the braves' beach memorial patch

68-year old former braves player, coach, and then-current minor league outfield instructor jim beauchamp passed away on christmas day, 2007 from leukemia.  the braves added a "beach" patch to their uniforms for the 2008 season in tribute.  

here's tim hudson's 2009 topps chrome card with the patch (beach was beauchamp's nickname) on the left sleeve of the jersey

similarly, the patch shows up on james parr's 2008 upper deck card

but it is outfielder gregor blanco's 2008 topps stadium club card with the patch in clear view

that represents this particular memorial in my collection.

beauchamp followed up a 10-year big league career as a player with 16 years as a minor league manager.  the last six of those years (1985-1990) were spent managing in the braves' system, and he was added to bobby cox's big league staff for the 1991 season.  beauchamp spent the next 10 years or so as cox's bench coach before taking on the outfield coordinator role.