02 June 2014

revisiting the august a busch memorials

back in the very early stages of compiling cards for my memorials mini-collection, i showed these two cards as examples of the august a. busch jr memorials - initials on the home and away jerseys, and a black armband on the bp jerseys.
since then, i've come across better examples in my collection.  it's tough to top the 1991 upper deck ken dayley card for the armband, although i like this 1991 topps debut '90 card of ray lankford
and this 1991 bowman bryn smith is interesting as well
first of all, he's suttoning, but he's also wearing a lefty's mitt.  smith, of course, was a right-handed pitcher.

1991 upper deck also features good examples from bernard gilkey

and felix jose
but the card that kicks dayley out of the binder is this 1991 bowman ozzie smith card
as for the initials memorial, this 1991 fleer ozzie smith card gives us a better view than the dipino card up top did, as we see the 'jr' after the 'aab'.
that card also features a dodger stadium backdrop, so it's already in a different binder.

the memorial is visible, at least partially, on a bunch of other cards i've come across.  such as, 1991 donruss jose oquendo
1991 topps stadium club rex hudler
1991 international playing cards all-stars lee smith
1991 upper deck vince coleman
1991 upper deck jose deleon
and 1991 upper deck pedro guerrero
but those are mostly just partials.  fortunately, this 1991 o-pee-chee premier card of the former dodger displays the initials in their entirety.
plus, there's whitey herzog hanging out in the background.  petey goes into the binder.

as for the late august a. busch, he was the grandson of the founder of the busch brewery, and had presided over the cardinals since 1953 until his passing late in 1989.

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