Phillies at Nationals: May 24th to May 26th

Friday 7:05, Saturday 7:15 and Sunday 1:35
Nationals Park - Washington, D.C.

Phillies 23-24, 3rd Place in the N.L. East, 5 1/2 games behind the Braves
Nationals 24-23, 2nd Place in the N.L. East, 4 1/2 games behind the Braves

Phillies Probables:  Kyle Kendrick (4-2, 2.82), Jonathan Pettibone (3-0, 3.00), Cole Hamels (1-7, 4.45)
Nationals Probables:  Jordan Zimmermann (7-2, 1.62), Dan Haren (4-5, 5.54), Stephen Strasburg (2-5, 2.66)

At the Ballpark:  On Saturday, the first 15,000 fans will receive a Nationals Lunch Tote.  It's the perfect way to carry your lunch into work with a intense amount of Natitude.

Phillies Leaders

Average:  Michael Young - .287

Runs:  Chase Utley - 21

Home Runs:  Domonic Brown - 8

RBIs:  Ryan Howard and Chase Utley - 25

Stolen Bases:  Ben Revere - 8

Wins:  Cliff Lee - 5

ERA:  Cliff Lee - 2.48

Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 57

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 8

1973 Topps #486 and #377

1973 Topps Flashback:  Today's flashback features two of the three men to have managed at least 1,000 Phillies games - the other of course being the current Phillies manager,  Charlie Manuel.

1973 was Danny Ozark's first season at the helm, and my guess is that there's a Dodgers hat somewhere underneath the airbrushed Phillies logo appearing on this card.  Prior to being hired by the Phillies, Ozark spent eight seasons as a coach for the Dodgers on Walter Alston's staff.  Ozark led the Phils to three division titles in 1976, 1977 and 1978, but his teams never advanced to the World Series. He was fired in August 1979 after 1,105 games with the Phillies and a career win-loss record of 594-510-1.

Three of his four coaches - third base coach Billy DeMars, pitching coach Ray Rippelmeyer and first base coach Bobby Wine - were hold-overs from the previous Frank Lucchesi/Paul Owens administrations.  Only bullpen coach Carroll Beringer was added to the staff  when Ozark joined the team, assuming the same coaching position he had previously held with the Dodgers.  Beringer and Rippelmeyer made it through the 1978 season, while DeMars and Wine would go on to win World Series rings in 1980 under Ozark's successor, Dallas Green.

Gene Mauch began his managerial career with nine tumultuous season with the Phillies between 1960 and 1968.  He joined the expansion Montreal Expos for their first season in 1969 and managed the club through 1975.  In his 1,127 games with the Expos, Mauch compiled a record of 499-627, never finishing better than fourth place in the N.L. East.

There are two other Phillies connections on Mauch's manager card.  Dave Bristol served as the team's hitting coach from 1982 until 1985 and again in 1988, and Cal McLish served under Mauch as a coach during the 1965 and 1966 seasons, following three seasons pitching with the Phillies from 1962 to 1964.

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.

Nationals at Phillies: September 17th through September 19th

Friday & Saturday 7:05, Sunday 1:35

Records:  Nationals 62-84, 5th Place in NL East (23½ games behind the Phillies); Phillies 86-61, 1st Place in NL East (3 games ahead of the Braves)

Former Phillie Cal McLish passed away last month at the age of 84.  He's featured here as the Expos' first pitching coach under manager Gene Mauch.  (Also featured is former Phillies' coach Dave Bristol.)  McLish finished his 15-season Major League career with three seasons with the Phillies from 1962 until 1964.  Primarily a starting pitcher, McLish went 24-17 in 66 games with the Phils, compiling a 3.68 ERA.  Following his playing days, Mauch added him to the Phillies' coaching staff in 1965 and 1966, and he served as a Phillies' scout in 1967 and 1968.  When Mauch became the first manager of the Expos, he brought McLish with him and McLish coached with the Expos until Mauch's dismissal in 1975.

I'm very disappointed with the back of this 1974 Topps card as it doesn't feature McLish's full name.  On the back of this card (and on the back of the 1973 Topps' Expos manager and coaches card), McLish's name is listed as Calvin Coolidge McLish.  However, his full legal name was actually Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish.  You can look it up.

Nationals Probables: Jason Marquis, Jordan Zimmerman, Yunesky Maya
Phillies Probables: Roy Oswalt, Kyle Kendrick, Joe Blanton

Kendrick and Oswalt swapped their spots in the rotation, to allow Charlie Manuel to pitch the Big 3 (Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Oswalt) against the Braves in their upcoming series starting on Monday night.