nick adenhart and preston gomez memorial patches

it's memorial day and we should be thinking of those servicemen and women who gave their lives while serving our country.  and i am.  i am also going to show a few cards that show the way that the angels recognized two of their own who passed away in 2009.

nick adenhart was the angels' starting pitcher on april 8, 2009. he pitched six shutout innings but did not figure in the decision.  a few hours later, he was killed by a drunk driver near angels stadium.

for the rest of the season, the angels wore an 'adenhart 34' patch on their chests, as seen on vladimir guerrero's 2010 topps card

here's the gold parallel version

and here's the walmart black version

the black one is pretty striking.

earlier that same year, longtime baseball man preston gomez was struck by a car at a gas station and died from his injuries.  gomez had been a manager of the padres and astros, and had two runs as the dodgers' third base coach - including the team of my youth.  at the time of his death, gomez was an assistant to the angels' general managers, and so the team also recognized his passing with a 'preston' patch worn on their right sleeves.  the patch is seen here on vladdy's 2010 toppstown card (as is the adenhart patch)

here's a better view of the preston patch on vladdy's gold 2010 toppstown card

the angels also had at least some of their farm clubs wear a patch, as evidenced by this 2009 tristar prospects plus tyler kehrer card

as far as i know, neither the astros, padres, dodgers or cardinals wore patches in gomez's memory.

and as for the memorial project, i'll keep the base vladdy (the others go in my vladdy pc) and the kehrer card, plus the gold toppstown card to represent the adenhart and gomez memorials.