back to the future (all-star edition)

40 years ago yesterday, the dodgers hosted the all-star game at dodger stadium. i could be wrong, but i don't recall host teams wearing patches celebrating the all-star game prior to the dodgers doing so that year. i know you can purchase patches these days that commemorate the earlier midsummer classics, but it could very well be that the dodgers were the first to add an all-star patch to their uniform for the entire season.

in 1980, the patch looked like this:

i apologize if i've upset your ocd sensibilities by not rotating the image of the patch.

this year, the dodgers were set to host the game for the first time since the summer of 1980, and they had added this patch to their jerseys to celebrate the event:

so hollywood with those searchlights. or do you call them spotlights? one and the same, i think.

anyway, the 2020 all-star game, which was supposed to take place next tuesday, has been cancelled, and the dodgers will instead host the game in 2022.  while i understand and support the reasons behind the suspension of sports and life in general, i am bummed about it, too.  i was really looking forward to 2020 topps update, for example, as that set traditionally showcases the all-star game and i was hoping to find some nice cards for my dodger stadium collection. to be clear, i am not complaining at all. in fact, i will be surprised if there is baseball at all this year.

at any rate, i've got some cards to show that are connected to the 1980 all-star game.  first up is a 2011 topps tier one card of steve garvey:

so that's a patch from a garvey jersey worn during the 1980 season. it pairs nicely with another card in my collection. i'm assuming there are two more that feature the all-star game patch, and it would be nice to have them all.  i noticed in that linked post that, back in 2017, i pegged 2022 as the earliest the dodgers would host the game. what do you know, i was right!

here's another card i've acquired in the last few months:

that is a 2008 topps triple threads sepia parallel featuring duke snider, russ(ell) martin, and the garv.  notice that garvey's photo on the card is from 1980 with the patch. there are some topps cards from this year that show the 2020 all-star game patch, but i'm guessing there won't be many more.