1993 Stadium Club Baseball #5, Tony Phillips

Happy 54th birthday to Tony Phillips, a guy who exceeded the common definitions of "journeyman" and "utility player." He suited up for six franchises over 18 years, played every non-battery position, and posted a 109 career OPS+, drawing 100+ walks five times.

Stealing a page from Satchel Paige's playbook, Tony prolonged his career with independent teams Yuma Scorpions (2011) and Edinburg Roadrunners (2012), then tried out for this year's York Revolution. Unlike former big-leaguer Brett Tomko, Tony didn't make their 2013 roster.

I like the photo on this card's front exactly as much as I dislike the card's cluttered, mis-mash back. The fuzzy glove hand obscures almost everything else and Stadium Club would've been better served choosing a rookie card OR batting pose and not both.

It's interesting that Topps called Tony "3B-2B," given this breakdown of where he played in 1992.

• 2B: 57 games
• RF: 35
• DH: 34
• CF: 24
• 3B: 20
• LF: 14
• SS: 1

Given all that, I'd go with "2B-OF." Tony's fielding versatility reminds me of Pete Rose, as Charlie Hustle logged 500+ games at 5 positions. It's almost certainly why Phillips never made an All-Star team in 2 decades of good play.

Value: Tony's star never rose high enough in the sky to break $1, but I bet he enjoyed the 1989 World Series win.

Baseball, the Marathon, and Some Cards

Finally stepping off this week's emotional roller coaster, as everyone here in Boston went from great Patriots Day expectations to the Boston Marathon bombing, the factory explosion outside Waco, the Senate vote on background checks, multiple earthquakes in Asia, and back to Watertown's meticulous manhunt. Locals mused that Friday night would see the greatest bar tab in city history as a release from sequestering themselves indoors all day. Most people expressed relief over joy; it's nerve-wracking keeping yourself "alert" for 24+ hours.

Baseball self-consciously took a lower profile after Monday, given its hand-in-glove relationship with the marathon. My favorite part of every Patriots Day is the mid-morning Fenway game, timed to end so 30,000+ energized fans can spill out into nearby Kenmore Square and join the confluence of humanity motivating runners to gut out the marathon's last agonizing miles. Boston's horsehide-and-sneaker combo is a sweet spot for the city and when I think about Patriots Days past and future, the link feels (and should remain) inseparable. I pulled some of my favorite Red Sox cards with that connection in mind.

1938 Goudey #282, Bobby Doerr

Bobby Doerr is Boston's oldest living HOFer and held a ton of offensive team records that it took Ted Williams to break. And is there a more enjoyable set than the big-head 1938 Goudeys, complete with tiny cartoons and baby blue uniforms? (Hidden cartoon pun: prior to reaching Boston, Doerr "starred" for the eponymous Hollywood Stars.)

1938 Boston Marathon: 1936 winner and then-leader Ellison "Tarzan" Brown surprises fans by taking a cooling swim in Lake Cochituate mid-race, ceding his chance at victory. Brown returned to win in 1939 and became the first Boston runner to break 2:30.

1987 Fleer Word Series subset, Spike Owen and Dave Henderson

Both guys on this card started 1986 with Seattle, far from World Series prospects, but a mid-August trade made them teammates with the same Roger Clemens who'd struck out 20 Mariners in April. Spike contributed a .875 postseason OPS and Henderson homered twice in the World Series, including a long blast off Dwight Gooden.

Boston's Bruce Hurst went 3-0 that postseason, including a complete game 5 win over Gooden, who lost twice in the series. Hurst continued to pitch well for years, but if Boston wins that series, Bruce would still be on billboards around town.

1987 Boston Marathon: Two-time Japanese Olympian Toshihiko Seko wins his second Boston title, following 1986 wins in London and Chicago. As he put it, "The marathon is my only girlfriend. I give her everything I have."

1984 Donruss Champions #14, Ted Williams

Donruss printed several postcard-sized sets in the 80s, adding hand-painted legends like Williams to this 60-card collection of Champions (active players) and Grand Champions (retired players). I enjoyed the new-and-old variety as a young collector and still own all of them (set checklist).

1984 Boston Marathon: Briton (and Olympian) Geoff Smith wins his first of back-to-back races, the last Boston Marathons to offer no prize money. Adding a financial incentive quickly inflated the pool of elite competitors, which also increased the race's international prestige.

Bill Lee, in formal attire

Baseball spent the 1970s being as eccentric as Spaceman Lee. They belonged together.

1970s Boston Marathon: Bill Rodgers wins four times, twice setting a course record. 1982 marked the last time a Commonwealth resident (Alberto Salazar) won Boston and 1983 was the last time an American (Greg Meyer) did so. In 1975, Boston became the first major race to add a wheelchair division.

1967 Topps #604, Boston team card

Boston's 1967 pennant-winners, decked out in red, red, and more red. This is tough card to get: scarce Topps high number, Yaz Triple Crown year, and "Impossible Dream" World Series collectors all vie for them.

1967 Boston Marathon: Kathrine Switzer famously runs the marathon, at one point evading race officials desperate to chase her (or any woman) off the course. Women are first officially "welcomed" by the BAA to register and run in 1972. (Join Benoit won Boston in 1983, prior to taking Gold in the inaugural Women's Marathon at the LA Olympics in 1984.)

Thanks to everyone outside Boston for this week's shows of support and solidarity. Here's hoping the marathon and baseball remain linked now and forever.

2004 Upper Deck First Pitch Baseball #5, Miguel Cabrera

Born today, 2012 AL Triple Crown Winner, career 151 OPS+ hitter, and occasional glove man Miguel Cabrera.

Miguel split 2003 between third base and left field, so I assume this photo shows him as an outfielder, fielding something hit low in front of him.

So many players get labeled as "Star Rookies" and so few deliver on those projections, year in and year out, but Miguel sits atop that group for the last ten years. (2013 marks the start of just his 11th season; it feels to me like he's been pounding the ball forever.)

Upper Deck published this 300-card set to coincide with Opening Day, in part to get young guys like Cabrera shown in "real" uniforms as quickly as possible (set checklist).

This card text actually undersells Cabrera, who certainly "bulked up physically" and can hit darn near everything within reach. "FUTURE TRIPLE CROWN WINNER" might've been tough to predict, though.

Want a major flashback? Check out Florida's 2004 Opening Day roster, which still featured "original Marlin" Jeff Conine and future Red Sox title winners Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell. Yeah, I'm old now.

Value: Awesome hitter or not, this #5 costs just $1 on COMC.com and other stars run about the same.

1967 Post Cereal Great Moments in Sports #5, Baseball (Batting)

I recently wrapped up a job of 13 years, so have had less time to focus on the collection and blogging of late. Hope today's hard-to-find type card from Canada is worth the wait!

This 4"x4" pose of an unknown hitter poised to swing started as a larger punch-out card packaged in Canadian cereal boxes. Kids then separated the background, batter, and umpire/catcher into pieces with numbered tabs and matching slots. Combine everything correctly--via instructions in English or French--and you have a tiny diorama, similar to one scene from a pop-up book.

The bilingual back gives a functional account of the batter's task, to evaluate and swing at incoming pitches. I assume it's just as dry in French.

Note the small triangular cut near the bottom middle--that's a fold-out support panel that helps it stand upright when assembled, like a leg on a picture frame. This card's previous owner taped its corners to avoid losing this base, making it difficult to stand up as Post intended.

To my knowledge, this set's uncatalogued by the typical baseball collector guides, so it's not easy to discover why Post produced this unusual set design. 12 panels comprise the whole set and baseball appears just once. Good thing for me it was #5!

1. Hockey (shooting)
2. Hockey (passing)
3. Football (passing)
4. Football (kicking)
5. Baseball (batting)
6. Skating (pairs special)
7. Basketball (lay up shot)
8. Auto Racing (finish)
9. Track (the finish) [Roger Bannister]
10. Sailing (old and new)
11. Horses (jumping)
12. Soccer (goal shot)

UPDATE: See the Post Cereal Baseball Card Museum profile of this set, complete with original box and advertising.

1967 Post 3-D Insert Gallery sample

Value: I paid $25 on eBay for this #5. They're so rare I'm not sure if that's fair or not, but Roger Bannister's fame should make its track card most valuable to collectors at large.

Fakes / reprints: It'd be tough to fake all that die-cutting and not worth doing for a card with no real players.

1991 Fleer Ultra #5, 1993 Fleer #5, 1998 Donruss Baseball #5, Tom Glavine

Happy 47th birthday to Braves legend Tom Glavine, 2-time Cy Young winner and future Hall of Famer!

I owned this 1991 Ultra #5, a glossier set Fleer produced to compete with Upper Deck's surge of photo-driven market success. Designers put no less than four different poses of Tom onto this one card, showing off several stages of his delivery and multiple uniform combos. Too bad the orange background gradient makes it look so dated!

Fleer upped their game in 1993 with a dedicated Glavine highlights subset (including this #5) and he rewarded collectors with a 3rd-straight 20-win season (career stats).

It feels weird in retrospect for a 27 year-old guy with barely 60 career wins to receive a dedicated subset, but Atlanta rode high during that Ted Turner era of Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine, and TBS. The junk wax era meant tons of product, so stars served double or triple shifts on cardboard.

An icon of durability, Glavine started at least 32 games 12 straight years from 1996 (age 30) to 2007 (age 41). Tom won 20 games for the 4th time in 1998, edging out Trevor Hoffman (53 saves) and Kevin Brown (18-7) for his second Cy Young.

Donruss matched Atlanta's team colors well, thanks to the team's taste for red, white, and blue. So glad it wasn't teal and tangerine.

At the 11 year mark in 1997, half Glavine's career, he'd won 153 games. Over the last 11, he won 152 more. EERIE CONSISTENCY.

Value: Cooperstown plaque or no Cooperstown plaque, most Glavine cards come cheap thanks to ready availability. All of these should cost less than $1 online or at shows.

1999 Upper Deck Century Legends & 1992 Front Row Hank Aaron Baseball #5, Portrait/Swing

Let's look at some Hammerin' Hank cards to mark my blog's 755th post, one of baseball's transcendent numbers. Aaron's inseparable from 755 and Ruth has 714. I wonder if future generations will similarly remember Barry Bonds for 762. You know, the home run record? I had to look up how many he hit, so maybe not. (Would've guessed 765.)

Hank hit #755 off California's Dick Drago on July 20, 1976, adding cushion to Milwaukee's 6-2 win. He played sparingly in August and September that season without adding another homer, but collected his last hit, an RBI single, in his last game (Oct 3).

Aaron drew 35 walks and knocked in 35 runs in 1976, his 23rd and final season. He managed at least as many BBs as RBIs three times, all after the age of 38, showing that Hank's eye stayed sharp even as that iconic swing lost its power.

This hybrid swing and portrait is not the most attactive baseball card you'll see today. 1992 Front Row's known for some big rookies in its 100-card Draft Picks series (full checklist), particularly Derek Jeter, but ran several subsets of vintage players that included Hank Aaron the same year. Sorry, but those fonts and logos haven't aged well.

1992 Front Row Draft Picks (Gold Foil) #55, Derek Jeter

In March 2013, Topps locked up the exclusive right to print MLB-licensed cards through 2020, a stark contrast to the wide-open field of companies trying to print cash for themselves in the early 1990s. As much as I bristle at the thought of a card "monopoly," Front Row's fast-break approach to design (and accompanying over-production) says something valuable about making companies put real work into their stuff. At least this #5 picked an interesting HOF induction speech excerpt for Aaron's back text.

The "former teammate Roy Campanella" line caught my attention, but they mean Jackie and Roy here, not Hank and Roy, as Campy was winning MVPs in Brooklyn by the time Aaron reached pro ball in 1952 (minor league stats).

On Twitter? You can follow The Hammer: @HenryLouisAaron.

Value: HOF or not, you should be able to find these #5s for $1 or less. Check Out My Cards offers several for around 50 cents.

Fakes / reprints: I assume that Jeter card's been faked or reprinted several times, but the Aaron cards are probably safe from counterfeiting, thanks to early 90s overproduction.

Minnesota Twins Opening Day Giveaway Winner

Here are the favorite Twins cards chosen by entrants to 2013's first Opening Day Giveaway. (Five in all, so appropriate!)

Jose Velazquez: Smilin' Joe Mauer rookie card

2002 Topps #622, Joe Mauer

Spiegel83: "Cool" Ed Bane

1974 Topps #592, Ed Bane

Superduperman99: Ben Revere's 2011 rookie card

2011 Topps #99, Ben Revere

Mariner1: Jim Nettles swinging dat bat

1972 Topps #131, Jim Nettles

Gcrl: Jim Kaat at the bat, Jimmie Hall's rookie trophy, and the Pohlads

1973 Topps #530, Jim Kaat

1964 Topps #73, Jimmie Hall

Carl and Eloise Pohlad statues at Target Field

That Jim Kaat card's also a favorite of mine. Something ineffably "vintage baseball" about a great pitcher batting during the last year before DHs.

I tossed the names into a hat...drew one of them...and...congrats to Superduperman99! Please send your mailing address via my contact link and those Twins will head your way.

Thanks to all who chimed in, we're three days even closer to first pitch!

2013 Opening Day Giveaway: Minnesota Twins

Been way too long since I sent cards out the door. Let's count down to opening day with a Minnesota giveaway!

TWINS TRIVIA: Five Twins players have statues at Target Field: Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Kent Hrbek, Kirby Puckett, and Tony Oliva. (Former owner Calvin Griffith is likewise honored.)

WHAT YOU WIN: There's a couple dozen in all from 1980 and up, including the handful of highlights above.

WHAT TO DO: What's your favorite card of a past or current Twin? (Pre-1961 Senators also in play, if you're a fan of Walter Johnson or young Harmon Killebrew.) Name it or link it in the comments and I'll randomly grab a winner from there. Cutoff for entries is end of the day this Wednesday, March 13.

UPDATE: The winner was Superduperman99! Thanks to all entrants.

Good luck and only three weeks to first pitch!

1971 Bazooka Numbered Baseball #5, Carl Yastrzemski

This is my third look at a numbered 1971 Bazooka Yaz card--first discussed here and followed up here--but this time it's a real one. Probably real. I mean, its eBay lot includes a bunch of other numbered cards and that's about the best you can do when collecting rare test sets unless it came directly from the Topps archives.

Card front (blank back)

Finding a buyable version of a type card that's eluded me for years (and required the return of a fake) made me feel like Tim McCarver.

Then I saw the $1500 asking price (technically it's $1499.99) and felt like Clyde Wright.

Sorry Yaz, we're destined to remain apart for awhile longer. Guess I'll continue to watch-list you from afar. (At least you can use the listing's scans to enjoy almost the entire set: there's 45 of 48 cards or 15 of the original 16 three-player panels.)

UPDATE: The seller relisted for $1399! Who knows where this pricing adventure will end.

Value: Rare test set or no rare test set, $1500 is too rich for my blood. $50 for Yaz alone and we can talk.

Fakes / reprints: My earlier 1971 Bazooka post illustrated problems you'll find with faked versions of this rare set.

1993 Dunedin Blue Jays Classic/Best Baseball #5, Giovanni Carrara

Born on March 4, 1968, Venezuelan native and international pitcher of mystery, Giovanni Carrara.

This photo of Giovanni's A-ball duds--Dunedin played in the Florida State League--includes a splash of red from his batting gloves, a rare touch for cards of guys in a windup. It's likely from spring training, so the photographer might've pulled him off warmups or the batting cage to get his shot.

Classic included Giovanni's 1990 and 1991 winter league stats for this #5, a practice seen on many minor league sets to avoid showing nothing at all. He pitched in Venezuela during MLB's off-season for 24 years, setting that league's mark for durability. Carrara went on to pitch professionally on 4 continents, appearing in both the 2006 World Baseball Classic for Venezuela and multiple European Championships for Italy (career summary).

Few of the 30 players in Classic's Dunedin checklist reached the majors. Besides Carrara, the best-known are Paul Spoljaric, Chris Stynes, and 1960s pitcher Bill Monboquette (as a coach).

Value: This #5's listed for $3.20 on COMC and I assume 1990s minor league team sets run under $20, unless they include big stars.

Fakes / reprints: I rarely find reprints of minor leaguers and find it hard to believe 1990s Classic would be vulnerable to counterfeiting.