a rockies' memorial patch for michael mcmorris

jerry mcmorris was one of the original owners of the colorado rockies.  in march of 1996, his 32-year old son, michael dean mcmorris, died from cystic fibrosis, a disease that had been diagnosed when he was a child.  the team wore memorial patches on their right sleeves with his initials - mdm.

here's mark thompson's 1997 topps card which displays the patch  

as does kevin ritz's 1997 fleer ultra card

which also features a lurking dodger, todd hollandsworth (much like walt weiss' 1997 upper deck collector's choice card that i showed yesterday).

the card that represents the memorial in the binder is this 1997 fleer dante bichette card

the elder mcmorris sold his interest in the team to his partners in the mid 2000's, and did not receive a similar memorial following his passing in 2012.

1997 double plays on the wall

double play cards keep seeping out of my collection and into my scanned folder.  today, i have a bunch from 1997 that haven't been previously seen here on the blog.

first up, 1997 upper deck derek jeter rock solid foundation subset card

it is weird to think that after this season, no yankee will ever wear a single-digit jersey again.  numbers 1-9 will all be retired (although they may wait to retire jeter's until next season).  number 8 is even retired twice - for bill dickey and yogi berra.

1997 best miguel tejada

a minor league dp!

1997 bowman felix martinez

martinez played in the majors for the royals and later the rays.  he spent about a month in the dodger organization during the 2002 season.

1997 bowman ryne sandberg

and 1997 bowman chrome ryne sandberg

both with craig biggio sliding in

1997 donruss shawon dunston

1997 fleer mark grudzielanek

here's biggio on a card of his own - 1997 fleer ultra (gold medallion edition)

and another shawon dunston card from the same set

fernando vina turns two on his 1997 pinnacle card

with a scott stahoviak sighting

here's another grudzielanek card - a 1997 upper deck sp card

i don't have too many cards from this set in my collection, but i'm happy to have this one.  more double play cards from 1997 coming soon...

double play battle - tony fernandez vs. mark lemke

i've recently obtained a number of cards of former all-star and gold glove winner tony fernandez and former, well, ballplayer mark lemke featuring each of them turning double plays. let's have a look.

1994 pinnacle fernandez

vs. 1994 pinnacle lemke

despite an appearance by double play wizard omar vizquel, the landscape card wins.  lemke 1, fernandez 0.

1994 score fernandez

vs. 1994 score lemke

which also comes in a gold rush parallel form

fernandez looks more graceful on his card, so he gets the nod.  fernandez 1, lemke 1

1996 fleer fernandez

which also has a tiffany parallel

vs. 1997 fleer ultra lemke

i give this one to lemke because he is not a yankee.  fernandez 1, lemke 2.

1998 pacific crown collection fernandez

vs. 1997 upper deck collector's choice lemke

both landscape cards (well, the pacific card is, sort of), but the lemke is so much cleaner, and the outfield fence appears to be level.  not really fernandez's fault, but oh well.  final score is tony fernandez 1, mark lemke 3.

that means we get to see a bonus mark lemke double play card - it comes from 1997 pacific

and features beautiful dodger stadium (at least its old outfield railing) in the background.

way to go, lemke!

ultra shenanigans

greg gagne welcomes you to this post with his 1997 fleer ultra card.

but wait, i thought that this was his 1997 fleer ultra card

shows what i know.  or used to know.  i was not aware that the ultra gold medallion parallels in 1997 featured different photography until a couple of years ago.  i had previously largely dismissed the gold parallels, but this means that i missed out on this todd zeile card 

because i only had this one

so, i went out and picked up a few other gold medallion cards of dodgers from 1997 fleer ultra.  ismael valdes

and mike piazza

and hideo nomo

and raul mondesi

and ramon martinez

and todd hollandsworth

and wilton guerrero

and karim garcia

plus an insert or two, like this nomo/piazza double trouble card

i do not believe that this gme variation extends itself to other ultra releases.

unfortunately, i only have the base versions from 1998 fleer ultra of dennis reyes

and todd hollandsworth

in my scanned folder

i also had a 1995 fleer ultra garey ingram

plus gme cards of billy ashley

darren dreifort

and todd worrell

but those don't prove anything.

just for fun, and to clear out space in the scanned folder, here are a couple of mondesi insert from 1995 fleer ultra

he's got raw power!

well, at least i know that 2005 fleer ultra didn't have different photos for their gold medallion editions - here's hideo nomo's base card

and his gme

i need to go check my binders...

what have they done to my fair stadium?

beach volleyball.  kiss.  nhl hockey.  these things will be taking place in dodger stadium on january 25th, and construction of the rink and other associated items is well underway.  i don't have any problems with that.  i've been to a couple of concerts at dodger stadium, and i contemplated going to the exhibition outdoor game that the nhl staged in las vegas several years back.  i know the folks here in the twin cities are hoping for the nhl classic to come to target field or the gophers' football stadium (where the golden gophers will play ohio state in some big 10 hockey action tonight in below zero wind chill).  still, here are some cards featuring walter o'malley's gem, the third oldest baseball stadium in the major leagues, as it was meant to be seen - as a baseball venue.

this card is from the baseball stadium facts inserts in 1969 fleer cloth sticker packs

yes, the playing field is symmetrical.  big deal. wanna fight about it?

here's ed whitson dealing from the dodger stadium mound on a 1989 fleer card

and here's nolan ryan hanging out in the bullpen.

that's a 1989 topps box bottom card, by the way.

here's a card back featuring the visitor's dugout area - orlando merced's 1991 upper deck card

and here's kenny lofton's 1992 upper deck card

i started to look at the lofton card a bit closer and wasn't completely sure that it was dodger stadium because the railing looks a bit dark.  however, wes chamberlain's 1993 upper deck card

gives a similar angle, and the railing looks the same.  lofton played in 2 games at dodger stadium among his 20 as an astro in 1991, so i say yes - that's dodger stadium in the background.

here's the back of chamberlain's card for good measure

there's no doubt that andujar cedeno's 1993 upper deck card features a shot from dodger stadium

that looks like juan samuel sliding in.

same goes for gary sheffield's 1994 upper deck card.  dodger stadium, not juan samuel.

those are the old low railings near the right field bullpen that have been replaced with a solid panel short wall.  the back of sheffield's card shows the full height outfield wall

complete with a championship banner.  this must have been opening day - the dodgers only bring out the banners then.

1997 fleer ultra todd hundley

i've never been to the stadium club restaurant at dodger stadium.  that's the area directly behind hundley with the window panels between the orange (loge - as in lower general admission) and blue (reserve) levels.

this is a nice card. it's from the 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game set - the first gotg release from fleer

i'm not sure if jerry royster is a true great of the game, but he is a former dodger and that is a nice photo of him playing short at chavez ravine.

last, but certainly not least, is a card of another former dodger.  wilton guerrero's 1998 fleer tradition update card

complete with his brother vladdy and the left field pavilion and diamondvision in the background is one of the best dodger stadium cards around.

enjoy the hockey at dodger stadium, but no tractor pulls please.