Rangers at Phillies - May 21st to May 23rd

1984 Topps #352

2024 Chachi 1984 Topps Missing Links #7

Tuesday and Wednesday 6:40, Thursday 1:05
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

At the Ballpark:  Tuesday is the annual Greek Heritage Celebration and Wednesday is a Youth Baseball and Softball Celebration.  On Thursday, and I can't find any specific details for this yet, the Phillies will continue their 20th Anniversary of Citizens Bank Park celebration with a continued look back at highlights from the past 20 seasons.

Texas Rangers 24-24
2nd Place in the A.L. West, 2 games behind the Mariners

Rangers Probables
Jon Gray (2-1, 2.08)
Andrew Heaney (0-5, 4.43)
Jose Urena (1-3, 3.29)

Rangers Leaders
Average:  Josh Smith - .284
Runs:  Marcus Semien - 35
Home Runs:  Adolis Garcia - 11
RBIs:  Adolis Garcia - 35
Stolen Bases:  Adolis Garcia and Leody Taveras - 4

Wins:  Four tied with - 3
ERA:  Jon Gray - 2.08
Strikeouts:  Jon Gray - 52
Saves:  Kirby Yates - 7

Philadelphia Phillies 34-14
1st Place in the N.L. East, 5 games ahead of the Braves

Phillies Probables
Ranger Suarez (8-0, 1.37)
Taijuan Walker (3-0, 4.91)
Zack Wheeler (5-3, 2.52)

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Alec Bohm - .330
Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 36
Home Runs:  Bryce Harper - 10
RBIs:  Alec Bohm - 42
Stolen Bases:  Bryson Stott - 12

Wins:  Ranger Suarez - 8
ERA:  Ranger Suarez - 1.37
Strikeouts:  Zack Wheeler - 71
Saves:  Jose Alvarado - 8

2024 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2024 Season Summary Index / 2024 Chachi Set Checklist

Series Preview - Phillies at Rangers: May 16th to May 18th

Tuesday and Wednesday 8:05,  Thursday 2:05
Globe Life Park - Arlington, TX

Phillies 14-21, Tied for 3rd Place in the N.L. East, 9 games behind the Nationals
Rangers 19-20, Tied for 2nd Place in the A.L. West, 8 games behind the Astros

Phillies Probables:  Jerad Eickhoff (0-3, 4.76), Zach Eflin (0-0, 2.81), Nick Pivetta (0-2, 6.14)
Rangers Probables:  Yu Darvis (3-2, 2.96), Andrew Cashner (0-3, 2.43), Martin Perez (1-5, 3.89)

It's a shame Cole Hamels is on the disabled list right now with an oblique injury.  A Hamels-Eickhoff match-up tonight would have been really cool.

At the Ballpark:  On Thursday afternoon, the first 10,000 fans will receive a Papa John's Texas Rangers Throwback Thursday Collector Pin.

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Cesar Hernandez - .311
Runs:  Cesar Hernandez - 30
Home Runs:  Aaron Altherr - 8
RBIs:  Maikel Franco - 25
Stolen Bases:  Cesar Hernandez - 6

Wins:  Jeremy Hellickson - 4
ERA:  Zach Eflin - 3.71
Strikeouts:  Vince Velasquez - 39
Saves:  Hector Neris - 4

Rangers Leaders
Average:  Elvis Andrus - .289
Runs:  Joey Gallo - 26
Home Runs:  Joey Gallo - 12
RBIs:  Joey Gallo - 27
Stolen Bases:  Elvis Andrus and Delino DeShields - 7

Wins:  A.J. Griffin - 4
ERA:  Yu Darvish - 2.96
Strikeouts:  Yu Darvish - 52
Saves:  Matt Bush - 4

1982 Topps #16

1982 Topps #463

1982 Topps #590

1982 Topps #624

1982 Topps Appreciation:  Similar to what I did with the weekend series with the Nationals, here are four 1982 Topps cards with connections to both teams in this Phillies series.  Steve Comer and Jim Kern featured prominently in my Phillies Missing Links custom set, with Comer's custom Phillies card here and Kern's custom Phillies card here.

Al Oliver and Fergie Jenkins received actual Phillies baseball cards to commemorate their time in Philadelphia.  Oliver hit the trifecta with Phillies cards in the 1985 Donruss, Fleer and Topps sets. I added Jenkins' 1966 Topps rookie card to my collection a few Christmases ago and this card has had a number of reprinted versions over the years.

Phillies Missing Links of the 1980s - #7 Jim Kern

#37
James Lester Kern
Relief Pitcher

Over 30 years ago when I read in the transaction column of our newspaper that the Phillies hadJim Kern, I knew exactly what Kern looked like thanks to his many fantastic baseball cards. Kern had been a three-time All-Star with the Indians and Rangers in the late 1970s, and I had long admired his colorful baseball cards, some featuring him with a semi-maniacal grin.

signed pitcher

Kern was signed by the Phillies on June 3rd, the day after they placed Tug McGraw on the 21-day disabled list with shoulder soreness.  The hirsute righty reliever had been unemployed since being released by the White Sox on March 1st.

With the Phillies, Kern appeared in eight games, allowing 15 earned runs on 20 hits and 11 walks in 13 1/3 innings for a 10.13 ERA.  If you remove his dreadful first appearance (see box score), his Phillies stats become slightly more respectable - 6.57 ERA, 13 hits and 9 runs in 12 1/3 innings.  When McGraw was activated from the disabled list on July 27th, the Phis released Kern.

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'5"  Weight:  185
Born:  March 15, 1949, Gladwin, MI
Signed:  Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent, September 4, 1967
Major League Teams:  Clevelad Indians 1974-1978, Texas Rangers 1979-1981, Cincinnati Reds 1982, Chicago White Sox 1982-1983, Phillies 1984, Milwaukee Brewers 1984-1985, Cleveland Indians 1986
Professional Affiliations:  Clevelad Indians 1968-1978, Texas Rangers 1979-1981, Cincinnati Reds 1982, Chicago White Sox 1982-1983, Phillies 1984, Milwaukee Brewers 1984-1985, Cleveland Indians 1986

Phillies Career
8 games, 0-1, 10.13 ERA in 13 1/3 innings
Acquired:  Signed as a free agent formerly with the Chicago White Sox, June 3, 1984
Debut:  June 10, 1984 - Entered in the 12th inning of a 5-5 game against the Pirates and allowed 7 runs on 7 hits in the loss
Final Game:  July 20, 1984
Departed:  Released, July 27, 1984, and signed with the Milwaukee Brewers on August 8, 1984

1975 Topps #621

1979 Topps #573

1983 Donruss #355

1983 Fleer #240

0 Kern Baseball Cards in My Collection
First Card:  N/A
Last Card:  N/A

Other Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1975 Topps #621 (with John Denny, Rawley Eastwick and Juan Veintidos)
First Topps Base Card:  1975 Topps #621
Last Mainstream Card:  1983 Topps #772
Other Notable Cards:  1979 Topps #573, 1981 Topps #197, 1982 Donruss #89, 1982 Topps #463

Sources:  Thanks to Friend O' the Blog Steve F. for the photo of Kern from a 1984 Phillies program! 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.

(Re)Introducing the Phillies Missing Links Project

1982 Donruss #89

Just like most baseball card bloggers out there, I have my share of unfinished projects and posts that have been lingering in my draft folder for many moons.  I want to finish off the 2013 and 2014 Topps Phillies posts in my look at the Topps Phillies cards throughout the years and I'll soon need to polish off a 2015 Topps Phillies post once the Update series is released.  I spent much of last offseason publishing posts in an attempt to chronicle the various team issued photo card sets released by the Phillies since the 1950s.  I'd like to go back and do similar posts on other team issued sets released by the Phillies throughout the years.

I've also neglected to finish off my Missing Links series of posts that have taken a year by year look at those Phillies players who have never appeared on a Phillies baseball card (to my knowledge).  I've worked my way from 1980 up to 2000 and then the series stalled out.

In the back of my mind, I always wanted to put together a set of baseball cards to celebrate those players who suited up for the Phillies but didn't have a Phillies baseball card to their names.  This has always bothered me since in a perfect world, baseball cards exist for every player for each year they're active showing them with each team they've played for.  The Quarry Unlimited idea would have made me extremely happy as a younger collector, and it continues to thrill me today.

1983 Donruss #67

There were 179 players who appeared with the Phillies between 1980 and 1989 and 18 of those players (listed below) never appeared on a Phillies baseball card.  I'm going to attempt to right that wrong with a set of custom Phillies cards for each of those 18 players, and then I'll work my way through the decades of the 1990s and the 2000s.  If that goes well, maybe I'll work my way backwards and tackle the 1970s as well.  I envision this as a late-season insert within the 2015 Chachi set although completing the 1980s portion of the set may spill into 2016.

By necessity, I'm going to be fairly liberal with the photos I use.  I've never seen photos of Jim Kern or Renie Martin or Steve Comer in Phillies uniforms and I doubt I ever will.  I'd love to have the talent (or the time) to transform Jim Kern from a hairy Rangers pitcher to a less hairy Phillies pitcher, but that's just beyond me at this point.  So I could be using a picture of Kern from his time with the Reds, or there could be black and white photos in this series.  It won't be pretty, but for the time being the few of us who have always wanted a Salome Barojas Phillies baseball card will finally have one . . . or something close.

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

1986 Phillies - Tom Gorman and Jeff Bittiger

1987 Phillies - None

1988 Phillies - Salome Barojas, Bill Dawley, Al Pardo, Bill Scherrer and Bob Sebra
1989 Phillies - Gordon Dillard and Steve Stanicek

1984 Phillies - The Missing Links

1987 Topps #357, 1984 Topps #603, 1983 Topps #772 and 1986 Fleer Update #U-65

A few days ago, I sat down to try to finally start a post on the Phillies cards within the 2001 Topps set.  My Topps Phillies series of posts has laid dormant since I published the 2000 Topps Phillies post way back in late April 2012.  Instead of focusing on the 2001 Topps Phillies post, however, I decided to tackle the next year in The Missing Links series - 1984.  These Missing Links posts are way more fun to research than the Topps cards of the Phillies teams from the 2000s.

1984 was a lost season for the Phillies, and they tried to plug various roster holes with a combination of fading veterans and suspicious prospects.  Four members of this squad join the ranks of cardboard-less Phillies.

3 Cards or More
33 Players

Al Oliver was acquired from the Giants in late August and appeared in just 28 games for the 1984 Phillies.  But he had Phillies cards in each of the big three sets - Donruss, Fleer and Topps - in 1985.

2 Cards

1984 Cramer Pacific
Coast League #199

Francisco Melendez (30 games in 1984 and 1986) - 1985 Tastykake Phillies and 1986 Tastykake Phillies

First baseman Melendez never had the pleasure of appearing on a Phillies card by himself.  He shares his 1985 Tastykake card with Ken Jackson and his 1986 Tastykake card with Ricky Jordan.  Both cards use the same picture of Melendez, just cropped differently.  He earned his first proper baseball card within the 1989 Donruss set as a member of the Giants.

1 Card
Dave Wehrmeister (7 games in 1984) - 1984 Tastykake Phillies Update
Steve Fireovid (6 games in 1984) - 1984 Tastykake Phillies Update

Ah, yes.  Dave Wehrmeister.  Please see this post for one of the finest pieces of investigative reporting ever attempted by this here blog.  The post includes my attempt at the 1984 Topps Wehrmeister card that should have been.

0 Cards
Renie Martin (9 games in 1984)
Jim Kern (8 games in 1984)
Mike LaValliere (6 games in 1984)
Steve Fireovid (6 games in 1984)

1984 Topps #PR5

Martin wrapped up his 6-year career with 9 uneventful games with the Phils late in the 1984 season.  He was the player to be named later sent by the Giants in the Oliver deal.  Former All-Star Kern spent a little less than two months as property of the Phillies, pitching to a 10.13 ERA in eight relief appearances in June and July.  I've never even seen a picture of Kern in a Phillies uniform.

Before playing in parts of 11 seasons with the Cardinals, Pirates and White Sox, LaValliere was a September call-up with the Phils in 1984.  He appeared in the 1983 TCMA Reading Phillies set, but I have yet to add that set to my collection.

Finally, Fireovid made a brief stop in Philly in the middle of his 16-year odyssey of a professional baseball career.  When all was said and done, Fireovid had spent time with 9 different organizations - Padres, Phillies, White Sox, Mariners, Blue Jays, Royals, Expos, Pirates and Rangers.  His 10 games with the Mariners in 1986 somehow merited him inclusion within the 1987 Fleer, Sportflics and Topps sets.  He also has a card in the 1992 Bowman set as a member of the Rangers.

UPDATE - Fireovid has a card in the very little known 1984 Tastykake Phillies Update set, although I've never actually seen the card for sale.

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

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