1980 philadelphia phillies

this post covers the 1980 philadelphia phillies and cards numbered 191 to 197 in the set. here are the fronts:

and backs:

it' a new franchise to the set! with the return of the memorable moments subset (with a dickie noles appearance) and four players being featured for the first time.

what team is this?:  the 1980 world champion philadelphia phillies

why this team?:  this was the first philadelphia baseball team to win a world series championship.  ever.  and the last of the 'original' sixteen franchises that were in existence when the world series began in 1903.  they were 91-71 in the regular season (winning the national league east by one game over the montreal expos). they beat the houston astros in the nl championship series 3 games to 2, and won the world series by beating the kansas city royals in six games.

which players are featured?: bake mcbride, bob boone, dickie noles, manny trillo, mike schmidt, sparky lyle, and steve carlton.

why these players?:  we've got the league mvp, the league cy young award winner, and five other guys.  let's break it down.

bake mcbride was the phillies' regualar right fielder in 1980, the final season in which he would be a regular in the big leagues.  mcbride hit .309 with a career high 87 rbi in the regular season, and then hit .304 with a home run and 5 rbi in the world series, doing most of his damage in the first two games of the fall classic.

bob boone's 1980 season is probably best remembered as the year that he dropped frank white's pop up, only to have it caught by pete rose near the first base dugout.  that play occurred in the 8th inning of the decisive sixth game of the world series.  during the regular season, boone (who had won two straight gold gloves coming in to the 1980 season) pretty much matched his offensive totals from 1979, although his batting average dropped by almost 60 points.  he caught all 11 postseason games for the phillies, including four extra inning games, missing only one inning in the nlcs. boone hit .412 in the world series with 2 doubles and 4 rbi.

dickie noles was in his second big league season in 1980, in which he appeared in 48 games, 45 of them in relief.  he had a record of 1-4 with 6 saves during the regular season, and made two scoreless relief appearances in the nlcs against the astros.  in the world series, he made just one appearance, as he was called into relief in game 4 after starter larry christenson got knocked around by the royals.  he gave up just one run (a solo home run by willie mays aikens) and struck out six in his 4.2 innings of work, but his appearance is best remembered for one pitch that he made to george brett.  as the back of his 'memorable moments' card attests, noles threw a brushback pitch to brett in the fourth inning with the phillies down 5-1.  although the phillies lost the game and the series was tied at two games apiece, some feel that noles' pitch was a turning point in the series.  me, i'm not so sure, but the phillies wound up winning so i guess they can see it however they want.

manny trillo won a silver slugger award as the phillies' second baseman in 1980. he hit .292  and scored a career high 68 runs in 141 games that year.  trillo hit .381 in the nlcs against the astros, but the royals held him to a .217 batting average in the world series.

mike schmidt set career highs in home runs (48) and rbi (121), and led the league in both of those triple crown categories - the first of four times that he would do so in his career.  as a result, he earned the national league mvp award, as well as the gold glove and silver slugger awards, and he was voted to start the all-star game (although he missed the game with an injury).  his 48 home runs were the most ever by a third baseman, and he hit his last two of the season when it mattered most - in a division-deciding series with the second place expos.  schmidt hit 2 more home runs with 7 rbi in the world series, and was named the mvp of the fall classic.

sparky lyle was acquired by the phillies in september of 1980.  luckily for kevin saucier, the deal was for a player to be named later, so he was able to pitch in the world series and get a ring before he became a texas ranger in november.  as for lyle, he made 10 appearances for the phillies down the stretch, posting an era of 1.93 with two saves, but was ineligible for the postseason due to his late arrival in philly.

steve carlton was 24-9 in 38 starts during the regular season, with a 2.34 era.  he led the league in wins and strikeouts (286), and was second to don sutton in era.  still, his cy young award was not unanimous, as one voter put jerry reuss at the top of the ballot.  carlton was named to the all-star team, but did not pitch in the game.  i always found it odd that carlton's 1981 topps card featured the all-star banner, when it was jr richard who started the game for the national league.  anyway, carlton made 2 starts in each the nlcs and the world series.  the phillies won each of those games, and carlton earned the victory in three of them, including games 2 and 6 of the fall classic.

the stadium on the back is...?:  veterans stadium.  home to the phillies from 1971 through 2003.

did upper deck get it right?: with pete rose being ineligible, the only regulars not included in the set are larry bowa, greg luzinski, and garry maddox.  and, i would suggest that bob boone is as deserving as any of those three to be included, so i think upper deck did ok with their player selection.  besides, boone will show up later with the 1986 california angels.  as far as pitchers go, dick ruthven would have been a good choice, but i don't have much of a problem with dickie noles.  tug mcgraw would have been an obvious choice, but he passed away in january of 2004 - i assume prior to the finalization of the set checklist.  kudos to upper deck for not giving us a tim mccarver card just because he was already part of the set.  mccarver played in only a handful of games for the phillies after being signed to a contract in september of 1980, and did not appear in the postseason.

regarding the photos, the uniforms are all correct (as is steve carlton's perm) as far as what the phillies were sporting in 1980, although i would guess that the boone photo is from sometime earlier in the 1970's.

is this team timeless?:  yes.

1973 oakland a's

this post covers the 1973 oakland a's and cards numbered 85 to 92 in the set. here are the fronts:

and backs:

not a whole lot of carryover from the players featured with the 1972 a's.  only bando and odom are repeated, even though all of the other players featured last time (bert campaneris, joe rudi, and ken holtzman) were still with the a's in 1973.  and, you've got to love the fact that the copy on the back of north's card says pretty much the same thing as that on the back of tenace's card.

what team is this?:  the world champion 1973 oakland a's

why this team?:  the a's won their second straight world series title in 1973 by defeating the new york mets in 7 games.  they won 94 games in the regular season, and then beat the baltimore orioles in the american league championship series 3 games to 2.

which players are featured?:  billy north, blue moon odom, gene tenace, manny trillo, dick green, rollie fingers, sal bando, and vida blue.

why these players?:  well, there are a few starters (north, tenace, green and bando) along with one of their aces and their closer represented.

billy north was acquired from the cubs after the 1972 season and became the a's starting center fielder.  he played in 146 games and hit .285 while scoring 98 runs - both turned out to be career highs.  he also stole 53 bases (one behind league leader tommy harper), but was caught a league-leading 20 times.  unfortunately, north missed the 1973 postseason due to injury.

blue moon odom, as the back of his card suggests, did not have his best season in 1973.  he started out the season by going 0-5 in his first 6 starts, and at one point, his record stood at 1-9.  he finished up at 5-12 with a 4.49 era.  he was used solely in relief in the postseason, making one appearance in the alcs and two in the world series against the mets, and did not factor in any decisions.

gene tenace, the mvp of the 1972 world series, saw his postseason success carry over to 1973.  he was moved from catcher to first base, and wound up with a line of 24/84/.259 with 101 walks as the back of his card mentions.  tenace continued to get on base in the postseason - he had an obp of .467 in the world series despite having just three hits thanks to 11 bases on balls served up by mets' pitchers.

manny trillo made his big league debut with the a's in 1973.  he appeared in 17 games for oakland (fewer than vic davalillo - why wasn't he included in the set?) and hit just .250 with 3 hits, including 2 doubles.  he did not appear in the postseason in 1973.

a holdover from the kansas city days, dick green was the a's starting second baseman again in 1973 after having missed most of the 1972 campaign.  he hit .262 in the regular season, but struggled in the playoffs and world series, managing just a single hit in each series, despite starting every contest.

rollie fingers was 7-8 with 22 saves and a stellar 1.92 era in 1973.  he pitched in 62 games and averaged just over 2 innings per appearance.  that number is slightly skewed by the fact that fingers made the final two starts of his career in 1973, going 6 innings in the first and 1.2 innings in the second.  he was the losing pitcher in each of the games, although he allowed a total of one earned run in those 7.2 innings pitched.  fingers was named to the all-star team for the first time in 1973, and he pitched a scoreless inning against the national league.  he pitched well in the postseason, too, earning a save in the alcs (along with a loss) and two saves in the world series while pitching in 5 of the 7 games.  fingers took the loss in game 2 of the series thanks to a willie mays single with two outs in the top of the 12th inning, but he was back on the mound to finish out the a's championship in game 7.

sal bando had another solid season for the a's in 1973.  the third baseman played in all 162 games, and led the league in doubles and total bases.  he also hit 29/98/.287, made the all-star team, and finished 4th in the league mvp voting.  he hit just .167 in the alcs, but did homer twice.  in the world series, bando had a double and a triple, but no homers as he hit .231 with 5 runs scored.

in 1973, vida blue bounced back from his "poor" showing in 1972 (he was 6-10 despite a 2.80 era) to win 20 games for the second time in his career.  his record stood at 20-9 with a 3.28 era in 37 starts.  blue pitched 13 complete games with 4 shutouts.  he finished the season strong, winning 11 of his final 14 starts.  that strong finish did not translate into postseason success, however, as the a's lost all 4 of the games blue started after the end of the regular season.  he was 0-1 in each series, and his alcs era was over 10!

the stadium on the back is...?:  the oakland alameda county stadium as it was known back then.

did upper deck get it right?: the 1973 a's certainly belong in the set.  the players upper deck chose, on the other hand...

ken holtzman would have been a better repeat subject than blue moon odom, and both bert campaneris and joe rudi would have made sense to have carried over from 1972 as well.  manny trillo is clearly a checklist grab by virtue of his appearance as a phillie later in the set.  and, once again, reggie jackson's absence is puzzling, especially with him being the 1973 american league and world series mvp.

for those that were included, the photos for tenace, green, bando, and blue are from 1971 at the latest - the last year the a's wore the sleeveless jerseys.  the green photo is probably from the kansas city days given the fact that his hat lacks a logo - a trick that topps perfected in the late 1960's when the team made its move.

the other photos are quite possibly from 1973, and trillo's is definitely from 1973 or 1974 - his only years with the team.

the stadium is correct, although the photo is much more recent than 1973.

is this team timeless?:  yes.  this team won a second consecutive title, and any team that can repeat is worthy being known as a timeless team.