how about that black armband for mel allen?

mel allen, the voice of the yankees, was better known to me as the host of 'this week in baseball'.  his trademark phrase 'how about that' was a staple of the show that, along with baseball cards, helped me learn about the game and its players as a young fan in the late 1970's.  allen passed away at the age of 83 in july of 1996, and the yankees added a black armband to their left sleeves in his honor.

here's a 1997 pacific card of darryl strawberry with the armband peeking through

and here's cecil fielder's 1997 pinnacle new card which also gives a glimpse of the armband

the back of the card gives a better view, actually

wade boggs' 1997 topps card is a good example

as is strawberry's 1997 topps stadium club card

that's a nice card even without the armband, as it captures the aftermath of strawberry's career home run number 300, a walk-off job against the royals.  

the card in the memorials binder, however, is this 1997 upper deck card of derek jeter

which features a photo taken a month or so following allen's death.

allen had begun his baseball broadcasting career with the 1938 world series, and he became a part of the yankees' (and giants') broadcasting team during the 1939 season. he took over the main play-by-play responsibilities for both teams in 1940 and continued to do so until he enlisted in world war ii.  following his service, allen returned to the booth - this time for the yankees only.  he wound up calling every world series from 1946 through 1963, as well as pretty much every all-star game during his tenure with the yankees plus some college and nfl football games, too.

allen was fired by the yankees after the 1964 season, although he was still invited to events such as old-timer's games and number retirement ceremonies. he eventually returned to do some broadcasting for the club in the late 1970's and remained a part of the crew into the 1980's.  his 'this week in baseball' hosting duties lasted from the show's inception in 1977 until his death.

double plays don't turn themselves

i recently considered putting a moratorium on picking up new double play cards.  i really didn't know just how many there were until i started to more seriously collect them a few years ago.  now i am behind on adding them to my have list and the binder(s).

but, when i come across a card as cool as billy ripken's 1991 topps stadium club issue, i am not going to pass on it.

that ripken is the rare double play card that shows the first baseman.  i like it very much.

double play master brent gates is back on his 1993 upper deck sp card

as well as his 1997 upper deck card

the opposing player seems to be kneeling at the altar of the double play turn.

master leaper jose lind shows his skills on this 1994 score select card

while royce clayton returns for some dp action on the back of his 1994 upper deck card

chris snopek turns two on a 1997 pinnacle new card

while derek jeter gets parallel to the ground on his 1998 fleer tradition card

pirate time - kevin polcovich looks like he has made the turn at dodger stadium on his 1998 pacific crown collection card

i would guess that brett butler is the guy sliding in, by the way; and tony womack introduces his knee to ray lankford's back on his card from that same set

womack is at it again on his 1998 pinnacle card

with slammin' sammy trying to break things up

from pirates to braves, here is a 2002 upper deck keith lockhart card

and a 2008 upper deck first edition edgar renteria card

for the purposes of this post, i will ignore the fact that the card says 'detroit tigers' on the bottom.

more double play cards to come!  stay tuned!

land of double plays

yes, i know it's late.  but i am sure you are still up after watching the season premiere of 'breaking bad' (or if you are on the west coast you are just about to watch it), right?

now, as you know, i am always looking for cards that feature photos taken in dodger stadium.  as a result, i pay fairly close attention to the backgrounds on cards and so have come to recognize many different stadiums.  one i see quite a bit (and more than one might expect) is the oakland coliseum.  for some reason, quite a few baseball cards feature photos taken there while other 'smaller' markets, such as kansas city or toronto or minnesota, get less card front time.  and, thanks to the likes of miguel tejada, walt weiss and others, there are a number of double play cards that hail from the east bay.

here's a 1998 fleer tradition scott spiezio as if to prove the point.

and a 1998 pacific crown collection spiezio

and a 1998 topps stadium club spiezio

none of which feature the same play.

brent gates is another a's middle infielder that gets a lot of dp time at home.  this is his 1996 donruss card

and his 1996 fleer card

and a 1996 pinnacle mike bordick, too.

visiting teams also make the turn.  here's the back of pat kelly's 1993 score select card

maybe someday i will count the number of dp cards on which jose canseco and mark mcgwire are the lead runner.  here's another new york yankee in billy beane's court - robinson cano on his 2006 upper deck card

on the majority of those cards, you see the retired number jerseys on the outfield wall.  that's reggie jackson's number 9 behind cano, while jim hunter's 27 is behind spiezio, gates, and kelly.  the a's also had a huge american flag on the wall, i believe it was added after 9/11.  you can see the stripes on orlando hudson's 2005 fleer ultra card

let's move out of oakland to one of the locales i mentioned earlier - toronto.  here's the back of terry shumpert's 1992 fleer card

i can't tell if it's shumpert or the shortstop who has made the dp turn.  if it's shumpert, then the runner is pretty slow.  then again, it looks like the runner might be pat borders.  on july 28, 1991, pat borders was on first base when manny lee grounded into the 6-4-3 double play in toronto.  david howard was the shortstop, shumpert the second baseman and warren cromartie (!) was the first baseman on the play.  i think we have a winner.

here's a 1994 upper deck mickey morandini card with a dp turn from san diego

with tony gwynn sliding in.  aside from gwynn's presence, the orange home run line is a dead giveaway for the murph.  aka qualcomm.

here's another hall of famer on the wrong end of a turn at second.  roberto alomar makes a guest appearance on the back of norberto martin's 1995 upper deck collector's choice card

the front of which also shows a dp turn.

last but not least, here is a 1997 pinnacle new (or new pinnacle, depending on how you catalogue this set) card of the brewers' jose valentin

i am not 100% sure, but i choose to believe that this is a broken up double play. it looks like the ball is still in valentin's glove, but the disturbed dirt in the lower left corner of the card gives me hope that there was a hard slide that caused him to go airborne.  maybe, maybe not.  the card stays in the binder, however, until it can be proven to not belong because there just aren't too many of these with photos from milwaukee county stadium.

great cards given away

like many of you, i recently received a package in the mail from david at tribe cards.  it contained my goodies from his season long pack ripping adventure known as the 182 packs of baseball giveaway.  here's a sampling.

1986 donruss all-stars fernando valenzuela

it's one from the want list, which is doubly nice.  notice how the lines are vertical on these cards as opposed to horizontal on the regular 1986 donruss cards.  it has a slimming effect on el toro, i think.

i picked the dodgers (of course) in the giveaway, but was second or third in the hierarchy. that means that i only got dodger cards if there were doubles or triples.  i still got a few, including a 1997 pinnacle new (or is it new pinnacle?) todd hollandsworth

 and a couple of 1996 leaf cards of delino deshields

 and ramon martinez

my biggest score, however, came from claiming big daddy vladdy.  here is the impaler with miguel cabrera on a 2010 topps update card

the card celebrates the fact that both guererro and cabrera got their start in the national league east. kind of random.

here's a 2008 upper deck piece of history card

 and three starquest cards.  this first one is from 2008 upper deck first edition update, and it is 'common'

the next two are from straight up 2008 upper deck; this one is 'un-common'

and this one is 'rare'

looks 'blue' to me, but whatever.

lastly, we have a 2001 topps attax card with vladdy in his orioles gear

it's an odd sight.

hopefully i'll see some more vladdy cards from david in his 2013 giveaway, as i was able to snag him in the recent draft.

thanks david!

proving hiflew right

hiflew left a comment recently on a post at dime boxes noting that eric young consistently had good cards.  now, i have a large number of eric young cards thanks to his double dipping status as a dodger, as well as the number of double play turns he made that were caught on cardboard.  and, i can assure you, hiflew was right.

case in point, ey's 1993 upper deck sp card

fellow dp turner kurt stillwell takes him out while eric gregg isn't looking.

here's a 1994 topps stadium club super team insert

on which the turn is completed and all vinny castilla can do is stand and admire young's midair acrobatics.

vinny does it again on young's 1994 upper deck card

looks like mike benjamin is going in for an awkward and late slide.  speaking of sliding, ey can do that, too, as evidenced by his 1997 pacific card.

he's losing his helmet, but it looks like he'll get in under mike piazza's leg.  nice to see ey back at dodger stadium on that card, just as he is on his 1997 new pinnacle card.  or is it pinnacle new?

mr. karros, you are out, sir.

back to turning two, young gets a shiny card in the 1998 upper deck 10th anniversary preview insert set

he's turning two one more time on his 1993 topps card

and then there is this acrobatic beauty, a 1998 donruss signature edition card

and that's just scratching the surface of the eric  young collection.  so much better than posed head shots.