Serial History: 1949 Phillies

It has been a long time since I featured a Serial History segment.  In case you have forgotten what Serial History is, it's a series where I look at the serial numbering of a card and look at how that serial number can relate to a player, team, year, area code, etc.

I don't have many relics of Andrew McCutchen in a Phillies uniform.  I was hoping that maybe he would get a Heritage High Numbers relic with Bryce Harper, but that didn't happen.  I have a Santa Hat relic that was worn for a Spring Training photo shoot which I showed off here.  If you're into 1 of 1 bat barrels, well I have one of those too which I showed off when declaring my first Twitter purchase.  I also have a 2019 Panini Immaculate Collection jersey relic numbered to 49 copies.

This particular copy is numbered 19/49.

I thought it would be fun to look at the Phillies franchise in 1949.  The 1949 Phillies showed a step forward for an organization that had only 1 winning since 1917.  Yes you read that correctly.  From 1917 to 1949 the Phillies had only one winning season in 1932.  Much of the early unsuccessful years came on the heels of trading star pitcher Grover Alexander and running the team cheaply.

Future Hall of Famers Richie Ashburn and Robin Roberts made their MLB debuts in 1948 and would help propel the team to an 81-73 record.

The following year saw the dubbed "Whiz Kids" lead the Phillies to the NL Pennant.


This card has been sitting around for a few months along with a rather large pile of cards waiting patiently to be shown off.  I grabbed it for under $5 back in September.

The design of Immaculate is really nice although it is extremely difficult to determine what year each card is from.

The back of the card discusses  Cutch hitting a leadoff homer on Opening Day (his very first official at bat as a member of Phillies).

Heinie Mueller (what a name that is) was a member of those terrible Phillies mentioned above.  Unfortunately his career lasted only 4 seasons from 1938 to 1941.  After the events of Pearl Harbor he joined the Army and served until 1945.  He rejoined the Phillies for Spring Training in 1946, but was released prior to the season starting. In 1949 he became a player-manager of the Muskogee Reds.