Night Owl Cards

  Chaos continues to reign around here. Between the job upheaval, the malfunctioning keyboard, the constant stormy weather, I never know what I can do with the blog as the situation shifts almost by the hour. Right now, miraculously, the keyboard is operating -- let's see at what point in this post that goes south -- so let's get try to get some words out between torrential downpours.   I have a few small card envelopes sitting on my desk that need to be recorded here. And they really have to get a move on because the absolutely drenched mailman delivered some absolutely drenched bundle of card packages today (no cards were harmed, don't worry). Once the boxes and envelopes dry off, they'll need somewhere to go, so the following cards need to make way:   I've completed my 20th TCDB trade. I know, that's not 100 trades like a couple other bloggers, but for a half-hearted trader like me, it's pretty good. Remember, I had zero desire to trade on that site until...

So, the Dodgers were no-hit last night, and judging by the usual social media reactions you would think this was an excuse for team management to fire everyone and start from scratch. At the very least, according to these people, Mike Fiers' no-hitter exposed fatal weaknesses in the Dodgers' make-up that will prevent it from winning in the postseason. I admit I used to think like this. And, while I confess I have little confidence in this Dodgers team, and I think that they're too undisciplined and reliant on their natural abilities to go far in the postseason, I don't think a no-hitter pitched against them means anything about what they'll do in the future. I noticed last night in myself a sense of resignation as Fiers pitched the no-hitter last night. While other Dodgers fans flailed around in a panic, I didn't care all that much. Yes, it sucked that the Dodgers were being no-hit (especially at the same time the devil magic Giants get HRs from their p...

As a fan who roots for the Dodgers, I find three recurring elements of the game more frustrating than any other. The first is leaving runners on base. I'm sure every fan of every other team feels this way about their team, too, but the Dodgers I am positive have led the league in runners stranded for at least the last 35 consecutive years. The second is seeing a pitcher that your team surrendered willingly turn around and beat your team. I witnessed this with Eric Stults just a couple of days ago. I could sit here for 15 years and not come up with a reason why the Dodgers couldn't hit Stults. The third is seeing a pitcher own your team year after year as if the only reason for his career is to beat the Dodgers. I've been aware of this one since I could root for a specific team. Over the years, I've come to know certain pitchers dominate the Dodgers. John Candelaria, Dennis Martinez, Mario Soto, Chris Carpenter. But I never had any numbers to back it up. Was i...

A few months ago I wrote a post about the best collection of Topps sets when you grouped them by year. For instance, all the sets from a year that ends in "7." My favorites out of that particular grouping are probably the "3s" and "5s". But no matter what my favorites are, it's a fact that there is only one group number for which I have not completed one set. That group is the "2s". If I explore why that is, this is what I come up with: 1. 1952 - iconic set that's way too expensive to complete, not that I've tried. 2. 1962 - older set that's also way too expensive to complete, not that I've tried 3. 1972 - currently attempting to complete, it's a toughie. 4. 1982 - currently attempting to complete after ignoring it for too long. 5. 1992 - it's OK, but early '90s cards take me to a bad place. 6. 2002 - pretty ugly set, not much interest. 7. 2012 - disgusted that I have the cards from this set that ...

There are some cards that cause me to emit an audible "ugh" when I see them. This is one such card. It is definitely not "awesome." I'd much rather call it an "unfortunate night card," a "disturbing night card," or a "jerk-face night card." Let's get the "jerk-face" part out of the way first. My dislike for Will Clark is well-established. Prickly, shrill, Giant-loser, these are some of the words I use and have used to describe Clark over the years. I'd like to say he was more enjoyable as a Ranger, but there was too much Giant stink on him by then. Kenny Rogers, meanwhile, was a plain idiot. I will never forget his unprovoked assault on cameramen before a game in 2005. Terribly inexcusable and it blackened my perception of him forever. Don't like the guy. To a lesser degree, there are a couple of other guys on the card who have never been my favorites. Ivan Rodriguez, while an admirable player, fre...

For the record, I'm not 100 percent sure that this is a night card. Dennis Martinez does appear to be pitching underneath artificial light. It could be in the Astrodome, and Martinez's appearance in the Astrodome in 1987 was a night game. Or maybe it's the Vet, or Three Rivers, in which case it's definitely a night game. But no matter. If it's determined not to be a night card, I'll just change the post title to "Should've Been a Night Card." I haven't done one of those in a long time. Anyway, Martinez is here because as you know the Dodgers were no-hit last night. It happened in Seattle in an interleague game, so I don't think it really counts (Dee Gordon was safe, by the way). But I'm a big enough fan to admit when my team is no-hit and not ignore it. Besides, the Dodgers have been no-hit so many times in their long history that it barely fazes me anymore. Since 1900, the Dodgers have been no-hit 14 times. And they'...

I don't have anything in particular to say for this post. Yet, "something" compels me to write anyway. In situations such as these, I often go to my folder of scans and pull out those neglected cards that were either part of a half-written post that never saw the light of day, or an idea that never realized its potential. For example, there is this card of George "Shot Gun" Shuba from the '74 TCMA '52 Dodgers set. The intended post likely had to do with his nickname and how great it would be to be featured on a card with only "Shot Gun" under your photo. That is an achievement if I ever saw one. Like almost any card blogger, I would imagine, I had ideas of writing a post about players with the same name. This is Pedro A. Martinez, who pitched for the Padres, Astros, Mets and Reds. I periodically wonder if he ever gets mail intended for the much more well-known Pedro J. Martinez. Perhaps he's received a few letters that end with ...