Night Owl Cards

I worked last night during Game 1 of the World Series. This can be excruciating when the Dodgers are involved, mostly because a large-screen TV is on a wall immediately above my computer. I am surprisingly capable of avoiding just about anything else playing on that TV, but not the Dodgers in the World Series. Part of me wants to grab the remote and flip it to the Home and Garden channel just to take the pressure off, but I guess that'd be too weird, huh? Last night, the cable to the building was out. It had been out for four days. Out of all the people in that newsroom, I had to be the guy to say: "hey, anybody know the TVs aren't working?" So, the cable was reconnected around about the third inning of last night's game. I knew the game situation thanks to the usual online sources, but I'd rather watch on TV (with the sound off, of course). Online folks like to crab about Joe Buck and John Smoltz, and understandably so in many cases, but do they know h...

Today is Free Comic Book Day, which is yet another modern-day celebration that would have been a lot more useful to me in, say, 1980. That's when I read comic books. That's when I bought the few that I bought. It's an interest that didn't stay with me long nor follow me into adulthood. While I appreciate comics and cartoon drawings and story-telling immensely, I have no desire to read through a comic book anymore and haven't for years. When Free Comic Book Day comes around every year, I look at the offerings online with faint interest. But the days of wanting to turn those pages are gone. Besides, cards take up all my free time. I decided to look at a few instances of comics on the fronts of cards. I talk all the time about how much I love the cartoons on the backs of cards (and how they should be on the back always ). But comics on the front are a rarity. This is by no means an exhaustive, historical look. I don't have the time today. I just want t...

A couple of weeks into starting a blog for the first time, I received a comment from someone I didn't know. It said something to the effect of (I can't find the comment now): "Finally! Another Dodger collector! Let's trade!" I didn't know what to make of it. I hadn't traded with anyone through the blog yet and the concept of trading without being able to see the other person was weird to me, plus a little unnerving. Besides, my reasons for writing the blog were based almost solely on expressing my love for cards. I didn't want to get much more involved than that. Two weeks after I started my blog, that commenter started his. He called it "garvey cey russell lopes" and I discovered exactly how serious he was about his commitment to the Dodgers, particularly to the Dodgers that I grew up with as well. My reservations melted away. Jim and I were the first Dodger card bloggers that I knew. When I started, there were fans of the Braves,...

When I had finally come to grips with the fact that there were three baseball card sets to collect instead of one in 1981, I turned my attention to what each company had to offer in conjunction with their baseball cards. Topps had gum, of course. Inedible yet comforting pink slabs. They were always good for a lick or two before you tossed them on someone's lawn. Donruss had puzzle pieces. Yeah, right. I'm going to assemble a puzzle. Puzzles were schoolwork without being in school. No thanks. Fleer, clearly, had the best "perk" in their packs. They had stickers. This wasn't a fair fight at all. I was aware of Fleer's stickers from the previous year. In 1980, you could get team logo stickers -- with a piece of bubble gum -- five to a pack. On the reverse side was a drawing for each World Series from 1940-79. I was hooked. A historical illustration of each World Series game? Even as a youngster, that was right up my alley. I immediately forgot about th...