meanwhile, back on tatooine...

…andre ethier is circling the bases on his 2008 bowman card,

his 2008 bowman gold parallel card,

his 2008 bowman chrome card,

and his 2008 bowman chrome refractor card.

elsewhere on the desert planet, fred lynn is doing something on his 1991 upper deck card,

while darren daulton makes a play

and brady anderson takes a lead

on their 1994 upper deck cards.

one of tatooine's multiple suns is low in the horizon on julio franco's 1996 upper deck card

and perhaps the other sun is creating shadows on john olerud's 1997 topps card

players like to hit on tatooine thanks to the dry air, like ken griffey jr on this 2006 upper deck national baseball card day card,

larry walker on this 2011 topps lineage card,

and jose reyes on this 2014 topps stadium club card

i think that photo was taken from jabbba's luxury sutite.

a christmas eve edition of random cards from the scanned folder

i'm putting this post on autopilot since it's december 24th and i'm traveling for the holidays.  enjoy some cards that i scanned without a clear purpose over the course of the last few years.

1994 pinnacle brett butler museum collection

i need to add cards from this parallel dodger team set to my nefarious 9.

1962 topps johnny podres

looks like johnny was out late in chicago last night.

1987 fleer league leaders bob welch

the wrigley field ivy in the background and the odd cropping of the photo reminds me of 1981 fleer

1991 upper deck dennis cook

batting practice in dodger stadium!  cook's wearing tommy john's number and doesn't seem to know what to do with the bat.  plus, a jim poole sighting as a background lurker.

1975 topps mini rick rhoden rookie card

in a related note, congrats to night owl on finishing his 1975 topps mini set.  he would not allow his scanner to skew a card from that set as wildly as mine has.

1998 upper deck black diamond alex cora

and here's the back of brett butler's 1995 upper deck collector's choice special edition card.

and so the post is bookended by butlers.  i'll try harder next time.

merry christmas to all, and to all a good night.

i'll be interested to see what target stocks for me next...

here's the third of three repacks that target made me buy recently.  after pulling the first two off the hanger, i saw some more needed/wanted cards displayed in this repack.  let's see what else was inside.

2010 topps factory set limited edition ichiro

this card intrigued me, as it's got a foil imprint on the front and it's numbered rs2 on the back
1991 topps 1990 rookies robin ventura - four times now!
1991 topps 1990 rookies pat combs
1991 topps 1990 rookies larry walker - at least those two are different
1991 topps 1990 rookies todd zeile
1991 topps 1990 rookies john olerud - those two are not
1989 donruss terry leach
1990 score alvaro espinoza
1987 topps jamie quirk
1991 fleer jeff kunkel
1987 topps mike brown
1989 topps otis nixon
1990 fleer chad kreuter
1989 donruss rick mahler
1986 topps luis aguayo
1989 upper deck scott sanderson
1988 donruss checklist
1990 donruss lee mazzilli
1988 topps jay tibbs
1991 topps rich rodriguez
1992 pinnacle chili davis
1993 upper deck jose uribe
1988 donruss checklist - at least it's not the same as the first one in the repack
1993 topps luis salazar
1988 topps charlie puleo
1992 score jeff ballard
1989 fleer oddibe mcdowell
1991 score randy johnson
1990 fleer curt wilkerson
1991 upper deck mike scioscia
1987 topps omar moreno

omar doesn't care for this repack
1987 donruss jim presley diamond king
1986 topps andy hawkins
1991 score mark parent
1992 score steve buechele
1990 topps devon white
1988 donruss todd benzinger
1988 topps barry lyons
1994 classic minor league all-star edition trot nixon cream of the crop shiny insert

1989 score chris james
1999 upper deck encore jason kendall
1989 donruss cameron drew rated rookie
1988 pacific online eddie guardado

1988 pacific online eddie guardado - a double of a twin, so here's the back

not sure who 'rm' is that the new twins bullpen coach is memoralizing. raul mondesi? randy moss? any ideas?

1998 pinnacle tom candiotti

2009 upper deck first edition carlos beltran

2009 upper deck first edition akinori iwamura

2009 upper deck first edition daniel cabrera

2009 upper deck first edition stephen drew

2009 upper deck first edition tom glavine

1998 fleer ultra kevin millwood

now for part 2...

2004 fleer greats carlton fisk

pudge looks pissed

1992 topps bobby cox

1991 leaf kent mercker

1987 fleer rick sutcliffe

1989 score john kruk

1992 donruss rosario rodriguez

1992 pinnacle carlos baerga

1989 topps les lancaster

1989 donruss mike fitzgerald

1991 upper deck kirby puckett

puck looks happy

1987 topps randy o'neal

1993 pinnacle ken ryan

1992 topps stadium club chris james

1991 leaf ernest riles

1991 donruss gregg jefferies

1990 fleer tom herr

1991 donruss scott erickson

1989 topps bob dernier

1989 fleer todd benzinger

1987 topps bill dawley

1994 upper deck collector's choice pat rapp

1989 donruss bob kipper

1989 fleer dale sveum

1992 topps mike jackson

1990 donruss joe oliver

1987 donruss highlights tim raines

rock is in dodger stadium

1989 score rookies & traded bob geren

1988 topps denny walling

2000 fleer tradition update rafael furcal

1987 topps tom brunansky

2012 topps edwin jackson

2012 topps taylor green

2012 topps kyle hudson

2012 topps raul ibanez

2012 topps jay bruce

2012 topps james darnell

2012 topps brandon mccarthy

2012 topps mark melancon

2012 topps luke hughes

2012 topps brett wallace

wallace is in dodger stadium on father's day, 2011. i've been in dodger stadium on father's day a couple of times, but not for a while.

2011 topps gaby sanchez

2011 topps scott hairston

2011 topps ricky romero

2011 topps brian roberts

2011 topps mike fontenot

2011 topps jhonny peralta

2011 topps matt thornton

2011 topps mike pelfrey

2011 topps john jaso

2013 topps chrome paco rodriguez orange refractor

this was the main reason i bought this one.

let me know if you want/need any of these cards…

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 indians' steve olin and tim crews memorial patch

here's steve olin's 1991 upper deck card.

i posted earlier today about the memorial patch that the dodgers wore for tim crews, who died along with olin in a boating accident during spring training in 1993.  although he had not pitched for the indians during the regular season, the indians' memorial patch worn during the 1993 season recognized crews as well as olin, one of their young stars.  olin had been the team's closer for the two years prior to his death, saving 29 games with a 2.34 era in 1992.  he was only 26 when he died.

the patch that the tribe wore included olin's number 31 with an arrow pointing up, and crews' number 52 under a star within a baseball

another teammate, bob ojeda, had been in the boat with the two relievers, and survived only because he was slouching in his seat.  his 1994 topps card

is especially powerful because the patch is visible on his right sleeve.  i have this card in my memorials binder even though it is not the best example of the patch.

better examples include carlos baerga's 1994 donruss card

reggie jefferson's 1994 topps card

and even a 2012 topps 1987 mini albert belle card

but in the end i chose between jim thome's 1994 donruss card

and his 1994 stadium club card

with the stadium club card getting the nod.

there really is no other word than tragic to describe the loss of olin and crews, both of whom left behind  young families.

the billy martin memorial patch

billy martin died in a single-car accident on christmas day, 1989.  the driver of the car, a friend of martin's, was charged with driving under the influence.  the yankees, the team that martin was most associated with during his playing and managerial days, added a memorial patch to their uniforms from the 1990 season.  instead of the traditional black armband, they added martin's retired number 1 to their left sleeves.

there it is on don mattingly's 1991 fleer ultra card

and jesse barfield's 1991 upper deck card

and dave lapoint's 1991 upper deck card as well

in a bit of a departure, i decided to use a card from 1993 to represent this particular memorial in the binder.  it comes from the 1993 rainbow foods dave winfield set that was released in minnesota (and perhaps elsewhere) to mark winfield's return to the twin cities.  this is a gold parallel version noting his time spent with the yankees.

martin had finished his playing career as a twin in 1961, and later returned to the team as their manager in 1969.  it was his first managerial job, and he led the team to a first place finish in the first year of division play.  after that, martin managed in detroit and texas before taking the job of the yankee skipper in 1975.  much turmoil ensued, and despite getting the yankees back to the postseason in 1976 and winning it all in 1977, owner george steinbrenner fired martin 52 games into the 1978 season.  of course, the boss hired martin back in 1979, but fired him again.

in 1980, martin took over the oakland a's and 'billy ball' was born.  martin guided the a's to the postseason in 1981 (they lost the alcs to the yankees), but the team fell to fifth place in the al west in 1982 and he was let go.  no problem - steinbrenner hired him to be the yankee manager again, but was fired after a third place finish.  martin returned the the job a fourth time, taking over for yogi berra in 1985, and was fired for a fourth time after the season ended.  martin was named the team's manager by steinbrenner for a fifth time going into the 1988 season, but was canned for a fifth time by steinbrenner after 68 games.  one has to wonder if martin, who was 61 when he died, would have been asked to manage the yankees another time (and been fired soon thereafter) had he not been in the accident.