Night Owl Cards

I received a few Nebulous 9 needs from Brian of cardnomics recently. They are much appreciated and I can't wait to add some more cards to that list. This Ivan DeJesus diamond sparkle card from a couple of years ago brought me down to one Dodger card left to complete that parallel set. But as I pulled this card from the package, it occurred to me how "old news" diamond parallels are. Since the time in 2011 when these things were all the rage and collectors vowed to complete an entire set of them, new parallels have replaced them. First there were cognac parallels, also known as liquorfractors, that arrived a few months after the diamond parallels. Then came the gold sparkle cards -- I still don't know the formal name of those -- in 2012 Topps. Those were replaced by the emerald parallels -- what I like to call the "rain forest" parallels -- of 2013 Topps. Each time collectors oohed and aahed about the new parallel and the previous one was alm...

AP If you're a Dodger fan and you're still trying to absorb this weekend's trade and what it all means, then, welcome to my little club. I call it "The Ghost of George Steinbrenner Has Possessed My Team." I have never witnessed such a gambling acquisition of star players since Steinbrenner was in power with the Yankees. It's a fantasy league trade. It's a trade dreamed up in comic books. It's crazy. It's bizarre. I'd almost say it's ridiculous, but I'm hoping that somebody in upper Dodger management knows what he's doing. I don't know how to feel because I've spent virtually my entire baseball-rooting career bagging on a certain team for buying players. It feels kind of good, but it feels kind of bad. And it all feels kind of unsettled. Throw in the fact that when Fox owned the Dodgers, it tried to do something like this on a slightly less grand scale and it exploded in every Dodger fan's face. I'm not ...

If you're a dad, like me, you probably don't want to be bothered today. That's my No. 1 request for today. Don't bother me. If you want to get me gifts, fine. If you want to tell me I'm great or that you love me, fine. If you want to do all the chores I usually do, fine. But, really, all I want is -- and don't take this personally -- is not to be bothered. Today, I plan to eat. I plan to sleep. I plan to watch baseball. I would like to get through the day without doing anything else. That would be a terrific Father's Day. Because, you see, dads spend just about every other day of the year being bothered. I know I do. Here are just some of the things that bother me: My job, my health, my folks, my neighbors, my boss, my computer, my computer at work, my taxes, my house, my car, my other car, my driveway, my garage, my dog, my inability to get anything done no matter how hard I try A few other things that bother me: The 48 million passwords I m...

It's amusing to me that the last two Dodgers I needed to complete the Topps Series 2 base team set were two shortstops for the Dodgers who are no longer shortstops for the Dodgers. Of course, there's Rafael Furcal, seen earlier today making nice-nice to Albert Pujols during St. Louis infield practice. Be careful Albert, he breaks easily. And there's Ivan DeJesus Jr., who's been squeezed out of his shortstop position by the Dodgers' new shortstop, Dee Gordon. DeJesus is now playing second base for Triple A Albuquerque, which is good because L.A. really needs a second baseman who comes with a future. Both of these cards arrived last week from madding at Cards on Cards  (that's right, a Cardinals fan sent me a card of a player who is now a member of his team). All that's left for me now from Series 2 are some of those blasted Dodger inserts, and of course some diamond parallels. But it won't be enough for me to buy anymore Series 2, unless Topps h...

I am trying to rid myself of the habit of referring to certain major league ballplayers as "nobodies." I know it's a common phrase used by baseball fans. It refers to players who are on the fringe of the major leagues. They could be rookies, and others not so hopeful, who are called to the bigs. They could be pinch-hitters, mid-inning relievers, and late-inning substitutions. But the phrase has gotten myself into trouble a few times. In this hyper-sensitive world, some people have objected to reading my reference of a player as a "nobody." The protests usually come from those connected to the player -- family members, etc. -- or those connected to the team, fans proud of their knowledge of their squad and eager to share it with the less informed. I'm not trying to rid myself of the term because of those people. Those are their hang-ups, not mine. I'm trying to do so because calling players "nobodies" is in direct opposition to my colle...

Remember when you received cards and that was enough? Remember when you weren't opening the package hoping that a blog post was contained therein? Not to sound ungrateful -- I like all my card packages equally -- but it is terrific when I can turn a package into a post or two. Pictures of Men has exceeded expectations though. This is now the third straight post involving cards from POM. Call the record-breaking people. This post has to do with where POM originates. Its headquarters are in the proud province of Ontario, Canada. Having lived near the Canadian border more than half my life -- residing near Maple Leafs territory first and then Senators territory -- I'm somewhat familiar with how things operate there and have had very enjoyable times in Toronto, Ottawa and Kingston (not so much in Cornwall). But I still get confused by the O-Pee-Chee. I just can't condition myself to thinking the card I'm looking at may not be what it seems. For 1988 cards, OPC...