Night Owl Cards

I was watching some of ESPN's Sunday Night baseball game between the Indians and Phillies the other day. As often is the case when the Indians' Carlos Santana pops up on the screen and I view his statistics, I quietly lament the Dodgers trading him away back in 2008. Then, sometime during Alex Rodriguez's pointless ramblings and awkward bantering, I started to fantasize about Santana's contributions for the Dodgers if he had stayed with the team. Perhaps he would have solidified the catching position back in 2011-13 or maybe helped out at first base. This "what could have been" thought process often happens during my fan reflections and I have a feeling it's a common part of being a fan. We always want the best for our team and we just hate it when a talented player gets away. The Dodgers have their fair share of "big fish" stories, some of the biggest, and I thought it would be interesting to put together a "One That Got Away...

I received a card today of The Biggest Rookie Sensation In The Universe At This Very Moment In Time. Normally that would be cause to celebrate the card and the legend that is ManBearPuig, plus get into a discussion of worth, scarcity, hype, blah, blah, blah. But I think the way in which I received the card is much more interesting than all of that. This card -- one of those Bowman minis -- arrived from Ryan, who runs the blog Ryan's Pitch . He offered to send it to me a few weeks ago, before Yasiel Puig had been called up to the majors. Puig was already a big deal at that time and pulling his card was a moment. But nothing was blowing through the roof yet. Then last week happened. Monday: A single in Puig's first major league at-bat, two total hits, and a rifle shot from right field to first base to double up the runner and end the game. Tuesday: Two home runs, a double, and five runs batted in. I kept waiting for Ryan to send me a note that said: "You kno...

I am as guilty as anyone for wallowing in nostalgia. This blog is often an ode to old cards. It is an enabler to those who think of collecting in the 1970s as the best way to collect. You want rose-tinted glasses? I'm handing them out for free, night owl style. I even went a step farther into the past a few months ago by declaring that I would stop trying to complete modern card sets, that it would be mostly vintage for me, because of my disgust for what collecting has become. And then, yesterday, I tweeted this: But this can be taken a couple of different ways. For some collectors this is "The Truth." Cards and collecting and life will never be as good as it was when we could walk four blocks to the store, put a quarter on the counter, and get a waxy pack filled with photos on brown cardboard that was almost as edible as the gum that was included. There are many, many days when I consider this "The Truth," too (although I never experienced a six...