Night Owl Cards

Do you remember when this card was a big deal? In 2013, Yasiel Puig arrived in the major leagues in June. He tore up the league and became the rookie sensation of the year. Since Puig had not been an established minor league presence, there were almost no cards of him. Bowman had just arrived and there were a couple of cards of Puig in that set, but the hype was strong and the demand for more cards was loud. So Leaf in its usual ugly, nonlicensed way, issued a six-card redemption set of Puig that was available at the National, which took place two months after Puig's debut. Open enough product at the Leaf booth and you could win some "Leaf Bucks" to purchase the six-card set, which was Puig in six different poses. I had been hit by Puig fever and really did want that set. I'd settle for even one card. The set wasn't exactly available to us commoners who couldn't travel 1,500 miles to open cards from a company we barely knew. So, eventually the hype ...

There was a story out of Oklahoma City yesterday that the Dodgers are moving their Triple A affiliate from Albuquerque to Oklahoma City for next season. The Dodgers have been affiliated with Albuquerque for the last six seasons, and before that, the city and the Dodgers were together from 1972-2000. I grew up thinking that Albuquerque had been the top affiliate for the Dodgers for forever (although most of those great '70s Dodgers actually played Triple A games in Spokane, which was L.A.'s top affiliate throughout the '60s through 1971). Even though I've never been to Albuquerque, I don't like that the team is moving from there. The word is that Dodger management wants a better place to evaluate talent. Albuquerque, with its high altitude ways, has always been known for inflated batting stats, and that often doesn't translate to the majors. Of course that was an issue the first time the Dodgers were in Albuquerque (see Greg Brock/Mike Marshall), which ...

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 ...