a black armband for richie ashburn

hall of famer richie ashburn passed away on september 9, 1997, and for the remainder of the season (just a few short weeks) the phillies wore a black armband with his number '1' on their left sleeves.  the lateness in the season meant that i had a hard time finding a card to show the memorial, but i finally came across this 1998 fleer metal universe scott rolen universal language die-cut insert.

rolen is also wearing the jackie robinson patch, which you will see a whole lot more of tomorrow.

at any rate, ashburn was one of the phillies' whiz kids.  he finished second in the 1948 rookie of the year vote to alvin dark, for whom he was later traded.  after 12 seasons with the phillies, ashburn spent two with the cubs and then a final season with the expansion mets.  after his retirement, he became a phillies broadcaster and served in that capacity until his death.  he was 70 years old.