Another slow day baseball-wise, so I'm continuing my fond (or not-so-fond, whichever the case may be) look back in time. I've decided to combine 1974 and 1975 into one entry, to speed things along.

By 1974, the price of the Phillies magazine/program had gone up by a whole dime, from 50 cents to 60 cents. Instead of the fun pop-art cover of 1973, we now have something that looks like it could have been created by the semi-talented child of a member of the Phillies' front office:

Another change from 1973 is the appearance of an advertisement on the front of the magazine. Really, they couldn't have squeezed this one inside somewhere? I hope the team squeezed mega-bucks out of Gino's for such prime placement.

Ticket prices for the field boxes have also gone up slightly from 1973, though the terrace and loge boxes actually went down in price. Other seating options remained the same:

Gone is the Phillies Family Album with its delightfully corny photos. Darn! But looking at the player photos is still fun. Mike Schmidt has now decided to grow the mustache that we all are so familiar with:

Judging by this picture, no one told Jim Lonborg it was photo day. He looks like he has a very bad case of bed-head:

According to the accompanying text, Lonborg suffered one of those classic freak injuries, breaking his toe by stubbing it against a hotel bed in Pittsburgh. A good attorney should be able to find a lawsuit in there somewhere. :-)

The '74 Phillies were an improvement over the previous season - they finished in third place in the NL East with a 80-82 record. Four of the five primary starters remained the same from 1973, the only change being Ron Schueler in place of Ken Brett. Seven of the eight position players also remained unchanged, with Dave Cash taking over second base from Denny Doyle.

Things continued to look up in 1975. The Phillies would go 86-76 to finish second in the division. Ticket prices remained unchanged, as well as the price of the magazine/program, which was graced by improved artwork:

The cover still contains advertising, this time for the brand-spankin' new AMC Pacer, everyone's favorite "fishbowl" car. Lauded at the time as a "car of the future," it is, in my opinion, one of the ugliest vehicles ever.

1975 saw the arrival of some new faces, such as outfielders Garry Maddox and Jay Johnstone, catcher Johnny Oates, and relief pitcher Tug McGraw. Dick Allen returned to the Phils after a five-year hiatus with several other teams.

1975 also saw the arrival of the regrettable man-perm to the Phillies. This look was sported by not one, not two, but three members of the squad:

I wonder if they ever look back upon this, and think to themselves, "What was I thinking?"

Bad hairdos aside, things would continue to improve for the Phillies, who would win the NL East the next three seasons (1976-1978). Due to unknown reasons, there were no programs from 1976 or 1977 in my husband's trove of stuff. So next time I'll jump ahead to 1978.

Lacking much in the way of compelling blog topics lately, I've decided to borrow an idea from Jenn at Phillies Phollowers, and take a look back at the past. Hope you don't mind, Jenn!

For this first installment, I've unearthed a Phillies magazine/program from 1973. The cover is appropriately pop-art-ish:

And look at that bargain price - only 50 cents!

Paging through, it's interesting to note the various advertisements for tobacco products (Salem/Camel/Winston, Dutch Master/El Producto, Kent/Newport/True, Marlboro) and alcohol (Seagram's whiskey, Jacquin's vodka, Cutty Sark, Schmidt's beer). In contrast, a more recent copy of the magazine/program contained a single ad for Bud Light.

Going to a Phillies game back then was affordable family entertainment, based on these prices:

A family of four would have paid only $17 for box seats! Today, $17 won't even get one person into the ballpark - the lowest priced seats are $20. Using an online inflation calculator, one can see that the ticket prices have increased much more drastically than just inflation alone would explain. I suppose part of that can be explained by the fact that the Phillies of the early 70's were not very good, averaging just over 18,000 fans per game, whereas the current Phillies have made it to the playoffs three straight seasons, and averaged over 40,000 fans per game the past two seasons. Good old "supply and demand".

Another interesting feature is the "Phillies Family Album," a collection of obviously staged photos on the last few pages. Here's a sample:

In case it's hard to see, they are:
Susie and Billy Wilson (what are they looking at? certainly not the camera);
Rosemary and Jim Lonborg (probably hoping that seagull doesn't poop on them);
Terry and Kay Harmon (bet she's wondering why the other two wives got first billing and she didn't).

The Phillies' rotation that year included Steve Carlton, Wayne Twitchell, Ken Brett, Jim Lonborg, and Dick Ruthven. Position players included Bob Boone, Willie Montanez, Denny Doyle, Larry Bowa, Greg Luzinski, Del Unser, Bill Robinson, and in his first full season, Mike Schmidt.

I'd never seen a photo of Schmidt without his mustache before - it looks a little odd!

Neither Schmidt nor the Phillies fared too well in 1973. Schmidt ended the season with a .196 batting average, and the Phillies finished last in the six-team NL East with a 71-91 record.

In upcoming posts, I'll take a look at 1974, 1975, 1978, and 1979. Not sure why there is a two year gap - these all came from my husband's formative years, so I'll have to ask him what happened to 1976 and 1977.

Happy Blogiversary!

Today marks the one-year anniversary of this blog. Last year, in a fit of extreme boredom, I decided to unleash my random thoughts upon the unsuspecting MLBlogs community. My very first blog was actually rather cringe-worthy (wherein I mostly complained about the month of February), so I won't force you to read it again by reposting it here. :-)

Since then, I've electronically "met" a lot of great baseball fans, not only of the Phillies, but other teams as well, even the dreaded Yankees (sorry Jane!). I'm looking forward to another year of great blogging, and I hope you are too!

If you recall my last post, I had gotten...shall we say...my undergarments into a state of disarray over the salary figures that had been exchanged by the Phillies and Joe Blanton.

And all for naught, as it turns out.

The Phillies and Blanton had reached an agreement on a three-year, $24 million contract extension on Monday, but because Blanton had not yet passed a physical, the arbitration figures had to be filed on Tuesday. So it seems it was more a formality than anything else.

I wish that little part of the story could have been included in the initial reports, so Phillies fans, myself included, could have avoided getting our collective panties in a bunch. Said panties will now need to be carefully extricated, with surgical precision, as demonstrated here:

[Nah, that's not actually me. It's Hillary Duff, thanks to eonline.com, but I don't think she was upset about Joe Blanton.]

Shane Victorino and Carlos Ruiz have also signed three-year deals. Hmm, a trio of three-year deals. According to Schoolhouse Rock, three "is a magic number." That's got to mean something for the coming season. I hope.

In addition to those three, the Phillies and Chad Durbin had previously come to agreement on a one-year deal. That means all four arbitration-eligible Phillies have now signed contracts.

"You say goodbye, and I say hello"

Today's Philadelphia Inquirer had a handy summary of the comings and goings on the Phillies roster since the end of last season. Here's a recap, not including minor leaguers:

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye...

Pedro Feliz: has signed with Houston - I'll miss his great glove;
Cliff Lee: yes, I'm still upset about his trade to Seattle;
Eric Bruntlett: signed with Washington - sorry, Eric, I won't miss your abysmal .171 BA;
Clay Condrey: signed with Minnesota;
Brett Myers: also signed with Houston;
Matt Stairs: signed with San Diego - Matt, your .194 wasn't much to be proud of, either;
Scott Eyre: decided to retire.

Howdy, partner!

Brian Schneider: a capable backup to Carlos Ruiz;
Placido Polanco: welcome back!
Juan Castro: will help solidify the bench;
Ross Gload: an excellent pinch hitter;
Roy Halladay: Woo hoo! What more can I say than that?
Danys Baez: some bullpen help with closing experience;
Jose Contreras: expected to be a long reliever, with the occasional spot start.

Sitting in limbo...

Chan Ho Park, Pedro Martinez and Paul Bako all remain unsigned free agents.

Speaking of Brett Myers (which I wasn't really, but I did mention him in the list of departures), does anyone remember when he was young, thin, and had hair? In case you don't recall, here's a scan of a photo I recently came across in my albums, from an appearance back in January 2003.

Yep, a lot can change in seven years.

OK, actually $10.25 million. This is the amount that Blanton is apparently seeking for 2010. The Phillies have offered $7.5 million. If the two sides can't reach an agreement, the case will go to arbitration next month.

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel that Blanton and/or his agent are highly delusional in believing that he is worth over $10 million for the coming season?

Let's take a look at 2009, shall we? Blanton went 12-8, with a 4.05 ERA. He averaged 6.3 innings pitched in his 31 starts. In his career so far, Joe is 63-54, 4.21 ERA.

Not great, not horrible. What my husband would call "serviceable". Maybe not so bad as "mediocre", but somewhere between "OK" and "good". Since when is this kind of performance worth that kind of money?

***UPDATE***
This just in, the Phillies have signed Blanton to a three-year, $24 million contract extension. No specifics on the yearly breakdown, so it averages out to $8 million per year. Still not sure if I think this is what Blanton is worth, but at least it's closer to what the Phillies were offering, instead of what Blanton was asking.

Cliff Lee, on the other hand, would have been making $9 million this season, had the Phillies not traded him. Yeah, I'm still perturbed about that. Cliff's career numbers are 90-52, with a 3.97 ERA, and a Cy Young award to his name. And let's not forget his postseason performance!

So suffice it to say that I think Lee is the superior pitcher, yet we traded him and kept Blanton.

And now I know why.

Over the holidays, my brother-in-law revealed that my nephew has some pretty crappy karma when it comes to getting jerseys of popular Phillies and Eagles players. Quite often, said player ends up leaving the team, via trade or free agency. This happens more frequently than mere chance would seem to suggest.

So what did they get him this year? A Cliff Lee jersey!! And we all know what happened next.

*sigh* If only they'd gotten him a Blanton jersey instead.

(photos by me)

As I mentioned in my last post, the hubby and I are headed to Clearwater in March for some Spring Training! I had anxiously been counting the days until today, when single-game tickets went on sale this morning at 9 am. Since one of the games on our agenda is the March 17th Phillies vs. Yankees game, I needed to be ready to order the moment the tickets went on sale.

The games against the Yankees are always tough to get, because, well, it's the Yankees. And of course, they are the current World Champs (as if I could forget that). And the 17th is
St. Patrick's Day, when the Phillies look like this:

Kind of like a team of Christmas elves.

Therefore, of the three games I wanted to purchase, this one was the priority, the one to order first. So I made sure I was all caffeined up, at my computer, credit card in hand, well ahead of 9:00. I decided to at least go as far in the purchasing process as possible ahead of time, so I clicked on the ticket icon and a new window opened up, telling me that only a certain number of customers are allowed access at one time, to make for a more "pleasant" purchasing experience. Hmph. In the meantine, a timer kept counting down until the next time it would refresh. I decided to let it keep going, and a few minutes before 9, I had access!

I entered the quantity, selected the seating location, and got taken to the next screen - the frustrating one with the jumble of letters and numbers you're supposed to enter before being allowed to actually buy the tickets. After agonizing over whether or not the "W" was capital or lowercase, I had my finger poised to click the moment the clock hit 9:00.

Nine o'clock came, I clicked, and was immediately told that there were no seats available in the level I'd chosen, BUT there were berm tickets available. What!?!? How could the berm be all that was left ALREADY?? Beggars can't be choosers, so I accepted that option and continued on to the other two games.

The whole time I'm going through this process, the little clock at the top of the page kept ticking away the miniscule amount of time they allow for completing the purchase, or else the tickets are "released". After all three games were ready to be purchased, I continued to the next step, where I could log in if I was a returning customer, or create a new account. Aack!! What to do?

I'd purchased Spring Training tickets before, but that was three years ago. I didn't think my account would still be active, and even if it was, what password might I have used? So I chose "create new account". After entering all the required information and submitting, it told me my email address was already in use! Try again!

By now I only had about 45 seconds left. I tried to go through the process again, using my other email address, but as I was cursing and hyperventilating, time ran out. "Sorry", the browser told me. A string of profanity that would fry your ears issued forth.

I quickly went back through the whole process, cryptic letter combinations and all, and decided to try what my husband had suggested - my "usual" password. It worked! Hallelujah! I was finally able to exhale, my morning's work completed.

Only 56 days and counting...

The holidays are over, it's cold outside, I overate so much I wish I could hibernate, and I've been MIA around the blogosphere lately. This is due mostly to:

1. Lots of Actual Work to do (which is good, I get paid for that and not this).

2. Not much exciting going on in Phillies-land.

Not that nothing's been going on, the Phillies did sign Danys Baez to a two-year deal. Hmm. After missing the 2008 season following Tommy John surgery, Baez went 4-6 with a 4.02 ERA for Baltimore last season. Reports on the signing like to point out that Baez has closing experience, which could come in handy if Brad Lidge is not ready to start the season following his own elbow surgery. But wait, his last successful season as a closer was back in 2005 with the Rays! In 2006, while splitting time between L.A. and Atlanta, he blew 8 of 17 save opportunities.

<begin sarcasm> Gee, I can't wait to watch Baez pitch for the Phillies! <end sarcasm>

OK, enough ranting.

A number of weeks ago, Ben of Ben's Biz Blog asked his readers to send any minor league mascot photos his way. Since mascots are one of my favorite photo subjects at the ballpark, I sent Ben a supply of photos. Apparently, yesterday was a slow day for him, so he decided to use many of them in his post, which you can view here in it's full glory.

So now the countdown begins. In a mere 63 days I will be winging my way to sunny Florida!

Yes, the hubby and I will be spending a week in the Clearwater/St. Pete area, enjoying the warm (hopefully) weather, and satisfying our baseball withdrawal with some Spring Training!

I don't know which is worse - the anticipation of Christmas as a child, or the anticipation of Spring Training as an adult! Patience, unfortunately, has never been one of my virtues.

Since I'm likely to be too busy to blog much the next few days, I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

I'll be busy wrapping gifts, grocery shopping, last-minute gift shopping, and otherwise losing my sanity! I also plan to eat lots of good food, and spend lots of time enjoying the company of extended family. I hope all of you are able to do the same - well, except the part about losing your sanity! :-)

(never fear, Philadelphia sports fans, my tree also has an Eagles ornament, but I didn't take a picture of it)

Here's wishing all of you a happy and healthy holiday season!

Alright, so it's not technically winter yet, but it will be in just a few days, so it's close enough.

And what is the source of my discontent? Why, the fact that the Phillies traded Cliff Lee to the Mariners. I'm irked by the way this whole Halladay-for-prospects and prospects-for-Lee trade triangle between the Phillies, Blue Jays, and Mariners keeps getting labelled as a three-team trade (four, if you count the fact that the Jays then sent Michael Taylor to the A's in another trade). Maybe if the Mariner's prospects had gone to the Blue Jays it would be. But they didn't. This was two separate trades, not one three-way trade!

So while I'm happy to have Roy Halladay, I'm perturbed that we had to give up Cliff Lee AND Kyle Drabek, Micheal Taylor, and Travis D'Arnaud.

In fact, Cliff Lee doesn't sound so thrilled either. From phillies.com:

"At first I didn't believe it," Lee said. "I thought we were working out an extension with the Phillies. I thought I would spend the rest of my career there."

In my opinion, this trade was not about restocking the farm system, and not about getting something for Lee before he becomes a free agent and goes looking for a Sabathia-like contract. No, it was about not wanting to spend an extra $9 million next season.

Even if Lee was only here for one more year, wouldn't it have been great to have a rotation with Halladay, Lee, and Hamels at the top?

Last time I checked, it was still pitching that wins ballgames, not prospects.

Note to Ruben Amaro: I am not happy!!

Wait, let me say it louder:

I AM NOT HAPPY!!

I AM NOT HAPPY!!

I AM NOT HAPPY!!

Can you hear me now, Ruben?

Interesting Fact

Q: What do the Mariners, Blue Jays, and Phillies all have in common?

A: At one time or another, Pat Gillick was the GM. Coincidence, or something more? You be the judge.

If You Can't Clone Them, Create Them

If only I'd perfected that plan to clone Cliff. We could have traded one, but kept a few others. *sigh*

But I have a new plan. According to an ad in my Sunday newspaper, I can create my own kids, for free!

I just need to figure out which combination of ice cream and mix-in would create a child with the ideal qualities - a combination of Halladay's dominance, Lee's work ethic, Hamels' change-up, Victorino's speed, Howard's power (but without the tendency to strike out), and Utley's postseason heroics. I'd need to get nine of them to fill out the lineup. But since it's only valid for children 12 and under, I'd have to wait about 10 years or so for my plan to come to fruition. And if they're made out of ice cream, they may be more suited to playing ice hockey than baseball.

Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Holiday, er, "Halliday" Shopping Update

I stopped in my local Modell's this morning to look for a Christmas gift for one of my nephews. My timing turned out to be fortuitous - they were just opening up boxes of brand new Halladay t-shirts, so I snatched one. Hopefully my nephew doesn't read this blog, or now he knows what he's getting for Christmas :-).

But if any of you are bargain-hunting, the prices on the Cliff Lee t-shirts were slashed from $17.99 to a mere $10, due to the aforementioned trade.

This past weekend, the Phillies held their annual Holiday Sale at the Majestic Clubhouse Store at Citizens Bank Park. Saturday featured appearances by Chris Wheeler, Milt Thompson, and Dickie Noles, as well as a tree lighting ceremony. Both days featured photos with Phanta Claus, and a memorabilia sale to benefit Phillies Charities.

We decided to go on Sunday, figuring it would be less crowded. First order of business was getting a picture of the kids with Phanta.

I was hoping that my daughter would be willing to then forego the trip to the mall to see Santa, since (in my opinion) Phanta is much better. But no such luck, as soon as we were done she asked if she could still go see Santa. Aargh - I hate the mall this time of year!

Next, we browsed a room of various collectibles, DVDs, and publications. I bought a Phanta figurine, rationalizing the purchase with the fact that it was a Christmas decoration. The kids both wanted Phanatic bobbleheads, which I agreed to with the understanding that they were part of their Christmas presents (note to self - must remember to get bobbleheads wrapped, and out from under my bed).

One of the Phillies employees manning the bobbleheads was wearing his World Series ring, which he kindly allowed me to get a closer look at, and even try on.

In my excitement at actually putting it on, I never looked to see which way it was facing. Thankfully, as you can see, it was right-side up. Also thankfully, it was really big, so there was no danger of getting it stuck on my finger. Now that would have created a problem!

There were more items for sale (autographed balls, bats, game-used stuff) in the Hall of Fame Club, which normal peons like me never get into. So it was worth looking just for the chance to step inside. Also, they were handing out free chocolate-chip cookies - yum!

The prices, surprisingly, were not outrageous. Some items had even been marked down! I treated myself to a champagne bottle from the NL East clinching celebration (empty, of course, and unfortunately not one of the marked down items). Hey, maybe there is some Phillie DNA on it - still daydreaming about that cloning plan.

One of the bargains to be had was an autographed Adam Eaton baseball for $5. I thought they should be giving those away, so I jokingly asked the girl behind the table if anyone was actually willing to spend even $5 on it. She replied that on the day before, a man bought 5 of them, along with two Eaton caps. When he asked her if she was wondering why he was buying all of them, she replied that yes, she was wondering. He apparently was planning on using them as gag gifts for Christmas. Now there's a new way to threaten your kids for bad behavior - instead of coal in your stocking, you'll get an Eaton ball! (poor Adam Eaton - I almost feel bad for him, but it was still pretty funny)

On the way out, we paused for another photo op in front of the Christmas tree, which was currently unlit even though it had blazed into life the night before.

Just a few (well, four) more months until baseball is back at the ballpark. *sigh*

A Little Bit of Actual Baseball News

Not a big splash, but more of a tiny ripple - the Phillies have finished filling out their bench by signing Ross Gload, previously with the Marlins, to a two-year contract. The left-handed batting Gload hit .318 as a pinch-hitter in 2009.

Welcome Ross, good luck as a Phillie!

I know, I haven't posted much lately. It's just that there's not a whole lot going on right now, baseball-wise, and there's been plenty of non-baseball holiday preparations to keep me busy. Oh sure, the off-season signings are starting up, but the addition of Brian Schneider and Placido Polanco to the Phillies' roster is not exactly ground-shaking news.

Schneider will serve as backup to Carlos Ruiz. He's practically a hometown boy, having grown up in the Allentown area. Schneider spent the past two seasons with the Mets, so hopefully he will quickly cleanse himself of all Mets-cooties before Spring Training begins.

Welcome Brian, and good luck to you this year!

Polanco is no stranger to Philly, having played second for the Phils from mid-2002 until mid-2005. He will be replacing Pedro Feliz at third. Though he does not possess the power normally associated with third basemen, he rarely strikes out - over the past five seasons, just once in every 17.5 plate appearances! Second best in the majors over that time span! What a refreshing change that will be from certain other Phillies who will remain nameless.

Welcome back, Placido! I wish you and your amazingly round head good luck this year also!

In more disturbing news, former Phillie fan favorite (or should I say "phan phavorite"?) Chris Coste has crossed over to the dark side, oops, I mean signed with the Mets. Bleh!

Random Musings

Yesterday, I started thinking about the old Michael Keaton film, "Multiplicity". Keaton's character doesn't have enough time to get everything done, so he finds someone who will clone him. Hilarity ensues, of course, but eventually he realizes that cloning is not the perfect answer he thought it would be.

But what if it could be done? What if, for instance, we could have cloned Cliff Lee during the postseason?

Instead of this four-man rotation:

the Yankees could have faced a rotation of Cliff Lees (let's call them Number 1, Number 2, Number 3, and Number 4).

We could even make a Number 5, to fill out the rotation during the regular season.

But how to do this? I came across this product online:

Cloning Gel. Hmm. Just rub it all over Cliff, and a new Cliff magically grows?

Unfortunately, the tiny print indicates that it is "rooting & propagation gel" and "stimulates root development for all cuttings". The thought of Cliff growing roots seems detrimental, and removal of a "cutting" might not be a good idea either. I guess the cloning idea is just wishful thinking, though I'm sure Jenn wouldn't mind trying to clone Chase Utley by rubbing gel on him. ;-)