umpire black armbands for lee weyer and perhaps dick stello, but definitely for augie donatelli and bill kunkel

just a few weeks before the 1988 all-star game, national league umpire lee weyer died of a heart attack. at the midsummer classic, the umpires wore black armbands in his honor.  this 1989 t&m umpires card of the all-star crew

shows the armband on the right sleeves of the nl umps, as well as one of the american league umpires.  here's a posthumous card of weyer from the same set,

with the ump holding court in dodger stadium.  the back of the card tells his story

i believe that the national league umpires wore the armbands for the remainder of the season, and that the reason that they wore them on their right sleeve was because they already had a black armband on their left sleeves.  here's a card, also from the 1989 t&m umpires set, of nl ump greg bonin that shows the dual armbands.

and here's a getty images photo that shows one of the umpires (randy marsh, i believe) at the 1988 all-star game

with an armband on each sleeve.  the fact that the american league umpires only had the black armband on their right sleeve, along with the fact that gary darling is wearing only one armband on his 1989 t&m umpires card (and it's on his left sleeve)

tells me that it was the one added for weyer.

so, for whom were the umpires wearing the armband on their left sleeves for?  well, national league umpire dick stello had been killed in november, 1987 in a car accident.  he was standing between two cars on the side of a road in florida when the rear car was hit by another vehicle, crushing stello to death.  yikes.  stello, who was once married to chesty morgan, had been an umpire in the senior circuit since 1968, and i would expect that the umpires would have worn an armband in his honor.

here's another card from the 1989 t&m umpires set, featuring tom hallion

the card only shows the armband on the left sleeve, but he would also be wearing the one on the right since this photo comes from a game played on august 18, 1988.  kevin gross is walking off the field in the background, as the dodgers beat the phillies 2-1 that day with hallion calling balls and strikes.

i found another card that shows the armband on the right sleeve - this 1989 upper deck ron gant card has a play at third base on the back, complete with an umpire present

with the armband.  that photo comes from a game in september of 1988, since that was the month that the braves moved gant to third, and that also comes after the all-star game when the armbands were added to the right sleeve.

now that we've got the memorial armbands for weyer and stello figured out, i am a bit perplexed by john kibler's 1990 t&m umpires card

he's wearing an armband on his right sleeve.  sure, this could be a photo from 1988 post-all star break, but the stadium in the background looks kind of spring training-ish.  any ideas?

a couple of years later, in may of 1990, former umpire augie donatelli died at the age of 76.  in august, national league umpires began wearing black armbands in his honor, as seen on the back of todd hundley's 1991 upper deck card

that photo comes from either august 25 or 26, 1990, and features either bob davidson or charlie williams crouched behind mike scioscia.  i'd guess it's from the 26th with williams behind the plate, because the only time hundley hit with scioscia catching on the 25th was in the top of the 14th inning, and it would have been dark(er) by that time, with a likely smaller crowd on hand.

anyway, donatelli had been a national league umpire for 24 years, and was the founder of the major league baseball umpires association.  he officiated in five world series and four all-star games, and may be best remembered for his penchant for ejecting managers and also for absconding with a couple of cardinal hats following their 1967 world series win.

i'll finish this post with a note regarding another umpire honored with black armbands.  following his death in may of 1985 after a long bout with cancer, american league umpire bill kunkel was honored by his fellow umpires who wore a black armband during the 1985 all-star game (and perhaps during the regular season).  i've found a getty images photo of one of the umpires during the 1985 all-star game with the armband visible on the left sleeve

kunkel had been a pitcher in the major leagues for a short time before turning to umpiring.  he began his big league umpiring gig in 1968, and also served as a referee in the nba for a time.  he was 48 when he passed.

in recent years, the umpires have gone to wearing initials as memorials (as they did for a. bartlett giamatti in the 1989 world series) which makes it a bit easier to dissect.

the evolution of the dodgers' first baseman, part one

it is well known that jackie robinson began his major league career as the dodgers' first baseman in 1947.  unfortunately, i do not own a 1947 bond bread card of jackie's, nor do i own a 1948 leaf card to show in this space.  with that being the case, i'll start the evolution of the dodgers' first baseman with the guy who replaced jackie at first in 1948, gil hodges. this is not a departure from the norm, using a fantastic 1952 bowman card to kick off an evolution post (this is a baseball card blog and i don't have many pre-1950's cards in my collection), but it sure would have been nice to see that leaf card of jackie up top.  maybe someday.

gil hodges (1948-1959)

yes, hodges' 1952 bowman card is fantastic.  i enjoy having it in my collection.  the dodgers enjoyed having hodges' bat in their lineup following his conversion from catcher to first baseman in 1948.  he hit a total of 361 home runs for the dodgers, including 344 during the 12-year span in which he was the team's primary first baseman.  the club also won two world championships (and 6 pennants) with him at first.

norm larker (1960-1961)

norm!  larker (shown on his 1961 topps card) took over for hodges in 1960 and promptly went out and finished second in the national league batting race, .002 behind dick groat and .004 ahead of willie mays.  he was an all-star that year, but came back to earth in 1961, hitting .270 in just 95 games.  he was drafted by the colt .45's in the expansion draft prior to the 1962 season, and he became the very first first baseman in houston's history.  if there were an astros blogger out there doing this same sort of post, larker would be at the very start.

ron fairly (1962-1964)

with larker gone, fairly moved to first from the outfield.  yes, i am showing his 1965 topps card even though he was back in the outfield when the 1965 season rolled around.  before that, however, he enjoyed three solid seasons as the dodger first baseman, averaging 12 homers and 74 rbi.  he was playing more outfield by the end of the '63 season, making way for bill skowron.  as a result, he made only late-inning appearances during the 1963 world series.

wes parker (1965-1972)

skowron left the dodgers after one season, and fairly moved back to the outfield with wes parker taking over at first.  he became part of the team's all switch hitting infield (with jim lefebvre, jim gilliam, and maury wills) and helped the dodgers win the world series against the twins.  parker also won gold gloves in 6 of his 8 seasons spent playing primarily at first (including 1971 - the year of the topps card shown above).  in 1970, he led the national league with 47 doubles, but he was always better known for his skill with the leather, compiling a career .996 fielding percentage as a first baseman.  he retired following the 1972 season at the age of 32.  parker is the only non-hall of famer on rawlings' all-time gold glove team.

bill buckner (1973)

buckner's 1974 topps card lists him as a first baseman because he played in 93 games (83 starts) at the position in 1973.  he hit .275 and played in 140 games overall that year, and was moved back to the outfield in 1974, where he was seen climbing the wall in atlanta trying to get to hank aaron's 715th career home run.

steve garvey (1974-1982)

there aren't a lot of steve garvey cards from his playing days that i haven't shown on the blog yet, but that 1980 kellogg's card is one of them.  the garv took over the first baseman's job and wound up winning the all-star game and national league mvp awards in 1974.  he held on to the job until he left the club as a free agent following the 1982 season, amassing 8 consecutive all-star starts, 4 gold gloves, 4 pennants, and a world series championship during that 9-year span.

greg brock (1983-1986)

brock, shown on his 1986 o-pee-chee card, was a triple-a phenom who had the misfortune of being asked to replace garvey in the dodgers' lineup and maybe even continue the dodgers' string of rookies of the year (they had owned the award since rick sutcliffe won it in 1979, with steve howe winning in 1980, fernando valenzuela in 1981, and steve sax in 1982).  unfortunately, brock hit just .224 with 20 homers in 146 games in his rookie year, finishing 7th in the 1983 nl rookie of the year balloting.  the dodgers still won the west, however, and brock was 0 for 9 in his first taste of postseason play.  the following season, he hit .225 while playing in only 88 games, but still spent more time at first than anybody else.  in 1985, he helped the dodgers return to the postseason with what may have been his best season with the dodgers - he hit .251 with 21 homers and 66 rbi in 129 games.  he got his only postseason hit of his career that year, a home run in game 2 of the nlcs.  he was hitless in his other 11 at bats of the series.  following another lackluster season, brock was traded to the brewers for a couple of tims - crews and leary.

franklin stubbs (1987-1988)

stubbs had been the dodgers' left fielder in 1986, but moved to first to replace brock in 1987.  he had a 'brock-ish' season, however, hitting .233 with 15 homers and 52 rbi in 129 games, 111 of which included some time at first.  in 1988, stubbs appeared in 84 games at first for the dodgers, 54 of which were starts, which was more than mike marshall (54 games, 51 starts) so he gets the nod here for the year that was so improbable.  that's his 1988 score card, by the way.  stubbs started all five games of the '88 world series, hitting .294 with a couple of rbi. interestingly enough, stubbs went to the astros in a trade prior to the 1990 season, but signed with the brewers as a free agent for the 1991 campaign wherein he replaced greg brock as the first baseman for the brew crew.

eddie murray (1989-1991)

the dodgers were likely tired of a lack of production from the first base position since garvey's departure, so they traded for hometown guy eddie murray following their world series triumph over the a's.  steady eddie showed up in 1989 (i was excited to see him in dodger blue on his 1989 upper deck card shown above) and played in 160 games (159 at first) but hit only .247.  he did drive in 88 runs, however, and in 1990 he led all of major league baseball with a .330 average.  too bad for murray that willie mcgee was hitting .335 when he was dealt from the cardinals to the a's (mcgee hit only .274 with oakland, dropping his composite average to .324 for the season).  murray left the dodgers after the 1991 season as a free agent, opening the door for a rookie named eric karros to win the job even though the team had traded for todd benzinger just in case.

random rules the day

here's a smattering of randomness from the scanned folder.  no rhyme or reason, just some dodger cards…

1980 topps ken brett

when ken brett joined the dodgers, it was the first time that i became aware of the 'wrong brother' syndrome. not that i wanted george brett to join the dodgers and mess up the infield thing they had going on, but i still recognized that the younger george was the better player.  that wasn't what was expected, however, as ken brett was thought to be the best athlete in the family when he joined the red sox in the late 1960's.  with the dodgers, brett pitched in 30 games during the 1979 season and was released during spring training the following year.

1983 dodgers police tom lasorda

i used this photo for one of lasorda's cards that should have been.  i still have a few of those to make.

1984 ralston purina pedro guerrero

i found it odd that the same company that made dog food also made cereal.  anyway, i had a bunch of these mail in sets. or were those the cereal series cards that were mail ins?  i don't remember.  we ate a lot of chex cereal in 1984.

1987 baseball's all-time greats carl erskine

erskine threw 2 no-hitters (one against the giants) and struck out 13 yankees in a single world series game.  that's my kind of dodger.

1989 upper deck juan bell

more 'wrong brother' syndrome here.  bell was the younger brother of blue jays' slugger george bell.  the younger bell didn't actually play for the dodgers - he was part of the 'haul' that the orioles received in the eddie murray trade.

1990 topps mike morgan (in dodger stadium)

and 1991 topps stadium club mike morgan

i'm working on a 'on the road with mike morgan' post.  stay tuned.

1990 upper deck lenny harris

i could do a similar post for harris, i think.  although he only played for 8 franchises (morgan wore 12 different uniforms), he made multiple stops in cincinnati and new york.  no player has been used as a pinch hitter more than harris, and no player has more pinch hits than harris.

1990 upper deck mike marshall

between this mike marshall (who was a met when this card was issued) and the other mike marshall, there was a mike marshall in the major leagues from 1967 through most of the 1991 season.  i guess that's not that impressive, since nolan ryan was in the bigs from 1966 through 1993.

1992 donruss triple play roger mcdowell

to me, the oddest thing about this card is mcdowell's hair - forget about the sandpaper sticking out of the bottom of his pantlegs, what is that thing on his head?

a haphazard canada day post

july 1 snuck up on me this year - i blame the weather.  it doesn't seem like july here yet.  anyway, enjoy some cards featuring teams from north of the border.  like this 1998 fleer ultra orlando cabrera card

or this 1998 pacific crown collection mike lansing card

both of those feature double play turning expos, and the lansing also features british columbia native larry walker.  happy canada day guys!

here's a blue jay turning two (or at least trying to).  it's maicer izturis and his 2014 topps card

he's got lyle overbay bearing down on him in a game from may 2013.  izturis threw to first too late to get curtis granderson, but it still goes in my double play binder.

this 1989 upper deck neal heaton card is in my dodger stadium binder

that is most likely joey amalfitano in the background there.

i am running short of expo and blue jay cards in the scanned folder, but i did have this 1979 topps blue jays team card at the ready

it's actually the thin-stock send in version of the card.  roy hartsfield, as you might recall, was a dodger coach in the early 1970's.

eric gagne is one of two canadians to win a cy young award (fergie jenkins is the other).  here is the montreal native's 2002 upper deck superstars card

 and another one from 2004 upper deck

looks like it was game over there.

russell martin was born in toronto but grew up in quebec.  this canadian made his big league debut on cinco de mayo, as noted on this 2006 topps update & highlights rookie debut insert

 here's a crookedly scanned 2007 topps chrome refractor of the former dodger backstop

who is one of three canadians to win a gold glove (larry walker and joey votto are the others).

here's martin again on perhaps my least favorite dodger card of the last several years.  it's from 2010 topps, and it's his 'when they were young' insert

i'll take these types of cards if they show jim hunter with his dog, or sal bando in little league, but i don't need to see big leaguers in footsie pajamas.

take us home bc native and only canadian to win the american league mvp award, justin morneau.

happy canada day, eh?

dodger lurker time

they may not always be the main focus of the card, but i'll take dodgers on cardboard any way i can find them.  sometimes, that means that i have to keep a card of a giant, as is the case with bengie molina's 2009 upper deck card

which features andre ethier lurking in the background while also beating the throw home.

plays at the plate are good places to find lurkers, and tom prince does not disappoint on lance johnson's 1999 fleer tradition card

prince held on to the ball, but i believe johnson was safe, assuming that this is the lone scoring or potential scoring play from the april 26, 1998 game that featured these two guys.  it looks like it was a sunny day in socal that day.

another dodger catcher, mike scioscia, shows up on the back of johnny ray's 1989 upper deck card

thanks to the annual freeway series that precedes every regular season.

here's jeff treadway getting some face-less time on robb nen's 1995 upper deck card

while jeff hamilton finds spike owen waiting for him on owen's 1991 upper deck card

finally, we have raul mondesi trying to beat the throw on brant brown's 1997 topps stadium club card

he did not, but he did get to appear on the card for which i am thankful.

a memorial patch for harvey kuenn

to me, harvey kuenn is the guy who struck out as the last out of sandy koufax's perfect game (as vin scully said, '2 and 2 to harvey kuenn, one strike away.  sandy into his windup; here's the pitch - swung on and missed! a perfect game!).  however, kuenn was also the manager of the milwaukee brewers in 1982 and 1983.  he took over the team about a third of the way into the 1982 season and wound up leading the brew crew to the world series.  after he died in february of 1988, the team added a 'h/k' memorial patch to their left sleeves, with the slash being a baseball bat.

the patch is visible on a number of cards, such as:

1989 donruss paul molitor

1989 topps chuck crim

1990 bill wegman

1988 score rookie and traded darryl hamilton

1989 donruss joey meyer

and jim gantner's 1989 upper deck card - both on the front

and the back

which also seems to include a double play turn.

as much as i would like to include a molitor or robin yount card (or some other member of "harvey's wallbangers" as the representative for this patch in my collection, that honor goes to this 1989 big apple sportscards gary sheffield card

kuenn also had a successful career as a player, amassing over 2000 hits and a .303 lifetime average in 15 seasons.  he was only 57 when he died.