Congrats to Dick Allen - Hall of Famer!

On Sunday night, the 16-member Classic Baseball Era Committee finally inducted Dick Allen into the Hall of Fame.  Allen will posthumously be inducted this summer as part of the Class of 2025.  The Phillies Room is thrilled for Allen's family, the Phillies organization, and those who have continuously lobbied to have Allen immortalized in the Hall.  Finally!

1964 Topps #243

1965 Topps #460

1966 Topps #80

1967 Topps #450

1967 Topps #309

1968 Topps #225

1969 Topps #350

1970 Topps #40

1971 Topps #650

1972 Topps #240

1973 Topps #310

1974 Topps #70

1975 Topps #400

1976 Topps #455

Game 83 - Punchless Phils Fall to Fish

1965 Topps #4

Marlins 3, Phillies 2
Game 83 - Saturday Afternoon, June 29th in Philadelphia
Record - 54-29, 1st Place, 8 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  A lack of offense doomed the Phillies in this 3-2 loss to the Marlins.

What It Means:  They'll try to tie up the series on Sunday afternoon, assuming the thunderstorms stay away long enough.

What Happened:  Garrett Stubbs caused some temporary excitement when his solo home run tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third.  The Phillies took a 2-1 lead in the fifth on an Alec Bohm sacrifice fly.  In the top of the sixth, Aaron Nola was chased from the game on back-to-back doubles by Otto Lopez and Nick Fortes to tie the game.  Matt Strahm entered and gave up a single to Jazz Chisolm, scoring Fortess and giving the Marlins a 3-2 lead.  The Phillies' offense went down quietly over the final three innings.

Featured Card:  With no reason to feature a Phillies card for this game, I'll instead pay tribute to Orlando Cepeda, who passed away on Saturday.  Cepeda's passing comes 11 days after the death of his long-time teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Willie Mays.  This card is in my Phillies collection because of Johnny Callison, and it features both former Giants greats.

2024 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2024 Season Summary Index / 2024 Chachi Set Checklist

Spring Training Game 4 - Phils and Twins Finish in Tie

2023 Chachi #36

Phillies 3, Twins 3
Spring Training Game 4 - Tuesday Afternoon, February 27th in Fort Myers
Record - 2-1-1

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies played to a tie against the Twins in Fort Myers.

What It Means:  Admittedly every spring I tell myself I'm going to watch or listen to every spring Phillies game, and then usually by the third of fourth game I've stopped following along live and I'm ready for the regular season to start.  Such is the case again this year.

What Happened:  The Phillies scored their runs on an RBI double from Trea Turner in the third, and a two-run home run from David Dahl in the seventh.  Cristopher Sanchez got the start and looked good in his two innings, allowing a hit while striking out one.  In the bottom of the ninth, with the Phillies leading 3-0, pitching prospect Brett Schulze got two quick outs but then allowed five straight batters to reach.  The Twins would tie the game with Schulze charged with the blown save.

Featured Card:  It will be interesting to see where Sanchez fits in the Phillies' starting pitching rotation.  With Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez and Taijuan Walker all but guaranteed spots, Sanchez could find himself once again as the team's fifth starter.  Or he could start the year in Triple-A as eventual rotation depth.  I only have four Sanchez cards in my Phillies collection, and as all have already appeared on my blog, I'll re-feature his 2023 Chachi card.

Camp Head Count:  62

Annual Christmas Haul: Santa Mom Writes Book, Delivers Baseball Cards

The author with her book and grandkids

It's become a tradition to gather at my Mom's house on the day after Christmas to exchange gifts with her and my sister's family.  There are way too many gifts exchanged, way too much food eaten, and it's one of the best days of my year.  

Before we get to that though, on Christmas day I unwrapped three cards from my wife Jenna and our sons with a common theme.  They were kind enough to get me the three #1 cards from my next three set builds, 1959 Topps, 1955 Bowman and 1966 Topps, which given I now have a sizable stack from each set, I guess I can say I'm now officially collecting.  

As we approach the end of 2023, I'm 18 cards away from a 1934-36 Diamond Stars set, with that set build likely slowing down in 2024 given the scarcity and price tags of the remaining cards needed.  We're almost two-thirds of the way through the 1969 Topps set, and if I compose five posts a week on the cards we've added, my 1969 Topps blog should be caught up by this time next year.  It's feasible that set is completed by 2025.

My Mom kicked off my collection of the 1955 Bowman set last Christmas, and I've since added a few more cards throughout 2023.  A family friend gifted me his 1959 Topps doubles in February, and I'll be tackling that set once the 1969 Topps set is wrapped up.  And then there's the 1966 Topps set, which I started collecting in the late 1980s given I had the "big" card from the set already in my collection - card #50, Mickey Mantle.  Adding these three #1s was a great way to admit I'm now once again a full-fledged complete set collector, having spent the better part of the last two decades exclusively collecting Phillies baseball cards.

Three #1s

My family also gave me a 2023 Topps factory set, continuing that tradition, and I'm now the proud owner of every Topps flagship set from 1956, 1965 and 1970 through 2023.  The 2023 Topps cards have already been sorted.

My Mom's big surprise for us on the 26th was the announcement she had written a book.  It's wonderful.  It's a collection of stories from her childhood through today, with brief histories of her family and poignant remembrances I'm grateful will now be passed down to our grandkids.  I'm about half-way through reading it as I write this, and I'm taking my time, making sure to take it all in.  She told us writing the book was fun and therapeutic, which I can completely understand given I've authored posts for this blog with only brief interuptions over the past almost 15 years.  Honestly, all the other gifts opened yesterday were very much overshadowed by my Mom's book, and at first I missed the fact I hadn't opened two boxes in my pile about an hour into the exchange.  Since I hadn't yet opened any baseball cards, I had a fairly good idea what was in them, or at least what was in one of them.

Mom has always come through with items from my want lists, and she decided this year to tackle my few remaining Phillies Media Guide needs.  I had never even seen the Phillies Media Guides from the 1960s, and now I'm just one away (1967) from having a full run between 1965 and 2023.  The next box I opened contained 10 individually wrapped baseball card-sized packages, and as I started opening them I noticed they were the first cards from the 1955 Bowman checklist.  Ironically enough, I went from having no Hoyt Wilhelm cards from the 1955 Bowman set to having two over a two day period, and one of them will be offered up for trade soon.  (If you're reading this, and looking to obtain a 1955 Wilhelm card for something of equal value, please leave a comment or send me a message.)

It was another wonderful Christmas, and I'm reminded again how lucky I am.  I hope you and your family had a fantastic holiday season, and here's to a happy, healthy and safe 2024.

Happy Birthday Doug!

There's so much I could say about our oldest son Doug as he turns 17.  I'm excited for him as he starts his college search and starts to figure out what he wants to do at least at the start of a professional career.  I'm proud of him for his intellectual curiosity, his desire to be the best he can be - whether it be academically or athletically, and his overall kindness.  I'm relieved that I think we've done fairly well as first time parents, and we're raising two good people.

His high school baseball season this past year was weird, as he was good enough to suit up for his varsity team, but young enough that the coach didn't give him much of an opportunity to play.  That will be different this coming year.  Doug played in his final Little League game this past spring, with the coach letting him play all nine positions (including an inning behind the plate) in his final game.  We're somewhat convinced he may be the town's all-time hits leader given he played Little League for over 10 seasons.  He continued to have fun with his travel team, and at this point in his travel baseball career, he's played every position except catcher.  He was again one of the leading hitters on the team and one of my great pleasures in life is watching him play baseball.

Which is why I'm selfishly glad he's decided to go to a DII or DIII school where he's all but guaranteed playing time, and he wants to go to a school within driving distance for us.  I'll keep my unbreakable streak going of not missing any of his games, and proudly make a few Chachi custom cards to mark his collegiate baseball career in a few years.  We're so proud of him, every single day.

Baseball Card Show Reports - Washington Township & The Philly Show

I think I'm slowly coming out of the November slump caused by the Phillies' unceremonious and unexpected exit from the postseason in Game 7 of the NLCS.  As we get closer to Christmas, I find myself thinking less about the past and the what could have been, and thinking more about the future and what might be.  There's a mental health and wellness lesson in there somewhere, but instead of digging deeper into that topic, here's a look at recent happenings with the Phillies and the hard-working support staff at The Phillies Room.  We've attend two (!) baseball card shows within the past month.

Nola Re-Signs / Hoskins Likely Departs:  It's been a relatively quiet offseason so far for the Phillies, as there thankfully aren't a lot of holes to fill.  On November 19th, the Phillies locked up starting pitcher Aaron Nola, signing him to a seven-year, $172 million deal, that will have him wearing a Phillies uniform through at least the 2030 season.  Nola has the chance to put himself towards the top (or at the top) of several all-time Phillies pitching categories, and I'm happy he's coming back.

On the other hand, I'm sad to see that Rhys Hoskins' days with the Phillies are likely at an end.  Club President Dave Dombrowski recently confirmed that Bryce Harper will be the team's first baseman going forward, leaving no real spot for Hoskins.  Hoskins is a Phillies Room Favorite, and it's going to be tough seeing him in a different uniform.

Baseball Card Show Report #1 - Washington Township:  My wife Jenna found an announcement on Faceback for a baseball card show to be held at St. Charles Borromeo Hall in Sicklerville, New Jersey on November 18th.  I gathered my lists and we made the short drive to what the organizers called the "First Ever Sports Card Show" in Washington Township, which I find hard to believe given the number of baseball card stores in the area back in the 1980s and 1990s.  Potential mislabeling aside, it was a decent-sized show with mostly modern stuff and slabbed Pokemon cards.  I found the one dealer selling vintage cards, and cleaned him out of every 1969 Topps card I needed for our set, along with a few 1959 Topps cards for our next set build.  Credit to Jenna for finding the show, and if it happens again, I'll gladly make the 10 minute drive over there.

Baseball Card Show Report #2 - The Philly Show:  With our oldest son Doug sitting for the SATs (!) on Saturday morning, our only choice for attending the December Philly Show was Sunday.  Honestly, I'm fine with going on Sunday as it's much less crowded, and we were able to actually browse dealer tables.  I still only browsed half the hall, as my allotted budget was gone after seeing only a portion of the show.

• eBay has taken over official sponsorship of the show, complete with a new logo and increased advertising.  The quaint, bubble-lettered logo that had been in place since the 1980s is gone and has been replaced by a more edgy, modern logo.  And so it goes.

• 
  I didn't mess around this time, and headed right for Uncle Dick's Cards, finding the second neon green binder of 1969 Topps cards, #301 to #664.  Within 45 minutes, I had accumulated another stack of commons, with some semi-stars, from #301 to #498 in the set.  There were three or four other oldish collectors sitting in a row with me, all going through our chosen binders and meticulously crossing off our checklists along the way.  Uncle Dick prices his cards reasonably, most of which were $1 before a final discount, and everything is extremely organized.  Definitely my kind of dealer, and it will be my first stop when we go back to the Philly Show in March.  I need to finish off the second 1969 Topps binder, going from card #500 through #664.  I added 145 new commons to our set, putting me a little under 2/3 of the way there.

• Doug secured autographs for me from Tom Herr and Bobby Wine on Phillies Alumni photo cards.  Wine was great, taking his time to appreciate the photo of him in his younger days, and pointing to the bleachers behind him in the photo, telling Doug, "That's where [Dick] Allen used to hit 'em."

• I found three reasonably priced and not too beat up Diamond Star cards for that set build.  I'm getting closer on that one, with mostly the uber-expensive and rare high numbers remaining.  Bill Hallahan has been harder to track down than I would have expected, but I found a nice version of his card from Clean Sweep Auctions.  Carl Hubbell and Ducky Medwick were surprise purchases, found, in all places, a bargain bin.  I had no intention of buying any more Diamond Stars cards at the show, but once I saw the prices for both, I couldn't resist.

• William Shatner was there.  Not somebody I'd expect to see at a sports card and memorabilia show, but it was cool to see Captain Kirk up close and personal.

• On the way out, I recognized Phillies great Art Mahaffey by the exit and I asked if he wouldn't mind posing for a picture with Doug.  He finished his hot dog first, and then graciously posed for us.

The Offseason Begins - Early November Notes

2023 Topps Now #962

2023 Topps Allen & Ginter #263

2023 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #37

2023 Chachi #74

Free Agents:  Drew Ellis (inf) became the first official ex-Phillie of the 2023-24 offseason when he became a minor league free agent on October 13th.  Ellis appeared in 12 games for the Phillies, including the game on June 4th when he hit a pair of home runs.

The bigger free agents departed the Phillies upon the conclusion of the World Series.  Aaron Nola (rhp) and Rhys Hoskins (1b) headline this list, and I'd love to see both of these long-time Phillies back in 2024.  I'll have much more to say about each if they end up signing elsewhere.  Craig Kimbrel (rhp) and Michael Lorenzen (rhp) will likely not return.  Kimbrel saved 23 games and was an All-Star, but I'll remember him most for the two NLCS losses in Phoenix.  Lorenzen threw a no-hitter on August 9th in his Phillies home debut, and then completely fell apart for the rest of the season.

Coaching Changes:  The Phillies parted ways with two coaches following the end of the NLCS.  Bullpen coach Dave Lundquist and assistant hitting coach Jason Camilli will not return for the 2024 season.  They had been with the club since 2019 and 2022, respectively.  Cesar Ramos was named the team's new bullpen coach.  Ramos was a Phillies non-roster inivitee to spring training in 2017, and he appeared in 40 games that season for the IronPigs.  He had been the pitching coach for the IronPigs since 2022.  The club is still searching for an assistant hitting coach.

Gold Glove:  Zack Wheeler won his first Gold Glove award on Sunday night, becoming the first Phillies pitcher to win the award since Steve Carlton in 1981.  Taijuan Walker was also a finalist for the pitcher's award.  J.T. Realmuto at catcher and Bryson Stott at second base were finalists as well but both came up short.

2021 Topps #526

2018 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP16

2023 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #8

First Transactions:  On Monday afternoon, the Phillies claimed Josh Fleming (lhp) off waivers from the the Tampa Bay Rays.  Michael Plassmeyer (lhp) and Erich Uelmen (rhp) were outrighted to Lehigh Valley.  In parts of four seasons with the Rays, Fleming has appeared in 55 games, making 22 starts.  He's 19-13 lifetime with a 4.88 ERA.  In 12 games in 2023, including three starts, he was 2-0 with a 4.70 ERA in 51 2/3 innings pitched.  He's got a bunch of baseball cards in various Panini sets and his last mainstream baseball card appearance came in the 2021 Topps set.

First Trade:  Also on Monday afternoon, the Phillies acquired Michael Mercado (rhp) from the Tampa Bay Rays for Adam Leverett (rhp) and cash.  The Phillies 40-man roster is now at 38 players.  Mercado has yet to pitch in the majors, and was 4-3 in 52 games last season with a 4.79 ERA at two minor league levels.  He showed up in Bowman sets in 2018 and 2020.  Leverett has been in the Phillies system since 2019 and he was 0-6 with a 3.94 ERA in 35 games last season for the Double-A Fightin Phils.

2023 Chachi #73 NLCS Game 7 / 2024 Chachi #1 Kyle Schwarber

2023 Chachi Almost #2 Rhys Hoskins

#17

Rhys Dean Hoskins
First Base

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  245
Opening Day Age:  30

Born:  March 17, 1993, Sacramento, CA
Acquired:  Drafted by the Phillies in the 5th round of the 2014 amateur draft, June 6, 2014

Contract Status:  Signed through 2023
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 2017-2022

World Series Appearances:  Philadelphia Phillies 2022

The heart and soul of the franchise during the past six seasons, Rhys Hoskins was one of the few reasons to visit the ballpark in the late 2010s before the arrival of Bryce Harper and the recent turnaround by the Phillies.  As a rookie in 2017, he blasted home runs at a record-setting pace and was the one player you could count on to smile and sign autographs whenever asked.  He averaged 36 home runs and 98 RBIs over a 162-game period between 2017 and 2022, and he launched an iconic home run against the Braves in 2022 NLDS Game 3, reversing the Phillies' postseason fortunes and ultimately sending them to the World Series.

Out all season with a gruesome knee injury suffered during spring training, I was hoping we'd see Hoskins added to the Phillies' World Series roster.  But with the Phillies collapsing and failing to reach the Fall Classic, we may have seen the last of Hoskins in red pinstripes.  I hope I'm wrong, and I hope he's back in 2024.

2017 Chachi Christmas #1

2018 Chachi Friendly Encounters #6

2019 Chachi Phillies Phestival #19

2022 Chachi #73

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  2014 Bowman Draft #DP122
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6):  2018-2023
Newest Card Added to My Phillies Collection:  2023 Topps Allen & Ginter #148
Total Cards in My Phillies Collection:  256 as of 10/16/23.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2017 Chachi #53
2017 Chachi In Action #7
2017 Chachi #56 - 9 HRs in 16 Games HL
2017 Chachi #57 - Rookie HR Record HL
2017 Chachi Valley Forge #3
2017 Chachi Christmas #1
2018 Chachi #4
2018 Chachi #44 - Home Run Derby HL
2018 Chachi Friendly Encounters #6
2019 Chachi Preview #1
2019 Chachi #4
2019 Chachi Phillies Festival #19
2020 Chachi #2
2021 Chachi Preview #1
2021 Chachi #2 
2021 Chachi #46 - 100th Home Run HL 
2022 Chachi #5

2022 Chachi #73 - NLDS Game 3

2022 Chachi #79 - NLCS Game 4

2022 Chachi #88 - World Series Game 6

2023 Chachi #34 - Raising 2022 Flag HL

2023 Chachi #35 - Ring Ceremony HL

2023 Chachi Almost #2

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