a memorial patch for gary carter

after gary carter passed away in february of 2012, the mets added a patch to their jerseys in his honor.  the plate shaped patch with his nickname (kid) and number 8 can be seen on kirk nieuwenhuis' 2012 bowman platinum card

sometimes, the patch was worn on the upper right chest, as seen on josh edgin's 2012 topps update card

and during the 2012 all-star game, the patch was worn by the met representatives on the upper left chest, as evidenced by david wright's 2012 topps update card

usually, however, it was on the right sleeve as demonstrated by the nieuwenhuis card up top, and by this 2013 topps archives johan santana card

which edged out the nieuwenhuis for a spot in the binder.

carter played only five seasons with the mets (1985-89), but he drove in over 100 runs twice in that time, and finished third in the mvp voting in 1986.  of course, carter's leadership of the club played a big role in their world championship that year, and he probably deserved the series mvp award more than ray knight.  it was carter who tied the score in game 6 with an rbi single, forcing extra innings, and it was carter who started the improbably rally in the 10th inning with a 2-out single.  he also drove in the tying run in game 7.  creach the hall of fame, but montreal had lost their franchise to washington dc, and the nationals did not wear a patch similar to the mets.

carter was diagnosed with brain tumors in 2011, and despite treatment, new tumors were found in 2012 shortly before his death. he was just 57 years old.  it is worth noting that carter's number had been retired by the expos following his retirement in 1993, and he was the first expo to reach the hall of fame, but montreal had lost their franchise to washington dc, and the nationals did not wear a patch similar to the mets.

i did not expect old foul cardboard

nor did i expect the spanish inquisition, but then again, who does?  a while back, i sent a pwe with a couple of yankee cards for kyle, whose dad chris runs old foul cardboard - no big deal.  i certainly didn't expect a return package.

that means i was more than pleasantly surprised last week.  i received some good stuff, like this 1975 topps walter alston/dodger team card with dodger stadium in the background

the orange and brown color combo isn't the best, but…

here's a 2008 upper deck clayton kershaw 20th anniversary card

kershaw made his debut in 2008.  less than 6 years later, he's the highest paid pitcher in big league history. well deserved, i might add.

2012 bowman platinum andre ethier

i like the way that card scans.

2012 topps chrome matt kemp

i wish that card scanned better.

2013 topps update jp howell

i still have quite a few dodger update cards that i should showcase before 2014 flagship hits the shelves later this month.  stay tuned for some puig and ryu sp craziness.

here are a couple of double play turns from update that were also in the package - matt carpenter

and didi gregorius - emerald style!

thanks chris!  i'll get another pwe or two out - no need to send anything in return - although i will probably wait until i have some 2014's to send.

more tales from the trade super collider

here are some more cards i received from arpsmith recently

2009 topps walmart black casey blake

and chad billingsley

plus a 2012 topps heritage aaron harang

there were more cards, too, but one can only scan so many.  i picked the harang because who knows why.

brian at play at the plate included some chrome stuff from 2011 - andre ethier orange refractor

and jerry sands regular refractor.

i think the sands is a refractor, anyway.  sands is really struggling in aaa this year.  with mccutcheon, marte, and travis snider in the bigs, there isn't much room for sands.  add jose tabata to the mix, and it looks like it will be tough for sands to break through in pittsburgh.

here's a matt kemp 2012 bowman gold parallel

and a purple parallel(ogram) from 2012 bowman prospects of jt wise

wise is in aa this year, hitting .265 and playing first base.  his way also seems blocked.

a few more from brian - 2012 topps gypsy queen sandy koufax gold frame parallel

and some 2012 bowman platinum - andre ethier

and clatyon kershaw

if i recall correctly, those are just the base versions, not blue parallels.  they scan up real nice.  there are a few colored parallels, though - gold, emerald, and ruby

speaking of which, doc holoday sent me one of those

it's nice even in it's miscut glory.  i have to remember to stop putting shiny cards on the left part of my scanner.

finally (for this post) here is a 2012 topps jerry sands gold sparkle

thanks again guys!

some of what's green is gold and other tales from the scanner

i was able to work out a quick trade with foul bunt recently.  he had a couple of 2012 topps chrome dodgers, and i had a couple of vintage cards he needed.  easy breezy.

here's the first one - it's clayton kershaw

and this is the other - a matt kemp xfractor

thanks william.  i guess my scanner didn't feel like scanning two chrome cards without making at least one of them go crooked, so there you go.  if i get a really crooked card, i might straighten it in photoshop, or maybe just re-scan, but i didn't bother with this batch.

yes, that wasn't all - i had picked up a couple other chrome cards recently, like this ian kinsler double play card

and this starlin castro dp card

both of which got a little cockeyed when the lid came down.

i was kind of confused when i scanned some other cards i came across recently.  this is a 2012 bowman platinum andre ethier emerald parallel card.

that makes sense, with the green background and all.  but i'm not sure where the wavy lines came from.

but then there was this card.  it appears to be a 2012 bowman platinum matt kemp emerald parallel as well

 except that when i slapped it down on the scanner, it was a gold parallel.  same with this kershaw

i guess my scanner can't be trusted, although it didn't do too badly with this last card - an ethier relic from 2012 topps tier one.

that's the only card i have from tier one, but i'm willing to see how my scanner deals with other cards from that set, should anyone out there have some dodgers to trade!