card show stuff

it's been over a month since wallet card and i went to the semi-annual regional card show, and i still haven't shown off the other cards i bought and scanned.  like this 1951 bowman don newcombe card

it's nice that the 'bull pen' is labeled and that curious george's man in yellow is watching newk warm up from the stands.

i picked up a card for my 1965 topps set, and it features three hall of famers

say hey! the giants must have had a pretty good team in 1964 with all that power (plus juan marichal and gaylord perry on the mound).  well, they won 90 games but were 4th in the national league, 3 games back of the pennant winning cardinals.  the dodgers were two games under .500, but bounced back pretty well in '65.

i also grabbed a card for my 1957 topps set for a buck - don mossi

i won't mention the ears.

from the dime binder, a 1982 topps sticker of pedro guerrero

showing his co-mvp form in the 1981 world series

the rest of the stuff comes from the dime boxes, and they were brimming with junk wax. i took some new to me double plays, like this 1993 donruss spike owen

1993 leaf ricky gutierrez

1994 leaf jose lind

1995 leaf carlos baerga

and 2001 fleer tradition marlon anderson

a little something for pretty much every facet of my collection!

black diamond, silver diamond, white sox

for the 1992 season, the white sox added a diamond to the left sleeves of their jerseys to honor the passing of at least two members of their organization and family that occurred during the previous offseason.  the diamonds came in two different colors for their three different uniform schemes - black on the home pinstripes as seen on this 1993 o-pee-chee steve sax card

black on the away grays (as we will see in a bit), and silver on the alternate black tops as seen on saxy's 1993 leaf card

here are a couple more looks at the silver patch, courtesy of black jack mcdowell's 1993 topps stadium club murphy card

and dan pasqua's 1993 upper deck card

i've got three cards in the memorials binder for this one - robin ventura's 1993 topps black gold card represents the black diamond/white pinstripe combo

while frank thomas' 1993 fleer ultra card represents the black diamond/gray jersey set up i mentioned earlier

and it's the big hurt again, with his 1993 upper deck future heroes subset card that showcases the silver diamond/black jersey combination

one tidbit from a uniform source notes that the diamond is not a patch added to the jerseys, instead it is colored fabric woven into the uniform tops.

while i was researching this post, i noted that the hall of fame's website indicated that there were four people for whom the patch was worn.  some research online provided three names, and i decided to contact the hall of fame to see if they had any additional information.  i received a quick response from tom shieber, the senior curator, who referred back to the chisox media guide from 1992 and found that the diamond was being worn for two people - sheri berto (jerry reinsdorf's personal assistant) and maureen schueler (wife of general manager and former player and coach, ron schueler). it is possible that other personnel, possibly long time employee millie johnson (one of the three names i found online) who passed away in march of 1992 after working for the white sox for over 25 years, were "added" to the memorial, but the hall of fame has revised their website to acknowledge berto and schueler only. 

sheri berto died unexpectedly following an outpatient surgical procedure in november of 1991.  she was bulls and white sox owner jerry reinsdorf's assistant, and in addition to the uniform memorial worn by the sox, reinsdorf named the bulls' practice facility after her.  the bulls practiced at the berto center for over 20 years, but will soon be moving into a new facility near the united center.

maureen schueler died of leukemia in october of 1991.  her husband ron had been a pitcher with the white sox late in his career, retiring as a player in 1979 to become the team's pitching coach.  he also worked in the a's and pirates organizations before returning to chicago as the team's general manager in november of 1990.

the white sox have since been consistent in the use of a diamond when wearing memorial patches, although they have since added names or initials to the memorials, such as the one they are wearing this season for jerry reinsdorf's son david.  i will post about that after 2014 topps update is released, i am sure.

bo knows tatooine

i recently completed a trade with bo from baseball cards come to life.  i sent him some set needs, and he sent me some tatooine cards.  i don't necessarily seek these types of cards in trades, but bo sent me some good ones.

one of the many fantastic staged cards that topps put out in the early 1990's is this 1991 topps benito santiago card

sorry, i guess he was benny in 1991.

the padres were frequent visitors to the desert planet, apparently.  here's a very 1973 topps-ish 1992 upper deck card of paul faries

 as well as a 1993 leaf tony gwynn

and let me take a moment to recognize the passing of mr. padre.  i've mentioned a few times that while i was living in orange county, i would often drive to san diego to see the dodgers play.  one of the series that i attended included the last three games of the 1995 season, including (obviously) the season finale.  the dodgers had clinched a playoff berth the night before (it was the first time i had been in attendance when they clinched - that was really cool), and so the teams were just playing out the string.  chan ho park made his first big league start, striking out 5 in 3 innings of work.  the game was tied 1-1 heading into the 7th when mike busch hit a 3-run homer to put the dodgers ahead 4-1.  in the bottom of the frame, gwynn led off with a double and was removed from the game for a pinch runner.  it was a nice move by bruce bochy, as it allowed gwynn to get an ovation as he left the field.  and what an ovation he did receive.  everybody stood and applauded, and i could feel the deep appreciation that the padre fans had for number 19.  he acknowledged the crowd, and it seemed that the feeling was mutual.  i am glad i got to see gwynn play a few times and get a few hits, but that ovation as gwynn walked off the field is my lasting memory of him.

back to the post at hand.

the cubs played some games on tatooine, too.  here's a 1993 upper deck shawon dunston card

and the back of sammy sosa's card from the same set

the cubbies must have been playing the mets outside of mos eisley, because here's eddie murray's 1993 upper deck card

with a couple of southsiders

other examples of tatooine cards from bo include a 1990 upper deck lance parrish card

a 1993 topps stadium club tim hulett card

plus some cincinnati folks - 1993 upper deck barry larkin

and a 1995 upper deck collector's choice john roper

when it came to the ropers, i was more of a mr. ferley fan.

here's the back of a 1994 upper deck randy tomlin card

tomlin can run, but he can't hide from the imperial stormtroopers on his tail

finally, here are a couple of cards from 1995 upper deck collector's choice special edition - carlos baerga

and will clark

clark looks like he just bulls-eyed a womp rat in beggar's canyon.

thanks for the cards bo!

a royal memorial for jrb (and jhb)

joe burke began his big league career in the front office of the expansion washington senators in 1961, and became the team's general manager after they moved to texas and became the rangers.  he joined the royals as their gm in 1974, and worked for the team until his death in may of 1992.  following his passing, the team added his initials to their right sleeves for the remainder of the season as a memorial.

here's brian mcrae's 1993 leaf card which shows the 'jrb' patch

as does juan samuel's 1993 score select card

which also features a double play turn on the back!

here's the card that is in my memorials binder - the 1993 upper deck george brett iooss collection card

you'll notice that brett modified the patch to include an 'h' - that is in honor of his father, jack h. brett, who also passed away in may of 1992.

burke was the royals' gm during their successful mid to late 1970's run in which they reached the alcs three years in a row (1976-78), and also in their 1980 american league championship season.  he was promoted to team president in 1982, and oversaw the team's 1985 world championship.  he remained the team's president until his death from cancer at the age of 68.

the mets' william shea memorial

following the loss of the giants and dodgers, the mayor of new york asked attorney william shea to lead a group whose purpose was to bring national league baseball back to the city.  he explored luring an existing franchise to make the move and looked into expansion.  neither option seemed to go anywhere, so he joined with branch rickey to form the continental league in 1959.  major league baseball must have seen this new league as a threat and consented to expansion for the 1961 and 1962 seasons.

one of the new franchises in 1962 was the new york metropolitans, and two years after their debut, the mets were playing in their new stadium, named for the man who helped make the franchise a reality.  shea died in october of 1991 at the age of 84, and the mets decided to wear a memorial patch in his honor the following season.

you can see the 's' patch on the left sleeve of eddie murray's jersey on this multiple exposure 1992 upper deck card commemorating murray's 400th career home run

it's also visible on jeff kent's 1993 leaf card

dick schofield's 1993 topps card

and the front

and back

of todd hundley's 1993 upper deck card

the card that represents the memorial in my collection is this 1992 o-pee-chee premier howard johnson card

love the turtleneck.

this memorial is one of those relatively rare cases in which the honoree was neither a player nor an employee of the team (nor a relative of a high ranking employee).  shea was just a guy who helped bring the national league back to new york.  the team has also honored him by adding his name to the retired numbers display, as well as by naming the pedestrian bridge at citi field after him.  i guess it's the least they could do after leaving the stadium that bore his name.

these also came from outer space

here are some more cards from my 'team' in the 'tribe cards from outer space' pack opening extravaganza hosted by david from tribe cards.  i mentioned earlier that one of my strategies throughout the season was to pick up middle infielders in the hopes of getting some double play turns.  i was successful a few times, and wound up with this 1993 leaf mariano duncan card

and a 1997 fleer rex hudler card

that were new to me.

my other draft strategies included dodgers (of course) and members of the teams of my youth.  players like elias sosa, who showed up in a 1981 fleer pack (or was it a repack?).

overall, i received quite a few expos.  mitch webster (former dodger) was an expo on his 1988 o-pee-chee card

and tim wallach (another former dodger) showed up twice in a 1992 leaf pack - regular and black gold

those cards, plus a couple others of the current dodger bench coach have been shipped out to new mexico already.

another expo that fit into my former dodger and middle infielder strategy was delino deshields, seen here on his 1993 leaf card

but the most welcome expo of my 'team' was vladimir guerrero.  i wound up with a few vladdys, including this 2000 pacific crown collection card

i might like the red hats more than the red, white, and blue ones.

here's a 1995 topps cyber stats parallel of felix fermin

i drafted him in hopes of some double play cards.  this bunting card is on its way to 2x3 heroes.

howie kendrick was another middle infielder added to my team.  he delivered a 2013 topps a&g regular and mini combo

i beat david to the punch in adding former dodger (and indian) casey blake, and so i wound up with this 2004 fleer ultra card

which also features the mel harder and larry doby memorial patches.

there aren't too many cards of aaron harang as a dodger, but i was hoping for one or two when i added him to my player list.  instead, i received this 2011 topps gold parallel featuring him with the reds

i'm not complaining, though.

thanks david!