2016 Topps - Phillies Cards (So Far)

2016 Topps Update #US112

2016 Topps Update #US199

2016 Topps #154

2016 Topps Update #US300

My wife and kids purchased a 2016 Topps factory set for me for Christmas and while this year's flagship design isn't my favorite, I still enjoyed looking through the set.  I believe in the adage of "Once a Phillie, Always a Phillie" which is why as I was going through the set I found myself absent-mindedly setting aside the past, current and future Phillies.  I ended up with a nice little stack of cards and for no other reason than I find this stuff interesting and entertaining, here's a list of the cards with Phillies connections in the 2016 Topps factory set, with the cards from the Update series thrown in for good measure.

This list will grow in future years, and I'm including four players (marked with an *) who haven't officially suited up for the team yet.

At some point in the coming weeks, I'll take a closer look at the 2016 Topps Phillies cards.  Until then, this page links to all my past Topps Phillies posts.

National League East (33 - 5 without Phillies)
Atlanta Braves (2) - #82 Michael Bourn, #US271 Jeff Francoeur
Miami Marlins (0)
New York Mets (0)
Philadelphia Phillies (28)
Washington Nationals (3) - #266 Jonathan Papelbon, #342 Jayson Werth, #US112 Ben Revere

National League Central (3)
Chicago Cubs (0)
Cincinnati Reds (0)
Milwaukee Brewers (1) - #152 Kyle Lohse
Pittsburgh Pirates (1) - #169 Charlie Morton
St. Louis Cardinals (1) - #US199 Brandon Moss

National League West (7)
Arizona Diamondbacks (1) - #104 Jeremy Hellickson
Colorado Rockies (1) - #US82 Chad Qualls
Los Angeles Dodgers (3) - #351 Chase Utley, #US245 Howie Kendrick*, #US300 A.J. Ellis
San Diego Padres (1) - #163 Joaquin Benoit*
San Francisco Giants (1) - #154 Hunter Pence

2016 Topps #449

2016 Topps #622

2016 Topps #512

2016 Topps Update #US116

American League East (7)
Baltimore Orioles (1) - #6 Jimmy Paredes
Boston Red Sox (1) - #77 Clay Buchholz*
New York Yankees (0)
Tampa Bay Rays (0)
Toronto Blue Jays (5) - #349 Ben Revere, #449 J.A. Happ, #655 Domonic Brown, #US35 Joaquin Benoit*, #US179 Ezequiel Carrera

American League Central (0)
Chicago White Sox (0)
Cleveland Indians (0)
Detroit Tigers (0)
Kansas City Royals (0)
Minnesota Twins (0)

American League West (6)
Houston Astros (2) - #270 Pat Neshek*, #622 Ken Giles
Los Angeles Angels (0)
Oakland Athletics (1) - #512 Ryan Madson
Seattle Mariners (0)
Texas Rangers (3) - #588 Cole Hamels, #US38 Cole Hamels AS, #US116 Jake Diekman

Memory Lane

1970 Topps - 114 cards with Phillies connections
1973 Topps - 107 cards with Phillies connections
1979 Topps - 111 cards with Phillies connections, plus one more
1985 Topps - 153 cards with Phillies connections
1988 Topps - 154 cards with Phillies connections
2016 Topps - 56 cards with Phillies connections, as of 1/2/17

2011 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #18 Brandon Moss

Cardinals 4, Phillies 0
Game 29 - Thursday Afternoon, May 5th in St. Louis
Record - 16-13, Tied for 3rd Place, 3 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies will limp out of St. Louis after being shutout by Jamie Garcia and two Cardinals relievers, 4-0.

What It Means:  The Cardinals won the series and the Phillies scored a total of eight runs in these four games.

What Happened:  From the Phillies perspective, not much happened.  Brandon Moss hit a towering first inning home run off Jared Eickhoff and that was really all the Cardinals needed.  The offense had five hits and went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position.

2011 Chachi #53

Featured Cards:  Moss has made a nice career for himself, as he's now in his tenth big league season.  Moss had seemingly seen his best years come and go when the Phillies signed him to a minor league deal back in November 2010.  He played the majority of the 2011 season for the Triple-A IronPigs, earning him two official minor league baseball cards in my 2011 Phillies binder. Moss played only five games for the Phillies in 2011, good enough for a Chachi card, but not good enough in the Phillies opinion to bring him back for 2012.

He signed with the A's, found his swing, and enjoyed three straight seasons of hitting at least 20 home runs.  His best season was his sole All-Star season of 2014, when he finished the year with an even 30 home runs and 87 RBIs.  Moss played part of last season with the Indians before coming to the Cardinals in a deadline trade.  For more on Moss, here's a great article from Jim Salisbury from the 2014 All-Star Game.

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

The Newest Ex-Phillies

2011 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #20, 2011 Choice Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs Series 2 #20 and #19
and 2011 Multi-Ad Reading Phillies #25

Three players and a minor league manager joined the ranks of "Ex-Phillies" since the Phillies season ended.

Catcher Dane Sardinha elected free agency, according to Baseball America's minor league transactions for October 4th through 10th.  Sardinha appeared in 13 games with the Phillies in 2010 and in 15 games in 2011.  He hit .211 in 71 at-bats.  It was evident his tenure with the club had run its course when Erik Kratz was added in September as the team's third catcher instead of Sardinha.

Infielder Pete Orr and outfielder Brandon Moss were outrighted off the team's 40-man roster and both elected free agency.  Orr made it into 46 games with the Phillies, starting 22 games at second and two games at third.  He hit .219 with four RBIs.

Moss was a September call-up who made it into just five games with the Phils.  He went 0 for 6 with two strikeouts in his very brief time with the club.  With Triple-A Lehigh Valley, Moss hit .275 with a team-leading 23 home runs and 80 RBIs.

Former catcher Mark Parent spent the past two season managing in the Phillies minor league system.  He led the Class-A Lakewood BlueClaws to the South Atlantic League Championship in 2010 and he managed the Double-A Reading Phillies to a 74-68 record in 2011.  Parent was recently named the bench coach for the Chicago White Sox under new manager Robin Ventura.

Moving On
Dane Sardinha 10/10/11 - Elected free agency
Brandon Moss 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and elected free agency
Pete Orr 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and elected free agency

2011 Chachi #53 Brandon Moss

#24

Brandon Douglas Moss

Outfield

Bats: Left  Throws: Right  Height: 6'0"  Weight: 210

Born: September 16, 1983, Monroe, GA

Home: Loganville, GA

Drafted: Selected by Boston Red Sox in 8th round of June 2002 draft

Teams: Boston Red Sox 2007-2008, Pittsburgh Pirates 2008-2010, Phillies 2011-

Acquired: Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the Pittsburgh Pirates, November 22, 2010

Complete Topps Base Set Checklist:

2005 Topps #303 - Red Sox

2008 Topps Update #UH302 - Pirates

2009 Topps #104 - Pirates