#36 Bobby Wine - Philadelphia Phillies

Robert Paul Wine
Philadelphia Phillies
Shortstop

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  187
Born:  September 17, 1938, New York, NY
Signed:  Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent before 1957 season
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 1960, 1962-1968; Montreal Expos 1969-1972
As a Manager:  Atlanta Braves 1985

A good fielding, light hitting shortstop for 12 big league seasons, Bobby Wine won a Gold Glove in 1963 and set a record for most double plays turned by a shortstop in 1970 with 137.  Bothered by a bad back for most of his career, Wine nevertheless was a mainstay in the Phillies line-ups throughout the 1960s.  In eight seasons with the Phillies, Wine hit .216 with 23 home runs and 176 RBIs.  He was sent to the Expos following the expansion draft when the Expos' original pick, Phillies pitcher Larry Jackson (#420), opted to retire rather than report to Montreal.  Reunited with his former Phillies manager Gene Mauch (#489), Wine took over everyday shortstop duties for the Expos in 1969 after Maury Wills was traded to the Dodgers that June.  For his career, Wine was a career .215 batter with 30 home runs.

Wine was released by the Expos on July 10, 1972 and he immediately re-joined the Phillies as a coach.  He was a member of the Phillies coaching staff for 11 seasons, serving as infield coach in 1972, first base coach between 1973 and 1978 and bench coach between 1980 and 1983.  He next coached for the Braves in 1985, getting named the team's interim manager in August following the firing of Eddie Haas.  He returned to the Braves as a coach between 1988 and 1990.  He last suited up as a coach for the Mets between 1993 and 1996, reuniting with his former teammate and former Phillies manager Dallas Green (#203), who managed the Mets during that time.  Finally, Wine served as an advanced scout for the Braves for several years during that team's dominance of the N.L. East in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

His son Robbie played briefly for the Astros in 1986 and 1987.

August 12, 2017 - Wine signs

Building the Set
July 20, 2020 from Scottsdale, AZ - Card #132
I continued to be fairly active with my eBay purchases in July, as we prepared for the abbreviated 60-game baseball season to start.  Having been somewhat haphazard in my eBay hunts up until this point, I decided to focus and specifically try to complete the first series of our 1965 Topps set.  I added 10 cards to our set from the first series (cards #1 through #88) from Scottsdale Baseball Cards, and the envelope with our new cards arrived on July 20th.  As of this writing, we need 39 of the 88 cards from the first series so we're more than half-way there.  The priciest card still needed is the A.L. Home Run Leaders card (#5) featuring Mickey Mantle.  This Wine card entered our collection for $2.

On the same night Doug first met Phillies great Tony Taylor (#296), he also met Taylor's long-time teammate Wine.  This would have been during the Phillies Alumni Weekend in 2017 and Doug stood outside the alumni's suite for a solid three hours attempting to add as many autographs to his collection as possible.  This was back when Doug wasn't bending the brim on his hat, as was apparently the style then (and now for some).  Wine emerged from the alumni suite, took one look at Doug's straight brim and admonished him to "Bend that brim for God's sake!"  He then grabbed Doug's hat and bent the brim, and Doug has bent the brim on his new hats ever since.

The Card / Phillies Team Set
Kudos to the Topps photographer for posing Wine about to throw a baseball in lieu of having him hold a bat.  While this card is new to our 1965 Topps set, I've had a copy of this card in my 1960s Phillies binder for quite some time.  For me personally, this is a very iconic baseball card representing the Phillies in the 1960s.  The back of the card rightfully calls out Wine's strong throwing arm.

1965 Season/Phillies Career
I've summarized Wine's career at the top of this post, and 1965 was a fairly typical season for him.  As the team's primary shortstop, Wine played in 139 games, making 119 starts at short.  Taylor and Cookie Rojas (#474) were his double play partners at second base, with each of those players starting 78 games each.  Wine hit .228 with five home runs - one shy of his career high six home runs hit in 1963.

For as long as I can remember, "Wino" has been a regular at all Phillies alumni events and special anniversary celebrations.  He was a part of the infamous Phillies collapse in 1964, but he'd later go to the World Series with the club in 1980 and 1983.

1963 Topps #71

1968 Topps #396

1972 Topps #657

1974 Topps #119

1986 Topps #51

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1963 Topps #71
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (13):  1963-1974, 1986
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2009 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #ROA-BWI

63 - Wine non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 7/27/20.

For some context as I'm composing this post, July 27th was the day the Phillies-Yankees game was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak on the Marlins team, who had just completed a weekend series in Philadelphia.  I thought I'd be watching a Phillies-Yankees game on this night, but instead I'm writing about a former Phillies player/coach and his 55-year-old baseball card.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database

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