Diamondbacks at Phillies: October 16th to October 17th

2023 Chachi Series Previews #14

2023 Chachi Series Previews #15

Monday and Tuesday 8:07
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

At the Ballpark:  The Phillies have home field advantage for the NLCS given their regular season record was better than the Diamondbacks.  Games 1 and 2 are in Philadelphia, with Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) in Phoenix.

Diamondbacks 84-78
Defeated Dodgers in NLDS, 3-0

Diamondbacks Probables
Zac Gallen (2-0, 3.18)
Merrill Kelly (1-0, 0.00)

Diamondbacks Postseason Leaders
Average:  Corbin Carroll - .412
Runs:  Corbin Carroll and Tommy Pham - 6
Home Runs:  Gabriel Moreno - 3
RBIs:  Gabriel Moreno - 6
Stolen Bases:  Three tied with - 2

Wins:  Zac Gallen and Joe Mantiply - 2
ERA:  Merrill Kelly - 0.00
Strikeouts:  Zac Gallen and Kevin Ginkel - 8
Saves:  Paul Sewald - 4

Phillies 90-72
Defeated Braves in NLDS, 3-1

Phillies Probables
Zack Wheeler (1-0, 2.08)
Aaron Nola (2-0, 1.42)

Phillies Postseason Leaders
Average:  Trea Turner - .500
Runs:  Bryce Harper - 7
Home Runs:  Nick Castellanos - 4
RBIs:  Bryson Stott - 7
Stolen Bases:  Trea Turner - 4

Wins:  Aaron Nola - 2
ERA:  Ranger Suarez - 1.04

Strikeouts:  Zack Wheeler - 18
Saves:  Craig Kimbrel - 2

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

Unused 2020 Chachi Fan Favorites Cards

Another offseason activity of mine is looking ahead to the upcoming Phillies schedule and planning out the cards I'll use for the Phillies and their opponents for each series preview post.  The pandemic meant the planned 2020 schedule was thrown out the window, and cards I created for several expansion teams went unused.  Again, solely to get these cards out there and out of my draft folder, here are the remaining Fan Favorites cards that would have appeared throughout the 2020 season if not for the pandemic.

Larry Milbourne was a casualty of the early season series cancellations due to the coronavirus outbreak on the Marlins.

2020 Chachi Fan Favorites #4

2020 Chachi Fan Favorites #8

2020 Chachi Fan Favorites #9

2020 Chachi Fan Favorites #10

2020 Chachi Fan Favorites #12

2020 Chachi Fan Favorites #14

2020 Chachi Fan Favorites #15

2020 Chachi Fan Favorites #17

2020 Chachi Fan Favorites #19

1996 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  36
Card Size:  4" x 6"
Description:  The Phillies got wild and crazy with the design of their 1996 set, doing away with the red band and white lettering used since 1989 and instead using "scruffy" white lettering as described by the set's entry in the 2001 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards.  The card backs feature biographical information along with complete career statistics, and the 1996 All-Star Game logo.

How Distributed:  The original 36-card set was available for sale at Veterans Stadium throughout the season.  The Catalog notes the set was sold for $9, which seems high given that recent team-issued photo card sets have sold for $5.  For the second year in a row, there was no update set issued.

The Lee Tinsley card is a rarity as it actually features a photo of outfielder Glenn Murray.  The Phillies realized their error early in the season, pulling the Tinsley/Murray card from the set.  When I bought my photo card set in the summer of 1996 at the Vet, my set had only 35 cards and was missing the Tinsley/Murray card.  I finally tracked my copy of this card down in January 2020 after searching for it for over 23 years.  I've indicated below that the Tinsley/Murray card should be considered a short-print.

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number on back of cards): 

1. Howard Battle (#34) 2. Mike Benjamin (#5) 3. Toby Borland (#42) 4. Ricky Bottalico (#52) 5. Larry Bowa CO (#2) 6. Dave Cash CO (#30) 7. Carlos Crawford (#54) 8. Darren Daulton (#10) 9. Lenny Dykstra (#4) 10. Jim Eisenreich (#8) 11. Sid Fernandez (#50) 12. Jim Fregosi MG (#11)

13. Steve Frey (#37) 14. Mike Grace (#44) 15. Tyler Green (#28) 16. Pete Incaviglia (#9) 17. Gregg Jefferies (#25) 18. Kevin Jordan (#23) 19. Dave Leiper (#43) 20. Mike Lieberthal (#24) 21. Denis Menke CO (#14) 22. Michael Mimbs (#47) 23. Mickey Morandini (#12)     24. Terry Mulholland (#45)

25. Johnny Podres CO (#46)         26 Joe Rigoli CO (#59) 27. Ken Ryan (#51) 28. Benito Santiago (#18) 29. Russ Springer (#33) 30. Kevin Stocker (#19) 31. Lee Tinsley SP (#26) 32. John Vukovich CO (#3) 33. Mark Whiten (#22) 34. Mike Williams (#41) 35. Todd Zeile (#27) 36. Phillie Phanatic

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (4):  Benjamin, Crawford, Frey, Leiper

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (10):  Battle, Fernandez, Grace, Jordan, Ryan, Santiago, Springer, Tinsley, Whiten, Zeile
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (14):  Borland, Bottalico, Daulton, Dykstra, Eisenreich, Green, Incaviglia, Jefferies, Lieberthal, Mimbs, Morandini, Mulholland, Stocker, Williams

This is the only place to find Phillies cards for short-timers Benjamin, Crawford, Frey and Leiper.  The back of Frey's card indicates a uniform number of 37, but he had switched to 29 for the start of the regular season.

Manager (1):  Fregosi
Coaches (6):  Bowa, Cash, Menke, Podres, Rigoli, Vukovich
Phillie Phanatic (1):  The Phanatic returns to the set after a one year absence.
Broadcasters (0)
Commemorative Cards (0)

Surprises:  Every member of the opening day roster is in the set with the exception of Kevin Sefcik and Rich Hunter.  Also somewhat surprising is the Phillies had five players start the season on the disabled list and only two of them, Benjamin and Green, have cards in the set.  The other three players, Bobby Munoz, Curt Schilling and David West, do not.

Omissions:  Hunter, Murray and Munoz would eventually get cards (see below) but Sefcik, Schilling and West would not.  There are a ton of players who could have received update cards as 53 different players suited up for the 1996 Phillies.  If we just tally up those players on the active roster for 50 games or more, there could have been cards for Ron Blazier, Ruben Amaro Jr., Ricardo Jordan, David  Doster and J.R. Phillips.

Variations/Rarities:  When I originally ran this post almost six years ago, fellow collector Rick provided information on seven cards available outside the standard 36-card set.

ALS Autograph/Auction Party        1. Bobby Munoz (#35)  2. Glenn Murray (#56) 3. Ricky Otero (#15) 4. Jim Wright CO (#58)

Late Season Additions 1. Rich Hunter (#39) 2. Desi Relaford (#17) 3. Scott Rolen (#6)

The three players (Munoz, Murray and Otero) and interim coach Jim Wright were all active on June 20th, the date of the annual ALS Autograph/Auction Party in 1996.  Other players active that date that could have cards (maybe?) are Blazier, Doster, Jordan, Phillips, Schilling and Sefcik with West on the disabled list at the time.

Scott Rolen was recalled on August 1st and Desi Relaford was acquired from the Mariners that same day.  Hunter returned from the minors on August 10th.  I have copies of the Rolen and Otero cards in my collection and these are both printed on thicker card stock than the rest of the set.

Also See:  1996 Phillies - The Missing Links; 1996 Topps Phillies, includes recollections from the 1996 All-Star Game at the Vet.

Resources:  The Trading Card Database; Beckett.com; Phillies collector Rick (@rickphils)

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

1995 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards / 1997 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

1980-1999 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page

Philly Baseball Card Show Report - 5 Autos, Vintage Phillies, '71 Topps High Numbers

After a long week at work (and some longer weeks ahead of me) it was nice to make the hour long drive to Valley Forge on Sunday for a baseball card show.  As has been my goal for the last few shows Doug and I have attended, my goal was to look for older Phillies cards and cross a few more 1971 Topps cards off my shrinking checklist.  Missions accomplished.

Here's what I added to my collection.

• Autographs of former Phillies Ricky Bottalico, Dale Murphy, Kyle Kendrick, Joe Blanton and Brett Myers.  All were very pleasant and didn't seem to mind the ferocious coughing from Doug as he's currently getting over a bad cold.  Murphy even gave us an extra signed 1984 Topps card.
• A 1952 Red Man Tobacco Richie Ashburn card with the tab still attached.  I found a dealer who had all four Phillies from the set lined up with the Ashburn being the nicest of the bunch.  I would have loved to have pulled the trigger on the full team set (which includes Granny Hamner, Willie Jones and Robin Roberts) but that would have fully depleted my card show budget.  I settled for just the Ashburn and it's a gorgeous card.
• The Richie Allen and Cookie Rojas cards from the 1969 Transogram set.  I had never seen these cards before so when I found two Phillies together I was happy that the dealer was willing to work with me on a bundled price for the pair.  I just need the Johnny Callison card now for this elusive Phillies team set.
• A 1982 Phillies photo booklet from that season's "Camera Night at the Vet."  Inside the little booklet is a 1982 team photo and a $4 coupon to The Camera Shop which has most likely expired.
• The 1969 Topps Team Poster for the Phillies, which is another item I had never seen in person and for sale.  This thing is way bigger than I had imagined, and I'll need to figure out how to properly display this.
• Always on the look-out for pre-War Phillies cards, I couldn't pass up adding Russell Wrightstone's card from the 1922 Neilson's Chocolate (V61) set.
• And finally, I added 19 more cards to my 1971 Topps set.  I'm now down to needing just 22
  
  more cards for the complete set.  

Doug did his usual free-style pickin', adding some cool autograph and relic cards of current Phillies, including cards of Harper, along with a few Mike Trout additions.

After the show, Doug and I stopped at the Majestic Clubhouse Store at Citizens Bank Park where we joined apparently thousands of other Phillies fans in purchasing their new Bryce Harper gear.  T-shirts were purchased for the family with Harper's new #3.  The store was packed with fans who weren't willing to wait until April for their new Harper t-shirts.  I'd say the line of customers waiting for custom Phillies jerseys was about 30 deep at 2pm on Sunday afternoon.

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

2016 Reading Fightin Phils 50 Greatest Players #30 Larry Bowa

Nationals 5, Phillies 1
Game 52 - Tuesday Night, May 31st in Philadelphia
Record - 26-26, 4th place, 5 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The offensive woes continued as the Phillies managed just four hits in this 5-1 loss to the Nationals.

What It Means:  The Phillies are in the midst of a season high five-game losing streak.  They're at .500 for the first time since April 26th when they were 10-10, and they're back in fourth place for the first time since May 6th.

What Happened:  Aaron Nola pitched well again with his only real mistakes coming on two home run balls allowed to Jayson Werth and Daniel Murphy.  He struck out six in his six innings of work. Colton Murray allowed three runs to score in the ninth including an inside the park home run to Stephen Drew.

Featured Card:  There are no better subjects to feature in this game summary post, so I might as well plug a relatively new item added to my 2016 Phillies Want List.  Throughout nine games in April and May, the Reading Fightin Phils released nine sheets of baseball cards to celebrate their 50th season as a Phillies affiliate.  Each sheet contains six cards, and the complete set of 54 cards is comprised of the 50 greatest players and the four greatest mascots.

I need three more sheets for a complete set - the sheets starting with Juan Samuel, Dallas Green and Robin Roberts.  I've been able to find the other six sheets on eBay, but any help anyone could provide with the remaining three sheets would be greatly appreciated.

It's safe to assume that the Phillies current bench coach didn't look this happy following Tuesday night's game.  The complete sheet containing the Bowa card is featured below.

2016 Reading Fightin Phils 50 Greatest Players Card Set #5

Recently added to The Phillies Room - 2016 Season Summary page with game results and links to game summary posts.

2001 Topps Phillies

2001 Topps #487, #478, 2001 Topps Traded #T66 and 2001 Topps #144

This post has been sitting in my draft folder for the better part of 9 months.  I started the Topps Phillies series of posts in January 2011 with a look at the 1951 Topps Red and Blue Backs sets.  The next 49 posts focusing on the Topps Phillies cards from 1952 to 2000 came together quickly and easily as it was genuinely fun and interesting for me to revisit those years in Phillies history.

And then I hit 2001.  And I fizzled out.

2001 is divided very clearly in my mind into two distinct parts - before 9/11 and after 9/11.  The entire year was fraught with turmoil for me personally, and it's not a year that I'm necessarily keen to revisit at this point.  But for the sake of the ongoing Topps Phillies project, I'll soldier on.

The Set

2001 Topps #487 (Back)

Number of cards in the set:  The set comes in at a whopping 790 cards - 405 from series one and 385 from series two.  There's another 265 cards available in the Traded set, meaning there are a total of 1,055 base cards available - by far the largest tally for a Topps flagship set to this point in time.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  The set uses an all-green border, which works surprisingly well.  There's a little too much foil for my taste, but I can say that for just about every Topps set released from 1995 through the present day.  Topps acknowledges its 50 years in the baseball card racket with a tasteful "Topps 50 Years" gold rectangle logo on the front of each card.  The backs of the cards are nicely done, carrying over the green theme to the back borders and using the front photo as a watermark behind the player's statistics.  Honest to goodness team cards return for the first time since 1981 and manager cards are present for the first time since 1993.

Notable competition:  The scientific term for the amount of baseball cards released in 2001 is crap-ton.  By my very unofficial count, the card manufacturers released 74 different sets as follows - Fleer (16), Pacific in its last year (2), Playoff (11), Topps (23) and Upper Deck (22).  Perhaps the biggest competitor to the Topps flagship set was the Topps Heritage set, which used the design of the classic 1952 Topps set.

2001 Topps #124, #523, #574 and #592

2001 Phillies

Record and finish:  Larry Bowa brought some excitement to the club in his first year as manager, and the Phillies put together a winning season (86-76) for the first time since 1993.  They entered the All-Star break in first place, but they ultimately finished just two games behind the Braves in the N.L. East.  Bowa was named the National League Manager of the Year for his efforts.

Key players:  Right fielder Bobby Abreu contributed his third straight stellar season, leading the club in home runs (31) and RBIs (110) while hitting .289.  He became the first player in club history to have 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season.  Shortstop Jimmy Rollins, playing in his first full season, made the All-Star team, led the league in triples with 12 and tied for the league lead with 46 stolen bases.  Third baseman Scott Rolen (.289, 25, 107), left fielder Pat Burrell (.258, 27, 89) and first baseman Travis Lee (.258, 20, 90) also enjoyed strong seasons at the plate.  Robert Person (15-7, 4.19) and Omar Daal (13-7, 4.46) led the pitching staff while new closer Jose Mesa notched 42 saves.

Key events:  All-Star catcher Mike Lieberthal missed most of the season after tearing up his right knee in May.  Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Phillies and Braves helped the nation try to return to a sense of normalcy with an emotional game on September 17th.  Topps would commemorate the game with a card within its 2002 set.

2001 Phillies in 2001 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 23 Phillies within series one and two, and another 8 Phillies base cards within the traded set.  The 31 total cards are the most since there were 39 cards in the 1995 Topps base and traded sets.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 7 cards

#124 Travis Lee (1b), #523 Marlon Anderson (2b), #T66 Jimmy Rollins (ss), #478 Scott Rolen (3b), #144 Pat Burrell (lf), #574 Doug Glanville (cf), #487 Bobby Abreu (rf)

Only starting catcher Johnny Estrada got left out.  Fleer, Playoff and Upper Deck all managed to include Estrada in a few late season releases, but Topps neglected to include the rookie in their Traded set or any other set.

2001 Topps #676, #236, #131 and 2001 Topps Traded #T24

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 3 cards

#676 Robert Person, #236 Omar Daal, #131 Randy Wolf

Dave Coggin (17 starts), Bruce Chen (16 starts) and Amaury Telemaco (14 starts) were left out by Topps.  Coggin and Chen were featured in the other manufactuer's sets.

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 2001 - 10 cards

#172 Kevin Jordan, #194 Rob Ducey, #563 Nelson Figueroa, #592 Mike Lieberthal, #639 Wayne Gomes, #656 Paul Byrd, #T12 Rheal Cormier, #T24 Jose Mesa, #T40 Ricky Bottalico, #T50 Brian L. Hunter

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 2001 - 6 cards

#13 Brian R. Hunter, #182 Mike Jackson, #274 Jeff Brantley, #539 Kevin Sefcik, #T159 Carlos Silva, #T229 Ryan Madson

Jackson, Brantley and Sefcik were with other organizations by the time this set was released.  It seems particularly odd that Sefcik received a card in series two since he signed with the Rockies in early January.  Hunter made it through Spring Training with the Phillies in 2001 before getting released.  Silva made his Phillies debut in 2002 and Madson followed with his debut in 2003.

• Phillies appearing on multi-player Prospects cards - 1 card, #733 Eric Valent
• Phillies appearing on multi-player Draft Picks cards - 1 card, #751 Keith Bucktrot

After what seemed like dozens of appearances on prospect and future stars cards, Valent finally made his debut with the Phils in June 2001.  He'd play in 29 games for the team in 2001 and 2002, hitting .118.  He eventually found some success with the Mets in 2004, hitting .267 in 130 games.  Bucktrot never made it to the Majors, but the player he shares this card with - Reds catching prospect Dane Sardinha - played in 18 games with the Phillies in 2010 and 2011.

• Manager cards - 2 cards, #347 Terry Francona and #T146 Larry Bowa
• Team card - 1 card, #773

2001 Topps Traded #T146, #T40, #T12 and 2001 Topps #199

Who’s out:  The biggest omission is the eventual starting catcher - Estrada.  He hit .228 in 89 games after taking over for the injured Lieberthal.  Tomas Perez was a valuable utility player, hitting .304 mostly as a pinch-hitter and late inning defensive replacement.  As mentioned above, three of the main starting pitchers were left out, as was reliever Jose Santiago, who appeared in 53 games.

Phillies on other teams:  There are quite a few here.  Brian L. Hunter (the actual one) appears with the Reds on card #199 while Ricky Bottalico appears with the Royals on card #283.  Both would have Phillies cards in the traded set.  Or would they?  (See the Did You Know? section below for an explanation.)  Other 2001 Phillies appearing on cards with their former teams are - #23 Todd Pratt (Mets), #156 Dennis Cook (Mets), #168 Turk Wendell (Mets), #309 Matt Walbeck (Angels), #589 Turner Ward (Diamondbacks) and #590 Felipe Crespo (Giants).

2001 Topps #773

What’s he doing here:  For the second year in a row, both Jackson and Bucktrot share the honors.  Jackson missed the entire 2000 season due to injury, was granted free agency immediately following the season, and signed with the Astros.

Cards that never were candidates:  I'll go with just six, although the number could easily reach a dozen - Estrada, Perez, Coggin, Chen, Telemaco and Santiago.

Favorite Phillies card:  The photography used for the cards continued to improve, but there really aren't any Phillies cards that stand out from the others.  I'll pick Rollins' card as my favorite as it was his first base Topps card.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  The Topps Opening Day set from 2001 uses the same design and photos, but with a navy blue border instead of green.  Maybe it's just because I'm used to the green borders by now, but the navy blue borders look odd.

Blogs/Websites:  Topps produced a novel insert set in 2001 called Through the Years, featuring reprints of key cards from its 50 year run.  It was a cool idea back then, but Topps has sort of run the idea into the ground with seemingly a new reprint set every year since then.  bdj610's Topps Baseball Card Blog ran a post several years ago featuring a gallery of the 50 cards included in the original Through the Years insert set.

Did You Know?:  Brian L. Hunter appears in the 2001 Topps Traded set as a Phillie in name only.  I wrote a couple of posts a few years ago explaining this conundrum and celebrating the fact that at least Brian L. Hunter received a team-issued Phillies card for his efforts.

1990-1999 Phillies

1993 Donruss Diamond Kings #DK-17, 1993 Upper Deck #485,
1994 Fleer Pro-Visions #1 and 1992 Donruss Diamond Kings #DK-12

I'll be honest here - going through these last few series of posts for Topps Phillies cards from the late '90s was not an enjoyable exercise.  I'm also very anxious to get through the first few years of the '00s and move into the post-2006 era of Topps Phillies baseball cards.  Before moving into Y2K, here's a look back at the Phillies of the '90s.

Decade MVP
Mike Schmidt was the easy choice for the decade MVP of the '70s and '80s, but I don't think it's as clear cut for the '90s.  From the offensive side, I narrowed it down to Darren Daulton, John Kruk or Lenny Dykstra before deciding that Dutch was the appropriate choice.  He's at the top of all the major statistical categories and he was the clear leader of the team throughout his time with the club, including the magical 1993 season.

Curt Schilling was far and away the best pitcher for the Phils during the decade.  But it's telling that both Daulton (in 2010) and Kruk (in 2011) were elected to the Phillies Wall of Fame before Schilling.  Schilling is on the ballot for induction this year, but as I told Phungo a few weeks ago, I'd like to see either Jim Konstanty or Rick Wise get in before the Big Schill.

1994 Donruss #373, 1992 Score #892, 1993 Score #526 and 1994 Ultra Phillies Finest #9

Leaders
Games - Mickey Morandini (874), Daulton (780), Kruk (663), Dykstra (644), Kevin Stocker (545)
Average* - Kruk (.306), Dykstra (.298), Gregg Jefferies (.287), Scott Rolen (.280), Morandini (.268)
Home Runs - Daulton (110), Rolen (82), Dave Hollins (67), Mike Lieberthal (67), Rico Brogna (64)
RBIs - Daulton (466), Kruk (352), Rolen (297), Brogna (287), Hollins (273)
Stolen Bases - Dykstra (152), Morandini (98), Doug Glanville (57), Jefferies (52), Bobby Abreu (46)

Games - Ricky Bottalico (234), Schilling (226), Mitch Williams (200), Wayne Gomes (181), Terry Mulholland (149), Toby Borland (149)
Wins - Schilling (95), Mulholland (58), Tommy Greene (36), Danny Jackson (26), Ben Rivera (23)
ERA** - Schilling (3.31), Jackson (3.53), Jose DeJesus (3.55), Mulholland (3.68), Greene (4.02)
Strikeouts - Schilling (1,458), Mulholland (510), Greene (429), Bottalico (280), Matt Beech (266)
Saves - Mitch Williams (102), Bottalico (75), Heathcliff Slocumb (32), Doug Jones (27), Roger McDowell (25)

*At least 1,700 ABs with the Phillies, completely subjective
** At least 300 IP, completely subjective

1990-1999 Topps
Total Phillies Players (1990-1999):  219.  There were 179 different Phillies in the '80s and 142 different Phillies in the '70s.
Total Phillies Players with Topps Phillies Cards:  105.  Only 36% of the players who suited up with the Phillies during the decade ended up on Phillies baseball cards between 1990 and 1999.  The success percentage was 63% in the '80s and 59% in the '70s.
Managers with Cards:  Nick Leyva (2 cards) and Jim Fregosi (3 cards).
Topps Phillies Cards of Non-Phillies:  5 cards - Jeff Jackson (1990), Chad McConnell (1993), Shane Pullen, Larry Wimberly and Rob Grable (all 1995).

1997 Topps Gallery #54, 1994 Pinnacle #159, 1991 Donruss Bonus Cards #BC-14, 1994 Triple Play #175

Card Statistics
Most Featured:  Schilling (10 cards), Daulton (9 cards), Dykstra (9 cards), Morandini (8 cards), Hollins (6 cards), Ricky Jordan (6 cards), Kruk (6 cards), Green (6 cards).

By comparison, Steve Carlton and Schmidt had the most Topps Phillies cards in the '80s with 26 each.

Most Games (Batter), No Phillies Topps Card:  Kevin Sefcik (325 games from 1995 through 1999), Alex Arias (174 games from 1998 and 1999), Mark Lewis (142 games in 1998), David Doster (138 games in 1996 and 1999), Todd Zeile (134 games in 1996), Mark Whiten (120 games in 1995 and 1996), Rob Ducey (104 games in 1999).

Sefcik and Ducey would have to wait until the 2001 Topps set for their first and only cards in a Topps base set.  While Arias, Lewis, Doster, Zeile and Whiten were never featured as Phillies within a Topps flagship set.

Most Games (Pitcher), No Phillies Topps Card:  Jerry Spradlin (145 games in 1997 and 1998), Larry Andersen (93 games in 1993 and 1994), Yorkis Perez (92 games in 1998 and 1999), Wally Ritchie (79 games in 1991 and 1992), Russ Springer (65 games in 1995 and 1996).

Andersen and Ritchie make the list because their tenure with the team in the '90s produced no Topps Phillies cards, but they appear within Topps sets in the '80s.  Andersen is in the 1985 and 1986 Topps sets, while Ritchie is in the 1987 Topps Traded and 1988 Topps sets.

1998 SP Authentic #153, 1998 Sports Illustrated Then and Now #128,
1998 Ultra #391 and 1997 Collector's Choice #192

The Phillies Topps 60
Here are the next ten cards in my checklist of the best 60 Topps Phillies cards since 1951.  By the time I'm done with this series of posts, I'm going to need to revamp this to the Topps 61.

41 - 1990 Topps #469 John Kruk
42 - 1991 Topps #345 Lenny Dykstra
43 - 1992 Topps #83 Tommy Greene
44 - 1993 Topps #235 Mitch Williams
45 - 1994 Topps #504 Jim Eisenreich
46 - 1995 Topps #2 Mickey Morandini
47 - 1996 Topps #85 Darren Daulton
48 - 1997 Topps #268 Scott Rolen
49 - 1998 Topps #94 Mike Lieberthal
50 - 1999 Topps #385 Curt Schilling

Cards That Never Were Series
This set is getting much bigger than I had originally anticipated, and I had to purposely cut back on the cards I'd include from the late '90s, in order to keep the latest batch of additions at 51.

141 - 1990 Topps Dale Murphy
142 - 1990 Topps Jose DeJesus
143 - 1990 Topps Sil Campusano
144 - 1991 Topps John Morris
145 - 1991 Topps Jim Lindeman
146 - 1991 Topps Wally Ritchie
147 - 1992 Topps Ben Rivera
148 - 1992 Topps Kyle Abbott
149 - 1992 Topps Jeff Grotewold
150 - 1992 Topps Juan Bell
151 - 1992 Topps Stan Javier
152 - 1992 Topps Don Robinson
153 - 1993 Topps Danny Jackson
154 - 1993 Topps Milt Thompson
155 - 1993 Topps Kevin Stocker
156 - 1993 Topps Jim Eisenreich
157 - 1993 Topps Larry Andersen
158 - 1994 Topps Coming Attractions Andy Carter
159 - 1994 Topps Billy Hatcher
160 - 1994 Topps Paul Quantrill
161 - 1994 Topps Fernando Valenzuela
162 - 1995 Topps Andy Van Slyke
163 - 1995 Topps Mark Whiten
164 - 1995 Topps Lenny Webster
165 - 1995 Topps Sid Fernandez
166 - 1995 Topps Gary Varsho
167 - 1996 Topps Benito Santiago
168 - 1996 Topps Todd Zeile
169 - 1996 Topps Ken Ryan
170 - 1996 Topps Toby Borland
171 - 1996 Topps Russ Springer
172 - 1997 Topps Terry Francona MG
173 - 1997 Topps Rico Brogna
174 - 1997 Topps Midre Cummings
175 - 1997 Topps Mark Leiter
176 - 1997 Topps Ruben Amaro, Jr.
177 - 1997 Topps Darren Daulton
178 - 1998 Topps Doug Glanville
179 - 1998 Topps Mark Lewis
180 - 1998 Topps Desi Relaford
181 - 1998 Topps Tyler Green
182 - 1998 Topps Mark Portugal
183 - 1998 Topps Yorkis Perez
184 - 1999 Topps Alex Arias
185 - 1999 Topps Marlon Anderson
186 - 1999 Topps Paul Byrd
187 - 1999 Topps Ron Gant
188 - 1999 Topps Kevin Jordan
189 - 1999 Topps Robert Person
190 - 1999 Topps David Doster
191 - 1999 Topps Kevin Sefcik

Links to the Past

1950-1959 Phillies

1960-1969 Phillies

1970-1979 Phillies

1980-1989 Phillies

1998 Topps Phillies

1998 Topps #25, #123, #351 and #341

This post has proved to be one of the hardest in this series to compose so far.  Looking through the 1998 Topps set conjures up bitter memories of the summer I packed up and left home to go and work in Raleigh.  Nothing against the city of Raleigh, but I was homesick even before I made that fateful journey down I-95. I missed my family.  I missed going to Phillies games and watching the games on TV.  I missed Wawa.  I resented every single time I was referred to as the "yankee" from the North by my co-workers.  The years covered by these next few Topps Phillies posts will not be fun to revisit - both from a personal perspective and from the perspective of a suffering Phillies fan.  But as I've pointed out several times on this blog, it's living through and learning from the bad times that make the good times all the more sweeter.

1998 Topps #123 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  Topps was creeping back up to a respectable set size with 503 cards in its 1998 set.  That's an odd number of cards for a complete set isn't it?  There were 282 cards in series one and 221 in series two.  Once again, there is no card #7 in the set in honor of Mickey Mantle.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  For the first time since 1990, Topps went with non-white borders and it works well.  Unfortunately, Topps was still on overdrive with its gold foil machine, and the player's names on the cards can be a bit tough to read at first glance.  The mini team logos behind the player's name make the card look a little busy too.  

Notable competition:  If I recall correctly, the most highly sought after baseball card set in 1998 was the Leaf Rookies and Stars set, which featured short-printed cards in the actual base set.  This is an idea that the card manufacturers would run with over the next decade.  My 1998 Phillies binder contains a ton of Pacific cards and although the cards are a bit garish, at least they were trying something new.  I referenced the necessity of tracking down the Pacific Online set in the 1998 Phillies Missing Links post a few days ago.  Overall, the baseball card manufacturers seemed baffled by what their consumers wanted.  We had cards issued inside a can (the appropriately named Pinnacle Inside), cards with coins inserted into them (Pinnacle Mint), numbered cards in base sets (SPx) and more bells, whistles, foil, and confusing set configurations than ever before.

1998 Topps #94, #412, #219 and #156

1998 Phillies

Record and finish:  The good news is that the Phils climbed out of the cellar, finishing in third place behind the Braves.  The bad news is that they finished 31 games out of first, with a record of 75-87.

Key players:  Third baseman Scott Rolen once again led the offense, hitting .290 with 31 home runs and 110 RBIs.  Rolen also won his first Gold Glove.  He was supported by first baseman Rico Brogna (.265, 20 home runs, 104 RBIs) and new right fielder Bobby Abreu (.312, 17 home runs, 74 RBIs).  Left fielder Gregg Jefferies (.294) also played well before his trade to the Angels in August.  With his 300th strikeout in his final start of the season, Curt Schilling (15-14, 3.25 ERA) became just the fifth pitcher in history with back-to-back 300-strikeout seasons.  Mark Portugal came back from arm injuries to record 10 wins.  The bullpen was anchored by a trio of work horses - Mark Leiter (23 saves in 69 games), Wayne Gomes (71 games) and Jerry Spradlin (69 games).

Key events:  Ed Wade took over the General Manager duties following the 1997 season, and his first order of business was to swap Mickey Morandini to the Cubs for new center fielder Doug Glanville and to send Kevin Stocker to the Devil Rays for Abreu.  (The Devil Rays had selected Abreu in the expansion draft from the Astros.)  Both deals paid off for the team.  Picking first in the annual amateur players' draft in June, the Phillies selected third baseman Pat Burrell from the University of Miami.

1998 Phillies in 1998 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are only 12 Phillies cards in the 1998 Topps set, which represents the lowest total since there were only 10 Phillies cards in the 206-card 1955 Topps Phillies set.  Given the team's poor performance and the lack of any star power outside of Rolen and Schilling, I'm willing to forgive Topps for the low tally.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 5 cards

#94 Mike Lieberthal (c), #123 Rico Brogna (1b), #25 Scott Rolen (3b), #341 Gregg Jefferies (lf), #351 Bobby Abreu (rf)

Center fielder Glanville and new second baseman Mark Lewis appear with their former teams in the set. Rookie shortstop Desi Relaford was left out of the set, but he did earn a card within the 1998 Bowman set (along with a bunch of other 1998 cards from the other card manufacturers.)

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 1 card

#332 Curt Schilling

For the second year in a row, Schilling is the sole representative of the pitching rotation.  Tyler Green, Portugal, Carlton Loewer and Matt Beech were all left out.

1998 Topps #332, #60, #163 and #192

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1998 - 3 cards

#60 Mark Leiter, #163 Ricky Bottalico, #192 Garrett Stephenson

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1998 - 2 cards (with new teams listed)

#156 Kevin Stocker (Devil Rays), #219 Mickey Morandini (Cubs)

• Phillies appearing on '97 Season Highlights cards - 1 card, #476 Curt Schilling

1998 Topps #37

Who’s out:  As already mentioned, Relaford and 4/5 of the pitching rotation were left out.  

Phillies on other teams:  Newcomers Glanville (#37 with the Cubs), and Lewis (#412 with the Giants) appear with their former teams.

What’s he doing here:  Given the low number of Phillies cards in the team set, there aren't any strange inclusions.

Cards that never were candidates:  I'll limit this to ten cards, although I could list twice that many - Lewis, Relaford, Glanville, Portugal, Green, Loewer, Beech, Gomes and utility guys Kevin Jordan and Kevin Sefcik.

Favorite Phillies card:  I'll pick Lieberthal's card by default, which shows him making contact at the Vet and features a nice shot of the Jackie Robinson commemorative patch that all teams wore during the 1997 season.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Topps would reuse this design, but with a silver border, for its 1998 Topps Chrome set and its inaugural Topps Opening Day set.  There was also a 1998 Topps Superchrome set, which features an over-sized Rolen card.

Blogs/Websites:  There aren't many bloggers waxing nostalgic about the 1998 Topps set that I could find, so here's a self-serving link to a past post on one of my favorite baseball cards from 1998 - the 1998 Topps Stars Reprint of Mike Schmidt's rookie card.

Did You Know?:  As of this writing, I have 517 different Phillies baseball cards in my collection from 1998.  212 (roughly 41%) of these cards feature Scott Rolen while another 97 (roughly 19%) feature Curt Schilling.  The next most featured player is catcher Bobby Estalella with 42 (roughly 8%) different cards.  So perhaps the reason I spend so little time enjoying my 1998 Phillies binder is because almost three-quarters of the cards belong to Rolen, Schilling and Estalella - three players who aren't going to win any Phillies popularity contests any time soon.

1998 Topps #476, 1998 Topps Chrome #25, 1998 Topps Opening Day #18 and #159