the dodgers and the nl west for jackie

in 1997, all of major league baseball celebrated the 50th anniversary with the universal retirement of jackie robinson's number 42.  each team also wore a 50th anniversary patch, comemmorating jackie's big league debut which occured 67 years ago today.  i plan to show a card from each team (by division as they were in 1997) that showcases the patch as my way of honoring jackie today.  first up, of course, is the nl west.

the dodgers were one of three teams to have a unique version of the patch - the text 'dodgers' was added to the top of the patch.  you can see it on hideo nomo's 1998 score card

the dodger version of the patch also notes the anniversary

while the other teams' version included the text 'breaking barriers' instead.

here's a 1998 fleer sports illustrated world series fever card of the rockies' larry walker displaying the patch.

and here's a 1998 upper deck tony gwynn card representing the padres

and a 1998 upper deck card of bill mueller representing the giants

the giants were one of three teams to only wear the patch at home.  on the road, they wore a patch acknowledging the 40th anniversary of their move to san francisco.

this is not a memorial patch, but i do have these cards in a binder - the only anniversary patch so honored.  stay tuned throughout the day for the rest of the teams' entries.