the splendid splinter memorial patch and black armband

when i was a kid, i wanted to be a baseball player.  my neighbor wanted to be a fighter pilot.  neither one of us made it - i stopped playing ball at the age of 29 in an amateur league, while my neighbor served in the armed forces as an officer for the us army, not a pilot.

one man who lived both of our dreams was ted williams.  not only was he a baseball player, he was one of the best that there ever was.  521 home runs. two triple crowns.  a career .344 batting average - better than all but 7 men.  a .482 onbase percentage - the best that there ever was.  and of course, he was the last man to hit over .400 during the regular season.

on top of all that, he left the red sox twice to serve his country as a us marine fighter pilot, missing the entire 1943-1945 seasons during world war ii, and then again missing parts of the 1952 and 1953 seasons during the korean conflict.

he retired following the 1960 season and was inducted into the hall of fame in 1966.  he spent some time managing the washington senators/texas rangers and later had a baseball card company bear his name.  williams also became a hall of fame fisherman and has a highway named after him in his native san diego, and a tunnel bearing his name in boston. his appearance at the 1999 all-star game in boston was one of the coolest things i have seen as a baseball fan.

ted williams passed away on july 5, 2002, and the red sox began wearing a black armband and williams' number 9 on their right sleeves soon thereafter.  you can see the memorials on nomar garciaparra's 2003 upper deck first pitch card

and again on manny ramirez's 2004 upper deck super sluggers insert

here it is again on nomar's 2003 upper deck vintage 3-d sluggers short print subset card

but it's manny's 2003 upper deck vintage card that is in my memorials binder

like williams, manny patrolled left field at fenway, so it seems fitting.

can you imagine a better american life?  neither my neighbor nor i could.  here's to ted williams, but especially today, here's to all the men and women who lost their lives in service to our country.

like sands through the hourglass, these are the cards i received from crinkly wrappers

the title of this post doesn't make sense, really except for the fact that there was a jerry sands card inlcuded in the bounty i received from crinkly wrappers recently.  or, if you consider the transient nature of our existence in time and my relatively brief hold on these cards that make up my collection perhaps there is some truth to the title.  who cares.  let's see some cards.

howzabout a 1954 topps rube walker?

that's alberto, actually.  i wonder if rube is kind of like roberto clemente being referred to as bobby later in the decade.  here's rube's manager, walter alston, on his 1964 topps card.

walt looks fairly worried for a guy whose team just swept the yankees in the world series.  of course, walter o'malley kept him on a string of one-year contracts, so maybe worried is exactly what alston was.

1985 donruss bobby welch

in dodger stadium, with some fans from the 1974 topps set.  man, was i a bob welch fan.  from late in the 1978 season through 1987 i really enjoyed watching him pitch.  it's amazing how much loyalty can be bought by saving game 2 of the 1978 world series by striking out the most hated player on your least favorite team.  thanks bobby.

2008 upper deck takashi saito star attraction

i think card companies have learned their lesson.  hideo nomo was an anomaly.  thanks to nomo's fantastic performance in 1995, i have suffered through a ridiculous number of kaz ishii cards, including many short prints.  thankfully, there are fewer cards of saito and even less of hiroki kuroda. 

here's a 1996 fleer flair greg gagne card

gagne was entered into the twins' hall of fame last year.  this year the inductee is jim perry.  not long before brad radke, scott leius and butch wynegar get the call, i guess. 

another shortstop, cesar izturis on a 2003 upper deck first pitch card

seizure is still playing, i believe.  he is the classic 1970s style shortstop and must rue the day that cal ripken altered our perception of that position.

yet another shortstop, although he moved to first base when he joined the dodgers, it's nomar garciaparra on a 2006 fleer tradition card

looks like nomar forgot his red sweatband and is wearing blue instead.  luckily it's only a spring training game.
here's another 2006 fleer tradition card, this one belongs to tim hamulack

i like to say 'hamulack' like yoda, as in 'nice this easter buffet is, but ham-u-lack'.  thank you, i'm here all week.

finally, here is the 2010 bowman chrome jerry sands card

at 6'-4", 225 pounds, sands hit 35 home runs in the minors last year (a/aa) and may well make the club next year.  he tore it up this spring, and is the reigning dodger minor leaguer of the year.  i can't wait to see him in left or at third next year.  take note that dodgerbobble already predicted roy honors for sands in 2012.  here's hoping!

thanks ted!

pettitte pursued, dodgers and twins obtained

i received a great big box of goodies from eric slette (the pettitte pursuit) a while back. i had sent him some (what else?) andy pettittes, riveras and posadas.

he countered with some nice dodgers and twins, including:

1991 upper deck al newman.a double play turn! al had some health problems last season (or was it 2007?). hard to believe looking at him now that he could get airborne like that back in the day.

2008 topps stadium club joe mauer. no one knows what it's like - the back pain - behind those smiling eyes.

a trifecta of japanese dodger imports -

2003 fleer flair hideo nomo
2003 upper deck first pitch kazuhisa ishii

2008 upper deck timeline (2004) hiroki kuroda

nomo was great, ishii not so much, and the jury is still out on kuroda.

finally, a 2008 topps stadium club photographer's proof clayton kershaw.

numbered to 50. nice.

this only scratched the surface of the box eric sent. makes me feel good about hoarding those yankees for all these years.

thanks eric.