Night Owl Cards

The happenings late last night in Anaheim, California, were pretty amazing. There are times when I wonder whether emotion supersedes talent -- something I know happens all the time on the high school and college level -- in major league games. You'd think that MLB players are so talented, so driven that emotion would never have a chance to determine a game's outcome. Then you see something like last night's combined no-hitter immediately after honoring departed teammate Taylor Skaggs and you just know emotion had everything to do with it. Thank goodness there are games like these. Sports is so plagued by hype and announcers, bloggers and fans screaming UNBELIEVABLE every 30 minutes that performances sometimes lose their meaning. Then a game like the Angels' game last night reminds you what "unbelievable" truly means. (Personally, I'd rather announcers yell "INCONCEIVABLE" every time they're amazed by something. It'd be a lot more...

(I'm having a hell of a time generating original copy lately. Hopefully, this is to your satisfaction. This is Cardboard Appreciation, the 212th in a series): Topps has recently received a lot of credit from bloggers over their photo creativity regarding player activity in the dugout. But dugout shots aren't anything new. In fact, I defy you to find a dugout shot like this one. Ever wanted to start a collection of players stretching their hamstring in the dugout? Well, no hamstring collection is complete without this card. Even better, this is one of just two major-issue cards of Gil Flores. He also appears as a Met in the 1980 Topps set. So one of his two cards in existence is of him getting touchy-feely with his upper leg. This card is also notable because of how much action is going on this dugout. Just behind Flores, someone is trying out a new grip. Baseball is a leisurely game. You have time to stretch hamstrings and fiddle with new pitches. There's no coac...