Phillies legend Ryan Howard finds Joe Carter in a pack of '89 Topps | Old Baseball Cards
2006 NL MVP and former Phillies slugger Ryan Howard joins Yahoo Sports' Mike Oz to look through packs of 1989 and 2004 Topps baseball cards.
Video Transcript
MIKE OZ: Hey, it's Mike Oz with Yahoo Sports. This is the great Ryan Howard. We are going to open some old baseball cards.
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[CRACK OF THE BAT]
- Up the middle. A base hit. First major league hit for Howard.
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[CRACK OF THE BAT]
- And that ball is absolutely hammered.
[CHEERING]
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10 to 2.
RYAN HOWARD: The Phillies. I want to thank you guys, you know, for taking a kid fifth round, giving me the opportunity, and just this-- this city as a whole, man.
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MIKE OZ: Ryan, you are the new ambassador for the Scotts Field Refurbishment Program through Major League Baseball. Start there. Why is that important to you? Why is it something you're passionate about?
RYAN HOWARD: Well, it's important to be able to give the kids the opportunity to be able to get out, get their health and wellness, their well-being going, and to give them the opportunity to have these fields be refurbished to be able to go out and play these games and be able to have that opportunity to potentially create memories, lifetime childhood memories, like I was able to do as-- as a youth. And it gives these kids that opportunity to be able to go out there and play and do that.
MIKE OZ: I know you haven't been out of the game that long, but it seems like you've already-- TV, doing this. You did venture capital stuff. Seems like you're kind of all over the place.
RYAN HOWARD: All over. Yeah.
MIKE OZ: So are you enjoying the--
RYAN HOWARD: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
MIKE OZ: --post-baseball life?
RYAN HOWARD: And being-- and being dad as well. So yeah, man.
MIKE OZ: Oh, that's right.
RYAN HOWARD: So yeah, I'm-- I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying it.
MIKE OZ: Dad's probably hardest, right? Like--
RYAN HOWARD: Oh man, believe it. Believe it.
[LAUGHTER]
MIKE OZ: So you've got some 1989 Topps. This is from when you were-- you were probably what, like 10?
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah. I was-- yeah, about to turn 10.
MIKE OZ: 10 years old. OK. We got some 2004 Topps. This is right where you're about to break into the big leagues. So open those up. Let's see what you got, and--
RYAN HOWARD: Let's see.
MIKE OZ: --and see what kind of stories and memories and whatnot come to mind.
RYAN HOWARD: All right. Make sure we don't-- make sure we don't lose that gum.
MIKE OZ: The gum-- the gum is all you if you want.
RYAN HOWARD: The gum-- the gum is official, yo.
MIKE OZ: You might need some teeth refurbishment afterwards.
RYAN HOWARD: The gum is official. This is official. So we've got a Mike Kingery.
MIKE OZ: I remember Mike Kingery.
RYAN HOWARD: Mike Kingery card here. Not bad. Not bad. Like the-- the old bring the knee in right there--
MIKE OZ: (LAUGHING) Yeah, right?
RYAN HOWARD: --to unload-- load-unload right there.
MIKE OZ: Right. Right.
RYAN HOWARD: Randy Ready. Oh wow.
MIKE OZ: I feel like he's from my hometown, I think. I feel like-- I think he's from--
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah, Randy Ready--
MIKE OZ: --Fremont, California.
RYAN HOWARD: --with the San Diego Padres. That was always a good one. That was always a good one.
MIKE OZ: Good Padres uniforms. Coming back this year, looking like that.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah, I love those. Oh, we got doubles-- Mike Kingery.
MIKE OZ: (LAUGHING) Again. Two.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah.
MIKE OZ: Two Mikes.
RYAN HOWARD: Mark Clear with the Milwaukee Brewers.
MIKE OZ: Got the good flow.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah. That's some--
MIKE OZ: Mustache.
RYAN HOWARD: Let's-- Yeah. Let's not forget about that mustache.
MIKE OZ: (LAUGHING) That's--
RYAN HOWARD: That is-- that is a pivotal mustache.
MIKE OZ: He looks like he's trying to be like [INAUDIBLE], though, right? He's like--
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah. Yeah.
MIKE OZ: --that's my--
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah.
MIKE OZ: Like--
RYAN HOWARD: '89.
MIKE OZ: --that's my energy right now.
RYAN HOWARD: Great. Great.
MIKE OZ: Wow.
RYAN HOWARD: Here we go. Joe Carter with Indians right there.
MIKE OZ: I feel like that guy maybe hit a big home run. I can't remember for sure.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah, it broke a lot of hearts in Philadelphia back in the '90s, Phillies, years later.
This was a guy, man, who, you know, I always rooted for. I loved watching him play. Who knew that, you know, obviously growing up and then winding up playing for the Phillies, it's like now you kind of have to keep the-- the history that was prior to. But this was always one of those guys that when I did get a chance to kind of watch people play, I loved watching him play.
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Oh, Mitch Webster from the Cubs. Yeah. I mean, you always got to love the old cummerbund-type--
MIKE OZ: The band.
RYAN HOWARD: --yeah-- waistband right there. Those good old unis.
Neil Allen. Didn't really see Neil Allen growing up too much.
MIKE OZ: I feel like-- I feel like Neil Allen was like every '89 pitcher.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah.
MIKE OZ: I feel like every guy looked like that.
RYAN HOWARD: (LAUGHING) Yeah, pretty much. Oh, here you go. Here's a good one-- Bobby Thigpen.
MIKE OZ: Nasty in the late '80s.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah.
MIKE OZ: Nasty.
RYAN HOWARD: Bobby Thigpen.
[SIGH]
He would've been a guy to where that would've been a very uncomfortable at-bat.
MIKE OZ: Yeah.
RYAN HOWARD: I think just, you know, some of the movement and stuff on his pitches-- he was very, very effective. Also, great flow. Good hair flow right there peeking out of the back.
MIKE OZ: Yeah, yeah.
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RYAN HOWARD: Yeah, I don't know how I would have fared against that.
Wes Gardner. Didn't really hear too much about him when I was-- when I was growing up. Mike Greenwell.
MIKE OZ: Mike Greenwell.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah. Mike Greenwell, yes. This dude would-- he could hit. He could hit.
MIKE OZ: I feel like-- I feel like he had a good look. Like, he had this kind of like hitter's stare too. Like, he just was--
RYAN HOWARD: He did. It was like if you--
MIKE OZ: You knew-- you know he was gonna hit it good.
RYAN HOWARD: --if you just put it in this vicinity, I'm going to touch it. Yeah. I remember that. Scotty B.
MIKE OZ: You know him?
RYAN HOWARD: So this guy--
MIKE OZ: He looks crazy.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah.
MIKE OZ: He looks like he's ready to kill somebody.
RYAN HOWARD: So Scott was with-- is from my alma mater of--
MIKE OZ: Yeah?
RYAN HOWARD: Now it's Missouri State. It was Southwest Missouri State back in the day. So this is pretty cool, to open this pack and, like, see a former Bear.
MIKE OZ: Is he cool, though?
RYAN HOWARD: Oh, yeah, yeah.
MIKE OZ: Oh, OK.
RYAN HOWARD: He's [INAUDIBLE]. Yeah.
MIKE OZ: He just looked like he [INAUDIBLE].
RYAN HOWARD: To see-- to see a former Bear on here, like, that's-- that's pretty cool.
MIKE OZ: You got a lot of cards in there, man.
RYAN HOWARD: John Tudor. John Tudor. I remember watching him growing up when he pitched for the Cardinals and just how effective he was. So that's always good.
MIKE OZ: Solid-- solid late '80s pitcher right there.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah.
MIKE OZ: All right. 2004. We're gonna see a very, very big change in how everybody looks and--
RYAN HOWARD: Right.
MIKE OZ: --and the-- you know, the photos being all glossy and everything. Oh, right off the bat. Look at-- look at young CC.
RYAN HOWARD: Oh, CC.
MIKE OZ: Look at young CC.
RYAN HOWARD: That's it. Young CC Sabathia. Yeah, man. Had some bouts that didn't go too well with CC. He got-- got the best of me most of the time. I did get him one time in spring training, though.
MIKE OZ: That's a good one right there.
RYAN HOWARD: I like to count that one.
MIKE OZ: Got Josh Phelps, Placido Polanco.
RYAN HOWARD: Oh, Poli.
MIKE OZ: Oh, this is nice. It's a Jeter, Manny Ramirez, and Bill-- Bill Miller.
RYAN HOWARD: Oh yeah. That's another Missouri State Bear alum right there.
MIKE OZ: Yeah. Your-- your people are all over the place, man.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah, man. If people were making cards today, we're getting on the cards.
MIKE OZ: We got Juan Pierre.
RYAN HOWARD: Juan P. One of the best bunters to ever do it.
MIKE OZ: Kevin Millar.
RYAN HOWARD: Oh!
MIKE OZ: Kevin Millar.
RYAN HOWARD: Somebody's got to find that man and give it to him. We've got to find him and give him this bad boy.
MIKE OZ: We're getting a bunch of-- a bunch of TV people, because--
RYAN HOWARD: [INAUDIBLE] blow it up.
MIKE OZ: --right after that, Cliff Floyd.
RYAN HOWARD: Oh man.
MIKE OZ: Somebody call MLB Network over here, because we've got all their guys.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah.
MIKE OZ: Juan Encarnacion, who's not Edwin, but pre-dates him. Alex Gonzalez of the Marlins, and Cesar Torres.
RYAN HOWARD: All right.
MIKE OZ: All right.
RYAN HOWARD: All right.
MIKE OZ: You took a couple of mine here.
RYAN HOWARD: So let's see.
MIKE OZ: So you were-- you were interested in a few of my guys.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah. So let me see. All right. I'll give you a Joe Carter and Mike--
MIKE OZ: I'll take Mike.
RYAN HOWARD: --Greenwell--
MIKE OZ: I'll take Mike.
RYAN HOWARD: --for-- let me see who we got over here.
MIKE OZ: Got CC. I got the Jeter-Manny.
RYAN HOWARD: Oh yeah. You know what? I'll go for the CC, CC card.
MIKE OZ: Just-- just that? I'll do that deal.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah.
MIKE OZ: I'll do that deal.
RYAN HOWARD: Yeah.
MIKE OZ: I'll take both those guys for CC.
RYAN HOWARD: We'll go those two. We'll go-- we'll go that.
MIKE OZ: I love-- I love CC, but--
RYAN HOWARD: We'll do that. We'll do that.
MIKE OZ: --I like these guys.
RYAN HOWARD: Mhm. Mhm.
[CRACK OF THE BAT]
MIKE OZ: Ryan Howard, good times on "Old Baseball Cards," man.
RYAN HOWARD: Oh man. For sure, brother.
MIKE OZ: Appreciate it. Thank you.
RYAN HOWARD: Yes sir.
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