memorial patches for the pohlads

eloise pohlad, the wife of twins' owner carl pohlad, passed away in november of 2003, and the club added memorial patches to their right sleeves for the following season in memory of her.  they were simple patches, with the first name of her signature stitched inside a color coded rectangle - one for the away grays, one for the alternate blues, and one for the home whites.  you can see the gray patch on lew ford's 2005 fleer flair card

and the blue one is visible on torii hunter's 2005 donruss timeless treasures card

both of those cards are in my memorials binder, but i haven't been able to find a card that shows the white patch.  there weren't too many baseball card photographers at the metrodome in 2004, i suppose.  here's a picture of hunter at home from the 2004 alds against the yankees that shows the white patch.

and here's a better look at all three versions of the patch

in 2009, the twins wore a very similar patch for eloise's husband carl, who passed away at the age of 93 in january.  there was only one version of his patch, however.

had there been a white version to go with the home uniforms, we would have had a card showing it, as nick punto's 2010 upper deck card

features a photo from inside the metrodome with nicky wearing the 1983 throwback home whites.  speaking of the metrodome, the patch above the 'carl' patch is the 'final season of the metrodome' patch.  even old, multi-purpose dome stadiums got the commemorative patch treatment.

here's the patch on the alternate blue jersey of joe mauer, courtesy of his 2010 bowman card

looks like joe is on tatooine there.

here's francisco liriano's 2009 topps allen & ginter national pride insert showing the patch on the home white pinstripes

the patch shows up again, this time on the away grays, on alexi casilla's 2010 topps card

on delmon young's 2010 topps card

and on justin morneau's 2010 topps opening day card

and his chrome card

which, even though it uses the same photo as the opening day card, it's cut a little tighter so the patch is a little bigger.

i've got liriano's 2010 allen & ginter card in the binder

carl pohlad was the guy who bought the twins from calvin griffith in 1984 to keep them in minnesota, but he was also the guy who almost sold the team to a north carolina group in 1997, and the guy who was willing to let the team contract in 2001.  still, he was the owner during their run to two world championships (1987 and 1991), and despite his willingness to sell or contract the team,  pohlad oversaw the run of division titles in the 2000's, with the last under his watch coming in 2006.

the construction of target field began in 2007, and although carl pohlad did not live to see it completed, a statue of him and his wife was erected in the plaza outside gate 34 - the main entrance to the stadium.

all i see are all-stars

with the all-star game tonight, it seems appropriate to show this 1992 trak auto sheet of stamps that honors every dodger all-star from 1962 through 1992

as you can see, it was available for purchase at trak auto stores, either on its own or with a case of valvoline motor oil.

the full sheet of stamps is in one of my steve garvey binders, because i can't find this particular stamp all by its lonesome

1977 was a big year for dodger all-stars, but not as big as 1962, 1975, or 1978 when the dodgers had seven players on the national league squad, or even a few years when they sent 6 players.  garvey represented the dodgers in eight straight all-star games, and was the mvp of the 1974 and 1978 contests.  here is a better look at the stamps for the stretch of games in which garvey, as a dodger, was the starter for the national league at first base.

you may have noticed that the only dodger to get his mug shown twice on the whole sheet is tommy lasorda.

as a member of the padres, garvey returned to the all-star game in 1984 and 1985 as the first base starter for the national league, making his final all-star appearance in the '85 midsummer classic, which was the last time the all-star game was held in minneapolis.  here's a 1986 donruss all-stars pop up card which commemorates his appearance in that game, complete with underside of the metrodome's roof in view

garvey, at age 37, was a participant in the home run derby prior to that all-star game - the first home run derby prior to the all-star game - and hit 2 out.  dave parker won the derby with 6.  it wasn't the same back then.

anyway, happy all-star game day!

random is as monkey do

i'll take potpourri for $200, alex.  here is an odd assortment of cards that have been haunting my scanned folder for a while.  first up, we have the 1985 american league all-star team from 1986 topps rack packs.

these guys, including wade boggs, rickey henderson, george brett and cal ripken jr are sitting in right field at the metrodome in minneapolis.  behind them are the fold-up seats that are used during viking games.  i also spy bert blyleven, carlton fisk, dave winfield, jim rice and roger clemens, among others, with tom kelly sitting in the bat boy position front and center.

here is the national league counterpart.

not quite as organized as the american league all-stars.  not sure why there is a gap next to dick williams, either.  look at all those padres, too - including steve garvey way off at the end of the bench in front of nolan ryan.  a good assortment of players here, too, such as tony gwynn, ozzie smith, fernando valenzuela, pedro guerrero, and pete rose.

here's where the monkey do part comes into play.  i didn't know that these cards existed until i saw one of them on another blog a while back.  and i call myself a garvey semi-supercollector!  this happens pretty often actually - i see a card on another blog and i go out and get it.  many times it's a double play card or a card featuring dodger stadium in the background, but sometimes it's a plain old dodger card.  like this 1989 swell baseball greats jose morales card.

i would guess that i owned this card within 10 days of seeing it on a blog for the first time.  it's great.  morales has only a handful of dodger cards (he was on the team from 1982 through 1984) so this was a nice surprise.

i was also surprised to find a couple of white sox cards that i wanted, thanks to a ebay search i ran a couple of months ago.  i was looking for 'bell dodgers' and up popped a card of albert belle.  two cards, actually.  this one is from 1997 donruss limited

and this one is from 1997 pinnacle select

the search was set up to find cards from the 1960 - 1962 bell brand dodger releases, but joey there made the grade because he was paired up on each of those cards with this guy - karim garcia

that's the pinnacle back, and here is the limited front

garcia was quite the darling of the hobby in the mid-90's, or at least of the card manufacturers.  he came to the plate just 67 times as a dodger, but probably has three times that many cards showing him in dodger blue.  i suppose topps and the other card makers thought that he might be the sixth consecutive dodger rookie of the year and that's why they went wild with his cards.

of course, the search did turn up it's intended prey - a low cost vintage goodie.  here's duke snider's 1961 bell brand card

see how that works?  we're back to the random part of the post.  and it doesn't get more random than last year's topps heritage dodger short prints - at least the ones that are not aaron miles.

here's dee gordon and his rookie trophy.

will gordon ever get back to the majors for good?  or is he the second coming of chad fonville?  how about jerry hairston jr

who wears steve garvey's number and has even played some first base over the last couple of seasons.  he's been playing third since coming back from the dl, which means less time for luis cruz, juan uribe, and the rest of the ragtag fleet of hot corner residents.

well, that's enough for now - off to read some of your blogs.  maybe i'll see some more cards to add to my collection!

double play cards from the dollar store

here are some cards that came my way via the blog sportscards from the dollar store.  doug took part in my 1983 fleer sticker group break, and offered to send some cards my way to offset the higher shipping costs to the great white north.  that he did.  here's a 2010 upper deck 'all world' insert of canadian catcher russell martin

that was the lone card in the package that did not feature a double play, if i recall correctly.  ready for some dp's?  here we go...

1990 upper deck ryne sandberg

1991 fleer ultra bill ripken

with a special appearance by harold reynolds

1991 score al newman

1992 classic i pat kelly

i am too lazy to look, but i think this is the same play that is on his 1992 donruss triple play awesome action card.  ok, i was motivated to look.  it's not, but it is eerily similar...

1992 classic i roberto alomar

with chuck knoblauch sliding in, which is kind of cool because here is knobby's 1992 classic i card

i had not seen any cards from this set before.  they feature questions on the back like other classic cards, but also have a stadium shot.  here's the back of knoblauch's card featuring the minneapolis skyline and the hhh metrodome.

there are a few newer buildings these days, and the metrodome's roof is new with a bunch of purple text on it since it is only home to the vikings now.  and that's just for one more season.

more dp cards from the dollar store coming up later.  thanks for the cards doug - you should be getting your stickers (along with a few other cards soon)!

turn out the lights in twins territory

i've been sitting on this post for a few weeks now, and wouldn't you know - the twins are playing pretty good baseball right now.  it looked pretty grim in may and even the beginning of june, but who knows what will happen in the al central. 

here's the joe mauer stadium lights insert from 2011 topps opening day.

it's a pity that there are no dodgers featured in this set.  target field, in this case, makes a nice backdrop.  we'll see that it doesn't always offer aesthetic value.

first, we will further enjoy the confines with the minnesota limestone, concrete and glass on this 2011 topps twins joe mauer

this is a pretty, pretty card.  i am guessing that this is the same card in series 2, but i don't know for sure.  the twins are wearing their 1961 throwbacks at every home game this year in tribute to harmon killebrew.  i wish they would never go back. 

here's jim thome wearing one of the twins away variations.

i think now the blue jerseys say 'minnesota' instead of  'twins' which is more in line with other teams' away unis.

joe nathan, on his 2011 topps twins card

shows off the retired twins away pinstripes. that's because he didn't pitch in 2010 so topps used an old photo.  no problem.  does he have a card in series 2?  i am always pleased when a player misses a season but still gets a card a la tommy john in 1976.

so, while topps gets a pass on nathan, they do not get off so easily with brian duensing's card

sure it's got a lurking joe mauer, but it's still a photo from 2009.  duensing was with the big club and appeared in 53 games in 2010.  there's no reason why we should have a photo in 2011 topps with twins players wearing the 'last year in the metrodome' patch on their jerseys.

here's another lurker - this time it's manager ron gardenhire on tsuyoshi nishioka's topps twins card

nishi busted his leg early in the season but is back now.  he looked pretty nervous the first few games of the year, but the potential is there.

here's another nice shot of target field

unfortunately, ugly target center (home of the timberwolves) makes an appearance in the far right.  i used to work in the building just right of center field.  i could see the back of the left field scoreboard from my office window.

that is a much much better than the 2010 topps card that featured the outside of the metrodome and a street sign

no offense, kirby.  these days the metrodome has a sunken roof and is still adorned in purple and gold even as the vikings scheme to leave the site.

anyway, here's where target field suffers - 2011 bowman ichiro suzuki

the scoreboard in right field is pretty obnoxious when it serves as the background on a baseball card.  it's nice for the fans, though, as it's easy to read and has all of the out of town scores.  i just wish the photographer would have waited until ichiro was in front of some of that limestone.

win twins!  maybe those lights should stay on a little bit longer...

doug mientkiewicz in person auto success! with bonus tommy lasorda info!

a few months ago, minky made an appearance at one of the monthly local card shows.  autos were $7 per, and although he had signed a few cards for me through the mail gratis, i no longer knew where to send his cards after he was released by the dodgers and then the marlins organization.  so, i ponied up - especially since there was now an official card showing mientkiewicz as a dodger.  but i didn't just get his 2010 upper deck card signed,

i also got his 2004 topps card autographed.

i love that card.  it's horizontal. it's got the superamerica logo.  it's got the horrible metrodome elevated seating.  what's not to love?  plus it's his last card as a twin as he was traded mid-season to the eventual world series champion boston red sox. 

when it was my turn, i told doug i had wished he were still playing for the dodgers instead of ga.  he laughed and agreed.  i also asked him for some tommy stories from the 2000 olympics.  he said that tommy didn't know anyone's name, got the team into a fight at a casino, and was pretty gassy.  actually, i think eric karros said tommy was gassy, but mientkiewicz said the other stuff.  he also said they were making a movie based on the olympic team, but it was being delayed due to financing.  can't wait to see paul giamatti as lasorda (that's my choice - i have no idea who is cast in the movie).

btw, mientkiewicz's ring from the 2004 world series was huge.

thanks doug! 

what is the most interesting thing about this card?

it's a 1986 fleer 'superstar special' (as i type that, i hear it in a howard cosell type voice - in the same way he used to say 'television spectacular'.  if you've never heard his rant about running out of time to make a tv gig, you are missing out) nl west sluggers card featuring dale murphy, steve garvey, and dave parker.

there are many possibilities as to what the most interesting thing about the card may be.  here are some options:

1. none of the three card subjects are looking at the camera
2. steve garvey is comparatively short
3. although he hit 272 home runs in his career, i don't think anyone really considered steve garvey a 'slugger'
4. with 4 mvp awards between them, along with everything else, none of the three guys are in the hall of fame.  was there any kid growing up in the late 70's/early 80's that didn't think at least one of these guys would be in cooperstown by now?
5. the braves and reds were once in the nl west
6. this picture was taken prior to the 1985 all star game, which means the background is that of the hubert h. humphrey metrodome!
7. this picture was taken prior to the 1985 all star game, and features three participants (one unlikely) of the first official all star home run derby (parker won with 6, murphy had 4 and garvey tied jack clark and ryne sandberg with 2.  ripken jr brought up the rear with 1).
8. i got this card for free, just by asking for it!

 that's right.  mark at stats on the back is in the midst of a card giveaway, and i claimed the stack of garvey cards.  for free.  well, actually i did send mark some mets and chicle from his want lists (and have one other card to send for his hof want list) but per the rules, i am only required to send 1 card.  here's some of the other stuff i claimed:

1967 topps len gabrielson (sketch card was a bonus!)

that's a good likeness.  gabrielson eventually made his way across town to the dodgers early in the 1967 season via a trade.

a big ol' stack of torii hunter cards, including this 2008 upper deck first edition card

 and a 2007 topps heritage rafael furcal sp 

mark also included a host of dodger cards, like this 2003 fleer fall classic don drysdale 

 this is quite an eclectic set, with different designs used within the set.  it's confusing, really.

2008 upper deck jeff kent infield power

 i had not seen this insert set before.  i wasn't missing much.

2002 donruss originals kazuhisa ishii

 donruss should have known that they didn't have rated rookies in 1982.  ishii was a good choice for a rated rookie, though - he was pretty much a bust just like so many of their other choices through the years.

there you have it - some of my haul from the stats on the back 'trade post' series.

thanks mark!