Night Owl Cards

Cliff from Capewood's Collections and I trade cards every summer. I kind of like the way he does trades: reserve a time period for them and then go nuts at that time. It frees up the rest of the year for, you know ... life. So, recently he sent a stack of cards and for most of them I knew exactly why he sent them. They were Dodgers. I collect Dodgers. Therefore, I need those Dodgers. But there were others that perplexed me. I'll get to those later. But first: Dodgers. I'll start with the greatest pitcher of my lifetime. Yes, I'm ready to say that now. Dwight Gooden couldn't keep it together and I wasn't paying attention during Steve Carlton's 1972 season. I suppose someone could mention Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens or Randy Johnson, but really from where I'm standing I think the only person he needs to beat out for the title is Greg Maddux. Give Kershaw a few more years like the ones he's had and it'll be his. OK, I'm about t...

I am supremely confident that Matt Kemp will win the National League MVP award at 2 p.m. today. I am so confident that I am congratulating him right now on this here blog: Congrats to The Bison! One of the most phenomenal seasons I have ever seen! Woooooooooooooooooo!!!! Kemp's season was a tribute to the powers of offseason dedication. It was also perhaps the most impressive example of singular focus that I have ever seen during the entire length of a baseball season. Kemp did not let up for one game, even while the team struggled, even while the media beat everyone over the head with ownership issues, even while online trolls weaved their too easy web of negative idiocy. Victory is Kemp's. And a nice, big, fat contract, too. I have eight more years of Kemp cards to look forward to acquiring. I am celebrating with two of them from Capewood's Collections . The card above is my first Target red-bordered card. I like them better than those Walmart pale blue bor...

A couple of things first: 1. Topps is making a baseball card of the guy who caught Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit. Why do I care other than to say sarcastically, "How nice of Topps to notice?" Well, because Christian Lopez, the guy who caught Jeter's homer, played football at a college my newspaper covers. He's a recent graduate. When he caught the ball, we were able to interview the guy while the game was still going on for a story that went with all the Jeter hoopla stories Sunday. I take back everything bad I've ever said about cell phones. 2. People are opening 2011 Allen & Ginter. No way? Way . I'm trying my best to avoid images of the product because my box STILL AIN'T HERE, but I had to take a little sneak peak. OK, now onto how I currently resemble a major league baseball player. I strained my right oblique the other day. You know, that muscle that shelves at least one major league baseball player a week? I don't know how I did i...

I've mentioned before that sometimes when I receive trade packages featuring Dodgers, I'll get a random card or two of another team that often gets confused with the Dodgers. Often times it's the Royals, since their uniforms look similar to the Dodgers. Less often it's a Blue Jay or a Met, two other teams that feature blue. Within the last week, it's been something different. And I totally blame Upper Deck. Or, maybe Topps. Or maybe Major League Baseball. One of them. Let me illustrate, in my usual roundabout, backward way: BA Benny and his Big Buffet of Cards scooped a few cards off the buffet table, slapped them together with some macaroni salad, and mailed them off. ... OK, there was no macaroni salad. I'm just hungry. Anyway: An emerald/kelly/neon green parallel of Big Brad. One of my last '88 Score needs, only because Young is already in my Dodger binder. Three of the finest from one of the finest years of Finest. 2003 Finest (and 200...