custom built heroes

well, that was a disappointing postseason for dodger fans like me. looks like this team was more like the 2001 mariners than the 1998 yankees. i am happy for the padre fans - i know a few - while at the same time sad for my fellow dodger fans. this was a very good team that just didn't hit in the last two games. one hit with runners in scoring position? well, only one hit that drove in any runs, anyway. that's not going to get it done.

in my 46 years of following the dodgers, i have been disappointed 43 times - to varying degrees, of course. i would put this year's disappointment behind the 1978 and 1985 seasons, and possibly 2017, but it is definitely top 5.  wait 'til next year once again!

moving on - i stumbled upon an ebay listing for a dodgers heroes patch a couple of months ago. the listing was pretty vague in that it didn't mention the year of issue, among other details. it also gave the size of these patches as slightly larger than standard baseball cards. they looked pretty good and the price was decent, so i went ahead and ordered a few:

of these six patches, i have the full size, original issues of steve garvey, ron cey, and kirk gibson (i also have a bill russell patch, but there wasn't a version of it offered by this seller). i've seen the tommy lasorda and fernando valenzuela patches for sale for reasonable prices, but the jackie robinson patch always has a larger price tag on it.

i knew going in that it was unlikely that this seller stumbled upon a cache of unknown and undistributed patches, and when i received my order i confirmed that they were customs. sure, i could have done that before i ordered, but i don't mind having some customs in my collection - especially when they are something like this that i really enjoyed seeing back during the 1999 season (and on cards in that and subsequent years).

i scanned the new patch (it's the one in the middle) together with my known-to-be official garvey patches:

you can see that the red background is different on the mid-sized patch (the smaller one is the known "mini" patch produced in 1999 along with the standard jersey sized patch on the left).  also, the blues are different. the big giveaway for me, however, is the stitching. the custom has shorter stitches, and the direction is different in the beige portion at the left of the patch.

i did a bit more research and found that someone had even made a vin scully patch using this design

which made me wonder why he wasn't included in the set back in 1999 - he was certainly a franchise icon by that time. i've mentioned before, but i'll say it again - the set included 24 different subjects, including longtime trainer bill buhler. sandy koufax was in the set, but he objected to the use of his name and image, and so there were very few of his patches sold to the public.  here's the complete set:

heroes indeed.

i did buy a different patch to add to my dodger jersey - it's the vin scully memorial patch:

i already have the full size garvey heroes patch on one sleeve and the jackie robinson 50th anniversary patch on the other, so this went on the chest. now i just need to get to a dodger game to wear it.