Athletics at Phillies - July 12th to July 14th

1984 Topps Traded #82T

1984 Topps #210

Friday 6:40, Saturday 4:05, Sunday 1:35
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

At the Ballpark:  All fans attending tonight's game, and assuming the weather cooperates, will receive a sustainable Phillies hat made from recycled water bottles.  Tomorrow is the annual fan favorite Photo Day, with fans having an opportunity to take photos of the players, coaches and broadcasters on the field prior to the game.  And on Sunday, all kids will receive a Nick Castellanos Phillies basketball jersey.

Oakland Athletics 35-60
5th Place in the A.L. West, 17 games behind the Mariners

Athletics Probables
Hogan Harris (1-3, 3.22)
Mitch Spence (5-5, 4.29)
Joey Estes (3-4, 5.53)

Athletics Leaders
Average:  Brent Rooker - .279
Runs:  Brent Rooker - 40
Home Runs:  Brent Rooker - 18
RBIs:  Brent Rooker - 55
Stolen Bases:  Zack Gelof - 11

Wins:  JP Sears - 6
ERA:  JP Sears - 4.56
Strikeouts:  JP Sears - 76
Saves:  Mason Miller - 15

Philadelphia Phillies 61-32
1st Place in the N.L. East, 9 1/2 games ahead of the Braves

Phillies Probables
Ranger Suarez (10-3, 2.58)
Tyler Phillips (0-0, 2.25)
TBD

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Bryce Harper - .298
Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 63
Home Runs:  Bryce Harper - 20
RBIs:  Alec Bohm - 70
Stolen Bases:  Bryson Stott - 21

Wins:  Aaron Nola - 11
ERA:  Ranger Suarez - 2.58
Strikeouts:  Zack Wheeler - 126
Saves:  Jose Alvarado - 13

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

Philly Baseball Card Show Report - Rainy, Quick Trip

We weren't supposed to attend this show, as Doug had a travel baseball tournament scheduled for the weekend in the Toms River area.  The torrential downpour that started on Friday night scuttled those plans, so we pivoted and made the hour-plus drive to Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest Philadelphia Sports Collector Show, better known as The Philly Show.

Our goals were simple.  Doug wanted to add a Michael Lorenzen signature to the recently released Phillies scorecard celebrating the pitcher's August no-hitter.  Lorenzen may not return in 2024, and this could have easily been the only chance to get his autograph before he moves on.  I wanted to add at least one Diamond Stars card and hopefully a few 1969 Topps star cards.  My massive 1969 Topps haul from March is still mostly sitting on my project table, as life and work have forced me to step away from my 1969 Topps blog for a little bit.  (I hope to return to it in October.)

We drove through a hard, steady rain, navigated our way through the confusing admission lines, found the not-well-marked autograph pavilion, stood in line again, purchased our autograph tickets and waited our turn.  I made an impulse Jim Thome autograph ticket purchase, as I wanted to have the Hall of Famer sign his Phillies Alumni photo card.

For the first time ever, I spent all my allotted money at one table and one table only.  Technically, it was two tables, but the two dealers from the Buffalo area were working together and even provided me with a joint business card.  From the Ed Hans side of the table, I found a Paul Waner card needed for my 1934-36 Diamond Stars set build, which is steadily plugging along.  From the Gary Nuchereno side of the table, I first settled on four star cards needed for our 1969 Topps set - all in good shape and very reasonably priced.  After we secured Thome's and Lorenzen's autographs, I went back and found 11 needed commons and semistars from the same dealer's 1969 Topps binder.

Doug spent his money on Ultra Pro supplies with nary a new baseball card purchased.  We were on our way out in less than two hours, me with 16 new cards for my two current, primary set builds and a Thome autograph, Doug with his signed Lorenzen scorecard and some much needed supplies.  We'll now rest up and get ready to likely do a little more damage at the next show in December.

Recent Memory Lane

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

Oaks 3 - December 2022 - 1965 Topps set completed, dent made in 1969 Topps, Schwarber, Vierling and Stott

Oaks 4 - March 2023 - Huge haul of 1969 Topps and five Diamond Stars cards added

Oaks 5 - September 2023 - Thome, Lorenzen, only 26 cards purchased from two dealers

1965 Topps - 1st Series Phillies Alumni

In celebration of the completion of the first series (cards 1 to 88) of our 1965 Topps set, here's a look at each card from that first series featuring a former, current or future Phillies player, coach or manager.  You can follow along as we collect this set here.

#13

#15

#16

#20

#22

#23

#33

#36

#52

#62

#64

#67

#72

#75

#80

1965 Topps 2nd Series Phillies Alumni

1983 Tastykake Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  32
Card Size:  3 1/4" x 5 1/4"

Description:  This is the first team-issued photo card set featuring full color photos.  A color head shot of each player is on the front and the backs are either blank or contain an encouraging message "written" by the player.  Most of these messages begin with a standard, "Dear Fan: Thanks for your letter.  the Phillies and I appreciate your interest."  In the checklist below, I've indicated which photo cards have the "Dear Fan" greeting on the back, which are blank and which have a message variation.  This is the second consecutive year Tastykake sponsored the set, and the black Tastykake logo can be found on the backs of all cards with the exception of the card for Veterans Stadium.

Interestingly enough, the 2001 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards lists Joe Amalfitano in the checklist instead of Porfi Altamirano.  The Beckett database entry for the set perpetuates this error.  As pointed out by 14,000 Phillies in his checklist entry for the set, both Beckett and the Standard Catalog omit the Dave Roberts card from their checklists.

How Distributed:  My guess is these photo cards were available to purchase in set form at Veterans Stadium and also available individually as players responded to fans' autograph requests.  I personally had a tough time tracking down the cards for John Denny, Von Hayes and Bill Robinson.

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically, with Dear Fan inscriptions unless otherwise noted): 

1. Luis Aguayo 2. Porfi Altamirano 3. Marty Bystrom (blank) 4. Steve Carlton (blank) 5. Larry Christenson 6. Pat Corrales MG (blank)       7. Ivan DeJesus 8. John Denny 9. Bob Dernier 10. Bo Diaz 11. Ed Farmer

12. Greg Gross 13. Von Hayes 14. Al Holland 15. Garry Maddox 16. Gary Matthews 17. Tug McGraw (Support . . . )       18. Larry Milbourne 19. Bob Molinaro 20. Sid Monge 21. Joe Morgan 22. Tony Perez

23. Ron Reed (blank) 24. Dave Roberts 25. Bill Robinson 26. Pete Rose 27. Dick Ruthven (blank) 28. Mike Schmidt (blank) 29. Ozzie Virgil 30. Phillies Coaches (blank) 31. Phillie Phanatic  32. Veterans Stadium (blank)

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (0)

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (7):  Denny, Hayes, Holland, Milbourne, Molinaro, Morgan, Perez
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (21):  Aguayo, Altamirano, Bystrom, Carlton, Christenson, DeJesus, Dernier, Diaz, Farmer, Gross, Maddox, Matthews, McGraw, Monge, Reed, Roberts, Robinson, Rose, Ruthven, Schmidt, Virgil

Manager (1):  Corrales
Coaches (1):  There's one card featuring all five Phillies coaches - Mike Ryan, Deron Johnson, Bobby Wine, Dave Bristol and Claude Osteen.

Phillies Phanatic (1):  The more readily available version features the Phanatic on his ATV.

Other Cards (1):  Veterans Stadium.

Surprises:  There are no real surprises here, and I'm assuming the set was issued once with no updates made.  The entire 25-man opening day roster, with the exception of the two players discussed below, received photo cards.  The Phillies also had five players on the disabled list to start the 1983 season, and they all received cards too - Luis Aguayo, Marty Bystrom, Hayes, Al Holland and Roberts.

Omissions:  Len Matuszek and Alejandro Sanchez both made the opening day roster, but were omitted from the set.  Sanchez returned to the minors a week into the season when Hayes was activated from the disabled list.  Matuszek stuck around a bit longer, optioned down to Triple-A Portland on April 29th.  Kiko Garcia started the season at Portland, but was recalled on May 17th and he'd remain with the club through the rest of the season.  I wish the Phillies had considered an update set as Garcia and a number of players acquired during the season - Joe Lefebvre, Willie Hernandez, Larry Andersen and Sixto Lezcano - would have been obvious choices.  There were also a number of prospects who debuted during 1983, including Charles Hudson, Kevin Gross, Steve Jeltz, Juan Samuel and Darren Daulton, and update cards for those players would have been highly sought after by collectors.

Variations/Rarities:  According to the set's entry in the 2001 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, several cards are available with different backs.  There's also a different Phanatic card available showing him walking around the field in the vicinity of home plate.  I've listed these variations below.

Fellow collector Bill e-mailed to let me know of a few other back variations.  The Greg Gross card can be found with both "Dear Fan" and "Support amateur baseball" backs.  And the ATV variation of the Phanatic can be found with "Dear Fan" and "Tell your parents" backs.

Back Variations       1. Greg Gross (Support . . . ) 2. Sid Monge (Quitters never win)      3. Pete Rose (A good eduction) 4. Phillie Phanatic (Tell your parents)

Phanatic Variation        1. Phillie Phanatic - Not on ATV

Resources:   14,000 Phillies, Beckett.com, Phillies collector Bill, 1984 Phillies Media Guide.

This set was originally featured in a post back in October 2014, and I'm going to slowly go through these team-issued set posts and update them with new information gathered (if any) over the past six years.

Standard Version

Variation

1982 Tastykake Phillies Photo Cards / 1984 Tastykake Phillies Photo Cards

1980-1999 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page

1985 Game 29 - 1984 Fleer #63 Reds Reunited

Reds 7, Phillies 3
Game 29 - Monday Night, May 13th in Cincinnati
Record - 10-19, 5th Place, 9 1/2 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  A Tony Perez grand slam in the sixth off Dave Rucker sealed the Phillies fate in this 7-3 loss to the Reds.

What It Means:  The Phillies were getting dangerously close to falling into the basement of the N.L. East, and only the equally poor play of the Pirates kept the team in fifth place.  This was the Phillies seventh loss in a row.

What Happened:  Heading into the bottom of the sixth, the score was knotted at 3-3.  A fading John Denny walked the first two Reds batters, allowed a single to Dave Van Gorder and was lifted for reliever Dave Rucker.  Rucker allowed the grand slam to pinch-hitter Perez.

Earlier in the game, Mike Schmidt hit his third home run of the season off Reds starter John Stuper.  Darren Daulton started behind the plate for the second game in a row, and his last back-to-back starts until August, doubling and scoring a run.  Juan Samuel also had a double and an RBI groundout.

Reds player/manager Pete Rose had a pair of hits leaving him 71 hits shy of Ty Cobb's all-time record.

Featured Card:  Perez was now 43 and playing in his 22nd season in the majors.  Used primarily as a pinch-hitter, he'd enjoy a solid 1985 season, hitting .328 with six home runs and 33 RBIs.  He hit his sixth career and his final grand slam in this game.  At the time, he was also the oldest player in baseball history to hit a grand slam.  The previous record had been held by Cap Anson, who was 42 when he hit his last grand slam in 1894.  Julio Franco would break Perez's record with a slam in 2005 when he was 46 years old.

New Blog! - Slowly Collecting the 1965 Topps Set

The offseason is when I tend to get my fairly ambitious ideas, as I attempt to fill the void created by a lack of daily Phillies games.  I recently made the joint decision to not only start collecting the 1965 Topps set, but also to chronicle the addition of each new card over at a new blog - Collecting 1965 Topps.  An introduction post can be found here, and today's post features the second card in our set - the rookie card of former Phillies player Joe Morgan.  

Please check it out, give it a follow and spread the word!  As a reminder, my other blog about a 20-year journey collecting the 1956 Topps set is also back and I hope to maintain a weekly posting schedule over there.  Thanks!

Joe Leonard Morgan
Houston Astros
2nd Base

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'7"  Weight:  160
Born:  September 19, 1943, Bonham, TX
Signed:  Signed by the Houston Colt .45s as an amateur free agent, November 1, 1962
Major League Teams:  Houston Colt .45s 1963-1964; Houston Astros 1965-1971; Cincinnati Reds 1972-1979; Houston Astros 1980; San Francisco Giants 1981-1982; Philadelphia Phillies 1983; Oakland Athletics 1984
Hall of Fame Induction:  1990

Roland Thomas Jackson
Houston Astros
Shortstop

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'9"  Weight:  150
Born:  July 9, 1944, Washington, DC
Signed:  Signed by the Houston Colt .45s as an amateur free agent before the 1963 season
Major League Teams:  Houston Colt .45s 1963-1964; Houston Astros 1965-1967; Atlanta Braves 1968-1974

Joe Morgan put together a Hall of Fame career, playing 22 seasons and winning the N.L. MVP award in back-to-back years in 1975 and 1976.  He was a ten-time All-Star, winning the All-Star Game MVP honors in 1972.  He won five Gold Gloves and helped lead the Big Red Machine to two World Series titles in 1975 and 1976.  He's currently ranked 11th all-time in stolen bases with 689, and second all-time at games played at second base with 2,527.  Only fellow Hall of Famer Eddie Collins played more games at the position with 2.650.  Morgan was elected into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1990.

Sonny Jackson played in parts of 12 seasons with the Astros and Braves, finishing second in the N.L. Rookie of the Year voting in 1966 behind Tommy Helms.  That was also his best season statistically when he stole 49 bases, and led the league in singles and sacrifice hits.

Building the Set
Acquired Circa 1983 - Card #2
I'm fairly certain I purchased this card at the 1983 Ocean City Baseball Card Show, held inside the Music Pier on the Ocean City Boardwalk.  I would have wanted the card for two reasons - Morgan was on the Phillies roster in the summer of 1983 as part of the Big Red Machine reunion with Pete Rose and Tony Perez.  The so-called Wheeze Kids would go on to lose to the Orioles in the 1983 World Series.  The other reason was I wanted to own a card for a team I had only recently learned even existed - the Houston Colt .45s.  Now technically this is an Astros card since the franchise switched its name prior to the 1965 season, but I still thought it was cool to own a card with the .45s logo on the caps of the players.

This along with the Joe Jay card (#174) are the only two non-Phillies 1965 Topps cards we owned prior to making the decision to collect the entire set.

The Card
I never realized how crooked this card was until I scanned it for this post.  On December 1, 1964, the Houston Colt .45s officially changed their name to the Houston Astros.  This was too little notice for Topps to update their first series cards, and to play it safe Topps used just the "Houston" moniker until they got to the second series.  This is technically the first ever Houston Astros baseball card.

This is also the first multi-player Rookie Stars card in the set.  Topps had introduced the multi-player rookie concept in its 1962 set as a way to squeeze more players into its checklist, a challenge given the expansion teams added that season.

1965 Season - Morgan
1965 was to be Morgan's first full season as he appeared in 157 games for the Astros and led the league with 97 walks.  He earned some MVP votes and finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting behind the Dodgers' Jim Lefebvre.

He led the Astros in runs (100), hits (163), and triples (12).  Even with the offensive fire power provided by Morgan and center fielder Jim Wynn, the Astros still finished ninth in the National League, saved from the cellar only by a woeful Mets team.

Phillies Career - Morgan
On December 14, 1982, the Giants traded the 39-year-old Morgan with Al Holland to the Phillies for Mark Davis, Mike Krukow and minor leaguer C.L. Penigar.  Morgan had enjoyed an impressive 1982 season, winning the N.L. Comeback Player of the Year award and a Silver Slugger at second base.  As the regular second baseman for the Phillies, He appeared in 123 games, hitting .230 with 16 home runs, 59 RBIs and 18 stolen bases.

He played in his final postseason games with the Phillies, appearing in all five World Series games and hitting .263 with two home runs.  He homered off the Orioles' Scott McGregor in the sixth inning of Game 1, tying up the game.  The Phillies released Morgan after the World Series and he signed with the A's, where he'd close out his career the following season.

1965 Season - Jackson
Jackson appeared in only 10 games for the Astros in 1965 as a September call-up, hitting .130 (3 for 23).  He spent the majority of the season playing for the Astros' top farm team in the Pacific Coast League - the Oklahoma City 89ers.  In 142 games for the 89ers, Jackson hit .330 and was second in the league with 53 stolen bases.

SI cover, March 14, 1983

1966 Topps #195

1975 Topps #180

1976 Topps #420

1983 Topps Traded #77T

1985 Topps #352

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Morgan
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #16
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (21):  1965-1985
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2019 Topps Update Est 1869 EST6

1,377 - Morgan non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/2/19.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Other Notable Baseball Cards - Jackson
First Mainstream Card:  1965 Topps #16
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10):  1965-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2003 MLB Showdown Strategy #S6

69 - Jackson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/2/19.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database

1967 Topps #415

1970 Topps #413

1971 Topps #587

1973 Topps #403

1974 Topps #591

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.