2008 Phillies - Where are they now? (Outfielders)

A review of where all Phillies (at least the regulars) from the 2008 World Season have gone.

Pat Burrell - Left Field

2008 Bowman Gold #62

2011 Topps #546

Pat the Bat was in his 9th season with the Phillies in 2008. He had, for him, an average season. Not that that was a bad thing. He hit .250 with 33 home runs and 89 rbi. Pat did not have a good playoff season. He hit only 1 home run (in the NLDS) and only hit .071 (1 for 19) in the World Series. 2008 was his last season with the Phillies. He signed as a free agent by the Rays in 2009 and was released at the end of the season, and then signed with the Giants for 2010. He got a second chance at the World Series in 2010 but didn't perform any better than in 2008. He came back with the Giants in 2011 but spent most of the season on the DL with a foot injury. He signed a one-day contract with the Phillies so he could retire as a Phillie and was subsequently inducted to the Phillies Wall of Fame. He is currently a special assignment scout for the Giants.

Shane Victorino - Center Field

2008 Upper Deck #200

2015 Topps Allen & Ginter #336

The Phillies got Victorino from the Dodgers in the 2004 Rule 5 draft. In his first few years with the Phillies he spent time in all 3 outfield positions, but in 2008 and on, he primarily played center. He hit .293, had 14 home runs and 8 triples and won a gold glove in 2008. In the NLDS he hit a grand slam, the first Phillies slam in playoff history. In the NLCS he became a villain for the Dodgers fans after an altercation with Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda which resulted in the clearing of both benches. As an aside, you always hear that both benches cleared during an altercation. Is there ever a circumstance where only one bench clears and the other team stays in their dugout?  Anyway, in 2012 the Phillies traded Shane back to the Dodgers, where I'm sure they loved him. He signed with the Red Sox for the 2013 season when he had one of his best seasons, hitting .294 with 15 home runs and leading the league with 18 HPB. Ouch.  He has been in decline since then and was traded to the Angels earlier this season.

Jayson Werth - Left Field

2008 Topps Heritage #85

2015 Topps Heritage #295

After missing the entire 2006 season due to a wrist injury, the Phillies took a chance on him in 2007. In had 4 respectable years with the Phillies, from 2007-2010. On May 16, 2008 he had three home runs against the Blue Jays, a grand slam, a 3-run homer and a solo-shot, just missing the so-called "homer cycle". In the 2008 World Series, he was 8 for 18 with 3 doubles and 6 walks. After the 2010 season, Werth signed a 7-year, $126 million contract with the Nationals. His first 3 seasons with the Nats were productive, but he's struggling in 2015, hitting only .226.

Here are a few non-starters who made contributions to the 2008 Phillies

Geoff Jenkins - Right Field

2008 SP Authentic By The Letter Signatures

2008 Topps Allen & Ginter #317

After a successful 10-year career with the Brewers, Jenkins signed a 2-year, $13 million deal with the Phillies in Dec. 2007. He appeared in 115 games (all but two in right field) for the Phillies in 2008 hitting .246 with 9 home runs. He only had 4 at bats in the playoffs but his only hit, in the 6th game of the World Series, a double, helped the Phillies win the game and thus the series. The Phillies released Jenkins during spring training in 2009 and he decided to retire as a Brewer. He is currently on the coaching staff of the Peoria Explorers in the Freedom Pro Baseball League.

Greg Dobbs - 3rd Base

2008 Upper Deck Phillies World Series Champions #14

2013 Topps #356

Dobbs started 46 games for the Phillies in 2008 but made a real contribution as a pitch hitter. He led the majors with 22 pitch hits in 2008 for a .355 average. He also finished 2 in the majors with 16 rbi. He had 7 hits in 16 at bats in the playoffs. After disappointing seasons in 2009 and 2010, the Phillies released him and he spent a couple of years with the Marlins. He finished his career in 2014 with the Nationals. He is currently living in California and seeking a business degree.

Eric Bruntlett - Infield

2008 Topps Update #63

One last position player worth mentioning is Eric Bruntlett. Eric came over to the Phillis in 2008 from the Astros. He only started 48 games with the Phillies, ultimately getting into 115 games, playing the 3 infield positions in 2008. He had 6 at bats in the playoffs and only 2 hits, but one of those was a solo shot in the World Series. For a fairly short career, Bruntlett appeared in 3 World Series, 2008 and 2009 with the Phillies and 2005 with the Astros. After the 2010 season he decided to retire and be a stay-at-home Dad.

My Reference Cards #5 - 2000 Bowman Chrome

2000 Bowman Chrome was a full parallel set to 2000 Bowman, all 440 cards. I own exactly 4 cards from the set - the Astros. The cards have the same design as 2000 Bowman with the addition of the Topps Chrome technology.

As with the base set, red means veteran players, blue means rookies.

I got the 4 Astros cards in trades with other bloggers.

The set had some different parallels and inserts from the base set.

The over sized cards came one to a hobby box. The backs are the same as the regular cards. This card was a gift from a friend of the blog. Thanks, Max!

As with all Chrome sets there are Refractor parallels but I don't have any. This is before the days when there were multiple kinds of Refractors (like X-Fractors) or colored bordered Refractors.

As with the base set there were the Future/Retro parallels. I only have a Future.

I got this card through a trade.  There are Refractor versions of these as well.

The 15-card Chrome only insert set "Bidding for the Call". In 2000, Cust was still in the minors, just bidding his time waiting to be called up to the majors. I paid $0.25 for this at a card show in 2012.

 Another Chrome only insert, the 10-card "Rookie Class 2000" insert. This is the Refractor version. I bought this on eBay for $1.75 back in 2003.

There were a couple of other insert sets which I don't have yet: the 10-card set called "Meteoric Rise" and the 15-card set called "Teen Idols". Both of these had Refractor versions.

There was also a 110-card Chrome parallel for Bowman Draft Picks, available only as a factory set. I only have one of them and I don't know how I got it. The only reason I even know it's from the Chrome Draft Pick set is by comparing checklists.

That almost does it for 2000 Bowman products. All that's left is Bowman's Best.

January 2014 Card Show - Part 1

I already shared the Topps Giant cards I got at this show. Here's some more good stuff.

1999 Fleer Brilliants #140 Pat Burrell

In 1999, these cards cost a buck apiece in a 5-card pack. I paid a buck for this one at the show.

2000 Bowman's Best Franchise 2000 #19 Jeff Bagwell

This is from a 25-card insert set from 2000 Bowman's Best. The front is backed with refractive foil. I wasn't even sure what set it was from when I bought it since the Bowman's Best logo on the front is real hard to make out. The back is a dull matte black.

2000 SP Authentic Limited #106 Rick Ankiel

Remember when Rick Ankiel was the hottest pitcher around. That period didn't last long. This card is a parallel to 2000 SP Authentic, serial numbered to 100.

2000 Topps Tek #44-19 Brett Myers

This was a difficult set to collect. The cards were printed on clear acetate and each player was available with multiple patterns. There are 40 different versions of this card. Now I've got 2.

2001 Leaf Limited #257 Nick Punto

Another difficult set to collect. All cards in the set above number 150 are serial numbered to different amounts by sets of 50. Cards numbered 250-300 were numbered to 1000. Cards 301-325 are autographed and serial numbered. cards 326-350 have relics and serial numbers.

More to come...

2011 Summer Clearance Trade with Play at The Plate

We're starting to wind down on the 2011 Summer Clearance Trade. Only three more to share. I was pretty happy with the 2010 trades but I think this was even a better year. I guess I'll do it again in 2012.

Brian from Play At The Plate sent me a pile of Astros and Phillies for a bunch of Rangers cards. Of the cards he sent, I needed 67 of them. Here are the highlights.

1999 Fleer Mystique #103 Glen BarkerI think that Fleer was the first to make rookie cards numbered inserts. Here is an example from 1999. Too bad this guy went nowhere.

1999 Topps All-Matrix #26 Curt SchillingThe movie The Matrix was big in 1999. Was Schilling really "The One"?

1999 Upper Deck 10th Anniversary Team Double #12 Jeff BagwellA re-creation of the Upper Deck 1989 design all duded up with gold foil and Dufex. Back then, who would have thought that Upper Deck wouldn't have much to celebrate on their 20th anniversary?

1999 Upper Deck MVP Dynamics #12 Jeff BagwellUpper Deck MVP sure had busy looking inserts. See some below from the 2000 issue. This is for the Reference Binder.

2000 Upper Deck 2K Plus #9 Scott RolenThere were two Phillies in this 12-card insert set. I already had Pat Burrell.

2000 Upper Deck Statitude #15 Craig BiggioAnother insert in 2000 Upper Deck. I previously only had the Sammy Sosa card from this 30-card set.

2000 Upper Deck MVP Pure Grit #5 Scott RolenHe also sent me the Craig Biggio card from this insert set.

2000 Upper Deck MVP Second Season Standouts #4 Ken CaminitiAnother insert from 2002 Upper Deck MVP. There's a lot of stuff going on on this card.

2002 Fleer Golden Memories #12 Pat BurrellI didn't have any cards from this insert set so this goes into the Reference Binder. This is an interesting design in that it is a card with out any gloss but with gold foil.

2002 Topps Gold Label #48 Jeff BagwellA nice looking card from this premium set from Topps.

2005 Fleer Showcase #53 Chase UtleyIn the 2000s, Fleer put out some many different sets it was hard to keep up with them. I had only bought a few packs of Fleer Showcase and didn't have any Phillies from the set. Brian also sent me Wagner and Thome.

2008 Topps Dick Perez Ryan HowardI like this. Any Howard card that I don't have is a card I want to have.

2008 Upper Deck Documentary Gold #423 Lance BerkmanI've gotten quite a few Phillies and Astros from the 2008 Documentary set but this is the only Gold variation. I didn't have any Phillies or Astros Gold.

2009 UD A Piece of History #72 Ryan HowardI only bought one blaster of this product back in 2009 and didn't like it much. I only had one Phillie from the set. In addition to Howard, Brian sent Utley as well.

2010 Bowman Gold #24 Raul IbanezRauuuuuuul!