1970 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  40
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.  Unlike the rest of the Phillies photo cards issued throughout the 1970s, the players' position is also included.  The backs of the cards are blank and there's no indication on the cards themselves that they're from 1970. 

How Distributed:  The 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. Larry Bowa 2. John Briggs 3. Byron Browne           4. Jim Bunning 5. Bill Champion 6. Mike Compton 7. Billy DeMars CO 8. Denny Doyle 9. Doc Edwards CO (with hat) 10. Doc Edwards CO (without hat)           11. Woodie Fryman 12. Oscar Gamble 13. Terry Harmon 14. Larry Hisle

15. Joe Hoerner           16. Jim Hutto           17. Grant Jackson 18. Deron Johnson      19. Rick Joseph 20. Bill Laxton 21. Barry Lersch 22. Joe Lis 23. Frank Lucchesi MG                24. Greg Luzinski 25. Tim McCarver 26. Don Money   27. George Myatt CO

28. Lowell Palmer 29. Sammy Parrilla 30. Scott Reid 31. Ken Reynolds 32. Ray Rippelmeyer CO                33. Mike Ryan 34. Dick Selma 35. Chris Short 36. Ron Stone 37. Tony Taylor 38. Fred Wenz 39. Billy Wilson 40. Rick Wise

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (1):  Laxton

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (22):  Bowa, Brown, Champion, Compton, Doyle, Gamble, Harmon, Hoerner, Hutto, Joseph, Lersch, Lis, Luzinski, McCarver, Palmer, Parrilla, Reid, Reynolds, Selma, Stone, Wenz, Wilson
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (11):  Briggs, Bunning, Fryman, Hisle, Jackson, Johnson, Money, Ryan, Short, Taylor, Wise

Manager (1):  Lucchesi
Coaches (5):  DeMars, Edwards (2), Myatt, Rippelmeyer

Surprises:  Two versions of the Doc Edwards card is kind of odd.  The Phillies could have issued a third variation with "catcher" listed as Edwards' position as he was activated on June 6th to help carry the catching load after a rash of injuries at the position.  Edwards hadn't caught in the Majors since 1965 but he got into 35 games with the 1970 Phillies, amazingly making 23 starts!

Omissions:  I'm also surprised by the fact the Phillies had 38 players suit up in 1970 and 34 of them are in this set.  The club can't be blamed for omitting the final four, as they were all short-timers that season.  Catcher Del Bates appeared in 22 games between May 6th and June 5th and reliever Mike Jackson pitched in five games between May 10th and May 24th.  The Phillies would have had to scramble to produce and distribute cards of those two players during the short time they were both active.  If I ever get around to producing my Phillies Missing Links custom cards from the 1970s, Bates and Jackson will be the first two cards in the set as neither ever appeared on a Phillies baseball card.

The other two players omitted were two prospects who would both go on to have much more time in Phillies uniforms.  Outfielder Willie Montanez and infielder John Vukovich were both September call-ups and cards weren't produced for them.

Variations/Rarities:  There are two versions of the Edwards card - one featuring him with a hat, and another featuring him without a hat.  I'm not sure which is more prevalent than the other, so I've listed them both above as part of the main checklist.

Also See:  According to entries found at The Trading Card Database and Beckett.com, there was also a 12-card "Picture Pack" set issued in 1970 containing cards measuring 4 1/4" x 7".  And again per The Trading Card Database, a 26-card set containing 8" x 10" black and white cards featuring a portrait and a posed photo of each player was also released.

Resources:  As far as I can tell, there's no other record or checklist of this set available online.  Phillies collector Rick (@rickphils) was kind enough to send along the scan shown above, which is what I used for my checklist.

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

1950-1969 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards / 1971 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards

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

Series Preview - Phillies at Giants: August 8th to August 11th

1971 Topps #554

1971 Topps #412

Thursday 9:45, Friday 10:15, Saturday 4:05 and Sunday 7:05
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

Phillies Probables:  Aaron Nola (10-2, 3.60), Drew Smyly (1-1, 3.00), Vince Velasquez (4-6, 4.23), Jake Arrieta (8-8, 4.41)
Giants Probables:  Madison Bumgarner (6-7, 3.92), Tyler Beede (3-6, 5.38), Jeff Samardzija (8-9, 3.70), TBA

At the Ballpark:  The Giants are holding their second Marvel Night on Thursday and they'll celebrate National Baseball Card day on Friday with a pack of cards going to all fans.  On Saturday, the first 20,000 fans will receive a Giants Fog Globe, and I'll admit I'm not really sure what that is.  On Sunday, the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Giants team will be celebrated with a pre-game ceremony and the first 20,000 fans will receive a Battle of the Bay pin.

Series Preview - Phillies at Braves: September 27th to September 29th

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 7:10
Turner Field - Atlanta, GA

Phillies 70-86, 4th place in the N.L. East, 21 games behind the Nationals
Braves 63-92, 5th place in the N.L. East, 27 1/2 games behind the Nationals

Phillies Probables:  Jared Eickhoff (11-14, 3.75), Adam Morgan (2-10, 5.57), Jeremy Hellickson (12-10, 3.78)
Braves Probables:  Julio Teheran (6-10, 3.10), Mike Foltynewicz (8-5, 4.41), Josh Collmenter (2-0, 3.00)

At the Ballpark:  This is the Phillies final visit to Turner Field, and the Braves have a number of "Final" moments scheduled throughout this series.  Tonight is the Final Walk, with fans invited to walk around the warning track prior to the game and Wednesday night is the Final Run, with all fans invited to run the bases post-game.  On Thursday, all fans will be able to take the Final Pic, which is similar to the Phillies Photo Day.

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Cesar Hernandez - .293
Runs:  Odubel Herrera - 85
Home Runs:  Maikel Franco - 25
RBIs:  Maikel Franco - 87
Stolen Bases:  Odubel Herrera - 25

Wins:  Jeremy Hellickson - 12
ERA:  Jared Eickhoff - 3.75
Strikeouts:  Jared Eickhoff - 154
Saves:  Jeanmar Gomez - 37

Braves Leaders
Average:  Freddie Freeman - .305
Runs:  Freddie Freeman - 96
Home Runs:  Freddie Freeman - 32
RBIs:  Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis - 87
Stolen Bases:  Ender Inciarte - 16

Wins:  Mike Foltynewicz - 8
ERA:  Julio Teheran - 3.10
Strikeouts:  Julio Teheran - 152
Saves:  Jim Johnson - 17

1970 Topps #252

1970 Topps #546

1970 Topps Appreciation:  As far as I know, Lowell Palmer has no connection to the Braves, but I wanted to save one of the coolest Phillies cards from the early 1970s for last.  There's one more series preview post coming up for the weekend series with the Mets, and I'll feature the final 1970 Topps Phillies card of the season in that post.

Palmer started his five-year career with the Phillies, appearing in 67 games mostly as a reliever between 1969 and 1971.  In 207 innings, Palmer compiled a 5.39 ERA and a record of 3-10.  Over the next three seasons between 1972 and 1974, he'd wrap up his career with brief appearances with the Cardinals, Indians and Padres.

A member of the 1980 World Championship club, I had this to say about Ron Reed back in a series preview post from 2013, although he's now been dropped to seventh place on the team's all-time saves list:

Reed spent the first 10 years of his career with the Braves (1966-1975) before he was shipped to the Cardinals early in the 1975 season.  Used as a starting pitcher for the Braves and Cardinals, the Phillies converted Reed to a reliever and he enjoyed a successful eight year run (1976-1983) with the club.  His 90 saves with the Phillies place him sixth on the team's all-time saves list.

1970 Phillies Photocards

I updated this post here in October 2020 and this original post is now outdated.

 

Number of Cards:  40
Card Size:  3 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Description:  As was the case with all Phillies photocards issued throughout the 1970s, these cards feature a black and white photo with the players' name below.  Unlike the rest of the Phillies photocards issued throughout the 1970s, the players' position is also included on these cards.  The backs of the cards are blank and there's no indication on the cards themselves that they're from 1970.

How Distributed:  The 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:

Larry Bowa John Briggs Byron Browne Jim Bunning Bill Champion Mike Compton Billy DeMars CO Denny Doyle Doc Edwards CO (with hat) Doc Edwards CO (without hat) Woodie Fryman Oscar Gamble Terry Harmon Larry Hisle Joe Hoerner Jim Hutto Grant Jackson Deron Johnson Rick Joseph Bill Laxton

Barry Lersch Joe Lis Frank Lucchesi MG Greg Luzinski Tim McCarver Don Money George Myatt CO Lowell Palmer Sammy Parrilla Scott Reid Ken Reynolds Ray Rippelmeyer CO Mike Ryan Dick Selma Chris Short Ron Stone Tony Taylor Fred Wenz Billy Wilson Rick Wise

One and Done (1):  Laxton
First Appearances (22):  Bowa, Brown, Champion, Compton, Doyle, Gamble, Harmon, Hoerner, Hutto, Joseph, Lersch, Lis, Luzinski, McCarver, Palmer, Parrilla, Reid, Reynolds, Selma, Stone, Wenz, Wilson
Returning Players (11):  Briggs, Bunning, Fryman, Hisle, Jackson, Johnson, Money, Ryan, Short, Taylor, Wise

Short-time Phillie Laxton receives his only Phillies baseball cards in this set.  Parrilla, who appeared in 11 games for the 1970 Phillies also has a card in the 8" x 10" set issued by the team (see below).  The First Appearance designation is for players who have never before appeared within a Phillies team issued set.  These players may have already appeared on other Phillies baseball cards.

Manager (1):  Lucchesi
Coaches (5):  DeMars, Edwards (two versions), Myatt, Rippelmeyer
Phillie Phanatic (0)
Broadcasters (0)
Commemorative Cards (0)

Variations/Rarities:  There are two versions of the Edwards card.  One featuring him with a hat, and one featuring him without a hat.  I'm not sure which is more prevalent than the other, so I've listed them both above as part of the main checklist.

Also See:  1970 Topps Phillies
Trivia:  According to entries found at The Trading Card Database and Beckett.com, there was also a 12-card "Picture Pack" set issued in 1970 containing cards measuring 4 1/4" x 7".  And again per The Trading Card Database, a 26-card set containing 8" x 10" black and white cards featuring a portrait and a posed photo of each player was also released.

Resources:  As far as I can tell, there's no other record or checklist of this set available online.  Phillies collector Rick (@rickphils) was kind enough to send along the scan shown here, which is what I used to compile the checklist above.

1971 Topps Phillies

1971 Topps #490, #233, #23 and #138

I have about 70% of the 1971 Topps set in my possession.  I'm exactly 226 cards away from a complete set, and I'm sad to say I haven't added a new card to the set in over a year.  I haven't even posted my wantlist to this blog, which I plan to remedy shortly.  Those 226 cards are the only thing standing between me and a complete run of Topps sets from 1970 to 2010.  On Christmas morning, 1998, Santa left a starter set of 50 cards under the Christmas tree and I chipped away at the set little by little for the next few years.  Since the mid-2000's, my baseball card collecting focus has shifted to the point where I'm mostly collecting Phillies cards at this point.  But I haven't forgotten about this black-bordered beauty from '71.

The Set

1971 Topps #490 (Back)

Number of cards in the set:  Topps added 32 more cards from the previous year's set, coming in at 752 total cards.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  It's awesome.  The black borders scared me off for a long time because I wanted to be able to put together a condition-sensitive set, heavy with mint to near-mint cards.  I'm wiser now, and I've realized condition isn't really that important.  I'm not looking to get these things graded to sell them at a profit.  I'm looking to enjoy the process of collecting the set and getting to one day flip through the binder housing the entire 752-card run.

Notable competition:  There was a 13-card Phillies set released by Arco gas stations in 1971, and there are three Phillies to be found in the second ever Kellogg's set.

1971 Phillies

Record and finish:  Any progress that was made in 1970 was erased in 1971 as the team went 67-95, finishing dead last in the division and 30 games behind the Pirates.

Key players:  They didn't hit for average, but first baseman Deron Johnson (.265, 34 home runs, 95 RBIs) and rookie center fielder Willie Montanez (.255, 30 home runs, 99 RBIs) provided the power.  Most of the other regulars hovered around the as yet unnamed Mendoza line and regular third baseman John Vukovich finished well below the line with a .166 average.  Rick Wise (17-14, 2.88 ERA) had another stellar year but every other regular starting pitcher finished with a losing record.  With Wise as the only dependable starter, there's no way the Phillies would dare trade him following the season.  (That's foreshadowing right there.  I sometimes like to use literary techniques on the blog.)

Key events:  Veterans Stadium opened its doors (or more accurately, its ramps) on April 10, 1971.  On June 8th, the Phillies selected Mike Schmidt, a shortstop from Ohio University, in the second round of the June Amateur Draft.  Schmidt was the 30th overall pick in the draft and he signed a contract with the Phillies three days later.

1971 Topps #465, #49, #246 and #616

1971 Phillies in 1971 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 31 cards in a complete 1971 Topps Phillies team set.  That's 60 cards so far from the '70s and 528 Topps Phillies cards overall since 1951.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 5 cards

#465 Tim McCarver (c), #490 Deron Johnson (1b), #352 Denny Doyle (2b), #233 Larry Bowa (ss), #23 Oscar Gamble (lf)

Shortstop Vukovich was omitted completely, center fielder Montanez had to share his card (see below) and new right fielder Roger Freed is pictured with the Orioles.

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 4 cards

#598 Rick Wise, #739 Barry Lersch, #511 Chris Short, #574 Jim Bunning

1971 Topps #598, #511, #574 and #166

• Base cards of other players who played with the Phillies in 1971 - 14 cards

#49 Don Money, #166 Joe Hoerner, #192 Bill Wilson, #246 Tony Taylor, #297 John Briggs, #323 Bill Champion, #366 Ron Stone, #414 Woodie Fryman, #533 Mike Ryan, #554 Lowell Palmer, #616 Larry Hisle, #659 Byron Browne, #682 Terry Harmon, #705 Dick Selma

• 1971 Rookie Stars cards - 4 cards

#138 Joe Lis/Willie Montanez, #439 Greg Luzinski/Scott Reid, #664 Ken Reynolds with Archie Reynolds (Angels) and Bob Reynolds (Expos), #728 Wayne Redmond with Keith Lampard (Astros) and Bernie Williams (Giants)

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1971 - 2 cards

#77 Mike Compton, #92 Fred Wenz

• Manager card - 1 card, #119 Frank Lucchesi
• Team card - 1 card, #268

2001 Topps Archives #66

Who’s out:  As mentioned above, Vukovich was left out of the set completely as were utility player Bobby Pfeil (44 games, .271 average) and reliever Darrell "Bucky" Brandon (6-6 in 52 games).

Phillies on other teams:  Freed (#362) appears with the Orioles on a Rookie Stars card with pitcher Mike Adamson.  Future All-Star Wayne Twitchell (#692) appears with the Brewers on a Rookie Stars card, as does catcher Pete Koegel (#633).

What’s he doing here:  Redmond appeared in the final series on a multi-player Rookie Stars card, but I have no idea how he came into the Phillies organization.  He played in 4 games with the Tigers in 1965 and 5 games with the Tigers in 1969, but he never played for the Phillies.  His minor league stats over at Baseball Reference don't show him as having appeared in a game within the Phillies' system.  It's a mystery.

Cards that never were candidates:  Vukovich should have a card, while both Montanez and Reynolds deserve their own cards.  Freed should have a Phillies card and it would be cool to see a Schmidt draft pick card.

Favorite Phillies card:  There are a lot of great cards to choose from here, including Bowa's first solo card with the Topps All-Star Rookie trophy, and Lowell Palmer striking a pose in his shades.  But I'm torn between Gamble's and Short's cards which both display the new Phillies unis with old Connie Mack Stadium lurking in the background.  It's Gamble by a hair.

1971 Topps #533, #554, #297 and 2002 Upper Deck Vintage #235

Other Stuff

Recycled:  The 2002 Upper Deck Vintage set borrowed from used the classic design, moving the team name to the bottom of the card.

Blogs/Websites:  Is there seriously not a blog for this set?  How is that possible?  If there's one out there and I've just missed it, please let me know.  In the mean time, there's a set quest going on over at Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius.

Did You Know?:  Going strictly numerical, the first Phillie ever to appear on a Topps baseball card wearing the new '70s and '80s-era Phillies uniforms was Gamble on card #23 in the set.  In case you were wondering, the last Phillie to ever wear this uniform in a Topps set was Danny Cox, card #791 in the 1992 Topps Set.  And now you know.

And one more thing - Happy Father's Day!

1970 Topps Phillies

1970 Topps #125, #645, #564 and #539

In the summer of 1989, I started collecting the 1970 Topps set.  My Dad and I had previously completed the full run of Topps sets from 1973 through 1989, and we needed a new set to collect.  We skipped 1971 (too difficult) and 1972 (high series too expensive) and started looking for the gray-bordered cards from 1970.  I graduated high school and college before finding the final card I needed nearly ten years after we had started collecting the set.  I remember the Mets and Yankees cards from this set being particularly difficult to find, but it was the Pirates Team Card (#608) that eluded me until I found a mint copy at a baseball card show in Raleigh, North Carolina on Valentine's Day, 1999.

The Set

1970 Topps #564 (Back)

Number of cards in the set:  Topps crossed the 700-card threshold for the first time, as this set comes in at 720 cards.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  This could be one of the most under-rated sets from the 1970's.  After three years of ho-hum designs, Topps changed things up a bit with better photography, a clean gray border and the player's name in a script font.  I would have liked it better if the color used for each team name was consistent, but that's a minor quibble.  I also really like the backs of the cards, and I'm glad to see the backs ranked #28 in Night Owl's Card Back Countdown.

Notable competition:  Kellogg's released their inaugural issue of 3-D style baseball cards, found in boxes of Kellogg's cereal.  There are four Phillies to be found within the 75-card set.

1970 Phillies

Record and finish:  The team could only go up after 1969.  The Phillies finished with a 73-88 record, in fifth place and 15 1/2 games behind the pennant-winning Pirates.

Key players:  First baseman Deron Johnson (.256, 27 home runs, 93 RBIs) and third baseman Don Money (.295, 14 home runs, 66 RBIs) provided the most offense for the team.  The pitching staff did the best they could as Rick Wise (13-14, 4.17 ERA), the recently returned Jim Bunning (10-15, 4.11 ERA) and Chris Short (9-16, 4.30 ERA) soldiered on.  Dick Selma led the bullpen with 22 saves.  A World Series championship was a decade away, but three members of that team made their debuts in 1970 - Larry Bowa, Greg Luzinski and John Vukovich.

Key events:  Frank Lucchesi was hired as the team's new manager following the dreadful 1969 campaign.  In October 1969, the Phillies parted ways with Dick Allen, Cookie Rojas and Jerry Johnson, sending them to the Cardinals for Tim McCarver, Joe Hoerner, Byron Browne and Curt Flood.  When Flood refused to report to the Phillies, challenging the reserve clause which bound a player to whichever team held his contract, the first domino eventually leading to free agency fell.  As part of the compensation for Flood refusing to report to the Phillies, the Cardinals sent Willie Montanez instead.  Long-time Phillie Johnny Callison was also shipped off in a November 1969 deal with the Cubs, with the Phillies receiving Oscar Gamble and Selma in return.

1970 Topps #605, #403, #270 and #6

1970 Phillies in 1970 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 29 Phillies in a complete 1970 Topps team set.

Who’s in:  

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 6 cards

#90 Tim McCarver (c), #125 Deron Johnson (1b), #645 Don Money (3b), #564 John Briggs (lf), #288 Larry Hisle (cf), #388 Byron Browne (rf)

Denny Doyle and Larry Bowa, the starting middle infield, shared their card - see below.

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 5 cards

#605 Rick Wise, #403 Jim Bunning, #270 Chris Short, #5 Grant Jackson, #677 Woodie Fryman

• Base cards of other players who played with the Phillies in 1970 - 10 cards

#24 Dick Selma, #28 Bill Wilson, #149 Bill Champion, #186 Rick Joseph, #218 Ron Stone, #252 Lowell Palmer, #324 Tony Taylor, #486 Terry Harmon, #511 Joe Hoerner, #591 Mike Ryan

1970 Topps #90, #591, #324 and #24

• 1969 Rookie Stars cards - 3 cards

#56 Scott Reid/Joe Lis, #539 Denny Doyle/Larry Bowa, #654 Oscar Gamble with Boots Day (Cubs) and Angel Mangual (Pirates)

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1970 - 2 cards

#168 Dave Watkins, #302 Jeff James

• Base cards of players who never played with the Phillies - 1 card, #360 Curt Flood
• Manager card - 1 card, #662 Frank Lucchesi
• Team card - 1 card, #436

Who’s out:  Pitcher Barry Lersch should have been in the set as he appeared in 42 games for the Phillies.   A case could also be made for the back-up to the back-up catcher Mike Compton and outfielder/infielder/catcher Jim Hutto.

Phillies on other teams:  Similar to the 1968 Topps set, there are no Phillies players appearing on other teams in this set.

What’s he doing here:  The ultimate "What's he doing here" Phillies card from the entire run of Topps sets is most likely Curt Flood's 1970 Topps card.

Cards that never were candidates:  Bowa, Doyle and Gamble each deserve his own card and Lersch deserves a card, period.  Topps could have also included rookie cards of Montanez, Luzinski and Vukovich.

Favorite Phillies card:  There are a few contenders here including Bowa's rookie card and Taylor at the bat rack.  But I've always liked the classic simplicity of Money's first solo baseball card, complete with the gold Topps All-Star Rookie trophy.

1970 Topps #360, #252, #218 and #662

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Topps just hasn't dipped into the 1970 Topps well enough, in my opinion.  Between you and me, the set's design is an early contender for the 2012 Chachi set.  Baseball Cards Magazine used the design for their 1992 Repli-Cards set, which included a John Kruk card.

Blogs/Websites:  This concludes the series of Jim from Downingtown's landscape of baseball card set blogs.  The 1970 Topps Baseball blog was started once Jim realized there was a void in set-related blogs for this underrated set.  If you're not following along with his blogs, you're missing out.

Did You Know?: Starting with Series 2, card #133, Topps decided a white line was needed on the front of the card to separate the player's name and position.