Baseball Card Blogs

Baseball Card Blogs » Phungo http://baseballcardblogs.org Posts from the Best Baseball Card Blogs on the Net Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:45:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 2012 Topps Live in the 19355 http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/02/2012-topps-live-in-19355.html http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/02/2012-topps-live-in-19355.html#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:39:00 +0000 deal http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=f7897e2c2e690ed79516a4bbf88d9ee6
First Card of 2012

The first card of the year is a stinking Yankee, but at least it is a future HoF.

First Phil

Left Handed SetUp Guy Antonio Bastardo. One advantage to Photgraphing these cards is that in some scans I have seen the last name is unreadable on a scan - the black background hurts them. The Red Parallells are a Target Exclusive I think and are related to...

The Box

I have no idea what this configuration is called - I have seen them for a while, but never bought one. I assumed they had packs in them. But it is just a single brick of cards.

Until I hear differently I will refer to these as KindlePacks - although I am sure this is much bigger then an iPad Nook or Kindle. Apparently 2012 Topps Series 1 Blasters do not carry relics or Autos. According to the KindlePack odds there is a 1 in million chance of getting one in these boxes.

The Target I went to in Malvern PA only had 2 configurations of Cards, these Kindle Packs and Blasters. No Lose packs.

For me or anyone colecting base cards the KindlePack seems to be better then blaster. The KindlePack has 72 cards vs 81 in the blaster - 80 + 1 Manupatch card. No gauranteeed Patch Card in the KindlePack, but it costs only half as much for almost as many cards.

If you look at the top right of the KindlePack you see a price of $9.99, but when the shrinkwrap is removed a price of $10.49 is displayed. not sure how Topps screwed that up, but I am glad to see somebody had the good sense to figure out that $9.99 sure looks a lot cheaper then $10.49.

Ok I wanted to get a couple of quick images up. enjoy. will try and post a more comprehensive review later.

]]> http://phungo.blogspot.com/feeds/7761239612437144682/comments/default 0 Phun Cards and a Phungo Challenge http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/phun-cards-and-phungo-challenge.html http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/phun-cards-and-phungo-challenge.html#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:42:00 +0000 deal http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=99b78c849994563282434fc794300d49 Phun Cards is a new feature that we are going to try running here at Phungo. There have been numerous series that have been started here and never quite finished or returned to at all. Like everyone here, I have a bit of ADHD and bunches of ideas dance around my brain and don't make it to the page or only do in a half-ass way.

Well today I want to introduce one of those ideas.....and see where it goes.

I am hoping that Phun Cards can be our version of the ~~Cardboard Appreciation~~ err I mean CA feature. Typically single cards that are interesting for one reason or another. I would also like to bring Hall of Fame profile back and make it part of Phun Cards.

Enough blabbing - Here is the first ever Phun Card

2000 Topps Stadium Club #148 Pat Burrell

yeah yeah I know, gotta get the scanner hooked up. not a priority - I have all this house stuff to do and all these important twitter feeds to follow. And it's a shame because this is a pretty decent looking action shot from way back at the turn of the century. Stadium Club has always had banging photography - in 2008 I think it may have come at the expense of Topps Flagship product which had horrid photos.

This card features a young Pat Burrell at the other end of his career which appears to be coming to an end. We also have a pretty decent guest star on the card in the Person of Andruw Jones. Amazingly Jones had already been in the league 4 years and will likely bookend Burrell's career by playing for the Yankees this season.

Phungo Challenge

It is a Friday and you read this far because you really don't feel like working so here is your Phungo Phriday Challenge ....

I have always wanted to do this - Ok all you Baseball-Reference junkies - you know where we are going here: What day was this game played?

]]> http://phungo.blogspot.com/feeds/5933069404722469388/comments/default 0 2011 Phungo Cards – Prince Fielder http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/2011-phungo-cards-prince-fielder.html http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/2011-phungo-cards-prince-fielder.html#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:33:00 +0000 deal http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=c8c6c4a058de9e89f3fb45d3fe7526fd This is not a new 2012 Phungo card. This Prince Fielder card is from last years set.

Not sure if Prince will stick at 1b after his move to the AL. Perhaps he will DH for the Tigers.

2011 Phungo #30 Prince Fielder

I kind of like this one, it isn't an action shot or anything like that. But anytime I can get a decent pix of a all-star player I am happy.

Glad to have Prince out of the NL, but always liked him - may have to add the Tigers to my Orioles Todo list for this summer.

etc

If you want to see a fantastic video of a pack rip of Phungo Cards check out this posting by dayf over at Cardboard Junkie. I absolutely love it and believe all Phungo Cards should be opened in such fashion.

]]> http://phungo.blogspot.com/feeds/2321889896574975448/comments/default 0 Happy New Year – Year of the Dragon http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-new-year-year-of-dragon.html http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-new-year-year-of-dragon.html#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:22:00 +0000 deal http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=e056cb2a7c40969a0bdc0c97f3a6c404

1940 Ron Santo
1964 Barry Larkin

We start out with this years Hall of Fame inductees Ron Santo and Barry Larkin, Pretty cool Larkin card - Cooperstown Collection issued 2 decades prior to his actual election. Like Santo, Willie Stargell is also a 1940 Dragon and a Hall of Famer.

1976 Pat Burrell

It is starting to appear as if Pat the Bat will not hook up with a team for 2012. He had a mixed career in Philadelphia, but won a World Championship in the end and then went on to win another championship with the Giants in 2010. Pretty nice finish. Form Phil Randy Wolf is also a Dragon from the 1976 birth year.

1952 Fred Lynn
1988 Clayton Kershaw

Our next pair of Dragons features young Phenoms. Well Fred Lynn was a young Phenom when he won both the Rookie of the Year and MVP award in the same year (1975). Clayton Kershaw is of course the reigning Cy Young award winner. Fellow Dodger Dee Gordon is also a class of 1988 Dragon.

1916 Enos Slaughter
1928 Billy Martin

These two are both Fiery Dragons. I picked up the 57 Topps Slaughter card out of a 3 for a dollar bin a few years back - of course that is because the back is marred to the point of being non-existent. Billy Martin's longtime teammate Whitey Ford was also born in 1928.

1880 Christy Mathewson
1904 Chuck Klein

We finish with a couple of retro cards of Hall of Famers who played in the first half of the previous century. The Mathewson card is from the Great Ones insert series of 2011 Gypsy Queen. Chuck Klein comes from a 1970s Fleer issue.

1964 Dragons
I just wanted to note that the 64 Dragons are quite the PED class and include Canseco, Palmiero, and Bonds.]]> http://phungo.blogspot.com/feeds/9146189849589472888/comments/default 0 Minis morph into much more http://nightowlcards.blogspot.com/2012/01/minis-morph-into-much-more.html http://nightowlcards.blogspot.com/2012/01/minis-morph-into-much-more.html#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:10:00 +0000 night owl http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=0cbce9a7fea01ba9a31f45b63e641eff

When I was executing my big card purchase a couple of weeks ago, I actually wrote out a plan of attack, much like I do at a card show. Normally, I don't do that for shopping online -- which gets me into trouble periodically. But I just have this attitude about online shopping. I want it to be just like how I shop in stores -- go, get item, pay, leave. Unfortunately, with the online route, there's too much oh-let-me-compare-this-with-that-and-how-much-is-that-and-what-about-this-and-oh-there's-something-about-this-here-and-if-I-combine-this-with-AHHHAAAHHHH-STOP IT!!

But I made my list anyway and it worked out fairly well.

One item right up there with my card goals for the year are 1975 Topps minis. But I left it off this shopping list. That's because so many good people have said they think they have some minis to send me. I'm not going to order minis and then wait for dupes to arrive in the mailbox. I'll just wait until my collecting buddies ship something and then I'll get to work on filling in blanks.

Some of the minis have started to arrive. The first one was from Paul at Wrigley Wax. He had the one card of Glenn Abbott, future expansion Mariner. I gratefully accepted and now #591 has been scribbled off the list.

The next group of minis came from Paul at Phungo headquarters.

They're so, so, pretty.

A few have creases and markings, but all of them are just right for my mini collection. I'm not anywhere close to upgrading mode with this set. The John D'Acquisto -- even though he's a Giant -- is especially appreciated as his regular-sized card is one of the cards that I pulled from the first packs I ever purchased. Those minis get top priority.

But Phungo's package, of course, contained much more than minis. It's that time of year for Phungo cards, which always beat Topps to store shelves. Let's see what I got in my pack:

I like the design this year. Here is a very '70s/'80s-type card photo of Cliff Lee. Smart move taking a picture without his cap. The guy sure moves around a lot.

The scanner cut off the left edge of Billingsley here. The Dodgers really need Bills this season, because I don't like the looks of their rotation.

Oh, dear, is this what the Dodgers have become? Using 68-year-old pinch-hitters? Actually, it's nice of Phungo to reference the fact that the Phillies manager was a pinch-hitter with the Dodgers during the mid-1970s.

I really like this card, except for the question mark there. I'll have to photoshop that into an exclamation point.

Ooooh! It's instant redemption time! I love these things! Let's see what I got.

Hey, I've got a retired number Washington Nationals Jackie monument to go with the Phillies' Jackie number I pulled last year! I'll get the whole series yet!

Here comes the traditional cards in the pack. There are so many Heritage variations that I thought I had this card of Blake already. Turns out it's a shiny that I need. Wee for me.

Another awesome card. This is one of the cards from the Heritage short-print Jackie Robinson series. I believe this is my third one. I like this card because Robinson's complete regular season and World Series career stats are on the back.

What's this? Another instant redemption code? What number should I use?

I'll go with 42 again ... nah, I'll try 55 instead -- Hershiser's number.

Whoa!!!! It's the sleeve for Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive 55"! It looks like it suffered some water damage while trying to avoid the cops.

And there's the 45. I still love me some 45s. I now have dupes of this record -- I don't think I've ever had a double of a record before.

Well, that's an unexpected perk of a Phungo pack! But as usual there's more ...

Tobacco-mini card sheets! These will come in handy as I've accumulated a fair amount of A&G minis again this year. Not as many as 2008, but I'll probably surpass 2010 in a few days, and I need a place to store those suckers because I've already dinged up the corners on a couple.

Like with most great packages, Phungo included some newspaper reading material:

Read your newspaper, kiddies. You don't even have to turn to the sports section first, although I'll look at you weirdly if you don't.

So, that's how a post about minis turned into a post about other kinds of minis/newspapers/rock n' roll from the '80s/homemade cards and cool Heritage cards. Thanks, Phungo!

And now I can make some room on my desk. That package was a space-hogger!

]]> http://nightowlcards.blogspot.com/feeds/5296180688037554551/comments/default 0 2012 Phungo Cards – Harry Kalas http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-phungo-cards-harry-kalas.html http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-phungo-cards-harry-kalas.html#comments Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:03:00 +0000 deal http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=410efd87f8b09277dcc8351598fe482a

The card #1 honor in this years Phungo set once again goes to Harry Kalas.

I believe this is at least the 5th time Kalas has appeared or made an impression on a Phungo card. He was part of the oriiginal 2009 set then in 2010 Card #1 was dedicated to Kalas in a Memorium card. That same year we produced a Mike Schmidt card that was the home to the Harry Kalas shrine following the broadcasters death. The 2011 Raul Ibanez card also contained an homage to Kalas as the Harry Kalas memorial banner at Citizen's Bank Ballpark looms in the background.

2012 Phungo #1 Harry Kalas

It is hard to make out but there is a black and white photo of Kalas in the background of the photo above - it is above the right shoulder of the Kalas statue. I like the look - it appears as if Kalas the statue is thinking about Kalas the Man. It isn't as clear as I would like on the card, and I may experiment with retaking a photo at a similar angle in an attempt to get a better shot in the future.

Phillies fans will miss Harry Kalas for at least a generation, perhaps forever with the amount of audio and video we have at our dispoal. It is nice that the Fans and the Phillies have worked together to memorialize Kalas, and it adds a bit of enjoyment to my life persnally to be able to create a card dedicated to the teams beloved broadcaster.

]]> http://phungo.blogspot.com/feeds/5210656738401981468/comments/default 0 2012 Topps Series 1 Checklist http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-topps-series-1-checklist.html http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-topps-series-1-checklist.html#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:55:00 +0000 deal http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=c2cc48359ce374f3e591a9ebb324e4d2 Thanks to a posting over at Paul's Random Stuff, I Got a look at the Topps Checklist for the upcoming release of series 1:

2012 Topps Gold shiny thingy Roy Halladay (#150???)

These are the dozen Phils that are in the checklist provided by Sports Collectors Daily:

28 Placido Polanco

64 Michael Martinez

98 Domonic Brown

117 Carlos Ruiz

120 Hunter Pence

150 Roy Halladay

190 Cole Hamels

243 Justin De Fratus

259 Michael Stutes

280 Ryan Howard

287 Antonio Bastardo

307 Vance Worley

There are 30+ cards missing from this list so there could be some additions to the list. There are at least four prominent players from the 2008 World Champs teams that are missing from the checker - Understandably there is late FA signing Jimmy Rollins. The most noted player to get booted to Series 2 is Chase Utley. We will also need to wait on both Shane Victorino and Joe Blanton. Cliff Lee is the biggest deferment on the current staff. I did not see FA defectee Ryan Madson on the list, nor are FAs Raul Ibanez and Brad Lidge.

At least 2 pitchers that are expected to be in the Phils spring training camp are checked on their 2011 Teams #89 Dontrelle Willis(Reds) and #267 Joel Pieniro (Angels). Jim Thome is not listed.

Other interesting things I noticed is that Neither Albert Pujols nor AL MVP and Cy Young Winner Justin Verlander are Checklisted. As I noted above 35 cards are unlisted, these are likely for
special cards and perhaps award winners such as Verlander.

- Mickey Mantle returns to his familiar #7 spot in the order, The #44 spot which was once issued to Hank Aaron is occupied by Edwind Jackson (listed as a Cardinal, but I think he moved on)

- #27 John Buck will be the first Miami Marlins Topps Card ever issued - it will be interesting to see how those cards are handled.

- #30 Derek Jeter is a pretty low level Hero Number for the Yankees star and is #40 a hero number - it was issued to Tom Milone of the Nationals - who the hell is that guy.

- Dee Gordon and Craig Kimbrel are each listed for two spots. Did either of them set records of some sort last season, maybe Kimbrel.

- #66 is Nyjer Morgan - no Tony Plush listed.

- #72 is there really a player named Rex Brothers - sounds like a place where you buy a suit or get a lawyer.

- #107 Luke Scott listed as an Oriole - he has taken his guns to Tampa Bay

- #136 Casey McGehee last card as a Brewer.

- #267 World Series Hero and Phillie Killer David Freese

- #299-#301 are all Rangers - 3 in a row (Moreland/Hamilton/Alexi Ogando)

-#305 Potentially Chipper Jones final Topps Card while Active - although he will likely show up in Ser 2 or update.

Hero Numbers 100 200 and 300 were handed out to Jose Bautista, Miguel Cabrera, and Josh Hamilton respectively. I appreciate Bautista getting some love here - easy to forget he has hit close to a hundred dingers over the past two season leading the AL in both 2010 and 2011. Not as keen on troubled drunken Miguel Cabrera getting one.

It is also interesting to note that the latest steroid rep Ryan Braun gets #1 while the man he beat out for the MVP award Matt Kemp got the last card #330.

]]> http://phungo.blogspot.com/feeds/6603793339647789662/comments/default 0 Introducing 2012 Phungo Cards!!! – Roy Halladay http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/introducing-2012-phungo-cards-roy.html http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/introducing-2012-phungo-cards-roy.html#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:52:00 +0000 deal http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=e6fece16b7f480bb7db04aa33d3129df Today Team Phungo proudly announces the release of the fourth edition of Phungo Cards.

I am sort of amazed that this is the fourth set. 2012 Phungo is by far the smallest set, and it is also the least current as far as the Photography goes. We only made it out to a handful of games this past years so the amount of recent product to draw from was severely diminished. For this reason you will see lots of photos from past seasons. This also means that the quality of shots is down. Some cards that got cut from earliar sets have made it into 2012 by default.

On the upside, for this years set, Pixlr was used rather than Paint to design the cards. This made it significantly easier to make a more modern looking card:

2012 Phungo #34 Roy Halladay

Thanks to the team over at Goose Joak for introducing me to Pixlr, which made a lot of the elements of the 2012 Phungo card design possible. Even simple things like the rounded border aren't very easy to do in the confines of paint. Placing the text over the photo is something made much easier by pixlr. I have place a slightly white background so the name is more readable. The Card Number and Date of the game are in the lower left. Phungo Signature in the lower right.

This is from a Game we saw in June where we were fortunate enough to get very good seats - unfortunately I was seated next to a very annoying woman, she was much to old to get away with being so juvenile.

This is the 2nd consecutive year I have opened the 2012 Phungo Cards postings covering Roy Halladay. If I would have been more on the ball, we would be talking about Hunter Pence today, but I never got a good picture of Pence so he has been left out of the 2012 set. Halladay didn't get Card #1 in the set like he did a year ago - He has instead been given the #34 which he wears on the field.

The 2012 Phungo set is the smallest so far consisting of 38 Base cards. The Jackie Robinson Retired Number Continuity Series returns for 2012 with three new cards including one of Jackie Robinson's familiar 42 from a different venue and two new Hall of Fame player cards.

Over the next week or two you will get to see several postings with additional cards from the 2012 set.

]]> http://phungo.blogspot.com/feeds/973783765093280225/comments/default 0 HELP!!! – Team Phungo Wants Your Favorite Post of 2011 http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/help-team-phungo-wants-your-favorite.html http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/help-team-phungo-wants-your-favorite.html#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:12:00 +0000 deal http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=80d736bacc30790addcc4b21ae4278c8 Could this card be related to the Phungo Best Post of 2011???

2011 Phungo #5 Rocco Baldelli

Could the above Rocco Baldelli card be related to the Phungo Best Post of 2011???

Team Phungo wants to know what YOUR Best or Favorite post of 2011 was.

I want to collect all of the favorite posts from 2011 into a digest and publish the together.

I know in the info linked below I say I want entries by like last week or something. but I will probably except entries till the Superbowl or so.

for more info click here

]]> http://phungo.blogspot.com/feeds/715214448351642649/comments/default 0 Happy Trails Ryan Madson http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-trails-ryan-madson.html http://phungo.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-trails-ryan-madson.html#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:42:00 +0000 deal http://baseballcardblogs.org/?guid=4a3d0fe9aaf9a9b318ba23613ff50daf Ryan Madson is leaving the only organization he has been associated with for his entire professional career. Madson will be going to the Cincinnati Reds as a Free Agent - He will open the season as the Reds closer and likely hope that he can use 2012 as a springboard to a big payout contract for 2013 (as if $8.5 MM isn't enough)

2010 Phungo #46 Ryan Madson

Madson was mixed as the Phils interim closer over the last few campaigns, yet I have a great degree of fondness for Madson.

Obviously, I am a fan of any member of the 08 World Championship team - but it was the Madson games that I was fortunate enough to see that really made me a fan. During the 08 championship runa and the 09 World Series I was was able to go to 5 playoff games. The Phils won all 5 and Madson participated in all 5 - I have seen the Phils on the Winning end of two world series games Madson pitched in both and saved one (he did blow a hold in game 5 of the 08 World Series but the Phils came back). And way back in 2006 when Madson was still a starter we got to seem him shutout the Orioles in an interleague contest.

In 2004 when Madson first came up he was a big unknown form the Phils minor league system. He wasn't a huge prospect (9th round pick) that we had heard about for years. But he pitched very well and would become a critical pitcher in there bullpen, but....

Late in 04 Madson got one of his two freak injuries. He injured his pitching hand when he ran into a wall chasing a ball in BP. Then in 2010 Madson broke his toe kicking a chair in the locker room following a blown save in San Francisco. So Madson is known as a bit of an idiot around Phungo HQ as well.

The above Phungo Card is from the 2010 set, stay awake, I heard a rumour that the 2012 cards are lurking....

]]> http://phungo.blogspot.com/feeds/8585586006921083143/comments/default 0