a classic turn of events

i was tuned in to the mlb network in mid-march and was surprised to find 'the natural' or 'bull durham' not being shown. actually, i was just looking for some background noise while i did some other stuff which is why i did not quickly change the channel when i saw that they were replaying a giants game.

specifically, it was game 3 of the 2003 nlds, and it was touted as a 'classic game'.  i am pretty sure i did not watch this game when it was originally played, so i wasn't sure why it was thought to be a classic (spoiler alert - the marlins won on an extra-inning walk-off). i do know i watched game 4 of the series when the marlins knocked off the giants to head to the nlcs on a game-ending play at the plate. that was a classic ending, at least.

anyway, while i was occasionally looking up, i was reminded that the giants were wearing memorial patches for bobby bonds who had passed away in late august.  this prompted me to take a look at the 2004 topps postseason cards again to see if the patch was visible on any of them. i had done this back in 2015 when i was trying to fill out my armbands and memorial patch collection, but i struck out on this particular patch.

it was a no go on the postseason cards, but a quick run through 2004 upper deck giants cards on comc made me aware of this card of former dodger marquis grissom:

there's the patch! the site must have been sold out of these back in 2015, or maybe i just missed it. i am happy to now have this in my collection representing the elder bonds - a guy who i once met as a kid and who always seemed to be on a new team every year.

i was also able to find and add another card to my lurker collection as a result of all this - a card of bobby's son barry from the same set:

i grabbed this card and considered putting it in my dusty baker post-dodger collection, but put it with the lurkers instead. in addition to baker, there's gary carter plus some cardinals - jim edmonds and albert pujols and i believe that's edgar renteria behind bonds.

two nice adds to my collection, thanks to someone at the mlb network thinking game 3 of the 2003 nlds is a classic.