a memorial patch for jack buck

jack buck, who had been a broadcaster for the cardinals for more than four decades, succumbed to lung cancer on june 18, 2002.  the redbirds added a patch featuring his initials, "jfb" to their right sleeves in his honor.  fernando vina is sporting the patch on his 2004 topps card

as is jd drew on the front

and back

of his 2003 upper deck victory card.  

jason isringhausen's 2004 upper deck vintage card

provides a good look at the patch, along witih the 'chalk on the cap' memorial for darryl kile that some players wore immediately after the pitcher passed away.

the patch is also visible on edgar renteria's 2003 donruss card

on which he is turning two, but it's a different renteria card that represents this memorial in my binder.  his 2003 upper deck 40 man card gives a good view of the patch

buck passed away just a few days before cardinals' pitcher darryl kile died suddenly (kile also received a memorial patch from the team - i'll cover that later today), ending a hall of fame broadcasting career that included not only cardinal broadcasts, but national baseball broadcasts, nfl, nhl, and aba broadcasts as well.  he began his career with the cardinals in 1954, and aside from a couple of years (1959-1960), buck remained part of the cardinals' broadcast team into 2001.  he was teamed with harry caray in the 1960's, taking over for caray as the play-by-play man in 1970.

as a dodger fan, i am well aware of buck's famous call of ozzie smith's home run in the 1985 nlcs ("go crazy folks") and of kirk gibson's home run in game 1 of the 1988 world series ("i don't believe what i just saw").  the latter came on the national stage with buck providing play-by-play for cbs radio.  he also did television coverage for cbs of other fall classics, including the 1991 world series between the braves and the twins in which he followed kirby puckett's game 6 series extending home run with another famous call, "and we'll see you tomorrow night!"  buck was 77 years old when he died.

upper deck in the community

i recently participated in the group break hosted by community gum.  it was an all upper deck break, and i received a decent stack of dodgers for my entry fee.  from 2004 upper deck sweet spot i landed a couple of cards, including this hideo nomo

this was the first time i had seen these cards, so already i am ahead as far as adding new cards to my collection goes.  then, there was this card from 2002 upper deck 40 man - a shawn green numbered relic.

it might be nicer if the card were blue instead of red, but it's a new green relic for me which is pretty surprising given the fact that i used to buy shawn green relics like they were going out of style.  which they weren't as there were seemingly three or four different jersey cards for him in every set issued in the early 2000's.

almost as nice as 40man was 2003 upper deck victory.  it was cheap and featured a good number of dodgers. here's adrian beltre.

looks like he's channeling gary coleman.

i also picked up a rainbow of sorts featuring hideo nomo - base black border

parallel green border,

and a parallel orange border

i wonder how long it has been since i featured a card of odalis perez.  look at his 2006 upper deck first pitch card while i find out.

it's only been five months.  i would have guessed it had been longer.

here's a cool card from 2007 upper deck elements.  it's a rafael furcal card from the petg themed subset.

that's polyethylene terephtalate glycol for all you people wondering.  the card is plastic.

the next cards come from 1999 upper deck vintage.  surprisingly, they didn't rip off a topps design for this set.  here's kevin brown

he's running to catch his contractually provided private jet that has already started to take off without him.

next up, it's steve garvey himself.

it's always nice to get a garvey in a group break or a trade package, for that matter.  but what's even better is getting all four of the infielders

that's the power of a set like 2004 upper deck legends.

thanks for hosting guys!

the postman rang thrice

i got some mail yesterday.  three baseball card related items.  the first was a 1968 topps ron hunt card that i had sent off in hopes of an autograph.  mr. hunt returned it with a request for $15 donated to his baseball school.  fair enough, but i don't think i will follow through.

the second package was from cliff at capewood's collections.  cliff sent me a nice stack of cards after i inquired about a trade.  we had done good business a while back, and the cards he sent this time were absolutely fantastic.  like this 2011 topps heritage rafael furcal

which just happens to be a short print.  i bought a couple of packs and got exactly two short prints, neither of which were dodgers.  russ mitchell is the other dodger sp.

1988 score tim crews

he's pitching in dodger stadium in what may be the twilight.  i always think of crews this time of year when teams are winding down in spring training.  as you may recall, tim and fellow indians pitcher steve olin died during spring training 1993 when tim's boat hit a dock.  bobby ojeda was injured in the accident.  crews pitched well for the dodgers in 1988 but was left off of the postseason roster.

2003 upper deck victory kaz ishii

i don't recall ishii as clutch, unless you really needed the opposing team to get a walk.  then he seemed to come through quite often.  ha.

2007 topps hit parade luis gonzalez

luis, in one of the few cards te feature him as a dodger, ranked 7th on the active career hits leaders back when this card was issued.  he fell behind biggio, bonds, julio franco (!), steve finley, omar vizquel (still ticking), griffey jr, and sheff.  number 9 on the list was ivan rodriguez who i am sure has passed gonzo by now.

here's reed johnson's only dodger card - a 2010 topps update number

i think johnson is back with the cubs after his lone year in la.  he may even start over alfonso soriano before the season is over, that's how far soriano has fallen.

here's vicente padilla on a 2011 topps walmart black card

he and jon garland are starting the year off on the wrong foot.  maybe ned can swing a deal for kevin slowey.

cliff also sent me my first non-dodger russell martin card

isn't opening day in march this year?  why did topps put april on the cards?  this photoshop job has russell in his yankee roadies playing against the padres.  someone years down the road may be very confused by this card.

there were also a couple of cards featuring a dodger teammate of martin who joined him in yankees camp this year, ronnie belliard and his 2010 topps update card

which brings us to the third piece of mail i received, which was that same belliard card back from the man himself

and he kindly scribbled on it.  i think i saw yesterday that he was released by the yankees.  that stinks, even though he underperformed last year.  we'll always have his 2009 late season performance in dodger blue to remember.

thanks cliff and ronnie, and ron hunt too for filling my mailbox yesterday!