tim crews was a reliever for the dodgers from 1987 through 1992, coming over from the brewers with tim leary in exchange for steve garvey's replacement, greg brock.  he pitched effectively enough - he had a 3.05 era for the club through the 1991 season - but after a subpar 1992 campaign, the dodgers allowed him to leave via free agency.  here's his 1992 o-pee-chee card.
crews signed with the indians, along with another dodger teammate turned free agent, bob ojeda.

it was during spring training in 1993 that crews, along with ojeda and fellow cleveland pitcher steve olin, took a boat ride looking for gators on little lake nellie that ended with crews and olin dead, and ojeda severely injured.  the boat, with crews behind the wheel, had hit an unlit dock, killing olin instantly.  crews died a while later at the hospital.

the dodgers wore a patch in crews' memory for the 1993 season - his number 52 in a black circle.  this was similar to the memorial they wore during the 1978 world series following jim gilliam's passing.  it shows up on a lot of 1994 cards, including cory snyder's 1994 topps card
darryl strawberry's 1994 topps card (this is the gold parallel version)
also has the patch on display, as does his 2005 topps retired card (also the gold parallel version)
with just the crews patch (and no mustache) visible on the back
pegged as the representative for the crews memorial in my binder, but i also considered tim wallach's 1994 topps stadium club card
as well as the rainbow foil parallel
ultimately, i decided that the best card to represent the tim crews memorial patch in my collection is eric karros' 1994 bowman card
crews left behind a family, as did olin, as well as a lot of affected teammates and club personnel.  they were the first active major leaguers to pass away since thurman munson died in 1979.  the indians also wore a patch to honor crews and olin, and i'll show some examples of that later today.

aderholt played for the dodgers in 1944 and 1945 after some success with their farm team in montreal.  he had played in the infield for the washington senators in a few games in each season from 1939 through 1941, but the dodgers used him exclusively in the outfield.  he left brooklyn during the 1945 season after being claimed on waivers by the braves, and finished his playing career by hitting .333 in boston over the remainder of that campaign.  aderholt returned to the senators' organization as a minor league manager and then scout until he died of a heart attack at the age of 39 in 1955.

ray berres
berres began his major league career by playing in 39 games for the dodgers in 1934.  he returned to the big leagues in 1936 as the dodgers' primary catcher, playing in 105 games and hitting .240.  berres went on to become a successful pitching coach for the chicago white sox, serving in that capacity from 1949-1966, and again from 1968-1969.  he passed away in 2007 at the age of 99.

oyster burns
this card reminds me of those upper deck 'draw your own card' inserts from the mid-1990's.  burns was an original brooklyn bridegroom, playing for the 1890 team in its first season as a national league franchise.  he led the league with 13 home runs and 128 rbi that season as the bridegrooms won the pennant.  burns' brooklyn career actually began in 1888, and it lasted into the 1895 season.  in all, he hit  and even .300 as a member of the brooklyn franchise.

mal eason
eason's card feels like a lesson in pointillism.  eason completed 38 of his 53 starts for the superbas over his two seasons with the franchise (1905 and 1906), but compiled a record of just 15 wins and 38 losses.  eason also pitched for the chicago orphans (later known as the cubs), the boston beaneaters (later the doves, rustlers, and then the braves), and the detroit tigers.

dutch jordan
jordan was with the superbas in 1903 and 1904, his only two seasons in the major leagues.  his career average was .208, with an ops of just .518.  immediately following his playing days, jordan became a minor league manager.

jim korwan
baseball-reference notes that korwan's nickname was 'long jim', but they don't say why.  his tenure with the brooklyn franchise consisted of a single game for the 1894 grooms.  he pitched 5 innings in relief on  april 24, 1894, giving up 14 runs (8 earned) for an era of 14.40.  he trimmed his career era in half (to 6.92) three years later by pitching for the cubs in a handful of games in 1897 to the tune of a 5.82 era.  two years later, korwan died from tuberculosis at the age of 25.

lew riggs
riggs was an all-star third baseman for the reds in 1936 and won a ring with them in 1940.  the following year, he was in brooklyn playing third for the dodgers.  he hit .305 that season, helping brooklyn win the pennant although they lost the world series to the yankees.  riggs suited up for the dodgers again in 1942, and then went off to war.  he returned to the club for a single game in 1946 to wrap up his playing career.

sergio robles
that photo of robles is as grainy as the bigfoot photo, but there is evidence that robles existed and even played for the dodgers.  he came close to being a double dipper, as he was originally drafted by the dodgers but was traded to the orioles in the frank robinson deal before he could reach the big leagues.  after cups of coffee with the o's in 1971 and 1972, robles eventually found his way back to los angeles in 1976. he appeared in five september games as a late inning replacement behind the plate, going 0 for 3 at the dish.  his last two games featured him catching dodger closer charlie hough, and to his credit, robles allowed only two passed balls while trying to tame the knuckleball.

andy rush
rush was a member of the 1925 brooklyn robins, pitching in four games and earning a record of 0-1 with a 9.31 era.  that was the sum total of his major league experience.

george shoch
shoch had a fantastic mustache, and he played for the grooms/bridegrooms from 1893 through 1897.  those were the final five seasons of his 11-year career, and he hit .281 in 381 games for brooklyn during that span.

gene snyder
snyder was traded by the phillies to the dodgers after the 1958 season as part of the package in exchange for sparky anderson.  his only big league experience came the following season as he pitched in 11 games for the world champion dodgers.  snyder earned his only big league win in his major league debut (a relief appearance against the cardinals), and then suffered his only big league loss in his very next outing (a relief appearance against the reds).

dutch stryker
stryker, the second 'dutch' on this sheet, pitched in two games for the 1926 brooklyn robins.  he posted a 27.00 era as a robin which was somewhat tempered by the fact that he earned no decisions in either game.  his only other big league experience came in 1924 as a member of the boston braves.  i believe stryker is shown here in a boston uniform as that's the only way i know of that the black armband makes sense.  i'll address that in a separate memorials post somewhere down the line.

eddie wilson
wilson was a mid-season call-up for the dodgers in 1936 who hit .347 in 52 games over the latter part of the season.  he started the 1937 season with the dodgers, but was sent down a couple of weeks into the season after a slow start.  he returned to the majors later in the season, but did not duplicate his previous success, and finished his big league career with hitless pinch-hit performance on the final day of the 1937 season.

hank winston
winston pitched in one game for the 1933 philadelphia a's and then waited until 1936 to get another taste of the big leagues.   he made it into 14 games for the dodgers in '36, going 1-3 with a 6.12 era.  unfortunately for winston, that was all she wrote as far as a big league playing career was concerned.

that's quite a collection of players - two hall of famers, plus dick groat and the dodgers' norm larker.  groat hit .300 or better a few other times, but 1960 was the only season that larker surpassed that mark, missing the league title by just one hit. still, to be featured on a card with willie mays and roberto clemente is a pretty good consolation.

1966 topps derrell griffith
a young robin williams makes an appearance.  or, if you prefer, glenn quamire.  giggity.  griffith played in parts of four seasons for the dodgers, who won the pennant in three of those years, but he did not appear in any postseason games.

1979 hostess burt hooton
hooton was coming off a 19-win season and a second place finish in the cy young voting when this card came out.  still, i was paying more attention to tommy john, don sutton, and bobby welch fan at the time.

1981 topps steve garvey (back)
i'm not sure why i scanned the back of this card, but look at that run of hit totals from 1974 through 1980!

1985 topps mike scioscia
bracing for impact, no doubt.

1995 score cory snyder
technically, this card is a final tribute, although the corndog did spend some time in the minors with the red sox and padre organizations after the strike ended in 1995.  1994 was the last time he saw big league action, however, and he did it as a dodger.  the highlight of his final season was easily his 3-home run/7 rbi game against the pirates in april.

2004 leaf certified materials don sutton 'k force'
gagne broke the dodgers' cy young drought in 2003 - they hadn't had a winner since 1988, which was the longest drought in franchise history.  they had been the only team to have a cy young award winner in each decade until they were shut out in the 1990's.  just like they were shut out in world series appearances that decade for the first time since the 1930's.

2005 fleer ultra milton bradley gold medal edition

stuck between the astros and the cubs, alou's card gives us a glimpse of jim gilliam on the outfield wall. i wish the dodgers would do this permanently like the cardinals and white sox.

here's another mural in the background of randy johnson's 2000 topps card
and now murphy and fellow brave bob horner on a 1986 fleer superstar special card
and then horner on his own on a 1986 fleer league leaders card
fleer liked dodger stadium.

more pavilion, courtesy of dante bichette's 1997 fleer ultra checklist card
looks like the lurking cory snyder is playing tag, although he doesn't have the ball in his glove.  i also appreciate the visibility of both the tim crews and roy campanella/don drysdale memorial patches.

it pleases me greatly that dodger stadium will host some postseason play this year.  maybe we'll see some more photos of american leaguers in chavez ravine in next year's card releases...

you know, thanks to the lack of logos, patp may be able to convince himself that this is young in a red rangers jersey.  unless he looks at the lettering on the back too closely.

hey astros fans! there's at least one card for you in the set!  here's carlos pena.
although i don't think he's with the team anymore.  at first i thought pinnacle accidentally airbrushed his upper arm along with the jersey, but now i think he was wearing a compression sleeve.  the color is wrong though.  i think.  i haven't seen too much of the astros this year.

here's a joey votto parallel
i assume that this is the museum collection parallel.  cory snyder, what do you think?
he's not saying.  still, i assume that the votto is the mc parallel.

here's another insert i found in one of my packs - a ryan braun pinnacle of success
it's a clear acetate card.  i wish i had pulled an insert of somebody else.

i also grabbed a hanger pack of 2013 topps archives.  the insert in that pack was this rod carew 1972 topps bkb design card
the rest of the pack was not bad, with a lot of retired stars.  trade fodder all the same, however.

blasters of 2012 topps allen & ginter were marked down to $12.99 and i bit.  it was actually not a bad little blaster as far as inserts, parallels, and short prints go, but nothing spectacular.  in fact, the card that stood out most to me was this base adam dunn card
he looks like a float in the macy's thanksgiving day parade!

last, but not least, i bought a hanger pack of 2013 topps allen & ginter.  i already have the dodger team set, and most of the dodger mini relics, but what the heck.  i was pretty pleased to pull a super short print auto of college football coach nick saban.
roll tide and all that.  this card will pretty surely wind up on the bay unless there's a bama fan out there wanting to deal.

not a bad way to kill some time on a friday afternoon.  and yes, i opened all of this in my car in the parking lot.  how else would i have done it?