a memorial patch for darryl kile

tomorrow would have been darryl kile's 46th birthday, but the right-handed pitcher passed away during the 2002 season while a member of the saint louis cardinals.  the team was in chicago facing the cubs when kile was found in his hotel room, dead of a heart attack.  the game that was scheduled for that day, june 22, was postponed.  soon thereafter, the cardinals added a "dk 57" patch to their left sleeves in kile's memory.

here's the patch on jim edmonds' 2003 upper deck sp authentic card

edmonds has also written "57" (kile's uniform number) on his hat, just as some of kile's former astro teammates had done.

the patch is also visible on scott rolen's 2003 donruss estrellas card

and this albert pujols mini poster from the same release

the patch also shows up on pujols' 2004 topps card

with the jack buck memorial patch visible on his right sleeve.  

the card that i keep in my memorials binder is this 2003 donruss scott rolen card

it's the home whites.

kile spent several seasons with the astros before signing with the rockies as a free agent following a 19-7 season in which he posted a career best era of 2.57 - third best in the league in 1997.  still, kile was well thought of in houston, and his initials are part of a permanent memorial to him in left field at minute maid park.

after two years in colorado, he was traded to the cardinals where he had his best season in 2000.  he was 20-7 that year, finishing 5th in the cy young award voting just as he had in '97. he was a 3-time all-star who also threw a no-hitter for the astros in 1993, and had a career record of 133-119.  kile was 33 years old when he died.

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.

a pwe to please me

so, jeff at 2x3 heroes and i are playing hot potato with the pwe's these days (there's one in the mail for you today, jeff).  here are some (yes, jeff fit more than just these cards in a pwe) of the cards that i received in his last missive.

1996 upper deck hideo nomo vj lovero showcase insert

that's a rarely used viewpoint that never gets old.  plus, it qualifies as a 'tatooine' card.  more of those a bit later.

here's a 1986 o-pee-chee card of steve garvey

and a 1987 topps boardwalk and baseball card of the garv as well

those cards make up two-thirds of the pwe's garvey content.  the b/b card is from a boxed set featuring 'top run makers' and was all about each players' "runs produced average" which was just (runs scored + rbi)/games played.  real scientific sabermetric stuff back in 1987.

this is a 1995 fleer ultra pedro astacio card

which, when considered from the standpoint of the envelope's contents as a whole, was kind of out of place.

there were other dodgers, but they were from the 2000 fleer greats of the game set, and included this fantastic preacher roe card.

just a beautiful thing.

here's a less interesting card from the same set featuring gil hodges

now back to tatooine cards.  joe randa is looking for droids on his 2003 donruss card

as is morgan ensberg on his 2004 upper deck card

and jason michaels as well, on his 2007 topps card

thanks jeff - you're it!

oh my omar!

so, the double play cards are slowing to a trickle.  i hope to have them all posted by sometime next week as there are a few stragglers i need to corral and scan.  i will start mixing in more non-dp posts so if you've been missing the double dippers or the evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers posts, your nightmare is almost over.

before that, however, we have some double play cards of one of the masters to celebrate.  omar vizquel has a lot of double play cards, but actually fewer than i would have thought.  for some reason, he is shown batting quite a bit on his cards.  the following are all from his heyday in cleveland, and they are awesome.

especially this, his 1996 upper deck card

my, that's purty.

here's his 1995 leaf card

1997 pinnacle

1997 topps stadium club

1998 leaf (hello big daddy)

1999 fleer sports illustrated

1999 fleer ultra (derek bell initiated 'operation break up double play', apparently)

2000 skybox metal

2002 fleer ultra

2003 donruss

2004 fleer ultra

and another nice one, 2005 fleer ultra

he was definitely one of the greats.

seen any good double play cards lately?

wanna see some more?  the double play dump continues.  here's jose macias on his 2002 upper deck card

edgardo alfonzo on his 2002 upper deck authentics card

craig biggio on his 2002 upper deck authentics card

carlos guillen on his 2003 donruss card

rey ordonez on his 2003 donruss card

edgar renteria on his 2003 donruss card

michael young on his 2003 donruss card

jose hernandez on his 2003 topps opening day card

ramon vazquez on his 2004 mlb showdown card

edgar renteria (again) on his 2004 topps gold glove subset card

carlos guillen (again) on his 2004 topps traded card

alex cintron on his 2005 topps card

and placido polanco on his 2005 topps chrome card

and we're not done yet...

this card almost made my header

when i was putting together the header for this blog just over 4 years and two months ago, i considered including a card of an expo.  specifically, this 2002 topps total orlando cabrera card.

that's why the first time i showed it, i used a photo (like the header) of it rather than a scan.  i considered using it in the header because i thought that it showed a couple other elements of my collection - cards featuring dodger stadium, and cards featuring the double play turn.  in the end, i decided against using it, mostly to keep the header free of non-dodgers.  besides, this version of the play, featured on cabrera's 2002 fleer premium card, 

shows dodger stadium better - that's sandy koufax's outfield wall retired number mural - but was strangely cropped and doesn't show the double play as well.

cabrera's 2002 topps gold label card is quite shiny and shows the same play as well

i know i have shown all three of those cards before, but i can't show one without the others.

here are some o-cab cards that haven't been featured here before.  like his 1999 skybox premium card

his 2003 donruss card

his 2003 topps opening day card

his 2006 topps card

and his 2008 topps chrome card

with refractor!

you may recall that cabrera was the guy who replaced nomar in 2004 and went on to win the world series as the red sox's starting shortstop.  that 'short stop' in boston kind of kickstarted the weary traveler stage of cabrera's career that saw him play for 7 franchises in the next 7 years.

another guy who bounced around a bit was roberto alomar, seen here on his 2003 topps traded card

here he is again on his 2003 fleer double header card

before he was traded to the white sox.  the first time.

cabrera is not alone in regards to his 2002 fleer premium card, either. here is rafael furcal's card from the set, which also has him turning two in dodger stadium

although he's turning two in philly on his 2001 upper deck card

other 2001 upper deck double plays include edgardo alfonzo

warren morris

and pokey reese

who also turns two on his 2001 fleer ultra card

that's not the last we'll see of pokey reese, either.  more double play cards coming tomorrow!