Phillies at Braves: September 18th to September 20th

1965 Topps #583

1965 Topps #23

Monday and Tuesday 7:20, Wednesday 12:20
Truist Park - Atlanta, GA

At the Ballpark:  On Tuesday, the first 15,000 fans will receive a Ronald Acuna, Jr. Bat Flip bobble head.

Phillies 81-68
2nd Place in the N.L. East, 15 games behind the Braves

Phillies Probables
Zack Wheeler (11-6, 3.70)
Cristopher Sanchez (2-4, 3.40)
Aaron Nola (12-9, 4.62)

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Bryce Harper - .291
Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 101
Home Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 44
RBIs:  Kyle Schwarber - 97
Stolen Bases:  Bryson Stott - 29

Wins:  Taijuan Walker - 15
ERA:  Zack Wheeler - 3.70

Strikeouts:  Zack Wheeler - 196
Saves:  Craig Kimbrel - 23

Braves 96-53
1st Place in the N.L. East, 15 games ahead of the Phillies

Braves Probables
Kyle Wright (0-2, 7.48)
Max Fried (7-1, 2.64)
Spencer Strider (17-5, 3.73)

Braves Leaders
Average:  Ronald Acuna - .337
Runs:  Ronald Acuna - 135
Home Runs:  Matt Olson - 52
RBIs:  Matt Olson - 129
Stolen Bases:  Ronald Acuna - 66

Wins:  Spencer Strider - 17
ERA:  Bryce Elder - 3.50

Strikeouts:  Spencer Strider - 259
Saves:  Raisel Iglesias - 29

2023 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2023 Season Summary Index / 2023 Chachi Set Checklist

Philly Baseball Card Show Report - Focus on 1965 Topps Set

Doug and I attended the Philly Show this past weekend, or the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, as it's officially known, held once again in the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia.  Having been somewhat overwhelmed by the Saturday crowd when we attended the show in December, we decided to mix it up a little and go on a Sunday.  It was the right call.

After a smooth drive with no traffic, we arrived at the show right after the doors had opened at 9am and walked in with a few other families.  There were no lines and the crowd was fairly thin for the first few hours of the show, allowing us to actually browse tables and talk with some of the dealers.  I know the dealers obviously prefer a larger crowd, but I felt I probably spent more since I never felt rushed and I spent more time looking through binders and studying display cases than I usually would.  The autograph guests for the day were all Eagles players, and most of them weren't set to arrive until after lunch.  It seemed the general vibe of the show for those early Sunday hours was take your time, find stuff you like, purchase, repeat.

While Doug set out to acquire a few cool J.T. Realmuto cards (mission accomplished - see above) I had my focus on acquiring as many of the remaining 114 cards needed for our 1965 Topps set as possible.  After an unexpected detour where I added four cards to my slowly progressing 1934-36 Diamond Stars set, I started looking for dealers with 1965 Topps commons binders.  My search netted 102 cards from primarily three dealers - America's Pastime, Uncle Dick's (again) and Sports Cards Plus.  I'll continue to chronicle each card acquired for our set over on my 1965 Topps blog.

Funds depleted, dents made to our want lists, we left the show early and were home by lunch.  Doug's new Realmuto treasures along with a few other pick-ups are already proudly displayed in his room, while I have another huge stack of cards to checklist and sort and I'm thrilled to know a 1965 Topps complete set is well within reach.  Just need to track down reasonably priced Mantle and Koufax cards . . .

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
Oaks 1 - October 2015 - Meeting Pete Rose and Steve Carlton
Valley Forge 4 - September 2016 - Phillies acquisitions and 4 Phillies Legends
Valley Forge 5 - December 2016 - Meeting Don Money
Valley Forge 6 - September 2017 - Doug's big day
Valley Forge 7 - December 2017 - Ben's first baseball card show with Mike Schmidt and Rhys Hoskins!
Oaks 2 - December 2018 - Meeting Matt Stairs and Cole Hamels
Valley Forge 8 - March 2019 - 5 Phillies Autographs and Vintage Phillies Additions
Valley Forge 9 - September 2019 - Closing in on 1971 Topps set and Andrew McCutchen
Valley Forge 10 - December 2019 - Finishing 1971 Topps set, Starting 1965 Topps set, adding key autographs from Ryan Howard and Brad Lidge
Valley Forge 11 - February 2020 - More 1965 Topps cards, Jimmy Rollins, Mike Lieberthal and Jim Kaat

Valley Forge 12 - December 2021 - Huge haul of 1965 Topps, Jim Thome

Valley Forge 13 - March 2022 - Easy like Sunday morning, close to completing 1965 Topps

1966 Topps Phillies

1966 Topps #170, #230, #284 and #151

For about a year in the late '80s (or maybe it was the early '90s), I collected the 1966 Topps set.  I had somehow obtained the Mickey Mantle card from the set, and I decided to try to build the rest of the set around the Mantle card.  I went to a few shows, rummaged through a few common boxes at local baseball card stores and managed to accumulate about 50 cards from the set.

Not long after deciding I was going to try to hand collate this set, I realized I didn't actually like the set much.  If I was going to put my time and money into collecting a vintage '60s Topps set, maybe I should go for a set I really liked.  Upon making this realization, I stopped collecting the set, and the 50-card starter set has remained tucked away in a box ever since.

The Set

1966 Topps #170 (Back)

Number of cards in the set:  Topps again featured 598 card in their flagship set.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  Don't get me wrong, despite my somewhat harsh comments in the opening paragraphs of this post, I think this is nice set.  It's just that there are other sets from the '60s (1965, 1967) that I like better.

Notable competition:  If you wanted Phillies baseball cards in 1966, your choices were Topps cards or the four Phillies found in the 1966 Bazooka set. 

1966 Phillies

Record and finish:  With a record of 87-75, the team finished in fourth place in the National League behind the Pirates, Giants and the pennant-winning Dodgers.

Key players:  Dick Allen (.317, 40 home runs, 110 RBIs) and Bill White (.276, 22 home runs, 103 RBIs) led the offense.  Chris Short led the pitching staff with 20 wins, followed by Jim Bunning's 19.  Closer Darold Knowles saved 13 games and owned an impressive 3.05 ERA.

Key events:  The Phillies made two key trades that directly effected the '66 season and indirectly effected the franchise for next several years, as prospects were traded away for veterans.  First, in October 1965, the Phillies acquired perennial All-Star fist baseman White, shortstop and former MVP Dick Groat and catcher Bob Uecker from the Cardinals for pitcher Art Mahaffey, catcher Pat Corrales and left fielder Alex Johnson.  A few months later, shortly after the start of the regular season, the Phillies acquired starting pitchers and former All-Stars Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson from the Cubs.  In return, the Phillies sent three prospects to the Cubs - first baseman John Herrnstein, center fielder Adolfo Phillips and pitcher Ferguson Jenkins.  Neither deal worked out for the Phils.

1966 Phillies in 1966 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are just 27 cards in the 1966 Topps Phillies team set.  That's 205 total Phillies Topps cards in the '60s so far and 378 Phillies Topps cards since 1951.

Who’s in:  The 27 cards can be broken down as follows:

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1966 - 21 cards
• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1966 - 1 card for Johnson (#104), traded to the Cardinals in the off-season
• 1966 Rookie Stars cards - 2 cards, including the Jenkins/Bill Sorrell rookie card (#254) and Grant Jackson's rookie card, shared with the Dodgers' Bart Shirley (#598)
• Manager card - 1 card for Gene Mauch (#411)
• Team card - 1 card (#463)
• Combo card - 1 card featuring the "Power Plus" duo of Johnny Callison and Wes Covington

1966 Topps #32, #4, #52 and #522

Callison hit just 11 home runs in 1966 and Covington, who had been traded to the Cubs in January, played in just 9 games during the season and didn't hit any home runs.  It's the curse of the Classic Combo card!

Who’s out:  Back-up outfielder Doug Clemens (acquired from the Cubs for Covington) appeared in 79 games for the '66 Phils, yet he's not in the 1966 Topps set.  Starting pitchers Chris Short and Rick Wise also got left out.

Phillies on other teams:  There are seven baseball cards in the set featuring 1966 Phillies on other teams - back-up catcher Uecker (#91) and shortstop Groat (#103) with the Cardinals, outfielder Harvey Kuenn (#372) and starting pitcher Buhl (#185) with the Cubs, and relief pitchers Knowles (#27) with the Orioles, Steve Ridzik (#294) with the Senators and Terry Fox (#472) with the Tigers.

What’s he doing here:  Johnson slipped into the first series as a Phillie, but both Mahaffey (#570) and Corrales (#137) are shown as Cardinals.  Bill Sorrell, who shares Hall of Famer Jenkins' rookie card, played in 10 games with the 1965 Phillies and spent 1966 in the minors

Cards that never were candidates:  Clemens, Short and Wise.  And instead of the Covington/Callison Power Plus card, how about one for Allen/White?

Favorite Phillies card:  I've always loved Cookie Rojas' card (#170) from this set, as it just exudes happiness and '60s charm with the groovy specs.

2002 Topps Archives #94, 2004 Topps Shoe Box Collection #36,
1991 Baseball Cards Magazine Repli-Cards #28, 2010 Topps Vintage Collection #VLC-34

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Topps has only come back to this design a few times for its retro-based insert sets.  There are three Ferguson Jenkins rookie card reprints out there I'm aware of (minus Sorrell) - 2001 Topps Archives, 2011 Topps Archives Reserve (basically a Chrome version of the regular Archives set), and the 2004 Topps Shoe Box Collection card.  In 2010, Topps produced a 1966 Topps-style Mike Schmidt insert card, completely missing the mark with the wrong banner color and a not quite right font.

Blogs/Websites:  I'm venturing into Jim from Downingtown territory with this post.  Please check out the fine 1966 Topps Baseball blog for much more information and featured cards from this set.  Jim's various blogs will feature prominently as I cover the next few years' of Topps sets.

Did You Know?:  I have woefully few Phillies cards from 1965 through 1967 in my collection, so I'm going to make these cards a priority during my next visit to a baseball card show.  Beginning in 1970, with the exception of a few high numbers from the 1971 Topps set, I have a complete run of Phillies cards from the Topps base sets.

1964 Topps Phillies

1964 Topps #135, #265, #208 and #157

The Phillies were supposed to go to the World Series in 1964.  Tickets and programs had been printed.  But with 12 games to play and a 6 1/2 game lead in the National League - they blew it.  I've been told grown men broke down in tears the day the Phils were officially eliminated from postseason play.  Growing up, I remember hearing the "grown ups" talk about the '64 season in hushed voices, always melancholy.  Although I've suffered through years of futility, I won't pretend to understand the heartache and massive disappointment that must have been felt by the Phillies and their fans in 1964.

The Set

1964 Topps #265 (Back)

Number of cards in the set:  There are 587 cards in a complete set.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  There are a few notable Phillies cards in the set, but overall, it's probably one of my least favorite Topps sets of the decade.  This could be because of the drab design, or it could be just because I associate the year 1964 with bad things happening for the Phillies.

Notable competition:  With their suit against Fleer in 1963, Topps effectively stopped all competitors for the foreseeable future.  A few Phillies can be found in the Wheaties Stamps set.  Topps released a number of specialty sets in 1964 including Topps Coins, Topps Giants (postcard-size cards), Topps Tattoos and Topps Stand-Ups.

1964 Phillies

Record and finish:  92-70, one agonizing game behind the Cardinals in the National League, and tied for second place with the Reds.

Key players:  Right fielder Johnny Callison (.274, 31 home runs and 104 RBIs), newly anointed third baseman Richie Allen (.318, 29 home runs and 91 RBIs) and left fielder Wes Covington (.280, 13 home runs and 58 RBIs) paced the offense.  Jim Bunning, acquired in an off-season trade with the Tigers, was the ace of the pitching staff, going 19-8 with a 2.63 ERA and 13 complete games.  Chris Short was right behind him with a 17-9 record, a 2.20 ERA and 12 complete games.  Jack Baldschun saved 21 games for the club.

1964 Topps #191, #43, #83 and #347

Key events:  The Phillies traded third baseman Don Demeter and pitcher Jack Hamilton to the Tigers in December 1963 for Bunning and catcher Gus Triandos, necessitating the move to third by Allen.  Although Allen led the league with 41 errors, his 29 home runs set the Phillies rookie home run record.  On Father's Day 1964, Bunning threw the seventh perfect game in Major League history against the New York Mets.  The Phils acquired Frank Thomas in August from the Mets, and the slugger had 26 RBIs in 34 games before breaking his thumb.  The Phils then acquired Vic Power from the Angels to replace Thomas, but Power struggled at the plate against his first taste of National League pitching.

1964 Phillies in 1964 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 27 Phillies baseball cards in a 1964 Topps team set.  We're up to 148 Phillies Topps cards from the '60s and 321 Phillies Topps cards overall.

Who’s in:  21 of the 27 cards feature players who suited up with the Phillies in 1964.  Three of the five remaining cards are multi-player "Rookie Stars" cards.  The last three cards are a manager card for Gene Mauch, a card for minor leaguer Paul Brown and a team card.

1964 Topps #243

Who’s out: It's the same annual story for Short, as he'd need to wait three more years for his first Topps card.  Back-up left fielder Alex Johnson got left out too, despite appearing in 43 games and hitting .303 with four home runs.

Phillies on other teams:  Thomas (#345 with the Mets) and Power (#355 with the Twins) are featured with their former teams.  Reliever Ed Roebuck (#187 with Senators) appeared in 60 games with the '64 Phillies after being purchased from Washington.  And long-time Philadelphia Athletic Bobby Shantz (#278 with Cardinals) wrapped up his 16-year career with 14 games with the Phillies after being purchased from the Cubs in August.

What’s he doing here:  Brown appears on card #319, despite spending the entire season in AAA Arkansas.  Don't be fooled by Demeter's card (#58).  It's a Tigers card, even though he's clearly sporting a Phillies uniform.

Cards that never were candidates:  Short and Johnson.  And it would be cool to give Shantz and Power their first and only Phillies cards.  (Both appeared in the Philadelphia Bulletin set, included as 8" x 10" inserts in the newspaper.)

2001 Topps Archives #44

Favorite Phillies card:  The season ended on a sour note, but the future looked bright, especially with Allen in the fold.  His rookie card is #243 in the set, and he shares it with John Hernnstein.  Hernnstein, you may recall, also made a cameo on Willie Stargell's rookie card in the 1963 Topps set.  Sadly, Hernnstein is nowhere to be found on Allen's 2001 Topps Archives card.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  There haven't been many Topps cards in recent years to re-use the 1964 Topps design.  But just wait until 2013, when the design should appear in that year's Topps Heritage set.

Blogs/Websites:  I spent close to an hour going through past posts on The 1964 Topps Blog.  The proprietor of the blog is 255 cards away from having a complete 587-card set.

Did You Know?:  I'm amazed this is the first time I've ever featured a Jim Bunning baseball card on the blog.

1962 Topps Phillies

1962 Topps #146, #17, #220 and #453

We're now up to the design used for this year's Topps Heritage set, the original wood-grained wonder.  Way before there was 1987 Topps, there was the 1962 Topps set.

The Set

1962 Topps #146 (Back)

Number of cards in the set:  Topps added eleven more cards to its baseball card set in 1962, increasing the complete set size to 598 cards.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  I've always liked this set.  Way back in my early days of collecting, my Dad bought me a Tim McCarver 1962 Topps card and my first thought was that the card looked so old.  The design and feel of the set is reminiscent of your grandparents' basement, peeling posters on the wall and all.  It's familiar and comfortable.

Notable competition:  There was an abundance of regional and food-issued sets released.  Post again issued  a 200-card set available on its cereal boxes (9 Phillies in the set) and a set of 221 coins were released with Salada Tea and Junket Pudding mix (12 Phillies coins).

1962 Phillies

Record and finish: Thanks in part to two expansion teams - the New York Mets and the Houston Colt .45's - the Phillies finished with a record of 81-80, in seventh place in the new ten-team National League.

Key players:  The offense showed signs of life, as led by third baseman Don Demeter (.307, 29 home runs and 107 RBIs), right fielder Johnny Callison (.300, 23, 83) and first baseman Roy Sievers (.262, 21, 80).  Demeter moved to third to make room for Sievers, acquired in an off-season trade with the White Sox.  Tony Gonzalez (.300, 20, 63, 17 stolen bases) had another consistent year.  All-Star Art Mahaffey led the pitching staff (19-14, 3.94 ERA) followed by Cal McLish and Chris Short with eleven wins each.  Jack Baldschun won 12 games and saved 13 out of the bullpen.

Key events:  Things were starting to look up for the Phillies after a dismal 1961 season.

1962 Topps #77, #434, #104 and #374

1962 Phillies in 1962 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 27 cards in the 1962 Topps Phillies team set, down three from 1961 most likely as a result of the team's awful performance in the prior year.  That makes 92 cards from 1960 to 1962, and 265 total Phillies Topps cards dating back to 1951.  I have most of the '62 Topps cards, but I still need to track down the high numbers.

Who’s in:  24 of the 27 cards feature players who actually played with the Phillies in 1962.  The other three cards are a team card, a card for manager Gene Mauch and a card for Ken Walters, who had been sold to the Reds in February.  Also of note is the first appearance of a Phillie on a multi-player "rookie" card.  Pitcher Jack Hamilton appears on a "Rookie Parade" card (#593) along with four other pitching prospects.

Who’s out:  Regular shortstop Bobby Wine was omitted, as was the team's number three starter, Dennis Bennett.  In the bullpen, Chris Short (again) is missing despite pitching in 47 games, as is Bill Smith, who appeared in 24 games.

1962 Topps #111, #157, #284 and #303

Phillies on other teams:  Pitcher Don Ferrerese appeared in five games with the '62 Phillies before being shipped to the Reds on April 28th for Bobby Locke.  Ferrarese appears on card #547 with the Cardinals and Locke, who had been traded by the Cubs to the Cardinals earlier that April, appears on card #359 with the Cubs.

What’s he doing here:  The inclusion of Walters doesn't make much sense, given that Topps had to have known about his sale to the Reds by the time his card (#328) made its appearance in the set's fourth series.  In fact, upon further review, Topps actually makes mention of the pre-season sale on the back of Walters' card.  The plot thickens.

Cards that never were candidates: Wine, Bennett, Short and Smith.

Favorite Phillies card:  There aren't any real eye-popping cards in the bunch, but I narrowed it down to Clay Dalrymple's squat pose with a bunch of Phillies milling about behind him and Tony Taylor's first baseball card to feature him in an actual Phillies uniform with billboards from Connie Mack Stadium in the background.  I'll give the nod to the Taylor card.

1962 Topps #46, #212, #328 and #269

Other Stuff

Recycled:  You'll see a whole lot of 2011 Topps Heritage throughout the season as I'll feature the Phillies cards from this set in my game summary posts.

Blogs/Websites:  It's been quiet recently, but there's plenty of good stuff to read in the archives over at Project '62.

Did You Know?:  Early printings of the cards in series two (cards 110 to 196) were inadvertently printed with extra green ink, giving the cards a greenish tint.  Topps intentionally recreated this printing gaffe with its 2011 Heritage set, and cards 110 to 196 can be found in short-printed "green tint" variations.