Night Owl Cards

Eric Chavez is my new favorite Yankee. You didn't know I could have a favorite Yankee, did you? Well I do, and I have. It's pretty much decided by whatever current Yankee irritates me the least. Back when I was a kid it was Roy White. During the '80s it was Don Mattingly. During the '90s, Bernie Williams. You know, the usual suspects for the anti-Yankee crowd. It's the guy you look at and say, "how in the world did you get mixed up with those ass-----?" In other words, the player isn't really my "favorite." It's just that I have these ridiculous needs to categorize everything and therefore every team that I see a lot of needs to have a favorite and least favorite player. It's an obsessive thing. And it's a relative thing. Don't think for once that my favorite Yankee is anyone I actually LIKE. The last few years it's become increasingly difficult to select a "favorite" Yankee. My distaste for the team...

Around this time every season, I will come across a player in a boxscore and think out loud, "when did he end up here?" That player this year was Kris Benson. He was the winning pitcher for the Diamondbacks against the Phillies last night. As far as I knew, he was still a Ranger. And even knowing that was quite a feat, because my brain keeps saying that Benson is still a Met, and Anna is still bouncing around in her Mrs. Claus get-up. This is what happens when you get older. The job, the family, the house, the car, the school activities, the relatives all conspire to remove baseball from the center of your universe. No matter how hard you try to push baseball back to the center, something will come along and displace it. Baseball is merely a revolving planet, even if this blog makes it appear that it's my sole focus. Once, I knew every player on every team. Of course, it was easier then. There were only 24 or 26 teams. And if I hadn't given up fantasy basebal...

(According to the always reliable Holiday Insights site, today is Scrabble day. As a word guy, I can appreciate a good game of Scrabble, even though I've played it about once in the last 20 years. Anyway, it's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 60th in a series. And I'll try to use a "Q" and an "X" in the post): This card is here in honor of the Dodgers' home opener, which is today against the Diamondbacks. Before the game, center fielder Matt Kemp will receive his Gold Glove Award. It will be presented to him by the Dodgers' last Gold Glove center fielder, Steve Finley. After that, the Dodgers will try to correct some of the problems that they encountered during their first road trip of the season -- errors (including one by Gold Glover Kemp), walks, bullpen implosion, and an inability to hit with runners in scoring position. But if things don't work out today, at least you'll be able to gaze upon this exceptional Flee...