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

Phillies at Cardinals: September 15th to September 17th

1965 Topps #322

1965 Topps #373

Friday 8:15, Saturday 7:15, Sunday 2:15
Busch Stadium - St. Louis, MO

At the Ballpark:  The Cardinals always seem to have great giveaway items.  Tonight, the first 25,000 fans will receive a Cardinals hockey sweater.  On Saturday night, the first 25,000 fans will receive a really nice-looking Ozzie Smith "Wizard" bobble head.  And on Sunday, the first 10,000 kids will receive a Build-A-Bear Workshop Cardinals puppy plush.  Not a bad haul for a three-game series!

Phillies 79-67
2nd Place in the N.L. East, 17 games behind the Braves

Phillies Probables
Aaron Nola (12-9, 4.64)
Ranger Suarez (2-6, 3.93)
Taijuan Walker (15-5, 4.30)

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Bryce Harper - .295
Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 100
Home Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 43
RBIs:  Kyle Schwarber - 94
Stolen Bases:  Bryson Stott - 28

Wins:  Taijuan Walker - 15
ERA:  Zack Wheeler - 3.70

Strikeouts:  Zack Wheeler - 196
Saves:  Craig Kimbrel - 23

Cardinals 65-81
5th Place in the N.L. Central, 17 games behind the Brewers

Cardinals Probables
Zack Thompson (5-5, 4.06)
Miles Mikolas (7-11, 4.75)
Dakota Hudson (6-2, 5.10)

Cardinals Leaders
Average:  Paul Goldschmidt - .271
Runs:  Paul Goldschmidt - 82
Home Runs:  Nolan Gorman - 27
RBIs:  Nolan Arenado - 89
Stolen Bases:  Tommy Edman - 24

Wins:  Miles Mikolas - 7
ERA:  Miles Mikolas - 4.75

Strikeouts:  Miles Mikolas - 116
Saves:  Giovanny Gallegos and Ryan Hensley - 10

2023 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2023 Season Summary Index / 2023 Chachi Set Checklist

Focused on Vintage During Lock-Out

While the owners continue to lock-out the players, and with the first week of spring training games now canceled, I wanted to publish a post to (a) say I'm still here, anxiously awaiting the 2022 Phillies season and (b) remind readers my other three blogs are going strong with now daily posts from the 1934-36 Diamond Stars set, the 1956 Topps set and the 1965 Topps set.  I don't how much longer daily posting on these blogs is feasible, but for now I've settled into a schedule of a new Diamond Stars card on Sunday, a 1956 Topps card on Friday and a 1965 Topps card all other days of the week.

Here's a look at Curt Simmons' card from the 1965 Topps set, from a post originally published a few weeks ago.  As we wait for live baseball to resume, I hope you'll enjoy taking a look back at some great older baseball cards as much as I've enjoyed writing about them.

1965 Topps #373 Curt Simmons - St. Louis Cardinals

Curtis Thomas Simmons
St. Louis Cardinals
Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  175
Born:  May 19, 1929, Egypt, PA
Signed:  Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent before 1947 season
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 1947-1950, 1952-1960; St. Louis Cardinals 1960-1966; Chicago Cubs 1966-1967; California Angels 1967

Curt Simmons will forever be associated with the beloved Whiz Kids, the 1950 Phillies club that made it to the World Series for the first time since 1915.  Simmons was a 17-game winner for the Phillies in 1950 and formed a solid one-two punch atop their starting pitching rotation with Robin Roberts (#15).  He missed the 1950 World Series against the Yankees after being drafted to serve in the Korean War.  Simmons was a three-time All-Star with the Phillies in 1952, 1953 and 1957.  He won at least 12 games with the club in six different seasons.  Released by the Phillies in May 1960, Simmons signed with the Cardinals where he enjoyed a career resurgence.  His best seasons actually came during his time in St. Louis as he went 15-9 in 1963 with a 2.48 ERA and was 18-9 for the team in 1964 when they upset the Phillies in the final week of the season to advance to the World Series.  Simmons pitched well in his Game 3 and Game 6 starts, and while he was the losing pitcher in Game 6, he compiled a 2.51 ERA over 14 1/3 innings.  The Cardinals would win the series in seven games over the Yankees.

2006 Toyota Phillies Wall of Fame Postcards

A competent fielder as well, Simmons had errorless seasons in 1950, 1952, 1957 and 1963.  Simmons would finish up his 20-year big league career with a few seasons with the Cubs and Angels, retiring in 1967.  At the time, along with Smoky Burgess (#198), he was the last person to retire who had played in the majors in the 1940s.  Simmons had a lifetime record of 193-183 with a 3.54 ERA over 569 games pitched.  His career strikeout total of 1,697 is currently 149th on the all-time list.  Hank Aaron (#170) named Simmons as one of the toughest pitchers he faced during his career.

Building the Set
December 4, 2021 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards, Babylon, NY) - Card #399
You'll be seeing this particular passage on my 1965 Topps blog for quite some time as we added a whopping 97 cards to our set during the December Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show.  If I'm ambitious and compose posts for five cards a week, I should be completely caught up by the end of May.  If I'm not as ambitious, I might still be going through this stack by the time we hit July.  Either way, I'll enjoy the process and I'm looking forward to taking my time.  I've posted a complete summary of this fantastic show over at The Phillies Room.

Looking to kill some time while we were waiting for our number to be called for Doug's autograph from Jim Thome, I found a bargain bin of 1965 Topps cards at Uncle Dick's and I texted Doug that I'd be standing at the table where the dealers were wearing neon green shirts.   This Simmons card was one of 15 from that first batch of purchases, totaling $40, and it was a little less than $3 after the dealer discount.  After getting the Thome autograph, and grabbing a slice of pizza from the "food court" upstairs, I'd settle in at Uncle Dick's for my second and biggest haul of the show.

The Card / Cardinals Team Set
Simmons' veteran status and his lengthy major league career up to this point allowed no room for anything other than statistics.

1965 Season
Simmons, and the entire Cardinals team, came back down to Earth in 1965, with Simmons going 9-15 with a 4.08 ERA over 34 appearances, including 32 starts.  Only Bob Gibson (#320) with 36 made more starts than Simmons with the lefty pitcher crossing the 200-inning threshold for eighth and final time in his career.

Phillies Career
The Phillies signed Simmons as a bonus baby in 1947 for $65,000, one of the highest amounts received to date by an amateur player.  He made his debut on September 28th that season and he'd be a fixture in the Phillies' starting pitching rotation for the next decade.  He was the National League's starting pitcher in the 1952 All-Star Game, hosted at Shibe Park, and he pitched three shutout innings while striking out three.  With the Phillies entering a rebuilding phase, Simmons was released by the club on May 17, 1960.  He'd return briefly to the franchise in 1970 as a member of the Phillies' minor league instructional staff.

With the Phillies, he was 115-110 with a 3.66 ERA in 325 games.  Simmons was inducted onto the Phillies Wall of Fame in 1993, and he was by far the best left-handed pitcher in franchise history until Steve Carlton (#477), Chris Short and Cole Hamels all came along.  Simmons still ranks in the top ten among all Phillies pitchers in games started (263), shutouts (18), wins (115), innings pitched (1,939 2/3), and strikeouts (1,052).

1949 Bowman #14

1952 Topps #203

1957 Topps #158

1963 Topps #22

1967 Topps #39

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1949 Bowman #14
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13):  1952, 1956-1967
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2016 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-CS

92 - Simmons non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 12/29/21.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

1991 Medford Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  46
Card Size:  4 1/8" x 6"
Description:  For the third year in a row, the card fronts feature an action 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 took over sponsorship of the set in 1991, and they'd sponsor the set for the next two years.

How Distributed:  The original 35-card base set was available for sale at Veterans Stadium throughout the 1991 season.  Details vary as to how the 11-card update series was originally distributed.  The 2001 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards describes two updates being issued.  The first update being the three card highlight set featuring white bordered cards for Tommy Greene, Terry Mulholland and Dale Murphy.  Mulholland's card celebrates his no-hitter from August 15, 1990, while Greene's celebrates his no-hitter from May 23, 1991.  Murphy's card commemorates his 2,000th hit on May 29, 1991.

The second update, according to the Catalog, contained eight cards and featured new manager Jim Fregosi, the Phillie Phanatic and six new Phillies players.  I have no recollection of purchasing two separate update sets at the Vet during the 1991 season, but my memory is admittedly starting to get a bit foggy.  The second update would not have been released before July 15th, the day Steve Searcy was acquired from the Tigers, and not after July 31st, the day Mike Hartley was acquired from the Dodgers.  Searcy is in the set while Hartley is not. 

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

1. Darrel Akerfelds (#35) 2. Andy Ashby (#40) 3. Wally Backman (#6)         4. Joe Boever (#30) 5. Rod Booker (#37) 6. Larry Bowa CO (#2) 7. Sil Campusano (#11) 8. Wes Chamberlain (#31)           9. Pat Combs (#38) 10. Danny Cox (#34)      11. Darren Daulton (#10) 12. Jose DeJesus (#54)

13. Lenny Dykstra (#4)    14. Darrin Fletcher (#24) 15. Tommy Greene (#49) 16. Jason Grimsley (#48) 17. Charlie Hayes (#8) 18. Von Hayes (#9) 19. Dave Hollins (#15) 20. Ken Howell (#43) 21. Ricky Jordan (#17) 22. John Kruk (#29) 23. Steve Lake (#25) 24. Hal Lanier CO (#22)

25. Tim Mauser (#52) 26. Roger McDowell (#13) 27. Denis Menke CO (#14) 28. Mickey Morandini (#12) 29. John Morris (#33) 30. Terry Mulholland (#45) 31. Dale Murphy (#3) 32. Johnny Podres CO (#46) 33. Randy Ready (#23) 34. Dickie Thon (#21) 35. John Vukovich CO (#18)

Complete Update Checklist, 2nd Version: 

1. Jim Fregosi MG (#11)           2. Ron Jones (#26) 3. Jim Lindeman (#55) 4. Wally Ritchie (#39)

5. Bruce Ruffin (#47) 6. Steve Searcy (#50) 7. Mitch Williams (#28) 8. Tommy Greene - No-Hitter

9. Terry Mulholland - No-Hitter 10. Dale Murphy - 2,000th Hit 11. Phillie Phanatic

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (0)

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (9):  Backman, Chamberlain, Cox, Fletcher, Lindeman, Mauser, Morris, Searcy, Williams
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (27):  Akerfelds, Ashby, Boever, Booker, Campusano, Combs, Daulton, DeJesus, Dykstra, Greene, Grimsley, C. Hayes, V. Hayes, Hollins, Howell, Jones, Jordan, Kruk, Lake, McDowell, Morandini, Mulholland, Murphy, Ready, Ritchie, Ruffin, Thon

Jim Lindeman's uniform number is listed as #55, which is the number he wore during spring training.  He switched to #19 before the season started, taking the number most recently occupied before him by John Kruk.  Sil Campusano attended spring training wearing #11 and started the season on the disabled list.  When Fregosi was hired and took #11, Campusano switched to #16, the former number of departed manager Nick Leyva.

Manager (1):  Fregosi
Coaches (5):  Bowa, Lanier, Menke, Podres, Vukovich

Phillie Phanatic (1):  The Phanatic is shown posing while sitting on his ATV.
Broadcasters (0):  If a broadcaster card had been issued at the start of the season, it would have featured future manager Fregosi as he had recently joined the broadcast team.
Commemorative Cards (3):  Greene, Mulholland, Murphy

Surprises:  I find it strange all the coaches received cards in the first set, but the manager at the beginning of the season (Leyva) was omitted.  Leyva was fired on April 23rd, so my guess is the original 35-card set wasn't finalized until after his departure.  Or the first series originally contained 36 cards and the Leyva card was pulled after his firing.

Omissions:  Every Phillies player from opening day through July 31st has a card in this set except for Dave LaPoint, Rick Schu and Amalio Carreno.  LaPoint made the opening day roster but was released on April 23rd, the same day Leyva was dismissed.  Schu had a brief reunion with his original club, and he was on the active roster between May 28th and June 19th.  He was brought back up on August 28th and stayed with the team the rest of the season.  Carreno was recalled on July 2nd and sent back down on July 15th.  Ken Howell and Steve Ontiveros both spent the entire season on the disabled list and while Howell received a card in the set, Ontiveros did not.

Variations/Rarities:  As fellow collector Rick pointed out in a comment to the original post for this set, six additional cards were issued for former Phillies who were guests at the annual ALS Phillies Phestival.  These cards have only a red Phillies logo and a 1991 copyright on the backs, with no Medford logo. 

ALS Autograph Party      1. Harry Anderson           2. Gene Garber

3. Maje McDonnell CO           4. Ron Reed

5. Eddie Sawyer MG 6. Curt Simmons

Also See:  Scrapbook Sunday - August 12, 1991. Resources:  Phillies collector Rick (@rickphils). 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 learned (if any) over the past six years. 1990 Phillies Photo Cards / 1992 Medford Phillies Photo Cards 1980-1999 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page

After 79 Years, Larry File Gets a Phillies Baseball Card

Fellow collector Alan was kind enough to e-mail me a few weeks ago to let me know he had 1970 Grant Jackson Phillies Photocard I needed from my want list.  He graciously told me he'd send me the Jackson card along with a "small care package," including a couple of odds and ends.

In the package along with the Jackson photo card were signed photo cards of Jerry Martin, Larry Christenson and Juan Samuel and a signed Manny Trillo card from the 1981 Topps 5 x 7 set.  There were five other non-Phillies photo card autographs, shown here, of former Phillies pitchers Curt Simmons, Jack Sanford and Ron Reed.  The Reed photo is interesting to me as it appears to be the same photo used for his 1982 Topps card.  These are all welcome additions to my Phillies collection.

The final autographed photo really caught my attention, as I had never heard of Larry File and the inscription under his autograph said, "Phillie 1940."  I came up empty when Googling Larry File, but thanks to Baseball Reference and a quick review of the 1940 Phillies roster, I found a Sam File.  Sam File's full name is Samuel Lawrence File, so I had my match.

Unfortunately, I didn't learn much more about File than what's on his Baseball Reference page.  At 18 years old, he was the youngest player in the National League in 1940, making his debut on September 6th.  He appeared in seven games for the Phillies, collecting a hit in 13 at-bats (.077).  He split his 33 innings in the field between shortstop (28 innings) and third base (5 innings) committing three errors in 20 total chances.  He remained in the Phillies minor league system in 1941 (77 games), 1942 (113 games) and then again in 1946 (20 games), playing his final year of professional baseball that season at the age of 24.  His three season interruption was due to his military service with the Coast Guard during World War II.

Born in Chester, PA in 1922, File passed away in 2008 at the age of 86.

2019 Chachi Phillies Missing Links of the 1940s #1

Not surprisingly, File never appeared on any baseball cards, making him a member of a club near and dear to me - the Phillies Missing Links.  I thought I'd remedy this with the first card from the Phillies Missing Links from the 1940s insert set, something I may continue at a (much) later date.  Since he signed his name "Larry" and the Phillies Media Guide lists him as "File, Larry (Sam)," I went with Larry instead of Sam for his card.

Thanks again Alan for the great package!

Happy Birthday Mom! Tax Cards Have Arrived!

1956 Topps #127

For the past 20 years or so, there's a three-month period from mid-January through mid-April where I disappear for most of the day and toil away at my chosen profession.  This was a challenging year, with the ridiculousness of the so-called tax reform on top of the normal wear and tear tax accountants face annually.  My most loyal and important client was once again my Mom, and I made sure to prepare and file her tax returns one early Sunday morning in late March.

Now that I'm on the other side of one more busy season, I wanted to make public the payment I received from my top customer for the preparation of her tax returns.  I feel this is a lopsided arrangement, as she's clearly overpaying for my services.  Then again, if more clients paid me in vintage Phillies baseball cards maybe I'd be less cranky every March.

The addition of the 1951 Berk Ross Curt Simmons card completes the 14-card Phillies team set for me.  I plan to share a gallery of this team set in a future post.  The 1961 Topps card for Don Ferrarese was the last card I needed for my 1961 Topps Phillies team set and I'm creeping towards a long-time goal of mine to have every Topps Phillies card from the 1960s.  A difficult to find high number card, I had been searching for this card in decent shape for a while.  The 1957 Topps cards for Chico Fernandez and Roy Smalley get me two cards closer to polishing off that team set as well.

1951 Berk Ross #4-9

1957 Topps #305

1957 Topps #397

1961 Topps #558

Having already completed a 1956 Topps set, I'm now selfishly trying to add a 1956 Topps Phillies team set to my 1950s Phillies binder.  I have to say I don't mind adding these cards to my collection for a second time, and the Puddin' Head Jones card shown here may be in better shape than the version in our complete set.  I should also mention that I've recently resurrected my 1956 Topps blog, and hopefully my posting over there remains somewhat regular.

Finally, I wanted to wish my Mom a very happy birthday and remind her that I'm forever grateful for everything she's done for me.  Happy birthday Mom!

1953 Bowman Color Phillies

Having recently completed the 11-card 1953 Bowman Color Phillies team set, I wanted to show off these gorgeous cards here.  If I were to ever win the lottery and decide to collect another set from the 1950s, it would come down to choosing between this set and the 1955 Bowman set.

#10 Richie Ashburn

#28 "Smoky" Burgess

#60 Granny Hamner

#64 Curt Simmons

#65 Robin Roberts

#67 Mel Clark

#103 Del Ennis

#113 Karl Drews

#131 Connie Ryan

#133 Willie Jones

#158 Howard Fox