Friday, January 13, 2017

a couple of giant memorial patches

the san francisco giants wore two memorial patches during the 2016 season - one for former player monte irvin and one for former player, manager, and coach jim davenport.  the patches ("monte 20" and "davvy 12") were worn side-by-side on the right sleeve during the giants' short playoff run, as seen on this 2016 topps now kris bryant card
(yes, i bought a topps now card specifically for the giants' patches - at least it's not a giants card).  however, i later found this hunter pence card
in a pack of 2017 topps opening day, so i'll use him instead of the bryant card to represent the memorials.

they also wore the patches side-by-side during their fourth of july game
and the all-star game
all because of additional patches added to the sleeve.  during the regular season, the patches were worn stacked, with irvin's patch on top as shown on this 2016 topps chrome joe panik future stars insert
however, the patches are a bit easier to see on this 2017 topps opening day buster posey card (it was a giants hot pack!)
irvin was a hall-of-famer who spent several years in the negro leagues before debuting for the giants in 1949.   he was a member of the giants' 1951 and 1954 national league championship teams, and won a ring thanks to their defeat of cleveland in the '54 world series.  his number was retired by the team in 2010.

davenport was a member of the original san francisco giants team, and drove in their first run thanks to a sacrifice fly off of don drysdale. he is still their all-time leader in games played as a third baseman, and following his retirement he became a manager in their minor league system, and later the manager of the big league team.  later in his career he served as a scout and coach, teaching young players in the giants' system how to win world series championships in even years, apparently.

irvin was 96 when he died in january of 2016, and davenport passed away at the age of 82 in february of 2016.

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