2006 Topps 52 Signatures #52S-SM Scott Mathieson

Reliever Scott Mathieson was released yesterday and the story on the Phillies website declared that the release was granted so that Mathieson could "pursue an opportunity to pitch with a professional team in Asia."  I find that to be a little cryptic.  Is he headed to Japan?  South Korea?  Taiwan?  The wording makes it seem as if Mathieson doesn't actually have anything locked up yet, but he's going to travel to the continent and peddle his wares.

The Phils selected Mathieson in the June 2002 draft and he made it into 15 games with the team in 2006, 2010 and 2011.  Along the way he had three right elbow surgeries, including two Tommy John procedures.

Mathieson has been included within the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs' team sets over the past two seasons, but the Asia-bound righty hasn't appeared in a baseball card set as a Phillie since way back in 2006.

Moving On

Dane Sardinha (10-11) 10/10/11 - Filed for free agency

Brandon Moss (11) 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and filed for free agency

Brad Lidge (08-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Roy Oswalt (10-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Ross Gload (10-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Raul Ibanez (09-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Ryan Madson (03-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Jimmy Rollins (00-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Juan Perez (11) 11/2/11 - Became a minor league free agent

Scott Mathieson (06, 10-11) 11/29/11 - Released

Coming Back

Pete Orr (11) 11/3/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies as a minor league free agent with an invitation to Spring Training

Brian Schneider (10-11) 11/17/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies to a one-year contract

New Additions

Jim Thome (03-05) 11/5/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cleveland Indians

Jonathan Papelbon 11/14/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Boston Red Sox

Ty Wigginton 11/20/11 - Acquired with cash from the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named later or cash

2000 Phillies Team Issue #7 Terry Francona

The Ed Wade era in Houston ended over the weekend as the former Phillies GM was sent packing for the second time in his career.  With the new ownership in place, and due to a crappy overall performance over the past several seasons, it was time for the Astros to move in an Ed Wade-less direction.  Wade had been the team's general manager since September 2007.

My Dad and I always felt Wade got a bum rap in Philly.*  Hall of Famer Pat Gillick was at the helm when the Phillies finally cracked the postseason in 2007, but it was Wade who helped construct the core of that team and the 2008 World Champions.  Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Ryan Madson, Cole Hamels, Carlos Ruiz, Brett Myers and Pat Burrell were all drafted and developed during Wade's regime.  He hired Charlie Manuel to manage the team, and that's worked out pretty well too.

During his four-season run as the Astros GM, Wade was often criticized (chastised? mocked?) for populating his team with ex-Phillies.  He pulled off three blockbuster deals with his former team and his former mentee, Ruben Amaro, Jr.:

1.  November 8, 2007 - Traded Brad Lidge and Eric Bruntlett to the Phillies for Michael Bourn, Geoff Geary and Mike Costanzo.

2.  July 29, 2010 - Traded Roy Oswalt to the Phillies for J.A. Happ, Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar.

3.  July 29, 2011 - Traded Hunter Pence to the Phillies for Jonathan Singleton, Jarred Cosart, Josh Zeid and Domingo Santana.

Only time will tell if any of those prospects will pan out for the Astros.

I could be wrong, but I think the card featured here is the only instance of Ed Wade appearing on cardboard.  That's his head creeping out from behind Terry Francona.  Of course, both men are now unemployed, giving them plenty of time to get together and reminisce about the glory days of the 1997 to 2000 Phillies.  Or not.

*Don't get me wrong here.  His firing by the Phillies after the 2005 season was a necessity if the team was going to move forward.  I just think he deserves some credit for assembling the core of what has become a powerhouse team in the National League.

1986 Topps Phillies - Missing Links

There are 16 players who appeared with the Phillies in 1986 who didn't make it into either the Topps base set or the traded series so I've made 1986 Topps cards for all 16.  As far as I know, neither Jeff Bittinger or Tom Gorman ever had Phillies cards - either mainstream or in the team-issued Tastykake sets - and if and when I ever have the free time to take a crash course in graphic design, I'm going to go back and fix their cards.

Most of the pictures I used for these cards are from the 1986 or 1987 Tastykake Phillies sets or from the 1986 Phillies Yearbook.

PR1

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1986 Topps Phillies

1986 Topps #200, #420, #736 and #475

As the Phillies continued their downward slide in 1986, I was stunned when several of my friends switched their allegiances from the Phils to other teams.  Most of these friends went on to become (gasp!) Mets fans.  Honestly, I still don't get it.  How do people just up and switch teams like that?  Sure, the Phillies of the mid to late-'80s were just plain awful, but to quickly leave behind your white and maroon for blue and orange?  The only good thing to come of this was that suddenly everyone wanted Mets cards and they were more than happy to trade away their Phillies for my Mets doubles.

I've lost touch over the years with most of my sixth grade friends, but I've wondered recently if they've since switched back to rooting for the Phillies.  The bandwagon started getting crowded again right around 2007.

1986 Topps #420 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  For the fifth year in a row, Topps included 792 cards in its base set and added another 132 to the boxed traded set.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  1986 Topps cards were everywhere then and to an extent, they still are.  I think I could open any drawer in my house today and find a few 1986 Topps cards.  I loved the half-black border when the cards first came out, although I started to get sick of the design once I needed two 800-count boxes to house my doubles.

Notable competition:  Fleer and Donruss cards were also everywhere.  I'm not sure when the "junk wax" era officially began, but solely based on the pure amount of doubles in my collection between the years 1986 and 1989, I'm going to say the era began right around 1986.  Sportflics made its debut in 1986.  In order to buy packs of Sportflics though, we had to haul it over to the 7-11 way across town.

1986 Phillies

Record and finish:  The second place finish was nice and the 86-75 record was pretty good, but the Phils still finished 21 1/2 games behind those pesky Mets.

Key players:  This would be Mike Schmidt's last MVP-caliber season.  After moving back to third base, he won the National League MVP for the third and final time while hitting 37 home runs and driving in 119 with a .290 average.  Von Hayes took over at first and contributed 19 home runs, 98 RBIs and a .305 average in what was probably his finest season.  Juan Samuel (.266, 16 home runs, 78 RBIs, 42 stolen bases) and Glenn Wilson (.271, 15 home runs, 84 RBIs) also enjoyed fine years at the plate.  Rookie Bruce Ruffin was tasked with replacing a future Hall of Famer in the rotation, after Steve Carlton was released.  The future looked bright for the young Texan, as Ruffin compiled a 9-4 record in 21 starts with a 2.46 ERA.  The newly acquired Steve Bedrosian saved 29 games while Kent Tekulve appeared in 73 games as a solid set-up reliever.

Key events:  In mid-December 1985, the Phils traded Ozzie Virgil to the Braves for Bedrosian and Milt Thompson and then dealt John Denny to the Reds a day later for Tom Hume and Gary Redus.  Garry Maddox retired in May and Carlton was released in June, truly signaling the end of an era.  

1986 Topps #392, #453, 1986 Topps Traded #90T and #112T

1986 Phillies in 1986 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 32 Phillies cards in the regular set (same as 1985), but only 4 Phillies cards in the traded series, for a total of 36 cards.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards

#392 John Russell (c), #420 Von Hayes (1b), #475 Juan Samuel (2b), #453 Steve Jeltz (ss), #200 Mike Schmidt (3b), #90T Gary Redus (lf), #112T Milt Thompson (cf), #736 Glenn Wilson (rf)

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 4 cards

#764 Kevin Gross, #361 Shane Rawley, #792 Charles Hudson, #120 Steve Carlton

Ruffin would have to wait for the 1987 Topps set for his first Topps card, although he appeared in the 1986 Sportflics Rookies set.

1986 Topps #764, #361, #792 and #120

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 1986 - 14 cards

#16 Rick Schu, #39 Dave Rucker, #69 Luis Aguayo, #183 Larry Andersen, #264 Darren Daulton, #302 Greg Gross, #326 Kent Tekulve, #466 Tom Foley, #532 Don Carman, #585 Garry Maddox, #686 Jeff Stone, #689 Dave Stewart, #7T Steve Bedrosian, #47T Tom Hume

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1986 - 6 cards (with new teams listed)

#95 Ozzie Virgil (Braves), #158 Derrel Thomas (Retired), #418 Alan Knicely (Cardinals), #505 Jerry Koosman (Retired), #556 John Denny (Reds), #664 Tim Corcoran (Mets)

• Phillies cards within The Pete Rose Years subset - 2 cards, #6 and #7

Charlie Hustle's 1980, 1981 and 1982 Topps cards are featured on card #6 and his 1983 and 1984 Topps cards are on card #7.

• Phillies Leaders card - 1 card, #246

Carlton is pictured as the Dean of the Phillies on this card for his continuous service with the team since his acquisition from the Cardinals back in February 1972.  This would be a cool subset for Topps to resurrect.

• Manager card - 1 card, #621 John Felske

1986 Topps #686, #16, 1986 Topps Traded #7T and 1986 Topps #326

Who’s out:  The big oversight is Ruffin, but Topps can probably be forgiven for not including the rookie in its traded set.  Ruffin came out of nowhere in '86, never having pitched above Double-A before his call-up in late June.  Ron Roenicke appeared in 102 games with the Phillies and while he merited a Phillies card in Fleer's Update set, Topps left him out of its traded set.  Catcher Ronn Reynolds (43 games) and pitchers Mike Maddux (16 starts, 3-7 record) and Dan Schatzeder (25 games, 1 save) should have also merited some consideration for inclusion within the Topps Traded set.

1986 Topps #63

Phillies on other teams:  There are eight cards in the 1986 Topps set featuring members of the 1986 Phillies squad on different teams.  First, the four players who ended up as Phillies in the traded set - #342 Gary Redus (Reds), #517 Milt Thompson (Braves), #573 Tom Hume (Reds), #648 Steve Bedrosian (Braves).  And the four players who didn't make it - #63 Ron Roenicke (Giants), #324 Dan Schatzeder (Expos), #414 Tom Gorman (Mets), #649 Ronn Reynolds (Mets).

What’s he doing here:  Thomas was granted free agency back in mid-November 1985, but he still had a card in the base Topps set.

Cards that never were candidates:  Ruffin, Roenicke, Reynolds, Maddux and Schatzeder should have cards, as should one of my personal favorites - Greg Legg.  Legg appeared in 11 games for the Phillies in 1986, going 9 for 20.  He's a life-long Phillie who is still in the organization today.  In 2011, he completed his 30th season within the organization as he served as a coach for the Single-A Lakewood BlueClaws.  He'll be back for his 31st season in 2012.

1986 Topps #246

Favorite Phillies card:  Wilson looks super mid-'80s suave with his stubble and shades, but I loved Kevin Gross' card as a kid.  I remember the Phillies had a flip-up sunglasses give-away day at The Vet, and I made sure my Dad got us tickets so that I could emulate Kevin Gross.  Ah, youth.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Schmidt's card appears as a reprint in the 2010 Cards Your Mother Threw Out insert set.

Blogs/Websites:  The 1986 Topps Blog launched in March and it's been fun so far to follow along.  As much as I saw these cards when I was younger, I had forgotten there are some truly great cards within the set.  

Did You Know?:  49-year-old Jamie Moyer, who hopes to latch on with a team this spring and pitch in the Majors this season, made his Major League debut back on June 16, 1986 against the Phillies.  He earned the victory against Steve Carlton in what would be Lefty's penultimate appearance with the franchise.

2011 Topps Update #US100 Cliff Lee

I've been somewhat lax over the past few months in updating my 2011 Phillies Wantlist.  Whole sets have been released that I didn't even realize existed until I started the process of updating my list late on Thanksgiving night as my wife was preparing to bust down several doors.  (She had a very successful Black Friday Eve/Day, by the way.  She's very meticulous in putting together her shopping plan of attack.  It's actually kind of impressive.)

After the hoopla surrounding the releases of Topps Allen & Ginter, Gypsy Queen, Heritage and Lineage, the Finest, Topps Marquee, Tier One and Bowman Chrome releases all arrived with little to no fanfare (at least as far as I'm concerned).  I read quite a few baseball card blogs, and I don't recall having seen any examples of or discussions concerning Topps Tier One.  Although I've largely ignored the late summer/fall releases so far, I did manage to pick up a Phillies team set from the Topps Update release, which includes the Cliff Lee card featured here.

All of this is a round about way of announcing that my 2011 Phillies Wantlist is now up to date.  The remaining card release calendar for 2011 shows just one licensed product yet to arrive (Bowman Sterling), so this list is all but complete at this point.  Please let me know if you have any of these cards available for trade or ready to go to a good home.

1958 Topps #145 Ed Bouchee

I have just a quick post today, as I continue to recover from way too much turkey.

This card recently caught my eye from the fine Cards That Never Were blog.  I profiled the 1958 Topps Phillies cards way back in February and I noted that Ed Bouchee's card had to be pulled from the set due to Bouchee's off-field indiscretions.

Uncle John's Band created the missing Bouchee card and featured it on his blog on Wednesday.  It's the first time I've ever seen anyone attempt the missing card and he did a wonderful job with it.

So if you're looking for a pleasant diversion today as you recover from turkey overload too, please check out some of the other wonderful creations over at Cards That Never Were.

2010 Topps Turkey Red #TR23 Mike Schmidt

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  May your day be filled with family, fun and turkey.  I have just a few blog housekeeping notes on this day of thanks:

I recently added a page to the blog that will serve as the gateway to all my Topps Phillies posts.  I found myself going back to these posts more than once as I prepared new Topps Phillies posts, and I thought a table of contents page would be a good idea.  I even got semi-tech-savvy with the lay-out, using HTML coding to arrange the cards in a table format.  I like the way the page turned out, if I do say so myself.  (I've included a screen grab at the bottom of this post.)

In the coming months, I'm going to revamp my Wantlists page using the same format.  Prior to the start of Spring Training, I hope to add wantlists for pre-war Phillies cards and older Phillies oddball cards.  My recent first purchase of a tobacco card has made me realize that these cards aren't completely out of reach, as long as VG or worse condition isn't an issue.  Maybe I'll even try to track down some of the original Phillies Turkey Red cards from 1911.  Also, at long last, I hope to put together my wantlists for 2003-2005 Phillies cards.  I've largely ignored those years up to this point in my collecting journeys.

Finally, I'm going to continue on with my Topps Phillies posts, which I try to post every Sunday morning.  Getting the 1986 Topps Phillies post up by this Sunday may be a challenge however, as I fully intend to eat myself into a turkey coma.

New & Improved Topps Phillies Page - Just in time for the holidays!

1969 Topps Stamps Phillies

Whenever I receive baseball cards in a trade, the stuff that truly wows me are the oddball cards included within the package.  The old Topps cards are great, and I'll definitely spend plenty of time studying and appreciating them, but it's cool to receive something that you've never really seen before.  I already featured the three Exhibits cards received in my trade with John, but I also received several much smaller oddball items in the magic box as well.

John sent three stamps from the 1969 Topps Stamps set along with a unused Phillies Stamp Album.  I sure do wish Topps would issue more items like this today.  I have two boys under the age of five, and both of them love anything to do with stickers.  I'd gladly plunk down a few dollars for a pack of 2012 Topps Stamps if it meant I could help my boys with "their" collections.  Topps took a step in the right direction with their sticker set in 2011, but I'd like to see them bring back stamp sets too.  But I digress.

There are ten Phillies stamps included within the 1969 set, and the first page of the stamp album offers a helpful Table of Contents for those young collectors who couldn't be bothered to just flip through the seven pages of the booklet to find a certain player.  I'll be leaving my three new stamps loose and I'll be on the look-out for the seven remaining Phillies stamps in the set.

Thanks again John!

2012 Chachi Transactions #3 Ty Wigginton

On Sunday night, the Phillies acquired infielder/outfielder/right-handed-bat-off-the-bench-guy Ty Wigginton from the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named later or cash.  The move puts the Phillies roster at a full forty men and perhaps ends the team's pursuit of free agent Michael Cuddyer.  It seems as if the Phils have coveted Wigginton for a while now, as his name always comes up at trade deadline time as a potential right-handed bat for the team.  Wigginton will see time at both first and third, spelling Ryan Howard and Placido Polanco who could both start the season on the disabled list.

With a new closer on board and a new and improved bench in place, the Phillies will now begin the task of figuring out who their shortstop is going to be in 2012.

Moving On

Dane Sardinha (10-11) 10/10/11 - Filed for free agency

Brandon Moss (11) 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and filed for free agency

Brad Lidge (08-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Roy Oswalt (10-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Ross Gload (10-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Raul Ibanez (09-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Ryan Madson (03-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Jimmy Rollins (00-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Juan Perez (11) 11/2/11 - Became a minor league free agent

Coming Back

Pete Orr (11) 11/3/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies as a minor league free agent with an invitation to Spring Training

Brian Schneider (10-11) 11/17/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies to a one-year contract

New Additions

Jim Thome (03-05) 11/5/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cleveland Indians

Jonathan Papelbon 11/14/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Boston Red Sox

Ty Wigginton 11/20/11 - Acquired with cash from the Colorado Rockies for a player to be named later or cash

2011 Chachi #70 Placido Polanco HL

Placido Polanco won his third career Gold Glove a few weeks ago - his first as a third baseman after winning two with the Tigers as a second baseman.  He made only eight errors all year at third.  Polanco became the first Phillies third baseman to win the award since Scott Rolen won in 1998, 2000 and 2001.  Of course, Polanco has a few more to go before he'll match the ten Gold Gloves won by Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt.

Shane Victorino's streak of Gold Gloves was stopped at three as the Dodgers' Matt Kemp won the award as the best fielding center fielder this year.

1985 Topps Phillies

1985 Topps #500, #454, #265 and #611

Name just about any Topps Phillies card from the 1980's and I can close my eyes and picture it in my head.  I wonder if the same could be said about kids and baseball cards today?  I sincerely hope there's some young collector out there who will one day have the same nostalgic memories about the Topps sets from the 2010s as I do about any Topps set from the 1980s.  

Go ahead and queue up "We Are the World," as we're about to look back to 1985.

1985 Topps #265 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  Once again, it's a 792-card set with a 132-card traded set added at the end of the year.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but I loved this set.  Team logos on the fronts of cards always make me happy and this set had a bunch of really cool subsets.  Had I not gone with the 1979 Topps design for the 2012 Chachi set (for sentimental reasons), the 1985 Topps design probably would have been chosen.

Notable competition:  1985 was the first year that I remember packs of Topps, Fleer and Donruss being readily available at our Wawa.  My Dad would bring home a pack or two or three upon each and every of his Wawa visits, and I was able to put together two complete Topps sets.  I collected the entire Fleer set as well, and I'm somewhat close to a second Fleer set.  (I believe Santa brought me the 1985 Donruss set.)  As kids, we loved the black borders on the Donruss cards and the gray borders on the Fleer cards.  Topps must have had a focus group of kids in place somewhere, as they decided to go with a partial black border with its 1986 issue.

1985 Phillies

Record and finish:  New manager John Felske led the Phils to a 75-87 record - the team's worst record since 1973.  They finished in fifth place, 26 games behind the Cardinals.

Key players:  By his own high standards, Mike Schmidt had an off year, hitting .277 with 33 home runs and 93 RBIs.  His ill-fated switch over to first base to make room for up-and-comer Rick Schu may have had something to do with his slight offensive drop.  Glenn Wilson led the team with 102 RBIs as his "Glennbo" commercials hit the airwaves.  Ozzie Virgil and Juan Samuel each had 19 home runs.  Steve Carlton was at the beginning of the end, as he went 1-8 with a 3.33 ERA in just 16 starts.  Kevin Gross led the pitching staff with 15 wins, followed by Shane Rawley's 13.  Kent Tekulve, acquired in a late April trade from the Pirates for Al Holland, led the team with 14 saves.

Key events:  One of the sole highlights of the season was the team's demolishing of the Mets on June 11th by a score of 26-7.  I highlighted the game in a previous Scrapbook Sunday post.  In what seemed like an earth-shaking trade at the time, the Phillies traded catcher Bo Diaz to the Reds in August for Tom Foley, Alan Knicely and Fred Toliver.

1985 Topps Traded #62T, #104T, 1985 Topps #476 and #68

1985 Phillies in 1985 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 32 Phillies cards in the regular set and another 7 in the traded set, for a total of 39 1985 Topps Phillies cards.  That's a seven-card drop from 1984.

Who’s in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards

#611 Ozzie Virgil (c), #500 Mike Schmidt (1b), #265 Juan Samuel (2b), #62T Steve Jeltz (ss), #104T Rick Schu (3b), #476 Jeff Stone (lf), #68 Von Hayes (cf), #454 Glenn Wilson (rf)

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 5 cards

#325 John Denny, #584 Kevin Gross, #636 Shane Rawley, #379 Charles Hudson, #15 Jerry Koosman

1985 Topps #325, #584, #636 and #379

• Base cards of other players who played with the Phillies in 1985 - 14 cards

#39 John Wockenfuss, #117 Greg Gross, #185 Al Holland, #235 Garry Maddox, #302 Tim Corcoran, #360 Steve Carlton, #428 Larry Andersen, #663 Luis Aguayo, #737 Bo Diaz, #763 Kiko Garcia, #16T Don Carman, #98T Dave Rucker, #117T Kent Tekulve, #121T Derrel Thomas

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1985 - 7 cards (with new teams listed)

#130 Al Oliver (Dodgers), #157 Tug McGraw (Retired), #209 Bill Campbell (Cardinals), #531 Joe Lefebvre (Injured), #556 Sixto Lezcano (Pirates), #688 Len Matuszek (Blue Jays), #791 Ivan DeJesus (Cardinals)

• Phillies appearing on Record Breaker cards - 1 card, #8 Juan Samuel
• Phillies appearing on Father-Son cards - 1 card, #143 Ozzie Virgil
• Phillies appearing on National League All Star cards - 1 card, #714 Mike Schmidt
• Manager cards - 2 cards, #92 Paul Owens and #33T John Felske

1985 Topps #235, #302, #360 and 1985 Topps Traded #16T

Who’s out:  Phillies farm hands John Russell and Darren Daulton were again excluded from the Topps set, despite playing in 81 and 36 games respectively.  Reliever Dave Shipanoff appeared in 26 games with the club, but he didn't merit a card in the traded series either.  (Daulton made his debut in the 1985 Fleer Update set.)

Phillies on other teams:  There are three players who eventually made it as Phillies in the traded set - #125 Kent Tekulve (Pirates), #421 Dave Rucker (Cardinals) and #448 Derrel Thomas (Expos).  And three players who didn't make it - #57 Pat Zachry (Dodgers), #107 Tom Foley (Reds) and #723 Dave Stewart (Rangers)

What’s he doing here:  I don't have any qualms with the player selection.  McGraw receives a well-deserved final tribute card, as the lefty reliever had announced his retirement over the winter.  I guess Lezcano could have been replaced with another Phillie - he had become a free agent way back in November 1984.

Cards that never were candidates:  I've already shown off the ten cards that never were, but the four truly deserving players are Russell, Daulton, Shipanoff and Foley, who didn't join the club until August.

Favorite Phillies card:  Teke's first Topps Phillies card with The Vet in the background is very cool, but Wilson was a fan favorite in '85 and I have to go with his card.  Samuel's card receives an honorable mention.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  I'm sure I'm missing something here, but I can't find any instances where Topps has re-used this design for a Phillies card.  I tweaked the design with the team's modern colors for a Chachi Prototype card a few years ago.

Blogs/Websites:  Watch this space.  Night Owl has recently announced the creation of a 1985 Topps blog, set to debut in January 2012.  Totally awesome.

Did You Know?:  The big collecting hub-bub in the summer of '85 were the Team USA cards included as a subset within the 1985 Topps set.  No one in my young collecting circle was chasing the Mark McGwire card yet.  We were more interested in the cards of Oddibe McDowell, Cory Snyder and local product John Marzano.  Not one of the 15 players featured in the subset ever played for the Phillies, although Marzano played a year in the Phillies minor league system before becoming a very popular local sports personality.  Sadly, Marzano passed away in 2008 at the way too young age of 45.
Did You Know? Bonus:  I only just noticed this while placing cards from the base set next to cards from the traded series.  Topps tilted the Phillies logo a little to the right for the traded set.  I find that very strange and fascinating.

1985 Topps #8, #714, #92 and 1985 Topps Traded #33T

New to the 40-Man Roster

2010 Topps Pro Debut #424, 2010 Bowman Prospects #BP19,
2010 Bowman Sterling Prospects #BSP-SV and 2011 Multi-Ad Reading Phillies #7

The Phillies added four players to their 40-man roster yesterday, protecting them from the upcoming Rule 5 draft, to be held next month - righty Phillippe Aumont, lefty Jake Diekman, catcher Sebastian Valle and outfielder Tyson Gillies.

Aumont and Gillies comprise two-thirds of the return on the ill-fated Cliff Lee deal with the Mariners.  The decision to trade away Lee, who would come back to the Phils as a free-agent, was made to free up cash and re-stock the farm system.  If either Aumont and Gillies end up playing a key role with the Phillies, maybe, just maybe, the Lee deal will be considered to have been somewhat worthwhile.

Aumont split 2011 between Double-A and Triple-A, pitching 43 games in relief with a 2.68 ERA.  He struck out 78 while walking only 25 and he allowed just 2 home runs over 53 2/3 innings pitched.  Aumont was recently ranked the 5th best prospect in the Phillies system by Baseball America and he's got a real shot at breaking camp with the Phils in March.  Gillies missed all but three games of the 2011 season with a combination hamstring/groin/hip injury.

Catcher Sebastian Valle, number three on the Baseball America list, has been in the Phillies system for five seasons, but he has yet to play above Single-A.  In just 91 games at Clearwater last year, he hit .284 with 5 home runs.

Left-hander Jake Diekman has emerged pretty much out of nowhere.  He spent 2011 with Double-A Reading, pitching to a 3.05 ERA over 53 relief appearances.  His strikeout to walk ratio was too high (83 to 44), but he's had a fairly successful campaign in the Arizona Fall League.  As of yesterday, Diekman had appeared in 11 games for the Scottsdale Scorpions where he has a 0.79 ERA and 2 saves.

2010 Topps 206 Mini Framed Autographs #TA-BS Brian Schneider

Shows you what I know.  In a post not yet three weeks old, I declared that Phillies back-up catcher Brian Schneider was "definitely gone" after filing for free agency.  Yesterday, the Phils re-signed the 34-year-old catcher to a one-year deal to again back up Carlos Ruiz and serve as Vance Worley's personal catcher.

Schneider has been all but ignored by Topps during his tenure with the team.  He's had cards in the 2010 and 2011 team issued sets (both series), but his only other Phillies card since 2010 is this autographed insert from the 2010 Topps T206 set.

Moving On

Dane Sardinha (10-11) 10/10/11 - Filed for free agency

Brandon Moss (11) 10/17/11 - Outrighted to Lehigh Valley and filed for free agency

Brad Lidge (08-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Roy Oswalt (10-11) 10/24/11 - Team option declined

Ross Gload (10-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Raul Ibanez (09-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Ryan Madson (03-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Jimmy Rollins (00-11) 10/30/11 - Filed for free agency

Juan Perez (11) 11/2/11 - Became a minor league free agent

Coming Back

Pete Orr (11) 11/3/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies as a minor league free agent with an invitation to Spring Training

Brian Schneider (10-11) 11/17/11 - Re-signed by the Phillies to a one-year contract

New Additions

Jim Thome (03-05) 11/5/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cleveland Indians

Jonathan Papelbon 11/14/11 - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Boston Red Sox

1947-1966 Exhibits Phillies

I recently completed another trade with John, a reader of this blog and a fellow Phillies baseball card collector.  Solely based on the Phillies doubles he has available and the impressive nature of his wantlists, I imagine that John's Phillies baseball card collection must be amazing.  He recently put together his Phillies wantlists from the 2000s, and I was more than happy to help him out with his pursuit of new-ish Phillies cards.

In return, I got a whole mess of old-ish Phillies cards.  Most of the older Phillies cards are in lesser condition, but John did a great job pointing out their minor flaws before shipping them along to me.  Frankly, I've become less and less condition-sensitive as I get older (and wiser) and I was thrilled to add a bunch of Phillies cards from the '50s, '60s and '70s to my collection.

Three of the cards in John's package were my first "Exhibit" cards.  I wasn't familiar with these cards, so a bit of research was in order.  According to the Standard Catalog, the Exhibit Supply Co. of Chicago released these oversized cards between 1947 and 1966, issuing some of the same cards over several years in a row in some instances.  All told, there are 336 unnumbered variations of these cards produced over the twenty-year span.

I found this handy dating chart, which helped me determine that the Del Ennis card was most likely first issued in 1947.  The "MADE IN U.S.A." on the bottom right is exactly a half inch across.  The Richie Ashburn card is actually an error variation (his first name is misspelled on the card) and was first issued in 1950.  On both the Ashburn card and the Whiz Kids team card, "MADE IN U.S.A." is exactly 7/16th of an inch across.  (Click on any of the cards to enlarge.)

I scanned the complete 336-card checklist and there appears to be at least two dozen (maybe more) Phillies in the 1947-1966 Exhibits set.  (Hopefully 14,000 Phillies will insert a comment to this post with a Phillies checklist - hint, hint.)

Thanks again for the trade John!