the splendid splinter memorial patch and black armband

when i was a kid, i wanted to be a baseball player.  my neighbor wanted to be a fighter pilot.  neither one of us made it - i stopped playing ball at the age of 29 in an amateur league, while my neighbor served in the armed forces as an officer for the us army, not a pilot.

one man who lived both of our dreams was ted williams.  not only was he a baseball player, he was one of the best that there ever was.  521 home runs. two triple crowns.  a career .344 batting average - better than all but 7 men.  a .482 onbase percentage - the best that there ever was.  and of course, he was the last man to hit over .400 during the regular season.

on top of all that, he left the red sox twice to serve his country as a us marine fighter pilot, missing the entire 1943-1945 seasons during world war ii, and then again missing parts of the 1952 and 1953 seasons during the korean conflict.

he retired following the 1960 season and was inducted into the hall of fame in 1966.  he spent some time managing the washington senators/texas rangers and later had a baseball card company bear his name.  williams also became a hall of fame fisherman and has a highway named after him in his native san diego, and a tunnel bearing his name in boston. his appearance at the 1999 all-star game in boston was one of the coolest things i have seen as a baseball fan.

ted williams passed away on july 5, 2002, and the red sox began wearing a black armband and williams' number 9 on their right sleeves soon thereafter.  you can see the memorials on nomar garciaparra's 2003 upper deck first pitch card

and again on manny ramirez's 2004 upper deck super sluggers insert

here it is again on nomar's 2003 upper deck vintage 3-d sluggers short print subset card

but it's manny's 2003 upper deck vintage card that is in my memorials binder

like williams, manny patrolled left field at fenway, so it seems fitting.

can you imagine a better american life?  neither my neighbor nor i could.  here's to ted williams, but especially today, here's to all the men and women who lost their lives in service to our country.

six of one, a half dozen of the other

i wrote a post earlier this year about my vascillation regarding collecting the 2014 topps heritage set.  i noted that i was still trying to finish the 2003 upper deck vintage set that used the 1965 topps design, as well as pay some attention to the 1965 topps set itself.

since then, i've decided not to chase the heritage set, and i picked up the last six cards i needed to complete what i consider to be the base 2003 ud vintage set.  i still 'need' most of the 3-d slugger subset cards that seem to have been ridiculously short printed, but i am going to consider this set complete without them.

the last six cards i needed were all short prints themselves, led by ichiro

and mike piazza

the other four were cards that seem to be a mashup of 1965 topps and 1976 topps traded.

cliff floyd

kenny lofton

jeremy giambi

and carlos pena

the giambi and pena trades were played out in the 'moneyball' movie.

so, with that set done, i guess now i'll really focus on 1965 topps.  i've started by picking up 6 random needs at a low cost.  i think with heritage this year, there has been a renewed interest in the 1965 cards (i am proof of that), so cheap lots are hard to come by.  anyway, here are the six cards i've obtained recently.

pedro gonzalez

i swear that looks like a cow in the background…

bill stafford

two yankees!  i still need that mantle guy, though.

tommy mccraw

sammy ellis

jim hannan

and dick stuart

who is wearing a pirates jersey even though he had spent the two seasons prior to this card's release in boston with the red sox.  he later played for the dodgers in 1966.

speaking of dodgers, i need to track down most of them again for the set.  anybody got an extra koufax?

waiting for a decision on 2014 topps heritage

blissfully unaware of the delays topps has announced for 2014 heritage, i swung through the card aisle on a recent trip to target.  no heritage, obviously, and so i was left to wonder whether i would have bought any had it been there.  up until a few weeks ago i was all in for 2014 heritage.  i am a fan of the 1965 topps design, and i hadn't tried to complete a heritage set since 2001, the first year.  that was somewhat of a disaster as the box i had pre-ordered (before the prices went crazy) never showed up and i was left to fend for myself with all the other people who went bananas over the 1952 topps design and short prints galore.

standing in the card aisle, i got to thinking.  i still haven't finished that 2001 set, in fact, i don't even have a want list posted.  it is such a low priority.  and, i am still trying to finish the 2003 upper deck vintage set (i do have a want list for that one) which shamelessly ripped off the 1965 topps design.  pretty much all i have left are short prints - ichiro, mike piazza, and the like plus most of the 3d cards.

i did pick up a few short prints last year, like mark mcgwire

raul mondesi

alex ochoa

and jay payton

plus the richie sexson 3d card

i would be happy to have the complete set minus the 3d cards which seem to be pretty tough to find.

i also reminded myself that i had decided that the 1965 topps set would be the one set from that decade that i would actually try to complete.  i have my sampler set which would mean that i'm not starting from scratch.  and, to get the ball rolling, here's my 1965 topps want list, and here are some cards from my dodger team set that have been waiting patiently in my scanned folder.

willie crawford/john werhas

first card for willie, second for john

willie davis

and tommy davis

because two davises are better than one.

and finally, wally moon

because, you know, the unibrow.

so, what it all means is that the next time i'm in the card aisle, i may well pick up a pack or two of heritage, but i've got other set building priorities.  i think.

cards from ten years back

continuing with my efforts to clear out the scanned folder, here are some cards from that year of years, 2003...

hey! do you recognize this card? 

i would guess not, as it is not a regular 2003 topps card of chad billingsley, but rather one of those 'factory set exclusive' cards that topps used to (they don't do this anymore, do they?) put out to get you to buy the factory set after you had put together a hand collated set by purchasing packs.  jonathan broxton got one in 2006 as well.  i have the bills and brox cards with my topps dodger teams sets, but not the five 2007 cards that came in the dodger factory set that year.  inconsistent much?

here is a regular 2003 topps card, and it is of andy ashby

good lord, that's mondesi's number!

2003 topps chrome dave roberts

best remembered for half a season (or just one postseason game, really) for the red sox in 2004, roberts wasn't a full-time player until he joined the dodgers at the age of 30.

rickey henderson didn't join the dodgers until the age of 44.  here's his 2003 topps traded card

rickey had spent the first part of the season in the independent atlantic league before finishing out his big league career in dodger blue.

2003 donruss signature series hong-chih kuo

kuo was hurt in 2003 and didn't debut in the big leagues until 2005.  we'll always have 2008 and 2010, though - those were some nice seasons.

2003 fleer ultra hideo nomo

nomo was coming off of a great rebound year when he won another 16 games in 2003.  he threw the last two shutouts of his career that season, a four-hitter in his first start of the year, and a two-hitter a couple months later.

2003 leaf certified materials cesar izturis

and joe thurston

the double play combo of the future!  izturis stuck around for a couple of solid years (before being dealt to the cubs in 2006 for greg maddux), but thurston spent most of his time in the minors and then bounced around the majors after the dodgers sent him to the yankees in 2005.

2003 upper deck edwin jackson

speaking of bouncing around, jackson might give mike morgan and octavio dotel a run for their money.  he's pitched for 8 teams in his 11 years in the big leagues.

last, but certainly not least, 2003 upper deck vintage adrian beltre

can't wait for next year's vintage!

a card full of dodgers

take a look at this 1994 topps card.  how many dodgers do you see?

there really is no wrong answer with any number of 1 through 4.  if you see just one, i am guessing that it is eddie davis.  davis was the dodgers' 23rd round pick in 1993, but never climbed higher than aa during his five seasons in the organization.

if you see two, perhaps you are referring to the two that actually played in the major leagues as a dodger - shawn green and mark sweeney.  green was with the dodgers from 2000 through 2004, and sweeney finished his career with one-plus seasons as a dodger in 2007 and 2008.

if you see three, i will guess that you are counting green, sweeney, and davis, but if that is the case, you might actually see four, since, like davis, curtis pride once played in the dodgers' minor league system. and like davis, he did not appear in a big league game as a dodger.  he finished the 2000 season in albuquerque after being released by boston and was hit .293 for the dodgers' aaa club.  unfortunately, pride was granted free agency after the season ended, and he wound up going back to the expos.

here are some dodgers that are easier to spot.  how about a 1995 topps finest roberto kelly card?

i don't have many 1995 topps finest cards, and there aren't many cards of kelly as a dodger, so this was a double whammy for my collection.

here's a 1965 topps 2003 upper deck vintage kevin brown card

i still have a few needs to complete my set.  just down to sp's now.

here's another topps design knockoff by upper deck, courtesy of a 2008 upper deck brad penny o-pee-chee insert

penny's best season came as a dodger in 2007 when he was 16-4 with a 3.03 era.  he returned to the major leagues after a short stint in japan last year, and wound up winning a ring with the giants, although he did not pitch in the postseason.

all of these cards are once again part of the trade that spiegel sent my way.  i didn't have room for them in the previous post, but they all deserve their time to shine, too.  i'll end this quick trade post addendum with a 1989 donruss marvin freeman card

because while he was never a dodger or a dodger minor leaguer, he's standing in dodger stadium which was usually a good thing for the local nine.  freeman's career era at dodger stadium was 8.27 - the highest for any ballpark in which he threw more than 2 innings.

thanks again for the trade, spiegel!

many happy returns

it's good to have connections.  a couple of years ago, reader cory contacted me and let me know that he often attended dodger games in san diego and would also be heading out to arizona to catch some spring training games once the dodgers moved from florida.  he was a 'grapher and offered to do some 50/50 and trades to help me get some guys who don't sign ttm.

you may recall that he is the guy who got me my 1978 topps rick monday for my modest 1978 topps dodger autograph project (still need ed goodson, by the way).  anyway, here are a few of the cards that cory was able to get signed for me.

we'll start with the pitching coach, rick honeycutt, who signed his 1985 topps

1986 topps

and 1987 topps

cards.  i had sent some cards to honeycutt, but he did not return them so i was happy to have cory's help.  same story goes for the bullpen coach ken howell, who signed a 1987 donruss

1987 fleer

and 1988 topps

card for cory/me.  i have seen some ttm successes pop up recently for howell, but i was not so lucky.  cory's proximity to san diego also helped with a former dodger autograph success.  dave roberts, a padre coach, signed a 2003 upper deck vintage card

unlike the others, i have had a ttm success with roberts.

also in san diego, randy jones is doing as boog powell does in baltimore - slinging bbq at the ballpark and signing autographs.  here's my 1978 topps card that the former cy young award winner signed

i'm not sure if cory had to buy some pulled pork to get the auto, but there are no bbq sauce stains so i'll guess not.

i'll end this post with the bench coach at the time, don mattingly, who signed a 1988 topps

and a 1990 upper deck

i just wish donny ballgame had signed the 1985 fleer card i sent to him through the mail.  i'll show some more of the bounty i received over the next couple of days.

thanks again cory!