1956 Topps - 4th Series Phillies Alumni

After 10 years and exactly 342 posts for each of the 342 cards in the set, my 1956 Topps blog is coming to a close.  Within the next few weeks, I'll wrap up the final few posts and put the finishing touches on both a 4th Series review and an overall review of this wonderful baseball card set.  

As I've done with the prior three series, I wanted to display a gallery of Phillies Alumni from the set's fourth series, or cards #261 to #340.  Here are those 16 players who either played, coached or managed the Phillies.

 

#261

#266

#269

#274

#275

#282

#290

#293

#296

#297

#308

#321

#331

#334

#335

#337

Phillies Alumni in 1956 Topps Set

1st Series - 18

2nd Series - 14

3rd Series - 14

4th Series - 16

1992 Medford Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  46
Card Size:  4 1/8" x 6"

Description:  For the fourth year in a row, the card fronts feature a photo with the player's, coach's or manager's name in a red band with white text.  The card backs feature biographical information along with complete career statistics.  Medford Food Company sponsored the set for the second year in a row. 

In the spring of 1992, the new Phillies uniform were kept top secret and they didn't make their public debut until opening day.  The cards in this set feature portraits of all players, coaches and the manager in their new uniforms, and (in my opinion) this is one of the nicer team-issued photo card sets released by the Phillies.

How Distributed:  The original 36-card base set was available for sale at Veterans Stadium throughout the 1992 season.  The ten card update set was available for sale at some point beginning in late June or early July.  Pat Combs is the "newest" Phillie in the update set, having joined the team on June 18th.

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the front of cards): 

1. Kyle Abbott (#47 - LHP) 2. Ruben Amaro (#33 - OF) 3. Andy Ashby (#40 - RHP) 4. Wally Backman (#6 - INF) 5. Kim Batiste (#5 - INF) 6. Larry Bowa (#2 - CO) 7. Cliff Brantley (#51 - LHP) 8. Wes Chamberlain (#44 - OF)            9. Danny Cox (#34 - RHP) 10. Darren Daulton (#10 - C) 11. Mariano Duncan (#7 - INF) 12. Lenny Dykstra (#4 - OF)

13. Jim Fregosi (#11 - MG) 14. Tommy Greene (#49 - RHP) 15. Dave Hollins (#15 - INF) 16. Barry Jones (#50 - RHP) 17. John Kruk (#29 - INF) 18. Steve Lake (#30 - C) 19. Jim Lindeman (#19 - OF) 20. Denis Menke (#14 - CO) 21. Mickey Morandini (#12 - INF) 22. Terry Mulholland (Close up photo - #45 - LHP)     23. Dale Murphy (#3 - OF) 24. Johnny Podres (#46 - CO)

25. Wally Ritchie (#39 - LHP) 26. Mel Roberts (#26 - CO) 27. Mike Ryan (#25 - CO) 28. Curt Schilling (#38 - RHP)        29. Steve Searcy (#24 - LHP) 30. Dale Sveum (#8 - INF) 31. John Vukovich (#18 - CO) 32. Mitch Williams (#28 - LHP)     33. Phillie Phanatic 34. Phillies Team 35. Veterans Stadium 36. Uniforms Through the Years

Complete Update Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the front of cards):

1. Bob Ayrault (#55 - RHP) 2. Brad Brink (#23 - RHP) 3. Pat Combs (#21 - LHP)        4. Jeff Grotewold (#48 - C)

5. Mike Hartley (#42 - RHP) 6. Ricky Jordan (#17 - INF/OF)        7. Tom Marsh (#9 - OF)

8. Terry Mulholland (Shoulders visible - #45 - LHP) 9. Ben Rivera (#34 - RHP) 10. Don Robinson (#35 - RHP)

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (1):  Robinson

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (13):  Abbott, Amaro, Ayrault, Batiste, Brantley, Duncan, Grotewold, Hartley, Jones, Marsh, Rivera, Schilling, Sveum
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (21):  Ashby, Backman, Brink, Chamberlain, Combs, Cox, Daulton, Dykstra, Greene, Hollins, Jordan, Kruk, Lake, Lindeman, Morandini, Mulholland (two versions), Murphy, Ritchie, Searcy, Williams

Don Robinson's eight game stint with the Phillies to wrap up his 15-year career is commemorated with his sole Phillies baseball card in the update set.

Managers (1):  Fregosi
Coaches (6):  Bowa, Menke, Podres, Roberts, Ryan, Vukovich

Phillie Phanatic (1):  Like everyone else in the set, the Phanatic is posed in a studio setting, wearing his new uniform.

Broadcasters (0)
Commemorative Cards (1):  Uniforms Through the Years
Other Cards (2):  Phillies Team, Veterans Stadium

The Uniform Through the Years card is perhaps one of the coolest cards ever produced by the Phillies for its team-issued photo card sets.  It was originally given out on Opening Day as a poster.  Veterans Stadium gets its first card since the 1984 Tastykake Phillies set.

Set Composition:  The 25 players in the base set represent the entire opening day roster, which is a fairly impressive feat.  The nine new players in the update set feature players who made their season debut with the team between mid-April (Grotewold) and mid-June (Combs).  For some reason, Mulholland receives another card in the update set, with a different posed photo than the original base set.  

Omissions:  Those who could have had cards in the update set but were omitted are Julio Peguero, Darrin Chapin and Steve Scarsone.  Peguero was called up on the second day of the season after Dykstra suffered a broken hand on opening day.  Chapin was on the active roster for six games in late April/early May, and Scarsone was on the active roster for 18 games in May into early June.

Variations/Rarities:  In the original post for this set, fellow collectors Rick and Steve helped me piece together a checklist of photo cards available at the annual ALS Autograph Party.  The checklist below features four players who were on the active roster, but had not appeared on officially released photo cards by the time of the annual fund raising event, held on August 10th.  Mike Williams received a card, and must have been at the event, although the team's transaction log shows him being optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on July 29th.  Only Greg Mathews was omitted here, which is odd, as the pitcher had been recalled from Triple-A on July 17th and stayed with the team for the remainder of the season.

Along with these five "update" cards for recently added players, 12 more cards were produced for either returning Phillies alumni or other, non-alumni former players.

ALS Autograph Party 1. Dick Allen 2. Jay Baller (#56 - RHP)           3. Steve Bedrosian 4. Dave Cash 5. Joe Coleman, Jr.

6. Joe Coleman, Sr. 7. Stan Javier (#22 - OF) 8. Sparky Lyle       9. Garry Maddox 10. Tug McGraw 11. Joe Millette (#27 - INF)

12. Dickie Noles 13. Todd Pratt (#23 - C) 14. Bobby Shantz 15. Joe Torre 16. Elmer Valo 17. Mike Williams (#41 - RHP)

Also See:  Scrapbook Sunday: April 7, 1992; Uniforms Through the Years

Resources:  Beckett.com; Phillies collectors Rick (@rickphils) and Steve F.

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

1991 Medford Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards / 1993 Medford Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

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

2016 Phungo Cards are Here (Early!) from @phungo2008

2016 Phungo #38

2016 Phungo #22A

2016 Phungo #22B

2016 Phungo #27

In October, I received an awesome package from Phungo containing a pack of 2015 Phungo cards and all the "random" inserts that come with it.  I was very surprised to return home from work last week and find a package from Phungo World Headquarters.  Surely, this couldn't be the 2016 Phungo release, so early in the season.  As a premium brand, PWHQ usually waits until late in the season or even after the season to unleash its awesomeness on the collecting world.  But it's an early release this year!  2016 Phungo is live!

This is the eighth Phungo pack of cards I've opened since 2009, and it's always a pleasure to see what surprises await.  The base cards feature photographs taken at games attended by Team Phungo, and I was very happy to receive the short-printed Bob Dernier "cropped" variation in my pack which lists him as a member of the Phillies.  The Mike Trout has already disappeared into my son's Trout binder.

2016 Phungo #1

2016 Phungo #20

2016 Phungo #30

2016 Phungo #51

I also received a number of cards featuring the current Phillies team, and these are all welcome additions to my 2016 Phillies binder.  Unfortunately, my copy of the Bobby Shantz card was not the rare parallel version featuring a blue (or red) autograph of Team Phungo's founder and creative force. Maybe next year.

I should also mention that I love this year's design.  The wood-grained border with the circular inset reminds me of the 1958 Hires Root Beer set.

The "inserts" are always fun too.  Here are four of the non-Phungo cards that I needed for my Phillies collection.  There were a few non-Phungo Phillies cards that I already have in my collection, but these have quickly disappeared into the Phillies binders of my two sons.  Excellent job once again by Team Phungo, and I'm very grateful to be on their mailing list!

1966 Topps #435

2001 Donruss Class of 2001 #133

2003 Upper Deck Honor Roll #84

2014 Topps Update #US-236

Memory Lane

2009 Phungo
2010 Phungo
2011 and 2012 Phungo
2013 Phungo
2014 Phungo
2015 Phungo