black armbands for ray chapman

ray chapman was the shortstop for the cleveland indians from late in the 1912 season through august 16, 1920.  the schedule that day in august saw the indians play the yankees, and chapman was beaned in the head by yankee starter carl mays.  although he was initially able to walk to first base, chapman soon thereafter collapsed on the field and was taken to the hospital.  he passed away the next day, becoming the only major league player to die from being hit by a pitch, and one of two to have died directly or indirectly (the philadelphia athletics' doc powers died in 1909 from post-surgical infections brought on after being operated on to fix internal injuries he suffered after crashing into an outfield fence during a game) from injuries sustained on the field.

according to the hall of fame, many teams added black armbands to their uniforms in honor of chapman, including the indians, red sox, tigers, and yankees in the american league, along with the reds, robins, cubs, and giants in the national league.  i have in my memorials binder a few cards showing the armband, such as this 2002 upper deck sp legendary cuts ty cobb card

the tigers went away from the old english 'd' from 1918 through 1920, and 1920 is the only season that they wore a black armband (according to the hall of fame), so i am confident that the armband cobb is sporting is in honor of chapman.

[edit - i later came across a 2004 topps tribute card of cobb

that shows the armband more prominently than the legendary cuts card, so i've swapped it out in my collection.]

similarly, the uniform that babe ruth is wearing on this 2011 topps stickers foil sticker

includes the black armband that the bronx bombers wore for chapman.  i know this because the jersey features the 'new york' lettering that the team wore on their away jerseys from the beginning of ruth's tenure with the team in 1920 through 1926. the club went back to 'new york' on the away grays during the last few seasons of ruth's yankee days (1930-1934), but the placement of the 'y' was different.  besides, the only other time the yankees wore a black armband while ruth was a member of the team was at the end of the 1929 season to mark the passing of manager miller huggins, which came during the time that the team's away jerseys said 'yankees' on the front.

[edit - i was happy to see topps use this image on a regular sized card in 2021 archives

so i've swapped it out in my collection.]

also from the yankee team of 1920 comes the photo of hank thormahlen that was used on his 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary set

thormahlen actually looks like he's wearing two black armbands, and i don't know why.  he was a pitcher with the yankees from 1917 through 1920.  thormahlen actually relieved carl mays later in that fateful game and threw a scoreless 9th inning.

chapman's team, the indians, wore the armband for the remainder of the season and postseason, as they advanced to the world series against the brooklyn robins.  you'll notice in the photo linked above that, while the indians wore the armbands in the fall classic, the robins did not, or at least did not for the entire series.  i would guess that it was more likely that the non-cleveland teams wore the armband for a short time during the month of august.

anyway, this 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts card represents the armband worn by the tribe in my collection. it features their ace - hall of famer stan coveleski

who is also wearing the armband on his 2006 upper deck classics card

coveleski was the starter for the indians in the game in which chapman was beaned, and he beat the yankees with a complete game for his 19th win of the season.  coveleski went on to beat the robins three times in the world series by completing each of his three starts, one of which was a shutout.

in 2010, the indians broke out the 1920 uniforms, complete with the black armband, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of their first championship.  here's a shin-soo choo toppstown card from 2011 topps that shows the throwback uni

so, i've got 3 of the 8 teams that reportedly wore the armbands in my collection, and i'm on the lookout for the others although i'm not holding out hope.

an indians' black armband for team president (and owner) jim dunn

jim dunn was the owner of the cleveland indians from 1916 until the time of his death in june of 1922.  as such, it was on his watch that the indians won their first world series in 1920 against the brooklyn robins.  following his passing, the team added black armbands to their left sleeves in dunn's honor.  tris speaker is wearing the armband on this 2002 fleer greats of the game card

even though fleer considers this to be a red sox card (he began his career in boston and won his mvp award there in 1912).  continuing the tie to the red sox, dunn and his partners had purchased the indians from charles somers, who at one time was the owner of the bosox.

that same photo of speaker, although more tightly cropped, also shows up on a 2003 upper deck sp legendary cuts card

with speaker identified as a member of the cleveland indians.  still, i've got the 2002 fleer greats card in my memorials binder for this one.

later today, i'll post another black armband worn by the indians in the 1920's - worn for ray chapman, to be specific.  while speaker was on that team (he hit .320 in the world series against the robins), we know that the photo on these two cards comes from 1922 thanks to the font of 'cleveland' on his jersey. the 1920 indian away jerseys used more of a block lettering style.  

sunday morning target dodgers - release the loudenslager!

this week's sheet from the 1990 target dodger set features 15 guys who were pretty much unknown to me.  let's learn about them together!

ben chapman

chapman was the one guy on this sheet that i knew about, but i can't say that i knew he suited up for the brooklyn dodgers in 1944 and 1945.  nor was it because he was an outfielder for the yankees in the 1930's, playing alongside babe ruth and lou gehrig as a part of the 1932 world championship team.  he moved on to the senators, red sox, and indians later in the decade, and then split the 1941 season between the senators and white sox.  after that, chapman managed in the minor leagues for a couple of years, but reinvented himself as a pitcher and returned to the majors with the dodgers in 1944 and part of 1945.  chapman was 8-6 with a 4.26 era for brooklyn, who traded him to the phillies in june of 1945.  the next season, chapman became the manager of the phillies, and in 1947 exposed himself as one of the most vocal opponents of jackie robinson and integration of the major leagues with a vicious heckling display when the dodgers visited philadelphia early in the season.  unfortunately for chapman, this is the only reason i knew of him.  quite a poor thing to be known for.

chuck corgan

corgan suited up for the robins in 1925 and again in 1927 for a total of 33 games, hitting .221 as a major leaguer.  he also played professional football, and was a member of the new york giants in 1927. shortly after the football season ended that year, corgan was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1928 at the age of 25.

jud daley

daley hit .250 in 80 games as an outfielder with the 1911 and 1912 dodgers.

rowdy elliot

elliot finished his 5-year major league career (which spanned 11 seasons) with 41 games as a member of the 1920 brooklyn robins.  although he was a member of that pennant winning team, elliot did not appear in the world series against the indians, but he did catch the majority of the 26 innings that the robins and braves played on may 1, 1920.

pete gilbert

gilbert played in 6 games for the 1894 brooklyn grooms, going 2 for 25 before he was released by the club.

chris haughey

i don't really remember how i celebrated my 18th birthday. i was in college, so i can probably guess, but it was nothing like the way chris haughey spent his 18th.  on october 3, 1943, haughey turned 18 and made his major league debut as a member of the brooklyn dodgers.  he pitched 7 innings in relief against the reds on that final day of the 1943 season, taking the loss while allowing 3 earned runs.  haughey was soon serving in the military, and never did return to the majors after that birthday debut.

al hollingsworth

hollingsworth, whose surname matches that of todd hollandsworth in number of letters and the most in team history as far as i can tell, was very nearly a dodger double dipper.  he was acquired by the dodgers during the 1939 season and pitched in 8 games for them, with another appearance as a pinch-runner.  near the start of the 1940 season, his contract was purchased by the senators, for whom he appeared in 3 games. the senators returned hollingsworth to the dodgers, but he was sent to triple-a, and didn't make it back to the majors until 1942 as a member of the saint louis browns.

bert inks

i suppose inks' name joins the likes of rick waits, dave sells, and davey lopes as a name that doubles as a complete sentence, if you accept 'inks' as a verb.  he joined the grooms in 1891, fresh out of the university of notre dame, and went 3-10 in his 13 games (all of which he started). he was back with brooklyn in 1892, appearing in 9 games before joining the washington senators for the remainder of the season.

tom kinslow

what a wonderful mustache this grooms' catcher sported! kinslow appeared in about 65 games a year during his run with the grooms which lasted from 1891 through 1894.  he hit .271 during that time, with his 1892 season (66 games, .305 average, 11 triples) being his best.  kinslow was traded to the pirates in 1895.

charlie loudenslager

loudenslager played in one major league game. it occurred on april 15, 1904 with the brooklyn superbas.  loudenslager struck out in both of his plate appearances that day, but was perfect in the field (he had one assist in his lone chance at second base).  loudenslager played in the minors for several seasons (i'm thinking this photo comes from his days with the rochester bronchos of the eastern league) and later served in world war i.

bill mccabe

mccabe broke in with the chicago cubs in 1918, and remained with the team until the robins purchased his contract during the 1920 season.  his 41 regular season games with brooklyn that year would be his last in the majors, but he did get to appear in the 1920 world series as a pinch-runner in game 6.

terry mcdermott

mcdermott was the dodgers' first round pick in the 1969 draft. he worked his way up to double-a in 1972, and earned a late season call-up with the dodgers. in 9 september games with the club, mcdermott  hit .130 as a pinch-hitter and first baseman. he returned to the minors the following season, and spent the next few years in triple-a, unable to crack the big league roster.

george mohart

mohart pitched for the robins in 1920 and 1921. he was 0-1 in 15 games during that time, and did not appear in the 1920 world series.

gordon slade

slade began his career with the robins in 1930, and remained with the club through 1932 before being included in the trade that sent dazzy vance to the cardinals in 1933.  he played primarily shortstop, and hit .238 during his time in brooklyn.  slade finished his career with the reds in 1934 and 1935, which is where the photo used for his card comes from.

adonis terry

terry's days with the brooklyn club dated back to 1884 when the team was in the american association. he was still with the franchise when they joined the national league in 1890, which was the point of this 100th anniversary set.  terry won a career high 26 games for the national league champion grooms that year, but was just 6-16 the following season, and found himself released in 1892.

maybe i'll be back next sunday with some more recognizable names...

i picked 'em poorly but came out ahead

i participated for the first time this past year in cards on cards' college bowl pick 'em league.  i wound up getting slightly less than half of the winners right, although i did get my highest confidence pick correct.  anyway, i was well out of the prize slot, but kerry sent me some cards anyway.  most of these come from his 2014 topps mini break, in which i took the dodgers and the mets.  i was hoping for a justin turner card as part of the mets team haul (he's turning two on the card), but it didn't pan out.  just like my picks.

here are some of the dodgers from the 2014 topps mini set that kerry rescued from sealed packs for me:

clayton kershaw cy young

the now retired josh beckett

the now unsigned free agent chad billingsley

the now unsigned free agent brian wilson

the now red sox left fielder hanley ramirez

the now full-time dodger left fielder carl crawford

the now still a fourth outfielder andre ethier

the dodger right fielder yasiel puig (unless joc can't handle center)

plus a 'the future is now' puig insert

i should probably show some of the ny metropolitans that came my way, so here are bobby parnell

and ey jr

kerry also sent a few cards towards my 2001 topps heritage set, including former and current twin torii hunter

plus a nice 2004 donruss classics rickey henderson card

which counts as a final tribute since rickey didn't appear in the majors after his 2003 stint with the dodgers

no active player has more stolen bases that ichiro, who sits at 487.  rickey had 1406 in his career.  although barry bonds eventually passed rickey in career walks, he is still the career leader in runs scored, with the closest active player (alex rodriguez) over 350 runs behind.

last, and maybe least, here is a 1986 fleer update card of alex trevino

who played catch under the watchful eye of a stalker after joining the dodgers.

thanks kerry! i'll be sending some cards on cards your way soon!

i forgot the 5th infielder!

earlier today i posted four cards that i received from matthew at bob walk the plank - each a dodger infielder (or in the case of dee gordon and hanley ramirez, former dodger infielders).  i must admit that i forgot that there was a fifth card in the trade package, one that featured another infielder - just not a dodger.  it was this 2014 topps 1976 topps tito fuentes 75th anniversary buyback

i had asked for tito due to the double play turning second baseman that topps used back in '76.  i put a 1976 topps davey lopes card in my double play collection when i first began assembling it, and i recently decided to add all of the second basemen from 1976 topps.  now i just need to figure out which ones i have in my doubles box and go from there since i won't be breaking up my set for these guys.  i suppose i need to look through the fan favorites sets for this design, too...

thanks again matthew!

a five star trade of four infielders

matthew from bob walk the plank gave me a heads up that yet another package was on it's way, and it was a nice one.  my first look at a 2014 topps five star card leaves me wondering 'why is it so thick?'  anyway, it's nice to have an alex guerrero auto in the collection 

the card says that guerrero plays second base.  the dodgers used him as a pinch-hitter and left fielder in 2014.  of course, that only amounted to a handful of appearances, and guerrero did spend the bulk of the season playing second in albuquerque.  the dodgers didn't think he was ready for the big leagues at the start of the season, so that's why dee gordon became the starter at second.

here's dee's 2014 topps update gold parallel

gordon did well enough to earn a spot on the all-star team in 2014 and also generate trade interest from the marlins.  the dodgers still don't think guerrero is ready, because howie kendrick will be playing second in 2015.  

as you'll recall, the reason that gordon was bumped from shortstop was the arrival of hanley ramirez in 2012, whose 2014 topps update 1989 die-cut mini card was also included in the package.

the fourth and final card of the package was this 2014 topps update erisbel arruebarrena gold parallel

like guerrero, arruebarrena is on the outside looking in, as jimmy rolllins will be playing shortstop this coming season.

thanks for the cards matthew - i'll be sending something back to you shortly!

the joy of a completed team set!

i've completed the dodger team set from 2014 topps chrome update.  the cards were only available in those megaboxes, of which i saw none the few times i glanced at the card aisle in the local targets. anyway, thanks to sportlots, i now have this 2014 topps chrome update erisbel arruebarrena card

and that's it.  no justin turner or paul maholm or scott van slyke or any other dodgers, for that matter.  just arruebarrena, who was designated for assignment on new year's eve to make room for brett anderson on the roster.  since then, arruebarrena has cleared waivers (must have been the large contract) and was outrighted to the dodgers' new triple-a affiliate in oklahoma city.  i still don't understand why he was allowed to wear number 11.

anyway, that's one team set down before the 2015 cards hit...