Night Owl Cards

  I wrote about my dog a fair amount in the early days of this blog. He was a terror then, leaving a path of destruction whenever we left the room. Nothing escaped his jaws, it certainly didn't have to be edible, and since this is a baseball card blog, you read about the times he destroyed some baseball cards.   He even went through some Christmas presents under the tree one year and tore out some card packs with his teeth. As the years went by, Dodger calmed down -- relatively speaking as he had beagle in his blood -- and was no longer a threat to cards. Just the other day last week, I happened to drop a couple of cards into his bed where he was sleeping without knowing I did it. I came back hours later to find them right where I dropped them, completely untouched. Dodger could barely see by then and his hearing was just as bad. He'd pace relentlessly even though his legs were wobbly and the health problems that he had lived with for years grew worse and more dire. On Sunday,...

My dog looks somewhat similar to this one (he's a beagle/Basset mix, more beagle than Basset). And this is the precious head tilt that he gives me sometimes when I'm talking. Dog experts say that the animal tilts his head to pick up on sounds or inflections from their owner that indicate something enjoyable is about to happen (we get a lot of head tilts when a walk is imminent). They also say it could have something to do with how dogs' ears pick up sound or perhaps to get a better view because their snout is in the way. From my very human perspective I interpret the dog head tilt as a sign that the dog is confused about what is in front of him and perhaps studying it from a different angle might help. That's why I sometimes tilt my head when I see certain cards. (*tilts head*) I've seen these before. It's actually an advertisement for Topps' upcoming baseball Wacky Packages, in which each sticker is related to a specific team. I suppose thi...

VS. My dog has three mortal enemies. You might think I'm going to top the list with the mailman. But he's not alert enough to be aware of the mailman. Sometimes he notices, most times he doesn't. No, his enemy trio is: 1. Squirrels 2. Baseball cards 3. Christmas You can imagine how fired up he is at this time of year. There are signs of all three everywhere. Squirrels scattering every time he's out. Shiny Christmas baubles glistening before his very eyes. And the usual cards all over the place. He's a wreck. I've written before how he's gotten a hold of a few cards and left his personal touch. But the fact is, he's a lot better now than he was three years ago. Three years ago, he was a cute, little, terrifying pup. I'd come home at this time of year and didn't know what I'd find. He literally ate one-fourth of the Christmas ornaments off our tree one year. I can't even list all the things he destroyed back in hi...

Here is a post about various items, none of them particularly related except for the fact that they all have to do with baseball cards. First, even though I already responded to Dinged Corners' New Year's Baseball Card Questions in the comments, I noticed that others had responded on their own blogs instead. I've enjoyed reading their responses, which are much more detailed than any comment can be. So, I figured I'd do that, too. Some of these questions I've already rambled about, so bear with me. 1. If I didn't collect baseball cards, I'd collect --- A: I don't even like to think about this. It's like asking me what I'd do if I was a girl. I like myself just the way I am thank you! Anyway, I suppose I'd collect baseball magazines or yearbooks or something like that. I did a little of that when I was a teenager. If there were no cards around, I'd still have to keep it baseball. 2. My baseball heroes include one that you probably wouldn...

A few, small things while you stare at my dog's guilt-ridden face: 1. I am now a contributor to one of the most fascinating card blogs out there, Things Done to Cards . My first post on "Things Done" is up now and documents the sad story of a man, his dog and a handful of mangled baseball cards. I hope to contribute to "Things" here and there, though I think the majority of the posts are best left to the site's master, Steve, of White Sox Cards, and some of the other "Things" veterans. I'm just happy to be part of the team! 2. I'm looking for a decent, free, on-line checklist site to flesh out my want list. What I'm looking for is a site that allows you to search by team, so I can find the Dodgers in each release. Is Open Checklist the venue for that? I've looked at Open Checklist periodically, but haven't really tried searching by team. 3. I'll be going over the river and through the woods later this week to a land where i...

During my Wednesday ritual of errands, I stopped at a store that had some Upper Deck cards. I quickly grabbed a pack each of Masterpieces and Heroes, threw them in with a couple Christmas gifts, cashed out and left. I rushed home, stashed the gifts in a hiding place, threw the bag with the cards on the dining room table, and dashed back out to pick up my daughter at school, and then off to guitar lessons. When we got back, I heard an "oh, no, oh, no" from my daughter, and I looked in the living room. The bag that had been on the table (normally a high enough safety spot) was in pieces all over the floor. The cards, every, single, solitary, last one of them, had been gnawed, torn and savored by the cutest looking troublemaker you've ever seen. Fortunately, there were no great parallels or short-prints in the packs. And I'm not really collecting either set. These two probably were the best of the bunch (if you needed either of these, I'm sorry): Also, our dog...

Everyone notices that Pete Rose is in the background of this photo of Phillies starter Chris Short. But ever since I became a dog owner, I've begun to notice other things, this card included. For example, how could anyone miss the dog from the Alpo billboard insinuating himself between the legs of Short? Isn't that just like a dog? Were there some dog owners at Topps that saw the humor in this photo? I'd like to think so. And while I'm on the topic of dogs and baseball, I have come up with one reason why I'm pleased that TBS has the exclusive rights to broadcast the division series playoff games. My dog likes to carry things away and hide them, and he did that with the remote on Wednesday (we have no idea where it is). Fortunately, I do not have to get up and change the channel because all of the games are in one convenient spot! Bless you, TBS!