1939 Play Ball - Phillies Team Set

I recently put the finishing touches on a complete 1939 Play Ball Phillies team set, adding the card of Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy to my collection.  I thought it would be cool to present the entire 10-card team set here with a brief blurb on each player's Phillies career.

The 1939 Phillies have the distinction of being one of the worst teams in franchise history, finishing with a .298 (45-106) won/loss percentage and eclipsing the 105 losses suffered by the 1938 Phillies team.

#12 Hershel Martin

#28 Sylvester Johnson

#33 Del Young

#37 Virgil Davis

#45 Merrill May

#46 Morris Arnovich

#63 Emmett Mueller

#98 Pinky Whitney

#127 Gil Brack

#145 Hugh Mulcahy

#12 Hershel Martin - One of the regular outfielders for the 1939 Phillies, Martin hit .282 in 111 games for the club that season.  I wrote about Martin in this post, and I also featured a color picture of the 1938 club's blue and yellow uniforms.  I also have Martin's 1940 Play Ball card in my collection and I featured it in a post along with the next two players listed below.

#28 Sylvester Johnson - Johnson was at the end of his 19-year career in 1939, and he served as the team's pitching coach that season as well as appearing in 22 games.  Johnson pitched in three World Series games for the 1931 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals.

#33 Del Young - Infielder Young appeared in 309 games with the Phillies between 1937 and 1940, hitting .224.

#37 Virgil Davis - "Spud" Davis was the Phillies regular catcher from 1930 to 1933 before escaping to the Cardinals and Reds for 4 1/2 seasons.  He'd come back to the Phils in 1938 and in 1939 he'd hit .307 in 87 games.  I published a more detailed post on Davis' career six years ago when I originally picked up his 1939 Play Ball card.

#45 Merrill May - 1939 was third baseman "Pinky" May's rookie season in the Majors.  I published a detailed look at May's career in this post from August 2009.  I also have cards of his in my collection from the 1940 Play Ball and 1941 Double Play sets.

#46 Morris Arnovich - Outfielder Arnovich was the club's leading hitter in 1939 with a .324 batting average and he was also the lone Phillies representative at the 1939 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.  I previously featured Arnovich's 1940 Play Ball card in this post.

#63 Emmett Mueller - "Heinie" Mueller played his entire four-year career with the Phillies between 1938 and 1941 before serving in World War II.  He hit a home run in his first big league at-bat off the Brooklyn Dodgers' Van Lingle Mungo.

#98 Pinky Whitney - One of the greatest third basemen in franchise history, 1939 was the 12th and final year of Whitney's big-league career.  I wrote about Whitney in this post, and his daughter (or relative) left a comment about Whitney being a wonderful father.

#127 Gil Brack - Baseball Reference lists Brack as "Gibby" Brack, and the outfielder spent two seasons with the Phillies in 1938 and 1939.  In 163 games with the Phils, Brack hit .288 with 10 home runs and 69 RBIs.  After his playing days were over, Brack was employed as a steel worker and unfortunately he met a tragic end.

#145 Hugh Mulcahy - Mulcahy started more games (32) than any other pitcher for the 1939 Phillies, going 9-16 with a 4.99 ERA.  As I wrote when I posted his 1940 Play Ball card, Mulcahy earned the "Losing Pitcher" nickname by going 42-82 with the Phillies over the first six years of his career.  He was the first Major Leaguer to be drafted to serve during World War II, and he'd miss four seasons (1941-1944) serving his country.

1940 Play Ball Phillies - Part 1

1940 Play Ball #98, #97, #96 and #95

As part of the "Santa Brings Way Too Many Awesome Baseball Cards to Jim" haul, my Mom added seven Phillies cards from the 1940 Play Ball set to my collection.  I'll feature the first four here.

The 1940 Play Ball set (designated R335 by Jefferson Burdick) contains 240 cards - 15 of which are current and former Phillies.  14,000 Phillies has a nice write-up on the set within its Phillies Database.  I now just need seven cards - including cards of Hall of Famers Chuck Klein and Grover Cleveland Alexander - to complete the Phillies team set.  All four players featured here were also World War II veterans.

This is the third card of "Pinky" May in my collection and the second card of May's added as part of my amazing Christmas haul.

"Morry" or "Morrie" Arnovich came up with the Phillies in 1936 and played outfield with the team until his trade to the Reds in June 1940.  His best season was the 1939 campaign, when he made the All-Star team and hit .324 with 5 home runs and 67 RBIs.

My six-year-old son, Doug, was very amused at Emmett Jerome Mueller's nickname - "Heinie."  Mueller played his entire four-year career with the Phillies between 1938 and 1941.  Primarily a second baseman, Mueller appeared in 441 games with the Phils, hitting .253 with 17 home runs.  I have both Arnovich's and Mueller's cards from the 1939 Play Ball set.

Finally, Gum, Inc. was kind not to include Hugh Mulcahy's more well known nickname, "Losing Pitcher," on his card.  So named because of his 42-82 record with the Phillies over the first six years of his career, Mulcahy was the first Major Leaguer to be drafted during World War II in March 1941.