Those are the Breaks of the Past: Mid-Year Buck a Box TribeCards Break

A while back, Tribe Cards held a nice little group break involving some not so common as well as recent products.  The Phillies weren't represented in all of them (Topps Coins), but I joined in anticipation of some new cards for the collection.  It did not disappoint.

1987 Sportsflics Juan Samuel: He was a great talent (though flawed) in his day.  One of the first exciting players I remember watching as a kid.   Sportsflics was also a brand for which I had never seen a pack.  For a long time, they were grouped in my collection boxes as "special" cards, which meant anything I didn't find in the annual Beckett guide.

2011 Topps 60 Ryan Howard: Led the league in HRs with team trailing from 2006-2010.  He's done more than that for sure.

2011 Bowman Prospect Jarred Cosart: He's already been sent away in the Hunter Pence deal.  I at least got to see him pitch once live at the Futures game.  He has an amazing curveball, though based on his stats hasn't yet harnessed the command.  We'll see in three years how he turns out.

2011 Bowman Gold Shane Victorino: He has been the best position player on the Phillies this year and has turned into a real force.  I wish these gold parallels would be forced out of the Bowman production run....they were tired by 2002.

1987 Sportsflics Mike Schmidt: Awesome card, that is all....as he approaches his 500th HR that year.

2011 Bowman Finest Futures Domonic Brown: I already touched on him in the last post, but I will say it's almost reassuring that he can brought along so slowly.  When was the last time you heard a prospect was held back too long for the Phillies?  (in 2011, there was Desmond Jennings of the Rays for a suitable comparison)

2011 Bowman's Best Roy Halladay: Dare to dream? Back to Back CYs?  It's debateable.  Anyone else notice that these are nice cards?  They're not spectacularly superpremium like their forebears, but sometimes nice is good enough.

1987 Sportsflics Steve Bedrosian (and others):  One of the few relievers to win the Cy Young award.  My guess (without reading it) is that this is a record breaker card.  Anyone care to guess what the records were?  I definitely know two of them, for the Mattingly, it can also be a record-tying card if that's the one they chose to highlight.

Peanuts!: Lucy, you are the foil to everyone's Charlie Brown (though I still wouldn't pay you a nickel for Psychiatric advice).  Also, would you stop stealing Linus's blanket?  And why do you never just let Charlie Brown kick the football or at least throw it around?  Why don't you try managing the team for once and get a new pitcher?

Glad that's off my conscience....

Arrivals from The Great Tribe Card Giveaway

A couple months ago I was a fortunate recipient of the many boxes of cards that Dave of Indians, Baseball Cards, etc (That last part of his blog title changes a lot.) sent out. I asked for Phillies (as a rule), Athletics (to trade with neighbors), and Cardinals (because I have a soft spot for them from my time living in St. Louis). There were many, many cards. Here is a representation of some I found interesting.

1994 Score Kim Batiste: He is remembered for one thing only: game 1, 1993 NLCS.

1995 Sportsflix Darren Daulton: I miss the multi-images of Sportsflix (cs).

2003 Fleer Box Score Jimmy Rollins: The back of the card does have a memorable box score on the back of it. It's time to revitalize that concept...as an insert set.

1993 Stadium Club Ruben Amaro: The current Phillies GM flying around the Vet's bases.

1992 Fleer Dale Murphy: I was really excited the day Dale Murphy was traded to the Phillies in 1990. I was at my cousin's house in South Carolina and suddenly I had dreams of a 4th place finish dancing in my head.

1992 Donruss Tommy Greene: Celebration of the no-hitter from May 1991, an unprecedented second in 2 years for the Phillies' pitching staff (Terry Mulholland in August, 1990)

1990 Fleer Lenny Dykstra: Besides his current plight, I enjoyed watching Mr. Dykstra play. When I was in Little League, my goal was to get my baseball pants as dirty as possible.

1988 Score Juan Samuel: Turning two with a glorious purple border. 1988 Score was revolutionary in many ways.

1987 Donruss Chris James: One of many "Rated Rookies" who didn't become stars, though I remember him as a decent player with some power.

2008 SP Authentic Frank Thomas: The 2nd most popular player of the early 90s had one last great year with the A's.

2008 Upper Deck Heroes Bob Gibson: 1.12, 1968, that is all.

2005 Topps Mark Mulder (gold foil or something): Remember when he was one of the big 3 of Oakland? And the A's would be forever ruined by trading him for Dan Haren and Daric Barton? Well, it wasn't until later that they were ruined when they traded Dan Haren.

2001 Donruss Adam Piatt: So this is 2001 Donruss. It's starry and ugly.

2000 Topps Gold Label Class 2 Mark Mulder: This is just a nice card. I appreciate multiple photos on the front.

1999 Victory Mark McGwire: 1998 was a summer of home runs and unexpected Cardinal and Cub hugging.

1999 UD Hologrfx Eric Chavez: I am sad that Chavez's career is reaching a tragic end. He was one of the more talented players to emerge from the 1997 Bowman Chrome rookie class.

1999 Upper Deck Ben Grieve: I'm not sure how he made history here, but he won ROY in 1998. What ever happened to him?

1998 Skybox Miguel Tejada Little Dawgs: Words fail me.

1998 Pacific Omega AJ Hinch: The current Diamondbacks manager in his previous life. Did you know his rookie card in 1993 Topps Traded was once a sought after commodity?

1993 Topps Stadium Club Todd Van Poppel: A cautionary hype tale that everyone remembers.

1997 Leaf Brian Jordan: This was the first Leaf set released under the Pinnacle banner. Good base design; horrible inserts. (anyone remember fractal matrix, fractal materials, and fractal matrix diecuts?)

1993 Studio Gregg Jefferies: 5 years, $25 million to sign with the Phillies in 1995. Who wasn't surprised he didn't hit .343 again?

1992 Fleer Dennis Eckersley: Classic shot of a classic pitching motion.

1990 K-Mart Superstars Ozzie Smith: Look an unlicensed card. The pose reminds me of 2010 Upper Deck.

1990 Fleer World Series Card: These were inserted only in 1990 Fleer factory sets.

1988 Donruss Stan Musial puzzle card: I'm glad Donruss inserted these cards in these sets; otherwise we would never see the whole thing. How many puzzle piece doubles was it possible to get in a box?

1986 Topps Willie McGee: The reigning 1985 MVP who is also the only person to ever win a batting title in a league in which he did not finish the season (1990).

Thank you, Dave, for the fun cards to collate and sort through!