does it mean a thing if it ain't got that ring?

"it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game."

even if you believe that old adage, attributed to grantland rice, to be true, i believe that most dodger fans were disappointed with the outcome of the 2022 season. 111 wins in the regular season but an early exit (at the hands of the padres, no less) in the postseason was not the outcome hoped for or even expected.

in my lifetime, the dodgers have won eight pennants and three world series championships. in 1990, panini gave me stickers to commemorate the first two titles - 1981

and 1988

in 2021, there were a couple of cards that used this photo of clayton kershaw showing off his 2020 ring

this card is from 2021 stadium club chrome.

i had hoped to see some 2023 cards celebrating the dodgers as world champions, and i will hope to see some 2024 cards doing the same. it's a hope i have every year - a hope and not an expectation. i do think the dodgers, thanks to the departures of some key 2022 contributors, are primed for a down year by their standards, but we know that their front office will make a move at the trade deadline to enhance their chances of playing in the postseason. 

i hope it happens, but please, with the new season kicking off tomorrow, at least beat the padres. and the giants. and the rockies. and the diamondbacks. so yeah, win the division and then bring the ring.

seeing the season end with your team's catcher heading out to the mound to celebrate with the pitcher

is the best. and yes, i know that julio urias card features a photo taken just after the last out of the 2020 nlcs, but you get the idea.

play ball!

bill mazeroski is in my hall of famer collection

time for another latecomer to my hall of famer collection, and this time it's bill mazeroski. he's represented in the collection by this card:

that's a 2022 topps archives signatures retired player edition 2001 topps card numbered 65 of 76. here's the back:

the golden moments subset in 2001 topps is pretty sweet, with lots of significant home runs from the history of baseball represented, among other notable moments. this card, of course, shows mazeroski making his way around the bases after hitting the series ending home run in game 7 of the 1960 world series.

just like with edgar martinez, i was on the fence about including mazeroski in my collection when i first drafted the list of members. i decided that for him to be included, i needed a card depicting this moment because this is the play that i know him from, having seen this image countless times in print and on cardboard. thankfully, topps acquiesced. 

i was finally able to see the footage of his homer when mlb network played the game a few years ago after the reel was found among bing crosby's possessions, and it was glorious. it's great that this iconic photo was able to be cropped so as to only show mazeroski and third base coach frank oceak, and not the fans who stormed the field and mobbed mazeroski just after he rounded the base. 

while mazeroski was highly regarded for his defense (he won eight gold gloves), his election to the hall of fame by the veterans committee in 2001 was met with some controversy as you can imagine when a guy whose career on-base percentage was .299 is given a plaque in cooperstown. i am sure his home run is celebrated in cooperstown along with kirk gibson's and joe carter's, and those guys aren't going to be inducted, so i can understand the issue here. but, defense is part of the game and excellence should be recognized and taken into account, too. 

still, i have to believe that if he hadn't hit that home run, he wouldn't be in the hall of fame, and he for sure wouldn't be in my hall of famer collection. but, he did hit that home run and here we are!

as a reminder, you can see all the cards and members that make up my hall of famer collection here.

2022 memorial patches on display

there were a handful of memorial patches worn during the 2022 season, and i've found them all on cardboard, with the exception of the umpire memorials. those are tough to find these days as the umps don't get a lot of card time.

i may wind up swapping out some of these cards for 2023 issues that show the patches a bit better, but for now, here's a look at who was being remembered during the 2022 season.

jerry remy - the patch that the red sox wore for remy is visible on this 2022 topps archives trevor story card

it looks like the red sox moved the patch to the right sleeve when they wore their city connect jerseys, as shown on this 2023 topps nick pivetta card:

remy was a boston fixture. he played for them for the last 7 years of his 10-year career and he moved to the broadcast booth a year or two after he retired as a player in the mid-80's. remy was inducted in to the team's hall of fame in 2006 and continued to broadcast - aside from a few leaves of absence - until shortly before his death in october of 2021. it was no surprise to me that the team honored remy with a patch.

kimera bartee - the tigers wore a patch on their right sleeves in memory of bartee. it can be seen on this 2022 topps now spencer torkelson card

but the cards i have in my collection for the patch are this 2022 topps update eduardo rodriguez

and 2022 topps archives akil baddoo

cards. the tigers continued their tradition of color matching the patch to their road uniforms which is a nice touch. i like the rodriguez card because we get a glimpse of some of the tigers' retired numbers in the background.

bartee spent four fairly offensively forgettable years as a player with the tigers in the late 1990's but was serving as their first base coach when he died in december of 2021. while he coached in a couple other organizations, 2021 was his first year with the tigers. based on what i have read, he was very well liked by the players and staff, which explains why they recognized his passing with the patch.

art stewart - the royals wore a patch on their right sleeves to honor stewart, a front office executive who passed away in november of 2021. you can see the patch on this 2022 topps now bobby witt jr card

like the tigers, the royals had two versions of the patch. one was the blue one you see above and on this 2022 topps update witt jr card

coupled with the home whites, and then again on this 2022 topps now nick pratto card

which shows the patch with the away grays.

for their blue jerseys, the royals switched to a white patch which is visible on this 2022 topps stadium club witt jr card

featuring the away royal blue jerseys, and this 2022 topps throwback thursday witt jr card

which shows the home baby blues. i have the latter four cards in my memorials collection. maybe in 2023 there will be a witt jr card feature the grays and i can make it a clean sweep of witts.

stewart joined the royals back in their expansion year of 1969 and served as their director of scouting for many years. starting in 1998, he was made an assistant and later advisor to the general manager and remained in that role until his death. obviously, one of the longest tenured royal employees is deserving of the memorial patch!

ray fosse - the a's recognized the passing of their former player and longtime broadcaster with a patch worn on their right sleeves as seen on nick allen's 2022 topps update card:

i've gone for the chrome update version for my collection, however

fosse may be best known for being bowled over by pete rose in a play at the plate during the 1970 all-star game while he played for the indians, but he joined the a's in time for the last three years of their four-year pennant run in the 1970's. fosse won rings as a result in 1973 and 1974, hitting a homer off of don sutton in the latter fall classic. he retired after another stint with the indians and limited stops in seattle and milwaukee.  

after retiring he eventually returned to the a's in a front office/public relations capacity before moving to the broadcast booth in 1986. he remained a part of the a's broadcast team for the next 35 years before passing away in october of 2021, so it was no surprise that they wore the patch in his honor. as far as i can tell, they only wore the patch on their home whites, however, so i was very happy to find this card with the patch so prominently shown.

roland hemond - the longtime baseball executive passed away in december of 2021, and the diamondbacks wore a patch on their right sleeves during spring training in 2022. you can see the patch on this 2022 topps fire alek thomas card:

i figured i would have to wait for 2023 bowman or topps heritage to find a spring training shot with the patch, but there it is in fire.

hemond began his career as a big league executive with the boston braves in 1951 and stayed with the club as they moved to milwaukee, winning a ring with them in 1957. he later joined the angels in their inaugural year of 1961 to become their scouting director and then took a job with the white sox after the 1970 season to become their director of player personnel. he left the white sox to join the commissioner's office in 1986, but returned to the team life in 1988 as the orioles' general manager. he left the orioles to join the diamondbacks in 1996, and left them after the 2000 season to return to the white sox. then in 2007, he left the white sox to return to the diamondbacks and it looks like he retired in 2017 at the age of 88. whew. what i am saying is that hemond was a baseball lifer.

he was named the executive of the year twice, including in 1989 which makes sense as that team won 33 more games than they had in 1988 and finished just 2 games out of first place in the american league east. he was also awarded the buck o'neil lifetime achievement award by the hall of fame in 2011. i think it's great that the diamondbacks wore the patch in his honor, even if it were just for spring training.

vin scully - this one really hit me as a lifelong dodger fan. scully passed away on august 2, 2022 and the dodgers were quick to add a memorial patch to their right sleeves. you can see it on this 2022 topps now mookie betts card

but it is more visible on this 2023 topps miguel vargas card:

the vargas card is the one in the collection for this patch. i picked up the mookie card because i wasn't sure how many cards would be produced showing vin's patch on its own, since the dodgers added another patch in mid-september...

maury wills - the dodger great and 1962 national league mvp passed away on september 19, 2022 and the team added a patch to honor him as well. it is visible below scully's patch on this 2022 topps now miguel vargas card

i have written about scully and his impact on the game and my fandom many times. he was simply the best. similarly, i don't feel the need to write a bunch about wills, as i've featured cards of his over the years with plenty of narrative. i will note that he was the fourth member to be added to the "legends of dodger baseball" group, an honor that is just short of a number retirement (an honor that would become automatic were wills ever enshrined in cooperstown). wills is the second of the now five members to pass away after being so honored, following don newcombe who passed away in 2019. newk also was honored with a jersey patch.

i also wanted to note that i've upgraded the card that i have in my collection representing the patch the yankees wore for whitey ford during the final game of their 2020 postseason run. i found this 2021 topps gypsy queen gerrit cole card

that shows the "16" patch (above the patch for hank steinbrenner) better than the aaron judge card i had in the collection previously. plus, i used a cole card to show the 2021 version of the ford patch, so there's some consistency there.

back to 2021 - i mentioned up top that umpires also wore patches to honor a couple of their ranks who passed away. they wore the standard square patches on their left sleeves for terry cooney (tc) and bill haller (bh). cooney retired back in 1992 (he was one of the umps that was on the field for the dodgers' 1981 world series victory) and passed away in march of 2022. haller was the brother of former dodger tom haller, and he passed away in august of 2022 after being retired from on-field activity for almost 40 years.  these patches were worn inconsistently and only for a short time - perhaps so as to not draw attention from the ftx sponsorship patches.  here is some getty images photographic evidence of the cooney patch

and the haller patch

i haven't seen any cards in 2023 topps series 1 that show either of these patches, but i'll keep an eye out.

i do have a few cards that i don't think i've shown before in a memorial patch post for other umpires, however.  this 2021 topps stadium club ozzie albies card

shows the "ec" and "rr" patches that umpires wore to honor former umpires eric cooper who passed away in october of 2019 and rick reed who passed away during the 2020 season. 

and this 2021 topps heritage albert pujols in action card 

shows a couple of the patches, including the "cm" worn for the late chuck meriwether who had also passed away in october of 2019. i am still keeping an eye out for a card showing the patch that was added in the postseason that year to honor derryl cousins.

cousins passed away during the world series, so the "dc" patch was only worn in a couple of games.

the umpires wore the "dc" patch again, along with a "ps" patch for umpire paul schrieber, during april of 2021

this was before they added the ftx advertisements to their shirts. those ftx patches show up plenty, but i haven't seen any cards showing the two memorial patches, unfortunately.

speaking of ftx, i wonder what impact, if any, additional sponsorship patches that the owners choose to add to players' jerseys will have on memorials in the future. i've seen the padres and their motorola patch on the sleeves (it looks like all the sponsorship patches go on the sleeve representing the players' dominant hand) in spring training this year, and the nike patch is already clogging up the front of the jersey, although chest patches are usually worn on the left side. maybe we will see a return to black armbands as a result. we will see once the regular season gets going, as i expect to see memorials for bruce sutter, sal bando, tim mccarver and others who have unfortunately passed during the offseason.

highly surprising and completely appreciated

although he's been quiet on the blogs, brian from highly subjective and completely arbitrary is still out there and i have some cards to prove it! brian sent me a package sometime last fall, and it's a shame it has taken me so long to share.

first up is a professionally printed "card that should have been" 1967 topps sandy koufax

i created one of these missing final tributes a long time ago, and it is great to have this version in my collection. the back

meets the final tribute criteria by having his complete career stats on the back, even if they don't have the year by year stats and they also show a line for 1967. it's still great. you can see that the card was produced by or for the greater boston sports collectors club in 2008 based on the "celebrating 23 years" note in the text. there are some other similar "cards that never were" under the gbscc name out there, including a 1957 bob feller that would be nice to have.

speaking of nice to have, i've been eyeing a complete dodger team set of 2020 topps total after brian sent this will smith card

from the online only set. we will see if i pull the trigger (spoiler alert i am certain that i will). i just miss topps total so much.

this is a 2022 topps mike piazza insert

and i appreciate topps showing him as a dodger from time to time. of course, he had to be a dodger in this "welcome to the show" set.

brian also hit some mini-collections, such as the dodger stadium one with this 1985 donruss mario soto card

and the double play mini-collection with this 1994 fleer ricky gutierrez card

nice cameo of hall of famer jeff bagwell there, too.

this next card

wasn't a need, but it is such a great card that i had to show it anyway. fernando valenzuela's final topps flagship card as a dodger, and the photo selection and design complement each other so well.  although, this isn't topps but instead is o-pee-chee!

oh my!

here's where i remind folks that i once dedicated an entire blog to the differences between topps and o-pee-chee cards. check it out if you haven't already!

a couple of the cards that i featured on that site were also included in brian's package, including this 1991 dodger/mets mashup of bob ojeda

and a blue jays/padres card of joe carter

forget the "now with" - card packages from brian always have the good stuff. thanks brian!

the luck of the irish

last summer, when i began entering my dodger collection on tcdb, i was surprised to find out that there were a couple of the 1962 topps green tint dodgers that i was missing. i may have ignored them back when i picked up the lee walls, frank howard, and wally moon variations since they aren't as striking as those three (two of which use different photos), but if that were the case i had forgotten about my decision, and present day gcrl wasn't having it! 

i was curious to see if i had a green tint pete richert card in my dupes box, but instead found this one:

yes, the babe ruth dodger card is the other one with a green tint variation, and i actually had one stashed away in a box. with that stroke of luck, i decided to lay out a couple of bucks for the richert variation

so that i could feel complete with my dodger team set.

with st. patrick's day coming up in a couple of days, i may as well continue the green theme and show off some shawn green cards that entered my collection in 2022, and there were a few!

the newest cards come from 2021 topps chrome platinum anniversary

those would be the base, xfractor, and black & white mini diamonds refractor. green looks a bit creepy on these cards, like topps put him through a de-aging cgi program.

green wasn't included in the dodgers' 2000 topps stadium club set, which is probably why i did not have his 2000 topps stadium club chrome card until last year

and the same goes for his 2000 topps stadium club chrome refractor card

the checklist i was using was just a straight copy of the non-chrome set. this is one of the things that tcdb did for me - clarify some old team sets that were cobbled together from sometimes less than reliable sources.

here's his 2000 topps stars card

which i think was among my most wanted cards for a while.

green had a second card in the 2000 bowman's best set

and he has a bunch of cards in 2000 topps tek

thanks to all the patterns involved. these four cards got me up to six different patterns, i believe.

i already had his 2003 upper deck first pitch season highlights card, but added another

since it highlights his 4 home run game in milwaukee that i had the good fortune to attend in person. in to the "cards featuring games i have seen in person" mini collection!

2004 bowman chrome

is one of the more forgettable bochro designs with the speed hump. topps wasn't trying very hard.

2004 donruss studio

gives us a shot of downtown la. i've always enjoyed being able to see downtown from dodger stadium.

2004 fleer showcase

captures green with his goatee 

2005 donruss prime patches

is called "prime patches" but this is just a big piece of blue jersey.

2005 topps gallery artist's proof

i like this impressionist rendering of green's swing.

and now for some shiny. sort of.

i have learned that 2001 bowman heritage chrome

does not scan well.

slightly better is 2003 topps heritage chrome

and better than that is 2004 topps heritage chrome

but only because the background wasn't black to start with.

not a lot of difference (besides the card design) between that 2004 heritage chrome and green's 2005 topps heritage chrome card

but the refractor really sings!

one more refractor, this one from 2005 topps chrome 

that's a lot of green, and as any competent leprechaun knows, there is always gold

at the end of the rainbow post.

have a happy and safe st. patrick's day and don't forget your green!