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!

a memorial patch for ernie johnson sr.

ernie johnson spent most of the 1950's pitching in the major leagues for the braves and orioles.  after that, he spent most of the remainder of the century in the broadcast booth, calling braves' games.  after he died in august of 2011, the braves added a memorial patch to their uniforms.  you can see it on the left sleeve of chipper jones on his 2012 topps allen & ginter card

here's a better look at the patch

johnson called braves games from 1962 through 1999, and the press box in atlanta bears his name.  he was a member of the 1957 world champion braves team, and was inducted into the team's hall of fame in 2001

they came from outer space

what a great haul of cards i received recently from david at tribe cards as a result of his generous 'tribe cards from outer space' giveaway.  in all the packs david opened last season, he only pulled one steve garvey card (1993 ted williams) and one davey lopes card (1987 topps record breaker), but there were other dodgers and random players i had drafted that were well represented.  like alfredo griffin.

that's his 1988 donruss baseball's best card, and this is his 1990 fleer card

i picked up alejandro pena somewhere along the way, and was rewarded with a 1987 fleer card

here's a 1992 topps stadium club mike sharperson card

and a couple of billy ashley cards - 1994 donruss triple play

and 1994 topps

also from 1994 topps, here's jim gott

james loney was represented by his 2012 topps a&g card

my strategy was to draft dodgers, members of the dodger team of my youth, and middle infielders - hoping for some double play turns.  that meant that i received some non-dodger cards of former dodgers, like this 2012 topps a&g black bordered mini of russell martin

and more yankees - tommy john

and rick rhoden

from 1988 donruss baseball's best.

i also wound up with tim wallach on my list, so received his baseball's best card

as well as that of fellow expo bryn smith

and giant craig lefferts

i can explain bryn smith - here's his regular 1988 donruss card, by the way

as he's a local guy made good and i sometimes think about pulling together a player collection.  but lefferts?  i forgot why i added him to my list until i saw his regular donruss card

featuring the right field pavilion at dodger stadium as a backdrop.

i've got some more cards from this package to show off, and i'll do so later today...

a few of a couple of cards from arpsmith

here i am very slowly digging myself out from a backlog of trade posts.  these cards, and many more like them, came my way courtesy of arpsmith.  i have known a few giants fans in my time, and have successfully traded with five or six of them which is a level of diplomacy that should be emulated by all in conflict over such trivial things as laundry.

there were a couple of cards from the 1991 topps archives 1953 set, such as bill antonello

and bob milliken

antonello's lone big league action came in 1953 with the dodgers, but unfortunately did not include and playing time in the '53 world series.  he played some for their st. paul affiliate and wound up staying in the twin cities after his playing career ended.  milliken, on the other hand, spent parts of two seasons with the dodgers (1953 and 1954) and did make an appearance in the '53 fall classic against the yankees.  he held the yankees scoreless for two innings in the decisive sixth game, but billy martin's game (and series) winning single off of clem labine in the 9th happened anyway.

there were also a couple of cards featuring mid-90's dodger starters like this 1996 leaf limited ismael valdes card

and this 1996 upper deck collector's choice hideo nomo 'scrapbook' insert card

valdes and nomo were two-fifths of the dodgers' international rotation.  in addition to valdes (mexico) and nomo (japan), the dodgers also had ramon martinez (dominican rebublic), tom candiotti (usa), and chan ho park (south korea).

there were a couple of jackie robinson cards - this 2010 topps sterling card

and a 2012 topps allen & ginter 'what's in a name' insert

the ginter insert was one of a couple included - the other being clayton kershaw's card

jackie's middle name is in honor of teddy roosevelt, but topps didn't give my any insight into kershaw's namesake.

adam included a couple of ricky nolasco cards from 2013 topps update - an emerald parallel

and a gold parallel

the gold one was one of a couple of those, with the other being ronald belisario

neither nolasco nor belisario are with the team any longer, both having relocated to the american league central.

finally, there was only one signed card in the package, but it was a nice one.  bill russell signed his 1986 fleer card, either in person or through the mail.

that's a nice card of the shortstop of my youth with the right field pavilion in the background.

thanks for another great trade, adam.  sorry it took so long to post.