a memorial patch for earl weaver

earlier today i posted about the memorial patch that the cardinals wore for stan musial who passed away on january 19, 2013.  that same day, the orioles lost hall of fame manager earl weaver who died at the age of 82.  like the cardinals did for musial, the orioles wore a patch honoring weaver during the 2013 season.  the orange patch featured weaver's name, number 4, and 'hall of fame' text.  you can see it on jj hardy's 2014 topps card

as well as wei-yin chen's

and on manny machado's 2014 topps gypsy queen card as well

during the 2013 all-star game, the patch was worn on the chest, as shown on adam jones' 2013 topps update card

which also features the stan musial patch on yadier molina's sleeve

jones also represents the sleeve placement of the patch in my collection via this 2013 bowman platinum card

weaver managed the orioles from 1968 through 1982, and again in 1985 and 1986.  he led the club to four pennants and the 1970 world series title over the reds, and his early retirement following the 1982 season cost him the chance to win another title - the 1983 world championship team was managed by joe altobelli.

growing up watching 'this week in baseball' and the nbc game of the week in the late 1970's, i knew two things about earl weaver: he was not shy about arguing with umpires, and he was a believer in the power of the 3-run home run.  it turns out that he was also a believer in platoons and tracking statistical match ups and other things that we see so much of in the game these days.  those things worked for weaver, as his teams won 1480 games over his 17 years at the helm, and he was inducted into the hall of fame in 1996.

kemp and kershaw go together like a horse and carriage

happy new year!  i'm not making any resolutions, but i would like to see the dodgers' front office resolve to give clayton kershaw what he wants and sign him to an extension, and also resolve to not trade matt kemp.  i am willing to hitch the team's fortunes to these two guys and see what happens.

with that, let's have a look at a few kershaw and kemp cards that i've been scanning but not posting for a while.  we'll start with a 2011 panini playoff contenders combo card of the two

here's another combo card - these two are like peas and carrots - this one is from 2013 topps heritage

now for some shiny solo stuff - 2013 topps finest kershaw

and kemp

and a kemp refractor

2013 topps tribute kershaw

and kemp

here's a 2011 bowman international parallel, reminding us that kershaw is from texas.

kemp's home state of oklahoma also makes an appearance on that card.  see?  they're even neighbors!

here's a matt kemp 2012 topps mini card that was handed out at the national convention

now for a 2010 upper deck biography kershaw

and a 2011 topps marquee kemp - the blue parallel version

here's a 2010 bowman chrome kershaw

and a 2010 bowman platinum kemp

obviously, most of kemp's cards show him with a bat, but he does have a few that show him fielding or on the bases.  pretty much all of kershaw's cards show him pitching.  i'm hoping that 2014 opening day at least shows him at the plate delivering his 2013 opening day home run against the giants.  but if the rest of his cards show him pitching in dodger stadium like this 2011 bowman finest futures card, i won't complain.

here's a black bordered 2008 topps allen & ginter kemp mini that i picked up on sportlots for 18 cents a couple months ago.

and here's a 2009 upper deck goodwin champions kershaw that i've had scanned for a while

just a few more - 2013 bowman platinum kemp

and 2009 upper deck signature stars kershaw

and last but not least - some 2013 topps stickers of kemp

and kershaw

man, do i hope these two stick together with the dodgers.  in 2014 and beyond.

for newtown, ct

today is the one-year anniversary of the sandy hook shootings in newtown, ct.  twenty children and six adults were killed at the school.  on opening day 2013, all major league teams wore a memorial patch for the victims of the massacre.

here are all of the examples i could find.

milwaukee brewers - 2013 topps khristopher davis

new york yankees - 2013 bowman platinum kevin youkilis

 houston astros - 2013 topps update erik bedard

miami marlins - 2013 topps update chad qualls

chicago cubs - 2013 topps update james russell

washington nationals - 2013 topps update rafael soriano

please let me know if you have seen other teams wearing the patch on any 2013 or 2014 releases.

update - here are a couple more examples from other teams.

atlanta braves - 2014 bowman chris johnson (thanks jeff)

los angeles dodgers - 2014 topps clayton kershaw league leader

play at the platinum

everybody's favorite rangers fan sent me a few cards last week.  brian from play at the plate had been holding a 2013 bowman platinum prospects yasiel puig card for me, and it headlined the package.

that card goes alongside the top prospects insert of puig that i found in a pack a while back.

brian also sent a 2001 upper deck sp game bat milestone edition of former dodger and current ranger third baseman, adrian beltre

it touts beltre's international connection, but upper deck leaves it to you to figure out that he is from the dominican republic.  hope you know your country flags kids!

the rest of the cards were all from 2013 bowman platinum.  here's a gold parallel of adrian gonzalez

and a die-cut cutting edge insert of hanley ramirez

he has a kind of 'bizarro' superman look on his face, i think.

the last card of the package from patp was this purple parallel from 2013 bowman platinum chrome prospects

which reminds me - i picked up another value pack of 2013 bowman platinum at target a couple of weeks ago.  i won't bore you with the stuff in the regular packs, just the purple parallels that came in the exclusive pack.

justin nicolino of the marlins

jeez i wish there were a marlins collector out there...

joc pederson! a dodger!

i've seen some writers speculate that pederson could be part of a package to get tampa bay to let go of david price.  i'm not ready for hot stove season gossip just yet.

here's the third card from the purple pack - it's the guy from the top of this post, yasiel puig!

that's some good karma from the card aisle.

thanks for the cards brian!  i'll send you some more soon.

i did some more platinum diving

still looking to pull a puig from a pack.  i have a few 2013 topps allen & ginter cards thanks to topher at crackin' wax and his charity case break, and play at the plate (i hope) is holding a 2013 bowman platinum base of puig for me, but that didn't stop me from buying some more packs and another blaster a couple of weeks ago.  i did pretty well as far as dodgers go.  better than last time.

gold parallel adrian gonzalez

 gold parallel clayton kershaw

base hyun-jin ryu

here's a base of former number one pick carlos correa

i like the 'stros orange jerseys.  and no, correa is not in the dodgers' old bullpen - those vertical lines show up when i scan shiny stuff on the right side of my scanner.

a top prospect card! not of puig, but of some yankee farmhand instead.

i pulled some sapphire parallels - nori aoki

 and darin ruf

and some more gold parallels - manny machado

and mariano rivera

plus a numbered green parallel of kyle crick

a lone ruby parallel - giancarlo stanton

and an xfractor of brad miller

there were even two die cuts in the packs i opened - mark trumbo

and james shields

early on, i found a dodger top prospect card, not of puig but of corey seager

seager is the younger brother of the mariners' kyle.  only time will tell if the dodgers wound up with the better brother.  history is not on their side in that regard.

with just a couple of packs left to open, the clouds parted and lo and behold i had a puig top prospects card in my hands

huzzah!

all the non-dodger stuff is available for trade if you are so inclined.  i plan to spend some time this weekend getting caught up on all the packages i need to send out so speak up if you want any of this stuff.