the phil rizzuto number memorial patch

aside from 3 seasons spent serving in the us navy during world war ii, phil rizzuto was the yankees' shortstop from 1941 through 1954, and he remained in a part-time role as a player for two seasons beyond that.  with rizzuto on the field, the yankees won 7 world series in 9 appearances, losing only to the 1942 cardinals and 1955 brooklyn dodgers.

for 40 years after his retirement as a player, from 1957 through 1996, rizzuto was a yankee broadcaster who used the phrase 'holy cow' with abandon.  when he passed away at the age of 89 in august of 2007, the team added his retired number 10 to their left uniform sleeve in tribute (they were already wearing a black armband for teammate cory lidle who had died the previous offseason).

even though the memorial came about towards the end of the season, there are plenty of examples of it in the 2008 card releases.  here's an alex rodriguez card from topps' 2008 national baseball card day effort

and topps also gave us this joba chamberlain card as part of the 2008 topps yankees 14-card factory set

i thought that it would be appropriate for the yankee shortstop, derek jeter, to represent this memorial in the binder, but this was the only card i had of jeter wearing the memorial - a 2008 upper deck starquest insert

and there are better examples of the memorial than that.  one of those better examples is not this 2008 upper deck piece of history phil hughes card

no, this 2008 upper deck national baseball card day ian kennedy card gives a good look at the memorial

but he's wearing the away grays, and it would be nice to feature a card of the memorial on the home pinstripes.  how about this 2008 upper deck timeline card of alex rodriguez?

that would work except that i like a card of chien-ming wang better.  no, not this 2009 upper deck card

i was referring to this 2008 upper deck first edition card of wang

the photo comes from the same game as the one upper deck used on the 2009 release, but i prefer the simpler design of the 2008 release.

rizzuto was the 1950 american league mvp in what clearly was his best offensive season.  he hit .324 that year, 50 points higher than his career average, and set career highs with 200 hits and 125 runs scored.  rizzuto did not garner much support for the hall of fame in the years he was on the ballot (he peaked at 38.4% of the vote in his final year on the ballot), but was selected by the veteran's committee in 1994.  in a perfect world, that would mean good things for the likes of alan trammell, bert campaneris, and even tony fernandez - all of whom had better jaws scores than rizzuto.

a black armband for cory lidle

in just a few days (five to be exact), it will be the 8th anniversary of yankee pitcher cory lidle's death.  lidle died on october 11, 2006 after the small plane he was co-piloting hit a building in new york city.  back then, topps' update set came out later in november (i believe that this year's release should show up in stores in about a week), and they were able to add an in memoriam card for lidle to the 2006 update & highlights checklist.

that is significant because i don't believe that topps had done this since a. bartlett giamatti died in 1989 and they included a card in the 1990 set, and not for a player since ken hubbs in 1964.  i realize that there was no update set in 1978 or 1979 when lyman bostock and thurman munson died, respectively, but topps didn't do one of these cards for them the following season, either.

anyway, the yankees honored lidle by wearing a black armband during the 2007 season.  this classic combo card from 2007 topps update & highlights shows jorge posada wearing the armband during the all-star game

and here's a card of chase wright from the same set, also displaying the armband

2007 bowman's best was released even later than update - coming out in january of 2008.  this alex rodriguez card from that set

shows the armband, but it kind of gets lost with all of his armor nearby.

obviously, most of the cards with this particular armband come from 2008.  like these 2008 bowman

and 2008 upper deck piece of history cards

of hideki matsui, and this 2008 topps kei igawa card

plus this 2008 topps opening day ross ohlendorf card

and these two cards from 2008 upper deck first edition - bobby abreu

and a really nice andy pettitte

and then there is this 2008 upper deck robinson cano card

featuring double play action!

since the cano is in my double play binder, and the armband on the pettitte card is just a bit too unpronounced, here's the card that represents the cory lidle armband in my collection - it's a 2008 upper deck alex rodriguez season highlight card

the card celebrates arod's 500th career home run, although the photo does not come from that game (that game was not on espn, and if you watch video of the home run, the armband is not this visible).  still, i know that the photo comes from 2007 since this was the first time the yankees had worn the armband since 2001 (when arod was on the rangers), and the 2008 version of the armband (worn for bobby murcer) would have been worn below the final season of yankee stadium patch.

lidle's last appearance came on october 7, 2006 in the final game of the alds series against the tigers.  the yankees were eliminated in that game, and lidle pitched 1.1 perfect innings in relief before failing to get an out in the 5th inning and ultimately allowing three runs to score.  lidle was 34 years old when he died.

let's hear it for the gold, white, and blue and the few nomar cards featuring him as a dodger

from the non-filed boxes of cards i've found some cards for my non-red sox nomar collection.  i started the collection when he was traded to the cubs, not knowing that he would sign with the dodgers prior to the 2006 season.  at that point, collecting nomar cards really just became part of collecting dodger cards.  unfortunately, he chose not to sign with topps after 2006, so there aren't as many cards of him wearing dodger blue as i would have liked.

anyway, here are a few of the too-few cards that feature nomar as a dodger that i recently rediscovered. 2006 bazooka came in gold chunk

regular white

and a blue parallel

plus, they all came with a terrible photoshop transformation of cubs apparel into non-existent dodger duds.

this is a 2008 upper deck piece of history timeless moments insert

the back of which is all about a two-homer game he hit for the bosox in 1998.  at least he's actually wearing dodger duds here, and we get to see his signature red sweatband.

this last one is a 2006 upper deck national card from the annual convention

that's more like it.  can't go wrong with the home whites.

and now i have no more nomars in my scanned folder.

great cards given away

like many of you, i recently received a package in the mail from david at tribe cards.  it contained my goodies from his season long pack ripping adventure known as the 182 packs of baseball giveaway.  here's a sampling.

1986 donruss all-stars fernando valenzuela

it's one from the want list, which is doubly nice.  notice how the lines are vertical on these cards as opposed to horizontal on the regular 1986 donruss cards.  it has a slimming effect on el toro, i think.

i picked the dodgers (of course) in the giveaway, but was second or third in the hierarchy. that means that i only got dodger cards if there were doubles or triples.  i still got a few, including a 1997 pinnacle new (or is it new pinnacle?) todd hollandsworth

 and a couple of 1996 leaf cards of delino deshields

 and ramon martinez

my biggest score, however, came from claiming big daddy vladdy.  here is the impaler with miguel cabrera on a 2010 topps update card

the card celebrates the fact that both guererro and cabrera got their start in the national league east. kind of random.

here's a 2008 upper deck piece of history card

 and three starquest cards.  this first one is from 2008 upper deck first edition update, and it is 'common'

the next two are from straight up 2008 upper deck; this one is 'un-common'

and this one is 'rare'

looks 'blue' to me, but whatever.

lastly, we have a 2001 topps attax card with vladdy in his orioles gear

it's an odd sight.

hopefully i'll see some more vladdy cards from david in his 2013 giveaway, as i was able to snag him in the recent draft.

thanks david!

if it's taken me this long, there's no use waiting any longer

every once in a while, i will take a gander through my scanned folder.  a lot of times, i scan cards for a specific post, like the cards for the 'evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers' posts, or a 'double dipper' post.  sometimes i will scan cards as they come in or if they catch my eye, and then i wait for the right post idea to come along.  well, i'm done waiting with these four cards.

the following four cards have been taking up space in my scanned folder for almost 4 years - not quite the entire time i've been running this blog.  yes, yesterday was the 4th anniversary of garvey cey russell lopes.  so, as i embark on year number 5, here are some cards that have been stuck in purgatory for most of years 1 through 4.

2008 ud piece of history russell martin, joe mauer, brian mccann relic

i did not think that martin would decline so quickly.

2003 ud sp legendary cuts walter alston relic

shiny!  this guy was the manager of the dodgers when i was born and when i attended my first dodger game.  it's nice that the card companies didn't ignore managers like alston. although i am somewhat pleased that there haven't been a whole lot of john mcgraw cards.

2008 topps moments and milestones gary sheffield

sheff was one of the greatest offensive players the dodgers have ever had.  it's too bad that they couldn't harness his offensive prowess for good instead of evil.  kind of like sinestro.

finally, here's a 1999 upper deck angel pena card

pena must have felt a bit like ed goodson in the mid-1970's.  there wasn't a whole lot to do when you are steve garvey's backup, just as there wasn't much for pena to do at the big league level when mike piazza is reigning supreme behind the plate.  but, with piazza gone for good heading  into the  1999 season, pena got a shot at some playing time.  although the dodgers had todd hundley as their primary backstop, pena got into 43 games and hit 4 homers.  he appeared in a total of 71 games for the dodgers over three seasons (1998, 1999, and 2001) as the dodgers passed the catcher's torch from hundley to paul loduca.

so, there you have it - 4 cards and 4 years.  but i'm not done yet.

today's secret ingredient is...rhubarb!

yes, it's battle rhubarb here at gcrl today.  i recently completed a trade with rhubarb runner at 'e rayhahn rayhahn' for the second or third time.  it's always fun to see what dodgers i get in exchange for some twinkies (not the hostess kind).  shall we begin?  allez cuisine!

2002 fleer ultra chan ho park jersey

big chan ho looks pretty ticked at full body chan ho.  but, as we shall see later, what this card has going for it is that it is all dodgers. there is no ambiguity.

2005 donruss diamond kings edwin jackson

i wonder how many times white sox 'announcer' hawk harrelson has called jackson 'e-jack' so far.  or worse.

1991 donruss mike hartley

as this card shows, the beauty of dodger stadium cannot be diminished, even on a 1991 donruss card.  still, let's cleanse the pallete with this card:

2010 upper deck dodger stadium

ah yes, a shot from the parking lot (the price gouging parking lot).  this is the right field corner, with the 'all you can eat' right field pavilion, palm trees, and the stadium club restaurant being showcased.  the visitor's bullpen is between the pavilion and the main part of the stadium.  that gagne poster means that this photo is likely from the mid-aughts.

2003 fleer ultra paul loduca

buh-bye.

2008 upper deck a piece of history andruw jones jersey (with torii hunter)

here's where things get strange.  a brave and a twin.  no, sorry, that's a dodger and an angel.

2009 upper deck rafael furcal jersey

a brave?  well, at least the dodgers logo is more prominent than the text on that jones card.

2009 upper deck a piece of history rafael furcal jersey

now this is more like it.

thanks david!

the evolution of my favorite non-dodger

i started following baseball during the summer of 1977.  more likely, early fall.  i remember listening to games on the radio and watching the postseason games with my dad, but i was pretty oblivious to teams and players beyond the few dodgers i knew.  as such, i didn't have any non-dodger favorites until 1978 when i starting buying and studying baseball cards.

the first guy i really liked who didn't wear dodger blue was don baylor (78-79)

dude hit 34 home runs in 1978, which i recognized was one more than steve garvey hit in 1977, so he had to be good, right?  then, in 1979, there was so much angels hype in california that you couldn't ignore it, and baylor was doing his thing in mvp style.  everything crashed for baylor and the angels in 1980, though, and i turned my non-dodger attention elsewhere.

pete rose (80-82)

when we would go to dodger games, we would either see the giants or the reds.  period.  maybe pittsburgh once in a while.  anyway, i learned to appreciate charlie hustle, and he inherited the title of my non-dodger favorite.  by this time, though, he was with the phillies, and he had switched to first base.  that was ok, just as long as steve garvey remained the nl all star game starter at that position, which he did until 1981 when rose beat him out.  i learned to live with it.
the only reason pete rose didn't remain my favorite non-dodger until his retirement was the fact that popeye himself became a non-dodger. 

steve garvey (83-87)

no question, garvey was the guy, up until he got hurt in 1987 and i read the writing on the wall.  that left the door open for a longtime almost favorite to take over.

paul molitor (87-94)

i didn't get much of a chance to see molly play in person, but i admired him from afar from 1979 on.  being a 2b-3b guy myself at the time, i fancied myself a molitor-type player.  just a lot worse.  plus, he tore it up in the postseason, especially 1993 when he destroyed the phillies in the world series.

after the strike, i couldn't wait for baseball to get going again.  this time, though, i had a new non-dodger favorite.

 shawn green (95-99)

living in orange county at the time, and close to where green grew up, i felt some connection to him.  i even met his dad once in a card shop.  anyway, that's pretty corny, but i was really rooting for him.  once cito starting playing him everyday, he didn't disappoint.  and, even though he was traded for my favorite dodger, i was pretty happy when he joined the blue in 2000.

but, rather than stick with raul mondesi, i chose a different guy to move to the top of the list.  nomar garciaparra (00-05)

i really wasn't much of an alex rodriguez or derek jeter fan, so i really wanted nomar to excel and end all the talk about the triumvirate and who's better and blah blah blah.  plus, this was back when people were actually hoping the red sox would win.  now i cheer for them to lose.  to the yankees.  big.  i may dislike them more than i dislike the yankees, come to think of it.  anyway, nomar's reign ended when he joined the dodgers, so...big daddy vladdy took over.

vladimir guerrero (06-07)

kind of full circle here, going back to the angels.  the reason had more to do with how excited i was when i thought the dodgers were going to sign him.  bud wouldn't allow it, so we lost out, but i still followed him pretty closely.  i hope he does well in texas, by the way, but i am sure vladdy knows that i could only live in minnesota for so long before the local boy would have to move to the top of this list.

joe mauer (08-present)

after a disappointing 2007, there was so much anticipation for mauer to prove that 2006 wasn't an anomaly.  he more than proved it by winning his second batting title and then his third last year.  following him closely for the last two seasons has been a heckuva fun ride.  i really hope he stays with the twins for the rest of his career.

so there it is, the list of those who have won my baseball affection without wearing the dodger uniform, with honorable mentions to rickey henderson, ryne sandberg, robin ventura, jose canseco, and ken griffey jr.  but, as a team guy, keep in mind that my least favorite dodger is more of a favorite than my favorite non-dodger.  some of the time, anyway.

lastly, if you have any cards for any of the players listed here, feel free to send 'em my way!