los angeles dodger commemorative patches through the years

i've been meaning to do this for quite some time, however it was a review of brian's want list at highly subjective and completely arbitrary that proved to be the push i needed to get it done. you see, brian collects cards showing commemorative - not memorial - patches.

the dodgers have worn a few commemorative patches recently, but not nearly as many as some teams for whom there seems to be something worth celebrating pretty much every year.  i'm limiting these posts to the los angeles dodger team, which means there won't be any discussion of the new york world's fair patch worn by the brooklyn dodgers in 1939.

well, aside from that 1961 fleer card, there won't be any discussion.  this list also does not include single game patches, such as the jackie robinson day patch that has been worn on april 15 in some recent seasons.

the task is fairly easy, because the dodgers didn't wear any patches, especially team specific patches for quite some time after moving to the west coast.  here's a year by year rundown.

1958 - none

1959 - none

1960 - none

1961 - none

1962 - none

1963 - none

1964 - none

1965 - none

1966 - none

1967 - none

1968 - none

1969 - major league baseball 100th anniversary (1971 dell's today team stamp maury wills)

1970 - none

1971 - none

1972 - none

1973 - none

1974 - none

1975 - none

1976 - national league centennial (1977 topps manny mota)

1977 - none

1978 - none

1979 - none

1980 - dodger stadium all-star game patch (1982 topps reggie smith)

1981 - city of los angeles bicentennial (1982 fleer bob welch)

1982 - none

1983 - los angeles dodgers 25th anniversary (1984 fleer derrel thomas)

1984 - dodger stadium olympic venue (1985 donruss orel hershiser)

1985 - none

1986 - none

1987 - dodger stadium 25th anniversary (1988 score steve sax)

1988 - none (vero beach 40th anniversary patch during spring training - 1988 donruss baseball's best alfredo griffin)

1989 - none

1990 - dodger national league franchise 100th anniversary (1991 topps debut '90 luis lopez)

1991 - none

1992 - dodger stadium 30th anniversary (1993 donruss triple play brett butler)

1993 - none (don drysdale/roy campanella and tim crews memorial patches)

1994 - major league baseball 125th anniversary patch (1995 fleer henry rodriguez)

1995 - none

1996 - dodger stadium 35th season (1997 upper deck tommy lasorda)

1997 - jackie robinson 50th anniversary patch (1998 topps finest brett butler)

1998 - los angeles dodgers 40th anniversary (1999 fleer brilliants eric karros)

1999 - dodger heroes (1999 keebler dodgers tripp cromer)

2000 - none

2001 - none

2002 - dodger stadium 40th anniversary (2003 topps total david ross)

2003 - none

2004 - none

2005 - none

2006 - none

2007 - none

2008 - los angeles dodgers 50th anniversary (2009 upper deck matt kemp)

2009 - none

2010 - 1955 world championship 55th anniversary (2010 topps update reed johnson)

2011 - none (duke snider memorial patch)

2012 - dodger stadium 50th anniversary (2013 topps josh beckett)

2013 - none

2014 - none

2015 - none

there were several missed opportunities that could have been celebrated - inaugural season on the west coast (1958), defending world champions (1960), opening of dodger stadium (1962), defending world champions (1964), defending world champions (1966), defending world champions (1982), defending world champions (1989), etc. as you can see, there were lots of chances to have worn defending world champions patches in the past, and i'm hoping next year they'll be in a position to wear one (or not) again.

teddy ballgame final tribute

ted williams hit a home run in his final big league at bat.  fleer also hit a home run with the splendid splinter's final tribute card, issued as part of their 1961 set that focused on 'baseball greats'.

williams hadn't contracted with topps since 1958.  instead, fleer had the rights to produce his cards, and went all out with a 1959 set devoted entirely to him.  he was also included in their 1960 set, but it is this one that i sought out to own.  having retired after the 1960 season, the back includes his major league totals

'twice the most valuable player'.  should have been thrice.  maybe someone could explain why joe dimaggio won the award in 1941 (was it 'the streak' or the fact that the yankees made the postseason?) when williams bested him in most offensive categories.

this is the oldest final tribute card that i own of a hall of famer or otherwise notable player that i would seek out such a card for.  if only jackie or pee wee or campy were given the same courtesy from topps...  anyway, as the oldest, it sits first in my final tribute binder.  if i were to rank them, however, this would finish behind the 1973 topps roberto clemente card.

in fact, here are my rankings of final tribute cards (so far).  there is a fair amount of bias in these rankings, which makes sense because they are my rankings.  i'll update this list as i post more from my collection.

1.  1973 topps roberto clemente
2.  1961 fleer ted williams
3.  1988 score steve garvey
4.  1969 topps mickey mantle
5.  1993 topps gary carter
6.  1988 fleer reggie jackson
7.  1983 topps reggie smith
8.  1987 fleer bill russell
9.  1988 topps dave lopes
10.  1978 topps joe torre
11.  1985 o-pee-chee joe morgan
12.  1989 score don sutton
13.  1973 topps wes parker
14.  1977 topps tommy davis
15.  1987 topps pete rose
16.  1994 topps george brett
17.  1998 upper deck eddie murray
18.  1998 upper deck fernando valenzuela
19.  2004 upper deck rickey henderson
20.  1997 upper deck ozzie smith

here are the other final tributes that i have posted, but didn't crack my top 20 (this time)

1984 topps elias sosa
1986 topps rod carew
1997 upper deck andre dawson
1997 upper deck kirby puckett
1997 upper deck alan trammell
1987 topps tom seaver
1986 topps rollie fingers
1982 fleer johnny oates
1985 o-pee-chee greg luzinski
1997 udcc tim wallach
1981 topps gary thomasson
2000 topps wade boggs
1984 fleer johnny bench
1984 fleer gaylord perry
1984 fleer carl yastrzemski
1980 topps ted martinez
1979 topps mike garman
1978 topps ed goodson
1986 topps jay johnstone
1998 upper deck brett butler
1983 topps mark belanger
1978 topps willie crawford

karma karma karma karma karma camilli

it used to be that the only dolph camilli card i had was this 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts card

that was until i picked up his 1961 fleer card

after it enjoyed a lengthy stay on my nefarious 9 list.  camilli was the dodgers' first baseman from 1938 to 1943, winning the league's mvp award in 1941 after hitting 34 homers and driving in 120 runs.  the photo on the card does in fact feature him in a dodger uniform; it's obvious thanks to the 'b' on his hat.  the patch on his arm gives it away too - and dates the photo to 1938.  that was the season that the dodgers wore a patch to advertise the world's fair that was coming to new york in 1939.

in his final season with the dodgers, camilli played alongside a youngster named gil hodges.  about 18 years later, his son doug was suiting up for the dodgers alongside hodges.  that's pretty cool, just like that 1961 fleer card.

you might buy the grimes if you don't do the time

it's a relief to find out that a guy isn't featured as a dodger on a vintage card before you make the purchase.  the 1961 fleer burleigh grimes card had been on my nefarious 9 list for a while and i came close to buying it on ebay when i took a closer look at the card being offered (image pilfered from the internets). 

instead of the 'b' for brooklyn on the pinstriped uni (yes, the robins as they were known in grimes' day wore pinstripes) there was stylized text.  a quick review of grimes' uniforms courtesy of baseball reference confirmed that ol' stubblebeard is featured as a cub on that card. teamsets4u is usually pretty reliable, but it's always best to do some recon on your own.  i knew that the first card in the set, the home run baker/ty cobb/zack wheat checklist,

featured wheat, a dodger hall of famer (although he's in street clothes), even though that card is listed by teamsets4u down at the bottom and not within the team checklist.  i recently picked up that card, and as for the other 4 cards listed as dodgers, i own zack wheat's solo card, and the dutch leonard

which is strangely mis-cut.  leonard (not the one with the sub-1.00 era for the red sox in 1914) is probably better known as a washington senator, as he spent 9 years with them compared to 4 with brooklyn.  anyway, as far as i know, the only dodger i am missing is dolph camilli.  so, camilli has replaced grimes on the nefarious 9.  and yes, i have already confirmed that camilli is shown as a dodger.