a patch for duke

hall of famer and center fielder extraordinaire of the last brooklyn dodger and first los angeles dodger teams duke snider died on february 27, 2011 at the age of 84.  in tribute, the dodgers added a patch bearing his retired number 4 to their uniforms for the 2011 season.

the patch was typically worn on the right sleeve, but for the all-star game, it was moved to the left chest.  it's there on andre ethier's 2011 topps update cognac parallel

as well as clayton kershaw's

and kershaw's diamond anniversary sparkle, too

i've got his plain ol' base card in the memorials binder though.

dee gordon's 2012 bowman card is also in the binder

since it is a good example of the patch on the right sleeve.

here are a few other examples, including kershaw's 2012 bowman card

and a whole mess of matt kemp cards

2012 bowman chrome legends in the making die cut

2012 topps tribute

2012 topps museum collection

and 2012 topps gold rush wrapper redemption thingy

i appreciate the fact that that particular kemp card features the 1944 brooklyn alternate unis, and even though that was a bit before duke's time, i added kemp's 2012 topps opening day superstar celebrations card

to the memorials binder as a sort of bonus card.  simply because i can.

the last dodger pitcher to win the mvp award is clayton kershaw

the national league hadn't had a pitcher win the most valuable player award since bob gibson took home the hardware in 1968.  now, for the first time in my lifetime, a pitcher has won the nl mvp award and it's a guy who throws for my favorite team.

you can say that it's because giancarlo stanton got hurt towards the end of the season, but it doesn't matter.  clayton kershaw is the 2014 nl mvp.

from such humble beginnings - this is his rookie card from 2008 topps update & highlights

don't worry - i've got more cards to show.

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee

2011 topps diamond duos, with madison bumgarner

bumgarner had a historically fantastic postseason, no doubt.  kershaw did not.  hopefully that just means that his eventual championship run will be that much sweeter.

2011 topps marquee

the brooklyn baby blues.  i wonder if the dodgers will ever play in the robins' 1916 checked uniforms.  maybe in a couple of years to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the franchise's first world series appearance?

2012 bowman chrome

2012 bowman's best

both of those cards show the duke snider memorial patch.  duke never won an mvp award, although he and teammate roy campanella came very close to sharing the award in 1955.

2013 topps toys 'r' us purple parallel

2013 topps mini

2014 topps allen & ginter pastime's pastime

with a nod to his philanthropic efforts on the back

2014 topps gypsy queen n174 insert

2014 topps heritage

2014 topps heritage league leaders

2014 topps heritage then and now with sandy koufax

kershaw has more in common with the 1963 version of sandy koufax - that was the year that koufax won the mvp award.

kershaw has joined a select list of players with this award, and he also joins maury wills, koufax, steve garvey, and kirk gibson as los angeles dodgers to win the mvp.  i am hopeful that in 2015 kershaw will join koufax, garvey, and gibson as a player to win a postseason mvp award as well.

even more cards from doc holoday

finishing up the trade posts for today with a few more from my trade with doc holoday.  he really did send a nice group of cards as part of a 'spring cleaning' on his part.  i am quite appreciative.

2007 topps jeff kent hit parade insert

kent was 7th on the active leader list for career rbi when this card came out.  he is currently 49th on the all-time leader list, but should be passed by albert pujols this season

1994 upper deck minors todd hollandsworth

one of holly's two cards in that set

2007 topps update & highlights brady clark

by the time this card was released, i believe clark was already an ex-dodger playing in san diego

2007 upper deck sp authentic rafael furcal authentic speed insert

i don't know if doc saw this post or not, but the furky was needed and is appreciated!

2008 upper deck x andruw jones xponential insert

he's an x-dodger, thankfully

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee mark loretta

still working on that set!

2011 bowman chrome justin sellers

and 2011 bowman chrome dee gordon

and 2012 bowman chrome clayton kershaw

both the gordon and the kershaw cards show the duke snider memorial patch, which i will address in a future post.

thanks again for the trade!

turning two never gets old

especially when there are new dp turns to show off.  well, not all are new - just new to my collection - like this 1993 donruss spirit of the game insert of carlos baerga, and, i suppose, gary gaetti

with a reference to a sly stallone movie about arm wrestling to boot!  front and back dp goodness is tough to beat.

here's a decent 1998 topps stadium club derek jeter card

that is pretty decent - a bit dark, but still nicely done.

here's a dusty 1994 ted williams billy martin card

i saw this card for the first time over at dime boxes a few weeks ago, and went straight to sportlots to get one for myself.

here's some newer stuff - a 2013 topps danny espinosa with tony gwynn rolling in

i also picked up the target red

and emerald versions of this card

i don't think i am going for the full rainbow, but i would accept a walmart blue and a gold version if offered.

here's another 2013 topps card - this one is howie kendrick

those base cards looked familiar to me so i almost didn't pick them up.  but then i checked and saw that i only had the opening day versions.

similarly, this 2009 topps update & highlights matt tolbert card was one i surely thought was already in my dp binder

turns out, i had tolbert sign my lone copy, so it was in one of my ttm/ip/non-cert auto binders.

finally, a 2012 bowman chrome ian kinsler

and a 2012 topps golden giveaway card with troy tulowitzki's base card on it

that counts, too.

i have several more new (to me) double play cards to showcase.  eta on the greatest double play card of all time tournament is fall-ish.  i hope.

black as coal

continuing on from today's earlier post, i present more cards from night owl.  these were part of a contest that i won, and i'll begin again with a black card.  not a walmart parallel, but just a 2012 topps heritage black bordered parallel of former dodger (and dodger double dipper) randy wolf.

the contest winnings were quite a colorful assortment of cards.  here's a 2012 topps jason vargas red bordered card from target.

and, continuing down the rainbow, here's a card with plenty of orange, not to mention airbrushed hats.  it's a 1972 topps angels' rookie stars card

although it seems to be devoid of stars.  that's ok, though, because it does feature billy parker, whose first major league hit was a walk-off home run in his big league debut.  check out this story to learn more about him.

more colors - no yellow bordered card, but there was a gold bordered 2012 bowman brandon mccarthy card

and then a 2012 bowman chrome brandon beachy green refractor

that means we are at the 'blue' part of the color prism, so here's a 1982 topps dave stewart rookie card

not blue enough?  tough.

on to purple - here's a purple parallel of yoenis cespedes from 2012 topps chrome

writing that reminded me of the lemonheads 'purple parallelogram'.

more purple, but also black, comes by way of this 2011 topps heritage black bordered parallel of the rockies' ubaldo jimenez

actually, there's not much purple on that uniform at all.

i'll end with some shiny - this 2012 topps ken griffey jr value box refractor thingy

it's pretty sharp, but it won't be in my hands for long.

thanks greg, and congrats on all those readers that inspire you to give away cards.