a braves' memorial patch for lew burdette and johnny sain

lew burdette and johnny sain both wore number 33 for the braves - sain from 1942 into 1951 when he was traded to the yankees for burdette, and burdette from that point through 1963, during which time the team had moved from boston to milwaukee.  both men passed away during the offseason between the 2006 and 2007 seasons, and the atlanta braves decided to add a patch to their jerseys honoring them during the ensuing campaign. the patch, a black baseball with the number '33' between the initials 'lb' and 'js' was worn on the left sleeve, and is seen on john smoltz's 2008 bowman card

as well as buddy carlyle's 2008 upper deck first edition card

but i'm using tim hudson's card from 2008 bowman

to represent the memorial in the binder.

sain was part of the famous refrain regarding the state of the braves' pitching in the late 1940's: '(warren) spahn and sain and pray for rain!'  he won 20 or more games each season from 1946-1948 and then again in 1950.  he helped the braves win the pennant in 1948, and was 1-1 in the world series against the indians with 17 innings pitched in his two starts - one of which was a shutout - but the braves fell to the indians.  during the 1951 season, sain was sent to the yankees in exchange for burdette and cash.  sain went on to win three world series titles with the yankees as a pitcher, and a couple more rings later as a pitching coach for the yankees in 1961 and 1962, and the detroit tigers in 1963.  sain later served as the pitching coach for the braves in two different stints during the 1970's and 1980's.  he was 89 years old when he died.

burdette won 179 regular season games for the braves during his tenure, plus three games (two by shutout) against the yankees in the 1957 world series.  he was the mvp of the fall classic, as the braves won their only championship in milwaukee that year.  the next year, 1958, the braves again faced the yankees in the world series, but burdette was 1-2 in his 3 starts, including losses in games 5 and 7.  burdette led the league in era in 1956 and wins in 1959 (tied with teammate spahn and the giants' sam jones).  he was 80 at the time of his death.

a couple of trivia notes - sain was the first pitcher jackie robinson faced in the major leagues, and burdette was the winning pitcher in the game in which harvey haddix threw 12 perfect innings before losing in the 13th - burdette scattered 12 hits over 13 innings to shut out the pirates and beat haddix that day.

the cardinals' josh hancock memorial patch

just a few hours after pitching three innings in an afternoon game on april 27, 2007, cardinals pitcher josh hancock was killed in an automobile accident.  the accident occurred just after midnight on april 28, and it was later determined that hancock's blood-alcohol content was about twice the legal limit.

after postponing their game that had been scheduled for the 28th, the cardinals added a memorial patch - hancock's number 32 in white within a black circle to the right sleeves of their home whites (as demonstrated by chris duncan's 2008 upper deck first edition card)

and the left sleeves of their away grays (as seen on this 2009 upper deck albert pujols starquest card)

i've got that pujols and this one - a 2009 topps card

in the memorials binder.

hancock had joined the cardinals for the 2006 season and was a part of their world championship club, although he did not pitch in the world series.  he pitched more innings in relief that year than any other member of the staff, and he had earned the chance to reprise that role in 2007.  sadly, his death came after his 8th appearance of the season at the age of 29.

it would be remiss of me not to mention the death this offseason of cardinal prospect oscar taveras under similar circumstance, as well as the fact that the team took much heat following hancock's death for not sending a strong enough message regarding drinking and driving following manager tony larussa's dui arrest earlier that spring.  as a result of hancock's death, many teams removed alcohol from their clubhouses, even though hancock had been drinking at a bar owned by former cardinal mike shannon, not at the stadium named for one of the biggest breweries in the country.

rocky nelson was a dodger double dipper

rocky nelson was the second rocky (after colavito) on the sheet of cards i featured earlier today from the 1990 target set.

so, it's rocky ii!  not a bad sequel as sequels go.  this rocky, however, predated colavito by a decade or so.  in fact, rocky nelson was a dodger double dipper.

[this is the ninetieth installment in the double dippers posts.  here are the previous posts - brett butler, omar daal, eric young, nick willhite, chris gwynn, mickey hatcher, dave anderson, don zimmer, rafael landestoy, dave hansen, jose vizcaino, hideo nomo, greg maddux, mike maddux, jon garland, chan ho park, vicente romo, gene mauch, denny lewallyn, von joshua, joe moeller, dioner navarro, rudy seanez, bart shirley, randy wolf, ismael valdes, bobby castillo, mike devereaux, pete richert, jay johnstone, jesse orosco, lee lacy, giovanni carrara, jeff weaver, ted sizemore,  orel hershiser, tom goodwin, joe ferguson, eddie murray, matt luke, ken mcmullen, tim wallach, jerry grote, don sutton, ralph branca, todd hundley, elmer dessens, guillermo mota, joe beckwith, jamie hoffmann, babe herman, joe medwick, juan castro, ron perranoski, clyde king, paul waner, hughie jennings, ron negray, broadway aleck smith, george smith, johnny cooney, jim fairey, frenchy bordagaray, doc casey, waite hoyt, luis olmo, clyde sukeforth, willie keeler,  harry howell, germany smith, johnny allen, marv rackley, bobo newsom, maury wills, dazzy vance, ray hayworth, zack taylor, john cronin, art herring, brian falkenborg, bill reidy, john anderson, vito tamulis, wally hood, jim bruske, bill dahlen, patsy donovan, jamey wright, watty clark, and andy messersmith.]

nelson first appeared for the dodgers in 1952 following a trade with the white sox that came after the end of the 1951 season.  he hit .256 in 37 games during the regular season, and was 0 for 3 with a walk in the world series agains the yankees. nelson spent 1953 in the minors, and after the 1953 season, he was dealt to the indians.  the 1954 indians were one of the best teams (record wise) in history, but nelson played in only 4 regular season games before being re-acquired by the dodgers in may.  he spent the rest of the season, and the 1955 campaign as well, in the minors, but resurfaced with the dodgers in 1956.  however, after hitting .208 in 31 games for the dodgers, he was on the move again - this time on a claim by the cardinals - and he finished the season in saint louis.

nelson finished his career with the pirates, winning a ring in 1960.  nelson was the pirates' first baseman for game 7 of that series, which was won on bill mazeroski's home run.

sunday morning target dodgers - gonna fly now

well, i dug out a few more sheets from the 1990 target 100th anniversary giveaway set to scan and show off.  as for the subtitle of the post - you can probably guess that there is a rocky (or two) coming up.  with that, here are 14 more members of the dodger franchise fraternity from one of those sheets - the 15th guy being a double dipper who will get a post all to himself later today.

rube bressler

bressler began his career as a pitcher for the 1914 athletics, and converted to the outfield while with the reds later that decade.  by 1921, he had given up the mound for good.  bressler joined the robins in 1928 and patrolled the outfield as their left fielder for four seasons, during which time he hit .302 in 457 games.

jim brewer

that's a nice shot of brewer in dodger stadium, with the 'three sisters' palm trees in the background.  brewer was one of the best relievers in dodger history, with 125 saves over 12 seasons with the club, starting in 1964.  he pitched in three world series for the dodgers, and was an all-star in 1973.

rocky colavito

here's the first rocky on the sheet.  a former american league home run champ, colavito played for the dodgers in 1968 for just over 2 months.  during that time, he hit .204 with 3 homers and 11 rbi. after playing in just 40 games for them, the dodgers released colavito and he finished out his career with the yankees.

bill crouch

crouch was 4-0 in his rookie season with the 1939 dodgers. he pitched in 6 games, starting 3 and completing each of them.  had his career ended there, i would bet that he and his father, also bill crouch, would have been the only father/son big leaguers to throw complete games in each of their major league starts (dad had one start and one complete game in 1910 for the browns).  alas, the dodgers traded crouch to the phillies where he made 5 starts in 1941 and completed only one.

tom daly

daly joined the bridegrooms after three seasons in the national league just as the brooklyn franchise joined the senior circuit in 1890.  he remained with the club for 12 years, although he missed the 1897 season.  daly was the team's primary second baseman for much of that time, playing in a total of 1096 games and batting .294 for brooklyn.

cecil espy

espy was the white sox' first round draft pick in 1980. i remember this because the la times made a big deal about the 1980 draft due to crenshaw high's darryl strawberry being picked first overall.  in reviewing the draft results, i noticed that espy was taken with the pick immediately prior to the dodgers' selection of ross jones (kelly gruber was the player taken right after the dodgers selected jones).  espy never played for the chisox, however, as he was dealt to the dodgers prior to the 1983 season for rudy law.  espy debuted in the big leagues during the '83 campaign as a september call-up.  he saw action in 20 games as a pinch-hitter, pinch-runner, and late inning defensive replacement, although he did start one game near the end of the season.  espy was back in the minors for the 1984 and 1985 seasons, and was then traded to the pirates in the bill madlock deal late in '85.  he didn't return to the majors, however, until he was with the rangers in 1987.  maybe that's when the picture used on his card was taken.

enzo hernandez

i've written about enzo before, and there's not much else to say since he only appeared in four games as a dodger in 1978. i'll just note that he was one of three dodgers to wear number 3 in 1978 - glenn burke and rudy law being the others.

dave j. hickman

dave here went by jim, as his middle name was james.  i am guessing that target used the dave to distinguish this guy from the other jim hickman who played for the dodgers.  you can tell that this one was a member of the 1916 robins thanks to the uniform he is wearing, and in fact, hickman was a robin from 1916 through 1919.  he hit .218 during that time while playing a fair amount of outfield, but he did not appear in the 1916 world series against the red sox.

joe oeschger

oeschger finished his 12 year major league career with a stint with the 1925 robins.  he pitched in 21 games, and had a record of 1-2 with a 6.08 era.  his name was already familiar to brooklyn fans, as oeschger was the pitcher for the braves who threw 26 innings against the robins on may 1, 1920 - a feat  also achieved by the robins' pitcher that day, leon cadore.  oeschger took his place next to cadore on a card commemorating the feat in the 1961 topps set.

charlie perkins

perkins was 0-3 with an 8.51 era for the 1934 dodgers. he pitched in 11 games, 2 of which were starts.  he had previously pitched in the majors for the 1930 athletics who won the world series, although perkins did not appear in the fall classic.

ken rowe

rowe was one of two rowes (don was the other - no relation) to appear on a 1963 topps rookie parade card.  he pitched in 14 games for the dodgers that year, putting up an era of 2.53 while splitting his two decisions.  rowe did not appear for the dodgers in the 1963 world series, and his contract was purchased by the orioles in 1964 bringing his dodger career to an end.

preston ward

ward was the dodgers' first baseman on opening day in 1948.  jackie robinson had moved to second base, opening the door for ward, a 20-year old rookie.  after a decent start (he was hitting right around .300 at the end of may), ward struggled in june and his average fell to .260 toward the end of the month.  he was sent down and gil hodges took over at first, and the rest is history.  after some more time in the minors, ward was picked up by the cubs, and he wound up playing in the majors for several years with the cubs, pirates, indians, and a's.

brad wellman

wellman spent the first five years of his big league career (1982-1986) with the giants, but signed with the dodgers as a free agent prior to the 1987 season. he managed to make it into three games as a dodger that year, appearing once as a second baseman, once as a shortstop, and once as a third baseman.  overall, he was 1 for 4 with an rbi as a dodger, and he signed with the royals after the season's end.

lave winham

winham pitched in one game for his hometown brooklyn superbas in 1902.  he lasted 3 innings, facing 15 batters and allowing 2 (unearned) runs.  the next year, he was pitching for the pirates in what would be his second and final big league season.  you don't see too many fedoras on baseball cards.

i will be back next week with another installment of these things, so don't fret.

trades in spades

the tail end of 2014 was fairly productive for me in terms of trades initiated and completed.  just check out the trade tracker to the right if you don't believe me!  here are some of the cards that i've reecently received from some great trading partners:

from tom at the angels in order, i received (by request) a 1990 fleer league leaders tim belcher card

and a forlorn looking steve sax to boot

i kind of collect all steve sax cards. sort of.  not officially or anything, but if i see one, i will usually pick it up or ask for it, as was the case here.

thanks tom!

now on to a trade i made with zippy zappy.  you know what that means - i now own a 2013 sega card gen card!  so what if mine is a ronald belisario card?

sure, he's stinking it up with the chisox now, but beggars can't be choosers when it comes to these hard to find cards.

belisario was joined by some stateside manufactured dodger cards, like this 2011 topps jackie robinson prime 9 insert

and a 2005 topps update & highlights russell martin card

i had hoped that the dodgers would reacquire martin for 2015, but i guess yasmani grandal will have to do.

here are a couple more from zippy zappy - a 1990 topps fernando valenzuela

featuring the always fantastic shot from the first base side photographer's well at dodger stadium, and a 1989 topps traded eddie murray card

i had high hopes for the dodgers in 1989 after they acquired murray, but there were just too many injuries. i couldn't and didn't complain, though - 1988 got me through even the terrible 1992 season.

thanks kenny - i hope you enjoyed our first trade as much as i did!

one more trade to show - this one comes from dennis at too many verlanders.  he found a davey lopes card and thought of me for some reason.  it's a 2001 upper deck prospect premieres lopes heroes of baseball relic card

with a photo taken from that same photographer's well as the fernando card.  very nice - thanks dennis!

i'm prepping a few packages that will go out shortly to the likes of catching up with collecting, the angels in order, too many verlanders, cards on cards, night owl, and am holding some cards for a couple of others.  let me know if you want in on the trading in 2015!

let's get atomic in here. seriously. find me some 2011 topps chrome atomic refractors and be rewarded for it.

i feel like the girl with kaleidoscope eyes, without all the 'lucy in the sky with diamonds' nonsense. that's because i'm looking at some 2011 topps chrome atomic refractors.  i've got a few in my collection now, after posting my matt kemp card and asking for more 364 days ago.

now, i also have jonathan broxton

andre ethier

james loney

and rafael furcal

who is still turning two as an outfielder.

in addition to the kemp card, i also had ivan dejesus

when 2014 started, but i figured i would show him and kemp

again.

i also picked up a 2011 topps chrome chad billingsley xfractor recently

which is close, but not quite atomic.

so, i'm down to four that i need to complete my team set:

107 clayton kershaw
167 chad billingsley
211 jerry sands
212 dee gordon

kershaw and billingsley sit on the nefarious 9 list, but each of these cards are high priority targets for me.  if you can find one, you will be rewarded - i've got some 1950's vintage sitting around with nothing to do...

a nice way to start 2015 - 63 year old cardboard obtained!

i bought myself a christmas present - this 1952 topps duke snider card

it was the low-numbered card from the set that i most coveted, and so i went and got it.  i am still a long way from the team set, not even considering all of the high numbered dodgers that i would have to acquire to finish, but i am pleased to own this iconic and beautiful card.

hopefully, 2015 hasn't already peaked for me and my collection.  happy new year!