The Philly Show Report - Only 16 More Needed for '69 Topps Set

This morning I made the hour-long drive to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of the Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show, known to its friends as The Philly Show.  The show has a legitimate official sponsor (eBay) and the advertisement for the event notes the show is in its 50th year.  I hadn't attended a baseball card show since the last Philly Show in December, and I was flying solo to this one as our oldest son is in his first month of college at Villanova.  (One of the perks of having him so close is that I was able to stop by and see him on my way home, and he even "bought" me a coffee.)

The showroom floor is ginormous and even though I was there for over three hours, I still didn't visit every table.  Vintage cardboard is still well-represented, although there were more tables selling Pokemon cards or nothing but slabs of graded cards than I remember from past shows.  I had two goals for this show - come close to completing my 1969 Topps set and look for any old and/or oddball Phillies stuff.  I succeeded in my first goal, but failed in my second.  When the final score was tallied, I had added 91 cards to my 1969 Topps set, leaving me with needing just 16 more.  I'm collecting 666 cards - the base 664, plus the variations for Clay Dalrymple and Donn Clendenon.  I have no interest in the white letter variations or the checklist anomalies.

• The first place I stopped was a table with well-organized and well-marked binders of commons and semi-stars with 20% Off notes across the front of each binder.  I took my time and found 32 common and semi-stars needed before asking to see the dealer's star cards from the set.  It turned out this first purchase was also my biggest, as I spent over half my allotted budget here, America's Pastime from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, before moving on to the next table.  I paid a nicely discounted sum for the star cards of Harmon Killebrew, Tug McGraw, Bobby Cox (rookie card) and Rod Carew.  Set progress - 36 added, 71 still needed.

• My next stop was the aptly named Vintage Sports table.  I always appreciate a dealer with clear signage explaining their pricing method, and Vintage Sports had a marker in their selection of 1969 Topps cards laying out that cards without a sleeve were $1 and cards with a sleeve were $2.  I had one "high number" in a sleeve, and that was a whopping $4.  Set progress - 28 added, 43 to go.  Appreciating the deal, I also added 10 cards to my not-yet-officially-collecting 1959 Topps set build.

• I next found a smaller table with the impossible to pass up offer of 1969 Topps commons that were only $1, unless marked.  The binder was right at the end of the table, making it an even easier sell.  The prices on some of the cards were stunningly low, so I was even more surprised when the dealer gave me an even deeper discount upon tallying up my total.  I made sure to ask for a card, and I'll be making Niagara Sports Cards one of my first stops when I return to the Philly Show, hopefully in December.  Set progress - 12 added, 31 to go.

• After about 90 minutes of walking and buying, while running low on funds, and even lower on stamina, I found a nice display of vintage Topps star cards at Richie's Sports Cards, from Manalpan, New Jersey.  I quickly and easily picked up six more star cards needed for our set.  Set progress - 6 added, 25 to go.

• I'm not even sure how best to describe the next table I visited.  I typically steer clear of tables that look incredibly disorganized or tables that look as if the dealer put minimal effort into his/her display.  This table was both.  But the crudely designed, hand-made sign advertising "Entire Table is 50% Off" made me stop and at least look at what was in the 1969 Topps hodgepodge of cards.  And I'm glad I did.  It took me a solid 20-25 minutes to go through the cards that were loosely in order, but I found seven cards I needed with either mislabeled prices (?) or prices that hadn't been updated since the 1980s.  I paid $7.50 for a perfectly decent Carl Yastrzemski card, and I suddenly wished I had made this table my first stop.  Set progress - 7 added, 18 to go.

• And finally, I made one last stop at Uncle Dick's, the source of 486 cards in our set, or almost 75% of my entire set build.  I wanted to make sure I had completely cleaned him out of all 1969 Topps cards I needed, and I was able to add two more cards from the neon green binder, the last two cards I'll likely purchase from Uncle Dick's for our 1969 Topps set - the Ray Fosse rookie and the Al Kaline card.  Set progress - 2 added, 16 to go.

The 16 cards I need to complete the set are superstars, stars or semi-stars with nary a common in the bunch.  I have a feeling the Nolan Ryan card will be the last to fall, as I don't think I saw any 1969 Ryan cards at the show unslabbed.  I probably won't wait until adding the remaining 14 cards to officially start collecting the 1959 Topps set, the next set on deck.  I've enjoyed collecting this set over the past three-plus years, and I've definitely enjoyed blogging about each of the cards added, but I already have my sights set on moving backwards into the 1950s.

The last 16 cards needed:

82 Richie Hebner / Al Oliver Rookie

85 Lou Brock

90 Jerry Koosman

100 Hank Aaron

150 Denny McLain

190 Willie Mays

270 Mickey Lolich

394 Lou Piniella Rookie

533 Nolan Ryan

540 Curt Flood

547 Billy Martin

570 Ron Santo

573 Jim Palmer

600 Tony Oliva

630 Bobby Bonds

640 Fergie Jenkins

Game 117 - Phils Offense Explodes on Twins

Phillies 13, Twins 2
Game 117 - Friday Night, August 11th in Philadelphia
Record - 65-52, 2nd Place, 9 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies offense continues to heat up, banging out 15 hits and three more home runs in this 13-2 series opening win.

What It Means:  The Phillies have won nine of their last 12 games and six of their last seven.  They have a 4 1/2 game lead in the Wild Card race, 2 1/2 games ahead of the second Wild Card team, the Giants.

What Happened:  The Twins scored first, with Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler hitting two quick home runs off Cristopher Sanchez in the second inning.  But the Phillies powered back in the bottom of the second, plating six runs.  Bryson Stott, J.T. Realmuto, Johan Rojas, Kyle Schwarber, Alec Bohm and Trea Turner all knocked in runs in the inning.  Turner would add an RBI-double in the fourth to make it 7-2 Phillies, and Nick Castellanos singled home Turner for another run.  Bryson Stott and J.T. Realmuto hit back-to-back home runs in the sixth, and Rojas capped the scoring with his first big league home run in the eighth, off Twins' left fielder, Jordan Luplow.  Luplow had imitated Phillies' closer Craig Kimbrel before delivering the pitch to Rojas, arm bent at an angle prior to entering his "windup."  Sanchez was the beneficiary of the run support, pitching six solid innings and earning his first win of 2023.

Featured Card/Field Report:  All four of us were there, enjoying the offensive outburst from Section C of the Diamond Club.  Pregame, I was happy to catch up with a former college suite mate of mine visiting with his family from Milwaukee.  It was also cool to watch Hall of Famer Jim Kaat throw out a ceremonial first pitch to his former catcher, Bob Boone.  This was the first night of Alumni Weekend, and we'll be back tonight, hoping to add as many autographs as possible to Doug's growing collection.

I achieved a personal milestone at this game.  The Twins were the only one of 30 MLB teams I had never seen in person until last night.  With the Twins off the list, I've now seen all 30 teams live in action.

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

Game 97 - Phils Can't Solve Strider in Loss

1977 Topps #638

Braves 6, Phillies 3
Game 97 - Tuesday Night, July 26th in Philadelphia
Record - 50-47, 3rd Place, 10 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  A late rally wasn't nearly enough in this 6-3 loss to the Braves.

What It Means:  At least the sunset was pretty?  The Phillies couldn't figure out rookie pitcher Spencer Strider who held their line-up to three hits and struck out six in his six innings of work.

What Happened:  The Braves scored early and often on a night Aaron Nola didn't have close to his best stuff.  Nola was chased after six innings having allowed five runs on seven hits, including home runs to Michael Harris II and Matt Olson.  The slumping Kyle Schwarber hit his 31st home run in the sixth and J.T. Realmuto added a two-run home run in the ninth, but they weren't able to overcome the early deficit.

Featured Card:  Dick Allen should have been inducted into the Hall of Fame this past weekend, and hopefully he gets the call the next time the Veteran's Committee casts their votes.  The only Phillies connection to Cooperstown this past induction weekend was lefty Jim Kaat, who joined the Hall with a plaque showing the interlocking "TC" of the Twins logo on his cap.  Kaat was dealt to the Phillies from the White Sox in December 1975 with Mike Buskey for Alan Bannister, Dick Ruthven and Roy Thomas.  A veteran workhorse, he threw 227 2/3 innings for the club in the pennant-winning 1976 season, going 12-14 with 3.48 ERA in 38 appearances.  He made one start for the Phillies in the 1976 NLCS, as the starting pitcher in the decisive Game 3 won by the Reds, completing their 3-game sweep.  Kaat went six innings, allowing two runs on the way to a no decision.

Overall, Kaat appeared in 102 games for the Phillies between 1976 and 1979, and was 27-30 with a 4.23 ERA, compiling 11 complete games including two shutouts.

Field Report:  I watched this game from the suite level at the ballpark as part of a work function.  The food and the company was great, the game not so much.

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

1965 Topps - 1st Series Phillies Alumni

In celebration of the completion of the first series (cards 1 to 88) of our 1965 Topps set, here's a look at each card from that first series featuring a former, current or future Phillies player, coach or manager.  You can follow along as we collect this set here.

#13

#15

#16

#20

#22

#23

#33

#36

#52

#62

#64

#67

#72

#75

#80

1965 Topps 2nd Series Phillies Alumni

1977 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  38
Card Size:  3 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Description:  As was the case with all Phillies photo cards issued throughout the 1970s, these cards feature a black and white photo with the players' name below.  Some of the cards contain blue facsimile autographs, as noted on the checklist below.  Also as indicated below, and for the first time ever, the Phillies started using action photos for some players in lieu of the portrait cards they had issued up until this point.  Some of the cards are cropped so that there's a larger than usual white space on the bottom border, with the Tommy Hutton card above being a good example of this.  The backs of the photo cards are blank and there's no indication on the cards themselves that they're from 1977.

How Distributed:  The photo cards were handed out to fans individually and supplied to the players in order to reply to fan mail or honor autograph requests.  I could be wrong, but I don't believe the cards were ever available in complete set form.  Every player on the opening day 25-man roster is included in the set, along with four players who made their season debuts after the start of the season (Richie Hebner, Warren Brusstar, Jim Lonborg and Tim Blackwell) and two players acquired via trades in June (Bake McBride and Barry Foote).  Given that McBride and Foote didn't play their first games with the Phillies until mid-June and the fact that their cards aren't included on the checklist found at the Trading Card Database, these could be considered short printed cards.

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. Fred Andrews (auto) 2. Carroll Beringer CO 3. Tim Blackwell (auto) 4. Bob Boone (action, auto) 5. Larry Bowa (action, auto) 6. Ollie Brown (action, auto) 7. Warren Brusstar (auto) 8. Steve Carlton (action, auto) 9. Larry Christenson (action) 10. Billy DeMars CO  11. Barry Foote 12. Gene Garber (action) 13. Terry Harmon (action, auto)

14. Richie Hebner (auto) 15. Tommy Hutton 16. Dane Iorg (action) 17. Dave Johnson (action) 18. Jay Johnstone (action, auto) 19. Jim Kaat (auto) 20. Randy Lerch (action) 21. Jim Lonborg (action) 22. Greg Luzinski (action, auto)      23. Garry Maddox (action) 24. Jerry Martin (action) 25. Bake McBride 26. Tim McCarver (action)

27. Tug McGraw (action, auto) 28. Danny Ozark MG 29. Ron Reed (action, auto) 30. Ray Rippelmeyer CO 31. Mike Schmidt 32. Mike Schmidt (action) 33. Ted Sizemore (action) 34. Tony Taylor CO (auto) 35. Bobby Tolan (action, auto) 36. Wayne Twitchell (action, auto) 37. Tommy Underwood (auto) 38. Bobby Wine CO (auto)

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (3):  Andrews, Blackwell, Iorg

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (7):  Brusstar, Foote, Hebner, Johnson, Lerch, McBride, Sizemore
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (22):  Boone, Bowa, Brown, Carlton, Christenson, Garber, Harmon, Hutton, Johnstone, Kaat, Lonborg, Luzinski, Maddox, Martin, McCarver, McGraw, Reed, Schmidt (2), Tolan, Twitchell, Underwood

Manager (1):  Ozark
Coach (5):  Beringer, DeMars, Ripplemeyer, Taylor, Wine

Surprises:  After appearing in 4 games with the Phillies in 1976, catcher Tim Blackwell received his one and only Phillies baseball card in this set.  He appeared in one game for the Phillies in 1977, entering a game on June 11th as a pinch-runner for Bob Boone and scoring a run.  A few days later, he was shipped to the Expos with Wayne Twitchell for Foote and Dan Warthen.  

Omissions:  Only 5 of the 36 players to appear with the Phillies in 1977 are not in this set, and the Phillies can't really be blamed for omitting any of them.  Pitcher Warthen came over from the Expos with Foote, but he only appeared in three games for the Phillies.  The other four omissions - infielders Mike Buskey, Jim Morrison and John Vukovich, along with pitcher Manny Seoane - were all September call-ups.

Variations/Rarities:  As mentioned above, the McBride and Foote photo cards were added to the set at some point after mid-June.  Fellow collector Rick also let me know about a Mike Schmidt variation that is a portrait photo of the slugger and not an action shot of him swinging.  Not knowing which version is more prevalent, I've included both versions in the standard checklist above.  Also, the Larry Bowa card I have in my collection doesn't have a blue facsimile autograph.  There may be other instances of these signature variations as well.

Also See:  1977 Hostess Phillies team set.

Resources:  The Trading Card Database; Phillies collector Rick G.

This set was originally featured in a post back in December 2014, and I'm going to slowly go through these team-issued set posts and update them with new information learned (if any) over the past six years.

 

1976 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards / 1978 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards

1970-1979 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page

2007-2009 Phillies Alumni Photo Cards

Number of Known Cards:  42
Card Size:  4" x 6"
Description:  I was admittedly completely unaware of the existence of these cards until an eBay search in 2018 yielded photos of team-issued photo cards for Phillies alumni using a design I had never seen before.  The 2008 cards have a blue border with the Phillies Alumni logo along with the player's name and uniform number at the bottom.  The 2009 cards have a gray border with the same Phillies Alumni logo at the bottom, again along with the player's name and uniform number.  Copyright dates and the corresponding year of issuance can be found on the backs of these cards.

How Distributed:  Between 2007 and 2009, the Phillies created special alumni photo cards for returning players to sign at various autograph events, during alumni weekends and as part of any reunion-related public appearances.  A team card for the 1950 National League Champion Whiz Kids was also created.  Fellow collector Rick shared with me his list of these cards, which is where the information below comes from.  He also notes the 2007 Tekulve card was created for an autograph signing with the ex-reliever that was ultimately cancelled due to inclement weather.

Complete 2007 Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. Rico Brogna 2. Marty Bystrom (blank back)                 3. Larry Christenson 4. Darren Daulton

5. Terry Harmon (blank back) 6. Von Hayes 7. Ricky Jordan 8. Dickie Noles (blank back, 5 x 7)

9. Mike Rogodzinski                 10. Kent Tekulve 11. Bob Walk 12. Mitch Williams

Complete 2008 Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. 1950 Phillies Team 2. Dick Allen 3. Larry Andersen 4. Ricky Bottalico 5. Jeff Brantley 6. Larry Christenson (same photo as 2007) 7. Gene Garber

8. Dallas Green 9. Terry Harmon 10. Tommy Herr 11. Tommy Hutton                        12. Ricky Jordan 13. Garry Maddox

14. Jerry Martin 15. Gary Matthews 16. Mike Rogodzinski                             17. Juan Samuel 18. Del Unser 19. Ozzie Virgil

Complete 2009 Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. Bob Boone 2. Ricky Bottalico                   3. Bob Dernier 4. Jim Eisenreich

5. Jim Kaat 6. John Kruk 7. Mike Lieberthal 8. Mickey Morandini

9. Dickie Noles 10. Juan Samuel (same photo as 2008) 11. Tony Taylor

I am actively seeking these cards and please contact me if you have any for sale or trade.  My want list is linked below.

Also See:  I recently updated, hopefully for the final time, my post covering the alumni photo cards issued between 2010 and 2019.

Resources:  Phillies collector Rick (@rickphils).

2000-Present Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page

Philly Baseball Card Show Report - J Roll, Lieby, Kitty, Pickles, 1965 Topps

2020 Chachi Friendly Encounters #1

2020 Chachi Friendly Encounters #3

2020 Chachi Friendly Encounters #2

I spent the latter part of this past week trying to recover from a nasty sinus infection but I rallied on Saturday to take Doug to the latest Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show held in Valley Forge.  I was a bit out of sorts as I forgot my vintage Phillies want list at home, but I still managed to track down some great additions to my collection.  Doug mainly focused on what interests him the most these days - autograph and relic cards of current Phillies and Phillies prospects.

Once again, there was a ton of autograph guests and we opted for autographs from former Phillies Jimmy Rollins and Mike Lieberthal.  Doug had his Jimmy Rollins Retirement Ceremony ball signed with Lieberthal signing his Wall of Fame print.  Doug also stood in line with me as we got Jim Kaat to sign his 1965 Topps card which is now part of our growing set.  (In the coming weeks, I'll have a full run down of the 1965 Topps cards we added over at my 1965 Topps blog.)

For my Phillies collection, I added a personal white whale with the 1919-21 W514 strip card of Pickles Dillhoefer.  This deserves its own post, and I'll show that card off then.  From the same dealer I also bought the 1934-36 Diamond Stars card of Ethan Allen, and I already showed that card off in this post.  Also added were 1963 and 1964 photo packs featuring Phillies players from those seasons.  I've not yet developed want lists for these photo pack cards, but I should work on that soon.

We added 23 total cards to our 1965 Topps set, with the big purchases being the Ernie Banks, Willie McCovey and Brooks Robinson cards along with the Tug McGraw rookie card.

It was a tiring day, but there's nothing like buying a bunch of old baseball cards to help with a bad cold.

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

2007-2009 Phillies Alumni Photo Cards

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

 
I've been feeling fairly accomplished recently having completed what I consider to be a relatively comprehensive checklist of Phillies Alumni photo cards issued since 2010.  In a recent eBay search, I was very surprised to see that Phillies Alumni photo cards existed prior to 2010 and these cards contained a completely different design.  Fellow collector Rick then shared with me his list of these cards, which is where the information below comes from.  Let the hunt continue!

2007 Copyright

Rico Brogna Marty Bystrom (blank back) Larry Christenson Darren Daulton Terry Harmon (blank back) Von Hayes

Ricky Jordan Dickie Noles (blank back, 5 x 7) Mike Rogodzinski Kent Tekulve Bob Walk Mitch Williams

Rick notes that the Tekulve card was created for an autograph signing with the ex-reliever that was ultimately cancelled due to inclement weather.

2008 Copyright

1950 Phillies Team Dick Allen Larry Andersen Ricky Bottalico Jeff Brantley Larry Christenson (same photo as 2007) Gene Garber Dallas Green Terry Harmon Tommy Herr

Tommy Hutton Ricky Jordan Garry Maddox Jerry Martin Gary Matthews Mike Rogodzinski Juan Samuel Del Unser Ozzie Virgil

2009 Copyright

Bob Boone Ricky Bottalico Bob Dernier Jim Eisenreich Jim Kaat John Kruk

Mike Lieberthal Mickey Morandini Dickie Noles Juan Samuel (same photo as 2008) Tony Taylor

Series Preview - Yankees at Phillies: June 25th to June 27th

1978 Topps #35

1978 Topps #715

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

Yankees 50-25, Tied for 1st place in the A.L. East, 14 games ahead of the Rays
Phillies 41-34, 2nd place in the N.L. East, 2 1/2 games behind the Braves

Yankees Probables:  Jonathan Loaisiga (1-0, 3.12), Luis Severino (11-2, 2.24), Luis Cessa (0-0, 3.00)
Phillies Probables:  Vince Velasquez (5-7, 4.82), Jake Arrieta (5-5, 3.42), Zach Eflin (5-2, 3.44)

At the Ballpark:  There are absolutely no giveaways or promotions for this series, as the Phillies rightfully assume they'll have no problems selling tickets.

Yankees Leaders
Average:  Miguel Andujar - .284
Runs:  Aaron Judge - 50
Home Runs:  Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton - 19
RBIs:  Aaron Judge - 51
Stolen Bases:  Didi Gregorius - 9

Wins:  Luis Severino - 11
ERA:  Luis Severino - 2.24
Strikeouts:  Luis Severino - 123
Saves:  Aroldis Chapman - 22

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Odubel Herrera - .305
Runs:  Cesar Hernandez - 54
Home Runs:  Odubel Herrera and Carlos Santana - 13
RBIs:  Carlos Santana - 46
Stolen Bases:  Cesar Hernandez - 12

Wins:  Aaron Nola - 9
ERA:  Aaron Nola - 2.58
Strikeouts:  Nick Pivetta - 101
Saves:  Hector Neris - 10