double plays for the weekend

it's saturday, and the twins and indians will be playing two today.  that has nothing to do with anything here, other than i was going to do a play on words with ernie banks' famous double header exclamation and title this post "let's turn two".  i chose not to do that, but i will show some new to the blog double play cards that i found in the recesses of my collection or picked up recently from various sources.

1998 ud spx finite nomar garciaparra 

nomah has another double play card in this set that i am tracking down.  i do have his 1999 fleer sports illustrated card, though

here's astros top prospect fletcher thompson on his 1995 ud minors card

fletch was such an astros' top prospect that at the time this card was released, he was no longer in the houston organization - playing independent ball before being signed by the brewers later in the season.  he never did make it to the majors.

1995 upper deck special edition barry larkin

when i think of hall of famers that played during my fandom, larkin does not readily come to mind.  i was surprised when larkin was elected on the third ballot when alan trammell had been on the ballot for a decade without coming close to election.  not to say larkin doesn't deserve it and trammell does - the voters may have got it right - but the disparity between larkin's vote totals and those for trammell does not compute in my mind.

1996 upper deck jose valentin

a brewer turns two against the cubs

1998 donruss jeff blauser

and a cub turns two against the mariners.  sorry, at first glance i thought that was a brewer sliding in, and i was going for a tit for tat thing, but amaral was a mariner.

1998 pacific invincible chuck knoblauch gems of the diamond insert

knobby was supposed to enter the twins hall of fame this year, but his induction was canceled due to some legal troubles for the former rookie of the year.

2013 topps howie kendrick silver slate blue sparkle parallel

i found a few of these parallels on the cheap.  anybody want a jp howell?

1995 upper deck sp vinny castilla

hello bip!

1995 upper deck sp championship series vinny castilla

it just doesn't look right to see castilla playing shortstop, but that's what he did until walt weiss joined the rockies.

1995 upper deck sp championship series ray durham die cut parallel

i like the view from the third base side - this post was getting a bit monotonous.

42

the dodgers retired jackie robinson's number 42 back in 1972 at the same ceremony in which roy campanella and sandy koufax had their numbers retired.  17 years ago today, all of baseball retired the number shown on the 2012 topps manufactured patch card shown above.

players in 1997 who were currently wearing the number - either by choice or assignment - were allowed to continue to wear it.  i went digging through my collection to see if i could find cards of these players wearing both the number 42 and the jackie robinson anniversary patch.  let's have a look.

angels - no player wore 42 in 1997, however mo vaughn wore the number when he joined the team in 1999.

a's - buddy groom wore 42 in 1997.  this 1998 pacific online red parallel lets us see the '4' in '42' plus the patch, although the sun is pretty bright on the patch

astros - jose lima wore 42 in 1997.  i have this 1998 pacific card of lima, but it unfortunately shows neither his number or the patch

blue jays - no player wore 42 in 1997.

braves - no player wore 42 in 1997.

brewers - scott karl wore 42 in 1997.  his 1998 pacific card shows both his number and the patch, which is awesome

cardinals - no player wore 42 in 1997.

cubs - no player wore 42 in 1997.

dodgers - no player wore 42 in 1997 (retired in 1972).

expos - no player wore 42 in 1997.

giants - kirk rueter wore 42 in 1997.  his 1998 upper deck card showcases the patch, plus we get just a part of the '2' in '42'

indians - mike jackson wore 42 in 1997.  like lima, his 1998 pacific card shows neither the patch nor the number, but it's all i've got.

mariners - no player wore 42 in 1997.

marlins - dennis cook wore 42 in 1997, but i unfortunately do not have a 1998 (or 1997) card showing him with the patch or the number.

mets - butch huskey wore 42 in 1997.  here's his 1998 topps stadium club card showing the patch

orioles - lenny webster wore 42 in 1997.  it's hard to see, but he is wearing the patch on this 1998 pacific invincible gems of the diamond card

padres - no player wore 42 in 1997.

phillies - no player wore 42 in 1997.

pirates - jason schmidt wore 42 in 1997.  here's his 1998 upper deck card with the patch and the '4' in '42' visible

rangers - marc sagmoen wore 42 in 1997, but i don't have a card to show.

red sox - mo vaughn wore 42 in 1997.  his 1998 donruss card provides a good view of the patch.

reds - no player wore 42 in 1997.  10 years later, ken griffey jr would ask the commissioner for permission to wear the number on april 15 leading the way for today's celebrations in which all field personnel wear the number.

rockies - no player wore 42 in 1997.

royals - tom goodwin wore 42 in 1997.  he was traded to the rangers in midseason, so i don't have a royals card to show.  i do have his 1998 topps card which shows the patch, and goodwin as a ranger

goodwin wore number 24 with the rangers, i assume due to the fact that sagmoen had 42.  i also assume that goodwin could have gone back to 42 later in his career (except for his second stint with the dodgers) but he didn't.

tigers - fernando hernandez wore 42 in 1997, but i don't have a card to show.

twins - no player wore 42 in 1997, but butch huskey wore the number when he joined the team in 2000.

white sox - no player wore 42 in 1997.

yankees - mariano rivera wore the number in 1997.  his 1998 topps card is a beauty, showing both the full number and the patch

rivera was, of course, the last active player to wear 42 exclusively, and i am sure will become the only player other than jackie robinson to have that number retired in his honor when the yankees get around to it.

the al east for jackie

here are cards featuring the jackie robinson anniversary patch from the last of the six divisions.  we'll start off with a fantastic example, and a fantastic card even without the patch.

orioles - 1998 score cal ripken jr

perfection on cardboard.

yankees - 1998 topps stadium club paul o'neill

this is another very nice card.  we don't see the patch on o'neill, but derek jeter and the other yankee (i believe it is scott pose) give us two looks at it as they greet o'neill at home.

tigers - 1998 topps deivi cruz

blue jays - 1998 upper deck shawn green

red sox - 1998 score nomar garciaparra

so, today you have seen an example of each team wearing the jackie robinson anniversary patch.  i've got one more post, however.

the al central for jackie

here are the teams of the american league central showing their jackie robinson anniversary patches.  keep in mind that in 1997, the brewers were still in the american league.

indians - 1998 topps orel hershiser

the indians only wore the patch at home.  on the road, they wore a patch recognizing the 1998 all-star game which was held at jacobs field.

white sox - 1997 donruss frank thomas dominators

like the indians and giants, the white sox only wore the patch at home.  away from comiskey, they wore a patch recognizing the anniversary of nellie fox's debut, which also occurred in 1947.  i'll post an example of that patch later this week.

brewers - 1998 topps jeromy burnitz

twins - 1998 pacific crown royale paul molitor diamond knights

royals - 1998 upper deck dean palmer

just two more divisions to go...

the mark holtz memorial patch

mark holtz was a well known voice around texas.  he served as the broadcaster for the dallas mavericks' inaugural season, and he was the play-by-play announcer for the rangers from 1981 up until his death from leukemia in 1997.  in his honor, the rangers wore a 'mh' patch for the last month of the season (holtz died on september 7, 1997).  i was happy to be able to find this 1998 donruss ivan rodriguez card that showcases the patch so prominently.

the patch isn't the only way that the rangers honored holtz, though.  holtz's signature line after a rangers' victory - 'hello win column!' - has become a fixture at the ballpark in arlington, lighting up after each rangers' win.  that's a nice tribute, too.

feels like 1985 (or 2004) times

well, that sucked.  down 2 games to none with their best pitchers having pitched as well as one could have hoped doesn't give me a whole lot of hope.  the dodgers have lost two of the last three postseason series that they have played against the cardinals, and, unless they go 4-0 (or 4-1) in their next few games, they will lose another one.

so, it feels like an appropriate time to show some cards that i received from madding at cards on cards a while back.  he didn't send any cards from 2004 - the last time the dodgers dropped a series to saint louis - but he did send this donruss all-stars card of pedro guerrero from 1985 

that was the year of jack clark and ozzie smith and tom niedenfuer.  enough about that.

there were a healthy number of mike piazza cards in the package, too.  like this fantastic 1994 topps stadium club card

a nice post-play at the plate card featuring piazza wearing the tim crews memorial patch in dodger stadium.  madding sent a few other memorial patch cards that i will show in their respective posts sometime in the future.

here's another piazza play at the plate card, this one coming from 1994 upper deck.

the strongest man in socal was featured on another 1994 upper deck subset card, this one a home field advantage card

which also showcased dodger stadium's symmetrical dimensions.

here's piazza again on a 1995 upper deck card

with a photo that could've fit right in with upper deck's 2010 set

same with this 1998 donruss card from the fan club subset

piazza gets out of the gear and up to the plate on his 1998 upper deck card

which features some spring training agility drills

one last piazza card, this one from 1998 upper deck collector's choice

one of his last dodger cards, too, by the way.

fast forward to 2005 topps opening day, here's kazuhisa ishii signing some autographs

as he is in the 2005 topps chrome set, too

fast forward again to 2011, here's a 2011 bowman dee gordon card

it's another dodger stadium card, and another memorials card as dee's sporting the duke snider memorial patch.

thanks for the trade kerry.  here's hoping the dodgers can even up the series and make more like 2009 than 2004 or 1985.

cards from 15 years ago

yes, i am still trying to clear out the scanned folder.  here are some cards that were brand new in 1998 - the year of the piazza trade.  i'll start with my lone paul konerko autograph.  it's an on card auto from 1998 upper deck sp chirography

konerko just finished up his 15th season as the white sox's first baseman.  15 years.  that's 5 more seasons than steve garvey played first for the dodgers.  seven more than wes parker.  four more than eric karros.  even gil hodges was the dodgers' first baseman for only about 14 seasons.  what if the dodgers had not traded konerko?  it boggles the mind.

1998 upper deck collector's choice todd zeile

that card pleases me, aesthetically.

also from 1998 upper deck collector's choice, ramon martinez

not as striking of a card as the zeile.

here's the back of gary sheffield's 1998 upper deck card

looks like it's camera day at dodger stadium.  camera day circa 1978 was the first time i was on the field at dodger stadium.  i wonder where the pictures we took that day wound up.  i might have to do some digging.  also, there's that date - 5/15/98.  the day that fox traded mike piazza to the marlins.  brutal.

1998 topps gallery eric karros

and 1998 fleer ultra eric young

here's a 1998 donruss mike piazza 'spirit of the game' subsert card

donruss went somewhat o-pee-chee with the 'traded to mets' text.  i guess spending only a week in miami doesn't really count.

1998 fleer tradition todd hollandsworth

just how many cards does holly have showing him at the fence?  it seems like a lot.

i hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane and that the memory of piazza getting dealt wasn't too painful for you fellow dodger fans.