the bob feller memorial patch(es)

bob feller, the legendary indians' hurler, passed away at the age of 92 in december of 2010.  the following season, the indians wore a memorial patch featuring feller's number 19 and a silhouette of his exaggerated leg kick.  you can see the patch on indians' third base coach steve smith's right sleeve as he congratulates lonnie chisenhall on the chiz's 2011 topps update cognac parallel card

you can get a better look at it on chisenhall's 2011 bowman draft picks and prospects card

the indians actually had a couple of different variations of the patch, although the design was the same.  with those blue jerseys like the one on the two chisenhall cards, as well as the cream jerseys like the one manny acta is wearing on his 2012 topps heritage card

the patch had a red border.  on the away grays like this 2012 topps chrome shin-soo choo refractor card

and the regular home whites like carlos santana is wearing on his 2011 topps marquee card

the patch is blue bordered.

for the 2011 all-star game, the patch was moved to the left chest, as seen on chris perez's 2011 topps update card

in yet another twist, the indians wore a completely different patch during spring training.  it was a simpler patch that just had feller's last name and his number 19.  it's there on chisenhall's right sleeve on this 2011 bowman chrome card

but you'll just have to trust me.  here's a photo of manny acta that shows what the spring training patch looked like.

feller was a dominant pitcher who entered the league straight from high school at the age of 17.  he threw two no-hitters, including the only one ever thrown on opening day, and had won over 100 games before his 23rd birthday.  he spent three years (from age 24 to 26) in the armed forces during world war ii, and had he not missed those three full seasons (plus part of a fourth) serving in the military, he most certainly would have won over 300 games and had more than 3000 strikeouts.  as it was, he was still a first ballot hall of famer, getting nearly 94% of the vote in his first year of eligibility.