Night Owl Cards

   Every once in awhile I like to re-evaluate my favorite players as a Dodgers fan. In my now 50 years of rooting for them, my choices aren't going to change a lot. But they do change.   Nine years ago I wrote a post titled " My favorite Opening Day lineup ". It corresponded with Opening Day and I arranged my favorite Dodger at each position in a lineup. This was only for Dodgers that I've witnessed as a fan, so as much as I like Campy, Pee Wee, Robinson and Koufax, they're not included.   For those of you who don't want to click the link, this is what the lineup looked like then:   2b - Dave Lopes ss - Corey Seager rf - Reggie Smith 1b - Steve Garvey lf - Pedro Guerrero cf - Matt Kemp 3b - Ron Cey c - Mike Scioscia p - Clayton Kershaw   Nine years later there are a few changes -- and the lineup has a designated hitter now. I'm still not thrilled with an across-the-board DH but we're long past arguing about it and I can't complain too much as my cu...

  During the 1960s, the Dodgers made the World Series three times, all within a four-year period. Throw in 1959 and they were in the World Series four times in seven years.   Currently, the Dodgers have been to the World Series four times in six years. It's a fairly similar run to the 1960s one, although this version of the Dodgers has been more successful winning Series. (Three compared to two).   I wonder if these Dodgers will be thought of in the way that the '60s Dodgers are, as a talent-laden team, filled with some of the best pitching talent ever, with some OK offensive talent -- though nothing like what L.A. currently has. They are respected. I don't think people got disgusted with the Dodgers showing up repeatedly in the Fall Classic -- something tells me that if fans then were disgusted by that kind of thing (I have my doubts), it would be toward the Yankees (five straight WS from 1960-64).   A lot of fans will jump in and say that the two scenarios are diff...

  As a Dodgers fan, I haven't said much about the World Series while it's been going on. So on the one-year anniversary of the Dodgers winning the World Series over the Yankees, and while this year's Series teams are traveling back to Toronto (boo!), I'll write about it a little.   First, Game 2 and Game 3 -- the two most interesting games in the Series, per me -- are now two of my most favorite World Series games in my almost 50 years of watching the Fall Classic. Yoshinobu Yamamoto's complete-game victory on Game 2 was marvelous, and while not very unusual in the annals of World Series starting pitchers, the performance was a rarity in the last 20 years and a call-back to pitchers like Hershiser, Reuss and Sutton. Very exciting.   Game 3 was even better -- a repeat of Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, filled with so many wonderful, exciting moments that it was difficult to remember them all. I thought I would only be able to watch Game 2 of the whole Series, thanks...

  You know, I forgot all about how I hated the current wild-card set-up last year. I complained last year that division winners shouldn't be involved in such chaos. I guess I still agree with that, but I didn't think of it once during this past week and that's even with my team involved in it.   I'm never going to get to Grandpa Simpson status at this rate.   But I like my postseason attitude this year. I don't feel like hiding behind the couch like I've felt for decades when the Dodgers are in the playoffs. We'll see how it goes when they're playing the Phillies in Philadelphia this weekend (most likely I'll just be pressing "mute" a lot).   Meanwhile, with four games on the docket tomorrow, I've got my current postseason tradition cued up and ready to go. This is where I pull out the oldest, newest and random-est card in my collection from the remaining playoff teams. This is the third time I've done this (well, fourth as I did ...

    Just a short post, really just noting a milestone that I can't believe I missed.   The Dodgers won the World Series last week and I was really excited. I have been a fan for a long time and I have experienced all the heartaches and disappointments. I can recite the years: 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1992, 1995, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, there are probably others.   I also know the really fun ones: 1981, 1988, 2020, 2024.   I know all these, some intimately, because as of this very year, I have been a fan for 50 years. How I didn't realize that on January 1, I don't have a clue. This also means that I have been a fan of the Dodgers for 50 years. And on the 50th year -- to commemorate my achievement as a fan -- the Dodgers won me a World Series title.   Cool.   There are not a lot of things that I have been devoted to for 50 years. I can't even say I have been collecting baseball cards for 50 years, because although I acquired my fi...