a dodger memorial patch for mac

don mcmahon enjoyed an 18-year big league career as a reliever with the milwaukee braves, houston colt .45's, cleveland indians, boston red sox, chicago white sox, detroit tigers, and san francisco giants.  he began his major league service in 1957, and promptly helped the braves win the pennant as they went on to beat the yankees in the world series.  mcmahon pitched well in the fall classic, but the braves  lost all three of the games in which he pitched.  in fact, mcmahon's team lost every postseason game in which he appeared, which included the 1958 world series (the yankees beat mcmahon's braves), the 1968 world series (mcmahon's tigers still won the championship), and the 1971 nlcs (as a giant).  weird.  here's mcmahon's 1966 topps card.

in all, mcmahon pitched in 874 games (872 as a reliever), and had a record of 90-68 with 153 saves and a 2.96 era.  these numbers included service with the giants in 1973 and 1974 when he was also their pitching coach.  mcmahon remained the club's pitching coach through 1975 before taking the same position with the twins for three years.  he was back with the giants in the early 1980's, and then coached the indians from 1983 through 1985.  at that point, mcmahon was hired by the dodgers as their 'eye in the sky' scout who also threw early batting practice.  it was during a bp session at dodger stadium on july 22, 1987 when mcmahon suffered a fatal heart attack.

for the remainder of the season, the dodgers wore a black memorial patch on their right sleeves with mcmahon's nickname 'mac' in white letters.  here's the patch on one of the dodger relievers from that team, tim crews, courtesy of his 1988 donruss card

with a nice dodger stadium backdrop.

mickey hatcher's 1988 donruss card also shows the patch 

as does phil garner's 1988 score card

pedro guerrero (standing next to fernando valenzuela) is wearing the patch on this 1988 topps dodgers leaders card

and it's fernando's turn on this 1988 fleer baseball's exciting stars card

perhaps the best example of the patch is seen on glenn hoffman's 1988 topps card

which was the easy choice for my memorials binder.  until, that is, i came across this orel hershiser card from the same fleer box set as the fernando above.

a card featuring a photo from a dodger batting practice session seems appropriate for mac's memorial.

only 57 when he died, mcmahon was survived by his wife and six children and a mournful dodger organization.

sunday morning target dodgers - featuring an honorary member of the infield

another sunday, another 15 cards from a 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary set sheet given away at dodger stadium in 1990.  enjoy.

rick auerbach

auerbach filled in for the injured bill russell for the first three months of the 1975 season.  he first appeared as a dodger during the 1974 season, although the team acquired him from the brewers in april of 1973.  auerbach spent the rest of that season in albuquerque and had his contract purchased by the brewers in september. a month later, the dodgers purchased his contract back, and he made the big league roster for the 1974 season and even appeared in the postseason that year.  very nearly a dodger double dipper, auerbach stayed with the dodgers through the 1976 season and was traded to the mets for hank webb prior to the 1977 campaign.

billy cox

cox was the dodgers' third baseman from 1948 through 1954.  this 'boy of summer' was acquired in a trade with the pirates following the 1947 season that was prompted in part by the aversion some dodgers had to playing with jackie robinson. unfortunately for cox, he was traded to the orioles prior to the dodgers' world championship season of 1955.

tim crews

along with tim leary, tim crews was part of the return package that the dodgers received from the brewers in exchange for greg brock.  crews was part of the dodger bullpen from 1987 through 1992, although he did make 4 spot starts over that span.  he also had 15 saves in a total of 281 appearances as a dodger.  following the 1992 season, crews signed with the indians as a free agent, but died in a boating accident during spring training.  both the dodgers and indians wore memorial patches for crews (the indians' patch also honored steve olin who was also killed in the accident) during the 1993 season.

fred frankhouse

kudos to frankouse's parents for not naming him frank.  fred frankhouse pitched 10 seasons for the cardinals and braves before joining the dodgers prior to the 1936 season. used primarily as a starter, frankhouse was 13-10 the first season with the dodgers, and then flipped that record the next.  1938 was his last season with the club, and he posted a 3-5 record while pitching mainly out of the bullpen.

harry harper

harper pitched for the senators from 1913-1919, showing some success with decent era in most of those seasons.  he also led the league in losses in 1919 with 21, thanks in part to the poor team for which he played and his career worst (up to that point) era of 3.72.  harper was traded to the red sox for the 1920 season, and then dealt again to the yankees in the waite hoyt deal prior to the 1921 season.  after sitting out the 1922 campaign, harper joined the robins in 1923 and made a solitary start for them.  he lasted 3.2 innings against the giants on may 8, allowing 6 earned runs, as his big league career came to an end.

tommy holmes

holmes was the national league home run champion in 1945 as a member of the boston braves.  he hit 28 homers that year, and also drove in 117 runs, both career highs.  while he still hit for average in the next three seasons, he never approached those power numbers again.  in fact, holmes had hit a total of 38 home runs over the next 6 seasons before signing with the dodgers in 1952.  he failed to hit any home runs as a dodger, although he played in only 31 games during that '52 season.  holmes hit .111 for the dodgers during the regular season, and then was 0 for 1 in his final appearances as a dodger during the 1952 fall classic.

charlie irwin

irwin finished his 10-year big league career with a season and a half as a member of the brooklyn superbas. acquired after being released by the reds during the 1901 season, irwin played third base and hit .253 over the remainder of his career.

von joshua

joshua was a dodger double dipper whose last appearance in his first go-around as a dodger came with him making the final out in the 1974 world series. the second time, the dodgers brought joshua back to the majors from the mexican league in 1979.  overall, joshua appeared in more games with the dodgers than any other team for which he played, although his best season was probably his 1975 campaign spent with the giants.

brickyard kennedy

according to baseball reference. kennedy's nickname was actually 'roaring bill', not brickyard.  strange.  he pitched for the grooms/bridegrooms/superbas from 1892 through 1901, winning as many as 25 games in 1893 and more than 20 four times.  he was 177-149 for brooklyn overall before spending the 1902 season with the new york giants and the 1903 campaign with the national league champion pittsburgh pirates. in fact, kennedy's final major league appearance came with the pirates in the inaugural world series, starting (and losing) game 5.

bill krueger

krueger's dodger career consisted of three appearances over the course of two seasons.  he was acquired by the club from the a's during the 1987 season and made 2 relief appearances as a dodger in september.  he re-signed with the dodgers for the 1988 campaign, but began the year in albuquerque.  krueger was eventually called up and was given the july 4 start against the cardinals, his lone big league appearance of the season.  krueger allowed 3 runs in 2.1 innings of work that day and was sent back down to triple-a. the dodgers traded him to the pirates for jim niedlinger following the end of the regular season.

paul minner

in 1946, and then again in 1948 and 1949, minner was a pitcher on the dodgers' roster.  he appeared in a total of 58 games and posted a record of 7-5 with a 3.16 era.  you can learn much more about minner in this post, courtesy of another dodger blogger.

joe pignatano

pignatano, a brooklyn native, debuted with the dodgers in 1957 - the team's last year in brooklyn.  he remained with the team as they moved to los angeles, and served as the team's backup backstop through the 1960 season.

ron roenicke

roenicke was dodger #3 on the 1982 topps steve sax/mike marshall rookie card.  he was also an outfielder on the team who played in 212 games for the dodgers from september of 1981 through july 18, 1983 when he was released.  roenicke went on to play for the mariners, padres, giants, phillies, and reds before rejoining the dodger organization as a minor league manager and later a big league coach. he is currently the manager of the milwaukee brewers, adding one more manager to the list who played for tommy lasorda.

joe shaute

shaute pithed for the robins/dodgers from 1931-33 after spending 9 seasons with the indians.  he was 21-19 for brooklyn in that span, with a 4.32 era compiled over 100 appearances.  while with the indians, shaute struck out only 402 batters in 1,447 innings pitched, but babe ruth accounted for over 30 of those k's according to baseball reference.

bobby valentine

bobby v was the dodgers' first round pick in their vaunted 1968 draft.  he made his big league debut just over a year later, and would appear in 5 games as a 1969 september call-up.  he returned to the majors in 1971 and 1972, playing all over the outfield and everywhere in the infield except for first base.  after hitting .274 in 119 games in 1972, valentine was included in the trade that sent frank robinson to the angels.  valentine was just 23 and was hitting .302 when he tore up his knee in may of '73 after getting his spikes caught in the angels' outfield fence. the injury plagued him for the remainder of his playing career that included post-anaheim stints in san diego, new york, and seattle.  valentine never played for lasorda in the majors (he did in the minors), but he did go on to manage in the majors and according to reports, would have been tommy's choice to guide the dodgers instead of davey johnson had valentine not already been managing the mets.  we also have valentine to thank for making tommy a coach on the 2001 national league all-star team which brought us the fantastic footage of tommy getting upended in the third base coaches box by a wayward bat.

the dodgers' tim crews memorial patch

tim crews was a reliever for the dodgers from 1987 through 1992, coming over from the brewers with tim leary in exchange for steve garvey's replacement, greg brock.  he pitched effectively enough - he had a 3.05 era for the club through the 1991 season - but after a subpar 1992 campaign, the dodgers allowed him to leave via free agency.  here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card.

crews signed with the indians, along with another dodger teammate turned free agent, bob ojeda.

it was during spring training in 1993 that crews, along with ojeda and fellow cleveland pitcher steve olin, took a boat ride looking for gators on little lake nellie that ended with crews and olin dead, and ojeda severely injured.  the boat, with crews behind the wheel, had hit an unlit dock, killing olin instantly.  crews died a while later at the hospital.

the dodgers wore a patch in crews' memory for the 1993 season - his number 52 in a black circle.  this was similar to the memorial they wore during the 1978 world series following jim gilliam's passing.  it shows up on a lot of 1994 cards, including cory snyder's 1994 topps card

darryl strawberry's 1994 topps card (this is the gold parallel version)

also has the patch on display, as does his 2005 topps retired card (also the gold parallel version)

since topps recycled the photo.  here's a different photo of darryl with the patch visible on his 1994 topps finest card

later in the season, the dodgers also lost don drysdale and roy campanella, and honored them with a memorial patch on their right sleeves.  i'll address that particular memorial in a separate post, but you can see it, along with the crews patch, on tom candiotti's 1994 donruss card

with a photo taken on a sunny day in dodger stadium.

both patches are again on display (along with a tremendous mustache) on brett butler's 1994 topps stadium card

with just the crews patch (and no mustache) visible on the back

for a while, i had this 1994 upper deck collector's choice card

pegged as the representative for the crews memorial in my binder, but i also considered tim wallach's 1994 topps stadium club card

as well as the rainbow foil parallel

and even thought about jody reed's 1994 fleer flair card

ultimately, i decided that the best card to represent the tim crews memorial patch in my collection is eric karros' 1994 bowman card

crews left behind a family, as did olin, as well as a lot of affected teammates and club personnel.  they were the first active major leaguers to pass away since thurman munson died in 1979.  the indians also wore a patch to honor crews and olin, and i'll show some examples of that later today.

they came from indianaland

i am really far behind on trade posts, and trades in general.  if i owe you cards, or, if by chance you owe me cards, please leave a comment.  if you would like to trade, please leave a comment.  or send an email.  i have some stacks set aside for a few of you that i will get mailed out before too long.

on to a trade from may.  this one came from darren at indianaland.

we'll start with a 1990 topps tim crews card

the dodgers acquired crews from the brewers in the 1986 greg brock deal.  he pitched effectively out of the bullpen for 5 seasons as a dodger before the wheels kind of fell off in 1992.  crews pitched well in 1988, but was somewhat famously left off of the postseason roster.  1990 was arguably his best year, as he set career highs in games and innings pitched and his era was a tidy 2.77.  he even made 2 starts.  however, what we remember tim crews for mostly is how he died - in a boating accident during spring training in 1993 that also claimed the life of steve olin and injured bobby ojeda.  the dodgers wore a patch with crews' number on it for the 1993 season.
on a lighter note, here's a 1991 bowman domingo mota card

i'm not sure what the 'mvp' foil is all about, but mota had peaked by the time this card was issued.  he had a fantastic 1990 season in rookie ball, hitting .343.  a year later, after a decent 1991 season in a ball, the dodgers traded mota to the royals with chris gwynn for todd benzinger.  he never did make it to the big leagues.

2000 upper deck fp santangelo

santangelo and the umpire in the background are going their separate ways.  the dodgers signed santangelo as a free agent for the 2000 season.  he played in 81 games and hit a buck-ninetyseven.  he did hit a home run for the dodgers, a pinch-hit job against the marlins in a 7-3 loss.

1994 topps todd worrell

worrell was arguably the dodgers' first full-time closer since mike marshall and certainly their first 'modern' closer.  he was the first dodger to record 30 saves in a season, as well as the first to reach 40 in a single year.  his 44 saves from that year stood as the franchise record until eric gagne saved 52 games in 2002.  worrell also passed the dodgers's franchise saves leader (jim brewer) in 1997 (his final big league season), but he has since been surpassed by jeff shaw and gagne.  not sure that jonathan broxton will ever get close, however.  surprisingly, worrell's 127 saves as a dodger are only 2 fewer than he had for saint louis, although i would suspect most people (myself included) would think of worrell primarily as a cardinal.

here's a 1991 line drive kevin kennedy minor league card

kennedy had finished his playing career with the dukes in 1983, and became their manager in 1989.  he had managed in the lower minors for the dodgers starting in 1984 and had worked his way up to become relevant in the 'who will replace tommy' discussions.  1991 was kennedy's last season as the dukes manager as he left to take over the texas rangers and then the boston red sox.  he led boston to the postseason in 1995 where they were swept by the indians in the alds.  after the 1996 season, kennedy became a talking head, although his name might still pop up from time to time during managerial searches.

lastly, a 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee black bordered travis hafner

i am still half-heartedly trying to complete this set, and darren sent me a couple of needed cards including pronk.  even though it's not the right kind of opc, any help is appreciated.

thanks for the cards darren - hopefully we can trade again sometime.

the postman rang thrice

i got some mail yesterday.  three baseball card related items.  the first was a 1968 topps ron hunt card that i had sent off in hopes of an autograph.  mr. hunt returned it with a request for $15 donated to his baseball school.  fair enough, but i don't think i will follow through.

the second package was from cliff at capewood's collections.  cliff sent me a nice stack of cards after i inquired about a trade.  we had done good business a while back, and the cards he sent this time were absolutely fantastic.  like this 2011 topps heritage rafael furcal

which just happens to be a short print.  i bought a couple of packs and got exactly two short prints, neither of which were dodgers.  russ mitchell is the other dodger sp.

1988 score tim crews

he's pitching in dodger stadium in what may be the twilight.  i always think of crews this time of year when teams are winding down in spring training.  as you may recall, tim and fellow indians pitcher steve olin died during spring training 1993 when tim's boat hit a dock.  bobby ojeda was injured in the accident.  crews pitched well for the dodgers in 1988 but was left off of the postseason roster.

2003 upper deck victory kaz ishii

i don't recall ishii as clutch, unless you really needed the opposing team to get a walk.  then he seemed to come through quite often.  ha.

2007 topps hit parade luis gonzalez

luis, in one of the few cards te feature him as a dodger, ranked 7th on the active career hits leaders back when this card was issued.  he fell behind biggio, bonds, julio franco (!), steve finley, omar vizquel (still ticking), griffey jr, and sheff.  number 9 on the list was ivan rodriguez who i am sure has passed gonzo by now.

here's reed johnson's only dodger card - a 2010 topps update number

i think johnson is back with the cubs after his lone year in la.  he may even start over alfonso soriano before the season is over, that's how far soriano has fallen.

here's vicente padilla on a 2011 topps walmart black card

he and jon garland are starting the year off on the wrong foot.  maybe ned can swing a deal for kevin slowey.

cliff also sent me my first non-dodger russell martin card

isn't opening day in march this year?  why did topps put april on the cards?  this photoshop job has russell in his yankee roadies playing against the padres.  someone years down the road may be very confused by this card.

there were also a couple of cards featuring a dodger teammate of martin who joined him in yankees camp this year, ronnie belliard and his 2010 topps update card

which brings us to the third piece of mail i received, which was that same belliard card back from the man himself

and he kindly scribbled on it.  i think i saw yesterday that he was released by the yankees.  that stinks, even though he underperformed last year.  we'll always have his 2009 late season performance in dodger blue to remember.

thanks cliff and ronnie, and ron hunt too for filling my mailbox yesterday!