a final word (for now) on memorials

first, let me take a moment to note that today is memorial day. hopefully, we all take some time out of our day to remember those whose service required the giving of their lives.  there have been too many.

many of you know that one of my mini collections is cards that feature memorial armbands or patches.  as an aside, even though the 1999 fleer tradition rod beck card represents the harry caray memorial in my binder, i could not pass up these three sammy sosa cards from 1999 topps stars when i found them in the bargain bin at the lcs a couple of months ago.  here's harry, comin' at you!

now, in addition to beck, i've got quite a few cards in the memorials binder commemorating uniform tributes to teammates, owners, relatives, team employees, victims of tragedies, and others from 1909 through 2014.  however, try as hard as i might, i have not been able to find cards for many of the memorials.  i'll use this post to show some of them using images i've found online.

this 1925 postcard of walter johnson

shows the big train wearing a black armband for christy mathewson.  both the senators and the pirates wore the armband during the 1925 world series.

thanks to uniwatch, i have this photo from 1929 of babe ruth, tony lazzeri, and lou gehrig

wearing black armbands for their former manager miller huggins who passed away late in the 1929 season.

this is a photo from 1931 featuring chuck klein of the phillies

he's wearing a black armband for the team's owner william baker, who died in december of 1930.  baker was known as a tightwad whose penny pinching led to the team's fall from pennant winners in 1915 to 15 consecutive losing seasons.

in may of 1950, pirates slugger ralph kiner graced the cover of sport magazine

his jersey features a black armband that the team wore towards the end of the 1949 season for their teammate tiny bonham. bonham had been hospitalized following a game in august, and had surgery to remove his appendix.  unfortunately, he died due to complications from the surgery on september 15.

[edit: thanks to night owl showing this 1991 sportflics kellogg's card 

on his blog, i now have a card to represent the armband worn for bonham. it looks like the same photo as the magazine cover.]

in 1956, the orioles former treasurer, howard jones, passed away. the team added black armbands to their uniforms as seen on this getty images photo of tito francona

francona is wearing it on his left sleeve, although i've seen another photo with it on the right.

i found this next photo online at spokeo while searching for a different armband.

that's a picture of the angels' jim fregosi waiting to bat against the yankees in july of 1962.  i couldn't find any information about the armband, but knowing that the angels were playing in dodger stadium (or chavez ravine as the angels referred to it) that season, i took a chance and asked dodger historian mark langill if he had any information regarding the memorial.  he was kind enough to answer my question, noting that angel manager bill rigney's father passed away earlier that month, and it was most likely that the armband was worn in the elder rigney's honor.  langill included a copy of a page from the sporting news that noted rigney had missed the previous series to attend the funeral, but returned in time for the games against the yankees.

in 1964, the houston colt .45's wore a black armband for teammate jim umbricht.  this is a picture of manager nellie fox's jersey showing the armband

and here's a photo of ken johnson pitching with the armband

umbricht had been diagnosed with lymphoma late in 1963 following a season in which he posted a 2.61 era in 35 games.  he passed away in april of 1964, and the team, in addition to the armband, retired umbricht's number 32.

i mentioned earlier that i found the jim fregosi photo from 1962 while looking for a different armband.  the memorial i was searching for was the armband that the angels wore for during the last homestand of the 1978 season in honor of their murdered teammate lyman bostock.  the closest i could come was this photo of the club

recognizing a moment of silence in chicago the day after bostock was killed.

the dodgers played an exhibition series in japan following the 1993 season, and they added a memorial patch to their jerseys for that series.  you can see just the edge of the black rectangular patch on tommy lasordas jersey in this photo

the patch was worn for owner peter o'malley's longtime assistant akihiro 'ike' ikuhara who first joined o'malley in 1965.  ike was 55 when he died from stomach cancer in late 1992.

in 1995, the a's lost their owner walter haas, jr. to prostate cancer, and they wore a circular patch with his initials and a dark green armband on their right sleeves in his memory.  here's a getty images photo of mark mcgwire that shows the patch, but not so much the armband

the armband shows up better on this getty images photo of terry steinbach

haas had been the ceo of levi strauss & company since the late 1950's, and he bought the a's from charlie finley in 1980 in order to keep them in the bay area.

across the bay eight years later, in august of 2003, bobby bonds passed away at the age of 57.  the giants, the team for which bonds had played for the first seven years of his career, added a patch with his initials for the remainder of the season.  here's a getty images photo of bobby's son barry wearing the patch

i met bobby bonds at a hot stove dinner in the late 1970's or early 1980's, and he signed my autograph book for me.  he seemed nice, but the thing i remember most is the crushed velvet shirt he was wearing.

card manufacturers didn't seem to use many photos from blue jays home games in the late 2000's.  unfortunately, that meant that i couldn't find any cards that showed the memorial that the team wore during home games only for their former chairman sam pollock in 2007.  instead, i only have this getty images photo of frank thomas to share

pollock worked for the blue jays from 1995-2000, but was better known for his twenty years as an executive with the montreal canadiens of the nhl. pollock helped to build the habs dynasty from the late 1950's into the 1970's, and has his name engraved on lord stanley's cup twelve times.

also in 2007, the nationals

yankees

and red sox,

along with virginia tech alumnus joe saunders of the angels, all wore the virginia tech 'vt' logo (the nationals and saunders wore hats, while the yankees added the logo to their hats, and the red sox put the logo above the red sock patch on their sleeves) in response to the killing of 32 people by a gunman on the university campus on april 16, 2007.  the nats wore the vt hats on april 17 as noted on this 2008 topps year in review card (thanks jeff!),

while the yankees wore the logo on may 23.  joe saunders wore the virgina tech hat during his start on april 20, which is commemorated on his card from the 2008 topps year in review insert set

the red sox also wore the logo on april 20, the same day that they wore another memorial.

the green jerseys and caps that the red sox wore that day (here's another photo featuring david ortiz)

were in honor of the boston celtics' legendary coach and executive red auerbach, who had passed away the previous october.

another one day memorial was worn by the padres in 2011.  they wore their 1984 throwbacks (minus the ray a. kroc memorial) on july 14, and added a memorial patch for their former manager dick williams who had died a week earlier.  here's a photo of heath bell from that game

and here's a better look at the patch which featured williams' initials,

and was not done in the same manner as the kroc memorial - in order to differentiate the two, i would imagine.  williams, of course, led the padres to their first pennant in 1984, and was elected to the hall of fame thanks to his four pennants, two world series titles, and 1,571 career wins as a manager.

in addition to wearing memorial patches for johnny pesky in 2012, the angels sported the stan musial memorial patch in 2013.  here's coach alfredo griffin showing the patch

while the angels had no connection to pesky or musial, former cardinal slugger albert pujols considered stan the man to be a friend and insisted that the team wear the patch during a july series with the cardinals. because they were already wearing a patch for their team doctor, lewis yocum, the angels wore the musial patch only on their batting practice jerseys.

also in 2013, the astros wore a patch honoring the houston fire department and the four firefighters who died during a hotel restaurant fire on may 31.  the astros wore the patch, visible in the getty images photo of jd martinez below

for their june 4-6 series only.

the rangers, meanwhile, wore a 'support west' patch on their right sleeves on july 5 (seen here in this getty images photo of adrian beltre)

to bring attention to aid efforts for the city of west, texas and the families of the 15 people killed by a fertilizer explosion on april 17.

in july of last season, the a's held a 25-year reunion for their 1989 world series championship team.  one member of the team, that year's cy young award winner bob welch, had died at the age of 57 the previous month.  prior to the game, members of the 1989 team each laid a rose on the pitching mound in welch's memory, and the team added a 'bw' patch to their jerseys.  here's a getty images photo of luke gregerson from that july 19 game

and here's a photo of welch's teammates sporting the patch

i am glad that the a's took time to honor welch during this reunion, and i'm glad that welch won his second ring in 1989 instead of 1988.

so far this season, there have been memorials worn for oscar taveras (cardinals), ernie banks (cubs, royals, yankees), minnie minoso (white sox), al rosen (indians), lon simmons (giants), and sara buck (phillies). whether or not they get posted here, i'll certainly be on the lookout for those memorials in this year's update set and next year's offerings, too.

five. five dollar. five dollar rookie.

i had been looking for a 1963 topps dave mcnally rookie card for a while, thanks to the presence of dodger ken rowe in the lower right.

come on, topps.  can't we even get an airbrushed logo for our troubles?  

the card is, of course, a high number (562) and tough to come by.  i was watching a couple of auctions on ebay, and the most recent one carried a bin of $40.  well, last saturday i told the vintage bargain bin guy i was looking for the card, and he scrambled for a couple of minutes and produced the one you see there up top.  he glanced at it for a short time and tossed it my way.  '5 bucks' is what he said.  'done' is what i said.  and so, for the price of a footlong sandwich, dave mcnally and the rowe brothers were mine.

it turns out that the rowes weren't related after all.  and, i am guessing the photo topps used for rowe featured a brooklyn cap as he was in the dodger system from 1955 until september of 1964.  the dodger rowe made his big league debut in 1963 and pitched in 14 games.  he was 1-1 with a 'save' and a tidy era of 2.93.  he was back in the minors for the 1964 season, and was traded to baltimore that september.  he appeared in a few games for the orioles in 1964 and 1965 where he was relieved by mcnally on at least one occasion.

now i'm down to just a couple of cards left for my 1963 topps dodger set.  my want list shows i need a koufax, but i am pretty sure i have that one in with my koufax binder - i just need to move it over.  welcome to the collection, mr. rowe! 

when rookie stars actually become stars and ruin any chance of team collectors actually completing their quest

at the monthly card show a couple of years ago, i was talking to the guy with the vintage bargain bins.  he noticed me pulling dodgers, and asked a harmless question.  'what's been the toughest card for you to find?'  he was interested in helping me out as he would locate cards for other collectors in between the shows.  i told him about the 1971 richie allen, which was the white whale of my collection when i was young and was, by design and economics, ignoring the 1960's and 1950's.  he asked about the 1973 cey, thinking that would have been tough.

i looked at him and said 'today, i believe it will be the ken mcmullen rookie'.  he nodded knowingly and said 'damn charlie hustle'.  indeed.

sadly, ken mcmullen is not alone in dodger collecting lore, although having the bad luck of being featured on the same rookie card as the all-time hit king in 1963 is not going to be beat.  there are other cards spoiled by actual rookie stars such as the 1962 doug camilli rookie (he shares space with fan favorite bob uecker) and these two cards which i finally picked up last weekend at the show.

1963 topps nate oliver

bill freehan (and the high number status) made this card harder to obtain than it otherwise might have been. side note - i sure wish i had this card back when dinged corners was asking for foreheads - jerry robinson delivers!  oliver played with the dodgers for a few seasons as a back up infielder.  he even appeared in the 1966 world series against the orioles.  freehan was a tiger for life, retiring after 15 seasons in detroit with exactly 200 home runs to go along with his 5 consecutive gold gloves and 11 all-star team appearances.

 1963 bill haas

le grand orange from the big easy is the star of this card.  i didn't know anything about haas until i bought the card.  he was a career minor leaguer who played in the dodgers system in 1962 and 1963 before moving on to the mets and finally braves systems. he had torn up class c reno in 1962, hitting .368 with 33 home runs and 144 rbi in 138 games which probably warranted his inclusion in topps' set. his last year in pro ball was 1966, while staub played for 23 seasons and finished in 1985 with 2716 hits and 292 home runs.

here's to you, actual rookie stars that make team collecting sometimes difficult!

catching up is hard to do

dick farrell (aka turk) was featured as a philadelphia phillie, both by image and by team affiliation, on his 1960 topps card.  all was right with the world.  in may of 1961, however, the phillies traded farrell to the dodgers, and topps had enough time to note the transaction with his 1961 card.

there was no time to airbrush the hat or scour the photo archives for a hatless photo.  farrell the phillie became a dodger in text only.  he finished the 1961 season in los angeles with 6 wins and 10 'saves'.

topps clearly learned from their miscues, as they were sure to get a hatless photo of farrell during his dodger tenure.  it came in handay, as farrell was selected by the houston colt .45's in the expansion draft held in october of 1961.  still, it is obvious on farrell's 1962 topps card

that he is a colt in dodgers' clothing.  luckily for topps (and for those who prefer the photos to match the team listed on the card) farrell stayed in houston and was properly featured on his 1963 topps card.

for the first time since 1960, topps caught up with turk farrell.  after a few seasons in houston (in which his topps cards were consistent with photo and team designation), farrell returned to philadelphia via a trade during the 1967 season.

which brought the return of a hatless farrell, this time in astros threads, for his 1968 topps card

i will salute topps for not recycling the 1961 phillies image and going with what was very likely a 1967 photo of farrell.

here's to you turk!  glad we could catch up.

two more join in - the 1978 topps dodgers in 1964

the third player on the 1978 topps dodger team to make his major league debut was tommy john. he debuted debut on september 6, 1963, relieving dick donavan in the 7th inning against the washington senators with nobody out. the first two batters john faced (dick phillips and don zimmer) singled, and one run scored with the help of a max alvis error. the next batter flew out to center, but tommie agee was able to throw zimmer out at home. ed brinkman flew out, and john had thus completed the first inning of his career. he made it into 6 games that september, including his first two starts which he lost. he wound up 0-2 on the year although his era was a nice 2.21 in 20.1 innings. john didn't get a 1963 topps card, but he did get a card in the 1964 set.

that year, he made 25 appearances including 14 starts for the indians. his first start of the year was also his best - a complete game shutout of the orioles in which he allowed just 3 hits and a walk while striking out 6. he got lit up by the yankees in his next start, but missed his second career game by one out in his third start. three starts into the season, john was 2-1 with a 2.00 era. he would lose the remainder of his decisions, however, and end the season 2-9 with a 3.91 era. after being relegated to the bullpen for the last month of the season, john was traded to the white sox in the three-team deal that brought rocky colavito back to cleveland.

next came jerry grote. while he was not featured in topps' 1963 set, he debuted as a member of the houston colt .45's on september 21, 1963. grote took over for john bateman behind the plate in the 5th inning of the game against the phillies and came to bat for the first time with the colts down by a run in the 7th with a man on first and one out. after a wild pitch moved the runner to third, grote connected off of dallas green for a sacrifice fly to tie the game. not a bad debut even though the phillies eventually won the game. grote's only other two appearances in 1963 were games in which he was the starting catcher. in his last game that year, grote struck out to end the inning twice before getting his first big league hit, a single, in his final at bat. he finished the year at an even .200.

like john, grote shares his 1964 topps card with another rookie hopeful.

grote's 1964 season wasn't great as he wound up hitting just .181 in 100 games. he did, however, throw out 35% of the baserunners that tried to steal against him. the first home run of grote's career came in the 10th inning of a game against the cubs and lew burdette. it gave the colts a short lived lead, as jim owens and don larsen were unable to close the cubs out and lost the game in the bottom of the 10th. his second career dinger came off of don drysdale a couple of weeks later. no word on whether grote had to hit the dirt his next time up.

vic davalillo was back with the indians in 1964, and topps gave him his first solo card as a result.  

davalillo played in 150 games for the indians and earned a gold glove for his play in center. at the plate he hit .270 with career highs in hits (156), doubles (26) and rbi (51).

manny mota was properly identified as a pirate on his 1964 topps card, even though topps used the same photo (of him in a giants uniform) that they used on his 1963 card.

in his second year with the pirates, mota appeared in 115 games and hit .277. he played each outfield position plus second base and even caught a couple of innings in an extra inning affair against the cardinals (he was charged with two passed balls). mota hit his first career home run in 1964, off of the phillies' chris short. mota was 5 for 20 as a pinch hitter, including a home run.

so, that was the 1978 topps dodgers in 1964. next post coming soon, but there were no new faces in 1965.

here's the tally so far:

4/27 players featured by topps in 1964

total appearances:

davalillo 2 (1963, 1964)

grote 1 (1964)

john 1 (1964)

lasorda 1 (1954)

mota 2 (1963, 1964)

let's begin again - 1963 brings us the first players in the evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers

on april 16, 1962, the first player who would eventually be featured as a dodger in topps' 1978 set debuted in the major leagues, although he wouldn't get his first topps card until 1963. manny mota was a 24 year old outfielder (mostly) for the san francisco giants, and the team he played against in his very first major league game was none other than the los angeles dodgers. he went 0 for 1 as a late inning replacement for harvey kuenn, and the giants shellacked the dodgers 19-8.

but, as you can tell, mota is not listed as a giant on his 1963 topps card. that's because after the season ended, mota was traded to the houston colt .45's for joey amalfitano. he still appears in a giants uniform, though. mota never played for houston, as they flipped him to the pirates in april of 1963 for someone named howie goss.

significantly for mota (because he would become a successful pinch hitter later in his career), he made his first career pinch hitting appearance against the dodgers in the game following his debut, and got his first career pinch hit on june 2, 1962 against the mets, pinch hitting for jim davenport. it was his only pinch hit of the season in 16 such appearances. with the pirates in 1963, mota hit .270 while playing left field with some right and center and even some time at second base thrown in to go along with the occasional pinch hitting appearance. he was 5 for 21 as a pinch hitter with a lone rbi.

about a year after mota debuted, the second of our eventual 1978 topps dodgers (and another pinch hitter extraordinaire) made his first appearance in the big leagues. vic davalillo suited up for the cleveland indians on april 9, 1963 as their starting center fielder. he hit in the leadoff spot and went 0 for 4 against jim 'mudcat' grant. topps featured him in their 1963 set along with 3 other rookie hopefuls. luckily for me, none of the other guys did much, and i was able to get this card on the cheap (i will not have the same success tracking down ken mcmullen's 1963 topps rookie card).

davalillo made 2 pinch hitting appearances in 1963, and was successful both times. he singled off of bill monbouquette on august 25 while pinch hitting for willie tasby, and hit a run scoring single off of ron kline while hitting for gary bell on september 2. for the season, davalillo hit .292 in 90 games.

we'll pick up a few more future 1978 topps dodgers in 1964, but until then, here's the tally of players by year so far...
 
1963 - 2/27
 
appearances:
davalillo - 1
lasorda - 1 (1954)
mota - 1

houston, topps had a problem in the 60s!

when the city of houston joined the national league in 1962, they were known as the 'colt .45s'. yee-haw! shoot 'em up tex!

topps, however, referred to them only as 'colts' as joe amalfitano's 1962 card demonstrates.

this is despite '.45s' being clearly shown on their hats.

in 1963, they were fully recognized as the 'colt .45s' as seen on bob lillis' 1963 card.it should be noted that their manager's card in the 1963 set is the only managerial card to lack a team logo. i guess a shooting gun wasn't something topps wanted to prominently place on a card?

bad news for topps in 1964, as they reverted back to just 'colts'.at least they didn't airbrush the '.45s' off of his hat.

in 1965, the first season as the 'astros', topps went bipolar. many cards just said 'houston', including turk farrell's card.note that he still has the '.45s' on his hat. jim wynn, on the other hand, is hatless and a member of the 'astros'.i will guess that the team name change came about late in 1964 - too late for the early series cards, but that later series cards were corrected?

no excuses in 1966, though, and topps has it right. at least on jim gentile's card.'astros' and the new logo on the hat.

same in 1967, although bo belinsky has no hat.so it makes no sense what happened in 1968.

here, grady hatton is shown with a blacked-out hat, and is listed as the manager of 'houston'.is that 'planet houston' in superman ii? no, it's the astros. i checked. i figured that he was photographed with a .45s hat, but hatton didn't become the manager until the 1966 season, their second as the astros. before that, he managed in the minor leagues. weird.

more of the same in 1969. here, dooley womack has the right logo on his hat, but there is still no team name. only 'houston'.

finally, in 1970, topps went with 'astros' and has never looked back. thank jesus (alou)!