the dick howser memorial patch

dick howser, the manager of the 1985 world champion kansas city royals, died in june of 1987 from a brain tumor.  he was less than one year removed from managing the team, and was only 51 years old.  the royals added a patch to their right sleeves with his name and number, which was retired by the team in july of 1987.  the patch is visible on ross jones' 1988 topps card

and gene garber's 1988 score card

but, like the joe burke memorial showcased earlier today, it's a george brett card that represents the memorial in my binder.  here's brett's 1988 score card

in addition to winning the world series with the royals in 1985, howser also guided the 1980 new york yankees to the al east title (they lost to the royals in the alcs).  george steinbrenner fired howser after the season because 103 wins wasn't enough i guess.  howser moved on to kansas city after they fired jim frey in august of 1981, and led them to the alds that year, falling to the a's.  howser took the royals back to the postseason in 1984, losing to the tigers in the alcs, before winning it all in 1985.  he was diagnosed with a brain tumor during the 1986 season, with the 1986 all-star game being the last game of his managerial career.