too many tigers sporting memorial patches

for quite a while now, i've been posting about memorial patches on mondays.  i still have quite a few to get to, but two of the patches i have already covered include the ernie harwell patch worn by the tigers in 2010, and the sparky anderson patch that the motor city kitties wore in 2011.  dennis from too many verlanders recently sent me a package that included a whole mess of tigers wearing these patches.  here are two cards of brennan boesch from 2010 topps update that show the harwell patch.

these cards are both great examples of the patch that i did not have in my collection previously.  i'll keep the valverde in the memorials binder, however.

dennis also included a whole mess of cards showing the sparky anderson patch.

there we have cards from 2011 topps and 2011 topps update, and here are a couple (plus a parallel) from 2012 topps

boesch is back with a 2012 topps allen & ginter card

while alex avila and miguel cabrera show the patch on their 2012 topps archives cards

boesch and miggy also show the patch on their 2012 topps gypsy queen cards

and then there are the 2012 bowman cards

the tigers' american league central division rival kansas city royals also wore a memorial patch in 2011 (for former pitcher paul splittorff), and dennis threw this 2012 bowman billy butler card in the package as well.

he added another memorial patch, too - the harry caray memorial patch can be seen on this 1999 ud choice kerry wood starquest insert

although this was included as part of the complete 30-card set in a separate package.  i had claimed some cards from dennis, and he included this set (which contained a single dodger - adrian beltre)

as well as a set of the 1990 fleer league standouts insert set, which included current dodger manager don mattingly wearing pinstripes

i'll show some of the cards that i claimed in a later post.

there was yet another package that dennis sent recently.  it contained one card that he picked up at a card show with me in mind - a 2005 topps pristine steve garvey uncirculated card

i've got one in the garvey collection already, but now i have one for the dodger binder, too.

thanks dennis!

a black armband and a memorial patch for a. bartlett giamatti

25 years ago today, baseball commissioner a. bartlett giamatti died at the age of 51.  unfortunately, he may be most often remembered as the commissioner who presided over the pete rose betting on baseball scandal as he died of a heart attack 8 days after rose agreed to be added to baseball's permanently ineligible list.  that was in august of 1989, and when the world series began that october, the players on each team wore black armbands in giamatti's honor.  here's a 1990 score world series highlight card that features the armbands on the a's and giants' players

it also features 'actual world series action photography'.  thanks score.

fleer also issued insert cards with world series highlights in 1990, such as this fantastic double play card featuring walt weiss and terry kennedy

kennedy makes his third appearance in a row on this card from the 1990 fleer insert set

the armbands aren't noticeable on that card, but if you look closely at the umpire's right sleeve, you will notice something below the number.  that's the 'abg' patch that the umpiring crew wore in giamatti's memory during the series.  you get a much better look at the patch on this 1990 t&m umpires card of all of the world series umps

i did not realize until looking into this memorial that there were umpire cards issued from 1988-1990.  who knew?  luckily this one was easy to find as it is the best example of this memorial and deserves a spot in my memorials binder.

the 1990 t&m umpires set also included a card of the seventh commissioner as well

the back of which features a poem written by the executive director of major league umpires at the time, richard g. phillips

score also had a giamatti card in their set

and they published the first and last paragraphs of an essay by giamatti himself on the back

giamatti wrote 'the green fields of the mind' in 1977 the day after the red sox season ended, and shortly before he became the president of yale university.

1990 donruss

and 1990 topps

also featured memorial cards of the late commissioner, who also served as national league president from december of 1986 until his tenure as commissioner began in april of 1989.  the backs of both cards also reference 'the green fields of the mind'.  here's the back of the topps card

and summer is gone, indeed.

it's beginning to look a lot like all-star weekend

when the twins were awarded the all-star game a couple of years ago, i thought for sure that i would be attending a bunch of the events, including possibly the game itself.  now that it's almost here, i've actually turned down tickets to the futures game and celebrity softball game, as well as fanfest.  i thought about buying tickets to the home run derby, but decided not to go through with it.

i was in boston during the 1999 fanfest but didn't go, and i regretted it at the time (i think steve garvey might have been at that one).  there's a slight chance that i might pop into the local card show for a bit tomorrow, but i won't be at the fanfest.

anyway, i was thinking about this because there is a lot of coverage on the local news and downtown minneapolis is all decked out with all-star game graphics, and also because this 1987 topps fernando valenzuela glossy all-star card

has been staring at me from my scanned folder for quite some time.  it was included in a pwe sent my way by a certain jay barker fan.  and it wasn't alone.  a couple of weeks later, there was another pwe in my mailbox with more cards.  here are some of the cards from the two envelopes.

1981 topps jay johnstone

this card scanned kind of crookedly, which suits johnstone.  i am currently wondering who the player behind johnstone is.  it sort of looks like the second number on the back is a 6, which would mean it's rick monday, burt hooton, or pepe frias based on the 1980 roster.

1982 fleer tom niedenfuer

aka mr. judy landers

1984 donruss steve sax

we as bloggers don't show enough 1984 donruss i don't think.  this was such a high target set when it came out.  i completed multiple sets and sold one for about $80 in the late 80's as i recall.   i think i still have two sets today.

1990 fleer mike hartley

and another dodger who wore 43, raul mondesi and the back of his 1992 leaf gold leaf rookie insert

i am really intrigued by the lefty batting photos that leaf used here and on his 1993 leaf card.

2003 upper deck darren dreifort

and 2003 upper deck paul loduca

from 2002 through 2005, i largely ignored upper deck's flagship set, only buying product from carlsbad when it was stuff like 2003 chirography and 2004 legends, so these two cards were especially appreciated.

last but not least, here's a 2011 bowman hiroki kuroda card

i wonder if kuroda gives current teammate mark teixeira grief about spoiling his perfect game back in july of 2008 with an 8th inning double.  there are actually three braves who played in that game that now play with kuroda in new york - teixeira, brian mccann, and kelly johnson.  hopefully kuroda reminds them all that he dominated them that day as a dodger.

thanks for the cards wes!

the 1978 topps dodgers in 1990

there were only three members of the 1978 topps dodgers featured in the 1990 topps set.  a slimmed down tom lasorda was one of them.

he was also the only one to be featured in a dodger uniform.  lasorda brought the team back over .500 in 1990, leading the dodgers to a record of 86-76.  unfortunately, the team finished in second place in the nl west, 5 games behind the eventual world champion cincinnati reds.

as in 1989, lasorda received a box bottom card in 1990

this one was in recognition of his 2000th game managed in the majors, which occurred on august 2, 1989.  the dodgers beat the giants in that game, 7-4.

charlie hough was still going strong for the rangers in 1990

in what would be his final season in texas, the 42-year old hough went 12-12 with a 4.07 era in 32 starts. for the first (and only) time in his career, hough allowed more non-intentional bases on balls (117) than he recorded strikeouts (114).  he also led the league in batters hit by pitch with 11.  following the season, hough became a free agent and signed with the chicago white sox.  he left texas as the franchise's leader in many career pitching categories, and is still on top of the heap when it comes to starts, innings, wins (and losses), strikeouts, and complete games, but not walks thanks to bobby witt.

rick rhoden was the third and final 1978 topps dodger to make an appearance in the 1990 set.

rhoden became a free agent after the 1989 season ended, and didn't sign with anyone for 1990.  it was nice of topps to give us a final tribute, complete with his career stats on the back

they weren't the only card company to do so, however.  donruss wasn't on board, but fleer was

and they went so far as to add his triple-a stats on the back

i was so pleased to find rhoden cards in 1990, that i was duped into picking up a 1990 fleer canadian version of the card as well

the only difference is the copyright line on the bottom of the back

no french to be found!

here's upper deck's entry for the rhoden final tributes

with only 5 years of stats

rhoden went on to become a successful golfer on the pro-am/celebrity tours.  i believe he is now looking for an opportunity to return to baseball in some capacity. here's hoping.

while i was happy to see rhoden in the set, i was disappointed that tommy john was not given the same courtesy.  that means i'll be making a card that should have been for him, including some really small font on the back. until then, here is the yearly tally of appearances to date:

baker 17 (1971-1987)
burke 2 (1978-1979)
cey 16 (1972-1987)
davalillo 14 (1963-1974, 1978-1979)
forster 16 (1972-1987)
garman 8 (1971-1973, 1975-1979)
garvey 17 (1971-1987)
goodson 6 (1973-1978)
grote 15 (1964-1976, 1978-1979)
hooton 15 (1972-1986)
hough 19 (1972-1990)
john 26 (1964-1989)
lacy 16 (1973-1988)
lasorda 16 (1954, 1973-1974, 1977-1981, 1983-1990)
lopes 16 (1973-1988)
martinez 9 (1971-1976, 1978-1980)
monday 18 (1967-1984)
mota 18 (1963-1980)
oates 10 (1972-1981)
rau 9 (1973-1981)
rautzhan 2 (1978-1979)
rhoden 16 (1975-1990)
russell 18 (1970-1987)
smith 17 (1967-1983)
sosa 10 (1974-1984)
sutton 23 (1966-1988)
yeager 15 (1973-1987)

teams represented so far: 23 (dodgers, indians, colt .45's, pirates, white sox, astros, mets, a's, red sox, angels, expos, cardinals, braves, cubs, orioles, giants, phillies, yankees, rangers, tigers, padres, brewers, mariners)

they came from outer space

what a great haul of cards i received recently from david at tribe cards as a result of his generous 'tribe cards from outer space' giveaway.  in all the packs david opened last season, he only pulled one steve garvey card (1993 ted williams) and one davey lopes card (1987 topps record breaker), but there were other dodgers and random players i had drafted that were well represented.  like alfredo griffin.

that's his 1988 donruss baseball's best card, and this is his 1990 fleer card

i picked up alejandro pena somewhere along the way, and was rewarded with a 1987 fleer card

here's a 1992 topps stadium club mike sharperson card

and a couple of billy ashley cards - 1994 donruss triple play

and 1994 topps

also from 1994 topps, here's jim gott

james loney was represented by his 2012 topps a&g card

my strategy was to draft dodgers, members of the dodger team of my youth, and middle infielders - hoping for some double play turns.  that meant that i received some non-dodger cards of former dodgers, like this 2012 topps a&g black bordered mini of russell martin

and more yankees - tommy john

and rick rhoden

from 1988 donruss baseball's best.

i also wound up with tim wallach on my list, so received his baseball's best card

as well as that of fellow expo bryn smith

and giant craig lefferts

i can explain bryn smith - here's his regular 1988 donruss card, by the way

as he's a local guy made good and i sometimes think about pulling together a player collection.  but lefferts?  i forgot why i added him to my list until i saw his regular donruss card

featuring the right field pavilion at dodger stadium as a backdrop.

i've got some more cards from this package to show off, and i'll do so later today...