Night Owl Cards

One player who I have almost never thought about during his entire career is Carlos Beltran. Beltran is probably going to the Hall of Fame. He hits wherever he's been. He's having possibly his greatest season at age 34. But it's taken me this long to wonder: What cap will he wear on his Hall of Fame plaque? As a Royal, he won Rookie of the Year honors and knocked in 100-or-more runners four times. As an Astro, he enjoyed one of the most epic individual postseasons ever, hitting over .400 in the NLDS and NLCS in 2004. As a Met, he was a five-time All-Star. As a Giant, he hit .323 in his brief time there. As a Cardinal, he is leading the league in RBIs and has 20 home runs already. So what cap is it going to be? Well, not the Giants or the Astros. His time was too short there. I'd like it to be the Royals, but the fact that he hasn't played for them since 2004 probably rules that out. The Cardinals is too soon. So that means it's probably ...

Quite some time ago, I mentioned on this blog how much I like cards that feature a scoreboard in the background. I devoted an entire Cardboard Appreciation post to it. And no one commented. So, I shrugged my shoulders, figured I was the only one who thought it was cool and moved on. Then, last week, Jeremy from No One Is Going To Read This Blog mentioned that he liked those kinds of cards, too. At last! A kindred spirit. It was a relief, because I had never really let go of an idea that I had, which was to show cards with scoreboards in the background in a regular feature on this blog. And, just to give me another plate to spin in the air, I thought I'd rate the cards, too. So, after months of the idea stagnating on the shelf, I officially give you a series called Awesome Scoreboard Cards (edit: Now called "Sick Scoreboard Cards"). Really, the standing ovation is unnecessary. Please sit down. The first card is the 2004 Fleer Tradition card of Lance Berkman . I like th...