Almost time for another very weird World Series

 

The World Series is about to start -- way later than it should -- and it's another odd matchup with the Phillies playing the Astros.

Everyone of a certain age knows that can't happen -- the Phillies and Astros are in the same league! But ever since the Astros were transplanted into the American League and started cheating ... er, winning, there have been odd Series matchups all over the place.

Last year's matchup, the Astros and Braves, was something I knew for years as a midseason get-together for two National League West teams going nowhere. The Astros-Dodgers World Series of 2017 began as, hey, this is a showdown for the 1980 NL West pennant, before turning into something more sinister. And the Astros-Nationals Series from three years ago was just plain odd, unless you turn the Nationals into the Expos and then that's a National League game I saw in Olympic Stadium in 1990.

This season's World Series can be summed up in the card above. The Astros and the Phillies were the two teams who played in the 1980 NLCS. It was a fun series. I will always remember Howard Cosell -- ABC broadcasted the series -- blatantly rooting for the Astros in that Series. It didn't help, the Phillies won and won the World Series, too.

Ever since then, the Phillies and Astros have been connected in my mind.

 

This time of year is also when people look up which ballplayers have performed for each World Series team. Since the Astros and Phillies have been connected in my mind for over 40 years, this is easy recall for me: Bobby Abreu, Greg Gross, Brad Lidge, Dickie Thon, Glenn Wilson, Pete Incavaglia, Robin Roberts and Larry Andersen spring to mind. In fact there are around 150 players, according to baseball-reference, who have played for both teams.

 

But what about those who have played for just those two teams and no others? Those are the most interesting to me.

 

There are nine of those AstroPhils. Lots of pitchers and none too notable. Let's review.

 

 

Eric Bruntlett

 

Astros: 2003-07

Phillies: 2008-09

Number of cards I have of him: none.

Jeff Calhoun

 

Astros: 1984-86

Phillies: 1987-88

 

Number of cards I have of him: 9. (Calhoun is the rare case in this exercise where he's featured with both teams in the base set and update set in a single year).

 

Rocky Childress

 

Phillies: 1985-86

Astros: 1987-88

Number of cards I have of him: 3 (There are no major sets that show Childress as a Phillie. The above card is from the 1985 regional Tastykake set).

 

Chris Coste

Phillies: 2006-09

Astros: 2009

Number of cards I have of him: 3 (Coste doesn't have an Astros card that I could find).

Sergio Escalona

Phillies: 2009

Astros: 2011

Number of cards I have of him: none (I bought a hobby box of Chrome in 2009 and pulled the above autograph, which pretty much scared me off of buying Chrome boxes for the rest of time. I then traded the card away. ... Escalona doesn't appear to have an Astros card).

 

Geoff Geary

Phillies: 2003-07

Astros: 2008-09

Cards I have of him: 0

Louie Meadows

 

Astros: 1986-90

Phillies: 1990

 

Number of cards I have of him: 3 or 4, depending. (This relates to the Wes Chamberlain card above, which actually depicts Louie Meadows. It's Meadows' lone appearance as a Phillie on a major-release card).

 

 

Hector Neris

Phillies: 2014-21

Astros: 2022

 

Number of cards I have of him: 7. (This player and the next feature players current with the teams competing in the World Series). 

 

Neris' 2022 Astros card is this:

 

Not sure if I consider Topps Now as a legitimate card.

 

Garrett Stubbs

Astros: 2019-21

Phillies: 2022

Number of cards I have of him: 1.(Stubbs, the Phillies' backup catcher, also has only Topps Now to represent his Phillies days).

Those are the guys who have played with just the Astros and Phillies and nobody else.

I guess either Hector Neris or Garrett Stubbs is going to find out if they ended up on the right team or the wrong team.

Either way, a National League team is going to win.