Game 147 - Jays Jolt Phils in Convincing Loss

1993 Topps #235

Blue Jays 18, Phillies 11
Game 147 - Tuesday Night, September 20th in Philadelphia
Record - 80-67, 3rd Place, 13 1/2 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  The Blue Jays demolished Kyle Gibson and a few Phillies relievers in this brutal 18-11 loss.

What It Means:  At least the Phillies scored 11 runs?  Having witnessed none of this debacle, I can only imagine watching the actual game was painful.

What Happened:  On the positive side, Dalton Guthrie hit his first big league home run and Kyle Schwarber hit his 40th home run of the season, making him the first Phillies slugger in the 40 home run club since Ryan Howard connected for 45 home runs in 2009.  J.T. Realmuto went 5-for-5, including his 20th home run of the season.  Back-up catcher Garrett Stubbs made his fourth relief appearance of the season and was the only Phillies pitcher on the night not to give up any runs.

On the negative side, actual Phillies full-time pitchers gave up 18 runs on 21 hits.  Gibson was scorched for seven runs on 12 hits in  his five innings of work, giving him a September ERA of 9.68 in his four starts so far this month.

Featured Card:  Of course the last time the Phillies and Blue Jays scored 29 combined runs in a game was on October 20, 1993 in Game 4 of the 1993 World Series.  That game was actually way more painful than this game as Mitch Williams blew his first of two World Series saves, with the Blue Jayes winning, 15-14.

2022 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2022 Season Summary Index / 2022 Chachi Set Checklist

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

1991 Medford Phillies

I updated this post here in October 2020 and this original post is now outdated.

 
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 celebrating the the team's two recent no-hitters and Dale Murphy's 2,000 career hit.

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.

Complete Standard Checklist (35):  The cards are unnumbered, but I've presented them below ordered by uniform number.

2 - Larry Bowa CO 3 - Dale Murphy 4 - Lenny Dykstra 6 - Wally Backman 8 - Charlie Hayes 9 - Von Hayes 10 - Darren Daulton 11 - Sil Campusano 12 - Mickey Morandini 13 - Roger McDowell 14 - Denis Menke CO 15 - Dave Hollins 17 - Ricky Jordan 18 - John Vukovich CO 21 - Dickie Thon 22 - Hal Lanier CO 23 - Randy Ready 24 - Darrin Fletcher

25 - Steve Lake 29 - John Kruk 30 - Joe Boever 31 - Wes Chamberlain 33 - John Morris 34 - Danny Cox 35 - Darrel Akerfelds 37 - Rod Booker 38 - Pat Combs 40 - Andy Ashby 43 - Ken Howell 45 - Terry Mulholland 46 - Johnny Podres CO 48 - Jason Grimsley 49 - Tommy Greene 52 - Tim Mauser 54 - Jose DeJesus

Complete Update Checklist (11):

Dale Murphy HL Terry Mulholland HL Tommy Greene HL 11 - Jim Fregosi MG 26 - Ron Jones 28 - Mitch Williams

39 - Wally Ritchie 47 - Bruce Ruffin 50 - Steve Searcy 55 - Jim Lindeman Phillie Phanatic

One and Done (0)
First Appearances (9):  Backman, Chamberlain, Cox, Fletcher, Lindeman, Mauser, Morris, Searcy, Williams
Returning Players (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

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):  Fregosi.  I find it strange that all the coaches received cards in the first set, but the manager at the beginning of the season (Nick Leyva) was omitted.  Leyva was fired on April 23rd, so my guess is that this 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.
Coaches (5):  Bowa, Lanier, Menke, Podres, Vukovich
Phillie Phanatic (1):  The Phanatic is shown posing while sitting on his ATV.
Broadcasters (0)
Commemorative Cards (3):  Greene, Mulholland, Murphy

Mulholland's card celebrates his no-hitter from August 15, 1990, while Green's celebrates his no-hitter from May 23, 1991.  Murphy's card commemorates his 2,000th hit on May 29, 1991.

Variations/Rarities:  As Rick points out in his comment below, the Phillies issued the following cards at the annual ALS fund raising event (Phillies Phestival) for former Phillies signing autographs at the event.

Harry Anderson Gene Garber Maje McDonnell

Ron Reed Eddie Sawyer Curt Simmons

Also See:  Scrapbook Sunday - August 12, 1991
Trivia:  The Beckett database omits the update series and only lists the 35 cards from the base set.  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 Kruk.
Resources:  Beckett.com; Phillies collector Rick (@rickphils)

Phillies at Rangers: March 31st to April 2nd

Monday 2:05, Tuesday and Wednesday 8:05
Globe Life Park in Arlington - Arlington, TX

2013 Season
Phillies 73-89, 4th Place in the N.L. East, 23 games behind the Braves
Rangers 91-72, 2nd Place in the A.L. West, 5 1/2 games behind the Athletics

2013 Statistics
Phillies Probables:  Cliff Lee (14-8, 2.87), A.J. Burnett (10-11, 3.30), Kyle Kendrick (10-13, 4.70)
Rangers Probables:  Tanner Scheppers (6-2, 1.88), Martin Perez (10-6, 3.62), Robbie Ross, Jr. (4-2, 3.03)

At the Ballpark:  All fans 21 and older will receive a Budweiser Opening Day magnetic schedule this afternoon.  Wednesday night features Nolan Ryan beef dollar hot dogs.  I'm not sure why Nolan Ryan's name is attached to this particular promotion, I'm only reporting the happenings.

Phillies Spring Training Leaders
Average:  Marlon Byrd - .298
Runs:  Ryan Howard and Ben Revere - 9
Home Runs:  Cody Asche, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins - 3
RBIs:  Cody Asche, Marlon Byrd and Carlos Ruiz - 8
Stolen Bases:  Ben Revere - 6

Wins:  Jeff Manship - 2
ERA:  Jeff Manship - 1.80
Strikeouts:  Cliff Lee - 26
Saves:  Shawn Camp, Cesar Jimenez and Hector Neris - 1

1988 Topps #756, #26, #280 and #369

1988 Topps Appreciation:  Get ready for a whole season of glorious 1988 Topps cards in these series preview posts, as I look at cards featuring the Phillies and their opponents that have some sort of Phillies connection.

Mike Maddux is entering his sixth season as the Rangers pitching coach, and if the team is smart they won't let him leave anytime soon.  Maddux has has constant success in Texas as he's mentored a whole host of young arms including the trio that will face the Phillies in this series.

Mitch Williams and Pete Incaviglia were teammates with the Rangers prior to reuniting on the glorious 1993 Phillies team.  Pitcher Greg Harris signed as a free agent with the Phillies in 1988, after spending  the prior three seasons as part of the Rangers pitching staff.

1993 Medford Phillies Variations

1993 Medford Phillies #99 x 2

Faithful reader and frequent commenter Steve F. recently opened a collecting can of worms with regards to the 1993 Medford Phillies set, available for sale at the Vet during the wonderful 1993 season.  As he recounts in a comment in this post, he purchased a set of the cards at the recent Philly Baseball Card Show.  He found several variations in his newly purchased set not in the original set acquired from the Vet all those years ago.  But first let's go over what we already know about the set:

• The original, postcard-sized 35-card set was sponsored by Medford and sold at the Vet through at least early August.  I probably bought my set at a game over the summer when I was home from college.
• A 5-card update set was issued at the Vet at some point during the second half of the season.  If I recall correctly, these five cards were sold separately from the 35-card set for a buck.  I distinctly remember buying this update set for the sole purpose of obtaining this card, which featured the 1993 Phillies All-Star Game representatives:

So I've always known there was a total of 40 cards in the 1993 Medford Phillies set, despite what the good folks at Beckett say.  But here's where it gets interesting, and where Steve F.'s detective work comes into play.  His recently purchased 1993 Medford Phillies set contains 36 cards.  31 of the cards match up with cards found in the original 35-card set, but then there are five new cards:

1. Darren Daulton - dugout background
2. Tommy Greene - dugout background
3. Mickey Morandini - dugout background
4. Mitch Williams - bright background
5. Bobby Thigpen

As Thigpen was acquired from the White Sox on August 10th, these five cards would have been available at the Vet from mid-August through presumably the end of the World Series.  As Steve F. points out in his comment, to own a master set of 1993 Medford Phillies cards, 45 total cards are needed.

Which leads me to the Mitch Williams cards featured at the top of this post.  The card on the left is the Williams card from the original 35-card set.  The card on the right is autographed by Williams and it entered my collection at some point over the last 15 years.  (It was either given to me by a friend or it entered my/our collection when I got married and consolidated my wife's baseball card collection into mine.)  The backs of the cards are identical, featuring Williams' stats through the 1992 season and a 1993 copyright at the bottom.

I've always wondered what the Williams card on the right was and where it came from, and thanks to Steve F.'s comment I now realize I have one of the four variation cards from the 1993 Medford Phillies set.  That leaves four more cards to go for me in order to have a master set.

Thanks again Steve for shedding some light on this 20-year mystery!

2012 Topps Archives #214 Mitch Williams

Dodgers 5, Phillies 3 (12 Innings)
Game 93 - Wednesday Afternoon, July 18th in Los Angeles
Record - 41-52, 5th Place, 14 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies lost a heart-breaker in extra innings, as Jonathan Papelbon's blown save in the tenth set up the dramatic Dodgers win.

What It Means:  Blech.  What should have been, could have been a sweep of the Dodgers turned out to be a painful reminder that the Phillies just aren't very good this year.

What Went Wrong:  Hunter Pence singled to give the Phils a two-run lead in the tenth, and Papelbon was summoned from the bullpen to try to lock down the win.  He didn't.  The Dodgers scored twice off the closer to tie the game back up and Matt Kemp hit a two-run home run off reliever Jake Diekman in the 12th to end it.

Cliff Lee and Clayton Kershaw had pitched to a 1-1 tie through eight innings.  Lee allowed just two hits while striking out four in his stellar outing.

Featured Card:  Jose Mesa made an appearance the last time Papelbon blew a save, and this time it's Mitchy-Poo's turn.  Williams, who had his share of painful blown saves, is third on the Phillies all-time save list with 102, behind Mesa (112) and Steve Bedrosian (103).

Williams was featured on a short-printed card in this year's Archives release.

1990-1999 Phillies

1993 Donruss Diamond Kings #DK-17, 1993 Upper Deck #485,
1994 Fleer Pro-Visions #1 and 1992 Donruss Diamond Kings #DK-12

I'll be honest here - going through these last few series of posts for Topps Phillies cards from the late '90s was not an enjoyable exercise.  I'm also very anxious to get through the first few years of the '00s and move into the post-2006 era of Topps Phillies baseball cards.  Before moving into Y2K, here's a look back at the Phillies of the '90s.

Decade MVP
Mike Schmidt was the easy choice for the decade MVP of the '70s and '80s, but I don't think it's as clear cut for the '90s.  From the offensive side, I narrowed it down to Darren Daulton, John Kruk or Lenny Dykstra before deciding that Dutch was the appropriate choice.  He's at the top of all the major statistical categories and he was the clear leader of the team throughout his time with the club, including the magical 1993 season.

Curt Schilling was far and away the best pitcher for the Phils during the decade.  But it's telling that both Daulton (in 2010) and Kruk (in 2011) were elected to the Phillies Wall of Fame before Schilling.  Schilling is on the ballot for induction this year, but as I told Phungo a few weeks ago, I'd like to see either Jim Konstanty or Rick Wise get in before the Big Schill.

1994 Donruss #373, 1992 Score #892, 1993 Score #526 and 1994 Ultra Phillies Finest #9

Leaders
Games - Mickey Morandini (874), Daulton (780), Kruk (663), Dykstra (644), Kevin Stocker (545)
Average* - Kruk (.306), Dykstra (.298), Gregg Jefferies (.287), Scott Rolen (.280), Morandini (.268)
Home Runs - Daulton (110), Rolen (82), Dave Hollins (67), Mike Lieberthal (67), Rico Brogna (64)
RBIs - Daulton (466), Kruk (352), Rolen (297), Brogna (287), Hollins (273)
Stolen Bases - Dykstra (152), Morandini (98), Doug Glanville (57), Jefferies (52), Bobby Abreu (46)

Games - Ricky Bottalico (234), Schilling (226), Mitch Williams (200), Wayne Gomes (181), Terry Mulholland (149), Toby Borland (149)
Wins - Schilling (95), Mulholland (58), Tommy Greene (36), Danny Jackson (26), Ben Rivera (23)
ERA** - Schilling (3.31), Jackson (3.53), Jose DeJesus (3.55), Mulholland (3.68), Greene (4.02)
Strikeouts - Schilling (1,458), Mulholland (510), Greene (429), Bottalico (280), Matt Beech (266)
Saves - Mitch Williams (102), Bottalico (75), Heathcliff Slocumb (32), Doug Jones (27), Roger McDowell (25)

*At least 1,700 ABs with the Phillies, completely subjective
** At least 300 IP, completely subjective

1990-1999 Topps
Total Phillies Players (1990-1999):  219.  There were 179 different Phillies in the '80s and 142 different Phillies in the '70s.
Total Phillies Players with Topps Phillies Cards:  105.  Only 36% of the players who suited up with the Phillies during the decade ended up on Phillies baseball cards between 1990 and 1999.  The success percentage was 63% in the '80s and 59% in the '70s.
Managers with Cards:  Nick Leyva (2 cards) and Jim Fregosi (3 cards).
Topps Phillies Cards of Non-Phillies:  5 cards - Jeff Jackson (1990), Chad McConnell (1993), Shane Pullen, Larry Wimberly and Rob Grable (all 1995).

1997 Topps Gallery #54, 1994 Pinnacle #159, 1991 Donruss Bonus Cards #BC-14, 1994 Triple Play #175

Card Statistics
Most Featured:  Schilling (10 cards), Daulton (9 cards), Dykstra (9 cards), Morandini (8 cards), Hollins (6 cards), Ricky Jordan (6 cards), Kruk (6 cards), Green (6 cards).

By comparison, Steve Carlton and Schmidt had the most Topps Phillies cards in the '80s with 26 each.

Most Games (Batter), No Phillies Topps Card:  Kevin Sefcik (325 games from 1995 through 1999), Alex Arias (174 games from 1998 and 1999), Mark Lewis (142 games in 1998), David Doster (138 games in 1996 and 1999), Todd Zeile (134 games in 1996), Mark Whiten (120 games in 1995 and 1996), Rob Ducey (104 games in 1999).

Sefcik and Ducey would have to wait until the 2001 Topps set for their first and only cards in a Topps base set.  While Arias, Lewis, Doster, Zeile and Whiten were never featured as Phillies within a Topps flagship set.

Most Games (Pitcher), No Phillies Topps Card:  Jerry Spradlin (145 games in 1997 and 1998), Larry Andersen (93 games in 1993 and 1994), Yorkis Perez (92 games in 1998 and 1999), Wally Ritchie (79 games in 1991 and 1992), Russ Springer (65 games in 1995 and 1996).

Andersen and Ritchie make the list because their tenure with the team in the '90s produced no Topps Phillies cards, but they appear within Topps sets in the '80s.  Andersen is in the 1985 and 1986 Topps sets, while Ritchie is in the 1987 Topps Traded and 1988 Topps sets.

1998 SP Authentic #153, 1998 Sports Illustrated Then and Now #128,
1998 Ultra #391 and 1997 Collector's Choice #192

The Phillies Topps 60
Here are the next ten cards in my checklist of the best 60 Topps Phillies cards since 1951.  By the time I'm done with this series of posts, I'm going to need to revamp this to the Topps 61.

41 - 1990 Topps #469 John Kruk
42 - 1991 Topps #345 Lenny Dykstra
43 - 1992 Topps #83 Tommy Greene
44 - 1993 Topps #235 Mitch Williams
45 - 1994 Topps #504 Jim Eisenreich
46 - 1995 Topps #2 Mickey Morandini
47 - 1996 Topps #85 Darren Daulton
48 - 1997 Topps #268 Scott Rolen
49 - 1998 Topps #94 Mike Lieberthal
50 - 1999 Topps #385 Curt Schilling

Cards That Never Were Series
This set is getting much bigger than I had originally anticipated, and I had to purposely cut back on the cards I'd include from the late '90s, in order to keep the latest batch of additions at 51.

141 - 1990 Topps Dale Murphy
142 - 1990 Topps Jose DeJesus
143 - 1990 Topps Sil Campusano
144 - 1991 Topps John Morris
145 - 1991 Topps Jim Lindeman
146 - 1991 Topps Wally Ritchie
147 - 1992 Topps Ben Rivera
148 - 1992 Topps Kyle Abbott
149 - 1992 Topps Jeff Grotewold
150 - 1992 Topps Juan Bell
151 - 1992 Topps Stan Javier
152 - 1992 Topps Don Robinson
153 - 1993 Topps Danny Jackson
154 - 1993 Topps Milt Thompson
155 - 1993 Topps Kevin Stocker
156 - 1993 Topps Jim Eisenreich
157 - 1993 Topps Larry Andersen
158 - 1994 Topps Coming Attractions Andy Carter
159 - 1994 Topps Billy Hatcher
160 - 1994 Topps Paul Quantrill
161 - 1994 Topps Fernando Valenzuela
162 - 1995 Topps Andy Van Slyke
163 - 1995 Topps Mark Whiten
164 - 1995 Topps Lenny Webster
165 - 1995 Topps Sid Fernandez
166 - 1995 Topps Gary Varsho
167 - 1996 Topps Benito Santiago
168 - 1996 Topps Todd Zeile
169 - 1996 Topps Ken Ryan
170 - 1996 Topps Toby Borland
171 - 1996 Topps Russ Springer
172 - 1997 Topps Terry Francona MG
173 - 1997 Topps Rico Brogna
174 - 1997 Topps Midre Cummings
175 - 1997 Topps Mark Leiter
176 - 1997 Topps Ruben Amaro, Jr.
177 - 1997 Topps Darren Daulton
178 - 1998 Topps Doug Glanville
179 - 1998 Topps Mark Lewis
180 - 1998 Topps Desi Relaford
181 - 1998 Topps Tyler Green
182 - 1998 Topps Mark Portugal
183 - 1998 Topps Yorkis Perez
184 - 1999 Topps Alex Arias
185 - 1999 Topps Marlon Anderson
186 - 1999 Topps Paul Byrd
187 - 1999 Topps Ron Gant
188 - 1999 Topps Kevin Jordan
189 - 1999 Topps Robert Person
190 - 1999 Topps David Doster
191 - 1999 Topps Kevin Sefcik

Links to the Past

1950-1959 Phillies

1960-1969 Phillies

1970-1979 Phillies

1980-1989 Phillies

1993 Topps Phillies

1993 Topps #180, #17, #340 and #740

I've been lucky enough so far to live through three golden ages of Phillies baseball - some longer than others.  The first golden age occurred from the late 1970s through the early 1980s when I was barely old enough (especially during the early years) to remember much of it.  We're in a golden age now which, beginning in 2007, has resulted in five consecutive division titles and one World Series title.  Sandwiched in between these two ages was a quick, I can't believe this is really happening, golden age.  In 1993, for 162 regular season games, 6 League Championship games, and 6 World Series games, the Phillies were one of the best teams in baseball.

It wasn't pretty, but we loved that team.  Harry Kalas famously referred to them as a lovable band of misfits and cast-offs and they gave us the last taste of the postseason for 14 long and sometimes painful years.

1993 Topps #17 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  Topps stirred things up in 1993 by releasing its set in multiple series for the first time since 1972.  There are 396 cards in series one and another 429 cards in series two, for a total tally of 825 cards in the complete set.  Topps added their standard 132-card traded set but by this point, the traded set had lost all relevance to me.  Given the large amount of sets on the market produced by Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Score and Upper Deck, I already had access to Phillies cards of players acquired prior to the start of the season or even at the beginning of the season by the time the traded set rolled around.  So I wasn't that upset in 1993 when Topps made the decision to include only two Phillies within its traded series.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  I really liked these cards and unlike the 1992 Topps set, I actually hand collated the entire 825-card set.  For the second year in a row, the player's position isn't featured on the fronts of the cards, but I didn't seem to mind since I was very fond of the card front's overall design.  The backs of the cards have a vertical alignment for the first time since 1975 and there is a full-color player photo on the backs for the first time ever.

Notable competition:  I held down a few part-time jobs while in college and any money not spent on food or clothes or entertainment went to packs of Topps or Upper Deck cards.  Upper Deck produced a wonderful set in 1993 - probably the best set of its 21-year run.  In fact, it's one of the few non-Topps sets that I proudly display in 9-pocket pages in its own binder.  1993 was also the year that Donruss and Fleer continued their comebacks, producing very attractive sets.

1993 Topps #262, #371, #154 and 1993 Topps Traded #73T

1993 Phillies

Record and finish:  With a record of 97-65, the Phillies won their division for the first time since 1983, finishing three games ahead of the Montreal Expos.  They stunned the Atlanta Braves in the N.L.C.S., winning the series in six games, and they in turn were stunned by Joe Carter and the Toronto Blue Jays.  It seems a little silly now, but the events of October 23, 1993, were very traumatic to me at the time.

Key players:  The offense was paced by Darren Daulton (.257, 24 home runs, 105 RBIs), Dave Hollins (.273, 18 home runs, 93 RBIs), John Kruk (.316, 14 home runs, 85 RBIs) and Lenny Dykstra (.305, 19 home runs, 66 RBIs).  Supporting players such as Mariano Duncan, Milt Thompson, Jim Eisenreich and Pete Incaviglia played huge roles as well.  Curt Schilling and Tommy Greene led the pitching staff with 16 wins each, followed by Ben Rivera's 13 wins and Danny Jackson's and Terry Mulholland's 12 wins a piece.  It was the first time since 1932 that the team had five starting pitchers with 10 or more wins.  Closer Mitch Williams saved 43 games during the regular season, and unnecessarily shouldered complete blame for the World Series loss.  

Key events:  Prior to the start of the season, General Manager Lee Thomas cobbled together a group of cast-offs via free agency or trades to compliment the core line-up.  The acquisitions of Jackson, David West, Eisenreich, Incaviglia, Thompson and Larry Andersen had as much to do with the team's big season as the overall offensive output of Macho Row.  I could easily compose a multi-part post with all of the highlights from this wonderful season, but one highlight in particular has always been my favorite.  In July, following a lengthy rain delay, the Phils started the second game of a double header at 1:26 in the morning.  The game ended at 4:41 on a walk-off, 10th inning single from "Mitchy-Poo" Mitch Williams.

1993 Phillies in 1993 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 15 Phillies cards each in each series of the base set and only two more Phillies cards in the traded set.  The Phils got seriously shafted by Topps in '93.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 5 cards

#180 Darren Daulton (c), #340 John Kruk (1b), #262 Mickey Morandini (2b), #17 Dave Hollins (3b), #740 Lenny Dykstra (cf)

I'm basing this starting line-up on starts by position.  Mariano Duncan played in 124 games, but he jumped around between second and third.  Kevin Stocker joined the team too late in the season to be featured in the traded series, although he did appear in the Stadium Club set.  Left fielder Thompson was completely omitted from the set, despite having played in 109 games for the Cardinals in 1992.  Eisenreich was featured with the Royals in the base set and he didn't get a card in the traded set. 

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 4 cards

#421 Curt Schilling, #291 Tommy Greene, #555 Terry Mulholland, #622 Ben Rivera

I had to double check, but Danny Jackson was also completely omitted from the set.  Jackson started 34 games in 1992 for the Cubs and Pirates, so it's a little odd that he didn't at least end up in the regular set.

1993 Topps #421, #291, #622 and #235

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1993 - 13 cards

#43 Ruben Amaro Jr., #99 Mike Williams, #126 Bob Ayrault, #154 Wes Chamberlain, #235 Mitch Williams, #371 Mariano Duncan, #479 Todd Pratt, #531 Joe Millette, #585 Ricky Jordan, #679 Kim Batiste, #818 Brad Brink, #37T Tyler Green, #73T Pete Incaviglia

Brink's card is a part of the Coming Attractions subset at the very end of the set.

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1993 - 7 cards (with new teams listed)

#72 Jeff Grotewold (Twins), #208 Mike Hartley (Twins), #317 Kyle Abbott (minors), #445 Dale Murphy (Rockies), #649 Tom Marsh (minors), #712 Stan Javier (Angels), #773 Cliff Brantley (minors)

• 1992 Draft Pick card - 1 card, #161 Chad McConnell
• 1992 Topps All Stars card - 1 card, #408 Darren Daulton with Brian Harper (Twins)
• Manager card - 1 card, #510 Jim Fregosi with Buck Showalter (Yankees)

1993 Topps #555, #22 and #510

Who’s out:  I still find it weird that Thompson and Jackson were both left out of the set altogether.  Relievers Andersen, Roger Mason and Mark Davis all played a part in the championship season, but they were also left out of the set.

Phillies on other teams:  There are five cards of 1993 Phillies players on their former teams - #7 Pete Incaviglia (Astros), #22 Jim Eisenreich (Royals), #645 Bobby Thigpen (White Sox), #652 David West (Twins), #707 Donn Pall (White Sox).

What’s he doing here:  Phillies first round draft pick and Creighton product Chad McConnell kicked around the Phillies minor leagues through the 1996 season before calling it a career.  He never played for the Phillies.

Cards that never were candidates:  Thompson, Jackson, Stocker, Andersen, Eisenreich and West are all good candidates.

Favorite Phillies card:  There's actually quite a few great Phillies cards in this set, but I'll go with Mitch Williams' card as my favorite.  That definitely would not have been the case back on October 23, 1993.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Murphy and Dykstra's cards were reprinted in the 2001 and 2002 Topps Archives sets, respectively.  While Kruk, Daulton, Dykstra (again) and Mitch Williams have cards featuring the 1993 Topps design within the 2003 and 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites set.

Blogs/Websites:  Based on my limited research, I don't think there's another set-specific Topps blog out there until 2008.  (Please let me know if I've missed any.)  So unless I come up with any better ideas, I'm going to use this space to link to my past posts.  Back in this blog's infancy, I toyed with the idea of posting the baseball cards of all the players from key teams from the Phillies' past.  I did this with the 1956 Topps Phillies cards and I started the process with the 1993 Phillies club, before the idea eventually petered out.  Here's the post from May 2009 that served as my planned gateway to the baseball cards of the 1993 Phillies squad.

Did You Know?:  I was 500 miles away from the action when the Phillies clinched the division in 1993.  One of my fondest memories of that season is my parents holding up the phone to their television set so that I could hear Harry the K call the final inning and the final outs.  My Mom taped the game and the post-game celebrations and mailed me the VHS tape the next day.  (I still have that tape around here somewhere.)  Composing this post has made me very nostalgic for 1993, and it almost makes me want to hook up a VCR and drop in the team's highlight video, aptly titled, "Whatever It Takes, Dude."

2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #84, #94, #141 and
2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #79

1992 Topps Phillies

1992 Topps #244, #30, #383 and #200

1992 was a year of change.  I moved 500 miles away from my hometown and started my freshman year of college.  I left my family, my house and my baseball card collection behind and embarked on a new, exciting and occasionally scary journey.

I remember feeling particularly blue one fall day in '92 and being pleasantly surprised to find the Sundry Shop on the Quad sold packs of baseball cards.  There was nothing too exciting for sale - just a few packs of left-over 1992 Topps and 1992 Fleer packs.  I bought two or three packs that day and I'll admit that I spent money intended for food on more packs in the weeks ahead.  Flipping through my 1992 Phillies binder now, I'm reminded just how comforting those packs of baseball cards were to me.

1992 Topps #30 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  For the 11th and final year in a row, there are 792 cards in the base set and 132 cards in the traded set.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  This was the first Topps flagship set since 1980 that I did not hand collate.  As I alluded to at the outset, I took the end of High School fairly hard and I all but ignored baseball cards for a big chunk of the year.  (I think Santa brought the factory set for Christmas that year.)  That being said, it's a nice set.  After years and years of gray cardstock, it was a bit stunning to hold a Topps baseball card produced on thinner, white cardstock.  The panoramic view of Veterans Stadium on the backs of some of the cards was a very cool touch.  And I appreciated the return to horizontal card fronts on some of the cards for the first time since 1974.

Notable competition:  1992 was a good year for baseball cards.  It seems as if each of the manufacturers stepped up their game and tried to bring something new to their customers.  The cards were glossier and more thought went into each set's design.  After the lackluster collecting years of 1990 and 1991, the card companies turned things around and started making product that baseball card collectors wanted to collect.  Unfortunately, the card companies did not know when to say when, and we as collectors would soon be bombarded with an absolute deluge of new product in the years ahead.  This was the year the dam started to crack before the flood of way too many different sets overwhelmed me from 1993 through the mid-2000s.

1992 Topps #587, #52, 1992 Topps Traded #5T and 1992 Topps #14

1992 Phillies

Record and finish:  With a record of 70-92, the Phils finished in last place in the N.L. East, 26 games behind the Pirates.

Key players:  Darren Daulton finally arrived, leading the league with 109 RBIs and hitting 27 home runs.  Dave Hollins matched Dutch's 27 home runs and drove in 93 runs to boot.  He finished second in the league with 104 runs scored.  John Kruk enjoyed a solid season, hitting .323 with 10 home runs and 70 RBIs.  The newly acquired Curt Schilling led the pitching staff with 14 wins and a 2.35 ERA.  Terry Mulholland put together another steady season with a 13-11 record and a 3.81 ERA, while leading the league with 12 complete games.  Closer Mitch Williams saved 29 games.  So what went wrong?

Key events:  What went wrong was that 17 different players spent time on the disabled list, including key contributors such as Lenny Dykstra, Tommy Greene and Dale Murphy.  The active roster consisted of a revolving cast of prospects and suspects throughout the year as 48 different players suited up for the 1992 Phillies.  Mickey Morandini recorded an unassisted triple play in September and reserve catcher Jeff Grotewold became the first player in history to hit three pinch-hit home runs in three consecutive games.

1992 Phillies in 1992 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 32 Phillies cards in the base set and another 3 Phillies cards in the traded set.  Once again, Topps opted to include 26 players from Team USA in the traded set, denying several deserving Major Leaguers their traded cards.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 7 cards

#244 Darren Daulton (c), #30 John Kruk (1b), #587 Mickey Morandini (2b), #383 Dave Hollins (3b), #30T Mariano Duncan (lf), #200 Lenny Dykstra (cf), #5T Ruben Amaro, Jr. (rf)

Shortstop Juan Bell was acquired in August and took over shortstop duties from the struggling Kim Batiste/Dale Sveum combination.

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 3 cards

#100T Curt Schilling, #719 Terry Mulholland, #83 Tommy Greene

Kyle Abbott, who started 19 games, was omitted from the traded set, as was Ben Rivera who started 14 games.  

1992 Topps Traded #100T, 1992 Topps #719, #763 and #83

It's a bit jarring seeing the team's new uniform side-by-side with their old uniforms.  When teams update their uniforms now, the Photoshopping gremlins at Topps busily transform players into their new-look uniforms before the cards are released.  As a side note, I always thought it was cool that there were no Phillies cards in the first series of 1992 Leaf.  Leaf waited until they had photos of the Phillies in their new uniforms before dropping every Phillies card into its second series.

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1992 - 15 cards

#14 Wes Chamberlain, #103 Ricky Jordan, #258 Jim Lindeman, #331 Steve Lake, #353 Braulio Castillo, #434 Wally Backman, #456 Pat Combs, #484 Mike Hartley, #497 Andy Ashby, #514 Kim Batiste, #544 Cliff Brantley, #599 Steve Searcy, #633 Mitch Williams, #680 Dale Murphy, #791 Danny Cox

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1992 - 8 cards (with new teams listed)

#63 Randy Ready (A's), #135 Von Hayes (Angels), #159 Darrin Fletcher (Expos), #307 Bruce Ruffin (Brewers), #471 Jose DeJesus (injured), #557 Dickie Thon (Rangers), #696 Joe Boever (Astros), #754 Charlie Hayes (Yankees)

• #1 Draft Pick card - 1 card, #764 Tyler Green
• Manager card - 1 card, #669 Jim Fregosi

1992 Topps #633, #484, #361 and #478

Who’s out:  Rivera and Abbott might have appeared in the traded series if not for the Team USA cards.  Relievers Bob Ayrault (30 games) and Wally Ritchie (40 games) were also deserving of cards.

Phillies on other teams:  An entire 9-pocket page (+1) is needed to contain the 1992 Phillies players who had cards in the set featuring them on other teams.  Ruben Amaro, Jr. (#269 with the Angels), Mariano Duncan (#589 with the Reds) and Curt Schilling (#316 with the Astros) all wound up in the traded set as Phillies.  But these 7 players did not:  #52 Juan Bell (Orioles), #85 Jose DeLeon (Cardinals), #361 Barry Jones (Expos), #373 Don Robinson (Giants), #478 Dale Sveum (Brewers), #581 Stan Javier (Dodgers) and #763 Kyle Abbott (Angels).

What’s he doing here:  One of the things I like about the recent Series 1 releases from Topps is that they give us cards of players on their new teams, as long as those players switched teams early in the off-season.  Ready, Von Hayes, Fletcher, Ruffin and Thon were all long gone by Christmas 1991, but they appear as Phillies in the 1992 Topps set.  

Cards that never were candidates:  Grotewold, Bell, Rivera, Abbott, Javier, Sveum, Jones and Don Robinson.  Robinson wrapped up his 15-year career with 8 uneventful starts for the Phillies.

Favorite Phillies card:  There are some great action photos on these cards, but my favorite two are Spring Training shots featuring Greene and Mulholland on the mound.  Greene's card edges Mulholland's due to the blurry ball heading towards the photographer.  My favorite non-Phillies card is Javier's, which features two soon-to-be members of the 1992 Phillies squad on it.

1992 Topps Traded #30T, 1992 Topps #581 and #103

Other Stuff

Recycled:  If Topps has re-used this design for any Phillies cards since 1992, I don't have them in my collection.

Blogs/Websites:  There aren't many people out there writing about the 1992 Topps set, so I'm going to go ahead and link to a few of my prior Scrapbook Sunday posts.  Here's a post featuring the 1948-style uniforms the team wore on its Turn Back the Clock day on June 21, 1992.  My scrapbook page from the 1992 All-Star Game features a rare photo of Kruk wearing a Braves jersey.  And here's a page from the start of the '92 season, when the team first started to realize that things were going very wrong, very quickly.

Did You Know?:  On Opening Day 1992, I skipped school to go to the game and see the team's new uniforms first hand.  This was before the days of internet leaks, so Opening Day 1992 was truly the first time all 60,000+ of us in attendance were witnessing the new look Phillies.  The team went so far as to conduct Spring Training that year wearing their old maroon uniforms.  I seem to recall the Phillie Phanatic blowing up a safe during a pre-game ceremony containing the new uniforms and then proudly displayed the new duds to the excited crowd.  Little did we know that we'd have very little else to cheer throughout the upcoming season.  (However, with the exception of one pitch from Mitch Williams to Joe Carter, 1993 would turn out just fine.)

Dang Blogger label limitations mean that Stan Javier and Ricky Jordan won't be tagged in this post.  Sorry guys.