the rickey henderson memorial patch

it still seems very surreal that rickey henderson is no longer with us. 

rickey passed away on december 20, 2024 - just a few days shy of his 66th birthday. it was no surprise that the a's - the team that rickey was most closely associated with - announced that they would wear a memorial patch in his honor during the 2025 season. and, as some of the later-year card releases came out last year, i kept my eyes open for cards featuring the patch (a gold circular patch surrounded in green with "rickey 24" in green text).

one of the first cards i saw was nick kurtz's 2025 topps heritage high number card. the image used on his chrome parallels was a bit better, so i set aside this light blue sparkle refractor

the card also features the sacramento patch that the team (perhaps somewhat begrudgingly?) wore.

once 2026 topps heritage was released, however, i decided to put this jacob wilson dark gray parallel 

in the memorials collection. there's a lot going on on this card for sure, but the rickey patch is in a prominent spot on the card.

in related news, i pulled this insert from 2026 topps chrome

i am a fan of cards featuring a "past to present" type theme, and the fact that this card features rickey along with lawrence butler who is wearing the rickey memorial patch makes it a winner in my book. it's not going to replace the wilson card in the memorials collection, but it might find its way into my collection somewhere else.

i would also gladly add this 2026 topps dynasty kurtz card

to my collection, but i could not afford it even if the person who pulled it put it up for sale. i saw the image on a post by topps a couple of months ago. the only similar card i have is an orel hershiser relic from leaf that features part of the rangers' memorial patch for johnny oates (hershiser was a pitching coach for the rangers for a spell). it would be cool to have a card featuring a full memorial relic like this one.

anyway, rickey is missed.

making good use of show time

i was fortunate to have the monthly twin cities collector club show come to my neck of the woods in july, otherwise i would not have been able to attend. as it was, i had just a small window of time to spend at the show, which is a smaller version of the regular show about 30 minutes away from me.

one good thing about it being a smaller show and further away from the larger metropolitan area is that it is less crowded. i was able to dig through my favorite seller's monster boxes largely unimpeded. this is the guy with the 7/$1 and 7/$5 boxes, plus a $2 box that evens things out. what i mean by that is that the dollar box or 7/$5 box is filled typically with cards that are more likely quarter or fifty cent cards. the $2 box has some bargains. and, he always discounts when you buy a decent stack.

most of what i picked up was from 2026 topps, as inserts and parallels have been slow to hit these boxes this year. you may be surprised that i am leading off with this bryce eldridge giants team color border parallel

but i like these cards. this one, however, i purchased with the sole intent of selling myself, and it wound up covering my entire expenditure at the show.

here's a blue holofoil jp crawford parallel

it's a great dp turn card, but the holofoil blots out the runner sliding in, so i decided not to add it to my double play collection.

from 2026 topps heritage, here's a jeff mcneil chrome blue refractor parallel

at one time, i considered starting a mcneil pc since he, like brooks lee of the twins, is from my neck of the woods. i decided against it, but i do now have a "hometown heroes" mini-collection. mcneil and lee aren't in it though, as i've limited that collection to people from my actual hometown(s) or who had an impact in those places. stay tuned for a post or two around that collection.

more 2026 topps parallels - more mets numbered stuff.

diamantes, to be clear.

here's a card i found interesting. it's a green rainbow foil parallel of a first pitch insert

that features a rays' subject at a yankee affiliated field. this card provides a nice record of the 2025 season wherein the rays played their home games at george steinbrenner field since the trop was damaged.

series two is out, so sun's out as well with the holiday parallels

and here's where the dodger content begins!

tyler glasnow

shows off the 2026 series 2 holiday base parallel, while edgardo henriquez and bobby miller

model the 2025 version.

still in 2025, here's a pink holofoil dustin may parallel (from 2025 topps update)

along with a 2026 version featuring justin wrobleski

one pink seems more purple-y than the other.

there were plenty of other parallels to be found - a diamante max muncy

a gold miguel rojas

and some silver crackle foil 1991 all-stars

plus a non-all star jackie robinson 1991 insert with the same parallel treatment

sometimes it seems like it's easier to find parallels than the regular base versions of these inserts.

here are a couple more cards i picked up - a 2018 topps topps now top 10 insert of derek jeter

and a carolina blue holo parallel of pete rose's 2023 donruss retro card

the jeter goes into my retired number collection as a "header" card as it documents his number retirement ceremony, and the rose is just one of those cards i couldn't put back. if i were a younger collector, i would want to complete a carolina blue holo parallel set, although the treatment isn't quite as nice on this retro design as it is on the regular set's design.

that was pretty much it for me at the show in terms of keepers. i was able to talk with brian from highly subjective, completely arbitrary for a bit, and i bought a "by the bat rack" card for him as part of my haul from this seller. he did me better, however, by handing over a nice stack of dodgers. i'll show those off in a post of their own - stay tuned!

the bobby jenks memorial patch

bobby jenks passed away just over a year ago just before the white sox celebrated the 20th anniversary of their 2005 world series championship team, of which jenks was a big part. he had been diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer earlier in the year. he was only 44 years old.

the white sox quickly moved to add a memorial patch to their uniforms for the remainder of the season, settling on a black diamond design with jenks' number 45 in white. you can see the patch on curtis mead's 2026 topps heritage chrome refractor parallel

the black diamond memorial has been the white sox' standard design for former players and coaches since at least 2012, but they sometimes use a name or nickname rather than a number. they have also used a different design for reinsdorf family members.

for their city connect jerseys, the white sox inverted the colors of the patch, and the black on white version is seen on this 2026 topps finest colson montgomery xfractor parallel

jenks was a rookie in 2005 when he helped the chisox win their first championship since 1917. he had two saves in both the alcs and the world series, and he was on the mound for the final out of the fall classic. he wound up pitching for chicago for all but one season of his career, and his 173 saves are second to bobby thigpen in team history. 

the white sox also installed a panel for last season near the backstop at whatever new comiskey is called these days

i didn't really follow his career, although i was aware of his elite closer status thanks to playing fantasy baseball while he was active. i'm glad i took a bit of time to read up on his career and i feel badly for him that his career ended the way it did, with a botched surgery that led to an emergency, life saving surgery, a period of addiction to painkillers and ultimately another surgery that removed all hope of pitching again. rest in peace bobby jenks.

when a penny is worth a quarter and other tales from the card shows

it was business as usual at the june twin cities collector club card show, with yours truly arriving as the doors opened and then making the handful of regular stops at tables with bargain boxes. as usual, the boxes included dime, quarter, dollar, and two dollar boxes, with the latter two belonging to a seller who gives good discounts from those posted prices.

one card i pulled from one of the quarter boxes was this one

it's a 2005 upper deck artifacts brad penny card. i took it because i know that my mid-2000 upper deck non-flagship dodger team sets aren't necessarily complete. it wasn't until i got home that i realized it was a promo. yes, i did not notice the "ud promo" text across the front.  here's the back:

i don't know how these promos were distributed, but there are a few dodgers included. i certainly was in need of this penny card that cost a quarter.

from the dime box vendor, i took a couple of 2020 topps 206 series 1 cards. first, a gavin lux

sovereign back

and next, a gerrit cole

polar bear back

the polar bear backs were 1:18 packs

some other dime box cards included this 2023 panini donruss gavin stone purple holo parallel

a 2021 topps archives 1989 big foil elvis andrus card

for the double play collection, and a 2024 topps lawrence butler gameday drip insert

this card caught my eye for a couple of reasons. first, unlike the other gameday drip cards i've seen, this one features the subject in their baseball uniform. this makes sense to me, although i get the other side showing players in their walk-in ensembles. anyway, i also took notice of butler wearing number 4. my high school team modeled its uniforms after the late-80's athletics look, and i wore number 4 so i definitely like the look of this card!

back to the quarter box, i rescued this "gem"

that is an honest to goodness beat up 1983 topps tony gwynn rookie. here's the back:

it's not a card that i need - i have a couple of complete sets, plus the one from my dad's collection - but i figured i would remove it from the indignity of a bargain box. who knows, maybe this will be fuji's next wallet card.

i also nabbed a couple of green parallels from 2022 topps gypsy queen. one of a retiring sure-to-be hall of famer, and one that is a "color match"

these next few came from the dollar (or 7 for $5, but really even less than that) box

2021 topps chrome platinum anniversary babe ruth

2005 topps heritage moises alou sp

2010 topps warren spahn legends variation

i will always pick up a legends variation when i see it in these boxes. same goes for cards of the bambino on the 1952 topps design. heritage short prints are in the "sometimes always" category.

there were some 2026 inserts and parallels that i also purchased, including these 8 bit ballers

this pair of andrew mccutchen varieties

and a series 2 holiday parallel of juan soto

soto got a hero number in series 2

which is absolutely justified by those stats.

one more card from the dollar box - a 2026 topps heritage kris bryant black parallel

these have a print run of 50 so i was surprised to see it. there is a touch of damage to the bottom border, similar to the black border card that i pulled (and returned to topps but have not yet received my replacement) so i am guessing that's why it was in the bargain box. it was with some other color parallels from this year's heritage, including some dark grays, so it was obvious that it is a black border.

from the same seller i took this 2020 topps heritage christian yelich card

seeing these cards back-to-back here reminds me of how my mind was blown a bit when i realized that 1977 topps is just a revision of 1971 topps with capital letters for the player name, white borders, and a position pennant. small changes with the same basic design. seeing the bryant card makes it more obvious how similar the two designs are.

anyway, i picked up the yelich card because it's a mini, numbered to 100 on the back

i have been stockpiling some brewer cards in anticipation of thorzul's "trade me anything" event which was postponed from its usual timing last winter. hopefully it is a tradition that has not yet come to an end.

more topps heritage black borders from 2018

and 2019

plus another topps legend variation - this one from 2011 topps

robin roberts passed away in 2010 so i am sure he was in the minds of the topps folks who determined who would be included on these cards.

a couple more cards that i couldn't pass up - these are vintage stock parallels from 2025 topps update

i need to track down a 2026 example. these are much more interesting to me since topps started putting more thought into them in 2024.

as for more obvious cards for my collection, i found some from each of the sellers i visited.

here's a 2016 topps perspectives insert of randy johnson

for the tatooine collection, and a 2026 topps 1991 insert of vladimir guerrero

for that pc that i maintain.

as for dodgers, here's an alex freeland 1991 insert

a tommy edman sandglitter parallel

and a teoscar hernandez rainbow foil parallel

from this year's flagship.

other needed cards i picked up included a 2019 pedro baez rainbow foil parallel

a 2019 topps heritage kenta maeda chrome purple refractor parallel

and the same parallel, but of walker buehler from 2020 topps heritage

another buehler parallel - the aqua wave refractor from 2021 topps chrome platinum anniversary

here's a 2024 panini prizm pink ice parallel of emmet sheehan

and a couple of 2025 freddie freeman cards - chrome all-etch insert

and holiday gold lights parallel

finally, from 2025 topps update i found a hyeseong kim 1990 insert

and a purple holofoil parallel of evan phillips

overall, a pretty good haul for my collection.

i will also mention that one of the sellers had quite a few of these 2019 topps cross-product inserts of the greatest players, greatest seasons, and greatest moments across the 150 years of professional baseball. 

whenever i see them i get the urge to build the sets, but then remember that some of the cards are harder to find than others. maybe if i just stick to the series 1, 2, and update inserts. we will see, but in the meantime, ruth, lou gehrig, and fighter pilot ted williams were no-brainers to pick up at the card show.