1979 TCMA 50's Cards - Phillies

My good friend B always finds some nice baseball cards for me for my birthday. This year was no exception.

In 1979, TCMA seemed to primarily release minor league sets, but also produced this 291-card TCMA 50's set, noted on the back as being from the "Baseball History Set". It's a nicely designed set with a large color photo with no markings on the front. Career stats and player bio information fill out the simple back. B managed to find 4 of the 13 Phillies cards in the set.

One of the Whiz Kids from the 1950 Phillies who went to the World Series. He played 12 years with the Phillies. I've never read or heard why he was called Puddin' Head.

 Another Whiz Kid, 1950 was his year. He was an All-Star, the National League MVP and the National League Pitcher of the Year. He was 16-7 in 1950, with 22 saves. He appeared in 74 games (152 innings), finishing 66. Nobody works that hard today.

 Roberts is one of my favorite Phillies of all time even though I can't remember ever having seen him play. He was the dominant pitcher of the early-1950s. From 1950-1955 he won 138 games against 78 loses, with 958 strike outs while pitching 1,936 innings. He was a 7-time All-Star and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1976. He was never quite that good after 1955 although he played another 14 years. This is a great photo in the classic 1950's Phillies uniform.

Not quite a Whiz Kid (he was on the down end of his career in 1950), he gave a veteran performance, playing every game at first place, to help the Phillies into the 1950 World Series. He was also the model for the  book and movie "The Natural". In 1949, an overzealous female fan came to his hotel room and shot him with a .22 rifle, nearly killing him. He was named "Comeback Player of the Year" in 1950.