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.

for one brief moment...

i've bought some cards on ebay recently - some vintage dodgers, some recent stuff, some a hodgepodge of dodger relics.  at any rate, my mailbox has been somewhat full so at first i didn't think too much of it when i opened a bubble mailer and this card slid out.

it's a 2012 topps tribute steve garvey auto, numbered out of 24.  i knew i had been watching a couple of auctions for these cards, but i didn't recall even bidding on one.  i would say about 5 years ago i stopped being a 'collect at all costs' garvey collector, so it's not a big deal to me to let his higher valued autos or relics go by the wayside if i'm not feeling the design or the price or whatever.  this card, as i watched the auctions, fell into the 'more than i want to pay' category.

i looked at my phone and determined that, in fact, i had not won this card in an auction.  instead, i had won a 2007 sweet spot steve garvey auto from the same seller.  not a bad deal for me to have received this card instead, but i did the honest thing and sent the seller a note.  as i am typing this (friday night) i have not heard back from him, although i have to believe that the other buyer has also sent him a note.

this is the second time that something like this has happened to me, but the first time i didn't receive a card that i coveted so much.  still, once the seller gets back to me, i'll send the card on its way, happy to have 'owned' it for even a short period of time.