i went for blue on black friday

it's been well over seven months since black friday, so i am a bit unsure why it has taken so long for me to post about some of the cards i purchased that day.  especially since one of the cards i bought on ebay that day was this 1952 bowman duke snider card

it was cheap, thanks to some rounded corners, scuffing, and a bit of paper loss, but to me it looks the way vintage ought to look.  that is a pretty card.

i have been on the lookout for a 1972 topps venezuelan steve garvey card for a long time, but have only seen one come up for sale in that time. it was prohibitively expensive.  on the other hand, i picked up this 1977 topps venezuelan davey lopes card

for what i thought was a reasonable price.  these cards are really thin, with nothing on the back, by the way.

most of my black friday shopping was done on comc, where i picked up a 1950 bowman bruce edwards card

along with a 1951 topps blue back

ralph branca card

this was my first blue back - there are only three dodgers in the blue back set, and they seem to be a bit tougher to find than the red backs.

i found some post cards - 1961 post john roseboro

1961 post larry sherry

and 1962 post stan williams

that weren't butchered too badly by the scissor wielding children of the 60's and gladly added them to my cart.

it wasn't all vintage, however, as i purchased a couple of 1983 permagraphics cards of pedro guerrero

and fernando valenzuela

along with a 1983 topps glossy send-in valenzuela

i am pretty sure i have this card already, as i sent in wrappers for these sets pretty regularly, but i bought it anyway because it didn't look familiar.  i still haven't checked to see if it's a double or not.

the last couple of cards are blue and shiny.  from 2012 bowman, i grabbed the matt kemp

and duke snider

blue sapphire rookie reprint cards.  my black friday duke purchases spanned 60 years, now that i think about it.

this was money well spent without getting up early and fighting the crowds - i think i'll make a habit of 'blue' friday...

a patch for duke

hall of famer and center fielder extraordinaire of the last brooklyn dodger and first los angeles dodger teams duke snider died on february 27, 2011 at the age of 84.  in tribute, the dodgers added a patch bearing his retired number 4 to their uniforms for the 2011 season.

the patch was typically worn on the right sleeve, but for the all-star game, it was moved to the left chest.  it's there on andre ethier's 2011 topps update cognac parallel

as well as clayton kershaw's

and kershaw's diamond anniversary sparkle, too

i've got his plain ol' base card in the memorials binder though.

dee gordon's 2012 bowman card is also in the binder

since it is a good example of the patch on the right sleeve.

here are a few other examples, including kershaw's 2012 bowman card

and a whole mess of matt kemp cards

2012 bowman chrome legends in the making die cut

2012 topps tribute

2012 topps museum collection

and 2012 topps gold rush wrapper redemption thingy

i appreciate the fact that that particular kemp card features the 1944 brooklyn alternate unis, and even though that was a bit before duke's time, i added kemp's 2012 topps opening day superstar celebrations card

to the memorials binder as a sort of bonus card.  simply because i can.

a memorial patch for harmon killebrew

harmon killebrew, 'killer' as he was known, died in may of 2011 as a result of esophageal cancer.  the twins were quick to add a number 3 patch to their right sleeves in his honor, and i believe they also wore their 1963 throwback uniforms at home for the remainder of the season.

here's ben revere's 2012 bowman card which displays the patch  

as does danny valencia's 2012 topps opening day card

and liam hendrik's 2012 topps allen & ginter

and 2012 topps heritage cards

since they use the same photo.

here's a 2012 topps red bordered card of joe mauer, courtesy of minneapolis-based target

as well as a cognac parallel of franscisco liriano

and a regular ol' base card of matt capps

also from 2012 topps, each showing the patch.

i believe that the patch the team wore with their blue alternate jerseys had a white border that the other patch did not.  so, i have this 2012 topps luke hughes card in the memorial binder.

as for the more frequently worn jerseys, i knew right away that i wanted a card of jim thome to represent killebrew's memorial patch in my collection, and this 2012 topps golden moments insert didn't disappoint

but this thome highlight/checklist card from 2012 topps is even better

thome and killebrew developed a special friendship during thome's short stay with the twins - the slugger passed killebrew on the all-time home run list during his time in the twin cities - so it seems fitting for this card to be in the binder.  the card celebrates thome's 600th career home run, a milestone that killebrew fell short of, although his 573 roundtrippers were good enough for fifth all-time when killer retired following the 1975 season.

as anyone who ever approached killebrew for an autograph will tell you, he was a gracious man.  i had the opportunity to speak with him briefly a couple of times, and he left me with the feeling each time that we could have talked for hours.  rest in peace, harmon.

too many tigers sporting memorial patches

for quite a while now, i've been posting about memorial patches on mondays.  i still have quite a few to get to, but two of the patches i have already covered include the ernie harwell patch worn by the tigers in 2010, and the sparky anderson patch that the motor city kitties wore in 2011.  dennis from too many verlanders recently sent me a package that included a whole mess of tigers wearing these patches.  here are two cards of brennan boesch from 2010 topps update that show the harwell patch.

these cards are both great examples of the patch that i did not have in my collection previously.  i'll keep the valverde in the memorials binder, however.

dennis also included a whole mess of cards showing the sparky anderson patch.

there we have cards from 2011 topps and 2011 topps update, and here are a couple (plus a parallel) from 2012 topps

boesch is back with a 2012 topps allen & ginter card

while alex avila and miguel cabrera show the patch on their 2012 topps archives cards

boesch and miggy also show the patch on their 2012 topps gypsy queen cards

and then there are the 2012 bowman cards

the tigers' american league central division rival kansas city royals also wore a memorial patch in 2011 (for former pitcher paul splittorff), and dennis threw this 2012 bowman billy butler card in the package as well.

he added another memorial patch, too - the harry caray memorial patch can be seen on this 1999 ud choice kerry wood starquest insert

although this was included as part of the complete 30-card set in a separate package.  i had claimed some cards from dennis, and he included this set (which contained a single dodger - adrian beltre)

as well as a set of the 1990 fleer league standouts insert set, which included current dodger manager don mattingly wearing pinstripes

i'll show some of the cards that i claimed in a later post.

there was yet another package that dennis sent recently.  it contained one card that he picked up at a card show with me in mind - a 2005 topps pristine steve garvey uncirculated card

i've got one in the garvey collection already, but now i have one for the dodger binder, too.

thanks dennis!

my oh my, the dave niehaus memorial patch

from their inception in 1977 through the 2010 season, the mariners had played almost 5400 games.  and of those games, dave niehaus broadcast all but about 100 of them.  after niehaus passed away in november of 2010, the mariners added a memorial patch to their right sleeves to be worn during the 2011 season.  the memorial, an oval patch with niehaus' first name and his signature call 'my oh my' next to a microphone can be seen on dustin ackley's 2011 topps update card below.

it's also seen on mike carp's 2012 topps card

and miguel olivo's 2012 topps card as well

hank conger better watch his ears.  and, hello alfredo griffin - i almost didn't see you lurking in the background!

in the post-griffey era of mariners baseball, there is really only ichiro as far as i am concerned.  the patch is shown on his 2012 bowman card

still, it doesn't give a good enough look at the patch to stick in the collection.

here's a better look at the patch

during the all-star game, the patch was moved to the left chest as seen on miguel pineda's 2011 topps update card

that pineda card, along with brendan ryan's 2011 topps update card

are the two that represent the memorial in my collection.

niehaus won the ford c. frick award in 2008, and is further memorialized by the mariners with a statue at safeco field.  i am sure most fans have heard his famous call of edgar martinez' game and series winning double in the 1995 alds, but if he was anything like my favorite team's broadcaster, it was the non-dramatic calls and conversational tone of the day to day broadcasts that mariners fans must miss the most.