a memorial patch for junior gilliam

it's been 36 years since jim gilliam passed away.  he died on october 8, 1978 following a stroke he suffered in mid-september.  he was, at the time of his death, the team's first base coach and hitting instructor, but he meant a lot more to the franchise than that.  here's my 1954 bowman card of gilliam

gilliam had just come off his rookie season when this card was published - a season that saw him take over at  second base for jackie robinson and the dodgers and win the 1953 rookie of the year award.  gilliam went on to play for the dodgers through the 1966 season, winning four world series rings and playing in three other fall classics.  he had actually retired as a player following the 1964 season to become a coach, but injuries led to the dodgers activating him in both 1965 and 1966.  beginning in 1967, however, gilliam served the dodgers solely as a coach.

gilliam was known as a mentor to the infielders, including the likes of ted sizemore and, of course, steve garvey, ron cey, bill russell, and davey lopes.  lopes held gilliam in high regard and delivered one of the eulogies at his funeral.  then, in game 1 of the world series, lopes hit two home runs and as he circled the bases, he raised his fingers to the sky in tribute - perhaps the first time that the now commonplace salute was made.

here's a postcard from 1979 showing lopes at bat during the 1978 world series, wearing gilliam's number '19' in a memorial patch that the team added to the uniforms for the fall classic.

i used that photo a while ago to create a card that should have been from 2001 upper deck decade the 1970's

in large part because there weren't any world series highlight cards in the 1979 topps set, nor were any photos from the series used for any other cards that year.  that meant i had to wait until the early 2000's to see the patch on an honest to goodness baseball card.

this 2002 upper deck sweet spot classics card of steve garvey

shows the patch as he records an out at first base.  thurman munson is the runner, i believe, as this photo (including munson approaching the bag) was featured in sports illustrated.  upper deck used the photo on garvey's jersey relic insert, too

although it is paired on that version with a padres' jersey swatch.

in 2001, i got my first glimpse of the patch on a card, again thanks to upper deck.  they inserted this don sutton all-star game salute relic card in the flagship release

and used the photo again on the back

a similar photo was used on this 2004 upper deck sp game used edition patch card of sutton

although that's clearly a patch from one of sutton's oakland a's jerseys.

i've also found a few photos from the series online that show the patch, including this pregame photo of garvey

 this photo of lopes, ron cey, and reggie smith,

 and this photo of tommy lasorda arguing about reggie jackson's interference

that's the dodgers' reggie on whose uniform the patch is visible, which leads me to the card that represents gilliam's memorial patch in my binder.  it's this 2007 upper deck sweet spot classic reggie smith card

it's pretty fantastic.

gilliam passed away on the same day that the dodgers won the pennant, and the team retired his number 19 prior to game 1 of the world series.  gilliam remains the only dodger to have his number retired without being enshrined in the hall of fame.  he was just a few days shy of his 50th birthday when he died.

remembering the rocket

the montreal canadiens are still battling in the stanley cup playoffs, so it seems like a good time for this particular memorial patch post.

back in 2000, montreal still fielded a major league baseball team, and when montreal native, canadien (and canadian) legend and hockey icon maurice 'the rocket' richard passed away in may of that year, the expos wore a black number 9 patch on their right sleeves in his honor.  richard, of course, wore number 9 for les habitants from 1942-1960, leading them to 8 stanley cup titles.  this is the only instance that i know of where a team from one sport has honored a player from another with a memorial patch.

geoff blum is wearing the memorial patch on his 2001 upper deck victory card

which is one of two double play cards i have in which the patch is visible.  the other is this 2001 upper deck augie ojeda card

pretty sure that the expo who tried to break up two is jose vidro, whose 2001 donruss elite card also features the patch

i was going to use this vladimir guerrero card from 2001 upper deck reserve as the example for this memorial in my collection

but then i came across this 2001 upper deck ultimate victory card of milton bradley which shows the patch so nicely

so it gets the nod.  besides, i'll keep that vladdy card in my vladdy pc.

richard was the first player in nhl history to score 50 goals in 50 games, and was the league's all-time leading scorer until another player wearing number 9, gordie howe, came along.  still, i doubt the tigers will wear a gordie howe patch when he passes away.

a dozen double plays

time for some more double play turns from the scanned folder.  twelve of them, to be exact.

rey sanchez avoids tino martinez on his 2001 upper deck card

and jay bell does the same to eric young on his 2001 upper deck card

on todd walker's 2001 upper deck card, however, it's the base runner who is doing the avoiding

here's desi relaford's 2000 upper deck card

with brant brown ducking

and here's alex gonzalez's 2002 upper deck card

on which he's about to land on an expo.

gonzalez's marlins teammate, luis castillo, didn't even bother to leave the ground on his 1997 bowman card

or on his 2003 fleer patchworks card

even with mo vaughn bearing down

alfonso soriano elevated himself somewhat awkwardly on his 2004 fleer ultra gold medallion edition card

to avoid lance berkman's hard slide.  i am figuring that this play comes from the 4th inning of the june 12, 2003 game in which berkman was forced at second for the second out of the inning, but soriano was unable to turn two.  this game came the day after the astros no-hit the yankees while using 6 different pitchers.

here's fernando vina on his 2004 topps chrome traded

and 2004 topps traded cards

meanwhile, michael young catches some air on his 2005 fleer authentix card

here's the newest dp turn in my collection - a 2014 topps gypsy queen nick franklin card

always nice to pull a card i collect from a pack.

double plays until the cows come home

here are some more heretofore unposted double play turns for your enjoyment as you whittle down the moments before walter white does whatever it is that he is going to do with that machine gun in the trunk.

1999 topps stadium club rey ordonez

that card should seed nicely in the 'greatest double play card of all time' tournament.  coming this offseason to this blog.  finally.

2000 fleer ultra neifi perez

and the gold medallion edition parallel

the die cut works well with the photo used.

here's another insert - 2001 pacific private stock roberto alomar extreme action

my apologies to trot nixon, but now when i see number 7 for the red sox, i am forced to think of jd drew.  alomar, by the way, is going to get his own double play post soon.  so many dp cards!

craig biggio has a bunch of double play turns on cardboard, too.  here is his 2001 upper deck victory card with one of them.

2001 upper deck homer bush

2002 fleer box score anderson machado

2006 upper deck cristian guzman

are fairly pedestrian examples of double play turns.  the machado, at least, is interesting because he is taking the feed prior to the runner getting close to the base.

contrast those to this 2007 topps turkey red jimmy rollins card

there's a lot going on there.  i don't know who the slider is supposed to be, but it looks like he's got some old early 1980's stirrup action going on.  or maybe just a really thick pant stripe?  plus, it seems like he has a case of krumrie ankle.

here's a 2008 upper deck documentary dan uggla card

i only have the one - i would guess there are about 20 more cards in the set with this same wrigley field double play photo.

that's all the double play cards for now.  i still have a bunch more to show, however, and with 2013 topps update coming out soon there will likely be even more on the horizon.

andy ashby through the mail successes!

former dodger pitcher andy ashby signed some cards for me through the mail a few years ago.  he pitched for the dodgers at the same time as jeff shaw, whose ttm generosity was showcased earlier today.  unlike shaw, however, ashby had a card in the 2001 upper deck set.  and, it was a much better card than the standard pitcher card.  he signed a copy for me.

ashby signed with the dodgers as a free agent after the 2000 season, and he was 2-0 with a 3.86 era in his first two starts of the season when he was sidelined with a muscle strain that turned out to be a torn flexor muscle which cost him the remainder of the season.  he returned to pitch for the dodgers in 2002 and 2003, but was not as effective as everyone hoped.  still, that bp he obviously took paid off in 2002, as he swatted his lone career home run that year.

here's his 2001 topps card signed

as well as a 2001 bowman heritage.

both are much more boring cards than that 2001 upper deck piece of cardboard.

thanks for signing my cards andy - we'll always have those first two starts and that great upper deck card!

a post borne of necessity

these cards all came from arpsmith.  a while ago.  i've been remiss in showcasing them, and then i received another package in the mail from him yesterday.  i can't let a previous trade get lapped like that (although the same thing is happening with the junior junkie).  for better or for worse, here are some of the very nice cards i received from adam as part of a prize package/trade.

2002 topps chrome alex cora

my scanner did a nice thing here.  the scan of that card sings.  it's very nice.

1969 topps willie davis

three dog night with some vintage joy for the world.

2000 fleer greats of the game tommy john

i really liked this set when it was released.  i remember treating myself to some packs after a job interview.  lots of dodgers on the checklist, too.

1984 fleer derrel thomas

my second favorite fleer card of thomas.  i like how this one tells me that he plays infield and outfield.  what about catcher?  a true utility guy.

speaking of catchers, here's a 2001 upper deck todd hundley

and a 2004 upper deck paul loduca

the best thing about those cards is not the lurking kaz ishii behind loduca, but rather the little dodger stadium photo on the lower front of the loduca card.  i missed upper deck cards in 2004 (other than the legends set) so i don't think i knew chavez ravine was on the dodger flagship cards.  the photo, by the way, is the same one that's on the backs of the legends cards.

2005 donruss hong-chih kuo

channeling jerry reuss with that haircut

and finally, a 2002 donruss best of fan club chan ho park jersey relic

it's part of a 'league leaders' subset maybe?  park did lead the league in starts in 2001.

adam - thanks for these cards and thanks for the additional cards that i will try to post before we get into another trade.