a black armband and a memorial patch for a. bartlett giamatti

25 years ago today, baseball commissioner a. bartlett giamatti died at the age of 51.  unfortunately, he may be most often remembered as the commissioner who presided over the pete rose betting on baseball scandal as he died of a heart attack 8 days after rose agreed to be added to baseball's permanently ineligible list.  that was in august of 1989, and when the world series began that october, the players on each team wore black armbands in giamatti's honor.  here's a 1990 score world series highlight card that features the armbands on the a's and giants' players

it also features 'actual world series action photography'.  thanks score.

fleer also issued insert cards with world series highlights in 1990, such as this fantastic double play card featuring walt weiss and terry kennedy

kennedy makes his third appearance in a row on this card from the 1990 fleer insert set

the armbands aren't noticeable on that card, but if you look closely at the umpire's right sleeve, you will notice something below the number.  that's the 'abg' patch that the umpiring crew wore in giamatti's memory during the series.  you get a much better look at the patch on this 1990 t&m umpires card of all of the world series umps

i did not realize until looking into this memorial that there were umpire cards issued from 1988-1990.  who knew?  luckily this one was easy to find as it is the best example of this memorial and deserves a spot in my memorials binder.

the 1990 t&m umpires set also included a card of the seventh commissioner as well

the back of which features a poem written by the executive director of major league umpires at the time, richard g. phillips

score also had a giamatti card in their set

and they published the first and last paragraphs of an essay by giamatti himself on the back

giamatti wrote 'the green fields of the mind' in 1977 the day after the red sox season ended, and shortly before he became the president of yale university.

1990 donruss

and 1990 topps

also featured memorial cards of the late commissioner, who also served as national league president from december of 1986 until his tenure as commissioner began in april of 1989.  the backs of both cards also reference 'the green fields of the mind'.  here's the back of the topps card

and summer is gone, indeed.