remembering 2023 memorials

with update having been released, i've been able to find some non-topps now cards that show images from the 2023 season. i am always looking for examples to include in my armbands and memorial patches mini-collection, and i found a few!

once bruce sutter's patch was removed from cardinal jerseys early in the season, i went ahead and bought a topps now card just to be sure to have a card for the collection. you can read about that memorial here.

other teams wore memorials for all or part of the season, and i'll begin with the san francisco giants. in december of 2022, hall of famer gaylord perry passed away and the team responded by wearing patches with his last name and jersey number (36) on their sleeves as seen on anthony desclafani's rainbow foil parallel card from 2023 topps update

although he had his best seasons elsewhere, perry pitched for the giants over the first 10 seasons of his career, and the club retired his number in 2005.

when bay area favorite vida blue passed away in may of 2023, the giants added a second patch to honor him. the patch was typically worn above perry's with his first name and number (14). both patches are visible on patrick bailey's update card

blue only pitched for the giants for four seasons, but he was an all-star for three of those four years and he finished third in the nl cy young voting in 1978. 

i mentioned that blue's patch was typically stacked under perry's because once the giants added an advertising patch to their jerseys, space was limited on the opposite sleeve of their city connect uniforms. in that case, the patches were worn side by side. there is a topps now card that shows this configuration i believe, but i haven't bothered to grab it.

the oakland a's also honored blue, and coupled the patch bearing his first name with a patch for sal bando who had passed away in january. both patches were added to the home whites at the same time, and they can be readily seen on this 2023 topps now card of esteury ruiz and rickey henderson

there is a card or two in update that show the patches, albeit poorly, so i went ahead and picked up the topps now card. the patches are readily legible and i get another rickey card in my collection! both blue and bando were big parts of the oakland a's dynasty in the early 1970's, with bando having been with the team since their kansas city days.

the washington nationals wore a patch all season for their late owner ted lerner bearing his initials (tnl) in a blue oval, and it is visible on thaddeus ward's update card

lerner had bought the club from mlb back in 2006. he passed away in february of this year. i am guessing that the padres will do something similar in 2024 for their late owner peter seidler who just passed away. i was not aware that seidler was related to the o'malleys who owned the dodgers for decades. anyway, i am assuming that the padres' big motorola patch won't preclude them from a memorial patch, but only time will tell.

the remainder of the memorials worn this year haven't shown up on cardboard (yet). first, the guardians wore a patch just twice. here's a photo of myles straw wearing the patch on opening day

and here's gavin williams wearing it on august 24

this patch was worn to honor longtime fan john adams who beat the drum at home games dating back to the 1973 season. he passed away in january of this year, and the patch was a nice touch from the franchise. 

[edit - gavin williams is shown wearing the patch on his 2024 topps big league card]

the umpires continued their tradition of wearing square initial patches for their late cohorts. in the 2023 season, some umpires wore a dd patch for don denkinger (as seen on cory blaser's left sleeve in june) 

and a dm patch off and on for their former colleague dan morrison as worn by tripp gibson in august

notice that the ftx patches they wore in past seasons were removed from their uniforms (with haste). there didn't seem to be any uniformity to the wearing of these patches as sometimes i would see them during games i was watching and sometimes i wouldn't.

finally, the orioles added a "5" patch for brooks robinson during the alds as seen on adley rutschman's jersey in this photo

robinson was, of course, one of the all-time greats and i wonder if the team will honor him with a patch throughout the 2024 season as the yankees did yogi berra and whitey ford - both of whom passed late in the baseball season and were honored during the postseason and the following season. either way, i sure hope ito see that number 5 patch on to some 2024 cardboard.

unfortunately, there are already some players who have passed away this fall that may be honored in 2024. tim wakefield is one, and i wouldn't be surprised if frank howard is honored by the nationals, even though he has no connection to that franchise. he is still part of their ring of honor given his time spent in dc with the senators. we will have to wait and see.