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.

Serial History: 1925 Yankees

Today I will be looking at the year 1925 again as part of my Serial History.

Serial History is a segment I have done only a few times before.  You can see my others by clicking here.

I have already shown off a card of Cutch wearing a Pirates uniform and serial numbered 19/25.  That made me look at the World Series Champions of that year lead by guys like Pie Traynor.

Cutch
19/25 Bazooka back from 2019 Gypsy Queen featuring Cutch in a Yankees uniform

The 1925 Yankees

I have been seeking out autographs of those who wore a Pirates uniform and are inducted in the Hall of Fame.  Hoyt did play a few seasons with the Pirates between 1933 to 1937.  His best years were with the Yankees when he was selected to three All-Star games and lead the American League in Wins in 1923.

What is odd about this card is that it specifically says Yankees on the back.  Panini had already lost it's MLB license by 2011 so technically it couldn't shouldn't have used the team name without facing legal problems.  I am not sure if anything legally came from Panini's unauthorized use of the team name, but I find this cut auto to be kind of neat because of that.

The 1925 Yankees were not a good baseball team, which is surprising because just a few years later you see a lineup referred to as Murderer's Row and is often cited as one of the best lineups in baseball history.

The 1925 Yankees finished 30 games behind the Washington Senators.  The team finished in 7th place and well below .500 with a record of 69-85.  This season would be the last time the Yankees would finish below .500 for the next 40 years and it was only the second time in their 23 year history that they finished below .500.

The main reason for their failures to win games rested on Babe Ruth missing most of the season with an unknown illness that limited him to only 359 plate appearances.

Sam Jones was the team's featured starter, opening 43 games, but to a 4.63 ERA and a. 15-21 record while recording less than 100 strikeouts.

Lou Gehrig, in his first full season (126 games) began his long "Iron Horse" streak on June 1st 1925 and would go on to play in every regulation game until May 2nd 1939.  In 1925 as a 22 year old he swatted 20 homers, third only to Ruth and Bob Meusel, while batting a .295/.365/.561 line.

Bob Meusel lead the Team in homeruns (33) and RBI (134).  He also had a practically even strikeout (55) to walk (54) rate at the plate.  On the basepaths he finished second on the team with 13 stolen bases.  He finished second in WAR on the time (above Ruth and Gehrig).  The only player who collected a higher WAR was...

Another Hall of Famer Earle Combs.  Combs, like Gehrig, was playing in his first full season at the age of 26 years old.  He went on to score nearly 1,200 runs in his 12 year career, all with the Yankees.  His career total numbers don't appear great with less than 1,900 hits, only 58 homers, and less than 100 stolen bases in comparison to other centerfielder in the HOF.  Despite not having a single defining moment or duration, his peak and being atop those famous Yankees lineups no doubt got him voted in.  It should be,noted that he walked 670 times in his career, but only struck only 278 times.  That lead to his nearly .400 OBP career mark.

Serial History: 1925 Pirates

Well...those damn D'Backs beat the heck out of the Bucs again yesterday.  Thankfully we won't have to see them again until 2020 as the Pirates were 1-6 against them this year and got swept by them last year in Pittsburgh.

Moving on......


To formally kick off Serial History, I am going to look at an older Andrew McCutchen on card autograph from 2011 Triple Threads.  There are multiple parallels of this card to track down including the base/99, sepia/75, emerald/50,  sapphire/10, wood/1, and ruby/1.

Sadly the only copy I have is this Gold version numbered 19/25.

I will be looking at the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates team in this segment of Serial History.

The Pirates won the World Series in 1925.  It was their second World Series title, the other being from 1909.  Three more titles would follow in 1960, 1971, and 1979.

The 1925 Pirates had 3 future Hall of Famers on their team: Kiki Cuyler, Pie Traynor, and Max Carey.

Some highlights of the World Series Champions that occurred during the season can be described below.

Hall of Famer, Kiki Cuyler lead the league in triples (26), times on base (291) and runs scored (144).  (Sadly I don't have a single card of Kiki)

Glenn Wright performed an unassisted triple play on May 7th.
I was shocked to see Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts post about Glenn Wright and the 1925 Pirates last week.

This cut auto easily pushes Glenn to be my starting shortstop on my All Autograph Pirates team.  Sorry Jay Bell.

In addition to having a Glenn Wright cut auto, I also have autographs of the following:

Hall of Famer, Max Carey
Max Carey was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1961 by the Veterans Committee.  He was a ten time National League stolen base champion and is 9th All-Time with 738 career stolen bases.  He finished his career with 2,047 singles (47th all time).  He had 290 career sacrifice hits showing his ability to help his team win games selflessly.  That remains 13th best all time.  Despite playing fewer games in left field than center field throughout his career, he still holds the 8th most double plays turned as a left fielder with 30.  As a Centerfielder he appears in the top 20 All-Time for a number of defensive stats including assists (4th most 221 total), putouts (14th most with 4,589), and double plays (4th most with 58).

Hall of Famer, Pie Traynor has been on my want list for an autograph for awhile and I was able to add his 1933 Goudey card and a cut auto just about a month ago.

He is the team's greatest third baseman in the history of the Pirates. The Pirates retired numbered 20 in honor of Pie.

He finished his career with 2,416 hits and a .320 batting average while amassing 1,273 RBI over 1900 career games at the hot corner.  He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1948 on his 5th year on the ballot.

 

Babe Adams may not be a Hall of Famer, but he is one of the greatest Pirates pitchers in their long history.  He holds the team record for wins by a right hander (194), shutouts (47), and lowest walk rate 1 walk per 14+ innings pitched.

One of his most memorable moments was pitching all 21 innings of a pitching dual in 1914.  He didn't allow a walk in all 21 innings.