Night Owl Cards

  Even though it's clear to me that I'm enjoying the hobby more this year and being much more productive as far as my collecting is concerned, I still need convincing. I've collected by buying packs at the store closest to me since I was a wee owl 45 years ago. It's a habit that's been difficult to break when that's all you've known as the Way To Collect. But now that card aisles remain vacant, I keep coming up with good reasons why regular pack purchasing is pretty pointless. Earlier today, while continuing to sort through all of my Dodgers dupes, I noticed again how rookies overrun Topps products. My dupes from the last 10 years were absolutely saturated with rookies that are now long forgotten, even if the product is only a couple of years old. Players like Zach Lee, Trayce Thompson and Alex Guerrero dominated my recent doubles. People can't wait to get rid of these sudden no-names. And when you look back on that product from three years ago, you real...

I am conflicted about death. Oh, don't get me wrong. I think it's generally a negative. I'm not inviting it over to the house for crackers and tea or taking a bus tour to funeral homes. It's just that when death happens in baseball, opportunity follows. Last month, Billy Loes died. He's a former Brooklyn Dodger, who pitched during the team's 1950s heyday. I had read about him in several books over the years, but just about everything I had learned had evaporated from my memory. The only thing that remained was that he was a Dodger, he pitched in the '50s, and he was kind of goofy. But upon Loes' death, I had the chance to rediscover him. And what I found out was that Loes wasn't necessarily goofy. He was honest. Loes said what was on his mind, and I always appreciate that. When Loes was asked about being a 20-game winner, he said he didn't want to be one: "because then I'd be expected to do it every year." That quote...