Night Owl Cards

I was never the biggest Steve Garvey fan. Even during his highest moments with the Dodgers, the great postseasons, the fantastic All-Star Games, the relentless ripping of certain teams (he seemed to slaughter the Padres), I was looking elsewhere. Ron Cey, of course, was my favorite player on the team at that time. After The Penguin, I rooted for Reggie Smith, Dusty Baker, Davey Lopes, Pedro Guerrero and pitchers like Don Sutton and Doug Rau. This isn't to say I disliked Garvey. I was proud of his accomplishments and any time he would excel in the game on a national stage so everyone could see it, I glowed. "That's the best player on MY TEAM," I said to myself. I was very upset when Garvey was called out incorrectly at home plate during the 1977 World Series against the Yankees. I was embarrassed for him during that brawl with Sutton in '78. And I would recite for anyone who would ask (not enough people did) what his consecutive games played streak was...

Fernando Valenzuela has been added to the "Dodgers I Collect" page . He is the 10th player I've listed on the page and I can't think of a finer candidate to launch my pseudo-player collection into double digits. I had intended for Valenzuela to be the next player added for a long time, but I needed a kick in the booty to actually look up my Fernando cards and make a list. That kick was viewing ESPN's documentary on Fernandomania for the first time the other day. (I know the documentary is two years old, but that's what happens when TV shows are aired when I'm working). The film was pretty good. Not great. I find ESPN's attempts at films lacking and sometimes even amateurish.  But it did a good job of underlining one aspect of Valenzuela that I always enjoyed. He seemed to come from another planet. I don't just mean Mexico. I mean another planet in the solar system. He was that different. People of my generation know what I mean. The p...