Series Preview - Brewers at Phillies: May 13th to May 16th

1971 Topps #76

1971 Topps #192

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 7:05, Thursday 1:05
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

Brewers 24-18, 2nd place in the N.L. Central, 2 games behind the Cubs
Phillies 23-16, 1st place in the N.L. East, 3 games ahead of the Braves

Brewers Probables:  Freddy Peralta (2-1, 6.75), Brandon Woodruff (5-1, 4.25), Gio Gonzalez (1-0, 1.69), Zach Davies (4-0, 1.54)
Phillies Probables:  Aaron Nola (3-0, 4.57), Jerad Eickhoff (2-1, 1.50), Jake Arrieta (4-3, 3.78), Zach Eflin (5-3, 2.47)

At the Ballpark:  Tonight is Game of Thrones night at the ballpark and 3,000 fans who purchased special theme night tickets will receive a Seranthony Dominguez bobble head with a Game of Thrones theme.  Tuesday night is the final Dollar Dog Night of the season and Thursday afternoon's matinee is a Throwback Thursday game with the Phillies throwing back again to the 1980s.

Brewers Leaders
Average:  Christian Yelich - .338
Runs:  Christian Yelich - 33
Home Runs:  Christian Yelich - 16
RBIs:  Christian Yelich - 37
Stolen Bases:  Christian Yelich - 7

Wins:  Brandon Woodruff - 5
ERA:  Zach Davies - 1.54
Strikeouts:  Brandon Woodruff - 54
Saves:  Josh Hader - 10

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Jean Segura - .306
Runs:  Andrew McCutchen - 28
Home Runs:  Rhys Hoskins - 11
RBIs:  Rhys Hoskins - 35
Stolen Bases:  Cesar Hernandez - 3

Wins:  Zach Eflin - 5
ERA:  Zach Eflin - 2.47
Strikeouts:  Aaron Nola - 45
Saves:  Hector Neris - 5

Series Preview - Phillies at Giants: June 24th to June 26th

Friday 10:15, Saturday 10:05 and Sunday 4:05
AT&T Park - San Francisco, CA

At the Ballpark:  There's a postgame fireworks show tonight.  On Saturday, the first 40,000 fans will receive a Madison Bumgarner bobble head and on Sunday afternoon, the first 20,000 fans will receive a Giants LED watch.

1970 Topps #28

1970 Topps #77

1970 Topps Appreciation:  On November 7, 1973, the Phillies traded pitcher Billy Wilson to the Brewers for pitcher Frank Linzy.

As I wrote in a series preview post a few years ago, Wilson spent his entire five-year career with the Phillies, going 9-15 in 179 games between 1969 and 1973.  Originally drafted in 1962, Wilson spent seven seasons in the minors before getting the call and making his debut as a 26-year-old on April 8, 1969.  He'd never actually pitch for the Brewers.

Linzy had put together a relatively successful career as a reliever with the Giants, Cardinals and Brewers and 1974 was to be his final year in the Majors.  With the Phillies that season, Linzy appeared in 22 games pitching to a 3.28 ERA.  His sole Phillies baseball card can be found within the 1974 Phillies Photocards set.

Opening a 2015 Phungo HOT PACK from @phungo2008

I'm no stranger to the annual Phungo baseball card product and its world-renowned packs.  For the seventh year in a row, an unexpected bubbleope showed up in our mail box yesterday and when I saw the return address, I immediately knew there was going to be great stuff inside.  I was right.

I'll have to check the packs from prior years, but I certainly don't remember the packs being so jam packed as the 2015 edition.  Maybe I received a special retail-only blaster special hot pack?  In any event, and as has been the case in prior years, the pack was full of this year's Phungo cards and an assortment of "buyback" cards that were miraculous all needed for my (and Doug's!) collections.

2015 Phungo #1

2015 Phungo #42

2015 Phungo #53

2015 Phungo #26

I was happy to add the first card in this year's set, former Phillies ace Cole Hamels, to my collection. Sadly, Hamels' season is done courtesy of shoddy Rangers fielding and the Jose Bautista bat flip heard 'round the world.  Ben Revere will advance to the ALCS along with the rest of the Blue Jays. Current Phillies closer Ken Giles was in the pack as was a nice card of Chase Utley, showing him in a non-take-out slide pose.

2015 Phungo #54

2015 Phungo #19

2015 Phungo #11

2015 Phungo #27

Some of my favorite cards this year feature former Phillies.  I received my first ever card of infielder Don Hasenmayer, who appeared in 11 games for the 1945 and 1946 Phillies.  Strangely enough, his Baseball Reference page indicates he wore #21 and #40 with the Phillies, but the team gave him a jersey with #23 on it for Alumni Day.  I also received Jayson Werth's card, which features a cameo from Garry Maddox, and a Jim Fregosi In Memoriam card.  I was able to scan the Mike Trout card before my oldest son Doug added it to his Mike Trout binder.

And then there were the "buybacks" not so randomly inserted into my pack.  I received a few early 1970s Phillies cards needed for my team sets along with another Trout card (for Doug's collection) and a short-printed 2013 Topps Archives card of Anthony Rizzo (again, for Doug's collection). Minor league cards of obscure Phillies are always welcome, and I added cards of Jim Vatcher and Gene Schall to my collection.  And that's just scratching the surface!  Without a doubt, this was my favorite Phungo pack yet and I definitely consider myself fortunate to receive such awesomeness each year.

1971 Topps #533

1972 Topps #587

1989 Star Clearwater Phillies #14

1992 Classic Best #266

Memory Lane

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

Phillies at Nationals: September 13th to September 15th

Friday and Saturday 7:05, Sunday 1:35
Nationals Park - Washington, D.C.

Phillies 68-78, 3rd Place in the N.L. East, 20 games behind the Braves
Nationals 77-69, 2nd Place in the N.L. East, 11 games behind the Braves

Phillies Probables:  Kyle Kendrick (10-12, 4.51), Cole Hamels (7-13, 3.45), Tyler Cloyd (2-4, 4.56)
Nationals Probables:  Stephen Strasburg (7-9, 2.96), Gio Gonzalez (10-6, 3.31), Jordan Zimmermann (17-8, 3.36)

At the Ballpark:  There are all kinds of themes and group ticket offerings for this weekend series, but there are no giveaways as far as I can tell.  Various offerings going on include - Beltway Burger Pack, Miller Lite Party Night, Pups in the Park #4 and Kids Run the Bases.

Phillies Leaders

Average:  Chase Utley - .277

Runs:  Chase Utley - 65

Home Runs:  Domonic Brown - 27

RBIs:  Domonic Brown - 81

Stolen Bases:  Ben Revere - 22

Wins:  Cliff Lee - 13

ERA:  Cliff Lee - 2.97

Strikeouts:  Cliff Lee - 187

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 26

 

1973 Topps #619

1973 Topps Flashback:  At last we come to Billy Wilson.  Wilson's card is the last remaining Phillies base card from the 1973 Topps set yet to be featured in one of these flashback segments.  He receives the placement here for the Nationals series, solely because I had no other place to put him.

Wilson spent his entire five-year career with the Phillies, going 9-15 in 179 games between 1969 and 1973.  Originally drafted in 1962, Wilson spent seven seasons in the minors before getting the call and making his debut as a 26-year-old on April 8, 1969.

Wilson shared his 1967 Topps rookie card with Grant Jackson and then appeared on solo Topps cards with the Phillies from 1970 until 1973.  Prior to pitcher Roy Oswalt's one inning in left field in the 16-inning game back on August 24, 2010, Wilson was the last Phillies pitcher to play a different position when he played an inning at third base on August 6, 1971.

1967 Topps Phillies

1967 Topps #37, #126, #248 and #268

Before you read this post, you should go check out the post from Jim from Downingtown on the 1967 Phillies on his 1967 Topps Baseball blog.  I'll wait until your back and listen to a little more Sgt. Pepper's, which I'm playing to get me in the mood to write about the Phillies during the Summer of Love.  (By the way, my favorite song from the album is still "A Day in the Life," but "Getting Better" continues to grow on me.)

You're back?  Far out.  Now that you know everything you should know about the '67 Phillies and their baseball cards, here's my humble contribution to the topic.

The Set

1967 Topps #326 (Back)

Number of cards in the set:  There are 609 cards in the set, the largest number of cards in a set to date for Topps.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  I like it.  Off the top of my head, if I had to rank the Topps sets from the '60s, this would be in third place behind the '65 and '63 sets.    It would have received higher marks from me if the Phillies team name was in red instead of yellow.

Notable competition:  Topps is over a decade away from any type of real competition.  In 1967, Phillies players could be found in the Bazooka set or in one of the first ever safety sets, the 1967 Phillies Safe Driving set featuring 13 players.

1967 Phillies

Record and finish:  The team took a few steps backward, finishing in fifth place with a record of 82-80 and 19 1/2 games behind the pennant winning Cardinals.

Key players:  Third baseman Richie Allen paced the offense (.307, 23 home runs, 77 RBIs) despite missing time with a hand injury.  Left fielder Tony Gonzalez finished second in the league in batting with his .339 average, behind Roberto Clemente's .357 average.  Jim Bunning finished with a 17-15 record and 2.29 ERA and lost five 1-0 games, according to The Phillies Encyclopedia.  Chris Short also pitched well (2.39 ERA in 199 1/3 innings) despite his 9-11 record.

Key events:  Both first baseman Bill White and Allen missed significant playing time in 1967 due to freak accidents.  White tore his Achilles tendon while playing paddleball at home.  Allen, while pushing a car down a street, inadvertently broke through one of the car's headlights with his hand.

1967 Topps #187, #326, #427 and #508

1967 Phillies in 1967 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 35 Phillies cards in the 1967 Topps set, besting the previous high of 30 cards in the 1965 set.

Who’s in:  Here's the break down -

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards

#53 Clay Dalrymple (c), #290 Bill White (1b), #595 Cookie Rojas (2b), #450 Dick Allen (3b), #466 Bobby Wine (ss), #548 Tony Gonzalez (lf), #376 Don Lock (cf), #85 Johnny Callison (rf)

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 5 cards

#560 Jim Bunning, #229 Larry Jackson, #395 Chris Short, #37 Rick Wise, #359 Dick Ellsworth

• Base cards of other players who played with the Phillies in 1967 - 13 cards

#14 Phil Linz, #68 Bob Buhl, #126 Tony Taylor, #142 Jackie Brandt, #187 Pedro Ramos, #205 Dick Groat, #268 John Briggs, #326 Bob Uecker, #427 Ruben Gomez, #443 Tito Francona, #489 Doug Clemens, #508 Dick Hall, #529 Gary Wagner

1967 Topps #402

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1967 - 1 card

#48 Terry Fox, who spent 1967 in the minors

• 1967 Rookie Stars cards - 2 cards

#402 Grant Jackson/Billy Wilson and #587 Gary Sutherland with the Mets' Don Shaw

• League Leader cards - 3 cards

#238 Strikeout Leaders with Bunning, #242 RBI Leaders with Allen and #244 Home Run Leaders with Allen

• Manager card - 1 card for Gene Mauch, #248
• Team card - 1 card, #102
• Combo card - 1 card, #309 Hurlers Beware with Allen and Callison

Who’s out:  Outfielder Billy Cowan appeared in 34 with the Phillies, but he was left out of the set.  Reliever John Boozer was also omitted, despite appearing in 28 games.

Phillies on other teams:  #18 Gene Oliver with the Braves, #190 closer Turk Farrell with the Astros and #198 Chuck Hiller with the Mets

What’s he doing here:  Wilson shares a card with Grant Jackson, but he wouldn't debut with the Phillies until 1969.

Cards that never were candidates:  Topps had cards for all the main players in the 1967 season (except Cowan and Boozer), so there's not a lot to choose from here.  Farrell deserves a Phillies card since he's featured as an Astro in the set.  Dallas Green wrapped up his 8-year career with 8 games with the Phils and long-time Phillie Terry Harmon was just starting his career when he appeared in two games in July as a pinch-runner.

Favorite Phillies card:  This one's easy.  The Hurlers Beware card featuring Allen and Callison epitomizes 1960's Phillies baseball, and it could be the best Phillies baseball card of the decade.

1967 Topps #190, 2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #143,
2010 Topps The Cards Your Mom Threw Out #CMT74 and 2001 Topps Archives #340

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Similar to the 1966 Topps design, Topps has only come back to this design a few times for its Archives sets and retro-based inserts.

Blogs/Websites:  As referenced at the start of this post, please check out the fine 1967 Topps Baseball blog for more appreciation and general information on the 1967 Topps set.

Did You Know?:  On the day the Beatles released their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, June 1st, the Phils defeated the Dodgers in Los Angeles by a score of 6-1.  Allen had four RBIs, including a 3-run home run in the sixth off Claude Osteen.

1971 Topps #192 Billy Wilson

Astros 4, Phillies 2 (16 Innings)
Game 125 - Tuesday Night, August 24th in Philadelphia

It started out innocently enough.  It was Carlos Ruiz Bobble-Head Night at Citizens Bank Park and the Phils were fielding their everyday starting 8 for the first time since May 21st and just the 6th time this season.  Starter Cole Hamels allowed a pair of runs in the 4th (another Carlos Lee 2-run homer) and the Phillies finally scored in the 6th when Raul Ibañez doubled home Jayson Werth.  It was their first run scored for Hamels since August 1st, following a 25-inning scoreless drought.

Trailing 2-1 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Jimmy Rollins blasted a 3-1 Wilton Lopez fastball into the right field stands to tie up the game.  And for the next 2½ hours, the score remained tied, 2-all.  The Phils exhausted their bullpen, as all 7 of their relievers combined to throw 8 shutout innings.  The last man standing was Rule 5 pick David Herndon, who pitched a scoreless 14th and 15th innings before faltering in the 16th and allowing 2 runs on 2 infield hits, a hit batter, a wild pitch, an intentional walk and a dropped relay throw by 1st baseman Ibañez.

2005 Topps Heritage #217

That's right - 1st baseman Raul Ibañez.  You see, in the 14th inning, with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs, Ryan Howard was called out on strikes when 3rd base umpire Scott Barry deemed his check swing had crossed the plane of the plate.  It hadn't and Howard tossed his bat away in disgust.  He may have also lobbed an F-bomb in the general direction of Barry, who promptly tossed him from the game.  Ridiculous.  First - Howard should know better.  It's the 14th inning of a crucial game in August in which your team has depleted its bench.  Check your emotions, bite your tongue and jog back to the dugout.  Second - Barry should be disciplined for the quick hook given to Howard.  Barry baited Howard, plain and simple, and the replays show that Barry was clearly "umpiring" with a chip on his shoulder.  (Ross Gload was also ejected from the bench post-Howard eruption, which is impressive considering he's on the DL right now.)

2010 Upper Deck #235

In any event, the ejection left the Phils without a first baseman.  Enter Ibañez, who had previously played 135 games at first, but hadn't played the position since May 2005 with the Mariners.  This left the Phils without a left fielder.  Enter Roy Oswalt, who became the first Phillies' pitcher to play the field since Billy Wilson played third base for one batter on August 6, 1971.  And wouldn't you know it, the first ball hit into play in the 15th was a fly ball right to Oswalt, who effortlessly recorded the out and received a standing ovation from the remaining fans.  Just another F7 on the score card.  Ibañez recorded the final 2 outs of the 15th with putouts at 1st.

Unfortunately, the novelty of having Oswalt in left completely wore off in the bottom of the 16th, when his spot in the order came up with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd.  It would have been an awesome story had Oswalt somehow managed to line one down into the right field corner to tie things up, but he grounded out weakly to third to end the game.

It's easy to blame the 3rd base umpire for this loss, but the truth is the Phillies scored a total of 2 runs in 16 innings.  The offense seems to be hitting the skids again and they'll try to get back on track tonight against their old friend J.A. Happ.

The Last Great Tribecards Giveaway

1970 Topps #28 Billy Wilson

2006 Fleer Greats of the Game Decade Greats Game-Used #DEC-MS Mike Schmidt

2009 SP Authentic #26 Chase Utley

One of the wonderful side effects of collecting baseball cards and maintaining this blog is occasionally receiving word that someone out there is looking to give away free cards. Recently, David from Tribecards decided to give away the bulk of his non-Indians collection to focus on his one true love - Indians baseball cards. I threw my name into the ring, and David was gracious enough to oblige with a wonderful box of Phillies cards.

It's funny how these things work out too. I had e-mailed David back in the middle of January when he announced his "last great Tribecards giveaway." I had kinda sorta forgotten about the giveaway, even after David sent me an e-mail a few weeks later saying he was working on my Phillies box. And just when I could definitely use a good box of random Phillies cards in the mail to put a smile on my face - David's package arrived. Good vibes all around.

The box contained an assortment of Phillies cards throughout the years, across all brands, and I've featured a few of my favorites here. Thanks again David, and best of luck to your Indians this year - except of course for the three games from June 22nd through June 24th.