to me, harvey kuenn is the guy who struck out as the last out of sandy koufax's perfect game (as vin scully said, '2 and 2 to harvey kuenn, one strike away. sandy into his windup; here's the pitch - swung on and missed! a perfect game!). however, kuenn was also the manager of the milwaukee brewers in 1982 and 1983. he took over the team about a third of the way into the 1982 season and wound up leading the brew crew to the world series. after he died in february of 1988, the team added a 'h/k' memorial patch to their left sleeves, with the slash being a baseball bat.
the patch is visible on a number of cards, such as:
1989 donruss paul molitor
1989 topps chuck crim
1990 bill wegman
1988 score rookie and traded darryl hamilton
1989 donruss joey meyer
and jim gantner's 1989 upper deck card - both on the front
and the back
which also seems to include a double play turn.
as much as i would like to include a molitor or robin yount card (or some other member of "harvey's wallbangers" as the representative for this patch in my collection, that honor goes to this 1989 big apple sportscards gary sheffield card
kuenn also had a successful career as a player, amassing over 2000 hits and a .303 lifetime average in 15 seasons. he was only 57 when he died.
1 comment:
Not only was Harvey Kuenn the manager of the 1982 Brewers, he also was a Milwaukee native -- making the honor to him doubly important. He chewed tobacco like bubble gum, had his leg amputated in the late 1970s, and yet he still lived hard right up to the end.
Post a Comment