Night Owl Cards

  I tell ya, clearing snow on a daily basis is not only a lot of work but it's very time-consuming. Where's night owl been? Outside trying to put snow on top of snowbanks taller than me, that's where.   So, I don't have a lot here, just some self-examination.   I was thinking a few weeks ago about my favorite players when I was a kid. You know some of them. For instance, Ron Cey. He was probably a lot of fans' favorites, but he didn't have nearly as many fans as his teammate, Steve Garvey. Cey was the underdog. I gravitated toward him, probably partly because he wasn't Steve Garvey.   My interest in the underdog was even more pronounced when it came to the Dodgers' pitching staff from that time. My favorite was not Don Sutton. Nor was it Tommy John. It wasn't even No. 3 starter, Burt Hooton. No, it was Doug Rau.   I can't really tell you why. I just liked him. I think I liked to attach myself to the lesser-known guy and then urge him on to succes...

Imagine pulling the likes of Fred Norman out of an insert set issued by Topps in 2020. You can't. It would never happen. Sure, Norman pitched for a World Series championship team the year before this card was issued, the 1976 Cincinnati Reds. He was the starter in Game 2 of the Series. But he was hardly a star. His stats were respectable but if anyone was going to mention pitching on the Reds -- and no one hardly did because the Big Red Machine operated at the plate, not the mound -- it would be Don Gullett or Jack Billingham. But still Kellogg's placed Norman at card No. 8 in its 57-card set in 1977. Another pitcher. Same set, same story. Doug Rau was a solid thrower for the Dodgers. I thought he was underrated and didn't get enough attention. He was definitely No. 4, though, on a starting rotation list that consisted of Don Sutton, Tommy John and Burt Hooton. Some days, even No. 5 hurler Rick Rhoden surpassed him. But do you see Sutton, John or Hooton i...

In the calendar world, the number 31 represents the maximum number of days in one month. It is the title of an upcoming slasher movie that I will never watch. And, if you were to hit a home run once a day for an entire month, the most you could hit is 31. Joc Pederson hasn't done that -- yet -- but he is already more than halfway to 31 for the season just two months into the season with two homers again last night and four in his last four games. Pederson wears uniform No. 31, and it's about time. Thirty-one was a once-proud numeral in the Dodger world as one of the best players of the mid-1990s wore it. But since that awful time when he was mistakenly traded, the number has never been the same. Mike Piazza wore No. 31 for the Dodgers between 1993-98. He isn't the Dodger who wore the number the longest, but he is the Dodger who wore the number best. No. 31 was Mike Piazza for half a decade and, I guess, for more than that since he also wore the number...