family and my penchant for collecting Phillies minor league cards, I'm the proud owner of 27 different Legg cards dating back to 1987.

0 Cards

Tom Gorman (8 games in 1986)

1986 ProCards Portland Beavers #1 and #7

Jeff Bittiger (3 games in 1986)

Bittiger made his Major League debut in September 1986 and he appeared in just three games with the Phillies - all as a starting pitcher.  The club released him in December 1986 and he'd go on to appear in parts of three seasons with the Twins and White Sox.

Gorman's time with the Phillies was a disaster, as the veteran southpaw appeared in 8 games with the Phils in late July and early August.  He was shipped down to the minors due to his 7.71 ERA in those 8 games and the Phillies released him following the season.  Gorman is probably best known to Phillies fans as the unfortunate Mets pitcher who was on the wrong end of a 26-7 thrashing courtesy of Von Hayes and several others back on June 11, 1985.  I covered the game and the resulting card back in a old Scrapbook Sunday post.

Past Missing Link Posts

1980 Phillies - Orlando Isales and Don McCormack

1981 Phillies - Jerry Reed

1982 Phillies - Stan Bahnsen and Alejandro Sanchez

1983 Phillies - Steve Comer

1984 Phillies - Renie Martin, Jim Kern and Mike LaValliere

1985 Phillies - None

1990 Phillies - Louie Meadows

1991 Phillies - Dave LaPoint

1992 Phillies - Darrin Chapin and Mickey Weston

1993 Phillies - None

1994 Phillies - Tom Edens and Bob Wells

1995 Phillies - Jim Deshaies, Kevin Elster, Omar Olivares, Chuck Ricci and Dennis Springer

1996 Phillies - Glenn Dishman, Bronson Heflin, Manny Martinez and Rafael Quirico

1997 Phillies - Rob Butler and Mike Robertson

1998 Phillies - Robert Dodd and Matt Whiteside

1999 Phillies - Joel Bennett, Domingo Cedeno, Joe Grahe and Torey Lovullo

2000 Phillies - Clemente Alvarez, Kirk Bullinger, Mark Holzemer and Bryan Ward

As a public service for those dozens (or half-dozen, give or take a few) of collectors interested in this important and critical initiative, I've added a Missing Links label to all previous posts.

1986 Topps Phillies - Missing Links

There are 16 players who appeared with the Phillies in 1986 who didn't make it into either the Topps base set or the traded series so I've made 1986 Topps cards for all 16.  As far as I know, neither Jeff Bittinger or Tom Gorman ever had Phillies cards - either mainstream or in the team-issued Tastykake sets - and if and when I ever have the free time to take a crash course in graphic design, I'm going to go back and fix their cards.

Most of the pictures I used for these cards are from the 1986 or 1987 Tastykake Phillies sets or from the 1986 Phillies Yearbook.

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