#112 Phildelphia Phillies, Danny Ozark

Card Front: I am sure we all can tell this is definitely a photo shoot set up during Spring Training. Last time I checked there are no palm trees in Philly. I find it odd though that if you really start to sit and study the team photo, there as many guys in polo shirts as there are baseball uniforms. There really is no consistency with a red polo, some white ones with god awful white pants, one with a red collar, some pullover v-necks. The coaches look happy to be sitting there in the front, but the players just want to get back to the clubhouse for a drink and a smoke.

Card Back: Like I've said for every previous team card, and will continue this is what Topps needs to go back to. A team card that gives us who to look for on out team instead of all these fluff extras they give us every year. There are three guys that are HOF'ers on here, two as a player and one broadcaster in Carlton, McCarver, and Schmidt. Unfortunately not one of the guys on the checklist would play for Seattle, but Larry Bowa was a coach in 2000 under Lou Piniella, and Ted Sizemore currently works in the front office.

Six degrees or less to Seattle: Danny never made it to the big leagues as a player. During the 1947 season, Danny played for the Ft. Worth Cats of the Texas League. One of his teammates was Toby Atwell. Toby would eventually make it to the majors and in 1955 was a Pittsburgh Pirate with Dick Groat. During his rookie season of 1962, my favorite player Willie Stargell would share time in the Steel City with Dick. During the bicentennial of our country, Willie would spend time in the 1976 season in Pittsburgh with Craig Reynolds. Craig was traded to Seattle before the 1977 season, and was the Opening Day SS for the Mariners. He would be the lone All Star for us in 1978, before being traded after 1978 to the Houston Astros.

Blog related to the team: So many Phillies fans that collect cards and have blogs. I wish sometimes when I do these posts I could assign people to other teams, but I want them to be linked to the boys they love. One collector's love for the Fightin' Phils love that never wavers like it when Things Are Funner Here. I'm sure most all of you have read plenty of what Julie was given us over the last 2+ years. I like the work she does, and I always find it refreshing to have the ladies love of hobby as much as we do. Go over and tell her hi now!

Next Card: #113 Pete Redfern, Twins

#96 Cleveland Indians, Jeff Torborg

Card Front: Boy oh boy, doesn't this look like a happy bunch of Indians? Is it the continuous losing seasons or the great Mistake by the Lake? You do have uniformity with everybody having their arms crossed, but some guys are looking off to the right, some smiles, and bad cropping of half the guy on the far left. I must know why Jeff has an old wishbone C hat in the little photo, while the team picture has everyone in the block C caps? The two different polo shirt guys, and Mr. suit and tie not happy to be in the picture just make this fun!

Card Back: As far as Mariners go, it is pretty slim pickings on the back of this card. The only guy that would actually don a Mariners uniform was Ted Cox. Ted was in Seattle for the blink of a eye during the 1980 season. I guess except for a few guys, the Tribe was pretty bad back then.

Six degrees or less to Seattle: Jeff Torborg had a playing career in Southern California. During his time as a member of the 1970 Dodgers, Jeff played with Don Sutton. Fast forward to 1983, and Don is part of the Milwaukee Brewers with HOF'er Paul Molitor. Paul would take his travels to north of the border to be a Toronto Blue Jay in 1995 with Giovanni Carrera. Giovanni spent the 2003 season in the Mariners bullpen.

Blog related to the team: It really is becoming harder to find blogs for teams. Some have thousands of bloggers that are fans, and some are like me. Lone  voices rooting for an empty team that seems to flounder. The only new one that had a post or two about cards was called Cleveland's Rocks. They do talk about all three of Cleveland's teams but there is some stuff about the Tribe.

Next Card: #97 Sam Mejias, Expos

#82 New York Mets, Joe Torre

Card Front: Here is Joe and his 1978 Metropolitans. It sure seems there are a lot of people in the team photo. Guys in suits, young kids, some minor leaguers. If you don't count the suit, there are 53 players, coaches and others in the pictures. I guess they figured why not make everyone famous in New York for the 1979 season. Joe didn't have very good teams his first go round in NY going 286-420 with the Mets.

Card Back:  Ahh, the good old Topps checklists I love. Some Mariners on there include Steve Henderson, Skip Lockwood was a Seattle Pilot in 1969, Bobby Valentine was here for a moment in time, and the famous Lenny Randle for this play in the Kingdome in 1981:

Six degrees or less to Seattle: Joe was around for long time as a player. In 1964 Joe was with the Milwaukee Braves with Felipe Alou. Ten years later in 1974, Felipe came back to the new incarnation in Milwaukee to play with Robin Yount on the Brewers squad. Fast Forward to 1993 and Robin would still be with the Brew Crew to play with Tom Lampkin. Tom spent three seasons from 1999-2001 playing in the Emerald City as a Mariner.

Blog related to the team: As we all know the Mets recently got their first no-hitter in team history. One guy that I know was particularly happy about that feat has a newer blog dedicated to his beloved Mets. jacobmarley is the fine purveyor of the Starting Nine. I have to say I agree to his theory of nine players on the field, and nine pockets in a page might be coincidence, but it works for all us collectors. Go and show him that there is love for the other team in New York besides that other team in pinstripes.

Next Card: #83 Fred Kendall, Red Sox

#66 Detroit Tigers, Les Moss

Card Front: Here are your 1978 Tigers at old Tiger Stadium in their classic home white uniforms. There is almost perfect uniformity amongst everyone with the navy blue long sleeves. A couple of the batboys and one other guy didn't get the memo. You even have trainers(?) wearing the classic satin jackets, and even a man in a suit in the team photo. It is sad to see what has become of the old stadium nowadays:

Card Back: Take note Topps. On this card you have a checklist for building a team set. You have 24 players and a prospects card. You pretty much get the whole team in there. It is not like now where some teams get all their guys in the main sets and some teams get squat. Nice, neat alphabetical order, positions, and uni #'s. I wax nostalgic, but I like the simplicity of it instead of all the flash and glamour of today's cards.

Six degrees or less to Seattle: The only player to be on the back to be a Mariner was Lance Parrish in 1992. Jim Slaton would be the Mariner bullpen coach from 2005-2007. Former Tiger Rusty Staub would move down south and be a Texas Ranger in the 1980 season playing with Nelson Norman. Nelson would go north of the border to be a Montreal Expo in 1987 and play with Andres Galaragga. The Big Cat would be a part of the 2001 Texas Rangers which featured a young R.A. Dickey. R. A.(the new author of a book) would spend the 2008 season in Seattle.

Blog related to the team: How could you not be a fan of the team that never changes their look much? As soon as you see that Old English D, you know it is the Detroit Tigers. There is a blogger who loves his Tigers new and old. Dhoff even named his blog after his beloved Tiger favorite. The man loves Coot Veal and the Vealtones. He always is showing off some good stuff and knows how to write a darn good blog post, so go over and give him your attention.

Next Card: #67 Jim Mason, Rangers

#41 Minnesota Twins, Gene Mauch

 Card Front: How awesome were these team pics back in the day. How cool would it have been to be one of bat boys and know you are forever immortalized on cardboard? Even the trainers and other staff were able to get in the picture. I always liked the little picture of the manager at the bottom. I miss these cards. After all the years in the Metrodome, I forgot that they used to play at Metropolitan Stadium, outside!

Card Back: How awesome were these? How many times did we all check off the cards we had on the back? I love it, card #, name, position, and uniform #. Remember this was the best way to get info on other teams before the Internet. Yes kids, there was a time when we didn't have Internet, cell phones, and remote controls for the TV.

Six Degrees or less to Seattle: The only player to tie to the Mariners is OF Willie Norwood. Willie was traded to Seattle in December of 1980. He would be released in the end of March of 1981 at the end of Spring Training. Donruss would show him as a Mariner in a Twins uniform in their 1981 set(see below). Willie would end his career playing for the Reynosa Broncos of the Mexican League in 1981 and '82.

Blog related to the team: While it is hard to find Twins collectors, there are other Twins blogs out there. One that I found is k-bro's baseball blog. It seems to have good info on the Twinkies.

Next Card: #42 Ron Blomberg, White Sox