1956 Topps - 2nd Series Phillies Alumni

Over on my 1956 Topps blog, I recently wrapped up posts on the 80 cards featured in that set's second series.  Presented below is a gallery of former Phillies players or coaches to appear in the 1956 Topps second series run, and clicking on the number below each card will take you to that card's blog post.

#114

#119

#120

#127

#147

#148

#153

#155

#158

#168

#172

#173

#174

#180

Ending 2020 on a High Note (#SBWTMABCTJ)

I've always prided myself in trying to live in the moment and to not spend too much time looking forward to what comes next.  With that being said, I'm more than ready to turn the page on 2020 and I'm hopeful for a safe, healthy and less anxiety-filled 2021.  I'm extremely grateful my family made it through this year with our health and clinging to a few annual traditions that mean a lot to us.  Selfishly, one of those annual traditions I look forward to is the opening of presents at my Mom's house the day after Christmas.  The gathering was in doubt this year, but with everyone masked up, spread out as much as we could and with hand sanitizers readily available, we did it.  Dr. Fauci would have been proud.  The gathering was shorter than usual, with less hugs and less eating, but it still meant a lot.  We gathered for a quick family selfie at the end of the evening, which was really the only time we all briefly came together.

The last present I opened yesterday contained eight individually wrapped gifts in the exact shape and size of baseball cards.  If you've read this blog each December for the past 10 years, you're now familiar with the annual event of Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim.  Thanks largely to my Mom, it's actually getting harder to populate my Most Wanted - Vintage list on this blog's sidebar, and I may need to change up my tactics for 2021's installment.  From this year's haul, the 10th Annual SBWTMABCTJ:

1949 Bowman #228 Jackie Mayo - The addition of this Mayo card, since jail-breaked from its slab, means I'm only one card away from a 1949 Bowman Phillies team set.  The Richie Ashburn rookie card is going to need to wait a little bit longer.

1952 Topps #13 Johnny Wyrostek - Wyrostek is on the Reds here, but he played with the Phillies in 1952 which means he fits into my definition of belonging in my 1950s Phillies binder.  The only remaining 1952 Topps Phillies cards I need now are from the pricey high-number series.

1953 Bowman Black & White #47 Jack Lohrke - Compared to their Color counterparts, the 1953 Bowman Black & White set often gets overlooked.  For a complete run of Bowman Phillies cards, I'm down to needing three cards - the '49 Ashburn rookie, along with Wyrostek and Andy Hansen from this 1953 Bowman set.

1956 Topps #114 Jim Owens and #274 Frank Baumholtz - I already own these cards in our 1956 Topps set, and I'm selfishly adding second copies of each for my 1950s Phillies binder.

1966 Topps #543 Roger Craig - This card gets me one card away from a complete run of Phillies cards from the 1960s Topps sets.  I'm down to needing just the Gary Sutherland card (shared with the Mets' Don Shaw) from the tough 1967 Topps high-number series.  The only cards standing in the way of my having a complete run of Topps Phillies team sets from 1951 to 2020 are four cards from the 1952 Topps high-number series, two cards from the 1956 Topps set and the Sutherland Rookie Stars card.

1971 Topps #664 Ken Reynolds and #692 Wayne Twitchell - These two cards wrap up my complete run of 1970s Topps Phillies team sets.  Again, Twitchell is with the Brewers here but since he played with the Phillies in 1971, it's worthy of a spot in my team set.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your families!  Stay safe, mask up and go wash your hands.

1956 Topps #114 Jim Owens

Marlins 1, Phillies 0
Game 153 - Thursday Night, September 24th in Miami
Record - 57-96, 5th Place, 29 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Alec Asher had by far his best start of his big league career, but the offense couldn't produce anything for him in this 1-0 loss to the Marlins.

What It Means:  The Phillies offense looks completely wiped out and in need of a rest.

What Happened:  Asher allowed just a run on three hits in his seven innings of work and he collected his first single and double for good measure.  The bats went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

Featured Card:  Asher's record dropped to 0-5, making him the first Phillies rookie pitcher to lose his first five starts since Jim Owens accomplished the feat in 1955 and 1956.  I've been spending a lot of time with the 1956 Topps set recently, getting ready to kick off something new.  Since I don't have Owens' 1955 Topps card in my collection yet, here's his 1956 Topps card which I first featured on the blog over six years ago.

2012 Phungo #1 Harry Kalas

Phillies 4, Pirates 3
Spring Training Game 33 - Monday Night, April 2nd in Philadelphia
Record - 13-16-4

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies played a warm-up game in Citizens Bank Park, winning on a go-ahead triple in the seventh from Freddy Galvis.

What It Means:  They played baseball in South Philly last night, which means that spring has officially sprung.

What Went Right:  The Phils put up solo runs in the first three innings playing small ball.  Juan Pierre doubled to start the game and eventually scored on a Jimmy Rollins sac fly.  In the second, Shane Victorino tripled and scored on a Ty Wigginton ground out.  And in the third, Rollins doubled home Pierre who had reached on a hit by pitch and then stole second.  Is this the new offensive style of the Phillies?

Joe Blanton pitched 4+ strong innings, allowing a couple of runs on three hits while striking out three.

Featured Cards:  Birds are chirping, bees are buzzing, the Phils are playing again and Phungo Cards are back!  I love this time of year.

I received two packs of Phungo cards from Phungo World Headquarters yesterday - a hot of the presses pack of 2012 Phungo cards and a vintage 2011 Phungo pack.  The best thing about packs of Phungo cards, other than the Phungo photography, are the guaranteed vintage hits within each pack of cards.  (Here's a look back at my packs of 2009 and 2010 Phungo cards.)

2012 Phungo #5, #42 and #20

I really like the 2012 design, which borrows heavily from the 1982 Fleer set with its oval name plate.  The card at the top of the post features a close-up of the Harry Kalas statue that greets fans outside Harry the K's restaurant in the left field bleachers.

2011 Phungo Phillies Alumni Night

And this really reminds me of old-school Fleer cards.  This is a special two-card panoramic shot of a group of Phillies from the team's 2009 Alumni Night.  As originally featured in a past Phungo post, the photo was notable at the time for featuring all four living Phillies Hall of Famers.  Sadly, Robin Roberts has left us since this photo was taken.  Here are the players featured from left to right:

Roberts, Mike Schmidt, Jim Bunning, Bobby Wine, Mitch Williams, Fred Wenz, Tony Taylor, Rich Surhoff, Jimmie Schaffer, Dickie Noles, Al Neiger and Steve Carlton.

1976 Topps #624, 1959 Topps #314 and #503 and 1975 Topps #242

My packs also yielded quite a few vintage hits which, as luck would have it, were all Phillies cards appearing on my want lists.  There were also two 1971 Topps cards that I just happened to need for my set.  What are the odds?

1983 Topps Stickers #274, #329, #320, #288 and #319

Finally, I found this beauty.  It's a strip of stickers from the 1983 Topps Stickers set, but they're all connected.  I'm very familiar with the 1983 Topps Stickers set, but I honestly don't remember them ever being sold in strip form.  This goes right into my Bob Dernier player collection.

Thanks again Phungo!

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.

1956 Topps #114 Jim Owens

Yet another Winston-Salem, North Carolina purchase - this time from Season Ticket in August 1996 for $3.

Today's quiz: Who did the Phillies trade to the Cincinnati Reds in November 1962 for Cookie Rojas? Answer: Jim Owens.

Jim spent parts of 6 seasons with the Phils from 1955 to 1961. In 1956, Jim started 5 games for the Phillies, compiling a record of 0-4 with a 7.28 ERA. His best year was 1959 when he won 12 games and had a 3.21 ERA.