there is a lot going on on this sheet from the steve garvey binders, but something is missing

i'm only posting about one sheet in the steve garvey binders today, and it's sheet 70:

those cards are:

1. 2012 topps triple threads unity relics emerald /18
2. 2012 topps triple threads relic autographs 'dodgers great' /18
3. 2012 upper deck sp signature edition autograph
4. 2012 upper deck sp signature edition season signatures quad 1981 world series champions (with davey lopes, dusty baker, and ron cey) /15
5. 2013 panini elite extra edition bloodlines (with ryan garvey)
6. 2013 panini america's pastime pastime signatures auto /99
7. 2013 topps chasing history autograph
8. 2013 topps million dollar chase autograph /268
9. 2013 topps allen & ginter framed mini relic

i think there are five different versions of the relic autographs from triple threads - different in that the cut outs for the relics spell different things. i'm glad i have the 'dodgers great' version, even if it comes with padre uniform material.

i am again somewhat disappointed with topps for not giving garvey base cards in the chasing history set, as well as the allen & ginter set, but i'll take the autos and relics anyway.

i noticed after scanning this page that the garvey card from 2013 panini hometown heroes is missing.  i know i have it, i guess i've misplaced it in one of my boxes.  i'll have to dig it out and get it in its rightful spot.  when i do, i'll update this (or another post).

here are the backs:

here we see garvey's son ryan (which is actually the front of the elite extra edition card).  the younger garvey was drafted by the phillies in 15th round of the 2011 draft, but didn't sign and wound up being selected by the rockies in the 33rd round the following year.  he spent three years in the minors, but was released by the rockies in march of this year.

when the cards go blue

it's nice when the coloring of a card accentuates elements in the photo, and it is particularly nice when it is dodger blue that is being accentuated.  following up on my recent decision to complete the 2007 topps chrome blue refractor dodger team set (which is not really a recent decision - as a team collector, i had already decided to complete it - it's more like prioritizing), i have picked up a trio of cards.

2007 topps chrome jd drew blue refractor

2007 topps chrome brad penny blue refractor

and 2007 topps chrome juan pierre blue refractor

see what i mean?  jd's helmet, brad's stirrups, and juan's fake blue jersey all look better surrounded by those blue borders.

here are some other blue parallels.

2010 topps finest manny ramirez blue refractor

and 2010 topps opening day manny ramirez toppstown

go ahead. steal the code.

sometimes, the blues don't quite match, which was the case with the walmart parallels that started showing up in 2012.

2012 topps dee gordon walmart blue parallel

2013 topps kenley jansen walmart blue parallel

2014 topps hanley ramirez walmart blue parallel

2014 topps update chone figgins walmart blue parallel

and then there are some blue parallels that sparkle, like this 2013 topps dee gordon silver slate blue sparkle parallel

with dee turning two.

sometimes, the blue is subtle, as is the case with this 2014 panini hall of fame don drysdale blue refractor

numbered 54/75 - one off of his jersey number!  just kidding - that does not excite me, but blue cards featuring the big blue wrecking crew (yes, by that i mean dodgers - not new york football giants) do.

los angeles dodger commemorative patches through the years

i've been meaning to do this for quite some time, however it was a review of brian's want list at highly subjective and completely arbitrary that proved to be the push i needed to get it done. you see, brian collects cards showing commemorative - not memorial - patches.

the dodgers have worn a few commemorative patches recently, but not nearly as many as some teams for whom there seems to be something worth celebrating pretty much every year.  i'm limiting these posts to the los angeles dodger team, which means there won't be any discussion of the new york world's fair patch worn by the brooklyn dodgers in 1939.

well, aside from that 1961 fleer card, there won't be any discussion.  this list also does not include single game patches, such as the jackie robinson day patch that has been worn on april 15 in some recent seasons.

the task is fairly easy, because the dodgers didn't wear any patches, especially team specific patches for quite some time after moving to the west coast.  here's a year by year rundown.

1958 - none

1959 - none

1960 - none

1961 - none

1962 - none

1963 - none

1964 - none

1965 - none

1966 - none

1967 - none

1968 - none

1969 - major league baseball 100th anniversary (1971 dell's today team stamp maury wills)

1970 - none

1971 - none

1972 - none

1973 - none

1974 - none

1975 - none

1976 - national league centennial (1977 topps manny mota)

1977 - none

1978 - none

1979 - none

1980 - dodger stadium all-star game patch (1982 topps reggie smith)

1981 - city of los angeles bicentennial (1982 fleer bob welch)

1982 - none

1983 - los angeles dodgers 25th anniversary (1984 fleer derrel thomas)

1984 - dodger stadium olympic venue (1985 donruss orel hershiser)

1985 - none

1986 - none

1987 - dodger stadium 25th anniversary (1988 score steve sax)

1988 - none (vero beach 40th anniversary patch during spring training - 1988 donruss baseball's best alfredo griffin)

1989 - none

1990 - dodger national league franchise 100th anniversary (1991 topps debut '90 luis lopez)

1991 - none

1992 - dodger stadium 30th anniversary (1993 donruss triple play brett butler)

1993 - none (don drysdale/roy campanella and tim crews memorial patches)

1994 - major league baseball 125th anniversary patch (1995 fleer henry rodriguez)

1995 - none

1996 - dodger stadium 35th season (1997 upper deck tommy lasorda)

1997 - jackie robinson 50th anniversary patch (1998 topps finest brett butler)

1998 - los angeles dodgers 40th anniversary (1999 fleer brilliants eric karros)

1999 - dodger heroes (1999 keebler dodgers tripp cromer)

2000 - none

2001 - none

2002 - dodger stadium 40th anniversary (2003 topps total david ross)

2003 - none

2004 - none

2005 - none

2006 - none

2007 - none

2008 - los angeles dodgers 50th anniversary (2009 upper deck matt kemp)

2009 - none

2010 - 1955 world championship 55th anniversary (2010 topps update reed johnson)

2011 - none (duke snider memorial patch)

2012 - dodger stadium 50th anniversary (2013 topps josh beckett)

2013 - none

2014 - none

2015 - none

there were several missed opportunities that could have been celebrated - inaugural season on the west coast (1958), defending world champions (1960), opening of dodger stadium (1962), defending world champions (1964), defending world champions (1966), defending world champions (1982), defending world champions (1989), etc. as you can see, there were lots of chances to have worn defending world champions patches in the past, and i'm hoping next year they'll be in a position to wear one (or not) again.

look at some cards that feature double plays

they are self explanatory and offer up an easy post topic, which is what i need right now.  all are either new to my collection or recently unearthed from any number of monster boxes in my somewhat unorganized card collection area.

1998 fleer ultra craig counsell

1998 fleer ultra craig counsell gold medallion edition

1998 fleer ultra mike lansing

1998 topps stadium club ray durham

1999 topps stadium club ray durham

2001 topps stadium club ray durham

2004 topps bazooka rafael furcal

2004 topps bazooka rafael furcal mini

2004 topps rafael furcal red chunk

2004 upper deck marcus giles

2013 topps silver slate blue sparkle danny espinosa

2014 bowman silver ice ian kinsler

2014 topps chrome jonathan schoop

2014 topps chrome refractor jonathan schoop

2014 topps chrome andrelton simmons

2015 topps opening day javier baez

i'll try harder next time.

some recent umpire initial memorials

it seems to me that umpires are showing up on cards less and less these days.  i don't know if it has anything to do with a lawsuit that i recall from the 90's wherein one umpire sued upper deck for using his likeness in a photo for a card without his authorization (anyone remember the specifics of this?).  more recently, of course, we have seen umpires photoshopped out of cards altogether, or at least all but a leg.  there's an umpire in the background of this 2013 topps erick aybar card

which also features ryan doumit at target field.  in fact, the umpire in the photo is alfonso marquez, who wears number 72 seen on his throat protector.  most interesting to me, however, is that marquez is also wearing a memorial patch.

former umpires marty springstead and harry wendelstedt both passed away in the early months of 2012 (springstead in january and wendelstedt in march), and the umpires decided to honor them by wearing patches with their initials during the 2012 season.  here's a usa today photo of angel hernandez with the two patches

unfortunately, the best example i have of these memorials on a card is this 2013 topps chrome yu darvish 1972 insert

with the umpire's arm and patches in the background.  it's like the bigfoot photo.

in august of 2013, umpire frank pulli passed away.  a few months later, as the baseball postseason was getting underway, umpire wally bell died. both umpires were honored with memorial patches, which are seen on the sleeves of the 2013 world series umpiring crew in the getty images photo below

the 'fp' patch for pulli was worn during the last couple months of the 2013 regular season, and the 'wb' patch for bell was carried over into the 2014 season.  it is visible on the left sleeve of the umpire behind nelson cruz on his 2014 topps chrome refractor card

another umpire memorial from a postseason was the charlie williams patch/sticker worn by the umpires during the 2005 world series.  williams passed away in september of 2005. i don't have a card featuring the memorial, but it is visiible on three of the umpires in this getty images photo

joe west, the home plate umpire, put it on his chest protector.

i agree with the notion that, if an umpire is doing their job well, they are unnoticed.  i'd still like to see them on a baseball card once in a while.