Night Owl Cards

I am making a semi-serious effort to cut down on my Dodger doubles. I've already made arrangements on Twitter to send Dodgers to four or five people. That's not nearly enough to get to a respectable level of dupes. So if anyone wants a variety of Dodgers extras -- and, yes, I know the usual blogging candidates -- please let me know. I'd rather get rid of them this way than in more anonymous ways, which is what I will consider next. One person who already has some Dodgers coming his way is Stewart, who jumped on my offer immediately. Not long ago, he sent a package full of variety straight from Dodger country. There was so much random that I couldn't process it all. In fact, I thought I had absorbed it all finally, when I went back to it last night -- to scan, of course -- and was floored by something grand that I totally missed the first time. I'm saving that piece of wonderful for last as is my custom. In the meantime, take a look at this: All-Time gr...

The arrival of Hyun-Jin Ryu as a member of the Dodgers signaled another threshold moment in L.A. uniform numerology. His choice of No. 99 marked the second time that a Dodger has worn that number while on a major league roster. No longer an uproarious one-and-done 2008 Mannywood dream, Ryu has taken 99 from Manny Ramirez and fashioned it with his own Far East style. So far, Ryu, tonight's starter, and Ramirez are the only Dodgers to wear the final number before venturing into triple digits (They have 99 problems but their number ain't one). But that started me thinking about the progression of the uniform number through Dodger history. Wearing a number in the 90s is a phenomenon of the last 15 years for L.A. Aside from Ryu and Ramirez, reliever Joe Beimel wore No. 97, and Pirates/Jays cast-off Jacob Brumfield wore No. 94 in 1999. The 80s numerals are a virtual wasteland with only Rick Wilkins, who played catcher for the Dodgers for all of three games, wearing...

I know there are a lot of collectors who save baseball card wrappers. For a long time, I couldn't figure out why they did it. It was garbage, wasn't it? I'm not nearly that militant in my thinking now. In fact, ever since this blog began, I have saved a wrapper from every single card product that I have purchased. One for each unique set. I stuff each one in a box as I get them. They help chart my journey through the hobby. Maybe one day I'll show them all here, and show off all the fool card sets that I've chased through the years. I know that Ted of Crinkly Wrappers must have a wrapper collection, or why would he name his blog that? Or more probably, it's named after the piles of wrappers on the ground after opening a case of something. At least they tell me that's what it looks like after someone opens a case. I wouldn't know. Anyway, Ted recently sent me cards from a variety of sets, including one much-appreciated set of the retro variety th...

Now that I have your attention, I am going to show a few recent acquistions that I think are cool. You may think so, too. Or you may not. But that's fine. We know who's really right. I pulled this 2010 short-print Carlton Fisk card out of the first pack from a blaster purchased yesterday. I am averaging one short-print-per-Topps-base-set a year, and each happen to have been Chicago players. I'm willing to trade this card, but it's got to be in exchange for something cool. For example, I'm still looking for the Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese short-prints from 2009 Topps. Now, for those of you whose attention wanes whenever the latest and greatest isn't featured, your time here is done. Go find something shiny. For the rest of you, you may remember that I have sworn off blasters this year. It's sort of working. I have purchased two blasters so far -- but one was with money intended for a card show that I never went to and one was with money obtain...