Off Day Odds & Ends - 1984 Tastykake Phillies & 2016 Chachi Almost

2016 Chachi Almost #5

2016 Chachi Almost #6

2016 Chachi Almost #7

2016 Chachi Almost #8

Yesterday's off day gives me the chance to post some images saved to my drafts folder and provide an update to my series on the Phillies team issued sets.

First up is a group of Chachi Almost cards, featuring players who never officially played with the team and these four players were all non-roster invitees to spring training.  Ernesto Frieri was released on April 5th and he has yet to latch on elsewhere.  Catcher J.P. Arencibia requested and received his release from the IronPigs on May 16th and signed with the Rays organization a few days later.

Ryan Jackson's services were no longer needed in Lehigh Valley when J.P. Crawford earned his promotion and he was sold to the Angels on May 20th.  Finally, Bobby LaFromboise, who appeared to be close to making the team out of spring training, was released on June 2nd.  His spot on the IronPigs was claimed by the activated Mario Hollands who missed all of last season following Tommy John surgery.  LaFromboise is the only one of this quartet with an official Phillies baseball card, having appeared in the first team issued photo card set.

2016 Chachi Almost #1

2016 Chachi Almost #2

Both Kelly Dugan and Jesse Biddle were on the offseason 40-man roster, but were eventually removed and moved on to other teams.  Dugan is currently playing with the Cubs Double-A team in Tennessee after spending his first seven professional seasons with the Phillies organization.

Biddle is recovering from Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire 2016 season.  He was traded to the Pirates in early February for pitcher Yoervis Medina and then claimed off waivers by the Braves in March.  He's currently on the Braves 60-day disabled list.

* * *

Reader and Friend O' the Blog Steve F. recently e-mailed me the image below, showing an uncut sheet of 1984 Tastykake Phillies cards.  The sheet includes the rarely seen seven "update" cards, including the very difficult to find cards of Steve Jeltz, Darren Daulton and Steve Fireovid.  As reader and collector Rick pointed out in his comment to the original 1984 Tastykake Phillies post, these update cards were never released to the general public.  A local baseball card dealer somehow obtained the sheets and had them professionally cut, selling the additional seven update cards as a separate set.

I still find this stuff fascinating and thanks to Steve F. for sending me the image below.  And I still need the Fireovid and Jeltz cards for my collection!

Earlier Than Ever, Here are the New Uniform Numbers

2015 Topps #628

2015 Topps Heritage #516

2013 Topps #281

2014 Topps Heritage #80

In an unusual move, and a move that I suspect was designed by the Phillies solely to personally delight me, new players were assigned uniform numbers upon their arrivals beginning in mid-November.  There was another update to roster numbers in early December and then one-off updates as additional non-roster invitees were added.  In years past, the roster page on the Phillies website had the dreaded "--" in place of any uniform number for new arrivals until mid to late January.

As of this writing, there are still some corrections needed.  The Phillies currently have assigned #78 to non-roster infielders Angelys Nina and Brock Stassi.  Similarly, #61 is currently assigned to both pitcher Greg Burke and assistant coach Jorge Velandia.  I'm sure these duplicate assignments will be fixed before pitchers and catchers officially report on February 18th.  Finally, non-roster invitee Cedric Hunter doesn't even appear on the Phillies website yet and he'll need a number once spring training starts.

As I've done in the past, here's a look at the new uniform numbers for the 2016 edition of the Phillies. (Buckle up, because this is quite the long list.)

New Players - Under 60 Division
#2 Tyler Goeddel - Both Ben Revere and Chase d'Arnaud wore this number last season.  It's a good sign for Goeddel's chances of sticking with the Phillies that they assigned him such a low uniform number.

#15 Emmanuel Burriss - Burriss is going with the number last worn by Jordan Danks, since the #16 he wore last season with the Nationals is currently occupied by Cesar Hernandez.
#17 Peter Bourjos - Neither of Bourjos' prior numbers (#25 and #8) were available, so he takes over the number last worn by Brian Bogusevic.
#19 J.P. Arencibia - The last Phillies player to wear #19 was Tony Gwynn, Jr. in 2014.
#21 Ryan Jackson - Adam Loewen wore this number last season.
#28 Vincent Velasquez - Both Kevin Correia and Erik Kratz wore #28 in 2015.  Velasquez had worn #67 with the Astros last season.

#30 David Hernandez - Reliever Justin De Fratus had worn this number for the past two seasons.  Hernandez has worn this number with the Diamondbacks since 2011.
#31 Michael Mariot - Jerome Williams wore #31 for the past two seasons.  Mariot had previously worn #48 with the Royals.
#34 Brett Oberholtzer - Oberholtzer's more familiar #39 was unavailable, so he takes over the number last worn by Aaron Harang.  The pitcher first wore #65 in 2013 when he made his debut with the Astros.
#38 Andrew Bailey - Bailey had worn #38 last season for the Yankees.

2012 Topps Update #US138

2013 Topps #96

2015 Topps #296

2014 Topps Heritage #328

#40 James Russell - Non-roster invitee Russell takes over the number he's worn during six seasons with the Cubs, which means the old #40, Aaron Altherr, needs a new number.  (See below.)
#41 Ernesto Frieri - Originally assigned #44, Frieri assumes Wall of Fame member Charlie Manuel's number.  No player or coach had been assigned Manuel's number since the former manager's firing in August 2013.  The last Phillies player to wear this number was Gavin Floyd in 2004.  Frieri's switch to #41 was made after the Phillies had signed Edward Mujica.
#44 Edward Mujica - The often injured Jonathan Pettibone was the last player to wear this number.  Mujica last wore #44 as a member of the Cardinals in 2012 and 2013.
#47 Charlie Morton - Sean O'Sullivan's old number went to Morton, whose more familiar #50 is currently occupied by Hector Neris.  Let's watch to see if a deal is struck for Neris' #50 given Morton's veteran status.

#53 Daniel Stumpf - Ken Giles won't be needing #53 with the Phillies anymore, so his old number went to Stumpf.
#56 Frank Herrmann - Nefi Ogando and Cesar Jimenez both wore this number last season for the Phillies.
#58 Jeremy Hellickson - The franchise's all-time saves leader won't be needing #58 this season, so Hellickson takes over the number.  Hellickson had previously worn this number with the Rays and Diamondbacks.

New Numbers
#23 Aaron Altherr - Altherr takes over the number last worn by departed manager Ryne Sandberg.  His old #40 went to non-roster invitee Russell.

New Coaches

1997 SP #139

#9 John McLaren - McLaren takes over the number that had been assigned to Domonic Brown since 2010.
#12 Mickey Morandini - In the least surprising number-related news, the new first base coach will wear the number he wore during his playing days with the Phillies.  The departed assistant hitting coach John Mizerock wore the number last season.
#33 Rick Kranitz - The new bullpen coach will wear the number last worn by Cliff Lee.

Phillies in Number Only
#30 A.J. Achter - Achter was property of the Phillies for less than a month this offseason before his roster spot was needed by Morton.  The roster page had assigned #30 to Achter before it ultimately went to David Hernandez.
#38 Dan Otero - Otero briefly assumed the number worn by Chad Billingsley in 2015.  The Giles trade required a roster opening and Otero was traded to the Indians for cash.

Highest number - Not counting Dalier Hinojosa and his #94, catcher Logan Moore wins the award this year with his #84 assignment.

Numbers available - The only real number under 60 currently available is the #3 worn by Jeff Francoeur last season.  As has been the case for the Phillies in recent years, they'll do everything to avoid assigning numbers of greats who have recently departed.  For that reason #11 (Jimmy Rollins), #26 (Chase Utley) and #35 (Cole Hamels) have yet to be reassigned and they most likely won't be in 2016.

If I had to guess, I'd say Hunter ends up with #3, Velandia switches to #62, and Nina and Stassi flip a coin to see who ends up with #76.

Memory Lane

2012 New Numbers

2013 New Numbers
2014 New Numbers - Part One and Part Two
2015 New Numbers