1989 Tastykake Phillies #16 Nick Leyva MG

Pirates 6, Phillies 4
Game 23 - Thursday Afternoon, April 25th in Philadelphia
Record - 9-14, 4th Place, 7 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  For the second game in a row, the bullpen couldn't contain the Pirates, and the Phillies lost, 6-4.

What It Means:  The Pirates took three out of four from the punchless Phillies and the homestand ended with a disappointing 3-5 record.  The team now heads to Flushing for three games with the Mets.

What Went Wrong:  The bullpen just couldn't get the job done again and the offense continues to plop along.  Cliff Lee cruised through the first five innings before allowing the first Pirates run in the sixth, and two more runs in the seventh.  In total, he scattered 10 hits over seven innings while striking out seven.

Phillippe Aumont came on in the eighth, and departed after allowing three hits and a hit batter in a third of an inning.  The big blow was Garrett Jones' double to right that scored two and gave the Pirates the lead.

Featured Card:  Even though they just took three out of four from the Phils, I still think it's a shame that the Pirates only visit town once a year.  Back in the day, the Phillies-Pirates rivalry was huge and The Vet would be packed for each of their several visits throughout the spring and summer.  Unless these two teams meet up in postseason play, we won't see the Buccos and their third base coach Nick Leyva again until 2014.

1989 Topps Phillies

1989 Topps #385, #358, 1989 Topps Traded #49T and #63T

Happy new year!  Here's to a wonderful 2012 for you and your friends and family.

The 1989 season was a hot mess for the Phillies.  Mike Schmidt tearfully announced his retirement, fan favorites Chris James, Steve Bedrosian and Juan Samuel were all sent packing, and the team continued to underwhelm with another last place finish.  Here and now, with the 2012 Phillies about to begin their journey in about 45 days, I'm reminded again just how much distance there is between today's team and the team I somehow managed to root for some two decades ago.

1989 Topps #154 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  For the eighth year in a row, Topps issued 792 cards in its base set and another 132 in its traded series.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  I never really cared for this set although I recently enjoyed flipping through the set with my son Doug.  For the record, and this is completely unofficial, there are three Doug's in the set - Dascenzo, Drabek and Jones.  We may have missed a few since we were too pre-occupied with the discovery that there are two guys named Candy in the set.  But I digress.

Was 1987 the last great Topps baseball card set (in my opinion, of course?)  When I look through the Topps base set cards from 1988 through 2011, there isn't one complete set that really stands out.  I like the 1993 set, but was it a great set?  I'm fine with chalking this observation up to the fact that the sets I like the most are sets I first encountered during my childhood.  But is there something more to it?  Has Topps produced a great, universally adored baseball card base set since 1987?  These are deep questions for a New Year's Day.

Notable competition:  Upper Deck entered the fold in 1989 with it's ground-breaking set, holograms on the back and all.  This next statement will make me sound crotchety, but baseball cards and baseball card collecting hasn't been the same since I opened that first foil-wrapped Upper Deck pack.  Fleer, Donruss and Score were all afterthoughts to me in 1989.  Topps resurrected the Bowman name in 1989 with an extra large, underwhelming set featuring the first Phillies cards of a lot of the players the team acquired prior to the start of the 1989 season.

1989 Topps #187, 1989 Topps Traded #119T, #27T and 1989 Topps #100

1989 Phillies

Record and finish:  Have I already mentioned that 1989 was a hot mess for the Phils?  The team started the year with what seemed like dozens of new faces and a bunch of more new faces would join the team before the season was over.  They managed to win two more games than in the prior year, going 67-95 on their way to a second straight last place finish.

Key players:  Von Hayes was the only consistent offensive threat in the line-up, putting up a respectable .259 average with 26 home runs and 78 RBIs.  When your next two offensive power houses are Ricky Jordan (.285, 12 home runs, 75 RBIs) and Dickie Thon (.271, 15 home runs, 60 RBIs), you know it's going to be a long year.  New second baseman Tommy Herr hit .287 and John Kruk hit .331 after being acquired from the Padres for James in June.  Ken Howell and Jeff Parrett led the pitching staff with 12 wins a piece and Roger McDowell saved 19 games for the Phils after they had shipped former closer Bedrosian to the Giants.  Rookie Pat Combs gave the team hope for the future when he won four games and pitched to a 2.09 ERA following his September call-up.

Key events:  In late May, future Hall of Famer Schmidt called a press conference in San Diego to announce his retirement.  Although he was hitting just .203 with 6 home runs at the time, his decision still came as a shock.  Steve Jeltz lost his starting shortstop job to Thon, but he did manage to hit two home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game, making him the first Phillie in history to do so.  As mentioned at the outset, GM Lee Thomas was extremely busy, trading away popular players and netting Kruk, Randy Ready, Lenny Dykstra, McDowell, Terry Mulholland, Dennis Cook and Charlie Hayes in three seperate trades.  And my hero, Bob Dernier, hit a thrilling, game-winning, inside-the-park home run against the Giants on May 15th.  The video is terrible, but it's hard not to get chills listening to the call from Harry Kalas:

1989 Phillies in 1989 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 28 Phillies cards in the base set and Topps added another 11 Phillies cards to its traded set.  

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 7 cards

#187 Darren Daulton (c), #358 Ricky Jordan (1b), #49T Tom Herr (2b), #119T Dickie Thon (ss), #63T John Kruk (lf), #27T Lenny Dykstra (cf), #385 Von Hayes (rf)

All three players (Mulholland, Cook and new third baseman Charlie Hayes) acquired from the Giants for Bedrosian were omitted from the traded set.  However, the players acquired from the Mets for Samuel (Dykstra and McDowell) on the same day as the Bedrosian deal, made it into the traded set as Phillies.  This baffles me.  (For the record, all three appear in Fleer's update set.)

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 3 cards

#54T Ken Howell, #518 Bruce Ruffin, #154 Don Carman

1989 Topps Traded #54T, 1989 Topps #518, #154 and 1989 Topps Traded #80T

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1989 - 19 cards

#20 Steve Bedrosian, #39 Mike Maddux, #100 Mike Schmidt, #268 Keith Miller, #298 Chris James, #349 Ron Jones, #418 Bob Dernier, #542 Todd Frohwirth, #575 Juan Samuel, #627 Greg Harris, #634 Marvin Freeman, #653 Tom Barrett, #707 Steve Jeltz, #65T Steve Lake, #79T Roger McDowell, #80T Larry McWilliams, #90T Steve Ontiveros, #95T Jeff Parrett, #102T Randy Ready

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1989 - 8 cards (with new teams listed)

#67 Dave Palmer (Tigers), #128 Milt Thompson (Cardinals), #202 Brad Moore (Phillies minors), #215 Kevin Gross (Expos), #438 Greg Gross (Astros), #470 Lance Parrish (Angels), #494 Shane Rawley (Twins), #608 Phil Bradley (Orioles)

• Phillies Leaders card - 1 card, #489 with Mike Schmidt
• Manager card  - 1 card, #74 Nick Leyva

1989 Topps Traded #79T, #95T, 1989 Topps #418 and #707

Who’s out:  As mentioned previously, Charlie Hayes, Mulholland and Cook were all left out, despite their prominent roles with the team, for better or worse, during the second half of the season.

Phillies on other teams:  Brace yourselves.  There are 16 players in the base set who played with the Phils in 1989 but appear on other teams.  First, here are the 11 who ended up as Phillies in the traded set - #93 Ken Howell (Dodgers), #176 Jeff Parrett (Expos), #235 John Kruk (Padres), #259 Larry McWilliams (Cardinals), #435 Lenny Dykstra (Mets), #463 Steve Lake (Cardinals), #551 Randy Ready (Padres), #692 Steve Ontiveros (Athletics), #709 Tom Herr (Twins), #726 Dickie Thon (Padres), #735 Roger McDowell (Mets).  And here are the 5 who didn't - #41 Terry Mulholland (Giants), #91 Floyd Youmans (Expos), #132 Curt Ford (Cardinals), #338 Jim Adduci (Brewers), #667 Dwayne Murphy (Tigers).

1989 Topps #74

What’s he doing here:  Parrish was traded to the Angels on October 3, 1988, the day after the 1988 season ended.  Of course, this was back in the day when the sets were coming out shortly after Thanksgiving, so it might have been too late to airbrush anyone even for a trade that early in the offseason.  But . . . the Phils hired new manager Leyva on October 3, 1988, and managed to airbrush him into a Phillies hat in time for his card to appear within the 1989 Topps set.

Cards that never were candidates:  There are a whopping 19 players who appeared with the Phillies during the 1989 season, but did not appear as Phillies in the 1989 Topps set.  I've narrowed the list down to seven players who should have had Phillies cards - Combs, Charlie Hayes, Mulholland, Cook, outfielder Dwayne Murphy (9 home runs in 98 games), outfielder Curt Ford (.218 average in 108 games) and reliever Randy O'Neal (appeared in 20 games with a 6.23 ERA).  On second thought, maybe O'Neal doesn't necessarily need a Phillies card.  Ford appears in the 1989 Bowman set as a Phillie.

Favorite Phillies card:  I have to go with Dernier's card.  It's his last major Topps baseball card and it's always been a favorite of mine.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Schmidt's card is reprinted in the 2001 Topps Archives set.

Blogs/Websites:  For a very thorough overview of the 1989 Topps set, check out this post over at the Lifetime Topps Project.  

Did You Know?:  I was less than impressed the first time I ever saw an Upper Deck baseball card and my Dad ended up with a nasty bump on his head.

1989 Topps #74 Nick Leyva

Pirates 2, Phillies 1 (12 Innings)
Game 57 - Friday Night, June 3rd in Pittsburgh

One Sentence Summary:  A quiet offense managed just six singles off Pirates pitching (two of which came from pitcher Cole Hamels) as the Pirates downed the Phillies in extras, 2-1.

What It Means:  Sadly, the offense has decided to slumber again.  Over the last three games, the Phillies have scored four runs.  Their record drops to 34-23 and since the Marlins also lost, they maintain a two game lead in the division.

What Went Wrong:  The Phils couldn't get anything going against Pirates starting pitcher Jeff Karstens who allowed just a run on four hits in his seven innings of work.  The Pirates put runners in scoring position in the 9th, 10th and 11th innings before finally pushing across a run against Danys Baez (1-3) in the 12th.

Hamels pitched well, giving up just one hit and three walks in his eight innings of work.  His one gaffe came in the sixth when he walked the lead-off batter, Ronny Cedeno.  Cedeno advanced to second on a sac bunt, moved to third on a Hamels wild pitch and came home on a Jose Tabata sac fly.

Featured Card:  When Xavier Paul came home to score the winning run on Tabata's single off Chase Utley's glove in the 12th, it was Pirates third base coach Nick Leyva waving him home.  Of course Leyva is better known in these parts as the manager of the Phillies from 1989 until early in the 1991 season.  (Also known as the Sil Campusano Era.)

Transaction:  Prior to the game, Shane Victorino was activated from the disabled list and John Mayberry, Jr. was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Scrapbook Sunday: August 23, 1990

1990 Topps #489

Paul Hagen recently penned an article for the Philadelphia Daily News concerning the Phillies' run-ins with Sam Holbrook's umpiring crew during the Astros' series in Philly.  I completely agree with Hagen's assessment that it's easy to blame the umpiring for the Phillies' recent skid, but the team's continuing offensive woes are the real culprit.

What I found the most interesting in Hagen's article were his examples of two instances in the not too distant past when the Phils publicly voiced their displeasure at umpiring shenanigans.  The first example comes from the woeful '95 season and involves Darren Daulton and Curt Schilling.  The second example concerns the woeful '90 season and an incident between Cowboy Joe West and Von Hayes.  I pulled out my 1990 Phillies Scrapbook and found the page presented here for a little historic perspective.

The lesson here, as pointed out by Hagen at the end of his article:  Some things never change.

Live from Spring Training: Day 1

1991 Topps #141 Nick Leyva MG

This will be a first for The Phillies Room. Christopher - co-worker, friend of the blog, and all-around good guy - is down in Florida to witness a few Spring Training games first hand. Over the next several days, he's agreed to file a field report with the day's happenings. Here's the first of our intrepid reporter's posts:

Poor starting pitching by the Phillies and Yankees starters led to a high-scoring game capped by a bottom-of-the-ninth rally by the Phillies to win the game, 9-7. That would have been a great game to see, but the tickets were sold out when I went to order them, so I spent the day in Dunedin watching the Blue Jays take on the Tigers. The Tigers trounced the Jays, 8-2, but it was a better game than the score reflects. The skies were overcast for the first half of the game, but the sun eventually came out, and we were glad to see it. All in all, regardless of the game I watched or the final score, a cloudy day in Florida beats a day in the office any day of the week.

Having been to both parks before last year, Dunedin Stadium pales in comparison to Bright House Field, principally because Dunedin Stadium is one of the older parks and Bright House Field is one of the new shining stars. Hot dogs and sodas at Dunedin Stadium were great, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow's trip to Bright House Field's concession stands, the tiki bar, lawn seating, and great views.

After getting up at 4:15 am this morning to make my flight (which then proceeded to take off an hour late), we'll be laying low tonight to rest up for the next three days - two trips to Bright House Field for home games and a road trip to Orlando to watch the Phils take on the Braves.

While it's officially spring everywhere now, it's particularly nice to be at Spring Training in Florida after the winter we had. More from Clearwater tomorrow...

Thanks Christopher! Frankly, nothing quite says fun in the sun like a baseball card of former Phillies manager and current Blue Jays bench coach, Nick Leyva. Tune in tomorrow when Christopher travels to sunny Clearwater, leaving Nick Leyva behind in Dunedin. Joe Blanton and the Phils face off against Pat Burrell and the Rays at 1:05.

1990 Phillies Team Issue #16 Nick Leyva MG

Four years ago today, a monumental event occurred. On this day in 2005, this personalized Nick Leyva card from Jenna's collection officially became part of my (excuse me, Our) sprawling Phillies baseball card collection.

Nick managed the Phillies from 1989 until his firing 13 games into the 1991 season, when he was replaced by Jim Fregosi. He was only 35 when he was tabbed to manage the Phils. (35 is a very good age.) The Phillies Encyclopedia sums up Nick's tenure as the team's skipper best, stating his "term as manager of the Phillies was short, not so sweet, and a little bit like a car trying to run without the use of all its cylinders."

At least he took the time to send his best wishes to Jenna. Happy anniversary Jenna - from both Nick and me!