I thought I would quickly share something from my collection. This is an over sized, 5x7 inch, World Series Patch Collection card featuring an example of the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers World Series patch and Steve Garvey signature. I'm not exactly sure what Upper Deck product this came in. All I know is that when I saw it on eBay several years ago I had to have it. 
If you're not familiar with this genre of collecting here is a brief primer. Trade Cards originally started in the late 1870's and thrived throughout the rest of that century. It became one of America's early fads and collecting crazes. They started out as business/ advertising cards given away to customers. As designs became more ornate customers started collecting them to put into scrapbooks. This started the age of scrapbooking in America. Flowers, landscapes, babies, children playing are the most common themes. Less common are politicians, buildings, Black Americana and sporting activities; including Baseball.Anyway, the above card features the Haas Baseball team comprising of hogs defeating the Cholera Nine. Obviously, they are equating his medicine as being a cure-all to this deadly disease. I wondered, though, pigs can get cholera? Apparently so.
With the season winding down and the Dodgers far from contention in the National League West there isn't much left to do but enjoy the rest of summer. Other then the Kemp's 40/40 attempt or Kershaw's potential 20 win season it's hard to get excited about the rest of the season. Fortunately, Ron Shafer who wrote "When the Dodgers Were Bridegrooms" keeps things interesting by recounting, day by day, the 1889 pennant race.Angry Brooklyn fans pelted the Browns with beer bottles and other objects as the players left the field, and St. Louis right fielder Tommy McCarthy got into an altercation with one fan on his way to the safety of the dressing room. Sporting Life writer J. Donnelly, quickly dubbed the strange contest “the Frankenstein and Lobster Game.”
Even stranger, the very next day the Browns refused to show up for a rematch. No doubt, fearing for their lives.
Here are todays Daily Conlon cards numbered 289 through 297, and it features the butt of all jokes, Shanty Hogan- center row, far right. Click on any pic to embiggen."All of these anecdotes center on how much he ate, or how much he liked to eat, or how fat he was, or some closely related topic. Pick up any old Baseball book at random, and you will probably find an anecdote about Hogan eating something."Needless to say, Shanty was a big man with an appetite to match. One often told story had to do with his dealings with his coach John McGraw. McGraw, always in need of controlling his players habits, tried to slim down his slugging catcher by checking his nightly hotel dinner checks. He wanted to make sure that Shanty was sticking to his diet. Shanty, being as sly as he was hungry, developed a system with the help of the hotel kitchen to substitute any dietary item with something more to his liking. As teammate Andy Cohen said,
"He'd write down spinach, but that meant potatoes. He had a whole code of his own."
"Yesterday, the Giants started in right where they left off last fall... they batted around for six hits and five runs in the 1st inning."Not a great start for our Brooklyn boys, but have no fear. The Dodger bats would not go silent all game long.
"Then the Dodgers' bodyguard took over."Who's that you ask? Who's the bodyguard? Well, it was #6 hitter Andy Pafko. He would go on to hit a home run in the 7th inning, then finish it off in classic fashion with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning. That would give him his 3rd home run of the young season, and give the Dodgers a well deserved victory over their hated rivals.
It is not expected that he will come back for the remainder of the season. Surgery, no doubt, is in his future.
