the kirby puckett memorial patch

yesterday was the 19th anniversary of kirby puckett's final major league game.  on september 28, 1995, he was hit in the face by dennis martinez in his first at bat of the game (the second player martinez had plunked in the inning) and was replaced by chip hale.  the twins' starter hit albert belle with a pitch in the following inning for what it's worth.  some believe that martinez's pitch contributed to puckett's deteriorating eyesight, but most agree that the glaucoma that was discovered the following spring was not related to his injury.  without vision in his right eye, puckett retired.  he was inducted into the hall of fame in 2001, but passed away from a stroke suffered just five years later, in march of 2006.  during the 2006 season, the twins wore a '34' patch on their right sleeves.

here's a 2007 fleer justin morneau year in review insert showing the patch

the card uses the same photo as morneau's base card from 2007 fleer

morneau is showing the patch again on this 2009 upper deck team leaders card

note that the twins were still wearing the latter puckett era 'm' hats on the road, even though their helmets had reverted to the old 'tc' logo.  here's jason kubel's 2006 upper deck card that also features the puckett patch

as does joe nathan's 2007 fleer ultra card

carlos silva's 2007 topps card

and torii hunter's 2007 bowman card

the twins sometimes wore a vest jersey at home in 2006, and when that was the case, the patch moved to the chest.  there aren't any cards that i could find showing this (nobody wanted to come to the metrodome to take pictures for cards, i guess), but here's a photo from getty images that shows matt garza in the vest jersey.

the card that represents the patch in my collection is hunter's 2007 upper deck spectrum card

hunter is typically considered the heir to puckett's kingdom, although puck had moved to right field a couple of seasons before he was forced into retirement.  still, hunter is a good flag bearer of this particular memorial.

in his 12-year career, puckett amassed over 2300 hits and at the time of his retirement, his .318 career average was the highest for a right-handed hitter since joe dimaggio.  puckett was not quite 46 years old when he died.

the numbers don't add up to junk

it's not often that i receive a package of cards that contain no plain old base cards, but that's what happened a while back.  for some reason, i've been delinquent in posting about this particular trade package that i received from wes at jaybarkerfan's junk, but that doesn't reflect my level of appreciation for it.  there were 8 cards total, with all but one being serial numbered.  have a look.

2002 fleer tradition update eric gagne all-star glossy edition; numbered /200

the sport goggles! game over!

2003 donruss studio hong-chih kuo numbered /1500

that's a nice angle on the top deck and reserve sections of dodger stadium behind the giant kuo.  these days, those seats are baby blue or sea-foam blue or whatever it was that the o'malley's originally had installed in the stadium.  as for the card, this is kuo's base card, but he was a rookie, so his card in the set is serially numbered.

2003 topps kevin brown gold parallel numbered /2003

2003 was brown's bounce-back season for the dodgers as he returned to form with a 2.39 era and made the yankees want to trade for him despite his huge contract.

2003 topps chrome andy ashby gold refractor numbered /449

that is a nice shiny card.  unlike brown, ashby was 3-10 with an era over 5 in his final year with the dodgers.  still, he wasn't unwanted, as he returned to san diego as a free agent for the 2004 season.

2004 donruss classics edwin jackson numbered /1999

similar to the kuo card, this is jackson's base card - it's just numbered because he was a rookie.  i've mentioned seeing jackson's final 2003 start before - it was in san francisco, and he allowed 2 hits and no runs over 6 innings.  he struck out 7, but gave up 8 walks!  still, the dodgers were up 1-0 after 8 innings, barry bonds had struck out twice (and walked and was hit by a pitch), and i was looking forward to seeing eric gagne get a save.  the dodgers went and scored three times in the top of the 9th, so even though gagne pitched, he didn't get the save.  in fact, i think that the only game in which i saw gagne earn a save in person was the night before shawn green's 4-homer game in milwaukee.  that was in the early part of gagne's career as a closer, so it wasn't quite the event that a gagne save eventually became.

2006 topps finest jd drew xfractor numbered /250

moving on…

2007 bowman russell martin orange parallel numbered /250

martin has caught nine extra-inning complete games this season, including a 16-inning affair.  i don't know if that is abnormal or not, but it's a cool stat.  he's also hitting .292 on the season which would look nice for a catcher in a dodger box score these days.

so i noted that there was only one card in the package that wasn't serial numbered, and it was this 2014 topps ricky nolasco trajectory auto

topps went all out with nolasco in 2014, adding his sticker auto to cards in multiple sets, and then he went and signed with the twins.

thanks again for all the cards wes!

to the card show i went

i took a couple of hours a few weekends back to attend a card show.  this wasn't the regular monthly twin cities show - it was a semi-annual or quarterly event at a different location.  it is more sparsely attended from what i have seen, but it was where i found my 1955 topps sandy koufax card so it's been worth my time in the past. i wound up spending only a few dollars, and i will show all but one or two cards that i bought in this and one other post.

you can't go wrong with double plays from the discount box.  these 2011 topps update roberto alomar sp diamond

and cognac parallels

were in the 5 for a dollar bin.  as was this cognac carlton fisk sp from the same set.

i spent less than a dime for this 1995 score ricky gutierrez gold rush parallel double play turn

and the same for a 2007 bowman gold parallel of carlos guillen

here's another double play parallel - a 2011 bowman chrome dan uggla blue parallel

from the 5 for a dollar box, as were the rest of the cards below.  i'll run through them quickly.

2011 bowman vladimir guerrero international parallel

2009 topps attax manny ramirez

2014 donruss hanley ramirez press proof numbered parallel

this was the first 2014 donruss card i had seen in person, and the only dodger i pulled from the box.  i actually don't recall seeing any other dodgers, now that i think about it.  i was still in need of a few cards to get to an even 10 for $2, so i pulled a 2014 donruss derek jeter card

plus a 2014 donruss pablo sandoval elite dominator numbered insert

and a 2013 topps chrome matt harvey

for some reason.

i did pick up more dodgers than just the two ramirii above - i'll show those later today.

twice upon a time, randy wolf was a dodger

[this is the twentyfifth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, and bart shirley.]

randy wolf pitched well for the brew crew the other night in game 4 of the nlcs.  he picked up the win with 7 strong innings.  it was the kind of performance the dodgers could have used many times this past season, and the kind that wolf occasionally gave them during his two tenures with the club (although not in the postseason).  yes, in case you have forgotten, randy wolf was a dodger double dipper.

the dodgers oiginally drafted the socal native in 1994, but he didn't sign, choosing to attend pepperdine instead.  he wound up with the phillies in the 1997 draft and worked his way up through their system with some good success before he was injured in 2004.  the dodgers signed him as a free agent prior to the 2007 season as he was still working his way back from arm surgery.  here's his 2007 bowman card offered as proof of his first go-around with the blue.

wolf was 9-6 for the dodgers in 2007, making 18 starts before getting shelved for the season by injury (and more surgery) in early july.  he had an era of 4.73 but turned in a few nice starts, including a scoreless 4-hit, 7-inning performance against the reds in which he struck out 11.  after the season, wolf once again hit the free agent market and was signed by the padres.  midway through the 2008 season, however, they traded him to the astros as seen on this 2008 topps update & highlights card

wolf went 12-12 overall in 2008 with an era of 4.30, but he was able to make 33 starts.  so, the dodgers took a flyer on him once again, and brought him back for the 2009 season.  this time, he made 34 starts for the dodgers, and was their best starter down the stretch.  he had an era of 3.23 for the year, and won 6 of his last 7 decisions as the dodgers won the nl west for the second year in a row.

wolf wound up making two starts for the dodgers in the playoffs, including game 1 of the nlds against the cardinals.  he lasted just 3.2 innings having allowed 6 hits and 5 walks.  fortunately, matt holliday forgot how to catch fly balls and the dodgers won the game.  wolf's next start came in game 4 of the nlcs against his former team, the phillies.  wolf pitched much better, and left the game with a 4-3 lead after 5.1 innings of work.  unfortunately, jonathan broxton couldn't get the 27th out, and the phillies won in walk-off fashion on jimmy rollins' double.

here's wolf's 2010 upper deck card, the last of his dodger cards unless he returns for another tour of duty

wolf has spent the last two seasons in milwaukee, and i hope he makes some more starts this year.

here's to you, randy wolf. a dodger double dipper.

cards here...and here from sign here...and here

i recently completed a trade with peterson over at sign here...and here.  i am very pleased with the great cards he sent my way.  here are just a few:

2004 topps chrome robin ventura black refractor

this card (the topps flagship version) is in my header image.  it's a great card even before it gets all black, chromey and refractorish.  jeromy burnitz lurking and a semi-favorite non-dodger as a dodger robin ventura sliding in.  awesome card.

2006 topps allen & ginter mini danys baez

yes, danys baez was a dodger.  ned had a fascination with devil rays for a while, and he sent edwin jackson, dioner navarro, and my former baseball salvation joel guzman out east for baez, lance carter and not much else.  baez was later traded to the braves for wilson betemit, who was traded a year after that for scott proctor, who they had traded to the yankees to get robin ventura.  the circle of life...

2003 bowman koyie hill auto

hill was with the dodgers for just 3 games in 2003 before being traded to the diamondbacks for steve finley late in the 2004 season.

2007 bowman chris parmelee auto

parmelee is one of the twinkies top offensive prospects.  not sure where he's going to play if they keep their core together - maybe dh?

non-red sox nomah!  a double play turn on his 2005 leaf card

with shawn green sliding in! 

2009 upper deck vladimir guerrero 20th anniversary thingy

vlad was skinny back then.  i think wilton might have been bigger!

thanks chris!  it was a great lot of cards and fun to go through!

dodgers in the night, exchanging glances...

true story. i returned from the post office the other day, where i had mailed a box of cards to a certain night owl, and found a package from the very same nocturnal bird in my mailbox. karma. fate. good fortune. whatever it was, he sent some very nice cards. here's a sampling.

2004 donruss studio hideo nomo studio starsvery much like those old perma-graphic credit card issues.

2006 topps turkey red duke snidera classic pose from the duke of flatbush.

1994 bowman's best billy ashley billy may have been the best the dodgers ever had at the three true outcomes. in 1995, he homered, struck out, or walked in 50% of his plate appearances. in 1996, he increased that to 56%!

1996 starting lineup jackie robinsoni had no use for the actual starting lineup figures, but it's nice to have one of the cards that accompanied them.

2008 topps heritage high numbers mark sweeney one of my 'magnificent 7'. i'll have to update that list soon - there are a couple others i've been able to get my mitts on.

1995 skybox emotion raul mondesi. attentive. really? that's the emotion mondesi exudes? how about brooding? sulking? no matter, he was still my favorite dodger for a few years.

2001 upper deck legends don drysdalebig d. i am guessing that picture was taken after his third consecutive shutout in 1968 during his 58.2 scoreless inning streak, although he looks fairly young for that to be the case. it is absolutely crazy to think that he did that in his last full season.

2007 bowman andre ethier the blue parallel. this one is numbered 111/500. i am so happy that we are beyond the luis gonzalez/andruw jones experiments and can just let andre and matt kemp play.

2006 upper deck sweet spot update greg madduxmaddux during his first foray into los angeles. why upper deck updates these types of issues is beyond me. still, it's nice to have more cards of maddux in a dodgers uniform!

thanks greg! i hope you enjoy the package i sent as well!