Sunday, December 19, 2010

1983 Philadelphia Phillies



This was a very old team, as they were referred to as the "Wheeze Kids". This was the last hurrah for the late '70s, early '80s Phillies. This may also be considered the last chance for the Big Red Machine as Tony Perez and Joe Morgan were brought on board and joined Pete Rose. But this wasn't a typical old team that played strong early and coasted to the playoffs. They actually finished very strong to finish 6 games up in the division, and carried that momentum into the playoffs against the Dodgers. But their luck would run out after game 1 of the World Series.

Best Player: Mike Schmidt

Best Pitcher: John Denny

All-Stars: Mike Schmidt

Rookie Card of the Year: Len Matuszek; there wasn't much to choose from on this team as it was either Matuszek or Porfi Altamirano. Matuszek had an unremarkable career playing for the Phillies, Blue Jays, and Dodgers from 1981 - 1987. But he can tell his grandkids that he replaced Pete Rose at first base for the Phillies and that he was once traded for someone who comes up in Hall-of-Fame arguments (Al Oliver) and not be lying.

Other rookie cards: Porfi Altamirano

First Phillies cards (other than rookie cards): Pat Corrales, John Denny, Kiko Garcia, Von Hayes, Willie Hernandez, Al Holland, Joe Lefebvre, Bob Molinaro, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Dave Roberts (listed under retired players), Ozzie Virgil (solo card)

Most interesting non-Topps cards: There were no cards produced for other sets that didn't appear in the Topps sets.

Other Notes: Steve Comer and Larry Andersen both played only for the Phillies in 1983 but didn't have a Phillies card, so I am putting their cards showing them with other teams in this checklist.

Starters
__ TO 175 C Bo Diaz PHI
__ TO 100 1B Pete Rose PHI
__ TT 77 2B Joe Morgan PHI
__ TO 587 SS Ivan de Jesus PHI
__ TO 300 3B Mike Schmidt PHI
__ TO 780 LF Gary Matthews PHI
__ TO 615 CF Garry Maddox PHI
__ TT 40 RF Von Hayes PHI
__ TT 61 RF Joe Lefebvre PHI
__ TT 85 1B Tony Perez PHI
__ TO 279 OF Greg Gross PHI
__ TO 43 OF Bob Dernier PHI

Starting Pitchers
__ TO 211 SP John Denny PHI
__ TO 70 SP Steve Carlton PHI
__

SP Charles Hudson
__

SP Kevin Gross
__ TO 199 SP Marty Bystrom PHI

Relief Pitchers
__ TT 46 CL Al Holland PHI
__ TT 45 RP Willie Hernandez PHI
__ TO 728 RP Ron Reed PHI
__ TO 510 RP Tug McGraw PHI
__ TO 668 SP Larry Christenson PHI

Other Players
__ TO 383 C Ozzie Virgil PHI
__ TT 36 2B Kiko Garcia PHI
__ TO 357 1B Len Matuszek PHI
__ TT 72 2B Larry Milbourne PHI
__

2B Juan Samuel
__

OF Sixto Lezcano
__ TO 664 PH Bob Molinaro PHI
__

IF Steve Jeltz
__ TO 754 UT Bill Robinson PHI
__

RF Alejandro Sanchez
__ TO 252 SS Luis Aguayo PHI
__

CF Jeff Stone
__

C Darren Daulton
__

1B Tim Corcoran
__ TO 432 RP Porfi Altamirano PHI
__ TO 484 SP Dick Ruthven PHI
__ TO 459 RP Ed Farmer PHI
__ TO 234 RP Larry Andersen SEA
__

SP Tony Ghelfi
__ TO 564 RP Sid Monge PHI
__ TO 353 RP Steve Comer TEX
__

RP Don Carman

Managers
__ TO 637 MG Pat Corrales PHI
__

MG Paul Owens

2 comments:

  1. I remember rooting for this team to beat the O's. Man, that Denny card is awful LOL ....I didn't remember Topps was still doin' some airbrushing in '83.

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  2. I know the 1989 set has some bad airbrushing...but I think they stopped that practice shortly there after...computer graphic programs, such as Photoshop probably ended the practice

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