a final word (for now) on memorials

first, let me take a moment to note that today is memorial day. hopefully, we all take some time out of our day to remember those whose service required the giving of their lives.  there have been too many.

many of you know that one of my mini collections is cards that feature memorial armbands or patches.  as an aside, even though the 1999 fleer tradition rod beck card represents the harry caray memorial in my binder, i could not pass up these three sammy sosa cards from 1999 topps stars when i found them in the bargain bin at the lcs a couple of months ago.  here's harry, comin' at you!

now, in addition to beck, i've got quite a few cards in the memorials binder commemorating uniform tributes to teammates, owners, relatives, team employees, victims of tragedies, and others from 1909 through 2014.  however, try as hard as i might, i have not been able to find cards for many of the memorials.  i'll use this post to show some of them using images i've found online.

this 1925 postcard of walter johnson

shows the big train wearing a black armband for christy mathewson.  both the senators and the pirates wore the armband during the 1925 world series.

thanks to uniwatch, i have this photo from 1929 of babe ruth, tony lazzeri, and lou gehrig

wearing black armbands for their former manager miller huggins who passed away late in the 1929 season.

this is a photo from 1931 featuring chuck klein of the phillies

he's wearing a black armband for the team's owner william baker, who died in december of 1930.  baker was known as a tightwad whose penny pinching led to the team's fall from pennant winners in 1915 to 15 consecutive losing seasons.

in may of 1950, pirates slugger ralph kiner graced the cover of sport magazine

his jersey features a black armband that the team wore towards the end of the 1949 season for their teammate tiny bonham. bonham had been hospitalized following a game in august, and had surgery to remove his appendix.  unfortunately, he died due to complications from the surgery on september 15.

[edit: thanks to night owl showing this 1991 sportflics kellogg's card 

on his blog, i now have a card to represent the armband worn for bonham. it looks like the same photo as the magazine cover.]

in 1956, the orioles former treasurer, howard jones, passed away. the team added black armbands to their uniforms as seen on this getty images photo of tito francona

francona is wearing it on his left sleeve, although i've seen another photo with it on the right.

i found this next photo online at spokeo while searching for a different armband.

that's a picture of the angels' jim fregosi waiting to bat against the yankees in july of 1962.  i couldn't find any information about the armband, but knowing that the angels were playing in dodger stadium (or chavez ravine as the angels referred to it) that season, i took a chance and asked dodger historian mark langill if he had any information regarding the memorial.  he was kind enough to answer my question, noting that angel manager bill rigney's father passed away earlier that month, and it was most likely that the armband was worn in the elder rigney's honor.  langill included a copy of a page from the sporting news that noted rigney had missed the previous series to attend the funeral, but returned in time for the games against the yankees.

in 1964, the houston colt .45's wore a black armband for teammate jim umbricht.  this is a picture of manager nellie fox's jersey showing the armband

and here's a photo of ken johnson pitching with the armband

umbricht had been diagnosed with lymphoma late in 1963 following a season in which he posted a 2.61 era in 35 games.  he passed away in april of 1964, and the team, in addition to the armband, retired umbricht's number 32.

i mentioned earlier that i found the jim fregosi photo from 1962 while looking for a different armband.  the memorial i was searching for was the armband that the angels wore for during the last homestand of the 1978 season in honor of their murdered teammate lyman bostock.  the closest i could come was this photo of the club

recognizing a moment of silence in chicago the day after bostock was killed.

the dodgers played an exhibition series in japan following the 1993 season, and they added a memorial patch to their jerseys for that series.  you can see just the edge of the black rectangular patch on tommy lasordas jersey in this photo

the patch was worn for owner peter o'malley's longtime assistant akihiro 'ike' ikuhara who first joined o'malley in 1965.  ike was 55 when he died from stomach cancer in late 1992.

in 1995, the a's lost their owner walter haas, jr. to prostate cancer, and they wore a circular patch with his initials and a dark green armband on their right sleeves in his memory.  here's a getty images photo of mark mcgwire that shows the patch, but not so much the armband

the armband shows up better on this getty images photo of terry steinbach

haas had been the ceo of levi strauss & company since the late 1950's, and he bought the a's from charlie finley in 1980 in order to keep them in the bay area.

across the bay eight years later, in august of 2003, bobby bonds passed away at the age of 57.  the giants, the team for which bonds had played for the first seven years of his career, added a patch with his initials for the remainder of the season.  here's a getty images photo of bobby's son barry wearing the patch

i met bobby bonds at a hot stove dinner in the late 1970's or early 1980's, and he signed my autograph book for me.  he seemed nice, but the thing i remember most is the crushed velvet shirt he was wearing.

card manufacturers didn't seem to use many photos from blue jays home games in the late 2000's.  unfortunately, that meant that i couldn't find any cards that showed the memorial that the team wore during home games only for their former chairman sam pollock in 2007.  instead, i only have this getty images photo of frank thomas to share

pollock worked for the blue jays from 1995-2000, but was better known for his twenty years as an executive with the montreal canadiens of the nhl. pollock helped to build the habs dynasty from the late 1950's into the 1970's, and has his name engraved on lord stanley's cup twelve times.

also in 2007, the nationals

yankees

and red sox,

along with virginia tech alumnus joe saunders of the angels, all wore the virginia tech 'vt' logo (the nationals and saunders wore hats, while the yankees added the logo to their hats, and the red sox put the logo above the red sock patch on their sleeves) in response to the killing of 32 people by a gunman on the university campus on april 16, 2007.  the nats wore the vt hats on april 17 as noted on this 2008 topps year in review card (thanks jeff!),

while the yankees wore the logo on may 23.  joe saunders wore the virgina tech hat during his start on april 20, which is commemorated on his card from the 2008 topps year in review insert set

the red sox also wore the logo on april 20, the same day that they wore another memorial.

the green jerseys and caps that the red sox wore that day (here's another photo featuring david ortiz)

were in honor of the boston celtics' legendary coach and executive red auerbach, who had passed away the previous october.

another one day memorial was worn by the padres in 2011.  they wore their 1984 throwbacks (minus the ray a. kroc memorial) on july 14, and added a memorial patch for their former manager dick williams who had died a week earlier.  here's a photo of heath bell from that game

and here's a better look at the patch which featured williams' initials,

and was not done in the same manner as the kroc memorial - in order to differentiate the two, i would imagine.  williams, of course, led the padres to their first pennant in 1984, and was elected to the hall of fame thanks to his four pennants, two world series titles, and 1,571 career wins as a manager.

in addition to wearing memorial patches for johnny pesky in 2012, the angels sported the stan musial memorial patch in 2013.  here's coach alfredo griffin showing the patch

while the angels had no connection to pesky or musial, former cardinal slugger albert pujols considered stan the man to be a friend and insisted that the team wear the patch during a july series with the cardinals. because they were already wearing a patch for their team doctor, lewis yocum, the angels wore the musial patch only on their batting practice jerseys.

also in 2013, the astros wore a patch honoring the houston fire department and the four firefighters who died during a hotel restaurant fire on may 31.  the astros wore the patch, visible in the getty images photo of jd martinez below

for their june 4-6 series only.

the rangers, meanwhile, wore a 'support west' patch on their right sleeves on july 5 (seen here in this getty images photo of adrian beltre)

to bring attention to aid efforts for the city of west, texas and the families of the 15 people killed by a fertilizer explosion on april 17.

in july of last season, the a's held a 25-year reunion for their 1989 world series championship team.  one member of the team, that year's cy young award winner bob welch, had died at the age of 57 the previous month.  prior to the game, members of the 1989 team each laid a rose on the pitching mound in welch's memory, and the team added a 'bw' patch to their jerseys.  here's a getty images photo of luke gregerson from that july 19 game

and here's a photo of welch's teammates sporting the patch

i am glad that the a's took time to honor welch during this reunion, and i'm glad that welch won his second ring in 1989 instead of 1988.

so far this season, there have been memorials worn for oscar taveras (cardinals), ernie banks (cubs, royals, yankees), minnie minoso (white sox), al rosen (indians), lon simmons (giants), and sara buck (phillies). whether or not they get posted here, i'll certainly be on the lookout for those memorials in this year's update set and next year's offerings, too.

sunday morning target dodgers - an mvp and - hey, isn't that the cartoon rooster?

this sheet of cards from the 1990 target dodger 100th anniversary giveaway set features a good mix of players from throughout the franchise's history.  have a look.

don bessent

the dodgers took bessent from the yankees in the early 1950's, and he made his big league debut for brooklyn in 1955.  he was 8-1 with a 2.70 era in 24 games (22 of which were relief appearances) for the dodgers that year, and then pitched in 3 world series games against the yankees, and sported a perfect era while doing so.  in 1956, bessent lowered his regular season era to 2.50 over 38 games, all as a reliever.  he again pitched in the fall classic against the yankees, and was the winning pitcher in game 2.  bessent moved to los angeles with the team, but 1958 was his final season in the big leagues due to a shoulder injury.

bruce caldwell

caldwell played in 18 games for the 1928 cleveland indians (he's a member of the indians in the photo used for his card), and next appeared in the majors for the 1932 brooklyn dodgers.  he played in only 7 games for the dodgers, and had just one hit in 13 plate appearances for the club.

jake daubert

daubert played for the superbas/dodgers/robins from 1910 through 1918, and was the team's first baseman in each of those seasons.  in 1913, daubert led the national league with a .350 average, and was voted the league's most valuable player as a result. he led the league with a .329 average the following year, and his .316 average in 1916 was the second highest in the league. that year, daubert helped the robins win the pennant, although he hit only .176 in the world series against babe ruth and the red sox (he was 0 for 5 against ruth in game 2).  daubert left brooklyn for cincinnati in 1919, and won a world series ring with the reds that year thanks in part to the black sox scandal.

tim flood

flood spent two seasons with the superbas - 1902 and 1903 - during which he hit .231 over 221 games. i do not believe that he played ball in his suit and tie.

mike garman

garman was a reliever on the team of my youth. acquired in the rick monday trade, garman pitched for the dodgers in 1977 and part of 1978 (before he was traded to montreal).  he had a 2.73 era with 12 saves during the 1977 regular season, and then threw 5.1 scoreless innings over four games in the 1977 postseason, earning a save in the nlcs game 3 'black friday' game against the phillies.

tim leary

in 1987, leary's first season with the dodgers, he posted a record of 3-11. in 1988, leary again had 11 losses, but this time, he also had 17 wins. used almost exclusively as a starter in '88, leary responded with a 2.91 era, 9 complete games, and 6 shutouts.  it was enough for him to be named the sporting news' comeback player of the year in the national league.  leary also won the silver slugger award that year, due in part to his .269 batting average, as well as his key 11th-inning walk-off pinch-hit single against the giants on august 13, 1988.  leary was bumped from the starting rotation once the world series rolled around due in large part to orel hershiser pitching on short rest, but he did relieve in two fall classic games, including a stellar scoreless three innings in game 1.

danny mcdevitt

mcdevitt pitched for the dodgers from 1957 through 1960.  he was originally used primarily as a starter, but the team eventually came to use him more in relief towards the end of his tenure with them. in 1959, mcdevitt won 10 games, but he did not pitch in the world series against the white sox that year.

bernie neis

neis was a rookie with the robins in 1920 when they won the pennant.  he had hit .253 during the regular season, but was 0 for 5 in the world series.  neis remained with the robins through the 1924 season before going on to play for the braves, indians, and white sox.

ivy olson

olson was the robins' shortstop on both of their pennant winning teams - 1916 and 1920. he was acquired by the club late in the 1915 season, and he remained with them through the 1924 campaign. in between, he played in 1053 games for brooklyn, and had 1100 hits as well. his 164 hits in 1919, in fact, led the league. olson hit .250 in the 1916 world series (he was 1 for 2 with a walk, a strikeout, and two sacrifices against babe ruth) and .320 in the 1920 fall classic.

claude osteen

what a great shot of osteen in dodger stadium, with the left field pavilion and old (pre-diamond vision) scoreboard.  osteen came to the dodgers from the senators in the frank howard trade, and he remained until he was dealt to houston for jimmy wynn after the 1973 season. during those 9 seasons with the dodgers, osteen posted a record of 147-126 during the regular season, with three all-star selections and two 20-win seasons.  he threw a shutout in the 1965 world series against the twins, and took a hard luck loss in the 1966 world series against the orioles, allowing just a solo home run to paul blair that allowed the o's to win the game 1-0.

johnny peacock

peacock was acquired by the dodgers during the 1945 season from the phillies in exchange for ben chapman (who would later manage the phillies and berate jackie robinson during the 1947 season). peacock was needed due to mickey owen having joined the navy in may of '45.  peacock played in 48 games for the dodgers that year, hitting .255.  it was the last big league action of peacock's career.

goody rosen

goody rosen played for the dodgers for 5-plus seasons, garnering some mvp votes in 1945 (he finished 10th).  there's a little more to rosen's story, but i'll save that for a future post.

john shelby

t-bone was traded to the dodgers early in the 1987 season as the team needed a center fielder. kenny landreaux had moved to one of the corner spots, and mike ramsey, who had started the season in center, was hitting just .232 after 38 games.  shelby showed up and hit .277 with 21 home runs in 120 games for the dodgers over the remainder of the season. in 1988, he cooled off a bit, hitting .263 with 10 home runs, but he solidified the position enough to help the club win the world series, and the second ring of his career.

gordon windhorn

this guy makes me think of the looney toons cartoon rooster, but the rooster's name is foghorn leghorn, not gordon windhorn.  besides, i know about windhorn because he's got a card in the 1962 topps set that lists him as a member of the kansas city a's while showing him in dodger duds.  those duds, by the way, are more suited to a baseball card than the shirt he's wearing above.  and what exactly is he doing in that photo - talking into his dick tracy wristwatch communicator?  it's curious that this was the best photo available considering that windhorn spent the majority of the 1960 and 1961 seasons in the dodger minor league system, as well as 34 games at the big league level with the dodgers in 1961.  during that time, windhorn hit .242 and slugged his only two career home runs - the first of which was an 11th-inning walk-off pinch-hit job against the phillies.

pete wojey

wojey pitched in 14 games for the 1954 dodgers. he was 1-1 with a save in those appearances, with a decent 3.25 era.  he spent all of 1955, however, in the minors and was traded to detroit after the season ended.  he had been 34 when he finally made his big league debut with the dodgers, and he was 37 in 1957 when he pitched in his fourth and final game for the tigers.

black and blue ryu and some other dodger cards

i'm continuing with a sort of random rambling theme today.

this is a 2013 panini black friday hyun-jin ryu card

it was somehow available on black friday, 2013. i don't recall how i obtained it (sportlots, maybe), but it is not worth standing in line waiting for stores to open to obtain.  still, panini did the same sort of thing last year, and i'm guessing panini is doing it again this year.  ryu is out for the season now, following shoulder surgery.  

this is a 2013 panini pinnacle matt kemp museum collection parallel

it doesn't scan as well as the museum collection inserts from the 1990's.

still more panini - this time from 2014 panini golden age

dusty baker

davey lopes

and zack wheat

as pleased as i was to see dusty and davey and other dodgers from the team of my youth in this set, i don't consider them to be from the golden age.  wheat, sure, but not the others.

wheat also got an insert card in the release - it's a 1913 the national game card

and i wish this had been the base set design

now here's a 2007 topps turkey red andy laroche card

and a 1999 topps chrome jeff shaw card

moving on to 2010 upper deck, here's a biography insert of jeff weaver

marking the time that he beat his brother jered in a game between the dodgers and angels.

olmedo saenz didn't have too many cards, but he spent four seasons with the dodgers and made it into the 2007 topps update & highlights set

even though 2007 was his fourth year with the club.  not much of an update there - more like an omission.

last card for today is a 2008 topps stadium club beam team autographed card of delwyn young

i secretly hoped that delwyn and delmon young (no relation) would have wound up on the same team just for the potential confusion factor.  would they have had their full names on the backs of their jerseys? who knows.