Phillies 1967 Yearbook

A few months ago, I found the box containing all my Phillies' yearbooks from 1967 to 1980-something. I bought this yearbook on my first trip to a Phillies game, back in May 1967.

Fifty-six pages of Phillies' facts and photos for only ONE DOLLAR! Most major-league players got a full page to themselves, while some of the younger or marginal players shared a page with another player. (No one had more than a single page.)

I'm not going to scan and post every page (at least not all at once!), but I have already posted Jim Bunning's page here, and here are a few more:

If the yearbook was a dollar, I'm guessing that hot dog was a quarter!

Here's "Rich" (not Richie) Allen.

Johnny Callison was a fan favorite, and lived year-round in the Philadelphia suburbs.

In his lower-right photo, Bob Uecker seems to be thinking "There must be a better way to make a living!"

This page is interesting in that it is evidence that veteran Braves' and Reds' starter Joey Jay was given a spring training invite to Phillies' camp in 1967. He didn't make the team, but spent the year pitching for their single-A team before retiring.

After the player pages and center-spread color team photo, there's a section for minor-league managers, prospects, scouts, etc. Here are the Phillies pitching prospects that season. Both Steve Arlin and Mike Wegener were lost in the expansion draft after the 1968 season.

And the position-player prospects. Sutherland, Harmon, Hisle, and Doyle all had long careers in the majors. (Hmm... surprising that Larry Bowa is not here.)  Dick Allen's brother Ron had a cup of coffee with the Mets a few years later.

Inside the back cover is a shot of the infamous "spite wall" in the outfield. Connie Mack put that up years earlier to prevent the residents across the street from viewing the games for free.
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Stars of the 1960s: Johnny Callison

Here's the start of a new series on this blog - "Stars of the 1960s". (It's basically a ripoff take-off of Wrigley Wax's "All I Have of Him" series.) 

Johnny Callison was one of my favorite players on my hometown Phillies back in the 1960s. I started following baseball in 1967, so I missed his 1964 All-Star game exploits.

Callison was the one constant in the Phillies' lineup for the entire decade. Even with Richie Allen joining the squad in 1964, Allen was frequently changing positions due to his defensive shortcomings, and controversy was always swirling around him.


So now, just because...

(If I had one less Callison card, I could have squeezed the 1967 "Hurlers Beware" card into this Hollywood Squares matrix!)

CommishBob, enjoy!
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1964 Topps Giant Cards (part 3)

As mentioned earlier, recently I went back to the same antique store, and gave Pete Ward and 3 of his pals a ride to my house.

"Callison was the hero of the 1964 all-star game." So, these cards were printed late in the season!

Left unpurchased was a Pete Ward duplicate, Luis Aparicio (have it), Al Kaline, and a few others which I've forgotten.  Kaline's on deck!