1973 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  41
Card Size:  3 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Description:  As was the case with all Phillies photo cards issued throughout the 1970s, these cards feature a black and white photo with the players' name below.  Most of the cards (excluding the Jim Essian card) have blue facsimile autographs on the fronts.  The backs of the photo cards are blank and there's no indication on the cards themselves that they're from 1973.

How Distributed:  The photo cards were handed out to fans individually and supplied to the players in order to reply to fan mail or honor autograph requests.  I could be wrong, but I don't believe the cards were ever available in complete set form.  

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. Mike Anderson 2. Carroll Beringer CO 3. Bob Boone 4. Larry Bowa 5. Darrell Brandon 6. Ken Brett 7. Steve Carlton      8. Larry Christenson 9. George Culver 10. Billy DeMars CO            11. Ron Diorio 12. Denny Doyle 13. Jim Essian 14. Billy Grabarkewitz

15. Terry Harmon 16. Tommy Hutton 17. Deron Johnson 18. Barry Lersch 19. Jim Lonborg 20. Greg Luzinski 21. Willie Montanez 22. Danny Ozark MG 23. Jose Pagan 24. Ray Rippelmeyer CO 25. Bill Robinson (not smiling) 26. Bill Robinson (shoulder visible, smiling) 27. Craig Robinson 28. Mike Rogodzinski

29. Dick Ruthven 30. Mike Ryan 31. Mac Scarce 32. Mike Schmidt 33. Dick Selma 34. Cesar Tovar 35. Cesar Tovar (closer cropped, less hair) 36. Wayne Twitchell (smiling) 37. Wayne Twitchell (not smiling) 38. Del Unser 39. Mike Wallace 40. Billy Wilson 41. Bobby Wine CO

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (0)

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (15):  Brett, Christenson, Culver, Diorio, Essian, Grabarkewitz, Lonborg, Pagan, C. Robinson, Rogodzinski, Ruthven, Tovar (2), Unser, Wallace
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (21):  Anderson, Boone, Bowa, Brandon, Carlton, Doyle, Harmon, Hutton, Johnson, Lersch, Luzinski, Montanez, B. Robinson (2), Ryan, Scarce, Schmidt, Selma, Twitchell (2), Wilson

Manager (1):  Ozark
Coach (4):  Berringer, DeMars, Rippelmeyer, Wine

Surprises:  I'm surprised only by the comprehensiveness of this set's checklist.  35 players appeared in a game in 1973 for the Phillies and only 2 were omitted from this set (see below).  The Phillies were issuing new cards as late as mid to late August for newly acquired players too.  George Culver was claimed off waivers from the Dodgers on August 10th and Billy Grabarkewitz was acquired from the Angels on August 14th.

Even Essian, who was in the Phillies' system the entire season and was a September call-up received a card.  The catcher didn't make his big league debut until September 15th.

Omissions:  The 2 players omitted are catcher Larry Cox and reliever Dave Wallace.  Cox is a bit of a surprise omission as he was on the team's opening day roster, but he appeared in only one game on April 18th before getting sent back down to Triple-A Eugene for the rest of the season.  Wallace appeared in four games with the Phillies, pitching 3 2/3 innings, between mid-July and early August.

Variations/Rarities:  Based on the checklist found at The Trading Card Database, there are signature variations for the Bob Boone and Mike Schmidt cards.  The cards contain the same photos, but the signature placement differs slightly on both cards.  I've also added a Del Unser card to my collection without a blue facsimile autograph, shown below.

Signature Variations 1. Bob Boone (slightly different placement) 2. Mike Schmidt (slightly different placement) 3. Del Unser (no signature)

Finally, there are three players (Bill Robinson, Cesar Tovar and Wayne Twitchell) who have two versions of their cards available featuring different photos.  I'm not sure which variation is more prevalent than the others, so I've listed these variations as part of the main checklist above.

Also See:  The Mike Schmidt Rookie Card

Resources:  The Trading Card Database; Beckett.com.  The Beckett database entry for this set lists the set as "1973 Phillies Team Issue" and contains only 29 cards.

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

 

1972 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards / 1974 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards

1970-1979 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page

Another Package from Alan: Searching for Freddie Andrews

A few weeks back, I featured the first Phillies baseball card for Larry File as fellow collector Alan had been kind enough to send me a care package of autographed Phillies photos, including the rare photo of File used for my card.  Since then, Alan has been busy putting together a second care package, with even more autographed Phillies photos along with cards from various 1960s Phillies picture packs and a hard to find 1967 Phillies Safe Driving Jim Bunning card.

It's a blast to get a package like this in the mail, and with a busy week at work I wanted to wait until the weekend to take the time and enjoy each item Alan sent.

There were 21 different cards from various 5 x 7 Phillies picture pack sets in the package, and an extra card signed by Ray Semproch.  Sorting through the cards, I realized I had complete sets of the 1961 Jay Publishing picture pack (12 cards) along with 9 of the 12 cards from the 1958 Jay Publishing set.  The autographed Semproch photo is from the 1959 set.  I've been slowly adding these picture pack Phillies issues from the '50s and '60s and it's probably time for me to put together a true want list of what I still need to track down.

There was also a few version of a cool photo of former Phillies manager Danny Ozark, both signed, and taken during an Old-Timers Game at some point in the late 1980s in Arlington.

But the few pieces that puzzled me were the signed photos of short-time former Phillie Freddie Andrews, apparently clipped from a magazine article.  Andrews appeared in 16 games for the 1976 and 1977 Phillies, and his sole Phillies baseball card can be found within the 1977 team-issued photo card set.  I wanted to figure out the source of these signed magazine pages sent by Alan.  I came up empty while searching the Sports Illustrated online archive, and I searched every possible combination of words and names found within the article on the back of the pages but I still couldn't identify the source.

I finally Googled this sentence from the article, "In the spring of '72 Freddie Andrews learned to hate the Continuous Motion Program," and I immediately got a hit for the March 1974 issue of Boys' Life magazine.  Andrews was featured on the cover of that issue, and I'd recommend reading the entire article which I've linked here.  The article is written by former big leauge pitcher Jim Brosnan and it recounts a spring day in March 1973 on a minor league field at the Carpenter Complex in Clearwater, Florida, along with Andrews' rise through the Phillies farm system.  The article is dotted with names every Phillies fan will recognize, including farm director Dallas Green, general manager Paul Owens, Reading Phillies manager Bunning and coaches Wally Moses and Ruben Amaro.

Alan sent two copies of page 9 of the magazine along with the cover photo from page 8, with all three pages signed by Andrews.  Andrews would spend the entire 1973 season with the Reading Phillies team, where he'd hit .227 over 110 games.  He'd bounce back with a successful 1974 season, earning him a promotion to Triple-A Toledo.  And while he wasn't with the Phillies for long, I'm happy to add these pieces to my 1970s Phillies binder.

Thanks again Alan for the great package!

Series Preview - Phillies at Reds: July 26th to July 29th

1978 Topps #631

1978 Topps #401

Thursday and Friday 7:10, Saturday 6:40, Sunday 1:10
Great American Ball Park - Cincinnati, OH

Phillies 57-44, 1st place in the N.L. East, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Braves
Reds 45-57, 5th place in the N.L. Central, 14 1/2 games behind the Cubs

Phillies Probables:  Ranger Suarez (0-0, 0.00), Nick Pivetta (6-8, 4.69), Vince Velasquez (7-8, 4.05), Zach Eflin (7-2, 3.41)
Reds Probables:  Tyler Mahle (7-8, 4.32), Anthony DeSclafani (4-3, 5.40), Matt Harvey (5-4, 4.50), Luis Castillo (5-8, 5.30)

At the Ballpark:  There are fireworks after Friday night's game and fans can purchase a special ELVIS ticket package, which includes an exclusive Elvis bobble head.  The first 20,000 fans on Saturday night will receive a Joey Votto Funko Pop! collectible and it looks as the Reds are giving out a team-issued baseball card set to kids on Sunday.

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Odubel Herrera - .280
Runs:  Cesar Hernandez - 65
Home Runs:  Odubel Herrera - 17
RBIs:  Rhys Hoskins - 61
Stolen Bases:  Cesar Hernandez - 14

Wins:  Aaron Nola - 12
ERA:  Aaron Nola - 2.30
Strikeouts:  Aaron Nola - 131
Saves:  Hector Neris - 10

Reds Leaders
Average:  Scooter Gennett - .318
Runs:  Scooter Gennett - 60
Home Runs:  Eugenio Suarez - 22
RBIs:  Eugenio Suarez - 76
Stolen Bases:  Billy Hamilton - 22

Wins:  Tyler Mahle - 7
ERA:  Tyler Mahle - 4.32
Strikeouts:  Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle - 101
Saves:  Raisel Iglesias - 19

Phillies at Giants: July 10th to July 12th

Friday 10:15, Saturday 10:05 and Sunday 4:05
AT&T Park - San Francisco, CA

Phillies 29-59, 5th Place in the N.L. East, 19 games behind the Nationals
Giants 43-43, Tied for 2nd Place in the N.L. West, 5 1/2 games behind the Dodgers

Phillies Probables:  Cole Hamels (5-6, 3.02), David Buchanan (0-5, 8.76), Chad Billingsley (1-2, 6.67)
Giants Probables:  Madison Bumgarner (8-5, 3.34), Ryan Vogelsong (6-6, 4.10), Chris Heston (8-5, 3.51)

At the Ballpark:  All fans receive a Giants license plate on Saturday night and a Giants World Champions cap on Sunday afternoon.

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Ben Revere - .293
Runs:  Ben Revere - 44
Home Runs:  Ryan Howard - 14
RBIs:  Ryan Howard - 41
Stolen Bases:  Ben Revere - 20

Wins:  Cole Hamels - 5
ERA:  Cole Hamels - 3.02
Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 119
Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 14

Giants Leaders
Average:  Nori Aoki - .317
Runs:  Joe Panik and Buster Posey - 44
Home Runs:  Buster Posey - 14
RBIs:  Buster Posey - 57
Stolen Bases:  Nori Aoki - 12

Wins:  Madison Bumgarner and Chris Heston - 8
ERA:  Madison Bumgarner - 3.34
Strikeouts:  Madison Bumgarner - 114
Saves:  Santiago Casilla - 21

1985 Topps #92

1985 Topps #365

1985 Topps Appreciation:  It's two manager's cards in the spotlight tonight, as I'm featuring the man who led the Phillies to their 1983 World Series appearance and the man who came so close to getting the Phillies into the World Series in the late 1970s.

Paul Owens had already moved back into the Phillies front office by the time this card was released, having been replaced by John Felske following the 1984 season.  Felske had served as Owens' bench coach throughout 1984 to warm him up to the top job.

Danny Ozark managed the Phillies from 1973 to half-way through the 1979 season when he was replaced by Dallas Green.  With less than half the 1984 season to go, Ozark took over in San Francisco for the fired Frank Robinson and guided the Giants to a 24-32 record.  Like Owens, Ozark was no longer a manager when this card was released as Jim Davenport was at the helm at the start of the 1985 season for the Giants.

1974 Topps #119 Danny Ozark MG & Coaches

If given the choice, I'd much rather be sleep-deprived right now, staying up late watching the Phillies in the postseason and creating Chachi cards to commemorate each playoff game.  Instead, I'm doing a series of posts on the Phillies coaches from the past 40-plus years.

I've already looked at the team's bench, bullpen, hitting, pitching and third base coaches, and this post will take a look at the Phillies first base coaches since 1970.  No one has served as the team's first base coach for more than four seasons since Bobby Wine held the position from 1973 to 1978, and there's been quite a bit of turnover with the position.  As I write this, the Phillies are still in the market for a first base coach for the 2014 season.

Billy DeMars 1969-1972 - DeMars was also the de facto hitting coach during this time
Brandy Davis 1972
Bobby Wine 1973-1978
Tony Taylor 1979; 1988-1989
Ruben Amaro 1980-1981
Deron Johnson 1982-1984 - Johnson also served as hitting coach
Del Unser 1985-1987 - Unser also served as hitting coach
John Vukovich 1990-1991
Mel Roberts 1992-1995
Dave Cash 1996
Brad Mills 1997-2000
Tony Scott 2001-2003
Milt Thompson 2004
Marc Bombard 2005-2006
Davey Lopes 2007-2010
Sam Perlozzo 2011-2012
Juan Samuel 2013
Wally Joyner 2013

Phillies Coaches 1970-2014

Bench Coach

Bullpen Coach

Hitting Coach

Pitching Coach

Third Base Coach

1978 SSPC Baseball the Phillies Way - Part Two

Part one of the 1978 SSPC Phillies gallery was posted yesterday, and this is part two.  There seem to be a whole lot of photos taken at night in this set, as opposed to the day-time pictures featured in the 1976 SSPC set.  I'm not even sure Tug McGraw is standing inside The Vet on his card.  And I've always liked the Bake McBride card, since you can clearly see "Welcome to Veterans Stadium" on the scoreboard over his right shoulder.

#42 Tug McGraw

#43 Jay Johnstone

#44 Randy Lerch

#45 Billy DeMars CO

#46 Mike Schmidt

#47 Larry Christenson

#48 Tim McCarver

#49 Larry Bowa

#50 Danny Ozark MG

#51 Jerry Martin

#52 Jim Lonborg

#53 Bake McBride

#54 Warren Brusstar

1976 SSPC Phillies - Part Two

The only reason I'm breaking this team set up into two galleries is because of Blogger's 20-label limit on posts.  It would have bugged me not to label some of the players featured.  Part one was published yesterday.

Jerry Martin received his "rookie" card in this set, as he didn't appear in a Topps set until 1977.  Wayne Simpson and Erskine Thomason receive their sole Phillies cards, even though they appear in the uniforms of the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, the Phillies top farm club in 1975.  Simpson appeared in 7 games for the 1975 Phillies, while Thomason pitched just one inning for the 1974 squad.

Dick Ruthven isn't in this gallery, even though his 1976 SSPC card features him wearing a Phillies uniform.  The back of Ruthven's card indicates he had moved on to the Atlanta Braves.

#470 Mike Schmidt

#471 Bob Boone

#472 Tom Hutton

#473 Dick Allen

#474 Tony Taylor

#475 Jerry Martin

#476 Danny Ozark MG

#599 Wayne Simpson

#600 Erskine Thomason

#607 Mike Rogodzinski

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.

Phillies at Dodgers: July 16th to July 18th

Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles, CA
Monday and Tuesday 10:10, Wednesday 3:10

Phillies 39-51, 5th Place in the N.L. East, 14 games behind the Nationals
Dodgers 48-42, 2nd Place in the N.L. West, 1 1/2 games behind the Giants

Phillies Probables:  Joe Blanton (7-8, 4.98), Roy Halladay (4-5, 3.98), Cliff Lee (1-6, 3.92)
Dodgers Probables:  Nathan Eovaldi (1-5, 4.21), TBA, Clayton Kershaw (7-5, 2.84)

At the Ballpark:  Tomorrow night, all fans will receive a Dodgers Beach Chair, which is actually a great give-away item!

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Carlos Ruiz - .353

Runs:  Hunter Pence - 59

Home Runs:  Hunter Pence - 17

RBIs:  Hunter Pence - 53

Stolen Bases:  Juan Pierre - 21

Wins:  Cole Hamels - 11

ERA:  Cole Hamels - 3.07

Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 125

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 19

1979 Burger King Phillies #1 and 1979 Topps #290

1979 Topps Flashback:  Tonight's flashback features a few former Major Leaguers with both Dodgers and Phillies ties.

As a first baseman, Danny Ozark played 18 seasons in the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system, never making it to the Majors.  Following his playing career, he joined Walter Alston's coaching staff with the big club, where he spent the 1965 through 1972 seasons.  Following the 1972 season, Ozark left the comforts of the Dodgers franchise to assume the managerial duties for the last-place Phillies.  It took him (and the club) a few years to come around, but Ozark would guide the Phils to play-off berths in 1976, 1977 and 1978.

Unfortunately, the Phils fell short in each of those years and Ozark was fired on August 31, 1979 with the team two games under .500.  Ozark returned to the Dodgers as a coach on Tommy Lasorda's staff until part-way through the 1982 season.  He joined the Giants in 1983 and assumed interim manager duties in August 1984 following the firing of Frank Robinson.

Davey Lopes enjoyed a 16-year career, beginning with a decade with the Dodgers.  He's back as the Dodgers first base coach now, after having spent the 2007 through 2010 seasons on Charlie Manuel's staff.