Phillies at Dodgers: July 6th to July 9th

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10:10
Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles, CA

Phillies 28-56, 5th Place in the N.L. East
Dodgers 46-37, 1st Place in the N.L. West

Phillies Probables:  Sean O'Sullivan (1-6, 5.76), Chad Billingsley (0-2, 7.71), Adam Morgan (1-1, 2.13), Kevin Correia (0-3, 6.56)
Dodgers Probables:  Juan Nicasio (1-2, 2.18), Brett Anderson (5-4, 3.00), Clayton Kershaw (5-6, 3.08), Zack Greinke (7-2, 1.48)

At the Ballpark:  All fans attending tonight's ballgame will receive a Maury Wills bobblehead.  On Wednesday night, fans will receive a Dodgers Hello Kitty plush toy.

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Ben Revere - .291
Runs:  Ben Revere - 43
Home Runs:  Ryan Howard - 13
RBIs:  Ryan Howard - 38
Stolen Bases:  Ben Revere - 19

Wins:  Cole Hamels - 5
ERA:  Cole Hamels - 3.02
Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 119
Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 14

Dodgers Leaders
Average:  Howie Kendrick - .292
Runs:  Joc Pederson - 45
Home Runs:  Joc Pederson - 20
RBIs:  Adrian Gonzalez - 50
Stolen Bases:  Jimmy Rollins - 6

Wins:  Zack Greinke - 7
ERA:  Zack Greinke - 1.48
Strikeouts:  Clayton Kershaw - 147
Saves:  Kenley Jansen - 13

1985 Topps #57

1985 Topps Traded #58T

1985 Topps Traded #32T

1985 Topps #440

1985 Topps Appreciation:  I'm featuring a quartet of Dodgers from the 1985 Topps set with Phillies connections for this installment of 1985 Topps Appreciation.  Of the four players featured, Mariano Duncan had the most memorable tenure with the Phillies, as he was a member of the 1993 N.L. Championship squad.

It's easy to forget Pat Zachry's time with the club as the former N.L. Rookie of the Year wrapped up his 10-year career with 10 mostly forgettable games with the 1985 Phillies.  Ken Howell was supposed to lead the Phillies pitching staff in 1989 (and beyond) but arm injuries curtailed his career and he made only 51 starts for the Phillies in '89 and '90.

And Fernando-Mania briefly (and quietly) invaded Philadelphia in the strike-shortened 1994 season, when Fernando Valenzuela went 1-2 in eight games for the Phillies before moving on to the Padres for the 1995 season.

Dodgers at Phillies: May 23rd to May 25th

Friday 7:05, Saturday 3:05 and Sunday 1:35
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

Dodgers 25-23, 3rd Place in the N.L. West, 4 1/2 games behind the Giants
Phillies 20-24, Tied for 4th Place in the N.L. East, 5 games behind the Braves

Dodgers Probables:  Clayton Kershaw (2-1, 4.43), Dan Haren (5-2, 3.18), Josh Beckett (2-1, 2.89)
Phillies Probables:  Roberto Hernandez (2-1, 3.98), David Buchanan (0-0, 0.00), A.J. Burnett (3-3, 3.32)

At the Ballpark:  Saturday afternoon is the annual Bark in the Park event and fans are invited to meet and/or adopt a shelter dog or cat and donate new pet toys and blankets.  Former Phillie Pedro Feliz will also be on hand to throw out the first pitch.  On Sunday, all kids will receive a special Ryne Sandberg Louisville Slugger bat.

Phillies Leaders

Average:  Chase Utley - .337

Runs:  Jimmy Rollins - 26

Home Runs:  Ryan Howard - 7

RBIs:  Marlon Byrd - 29

Stolen Bases:  Ben Revere - 12

Wins:  Cliff Lee - 4

ERA:  Cliff Lee - 3.18

Strikeouts:  Cliff Lee - 61

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 12

1988 Topps #481 and #780

1988 Topps Appreciation:  The pair featured here were teammates first with the Dodgers from 1985 to 1989 and then again with the Phillies in 1994.

Mariano Duncan enjoyed the finest years of his career with the Reds and Phillies in the early '90s, but he came up with the Dodgers in 1985.  He won two World Series rings in his 12-year career, first with the 1990 Reds and then again with the 1996 Yankees.  His second ring should have come with the 1993 Phillies, but there was the little matter of Mitch Williams pitching to Joe Carter when Roger Mason was clearly ready to go out of the bullpen.  But I digress.

Duncan came to the Phillies prior to the 1992 season as a guy who would be plugged in to play basically every day, but not necessarily always in the same position.  During the Phillies improbable '93 run, he switched between second base and shortstop, spelling both Mickey Morandini and Kevin Stocker, while hitting .282.  He made his first and only All-Star game with the Phils in 1994.

Speaking of the 1994 Phillies . . . Fernando Valenzuela was looking for a job in the summer of '94 after having been let go by the Orioles following a lackluster 1993 campaign.  With the team struggling mightily, the Phillies took a chance on Valenzuela and inserted him into a pitching rotation that consisted of Danny Jackson, David West, Shawn Boskie and Bobby Munoz.  He started 7 games for the Phillies, going 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA and adding 3 hits (including a double) in 12 at-bats.  Sadly, Fernandomania was short-lived in South Philly and Valenzuela landed in San Diego following the season.

1993 SP #172 Mariano Duncan

Braves 5, Phillies 4 (12 Innings) 
Game 110 - Saturday Night, August 3rd in Philadelphia 
Record - 50-60, Tied for 3rd Place, 15 1/2 games behind the Braves 

Another Massive, Post-Vacation, Why Do I Even Bother Catch-Up, Part 7 of 8

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies had a chance to win this one, but eight walks from the pitchers eventually doomed them in an extra-inning, 5-4 loss.

What It Means:  It's not going well.

What Went Wrong:  John Lannan was chased in the fifth, and four Phillies relievers combined to hold the Braves scoreless until Jake Diekman walked the bases loaded in the 12th.  Justin De Fratus couldn't get out of the jam, and the Braves scored the eventual winning run.  On a positive note, Zach Miner made his Phillies debut and pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

Featured Card/Field Report:  I was there to witness all 12 painful innings.  I was lucky enough to pick up a cool 1993 Phillies print and I waited in line to have Mariano Duncan sign it.  Now to track down the other guys on the print . . .

We returned from the shore on Saturday morning and I drove to Philly to meet two of my good friends and former college roommates at the ballpark.  Sadly, both John and Tommy are life-long Braves fans, so this game was much more enjoyable to them then it was to me.  This game dropped my personal record this year to 2-6.  (Click photos below to enlarge.)

Schilling on the Wall

Miner's At-Bat

Me with Two Braves Fans

1994 Topps Phillies

1994 Topps #380, #401, #323 and #504

After the improbable success of the 1993 season, things completely fell apart for the Phillies.  1994 marked the first of seven consecutive losing seasons as the aging team suffered through a rash of injuries.  On August 11, 1994, the baseball season ended prematurely due to an impasse between the players and the owners.  The players' strike that would go on until the following spring stained the game and sent away countless long-time fans, disgusted by the greed on both sides of the argument.

My baseball card collecting priorities also changed in 1994.  As a direct result of the strike, I became more focused on collecting vintage Topps sets, and much less focused on attempting to collect new Phillies cards.  It wasn't until much later in the '90s that I filled out my 1994 through 1998 Phillies collection, as the strike caused me to all but stop buying packs of new baseball cards for several years.

1994 Topps #504 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  Topps went back to its magic number of 792, releasing two series of 396 cards each.  The traded series contained the now-standard 132 cards.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  I wasn't really that into this set at the time, although this is the set I still tend to associate with the 1993 National League Champs.  I believe this is the last Topps base set to not feature some sort of gold or silver foil element on the fronts of the cards.  Which means we've been straining our eyes and tilting the cards since 1994 in order to read the name of the player on the fronts of baseball cards.

Notable competition:  I've always loved the 1994 Fleer set.  It's very simplistic in its design and it features a lot of great photos.  (What happened to the Fleer design team between 1994 and 1995?)  The Collector's Choice set (from Upper Deck), the Pinnacle set and the Triple Play set (from Donruss) are also terrific sets with great designs.

1994 Topps #692, #57, #476 and #635

1994 Phillies

Record and finish:  The Phils finished the strike-shortened season with a record of 54-61 in the newly aligned five-team National League East.  They were 20 1/2 games behind the Montreal Expos when the season stopped.

Key players:  Darren Daulton was on his way to another solid season, hitting .300 with 15 home runs and 56 RBIs.  A fractured clavicle suffered on a play at the plate at the end of June ended his season early.  John Kruk (.302, 5 home runs, 38 RBIs) and Jim Eisenreich (.300, 4 home runs, 43 RBIs)  helped with their bats while Pete Incaviglia added 13 home runs.  Danny Jackson led the pitching staff with 14 wins and a 3.26 ERA, followed by the newly-acquired Bobby Munoz, who won 7 games with a 2.67 ERA.  The dependable 1993 trio of Curt Schilling, Tommy Greene and Ben Rivera spent the bulk of the season on the disabled list.  New closer Doug Jones saved 27 games and pitched to a very impressive 2.17 ERA, while Heathcliff Slocumb (2.86 ERA, 5-1) served as a very effective set-up reliever.

Key events:  Mitch Williams and Terry Mulholland, both key contributors on the 1993 squad, were traded over the winter to the Astros and Yankees respectively.  Kruk battled testicular cancer during the off-season and returned on the team's home opening day to a very lengthy and very loud standing ovation.  The cheers only intensified when Kruk doubled in the first inning to drive home the first run of the season for the Phils.  The Phils sent four players to the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh - Jackson, Jones, Lenny Dykstra and Mariano Duncan.

1994 Phillies in 1994 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 30 Phillies cards in the base set and another 6 Phillies cards in the traded set.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards

#380 Darren Daulton (c), #401 John Kruk (1b), #692 Mickey Morandini (2b), #57 Kevin Stocker (ss), #476 Dave Hollins (3b), #323 Pete Incaviglia (lf), #635 Lenny Dykstra (cf), #504 Jim Eisenreich (rf)

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 5 cards

#199 Danny Jackson, #102T Bobby Munoz, #53T Shawn Boskie, #266 David West, #142 Curt Schilling

1994 Topps #199, 1994 Topps Traded #102T, #53T and 1994 Topps #266

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1994 - 14 Cards

#28 Tony Longmire, #86 Ricky Jordan, #238 Kim Batiste, #352 Ben Rivera, #419 Wes Chamberlain, #447 Mike Williams, #533 Roger Mason, #570 Tommy Greene, #597 Todd Pratt, #663 Mariano Duncan, #722 Milt Thompson, #5T Toby Borland, #43T Heathcliff Slocumb, #126T Doug Jones

Longmire's card is futuristic "Future Stars" card, complete with some sort of green computer chip background.

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1994 - 4 Cards (with new teams listed)

#114 Mitch Williams (Astros), #170 Terry Mulholland (Yankees), #294 Tyler Green (minors), #328 Donn Pall (Yankees/Cubs)

• Phillies appearing on 1993 Topps All Stars cards - 1 card, #388 Lenny Dykstra with Ken Griffey, Jr. (Mariners)
• Phillies appearing on Measures of Greatness cards - 1 card, #608 Darren Daulton

I've always thought this was a bizarre subset.  Daulton's career-to-date stats are measured against Roy Campanella and the average stats for all Hall of Fame catchers.  Topps concludes that with several more years like 1992 and 1993, Daulton's power numbers would be "truly Cooperstown-ish."  At the time, I thought it was a silly comparison and the cards in this subset took away from players who should have had cards in the set.  All these years later and my thinking hasn't changed.

• #1 Draft Pick card - 1 card, #742 Wayne Gomes
• Phillies appearing on Coming Attractions cards - 1 card, #786 Kevin Foster and Gene Schall
• Ryne Sandberg Commemorative card - 1 card, #130T Ryne Sandberg

Gomes made his debut with the Phillies in June 1997, and he'd become the team's full-time closer for a portion of the 1999 season.  Foster was shipped to the Cubs at the start of the season for Boskie.  Schall played in parts of two seasons with the Phillies in 1995 and 1996.  And Sandberg appears here on his first "official" Phillies card as part of a two-card subset commemorating his retirement part-way through the 1994 season.  Sandberg would change his mind and come back to play in 1996 and 1997 for the Cubs.

1994 Topps Traded #126T, #43T, 1994 Topps #663 and #86

Who’s out:  Topps did a really nice job with player selection for the Phillies this year.  Of the returning players from 1993, only Larry Andersen was completely omitted from the set.  He appeared in 29 games for the 1994 club.  Lefty Andy Carter, who pitched in 20 games, would have been a better choice for the Coming Attractions card over Foster.

Phillies on other teams:  Bobby Munoz (#144 with the Yankees), Shawn Boskie (#177 with the Cubs) and Doug Jones (#334 with the Astros) appeared in the base set with their former teams before getting Phillies cards in the traded set.  These guys weren't so lucky - #26 Billy Hatcher (Red Sox), #175 Fernando Valenzuela (Orioles), #417 Paul Quantrill (Red Sox), #427 Tom Edens (Astros) and #541 Jeff Juden (Astros).  Valenzuela, who appeared in 8 games for the 1994 Phillies appeared in (I believe) 9 cards with the Phillies, none of which were produced by Topps.

1994 Topps #175

What’s he doing here:  Topps jumped the gun a little by giving Green his third base card in as many years.  Green appeared in 3 games with the 1993 Phillies and he spent all of 1994 in the minors.  When Topps was going through player selection for the set, I'd imagine this final spot for a Phillies card came down to Green versus Andersen and the prospect beat out the veteran.

Cards that never were candidates:  Andersen and Carter are deserving, and Hatcher, Valenzuela and Quantrill should get Phillies cards.  I'd also make a Coming Attractions card for Mike Lieberthal and Ricky Bottalico, who both made their debuts during the season.

Favorite Phillies card:  Eisenreich has always been one of my favorite players, and he's got a great 1994 Topps card featuring him taking a warm-up swing with the sun on his face.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Topps used the 1994 Topps design for Daulton's card in its 2004 All-Time Fan Favorites set. The design is also featured on Bobby Abreu's 2006 Topps Wal-Mart card.

Blogs/Websites:  Lifetime Topps Project recently concluded its look at the 1994 Topps set.

Did You Know?:  The Phillies adopted all-blue hats for home Sunday games in 1994.  Besides the fact that the hats clashed badly with the team's uniform, many players deemed the hats to be unlucky once the blue-hat Phils went 0-3 over the first three home Sundays.  A meeting was held between team captain Daulton and General Manager Lee Thomas and it was decided that the hats would only be worn during the remaining afternoon home games.  The blue hats completely disappeared after the season.

1993 Topps Phillies

1993 Topps #180, #17, #340 and #740

I've been lucky enough so far to live through three golden ages of Phillies baseball - some longer than others.  The first golden age occurred from the late 1970s through the early 1980s when I was barely old enough (especially during the early years) to remember much of it.  We're in a golden age now which, beginning in 2007, has resulted in five consecutive division titles and one World Series title.  Sandwiched in between these two ages was a quick, I can't believe this is really happening, golden age.  In 1993, for 162 regular season games, 6 League Championship games, and 6 World Series games, the Phillies were one of the best teams in baseball.

It wasn't pretty, but we loved that team.  Harry Kalas famously referred to them as a lovable band of misfits and cast-offs and they gave us the last taste of the postseason for 14 long and sometimes painful years.

1993 Topps #17 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  Topps stirred things up in 1993 by releasing its set in multiple series for the first time since 1972.  There are 396 cards in series one and another 429 cards in series two, for a total tally of 825 cards in the complete set.  Topps added their standard 132-card traded set but by this point, the traded set had lost all relevance to me.  Given the large amount of sets on the market produced by Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Score and Upper Deck, I already had access to Phillies cards of players acquired prior to the start of the season or even at the beginning of the season by the time the traded set rolled around.  So I wasn't that upset in 1993 when Topps made the decision to include only two Phillies within its traded series.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  I really liked these cards and unlike the 1992 Topps set, I actually hand collated the entire 825-card set.  For the second year in a row, the player's position isn't featured on the fronts of the cards, but I didn't seem to mind since I was very fond of the card front's overall design.  The backs of the cards have a vertical alignment for the first time since 1975 and there is a full-color player photo on the backs for the first time ever.

Notable competition:  I held down a few part-time jobs while in college and any money not spent on food or clothes or entertainment went to packs of Topps or Upper Deck cards.  Upper Deck produced a wonderful set in 1993 - probably the best set of its 21-year run.  In fact, it's one of the few non-Topps sets that I proudly display in 9-pocket pages in its own binder.  1993 was also the year that Donruss and Fleer continued their comebacks, producing very attractive sets.

1993 Topps #262, #371, #154 and 1993 Topps Traded #73T

1993 Phillies

Record and finish:  With a record of 97-65, the Phillies won their division for the first time since 1983, finishing three games ahead of the Montreal Expos.  They stunned the Atlanta Braves in the N.L.C.S., winning the series in six games, and they in turn were stunned by Joe Carter and the Toronto Blue Jays.  It seems a little silly now, but the events of October 23, 1993, were very traumatic to me at the time.

Key players:  The offense was paced by Darren Daulton (.257, 24 home runs, 105 RBIs), Dave Hollins (.273, 18 home runs, 93 RBIs), John Kruk (.316, 14 home runs, 85 RBIs) and Lenny Dykstra (.305, 19 home runs, 66 RBIs).  Supporting players such as Mariano Duncan, Milt Thompson, Jim Eisenreich and Pete Incaviglia played huge roles as well.  Curt Schilling and Tommy Greene led the pitching staff with 16 wins each, followed by Ben Rivera's 13 wins and Danny Jackson's and Terry Mulholland's 12 wins a piece.  It was the first time since 1932 that the team had five starting pitchers with 10 or more wins.  Closer Mitch Williams saved 43 games during the regular season, and unnecessarily shouldered complete blame for the World Series loss.  

Key events:  Prior to the start of the season, General Manager Lee Thomas cobbled together a group of cast-offs via free agency or trades to compliment the core line-up.  The acquisitions of Jackson, David West, Eisenreich, Incaviglia, Thompson and Larry Andersen had as much to do with the team's big season as the overall offensive output of Macho Row.  I could easily compose a multi-part post with all of the highlights from this wonderful season, but one highlight in particular has always been my favorite.  In July, following a lengthy rain delay, the Phils started the second game of a double header at 1:26 in the morning.  The game ended at 4:41 on a walk-off, 10th inning single from "Mitchy-Poo" Mitch Williams.

1993 Phillies in 1993 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 15 Phillies cards each in each series of the base set and only two more Phillies cards in the traded set.  The Phils got seriously shafted by Topps in '93.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 5 cards

#180 Darren Daulton (c), #340 John Kruk (1b), #262 Mickey Morandini (2b), #17 Dave Hollins (3b), #740 Lenny Dykstra (cf)

I'm basing this starting line-up on starts by position.  Mariano Duncan played in 124 games, but he jumped around between second and third.  Kevin Stocker joined the team too late in the season to be featured in the traded series, although he did appear in the Stadium Club set.  Left fielder Thompson was completely omitted from the set, despite having played in 109 games for the Cardinals in 1992.  Eisenreich was featured with the Royals in the base set and he didn't get a card in the traded set. 

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 4 cards

#421 Curt Schilling, #291 Tommy Greene, #555 Terry Mulholland, #622 Ben Rivera

I had to double check, but Danny Jackson was also completely omitted from the set.  Jackson started 34 games in 1992 for the Cubs and Pirates, so it's a little odd that he didn't at least end up in the regular set.

1993 Topps #421, #291, #622 and #235

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1993 - 13 cards

#43 Ruben Amaro Jr., #99 Mike Williams, #126 Bob Ayrault, #154 Wes Chamberlain, #235 Mitch Williams, #371 Mariano Duncan, #479 Todd Pratt, #531 Joe Millette, #585 Ricky Jordan, #679 Kim Batiste, #818 Brad Brink, #37T Tyler Green, #73T Pete Incaviglia

Brink's card is a part of the Coming Attractions subset at the very end of the set.

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1993 - 7 cards (with new teams listed)

#72 Jeff Grotewold (Twins), #208 Mike Hartley (Twins), #317 Kyle Abbott (minors), #445 Dale Murphy (Rockies), #649 Tom Marsh (minors), #712 Stan Javier (Angels), #773 Cliff Brantley (minors)

• 1992 Draft Pick card - 1 card, #161 Chad McConnell
• 1992 Topps All Stars card - 1 card, #408 Darren Daulton with Brian Harper (Twins)
• Manager card - 1 card, #510 Jim Fregosi with Buck Showalter (Yankees)

1993 Topps #555, #22 and #510

Who’s out:  I still find it weird that Thompson and Jackson were both left out of the set altogether.  Relievers Andersen, Roger Mason and Mark Davis all played a part in the championship season, but they were also left out of the set.

Phillies on other teams:  There are five cards of 1993 Phillies players on their former teams - #7 Pete Incaviglia (Astros), #22 Jim Eisenreich (Royals), #645 Bobby Thigpen (White Sox), #652 David West (Twins), #707 Donn Pall (White Sox).

What’s he doing here:  Phillies first round draft pick and Creighton product Chad McConnell kicked around the Phillies minor leagues through the 1996 season before calling it a career.  He never played for the Phillies.

Cards that never were candidates:  Thompson, Jackson, Stocker, Andersen, Eisenreich and West are all good candidates.

Favorite Phillies card:  There's actually quite a few great Phillies cards in this set, but I'll go with Mitch Williams' card as my favorite.  That definitely would not have been the case back on October 23, 1993.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Murphy and Dykstra's cards were reprinted in the 2001 and 2002 Topps Archives sets, respectively.  While Kruk, Daulton, Dykstra (again) and Mitch Williams have cards featuring the 1993 Topps design within the 2003 and 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites set.

Blogs/Websites:  Based on my limited research, I don't think there's another set-specific Topps blog out there until 2008.  (Please let me know if I've missed any.)  So unless I come up with any better ideas, I'm going to use this space to link to my past posts.  Back in this blog's infancy, I toyed with the idea of posting the baseball cards of all the players from key teams from the Phillies' past.  I did this with the 1956 Topps Phillies cards and I started the process with the 1993 Phillies club, before the idea eventually petered out.  Here's the post from May 2009 that served as my planned gateway to the baseball cards of the 1993 Phillies squad.

Did You Know?:  I was 500 miles away from the action when the Phillies clinched the division in 1993.  One of my fondest memories of that season is my parents holding up the phone to their television set so that I could hear Harry the K call the final inning and the final outs.  My Mom taped the game and the post-game celebrations and mailed me the VHS tape the next day.  (I still have that tape around here somewhere.)  Composing this post has made me very nostalgic for 1993, and it almost makes me want to hook up a VCR and drop in the team's highlight video, aptly titled, "Whatever It Takes, Dude."

2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #84, #94, #141 and
2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #79

1992 Topps Phillies

1992 Topps #244, #30, #383 and #200

1992 was a year of change.  I moved 500 miles away from my hometown and started my freshman year of college.  I left my family, my house and my baseball card collection behind and embarked on a new, exciting and occasionally scary journey.

I remember feeling particularly blue one fall day in '92 and being pleasantly surprised to find the Sundry Shop on the Quad sold packs of baseball cards.  There was nothing too exciting for sale - just a few packs of left-over 1992 Topps and 1992 Fleer packs.  I bought two or three packs that day and I'll admit that I spent money intended for food on more packs in the weeks ahead.  Flipping through my 1992 Phillies binder now, I'm reminded just how comforting those packs of baseball cards were to me.

1992 Topps #30 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  For the 11th and final year in a row, there are 792 cards in the base set and 132 cards in the traded set.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  This was the first Topps flagship set since 1980 that I did not hand collate.  As I alluded to at the outset, I took the end of High School fairly hard and I all but ignored baseball cards for a big chunk of the year.  (I think Santa brought the factory set for Christmas that year.)  That being said, it's a nice set.  After years and years of gray cardstock, it was a bit stunning to hold a Topps baseball card produced on thinner, white cardstock.  The panoramic view of Veterans Stadium on the backs of some of the cards was a very cool touch.  And I appreciated the return to horizontal card fronts on some of the cards for the first time since 1974.

Notable competition:  1992 was a good year for baseball cards.  It seems as if each of the manufacturers stepped up their game and tried to bring something new to their customers.  The cards were glossier and more thought went into each set's design.  After the lackluster collecting years of 1990 and 1991, the card companies turned things around and started making product that baseball card collectors wanted to collect.  Unfortunately, the card companies did not know when to say when, and we as collectors would soon be bombarded with an absolute deluge of new product in the years ahead.  This was the year the dam started to crack before the flood of way too many different sets overwhelmed me from 1993 through the mid-2000s.

1992 Topps #587, #52, 1992 Topps Traded #5T and 1992 Topps #14

1992 Phillies

Record and finish:  With a record of 70-92, the Phils finished in last place in the N.L. East, 26 games behind the Pirates.

Key players:  Darren Daulton finally arrived, leading the league with 109 RBIs and hitting 27 home runs.  Dave Hollins matched Dutch's 27 home runs and drove in 93 runs to boot.  He finished second in the league with 104 runs scored.  John Kruk enjoyed a solid season, hitting .323 with 10 home runs and 70 RBIs.  The newly acquired Curt Schilling led the pitching staff with 14 wins and a 2.35 ERA.  Terry Mulholland put together another steady season with a 13-11 record and a 3.81 ERA, while leading the league with 12 complete games.  Closer Mitch Williams saved 29 games.  So what went wrong?

Key events:  What went wrong was that 17 different players spent time on the disabled list, including key contributors such as Lenny Dykstra, Tommy Greene and Dale Murphy.  The active roster consisted of a revolving cast of prospects and suspects throughout the year as 48 different players suited up for the 1992 Phillies.  Mickey Morandini recorded an unassisted triple play in September and reserve catcher Jeff Grotewold became the first player in history to hit three pinch-hit home runs in three consecutive games.

1992 Phillies in 1992 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 32 Phillies cards in the base set and another 3 Phillies cards in the traded set.  Once again, Topps opted to include 26 players from Team USA in the traded set, denying several deserving Major Leaguers their traded cards.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 7 cards

#244 Darren Daulton (c), #30 John Kruk (1b), #587 Mickey Morandini (2b), #383 Dave Hollins (3b), #30T Mariano Duncan (lf), #200 Lenny Dykstra (cf), #5T Ruben Amaro, Jr. (rf)

Shortstop Juan Bell was acquired in August and took over shortstop duties from the struggling Kim Batiste/Dale Sveum combination.

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 3 cards

#100T Curt Schilling, #719 Terry Mulholland, #83 Tommy Greene

Kyle Abbott, who started 19 games, was omitted from the traded set, as was Ben Rivera who started 14 games.  

1992 Topps Traded #100T, 1992 Topps #719, #763 and #83

It's a bit jarring seeing the team's new uniform side-by-side with their old uniforms.  When teams update their uniforms now, the Photoshopping gremlins at Topps busily transform players into their new-look uniforms before the cards are released.  As a side note, I always thought it was cool that there were no Phillies cards in the first series of 1992 Leaf.  Leaf waited until they had photos of the Phillies in their new uniforms before dropping every Phillies card into its second series.

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1992 - 15 cards

#14 Wes Chamberlain, #103 Ricky Jordan, #258 Jim Lindeman, #331 Steve Lake, #353 Braulio Castillo, #434 Wally Backman, #456 Pat Combs, #484 Mike Hartley, #497 Andy Ashby, #514 Kim Batiste, #544 Cliff Brantley, #599 Steve Searcy, #633 Mitch Williams, #680 Dale Murphy, #791 Danny Cox

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1992 - 8 cards (with new teams listed)

#63 Randy Ready (A's), #135 Von Hayes (Angels), #159 Darrin Fletcher (Expos), #307 Bruce Ruffin (Brewers), #471 Jose DeJesus (injured), #557 Dickie Thon (Rangers), #696 Joe Boever (Astros), #754 Charlie Hayes (Yankees)

• #1 Draft Pick card - 1 card, #764 Tyler Green
• Manager card - 1 card, #669 Jim Fregosi

1992 Topps #633, #484, #361 and #478

Who’s out:  Rivera and Abbott might have appeared in the traded series if not for the Team USA cards.  Relievers Bob Ayrault (30 games) and Wally Ritchie (40 games) were also deserving of cards.

Phillies on other teams:  An entire 9-pocket page (+1) is needed to contain the 1992 Phillies players who had cards in the set featuring them on other teams.  Ruben Amaro, Jr. (#269 with the Angels), Mariano Duncan (#589 with the Reds) and Curt Schilling (#316 with the Astros) all wound up in the traded set as Phillies.  But these 7 players did not:  #52 Juan Bell (Orioles), #85 Jose DeLeon (Cardinals), #361 Barry Jones (Expos), #373 Don Robinson (Giants), #478 Dale Sveum (Brewers), #581 Stan Javier (Dodgers) and #763 Kyle Abbott (Angels).

What’s he doing here:  One of the things I like about the recent Series 1 releases from Topps is that they give us cards of players on their new teams, as long as those players switched teams early in the off-season.  Ready, Von Hayes, Fletcher, Ruffin and Thon were all long gone by Christmas 1991, but they appear as Phillies in the 1992 Topps set.  

Cards that never were candidates:  Grotewold, Bell, Rivera, Abbott, Javier, Sveum, Jones and Don Robinson.  Robinson wrapped up his 15-year career with 8 uneventful starts for the Phillies.

Favorite Phillies card:  There are some great action photos on these cards, but my favorite two are Spring Training shots featuring Greene and Mulholland on the mound.  Greene's card edges Mulholland's due to the blurry ball heading towards the photographer.  My favorite non-Phillies card is Javier's, which features two soon-to-be members of the 1992 Phillies squad on it.

1992 Topps Traded #30T, 1992 Topps #581 and #103

Other Stuff

Recycled:  If Topps has re-used this design for any Phillies cards since 1992, I don't have them in my collection.

Blogs/Websites:  There aren't many people out there writing about the 1992 Topps set, so I'm going to go ahead and link to a few of my prior Scrapbook Sunday posts.  Here's a post featuring the 1948-style uniforms the team wore on its Turn Back the Clock day on June 21, 1992.  My scrapbook page from the 1992 All-Star Game features a rare photo of Kruk wearing a Braves jersey.  And here's a page from the start of the '92 season, when the team first started to realize that things were going very wrong, very quickly.

Did You Know?:  On Opening Day 1992, I skipped school to go to the game and see the team's new uniforms first hand.  This was before the days of internet leaks, so Opening Day 1992 was truly the first time all 60,000+ of us in attendance were witnessing the new look Phillies.  The team went so far as to conduct Spring Training that year wearing their old maroon uniforms.  I seem to recall the Phillie Phanatic blowing up a safe during a pre-game ceremony containing the new uniforms and then proudly displayed the new duds to the excited crowd.  Little did we know that we'd have very little else to cheer throughout the upcoming season.  (However, with the exception of one pitch from Mitch Williams to Joe Carter, 1993 would turn out just fine.)

Dang Blogger label limitations mean that Stan Javier and Ricky Jordan won't be tagged in this post.  Sorry guys.

Scrapbook Sunday (Late Edition): December 4, 1991

1992 Fleer Update #U-109

The Phillies' off-season news so far has centered around whether or not the team would be willing to re-sign right fielder Jayson Werth.  There have been a few minor league signings, reliever Jose Contreras was re-signed and Juan Samuel was named the team's new third base coach.  Other than that, it's been fairly quiet so far.  Barring some out of nowhere blockbuster trade, I expect the Phillies to continue to tinker with their roster, but I don't expect anything major.

Back in November 1991, the Phillies had two major objectives - re-sign closer Mitch Williams and sign All-Star outfielder Bobby Bonilla.  I kept close watch on the Bonilla sweepstakes in November 1991, as I counted 13 pages in my scrapbook detailing the negotiations with Bonilla, his trip to Philadelphia, his visit to Lenny Dykstra's home, and his eventual signing with the New York Mets for $29 million over five years.  I, along with most everyone else, thought Bonilla would be the answer to all the Phillies' problems and that his signing would translate into an instant play-off berth for the team in 1992.  I was extremely disappointed when the Phils failed to land the slugger.

As we now know, the signing was a bust and Bonilla never recaptured the success he had with the Pirates' teams of the late '80s and early '90s.  This article recounts how Bonilla actually wore earplugs to the plate in late May 1992, in order to drown out the ubiquitous boo's that greeted him inside Shea Stadium.  Bonilla was traded to the Orioles part-way through the 1995 season, and he bounced around with the Marlins, Dodgers, back to the Mets, Braves and Cardinals before calling it a career following the 2001 season.

In retrospect, not signing Bonilla was one of the best moves the Phillies made in the early '90s.  With Bonilla officially a Met, the Phillies turned their attention to other free agents, eventually signing Mariano Duncan and re-signing Wild Thing.  They freed up enough money to cobble together several role players without homes following the '92 season, and an unexpected trip to the play-offs resulted in 1993.

1993 O-Pee-Chee #95 Mariano Duncan

1993 Phillies - The Bench

Uniform Number: 7
1993 Stats: In 124 games, Mariano hit .282 with 11 home runs, 26 doubles and 73 RBI. He played 65 games at second base and 59 games at shortstop.

1993 Notable: The Phils were 70-40 in games started by Mariano. He hit two dramatic grand slams during the year - May 9th in the 8th inning against the Cardinals for a 6-5 win and September 28th against the Pirates in the NL East division clincher. Mariano had an 18-game hit streak from late August until mid-September. He hit .345 in the World Series with 10 hits - a club record that still stands. (Jayson Werth had 8 hits in the 2008 World Series).

How Acquired: Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cincinnati Reds, December 10, 1991

Phillies Career: 1992-1995
How Departed: Selected off waivers by the Cincinnati Reds, August 8, 1995

Mariano Duncan enjoyed a 12-year Major League career with the Dodgers, Reds, Phillies, Reds again, Yankees and Blue Jays. He played in the 1990, 1993 and 1996 World Series - winning with the Reds and Yankees, but not with the Phils. He's currently the first base coach for the Dodgers.

1994 Phillies Team Issue Update #NNO Phillies All-Stars

The last time a Phillies manager had a hand in selecting the NL All-Stars was 1994 when Jim Fregosi led the NL squad. Fregosi took two of his own coaches to Pittsburgh that year - John Vukovich and Johnny Podres.

Mariano Duncan was the starting second baseman for the NL and he was joined by center fielder Lenny Dykstra, starting pitcher Danny Jackson and closer Doug Jones. Jones had replaced Mitch Williams as the team's closer after the two relievers were swapped for each other in December 1993.

This year, and as announced this afternoon, second baseman Chase Utley and outfielder Raul Ibañez (if healthy) will start for the NL All-Stars. Manager Charlie Manuel selected first baseman Ryan Howard to join the team - giving him three reserve first baseman to choose from on July 14th. Shane Victorino could (and should) become the 4th Phillie on the NL team if he wins the Final Vote.

I absolutely love the All-Star Game. Charlie, Chase, Raul, Ryan and hopefully the Flyin' Hawaiian will all receive 2009 Chachi All-Star cards.

1992 Medford Phillies #NNO Uniforms Through the Years

Prologue – 1992 Phillies

On the afternoon of April 7, 1992, the Phillies were playing the Cubs and introducing their new red pinstriped and blue accented retro-themed uniforms in their home opener. The maroon pinstripes and accompanying bubble "P" logo with the baseball in the middle had been burned into my brain since I was a wee lad. I was now a senior in high school. I wanted to see the new fancy uniforms in person. I needed to be there. So a few friends and I got tickets to the game. That in itself was not a bad choice.

Before heading to the game, we decided to stop by Wawa to pick up snacks. Not a bad choice per se, but probably not a wise choice. Things began to unravel for us when the secretary from the vice principal of discipline’s office was also in Wawa picking up her morning coffee.

Seeing as we were already blatantly guilty of truancy, some in our little group (the guilty shall remain nameless) thought it would be amusing to ride by our high school on the way to the game, horns-a-honking, waving and yelling out our sun roofs. This was a bad choice.

In retrospect, I’m still very glad I went to that game. Even though it resulted in a few days of in-school suspension, it was incredible to see those shiny new uniforms in person. Also, it was one of the best memories I have from the latter part of my senior year of high school, spent with good, good friends with whom I’ve unfortunately lost touch. (Seriously, these were a great bunch of guys).

The Opening Day giveaway was a poster (reproduced here in the Phillies’ annual team issued card set) depicting current players wearing different Phillies uniforms through the years. This poster has hung on one of my walls wherever I happened to be living from 1992 until now.

Change was in the air in 1992. The Phillies would finish last in the NL East and I found myself on foreign soil in North Carolina. The following year would be much better.