just like fire would

as the saints sang, it burns out. ("all fools day" is one of my favorite albums. it's really good stuff.)

back to cards...

fanatics announced earlier this year that the "fire" release would not be returning to shelves in 2023 which is fine by me. it was kind of a throwaway set that i would pick up singles from in bargain boxes at shows later in the calendar year. 

here are some 2022 topps fire cards that i've had sitting around in my scanned folder for awhile.

clayton kershaw

and clayton kershaw, flame parallel

and also, clayton kershaw (and walker buehler), gold minted parallel

more gold minted dodger parallels - cody bellinger, andre jackson, justin turner

i guess those are now non-dodger gold minted parallels.

i assure you all of those cards are from 2022. fire used different designs in the same set, but in a way more annoying fashion than what we see in archives or back in 2001 with topps fusion. the only real comparisons i can make are to 1995 fleer and fleer's 2003 fall classic release. it's like they couldn't decide on a single design and just said "screw it - use 'em all".

for me, i have way more blue chip and gold minted insert parallels than i do base inserts, and maybe that's what retail will do for you instead of hobby. anyway, here's a trea turner "fired up" gold minted insert parallel

that uses the same main photo seen on his "on fire" die-cut insert.

turner's card also has a "liar, liar, pants on fire" vibe to it, while walker buehler seems largely unscathed by flames.  those two inserts are the rare exception to my blue chip/gold minted insert success. case in point, here's mookie betts' "on fire" insert all gold minted up:

hard to tell if he's burning or not.

another easy pun for an insert in a fire themed release is "flame throwers", and walker buehler was included

i can't say that i will miss topps fire as it was fairly repetitive year after year. i guess i got burned out on it. just like fire would.

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.

three cards from three stars and more from the card shows

back in august, i visited some of the local card shops with great success. a few weeks ago, i made it to another lcs. this one, three stars sportscards, was one that i hadn't visited for years - and i had never been to their current location in bloomington. they have two locations - the other was closed for a bit but reopened in the same space in a northern twin cities suburb. this location, however, is their flagship.

the reason i have avoided this shop for so long is that you can't dig through boxes of cards. their loose inventory is on beckett marketplace and you have to find the card you want online. it doesn't enhance the lcs experience, that's for sure. however, i was in the immediate vicinity and i actually needed a few ultra pro sheets, so i popped in.  

i found one box of cards on a table with prices marked and dug through. i found a couple of cards that i figured were worth the price they were asking.  then i found bargain table with a bunch of random collectibles on it. included were oversized cards such as this one, which incidentally includes three stars as part of its design:

that's a 2022 topps series 2 box topper card of clayton kershaw. these oversized cards were $5 each or 3 for $10. i grabbed a couple of the other different box toppers and that was it for me.  a couple of the cards i pulled from the loose card box were a 2017 topps high tek cody bellinger rookie card

and a 2018 topps bellinger/yasiel puig black parallel

it's a checklist, of course

but numbered to 67. 

october was a busy month for card shows here in the twin cities and greater minnesota. there was the regular monthly show on the 8th, a mall show from the 14th to the 16th, and another semi-regular show on the 15th in the metro suburbs. plus, there was another show on the 15th not too far from the cities, another mall show from the 21st to the 23rd up in duluth, and one a week later if you dared cross in to wisconsin and get to eau claire. an embarrassment of riches, really.

i made it to the mall show on the 14th and found 169 cards from a combination of quarter, fifty cent, and dollar boxes. in all, i spent $55 on cards and $1 on another collectible. it was a good time digging through these boxes, and i found some decent stuff.

the first table i stopped at had a quarter box organized by teams, which is helpful to a team collector such as myself. lo and behold, i found some needs pretty quickly, like this blast from the past billy ashley insert from 1995 sportflics uc3

more modern cards included this 2017 topps fire kenta maeda flame parallel

and this 2021 topps chrome platinum anniversary clayton kershaw card

i knew that i did not need this card as i already owned it, but it was hard for me to leave it behind.

i got one step closer to finishing my 2021 topps fire team set with this keibert ruiz card

and this ruiz card from 2021 topps gypsy queen

actually did complete the team set.

i found a card for my vladdy pc - a 2021 panini donruss retro 87 card, to be exact

plus one for the names/numbers on the back collection from 2018 topps

it's a dumb card as far as the "who's on first?" question goes. where was this card back in 2008 when chin-lung hu was around? this effort reminds me of topps putting out a card in 2019 of max muncy and cody bellinger and calling it "sweet life". if only they knew that zach mckinstry was in the wings, they could have waited and at least got the names right.

just like with the kershaw above, i couldn't leave 2022 topps pristine cards behind. i picked up some brew crew legends and a couple of all-stars

i think the all-star uni cards are short printed, but am not 100% certain.

this guy also had some good stuff in his dollar boxes that wound up being slightly less than a dollar when all was said and done. here are some inserts and parallels, starting with one insert and one insert parallel from 2022 topps of jackie robinson

and moving on to 2022 topps fire parallels of inserts

i was excited to find an eddie murray dodger card that i needed, too!

more parallels from 2022 topps

and more inserts, too

i found a legends variation from 2022 topps as well

plus a decent looking 1975 topps card with the wrong city represented on roy campanella's cap

a nice find for sure. however, the card that made me do a cartoon double take was this next one:

um ok. for a buck! 1975 topps george brett rookie?! it has some issues but i could not leave it behind. just wow.

next up was a guy with a bunch of monster boxes, but only one that had baseball priced lower than a dollar each. i dug through and found some various inserts and parallels that piqued my interest, including this 1995 score summit tim salmon nth degree parallel

the back is interesting to me

with salmon making a catch under the halos' tribute to rod carew and his retired number while sporting the black armband worn in memory of jimmie reese.

did lightning strike twice?

no, it's just a 2010 topps cards your mom threw out insert

of yount's 1975 topps rookie card

the last guy said his lowest priced boxes were 2 for a dollar, but let me know that he was flexible. i wound up with a 3 for a dollar deal. here are some of my favorites i found from this seller.

2021 topps archives mini poster card of the boys of summer

in the words of mookie in a spike lee joint, "i got it, i'm gone".

here's a 2020 topps factory set photo variation of gavin lux's rookie card

and a blue parallel of that 2022 topps max scherzer insert of which i found the base earlier

finally, i like this instant walker buehler rainbow from 2019 panini prizm

this was the first time i had been inside a shopping mall for a couple of years, but it was well worth it. i may be back for the next one in december!

finally, towards the end of october, i made another stop at twin cities sports cards to peruse their nickel boxes. i was in the area killing some time and so took advantage. i put together a pretty good stack, but will only show a couple of cards from the haul.

i added a 2022 topps chrome buster posey card

to my final tribute mini-collection, and a 2018 panini donruss andrew benintendi photo variation card

to my name/number on the back mini-collection.

as for a couple of notable dodger additions, here's the aforementioned zach mckinstry!

i had not seen the target red parallels from this year's heritage before. it doesn't make me want to find more of them.

lastly, here's a gold parallel of  my favorite dodger card from 2006:

i was very happy to find a new nomar parallel for my collection.  i suppose i need to start thinking about my favorite cards from 2022...

there really are a lot of card buying opportunities around these parts at the moment. just another thing for a collector to be thankful for. speaking of being thankful tomorrow is thanksgiving, so here's a 2014 topps turkey red zack greinke card 

it's my first from that set which was only available online as i recall.

happy thanksgiving everyone!