Night Owl Cards

I knew that when I compiled a list of the pitchers who had owned the Dodgers during their careers that I wouldn't be able to resist putting together a list of the pitchers who were tormented by the Dodgers. It was easy to do. Just turn the result that I found through baseball-reference on its head. Voila! Pitchers whose career was one big #fail when it came to throwing against the Dodgers. A lot of these pitchers that struggled against the Dodgers were a surprise. Unlike the last list, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about pitchers who bombed against L.A. I suppose it's just a natural part of my make-up -- or any fan's make-up -- to focus on the negative and not the positive. Again, I based this list on career earned-run average against L.A. And I limited it to pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched against the Dodgers. Unlike the last list, I expanded it from 30 pitchers to 40 pitchers. That's because I lot of the pitchers on this list are no-nam...

I looked up how often I've written housekeeping-type posts in the past, and I've done them exactly twice a year for the last four years. That's pretty consistent, although I'm sure there have been a number of other "no direction, completely random, what-is-the-point-to-this" posts in the past that weren't labeled as "housekeeping." So, at risk of throwing off the curve, I'm going to compile a housekeeping post 10 days into the new year. That means I have only one more left for 2012, unless I want to set the most meaningless record of all-time. Here goes: 1. 75 MINIS I have already produced a want list for the 1975 Topps mini set. It is grouped in with all my other want lists , and it is massive. I counted up my minis, and I have exactly 160, meaning there is a nice, round 500 more to go. If you have some '75 minis that you're thinking about sending me, chances are very good that I don't have what you've got, but...

I have to admit, my mind is elsewhere with kicking off two golden oldie set blogs this week. I'm trying to come up with ideas for this blog -- but I keep coming back to 1971 and 1985. It'll be like this for a little bit. I hope you'll bear with me for a few days. It'll pass, and I'll be back to bashing on 2012 Topps, or featuring a bunch of trades, or something equally as annoying. But for now, I'm sabotaging one of my other blogs by asking you to vote for the Best of the '70s card for: Yes, Dock Ellis. I'm sure everyone has seen this video 420 times by now. But if I'm going to devote a "Best of" post to Ellis, then I must at least acknowledge the video. It's weirdly trip-notic. Ellis is truly a baseball product of the '70s. Not only because of his exploits -- the admitted no-hitter on LSD, the curlers in his hair, the attempt to hit every member of the Big Red Machine in a game in 1974 -- but also because of his baseba...

ESPN.com and MLB.com are reporting that former major league pitcher Dock Ellis died Friday of a liver ailment at age 63. Ellis had cirrhosis of the liver and had been on a waiting list for a liver transplant for seven months. Ellis was known as a wild man during his playing days. The most famous story is his claim to have been on LSD when he pitched a no-hitter against the Padres in 1970 (I'm sure that made the Padres hitters feel even better about themselves). He walked eight batters in that game. Ellis had many other controversial moments during his career. He was outspoken against the racism that he saw throughout baseball. In the minor leagues he once charged a heckler with a bat in Batavia, N.Y. (where many of wife's relatives live, by the way). In Cincinnati, he was maced by a security guard who wouldn't let him into the Pirates clubhouse. A moment I particularly remember reading about is when Ellis showed up at the ballpark with curlers in his hair. Commissio...