Saturday, December 11, 2021

Happy Birthday Doug!


This kid is awesome.  He's kind, he's smart, he's intellectually curious, he's funny, he's a wonderful big brother and he's a really good baseball player.  Our oldest son turns 15 today, and it's still somewhat incredible to acknowledge we now have a kid in high school.  Doug played A LOT of baseball in 2021, after spending the first half of 2020 stuck inside with his parents and his younger brother Ben.  He began the year with the Dodgers, playing for his local Little League and then spent the summer months with All-Star Baseball, traveling to several different tournaments.  Finally, and after lengthy negotiations with his agents, he signed up to play for the South Jersey Rams, which was much closer to us and provided him an opportunity to play with a great group of teammates and coaches on a regular basis.  He'll go into 2022 looking forward to starting his high school baseball career with college (gulp!) baseball on the horizon.

Like I said, this kid is awesome.

Memory Lane
2006 to 2008 - Pre-The Phillies Room years
2009 - Doug turns 3
2010 - Took the year off . . . bad father!
2011 - A Shane Victorino card for Doug
2012 - Doug with the Phanatic, turns 6
2013 - Doug on the Braves, turns 7
2014 - Doug on the Marlins, turns 8
2015 - Doug on the Diamondbacks, turns 9
2016 - Doug and Pete Mackanin
2017 - Warming up with the Braves
2018 - On the mound for the Phillies
2019 - With All-Star Baseball and White Sox
2020 - Pandemic era baseball action
2021 - So much baseball . . . Dodgers, All-Star, Rams

Monday, December 6, 2021

2003 Topps Phillies Team Set

#651 Phillies Team
#283 Larry Bowa MG
#346 Pat Burrell LL
#457 Bobby Abreu
#86 Terry Adams
#155 Marlon Anderson
#604 David Bell
#160 Pat Burrell
#37 Brandon Duckworth
#615 Tyler Houston
#296 Il Kim
#428 Ricky Ledee
#117 Mike Lieberthal
#165 Jose Mesa
#466 Jason Michaels
#620 Brett Myers
#260 Vicente Padilla
#485 Tomas Perez
#242 Robert Person
#592 Dan Please
#531 Placido Polanco
#572 Todd Pratt
#3 Jimmy Rollins
#484 Bud Smith
#76 Randy Wolf
#322 Marlon Byrd & Jorge Padilla FS
#682 Chase Utley & Gavin Floyd PROS
#671 Cole Hamels DP

Traded
#T79 Kevin Millwood
#T38 Aaron Myette
#T175 Elizardo Ramirez
#T262 Jay Sitzman
#T107 Jim Thome
#T98 Mike Williams
#T135 Taylor Buchholz PROS

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Philly Baseball Card Show Report - Massive Crowd, Thome, 1965 Topps Haul


For the first time since February 2020, we returned to King of Prussia and attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, known to its friends as the Philly Show.  Doug and I have attended a few mall shows over the past year, but this was our first venture back to the Valley Forge Casino Resort since the Before Times, back when Doug's hair was cut into a neat trim.  We specifically went Saturday so that Doug could get Jim Thome to sign his Wall of Fame print, which in turn was part of Doug's Christmas present from Santa.

The convention room floor was jam packed and we realized immediately there were also way more tables and dealers than usual.  In the past, the show had been somewhat neatly organized into rows and clusters of tables but this show seemed to have a more haphazard feel to it and the walking lanes between dealers were noticeably slimmer.  Doug was there to do some freestyle picking as he's termed it, specifically looking for newer Phillies cards to add to his collection.  The highlight of his day was adding a Zack Wheeler certified autograph card from last year's Topps Heritage set to his collection.  Doug also was lucky enough to win a door prize, which was an Eagles display from their Super Bowl LII victory.

We braved the crowds for Doug's Thome autograph, and the Hall of Famer was very pleasant to us.  I then settled into a chair at Uncle Dick's Cards, which I had often seen but never really appreciated.  All told, I added 94 cards from Uncle Dick's to our 1965 Topps set, which I'll slowly chronicle over at my 1965 Topps blog.  I added three other star cards to the set, including my big purchase for the day, a Catfish Hunter rookie card.  A few 1959 Topps and 1969 Topps cards were added for good measure, as I've already determined I'll be chasing those sets after the 1965 Topps set is polished off.  It was a wonderful day, despite the crowds, and we're already looking forward to the next big show in March.

2021 Chachi Friendly Encounters #5

Memory Lane
Valley Forge 1 - September 2010 - Thinking of my Dad
Valley Forge 2 - October 2012 - Doug's first baseball card show
Valley Forge 3 - September 2014 - Meeting Darren Daulton
Oaks 1 - October 2015 - Meeting Pete Rose and Steve Carlton
Valley Forge 4 - September 2016 - Phillies acquisitions and 4 Phillies Legends
Valley Forge 5 - December 2016 - Meeting Don Money
Valley Forge 6 - September 2017 - Doug's big day
Valley Forge 7 - December 2017 - Ben's first baseball card show with Mike Schmidt and Rhys Hoskins!
Oaks 2 - December 2018 - Meeting Matt Stairs and Cole Hamels
Valley Forge 8 - March 2019 - 5 Phillies Autographs and Vintage Phillies Additions
Valley Forge 9 - September 2019 - Closing in on 1971 Topps set and Andrew McCutchen
Valley Forge 10 - December 2019 - Finishing 1971 Topps set, Starting 1965 Topps set, adding key autographs from Ryan Howard and Brad Lidge
Valley Forge 11 - February 2020 - More 1965 Topps cards, Jimmy Rollins, Mike Lieberthal and Jim Kaat
Valley Forge 12 - December 2021 - Huge haul of 1965 Topps, Jim Thome

Thursday, December 2, 2021

Phils Add Knebel, Camargo Before Owner Lock-Out Begins

2022 Chachi New Additions #8
2022 Chachi New Additions #9
2019 Chachi Friendly Encounters #15

This is most likely my last offseason transaction update for what could be quite some time, as the owners went into lock-out mode late Wednesday night.  All major league transactions will freeze until the player's union and the owners can agree on terms for a new collective bargaining agreement.

In more pleasant news, the Phillies may have signed their closer on Wednesday when they inked Corey Knebel to a one-year contract.  Knebel missed all of the 2019 season following Tommy John surgery and he appeared in 27 games last year with the Dodgers.  He went 4-0 with a 2.45 ERA over 27 games and 25 2/3 innings, recording three saves.  An All-Star in 2017 with the Brewers, Knebel appeared in a league-leading 76 games while recording 39 saves.  His sole mainstream baseball card from last season can be found in the Topps Update set.

Right before the start of the owners' lockout, the Phillies also signed infielder Johan Camargo, formerly of the Atlanta Braves.  Camargo appeared in only 15 games last season for the Braves, going 0 for 16 in the regular season and 0 for 4 in the NLCS . . . so he's due!  He's played every position except pitcher, catcher and center fielder during his five seasons in the big leagues.  Camargo had cards in the 2020 Topps flagship and 2020 Topps Heritage sets.  To make room for Camargo on the 40-man roster, pitcher Adonis Medina was designated for assignment.

Finally, long-time back-up catcher Andrew Knapp signed a minor league deal with the Reds.  While Knapp was apparently a favorite among the Phillies pitching staff, he struggled mightily at the plate, and he departs Philadelphia with a career .214 average over 309 games.


2021-2022 Offseason Departures

Date

Transaction

Jorge Bonifacio (of) 10/8/21 Released.

Cam Bedrosian (rhp) 11/3/21 Elected free agency.

Archie Bradley (rhp) 11/3/21 Elected free agency.

Freddy Galvis (inf) 11/3/21 Elected free agency.

Ian Kennedy (rhp) 11/3/21 Elected free agency.

Brad Miller (inf) 11/3/21 Elected free agency.

Matt Moore (lhp) 11/3/21 Elected free agency.

Hector Neris (rhp) 11/3/21 Elected free agency, signed with the Houston Astros, 11/30/21.

Andrew McCutchen (of) 11/3/21 Club option declined, elected free agency.

JD Hammer (rhp) 11/5/21 Outrighted, elected free agency.

Odubel Herrera (of) 11/5/21 Outrighted, elected free agency.

Travis Jankowski (of) 11/5/21 Outrighted, elected free agency.

Andrew Knapp (c) 11/5/21 Outrighted, elected free agency, signed with the Cincinnati Reds, 12/1/21.

Ramon Rosso (rhp) 11/5/21 Outrighted, elected free agency.

Ronald Torreyes (inf) 11/5/21 Outrighted, elected free agency.

Mauricio Llovera (rhp) 11/7/21 Elected free agency.

David Paulino (rhp) 11/7/21 Elected free agency.

Roman Quinn (of) 11/30/21 Non-tendered, elected free agency.


2021-2022 Offseason Additions





Ryan Sherriff (lhp) 11/5/21 Claimed off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays.

Kent Emanuel (lhp) 11/19/21 Claimed off waivers from the Houston Astros.

Nick Nelson (rhp) 11/19/21 Acquired from the New York Yankees for Joel Valdez (lhp) and T.J. Rumfield (1b)

Donny Sands (c) 11/19/21 --

Garrett Stubbs (c) 11/19/21 Acquired from the Houston Astros for Logan Cerny (of)

Scott Moss (lhp) 11/24/21 Claimed off waivers from the Cleveland Guardians.

Yoan Lopez (rhp) 11/29/21 Claimed off waivers from the Atlanta Braves.

Corey Knebel (rhp) 12/1/21 Signed as a free agent formerly with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Johan Camargo (inf) 12/1/21 Signed as a free agent formerly with the Atlanta Braves.

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Phils Add Two More Pitchers; Quinn and Neris Depart

2022 Chachi New Additions #6
2022 Chachi New Additions #7
2016 Chachi Photo Day #6

The Phillies have yet to make a big splash with any Scherzer-esque offseason transactions, but they continue to add pitching depth via waiver claims.  On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, lefty Scott Moss was claimed off waivers from the Cleveland Guardians.  Moss was a 4th round pick in the 2016 amateur player draft and he's spent the past five seasons pitching in the Cincinnati and Cleveland systems. In nine games last season with Triple-A Columbus, including seven starts, he threw 20 1/3 innings and was 1-5 with a 7.08 ERA.  Moss has an autographed insert in the 2017 Bowman set and he most recently appeared on a pitching leaders card within the 2019 Topps Heritage Minor League set.

On Monday, right-handed pitcher Yoan Lopez was claimed off waivers from the Braves.  Lopez pitched in 113 games for the Diamondbacks between 2018 and last season, earning a 4.25 ERA over 101 2/3 innings pitched.  He was dealt to Atlanta last May 22nd, but never appeared with the club.  Lopez made his Topps flagship set debut in 2020 Topps Update.  To make room on the 40-man roster for Lopez, long-time Phillie and oft-injured outfielder Roman Quinn was designated for assignment.

And speaking of long-time Phillies, the former longest tenured Phillies player and their all-time strikeout leader among the franchise's relief pitchers, Hector Neris signed a two year deal with the Astros on Tuesday.  I'm sad to see Neris go, although he drove me bananas at times.  It would have been nice to see him come back in a set-up or middle reliever role, but The Phillies Room wishes him all the best in Houston.  (Except for when they play the Phillies during the opening week of the 2022 season.)


2021-2022 Offseason Departures

Date

Transaction

Jorge Bonifacio (of) 10/8/21 Released.

Cam Bedrosian (rhp) 11/3/21 Elected free agency.

Archie Bradley (rhp) 11/3/21 Elected free agency.

Freddy Galvis (inf) 11/3/21 Elected free agency.

Ian Kennedy (rhp) 11/3/21 Elected free agency.

Brad Miller (inf) 11/3/21 Elected free agency.

Matt Moore (lhp) 11/3/21 Elected free agency.

Hector Neris (rhp) 11/3/21 Elected free agency, signed with the Houston Astros, 11/30/21.

Andrew McCutchen (of) 11/3/21 Club option declined, elected free agency.

JD Hammer (rhp) 11/5/21 Outrighted, elected free agency.

Odubel Herrera (of) 11/5/21 Outrighted, elected free agency.

Travis Jankowski (of) 11/5/21 Outrighted, elected free agency.

Andrew Knapp (c) 11/5/21 Outrighted, elected free agency.

Ramon Rosso (rhp) 11/5/21 Outrighted, elected free agency.

Ronald Torreyes (inf) 11/5/21 Outrighted, elected free agency.

Mauricio Llovera (rhp) 11/7/21 Elected free agency.

David Paulino (rhp) 11/7/21 Elected free agency.


2021-2022 Offseason Additions





Ryan Sherriff (lhp) 11/5/21 Claimed off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays.

Kent Emanuel (lhp) 11/19/21 Claimed off waivers from the Houston Astros.

Nick Nelson (rhp) 11/19/21 Acquired from the New York Yankees for Joel Valdez (lhp) and T.J. Rumfield (1b)

Donny Sands (c) 11/19/21 --

Garrett Stubbs (c) 11/19/21 Acquired from the Houston Astros for Logan Cerny (of)

Scott Moss (lhp) 11/24/21 Claimed off waivers from the Cleveland Guardians.

Yoan Lopez (rhp) 11/29/21 Claimed off waivers from the Atlanta Braves.

Monday, November 29, 2021

2004 Topps Phillies Team Set

#659 Phillies Team
#288 Larry Bowa MG
#695 Jim Thome & Mike Schmidt CPC
#345 Jim Thome LL
#346 Jim Thome LL
#333 Kevin Millwood HL
#384 Bobby Abreu
#182 Terry Adams
#35 David Bell
#420 Pat Burrell
#69 Marlon Byrd
#630 Rheal Cormier
#434 Doug Glanville
#571 Roberto Hernandez
#493 Ricky Ledee
#152 Mike Lieberthal
#202 Jose Mesa
#181 Jason Michaels
#11 Kevin Millwood
#488 Eric Milton
#551 Brett Myers
#59 Vicente Padilla
#445 Tomas Perez
#117 Placido Polanco
#618 Todd Pratt
#76 Jimmy Rollins
#68 Carlos Silva
#1 Jim Thome
#468 Chase Utley
#222 Randy Wolf
#561 Shawn Wooten
#328 Madson & Ramirez FS
#727 Randy Wolf AS

Traded
#T113 Jim Crowell
#T146 Danny Gonzalez
#T179 Lee Gwaltney
#T205 Terry Jones
#T187 Rob Tejeda
#T15 Billy Wagner
#T73 Greg Golson DP