Showing posts with label Willis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Willis. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

2011 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards - 2nd Edition


Number of Cards:
  42
Card Size:  4" x 6"
Description:  The cards have a very basic design, with full color photos and a red and white bottom border including the player's number, name and position.  The Phillies script logo appears in one of the upper corners.  The horizontal card backs feature biographical information and complete career statistics.

How Distributed:  The Phillies issued a second edition 40-card set much earlier than in the previous year, as I found this set for sale at Citizens Bank Park on June 12, 2011.  A few months later in mid-August, the Phillies reconfigured the set's make-up, perhaps several times, ultimately resulting in two new cards (I think) for Domonic Brown and Hunter Pence.  I wrote about my discovery of these two extra cards in this post.

A version of the set was sold throughout August and September with a somewhat fluid checklist.  As detailed in a post at the 14,000 Phillies blog at the time, his version of the set dropped five cards - Jose Contreras, J.C. Romero, Dane Sardinha, Mike Zagurski and the Broadcasters card - and added the Pence card.  Fellow collector Steve also pointed out at the time that his first version of the set included the Brown card, but not the Pence card.  And to confuse things further, his second version of the set dropped six cards - the five cards noted above and Danys Baez.  I've taken a closer look below at the comings and goings of these players.

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

1. Danys Baez (#55 - RHP)
2. Antonio Bastardo (#58 - LHP)          
3. Mick Billmeyer (#17 - CO)
4. Joe Blanton (#56 - RHP)
5. Jose Contreras (#52 - RHP)
6. Rich Dubee (#30 - CO)
7. Ben Francisco (#10 - OF)
8. Ross Gload (#7 - OF/1B)
9. Greg Gross (#18 - CO)
10. Roy Halladay (#34 - RHP)
11. Cole Hamels (#35 - LHP)
12. David Herndon (#57 - RHP)
13. Ryan Howard (#6 - 1B)

14. Raul Ibanez (#29 - LF)
15. Kyle Kendrick (#38 - RHP)
16. Cliff Lee (#33 - LHP)
17. Brad Lidge (#54 - RHP)
18. Pete Mackanin (#22 - CO)
19. Ryan Madson (#46 - RHP)
20. Charlie Manuel (#41 - MG)
21. Michael Martinez (#19 - INF/OF)          
22. John Mayberry Jr. (#15 - OF)
23. Pete Orr (#5 - INF/OF)
24. Roy Oswalt (#44 - RHP)
25. Sam Perlozzo (#2 - CO)
26. Placido Polanco (#27 - 3B)

27. J.C. Romero (#16 - LHP)
28. Jimmy Rollins (#11 - SS)
29. Carlos Ruiz (#51 - C)
30. Dane Sardinha (#4 - C)
31. Juan Samuel (#12 - CO)
32. Brian Schneider (#23 - C)
33. Michael Stutes (#40 - RHP)
34. Chase Utley (#26 - 2B)
35. Wilson Valdez (#21 - INF)
36. Shane Victorino (#8 - CF)
37. Vance Worley (#49 - RHP)
38. Mike Zagurski (#59 - LHP)          
39. Phillie Phanatic
40. Phillies Broadcasters

Complete Update Checklist, 2nd Version: 

1. Domonic Brown (#9 - OF)        

2. Hunter Pence (#3 - RF)
One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (1):  Sardinha
First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (3):  Pence, Stutes, Worley
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (29):  Baez, Bastardo, Blanton, Brown, Contreras, Francisco, Gload, Halladay, Hamels, Herndon, Howard, Ibanez, Kendrick, Lee, Lidge, Madson, Martinez, Mayberry Jr., Orr, Oswalt, Polanco, Rollins, Romero, Ruiz, Schneider, Utley, Valdez, Victorino, Zagurski

Manager (1):  Manuel
Coaches (6):  Billmeyer, Dubee, Gross, Mackanin, Perlozzo, Samuel
Phillie Phanatic (1)
Broadcasters (1):  This card features the same line-up of broadcasters and photo as found in the first edition set - Tom McCarthy, Scott Franzke, Larry Andersen, Jim Jackson, Chris Wheeler and Gary Matthews.

Surprises:  Given I purchased my set on June 12th, I went back and looked at the active Phillies roster on that date, noting everyone on the 25-man roster, except Brown, received a card.  So I'm even more confused as to why my set initially excluded the Brown card.  The set adds Blanton, Lidge, and Schneider, who were all on the disabled list on June 12th, along with Orr and Mayberry, Jr. who were with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on that date.

Looking at the key dates of the added and subtracted players from the updated versions of the set:

June 4 - Mike Zagurski optioned to Lehigh Valley.
June 16 - J.C. Romero designated for assignment.
June 23 - Jose Contreras placed on the disabled list and he'd miss the rest of the season.
June 24 - Dane Sardinha outrighted to Lehigh Valley and Romero released. 
July 22 - Danys Baez designated for assignment.
July 29 - Hunter Pence acquired from Astros.
August 1 - Baez released.

Why the Phillies would go through the trouble of pulling cards of players who had departed the organization is a mystery to me.

Omissions:  Pitcher Juan Perez spent 37 days on the Phillies' active roster, recalled on June 23rd when Contreras went out for the season.  I'm reaching here as that 's the only logical addition that could have been included in any updated set.  I'm guessing the Phillies employees responsible for these sets didn't spend a lot of time deciding if they should add Pence and Perez or just Pence.

Variations/Rarities:  Over the years, and again with the help of Steve, I've learned there are a number of somewhat rare cards available in the style of this set.  There are at least 7 versions of these photo cards available with a Phillies logo on the back, and these cards were used primarily for the players to sign at various public appearances.  The photos for these variations are the same used for the regularly issued cards and the list below might not be complete.

Phillies Logo Back       
1. Greg Gross (#18 - CO) 

2. Hunter Pence (#3 - RF)
3. Placido Polanco (#27 - 3B)
4. Brian Schneider (#23 - C)
5. Michael Stutes (#40 - RHP)     
6. Shane Victorino (#8 - CF)
7. Vance Worley 
(#49 - RHP)

Offseason Additions
1. Laynce Nix (#7 - OF)
2. Jonathan Papelbon (#58 - RHP)

3. Jim Thome (#25 - 1B)
4. Ty Wigginton (#24 - INF/OF)
5. Dontrelle Willis (#53 - LHP)

Additionally, the Phillies used this design to feature new players who joined the team during the 2011-2012 offseason.  These cards were presumably produced for the sole purpose of public appearances during the team's various winter caravan stops, and again there's only the Phillies script logo on the backs.  Thome, Papelbon and Wigginton joined the club in November while Nix and Willis were signed in December.  All of these variations and rarities have a 2012 copyright date on the backs.

Also See:  I featured a few cards from the 2011 Phillies Postcards set here, and these cards aren't to be confused with the 2011 Phillies Fan Appreciation Night Postcard set, which 14,000 Phillies covered in a post here.

Resources:  14,000 Phillies; Phillies collector Steve


This set was originally featured in a post back in January 2015, 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 five-plus years.

2011 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards - 1st Edition / 2012 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards - 1st Edition

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Game 42 - 2011 Phillies Team Issue 2 Special Edition #53 Dontrelle Willis

Brewers 5Phillies 2
Game 42 - Wednesday Night, May 15th in Philadelphia
Record - 24-18, 1st place, 2 1/2 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  By all accounts a sloppy game, the Phillies lost 5-2 to the Brewers as Jake Arrieta's and Bryce Harper's struggles continued.

What It Means:  The Phillies will go for the series split in Thursday's matinee.

What Happened:  Misplays by Cesar Hernandez and Sean Rodriguez in the third led to a three-run inning from the Brewers.  Arrieta had walked pitcher Gio Gonzalez to start the inning.  A fifth Brewers run scored in the fifth when Andrew McCutchen dropped a fly ball.

Featured Card:  The current Phillies aren't giving me much to work with here, so this game's featured card is a bit of a stretch.  Actor Bruce Willis threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to this game, and then it was decidedly downhill from there.  With the way my brain works, Bruce Willis made me think of Dontrelle Willis, who spent about three months in the Phillies organization between December 2011 and his release during spring training in March 2012.  The Phillies issued a photo card for Willis, assuming he'd make the team and be a popular target for autograph seekers.  It didn't work out for him with the Phils, but at least we have some cardboard proof of the D-Train's short time in red pinstripes.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

2011 Phillies Team Issue - 2nd Edition

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

 

Number of Cards:  42
Card Size:  4" x 6"
Description:  The cards have a very basic design, with full color photos and a red and white bottom border including the player's number, name and position.  The Phillies script logo appears in one of the upper corners.  The horizontal card backs feature biographical information and complete career statistics.

How Distributed:  The Phillies issued a second edition 40-card set much earlier than in the previous year, as I found this set for sale at Citizens Bank Park on June 12th.  To date, this is the earliest a second edition set has been issued.  In August, cards for Domonic Brown and Hunter Pence were inserted into the set and I wrote about my discovery of these two extra cards in this post.  Pence was acquired from the Astros on July 29th.

It's interesting to note that the second edition set acquired by 14,000 Phillies dropped five cards - Contreras, Romero, Sardinha, Zagurski and the broadcaters card.  As such, these cards could be considered short-prints within this set, along with the Brown and Pence cards.

Steve's comment below also indicates that the Brown card existed prior to the insertion of the Pence card and that his version of the "update" set excluded a card for Danys Baez.

Complete Standard Checklist (40):  The cards are unnumbered, but I've presented them below ordered by uniform number.
  • 30 - Rich Dubee CO
  • 33 - Cliff Lee
  • 34 - Roy Halladay
  • 35 - Cole Hamels
  • 38 - Kyle Kendrick
  • 40 - Michael Stutes
  • 41 - Charlie Manuel MG
  • 44 - Roy Oswalt
  • 46 - Ryan Madson
  • 49 - Vance Worley
  • 51 - Carlos Ruiz
  • 52 - Jose Contreras
  • 54 - Brad Lidge
  • 55 - Danys Baez
  • 56 - Joe Blanton
  • 57 - David Herndon
  • 58 - Antonio Bastardo
  • 59 - Mike Zagurski
  • Phillie Phanatic
  • Phillies Broadcasters
Complete Update Checklist (2):
  • 3 - Hunter Pence
  • 9 - Domonic Brown
One and Done (1):  Sardinha
First Appearances (3):  Pence, Stutes, Worley
Returning Players (29):  Baez, Bastardo, Blanton, Brown, Contreras, Francisco, Gload, Halladay, Hamels, Herndon, Howard, Ibanez, Kendrick, Lee, Lidge, Madson, Martinez, Mayberry Jr., Orr, Oswalt, Polanco, Rollins, Romero, Ruiz, Schneider, Utley, Valdez, Victorino, Zagurski

Sardinha receives his only Phillies baseball cards in this set.  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):  Manuel
Coaches (6):  Billmeyer, Dubee, Gross, Mackanin, Perlozzo, Samuel
Phillie Phanatic (1)
Broadcasters (1):  This card features the same line-up of broadcasters and photo as found in the first edition set - Tom McCarthy, Scott Franzke, Larry Andersen, Jim Jackson, Chris Wheeler and Gary Matthews.
Commemorative Cards (0)

Variations/Rarities:  Thanks to a few comments left by Steve to earlier posts, I know of the existence of three offseason additions to this set - Nix, Wigginton and Willis.  I found the fourth addition (Thome) via an eBay auction.
  • 19 Laynce Nix (portrait)
  • 24 Ty Wigginton (portrait)
  • 25 Jim Thome
  • 53 Dontrelle Willis (portrait)
  • 58 Jonathan Papelbon (portrait)
These players were all acquired following the 2011 season and these cards were presumably issued so that the players could honor autograph requests.  I have the Willis card, and the back features a Phillies script logo and a 2012 copyright.

Steve also notified me to the existence of black backed cards for the following - Gross, Pence, Polanco, Schneider, Stutes, Victorino and Worley.

Update (December 2016) - A posed Jonathan Papelbon card has appeared, along with additional Phillies script logo backed cards for Greg Gross and Michael Stutes.

Also See:  I featured a few cards from the 2011 Phillies Postcards set here, and these cards aren't to be confused with the 2011 Phillies Fan Appreciation Night Postcard set, which 14,000 Phillies covered in a post here.
Resources:  14,000 Phillies; Phillies collector Steve

Saturday, March 17, 2012

2012 Chachi Almost #1 Dontrelle Willis


Pirates 3, Phillies 2
Spring Training Game 16 - Friday Afternoon, March 16th in Bradenton
Record - 6-8-2

One Sentence Summary:  Cliff Lee surrendered two home runs and the Phillies bats were quiet (again) as the Bucs downed the Phils, 3-2.

What It Means:  We've reached that point in the spring where I start to worry a little.  Happens every year.

What Went Wrong:  The Phillies offense, still without Ryan Howard (for a while yet) and Chase Utley (for who knows how much longer) managed just two hits through the first six innings.

Lee got hit around a little (5 hits, 3 runs in 4 2/3 innings), but Kyle Kendrick pitched 3 1/3 innings of no-run, no-hit ball while striking out five.

Featured Card:  The Phillies released left-handed reliever Dontrelle Willis yesterday.  I didn't see it coming, but in retrospect it's not really shocking.  Willis appeared in three spring games with the Phillies, allowing 9 of the 16 batters he faced to reach base.  His ERA after only 2 2/3 innings was 16.87, and he missed a week of action with arm fatigue.

2012 Topps #89
This leaves me with a collecting dilemma.  One of my collecting quirks is that I collect cards of Phillies players for the years they play with the Phillies, whether or not they actually appear as Phillies on their cards.  (Got that?)  In Willis' case, his 2012 Topps card, featuring him with the Reds, was already reserved a space in my 2012 Phillies binder.  So what should I do?  My collecting logic dictates that this card should not appear within the binder, since Willis will not be a member of the 2012 Phillies.  But I've never actually  pulled a card from its spot before.  I shall have to ponder this further.

In any event, Willis becomes the first card in the returning Chachi Almost insert set, which pays tribute to those players who got close to becoming official Phillies during the year, but they didn't quite get there.

Camp Headcount:  46

Lost in the news of Willis' release was the announcement that catcher Steven Lerud was reassigned to minor league camp.  Also, watching highlights of Thursday's game, I realized that Freddy Galvis has switched his uniform number from #71 to the more big-leagueish #13.

Friday, December 16, 2011

2012 Chachi Transactions #6 Dontrelle Willis


There are certain iconic pitchers who, in their prime, I just couldn't imagine donning a Phillies uniform.  This list includes Fernando Valenzuela, Sid Fernandez and Pedro Martinez.  My reaction has always been the same the first time I saw one of those guys wearing red pinstripes - I never thought I'd see that guy in a Phillies uniform.  Well, go ahead and add Dontrelle Willis' name to that list.  I never thought I'd see that guy in a Phillies uniform.

(14,000 Phillies compiled a similar list a few days ago.  Andy Van Slyke and Jeff Conine are good examples of position players I never thought I'd see in a Phillies uniform.)

The Phils signed Willis to a one-year deal yesterday, and he'll be used strictly as a left-handed specialist out of the bullpen.  He and Antonio Bastardo will share lefty bullpen duties with Willis also possibly serving as a potential long-man or spot starter.

Moving On
Dane Sardinha (10-11) 10/10/11 - Filed for free agency
Brandon Moss (11) 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and filed for free agency (Signed with the Oakland A's organization)
Brad Lidge (08-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined
Roy Oswalt (10-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined
Ross Gload (10-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency
Raul Ibanez (09-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency
Ryan Madson (03-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency
Jimmy Rollins (00-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency
Juan Perez (11) 11/2/11 - Became a minor league free agent
Scott Mathieson (06, 10-11) 11/29/11 - Released
Ben Francisco (09-11) 12/12/11 - Traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for pitcher Frank Gailey

Coming Back
Pete Orr (11) 11/3/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies as a minor league free agent with an invitation to Spring Training
Brian Schneider (10-11) 11/17/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies to a one-year contract

New Additions
Jim Thome (03-05) 11/5/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cleveland Indians
Jonathan Papelbon 11/14/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Boston Red Sox
Ty Wigginton 11/20/11 - Acquired with cash from the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named later or cash
Laynce Nix 12/8/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Washington Nationals
Dontrelle Willis 12/15/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cincinnati Reds