the almost daily dodger - keibert ruiz

with will smith firmly in place as the dodgers' catcher of the future, i was not disappointed in 2021 when keibert ruiz was traded to the nationals in the max scherzer/trea turner trade. sure, as a top dodger prospect, keibert ruiz was featured in a lot of sets and so was a big part of my 2021 card pickups, but getting scherzer and turner was a good return for ruiz and josiah gray.

ruiz literally burst on the major league scene with a home run in his first big league at bat, and in the end two of his three dodger hits were round trippers. with the nationals, he obviously hasn't kept up that pace, but he hit 18 homers in 2023. i looked up his current stats earlier this week, and ruiz has regressed offensively in 2024. he does have 12 homers so far this season, but his obp is around 0.255 due in large part to his low walk rate. he just turned 26 so he has some time to pick his production up, and i hope that he does. 

anyway, i've had a number of ruiz cards languishing in my scanned folder since the trade, and i figured it was time to post them.

this first one is a 2020 bowman platinum purple parallel of the "walmart top prospects" insert card

it's numbered to 250 in the top left.

here's a 2021 panini absolute rookie class insert

and a 2021 panini mosaic mosaic prizm parallel

and finally, a 2021 topps gypsy queen indigo parallel

which is also numbered to 250, just like the other purple hued parallel that kicked off this post.

the dodgers might be in another catcher quandary soon with 23-year old dalton rushing and 22-year old diego cartaya coming up the pipeline. rushing has recently been playing some outfield which makes me think he may be up sooner rather than later.

h-town card show, part 2

i'm here to wrap up my visit last month to planet houston and the hotel card show i attended. yesterday's post covered my pick-ups from the first few dealers i worked with, and now here is the rest!

the next dealer i found had a quarter box filled with topps inserts and topps on demand releases. i took 37 cards from him, and he charged me 8 bucks.

here's a lot of 2022 topps 582 montgomery cards from 2020-21 set 1 and 2022 set 2

plus six more from 2022 set 3

and here is a pair of red sox from 2021 topps brooklyn collection

i knew that i already had the ichiro card because of the duke snider mural in the background - i had added the card to my dodger stadium mini-collection as soon as i first saw the card online. i didn't realize, however, that i also already had the trea turner card.

i did find some other dodgers that i did need here, too, including this 2022 topps a&g x freddie freeman mini

i had more luck with dodgers at the next stop. this was a guy in a braves hat who said his boxes were 50% off the marked prices. i made away with 48 cards for a total of 20 bucks. highlights included a 2021 topps update dj peters vintage stock parallel

a 2020 topps heritage 50th anniversary buyback of wes parker's 1971 topps card

a pair of color parallels of clayton kershaw from 2021 topps big league

and 2022 panini donruss optic

a pair of jackie robinson short prints

from 2021 topps gypsy queen and 2010 topps national chicle, respectively, and a pair of autographs from a couple of 2019 topps products

of dennis santana. santana most recently pitched for the yankees, and i will admit that i was a bit sad to see the dodgers get to him during the first two games of their series in new york. after the second game, in which santana was pulled and replaced by a position player, it seemed pretty clear his time was up and the next day the yankees dfa'd him. fortunately, like mitch white in yesterday's post, santana was picked up by a nl central team - in his case, the brewers.

i added five more dodger cards from another seller for 10 bucks, and i was happy with that price. i figured that he would be asking for that much for this card alone - 2024 topps shohei ohtani/mookie betts checklist

i think topps is playing fast and loose with what a hug is. maybe their copy editor has some issues.

the other four cards were inserts and parallels from stadium club chrome and topps chrome releases

at least half of which are unnecessary, but i remain the fool that buys them (on the secondary market).

next up i stopped at a dealer who had pretty much only texas team items and dug through a short stack (is there any other kind?) of jose altuve cards for a trading partner who collects the astro 2nd baseman. i found four cards for 2 bucks, and i am keeping one from 2022 panini donruss optic

since it's a double play turn!

then i stopped at another table and dug through a couple of rows of a monster box that was ambiguously priced. i was on my way out so i didn't look too seriously but, did pick out two autographed cards which totaled 10 bucks, one of which was this 1997 bowman karim garcia auto

he gave them both to me for five which was nice. i guess there is also a "blue ink" version of the garcia card, but i will count my collection complete with this one.

i made one more stop, figuring that i should see if i could pick up some 1955 bowman. there was an older couple with some vintage stacks, including cards from the tv set. i picked out a few and offered ten bucks. the toploaders that the cards were in had prices on them, and ten bucks was a pretty good discount. the guy looked at the cards and countered with the full marked price.  i then reduced my ask to two cards which had a total marked price of six bucks and asked if he would take five. he looked at them and told me "six dollars". it was then that i realized he was hard of hearing. i held up five fingers and he said ok and so i was able to cross off st. paul native fred baczewsi and gil coan

from the want list as i work towards completing the set. i'm making some decent strides in that regard but still have a ways to go.

big thanks to houston for hosting a show that coincided with one of my visits. i have plans to be there again, but don't see any shows scheduled during that time which is too bad for me because i really did have a good time.

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.

i wonder what dantooine looks like

all that i know about dantooine was that it was too remote to make an effective demonstration of the power of the death star. i do, however, know that tatooine featured a desert landscape that spawned a mini-collection of baseball cards for me.  here are a smattering of such cards that i've added or transferred to that collection in recent months.

1995 pinnacle rickey henderson

happy birthday (one day late) to the man of steal!

1995 upper deck collectors choice se and silver signature parallel will clark

2003 topps chris magruder

2003 topps quinton mccracken

1999 topps sammy sosa league leaders

hard to tell from the scan, but that's nothing but dirt behind sammy

2021 topps gypsy queen david bote

believe it or not, i've yet to find a star wars card that is cropped such that it would fit in to this mini-collection.

memorial patches for the chairman of the board

when i was just starting to follow baseball, it was sensible to me to compare the dodgers and yankees. meaning i would look at the players from each team as competing against each other. the yankees had reggie jackson, and the dodgers had reggie smith. graig nettles and ron cey. bucky dent and bill russell. chris chambliss and steve garvey. you get the idea. when it came to pitchers, it was jim hunter and don sutton.

as i learned more about dodger (and baseball) history, i continued this practice. i remember talking with my dad about the dodger teams of the 60's and asking him who the yankees had that would compare to sandy koufax. his response was that they had whitey ford.

i have to admit i didn't know too much about ford, and he wasn't a guy i spent a lot of time learning about. somewhere along the line i picked up a couple of his cards, including his 1960 topps card which i like very much, but i still didn't give him a lot of attention.

when he passed away in october of 2020, however, i read some of the articles that were written about him and came away with a better understanding of his career and accomplishments. he was the mvp of the 1961 world series but actually had a better series the year before when the yankees fell to the pirates. i understand that many were confused when casey stengel didn't start ford in game 1 of that series, and his two shutouts of the pirates later in the fall classic begged the question what if?

the day after ford passed away, the yankees played what turned out to be their final game of the 2020 season - game 6 of the alcs. it was october 9, 2020, and the team added ford's retired number 16 to their left sleeves as a memorial, just above the hank steinbrenner memorial patch. i was pleased to see that the memorial was captured on cardboard with this 2021 topps aaron judge 1965 redux insert

it's somewhat rare for a one-day memorial to make it on to cardboard.

[edit - i've replaced the judge card in the collection with this 2021 topps gypsy queen card of gerrit cole]

given ford's status within the franchise, the yankees continued to honor ford in 2021 with a different patch.  it is seen on this 2021 topps update gerrit cole 1992 redux insert:

although i have since replaced it in my collection with this 2022 topps jordan montgomery card

that is much cleaner with the mostly black and white design of the card helping the patch stand out.

this patch is a bit of a departure for the yankees who had in the last couple of decades used the memorial patch version shown on judge's card for their late players whose numbers had been retired. other players/managers received the traditional black armband. rest in peace, whitey!