a word about memorial patches

in 2015, the cardinals (oscar taveras) and presumably the cubs (ernie banks) and white sox (minnie minoso) will be wearing memorial patches on their uniforms.  during the course of the season, other teams may add memorials to honor lost members of their organization.  in 2014, 10 teams wore patches to honor 12 different individuals, and umpires also wore a patch for one of their own.  i've posted about a few of those memorials already, but with the 2015 cards out on the shelves, i'm keeping an eye out for better examples of the patches.

as a result, i've gone back and updated the tampa bay rays' don zimmer memorial post to include this 2015 topps evan longoria card

and i've done the same for the post regarding the padres' jerry coleman memorial (adding this 2015 topps tommy medica card)

as the example of the patch worn with the camouflage jerseys.

that same post has also been updated to show the padres' team card from 2015 topps

as my chosen card to represent the tony gwynn memorial patch.

similarly, the stan musial memorial patch post has been updated to note that the memorial patch was worn on the right sleeve in at least some of the team's minor league games during the 2013 season, as evidenced by this 2013 bowman draft picks and prospects ricardo bautista card

the patch was worn only on the left sleeve in the big leagues.

i haven't yet posted about the memorials worn by the orioles, a's, brewers, or braves as i've been waiting for cards to show the patches.  there are some in 2015 topps for the o's and braves, like this james russell card

that shows portions of the pete van weiren patch, but i'll wait to see if a better example comes along.  please feel free to let me know if you come across any 2015 cards showing these patches as well - you will be rewarded.

scratching my joc itch

i wouldn't necessarily call it legal advice, but i received a package a couple of weeks ago from the stackhouse law office in farmington, new mexico.  in it, corey noted that during his time watching albuquerque baseball (it's been the home of the dodger triple-a team since 2009, as it was from 1972 through 2000 with 2003-08 spent as the marlins' triple-a affiliate), joc pederson is the best he's seen.

behind the note were a number of pederson's cards, instantly increasing my joc collection by 10 or so cards.  here they are:

2011 topps pro debut

2012 bowman chrome prospects

2012 bowman prospects

2012 topps heritage minors

2012 topps pro debut

2013 bowman topp 100 insert

2013 bowman chrome cream of the crop mini refractor

2013 bowman chrome draft picks & prospects

2013 bowman draft picks & prospects

2013 bowman platinum prospects

2013 topps heritage minors

2013 topps heritage minors 1964 bazooka style insert

2013 topps pro debut

now i'm sure that this new mexico attorney is not one to fib (saul goodman he is not, i am sure), so i'll take him at his word.  plus, here's the back of the 2013 bowman chrome cream of the crop mini refractor

that's not bad company.

as a dodger fan, i have been following pederson the last four-plus seasons as he has climbed through the organization.  so far in his first season in the abq, he has 23 homers in 94 games to go along with 25 steals and a .315 batting average.  and, as a dodger fan, i recall monster numbers that mike marshall and greg brock and franklin stubbs put up in albuquerque a generation ago.  still, i was a bit nervous at the trade deadline when some talking heads were reporting the pederson was potentially available in trade talks.

listen to the lawyer, ned.

memorial patches for stan the man

stan musial passed away at the age of 92 in january, 2013.  the cardinals wore a memorial patch that featured his number 6 and facsimile signature during the entire 2013 season.  the patch first started to show up on 2013 topps update cards, like this carlos beltran card

and we see it quite often on 2014 cards, too.  like jaime garcia's 2014 topps card

or jon jay's 2014 topps card

where we see it on both jay's and matt holliday's left sleeve

here it is on pete kozma's 2014 topps gypsy queen card, too.

it is worth noting that the cardinals wore three different jersey types during the season, and as a result, there were three different colored patches.  therefore, i have three different cards in my memorials collection.

actually, there are 4 cards in my collection, as this 2013 bowman draft picks and prospects card of ricardo bautista

shows the patch being worn in at least some of the cardinals' minor league games (he played in their gulf coast rookie league - gcrl for short).  the patch is also on the right sleeve, but in the majors, it was worn on the left sleeve.

speaking of the big leagues, david freese's 2014 topps card represents the away grays

matt carpenter's 2014 topps opening day card represents the alternate cream jerseys

and yadier molina's 2014 topps card represents the home whites.

musial may not be as well remembered nationally due to having spent his entire career in the midwest with the cardinals, but keep in mind that when he retired, only ty cobb had more career hits and only babe ruth, cap anson, and lou gehrig had driven in more runs.  musial was a three-time mvp who finished second in the balloting four times, won seven batting titles, and led the cardinals to three straight world series, and four in five years during the 1940's.  the only year in that run that the cardinals missed the fall classic was the year that musial spent in the military.

every once in a while when the dodgers were playing the cardinals, i recall vin scully telling a story about musial, and after musial died scully again addressed his recollection of the cardinal hall of famer: 'he was good enough to take your breath away'.  and certainly good enough to be remembered beyond memorial patches, although i am glad that the cardinals wore them.