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.

a memorial patch for chuck tanner

chuck tanner spent 8 years in the major leagues as an outfielder for the braves, cubs, and angels before embarking on a managerial career.  he managed in the angels' farm system from 1963-1970, leading their triple-a club to a 98-48 record in 1970, before he was hired by the white sox to manage in the majors.  tanner led the chisox through the 1975 season, and then managed the oakland a's in 1976.  he was actually traded by a's owner charlie finley to the pirates for manny sanguillen prior to the 1977 campaign, and for nine seasons, tanner managed the bucs.  

when he passed away in february of 2011, the team decided to add a memorial patch to their uniform - a black circle with a yellow 'stargell star' and tanner's number 7 inside.  you can see the patch on neil walker's 2012 topps opening day card

here is is again on andrew mccutchen's sleeve on chase d'arnaud's 2011 topps update card

and it's there on brandon wood's 2011 topps update cognac parallel

since the walker card is in my double play binder, i've got this 2011 topps update card of former dodger xavier paul

representing the memorial in my collection. i think that's josh harrison that is also sporting the patch.

tanner, of course, was the manager of the 1979 world champion pirates.  that was the only team of tanner's that advanced to the postseason, although his clubs finished in second place in their division four times, including those 1976 a's and his first two pirate teams.  following a 104-loss season in 1985, tanner was fired, and so he finished his pirates' tenure highlighted by the world series win over the orioles in 1979 but tarnished by the drug trials that cast a bad light on his clubhouse with a 711-685 record.  he managed the braves in 1986, 1987, and part of 1988, and eventually returned to the pirates as an advisor to their general manager not too long before he passed away at the age of 82

a memorial patch for harmon killebrew

harmon killebrew, 'killer' as he was known, died in may of 2011 as a result of esophageal cancer.  the twins were quick to add a number 3 patch to their right sleeves in his honor, and i believe they also wore their 1963 throwback uniforms at home for the remainder of the season.

here's ben revere's 2012 bowman card which displays the patch  

as does danny valencia's 2012 topps opening day card

and liam hendrik's 2012 topps allen & ginter

and 2012 topps heritage cards

since they use the same photo.

here's a 2012 topps red bordered card of joe mauer, courtesy of minneapolis-based target

as well as a cognac parallel of franscisco liriano

and a regular ol' base card of matt capps

also from 2012 topps, each showing the patch.

i believe that the patch the team wore with their blue alternate jerseys had a white border that the other patch did not.  so, i have this 2012 topps luke hughes card in the memorial binder.

as for the more frequently worn jerseys, i knew right away that i wanted a card of jim thome to represent killebrew's memorial patch in my collection, and this 2012 topps golden moments insert didn't disappoint

but this thome highlight/checklist card from 2012 topps is even better

thome and killebrew developed a special friendship during thome's short stay with the twins - the slugger passed killebrew on the all-time home run list during his time in the twin cities - so it seems fitting for this card to be in the binder.  the card celebrates thome's 600th career home run, a milestone that killebrew fell short of, although his 573 roundtrippers were good enough for fifth all-time when killer retired following the 1975 season.

as anyone who ever approached killebrew for an autograph will tell you, he was a gracious man.  i had the opportunity to speak with him briefly a couple of times, and he left me with the feeling each time that we could have talked for hours.  rest in peace, harmon.

a ribbon for a fan

three years ago today, rangers fan shannon stone fell over a railing after reaching for a ball and died.  the rangers were playing the a's in the first game of a four game set that night, and for the remainder of the series, each team wore a black ribbon on their jerseys in memory of stone.

this 2012 topps opening day josh hamilton card

shows the ribbon well.  the photo comes from the july 9 game in which hamilton (who was the player that threw the ball in stone's direction) hit a walk-off home run to beat the a's.  i couldn't find any cards showing the a's wearing the ribbon, but here is a photo from getty images

the rangers also erected a statue for all ranger fans using stone and his son as the inspiration.

a tiger memorial patch for sparky

sparky anderson wasn't out of a managerial job for long following his firing by the cincinnati reds after the 1978 season.  in june of 1979, he was hired to lead the detroit tigers, and he remained at the helm for 17 seasons.  in 1984, sparky's tigers went 35-5 to open the season and never looked back, winning a world series title for the first time since 1968.

like the reds, the tigers wore a memorial patch for sparky on their right sleeves during the 2011 season following his death in november of 2010.  you can see it on al alburquerque's 2011 topps update card

miguel cabrera's 2012 topps card

doug fister's 2012 topps opening day card

and alex avila's 2012 topps gypsy queen card

the card that gives the best look at it, however, is this 2012 topps heritage andy dirks card that i received from pat at hot corner cards

although the 1984 team was the only one of sparky's tiger squads to reach the world series, he also led the team to a playoff berth in 1987, winning manager of the year awards in both of those seasons.  his 2194 wins as a manager (863 with the reds and 1331 with the tigers) were the third most in history when he retired behind connie mack and john mcgraw (he has since been passed by tony larussa, joe torre, and bobby cox), and he was inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 2000.

the phillies' 'b' memorial patch

two of the three buck brothers who purchased the phillies back in 1981 died during the 2010 offseason.  alexander 'whip' buck passed away in october 2010, while jim buck died in march of 2011.  as far as i can tell, the third brother - william - is still alive today.  they were the heirs to what is now known as the glaxosmithkline pharmaceutical company, and used a small amount of their fortunes to buy the phillies in 1981.

for the 2011 season, the phillies wore a circular patch with the letter 'b' inside to remember the two brothers.  the patch is visible on a whole mess of 2012 cards, including this 2012 topps heritage charlie manuel card

roy halladay is wearing it on this 2012 topps league leader card

clayton kershaw is also wearing a memorial patch - his is for duke snider.

here's a nice 2012 topps target red parallel of jose contreras with the patch

and a regular 2012 topps card of joe savery

i thought about using ryan howard's 2012 topps chrome card as the example in the memorial binder

but shane victorino's card from the same set is better

i'm not a victorino fan, so i kept looking.  here's a 2012 topps gypsy queen jimmy rollins card

and a couple of hunter pence cards - 2012 topps opening day

and 2012 topps archives

i probably like pence less than victorino, so i'll go with jimmy rollins' 2012 topps opening day card

as the representative card in the collection.

with all the talk about the new dodgers' ownership and the finances that the guggenheim group has, the buck brothers were also venture capitalists and have apparently set the phillies up with a vast amount of resources to remain competitive for a long time.

the paul splittorff memorial patch

paul splittorff spent his entire professional career with the kansas city royals - first as a pitcher and, after retiring from the active roster, as a broadcaster for the team.  he was the first royal pitcher to win 20 games, and is the team's all-time leader in wins with 166.

splittorff passed away in may of 2011 from cancer, and the team wore a 'splitt' patch on their right sleeves for the remainder of the season.

you can see it on billy butler's 2012 topps opening day card

and it is more clearly seen on bruce chen's 2012 topps card

but the card that goes in my memorials binder is this 2012 topps chrome mike moustakas refractor

splittorff did help the royals get to their first world series in 1980, but retired in 1984 and so was not a part of the 1985 world championship team.  still, he was obviously a big part of the royals' organization, as the memorial patch attests.

have i any more junior junkie supplied double play cards, you ask?

well, first i will show a steve garvey card that the junior junkie sent to me in one of many pwe's and/or packages this past year.  it's a 1984 ralston purina card

which is nice because they actually had a license.  there is at least one other set that uses this photo without licensure, and the hat looks pretty ridiculous once the sd logo is removed.  it's not that normal looking with the logo either, now that i think about it.

anyway, back to the double play cards

2012 bowman ian kinsler

and jemile weeks

same stadium, different games.  it almost looks like the two could be turning dp's side by side.

2012 topps robinson cano

forcing out josh hamilton

2012 topps opening day starlin castro

stepehn drew

and jason kipnis

bonus jason kipnis time! here is his 2013 topps emerald parallel

you can't really tell, but he is jumping over a sliding player there to make the double play turn.

and yes, there are still more cards to show as the junior junkie day continues...