a dodger memorial patch for mac

don mcmahon enjoyed an 18-year big league career as a reliever with the milwaukee braves, houston colt .45's, cleveland indians, boston red sox, chicago white sox, detroit tigers, and san francisco giants.  he began his major league service in 1957, and promptly helped the braves win the pennant as they went on to beat the yankees in the world series.  mcmahon pitched well in the fall classic, but the braves  lost all three of the games in which he pitched.  in fact, mcmahon's team lost every postseason game in which he appeared, which included the 1958 world series (the yankees beat mcmahon's braves), the 1968 world series (mcmahon's tigers still won the championship), and the 1971 nlcs (as a giant).  weird.  here's mcmahon's 1966 topps card.

in all, mcmahon pitched in 874 games (872 as a reliever), and had a record of 90-68 with 153 saves and a 2.96 era.  these numbers included service with the giants in 1973 and 1974 when he was also their pitching coach.  mcmahon remained the club's pitching coach through 1975 before taking the same position with the twins for three years.  he was back with the giants in the early 1980's, and then coached the indians from 1983 through 1985.  at that point, mcmahon was hired by the dodgers as their 'eye in the sky' scout who also threw early batting practice.  it was during a bp session at dodger stadium on july 22, 1987 when mcmahon suffered a fatal heart attack.

for the remainder of the season, the dodgers wore a black memorial patch on their right sleeves with mcmahon's nickname 'mac' in white letters.  here's the patch on one of the dodger relievers from that team, tim crews, courtesy of his 1988 donruss card

with a nice dodger stadium backdrop.

mickey hatcher's 1988 donruss card also shows the patch 

as does phil garner's 1988 score card

pedro guerrero (standing next to fernando valenzuela) is wearing the patch on this 1988 topps dodgers leaders card

and it's fernando's turn on this 1988 fleer baseball's exciting stars card

perhaps the best example of the patch is seen on glenn hoffman's 1988 topps card

which was the easy choice for my memorials binder.  until, that is, i came across this orel hershiser card from the same fleer box set as the fernando above.

a card featuring a photo from a dodger batting practice session seems appropriate for mac's memorial.

only 57 when he died, mcmahon was survived by his wife and six children and a mournful dodger organization.

for whom the armband tolls - a new (and perhaps morbid) type collection

according to the national baseball hall of fame, the practice of wearing a black armband in honor of a deceased teammate dates back to 1876 when the saint louis brown stockings mourned tom miller who passed away early in the season.  since then, the practice has expanded to managers, owners, announcers, spouses, equipment managers, and club executives, along with tragic events such as the newtown and virginia tech shootings and the boston marathon bombings.  and that's not even close to a complete list.

the most famous franchise in honoring their fallen is the new york yankees.  they have worn black armbands (or numbered/initial patches or both) many times.  here is a 1982 donruss card featuring tommy john and ron guidry, where the black armband is visible on the left arm of louisiana lightinin'.

the yankees wore the black armband in 1981 in honor of elston howard, who passed away in december of 1980 from heart failure.  howard succeeded yogi berra behind the plate for the yankees, and was their catcher in 9 world series (they won 4 of them) during the 1950's and 60's.  he was the al mvp in 1963, and served as a coach for the bronx bombers until the time of his death.

the dodgers have also recognized many of their players who have passed away.  most recently they wore a '4' patch for duke snider during the 2011 season.  here's a 2011 topps update clayton kershaw card that shows the patch

he's wearing the patch on his chest because it was displaced by the all-star game patch during the midsummer classic.

in 1993, the dodgers recognized three different players.  they started the season with a '52' patch in honor of tim crews, the former dodger pitcher who died during spring training with the indians.  brett butler's 1994 upper deck collector's choice card shows that patch nicely, front

 and back

then, during the season, both roy campanella and don drysdale passed away about a week apart.  as a result, the dodgers wore a '39 roy/53 don' patch on their right sleeves.  you can see that patch and the crews patch on raul mondesi's 1994 upper deck collector's choice card

in july of 1957, dodger coach don mcmahon died after suffering a heart attack while throwing batting practice.  the dodgers wore a 'mac' patch for the remainder of the season, as seen on fernando valenzuela's 1988 fleer baseball's exciting stars card

the card is complete with a nice dodger stadium background.

one of the things i like best about baseball is the celebration of its history.  seeing the pennants flying and retired numbers hanging at stadiums across the country is one of my favorite things to check out when i visit various stadiums.  i also appreciate it when teams recognize players from their past, including posthumously via the patch or armband.  if you'll recall, i count this card among my favorite non-dodger cards.

so, i have decided to collect cards that show these memorials.  i will collect just one of each instance (other than dodgers, of course), and i am working on a list over at my want list site that will outline the occasions of which i still need examples of in cardboard form, as well as the cards i have that feature the patches.  if you have one that shows a memorial that i don't have, or if you think yours is better than the card that i do have, let's trade.  you will be rewarded.

because, dangit, charlie moore wants us to remember the brewers' equipment manager robert sullivan

who passed away prior to the 1986 season.

so, there's another angle for my collection, and another recurring topic for the blog.  long live the memorials!

2012: some trade oddities

there are two dodger short prints in the 2012 topps archives release.  one is a sandy koufax card and the other is brett butler.  i am still in need of the koufax, but tom from waiting 'til next year was kind enough to send me the butler

the rest of the package was made up mostly of oddball cards, which was great.  there were a lot of cards that i had not seen before, like this brett butler card from 1992 topps kids

it's pretty cool, actually.  the cartoon guys in the dugout remind me of the bazooka inserts from the mid-2000's. i wonder if the artist consciously drew a guy sleeping in the dugout because tommy lasorda was supposedly known to nod off now and then during a game.

there aren't a whole lot of bill madlock as a dodger cards aside from his regular issue donruss/fleer/topps cards from 1986 and 1987.  here's a 1987 sportflics card featuring the two-time national league batting champ

same goes for john tudor, who was with the dodger for a short time (only 15 appearances over 1988 and 1989).  here's his 1989 sportflics card

there are even fewer tudor as a dodger cards as he was not even featured in the flagship releases of donruss, fleer, or topps in 1990. both fleer and topps included him in their update/traded sets that year, but by that time, tudor was back with the cardinals.

how about a 1989 score young superstars tim belcher card?

and a 1990 topps toys 'r' us john wetteland card?

both of them supremely oddball.  and, both were cards missing from my collection.

here's a 1988 fleer baseball's exciting stars card of orel hershiser

the bulldog is just sitting on a milk crate in dodger stadium.  no big deal.  his pose belies the excitement that one might anticipate from a card touting 'exciting stars'.

and then there is this 1990 fleer baseball mvp card of hershiser

this was a set that didn't actually feature mvp's exclusively, although hershiser did win that award in the 1988 nlcs and world series.  still, one might have expected kirk gibson (the 1988 national league mvp) to make an appearance in the set.  he did not.

finally, there was this 1991 topps mike scioscia glossy all-star insert

i had no idea this card existed prior to seeing it in the package.  i am assuming it was a rack pack insert just like the glossy all-star cards had been dating back to 1985 (i believe).  always nice to have another scioscia card in the collection.

thanks tom for a really odd (in a good way) trade!