the herb score memorial patch

herb score, the indians' pitcher turned broadcaster passed away in november of 2008.  the team honored him by adding a memorial patch with his number 27 and a microphone to their jerseys for the 2009 season.  here's a look at the patch on shin-soo choo's 2009 upper deck sweet spot card

and here's an up-close look at the patch

score joined the indians the year after their infamous 1954 season - 111 regular season wins but swept in the world series by the giants - and was named the 1955 american league rookie of the year.  in 1956, he led the league in strikeouts for the second straight year, and also won 20 games.  score was 2-1 with 39 strikeouts and 3 complete games after four starts in 1957, but was lost for the season when, in his fifth start, he was hit in the head by a gil mcdougald line drive.

score returned to the indians for the 1958 and 1959 seasons, and later pitched for the white sox from 1960-1962, but was not the same pitcher, winning only 17 games and striking out 290 batters in 345.2 innings pitched.

following his retirement, score joined cleveland's broadcast booth, and called indian games from 1964 through 1997.  score was thus able to call the indians' return to the world series in 1995; the first time the team had reached the fall classic since 1954.  his final game as the team's broadcaster was their game 7 loss in the 1997 series to the marlins.

score was beset by health problems following his retirement from broadcasting - he was injured in a car accident in 1998 and later suffered a debilitating stroke in 2002.  he was 75 years old when he passed away.

a double play dump

here is a veritable smorgasbord of cards featuring the double play turn at second base.

from 2003 upper deck, we have rookie of the year angel berroa

future hall of famer craig biggio

former big leaguer carlos febles

gold glover brandon phillips

and journeyman rey sanchez

dude turned 130 dp's in 2001, though.

here's a 2003 upper deck sweet spot card of astros' prospect tommy whiteman turning two

although the guy sliding in is tough to see.  whiteman, a native american, made it to aaa with the astros and rockies, but never did get the call to the majors.

here's a 2004 donruss card of junior spivey

and a 2008 topps stadium club 1st day issue parallel of german duran

duran made it to the majors in 2008 but hasn't been back since.

now for some 2009 topps cards - alex cintron

and kelly johnson

plus a 2009 upper deck sweet spot troy tulowitzki card

these next two, i purchased from william of foul bunt via check out my cards on black friday.  they are both 2010 topps gold parallels - alberto callaspo

and ian kinsler

now we get really random - here are a couple of minor league cards that i got in a trade a while back - 2003 bowie baysox team issue cards of mike fontenot

and chris lemonis

a 1993 topps stadium club card of felix fermin

and that fantastic double play card from 1971 of cookie rojas

why am i showing cookie again?  because this one's canadian!

cookie shines like a star in the summer night!  that would be a good card to end on, but there are still a ton more double play cards to be featured.  stay tuned!

i must be in the front row!

i received a trade package from saints of the cheap seats recently that contained fantastic dodger goodness, none of which were 'cheap seat' worthy.  these were some really nice cards.  here's a sampling:

the first card in the package was this 1996 leaf steel hideo nomo card

as the name would suggest, the card is metal, all right.  i could put this thing in my breast pocket and it would stop a bullet.  no doubt.  this card is probably worth a lot thanks to the price of steel.

here's a 1998 topps gold label eric karros card

sadly, not printed on gold.  i am not too much of a fan of multiple photos on the fronts of cards, but at least this card shows us that eric bats and eric fields.  i wonder what they did for cards of designated hitters.

next up are a couple of cards from fleer's version of topps gold label - 1999 fleer flair showcase raul mondesi - the power...

... and the passion

"oh - the temper of the time."  was peter garrett singing about rauuuuuuuuuuuuuul? either way, we now know that mondesi bats, broods, catches balls, and runs.  and is number 43.  good info.  but was he "wasting away in paradise"?

2008 topps delwyn young auto

delwyn hit a bunch of doubles in the minors in 2007 and topps celebrated his performance with sticker autos.  meanwhile, the people in the background look like they are straight out of 'when it was a game'.

here's a teammate of young's - james mcdonald - on a 2009 upper deck sweet spot auto

young and mcdonald (not to be confused with old mcdonald) are teammates on the pirates.  actually, i am reminded that they are not teammates as delwyn fled across the state to join the phillies after last season.

1998 leaf fractal foundation dennis reyes

i was under the impression that reyes became a lefty after being visited by dodger scout mike brito who made the suggestion.  it turns out that reyes sustained a fairly serious injury to his right shoulder and so became a lefty out of necessity.  he's currently still pitching in the bigs having joined the red sox this year.  i recall that when he won his big league debut for the dodgers, he ended the dodgers' 5-year streak of not having a left-handed starter earn a victory.  and to think that they made the playoffs in two of those years.

here's a jeff kent relic from 2008 ud spx

that's all i have to say about that.

we'll finish with this here-to-fore unseen (by me) card, a 1996 upper deck collector's choice you crash the game card of eric karros

it's pretty cool, with the transparent part in the middle.  reminds me of the melted lifesavers my grandma would put in the middle of some of her christmas sugar cookies.  i remember the yctg promotion, and i am pretty sure i mailed in some winners, but i don't recall getting cards like this back from dick mcwilliams.  anyone have some info on this card?  are there other dodgers as well?

thanks dan!

redemption song!

whereas my last encounter with a topps redemption was great (think the johnny cash/joe strummer version), upper deck has come through like bob marley.  only 9 days after i entered my redemption code online, this showed up in my mailbox.

awesome.

thanks upper deck.

2009 ho ho holiday winnings

beardy hosted, i submitted, you voted, he decided, i chose, he sent, i received, i posted.

for the record, the cards are: 2008 topps a&g jj hardy jersey, 2007 ud sweet spot jered weaver jersey, 2008 topps a&g garret anderson jersey, 2009 topps finest jon lester blue refractor, 2007 topps turkey red hideki okajima refractor, 2009 topps finest carlos quentin blue refractor, 2009 ud sweet spot kerry wood jersey, and 2008 ud masterpieces eric chavez jersey.

thanks beardy!

i am joe collector monthly box break bonanza!

i am a happy man, now that i am joe collector has two monthly box breaks.  in the first, the team i have had for the past few months has been the twins.  that's ok, although the one month i traded them to motherscratcher for the dodgers was the only month with any twins hits.  anyway, in the second break, i have the big blue wrecking crew, and boy did it pay off last month.  2008 playoff prime cuts and 2009 sweet spot were the products, and here is what i received:

from the prime cuts break, i got a duke snider card.

it's numbered to 249, i think, if that sort of thing matters to you.

i did better with the sweet spot break.  i'm not sure if i have all of the base dodgers now, but it's got to be close.

here's manny:

he's not pleased with the way i scanned his card.  too far to the right.  sorry manny.

russell martin

i hope topps goes back to calling him russell.  russ doesn't seem to work as well.

hiroki kuroda

the only one of these guys in the home whites, although i am guessing it's a spring training shot and not a dodger stadium one.

clayton kershaw

sometimes i wish the dodgers had a facial hair rule like some other teams.  monty burns would never stand for this sort of thing.

matt kemp

the bison doesn't need to look the ball into his glove.  no sir.

chad billingsley

a year ago, i was wondering whether the broken leg he suffered at the beginning of the postseason would prevent him from starting the season on time.  now i wonder if it wouldn't have been better if he missed some time up front so that he could, in theory, finish strong.

hey - it's billingsley again!

with a silver auto on a black ball.  one of charlie finley's failed experiments.

and mark loretta!

with an auto on a piece of wood.  now, don't get me wrong - loretta had a big hit for the dodgers in the nlds - but he should not have a hit in this product.  he doesn't even have a base card as far as i can tell.  this is just wrong.  but i'm a dodger fan so i'll be ok.  looking forward to the jamey carroll relics in 2010!

finally, the piece de resistance as some might say

a redemption thingy good for a matt kemp 'skin-red stitch black ink'.  that sounds like a tattoo.  hm. anyway, i redeemed it yesterday and it says it's in stock so you know what that means...yes, the official redemption watch is on!  check it on the right.

thanks jeff.  can't wait to see what january brings!